Volume 8, Chapter 73 – A Strike That Pierces Heaven and Earth!

Was it dead?

With his vision obscured by the dust from the explosion, the humanoid Elf God couldn’t find Fia’s shadow. Still, he was more inclined to believe that no one could survive such a blast. Even that outworlder with unimaginable power couldn’t possibly be a match for the current him.

But this was merely the Elf God’s self-reassurance. He ascended as high as possible, straining his eyes to carefully search for any enemy that might emerge from the smoke and dust. He had indeed been strengthened by the Overlord, possessing power greater than in his prime, his divinity even denser to an unprecedented degree. Yet he couldn’t help but feel tense. The strike that seemed to pierce heaven and earth, which Fia had used to kill him back then, was still etched into his soul. He now possessed strength exceeding the specifications of the World Tree continent—but so did this outworlder.

If the Elf God possessed a human body, he would be sweating profusely by now. The fact was, even without a human form, his nerves were so taut that the slightest stir would startle him. Although the earlier hasty attack hadn’t used his full power, don’t forget that the outworlder also hadn’t had time to react. If she could survive that explosion, even if half her body were blown away, it would be enough to make the Elf God’s hair stand on end.

The dust storm raged for a full half minute. The world of the dead remained deathly still. The Elf God could vaguely make out a crater over a kilometer in diameter directly below him. Like an impact crater from a meteor strike, thick smoke billowed from it, and the charred ground was being baked by intense heat.

Only the whooshing sound of wind and sand brushing past ears remained in the sky. The Elf God’s taut nerves gradually relaxed.

“Haha…”

What started as a cautious, nervous laugh eventually became unbridled, unrestrained laughter.

“The outworlder is nothing special! Completing the Overlord’s task, the Overlord will surely make me the one true god! This is the price of carelessness!”

If he had the capacity for tears, the Elf God would be crying with laughter. As a god defeated by an outworlder, the disgrace had always been etched into his heart. Yet he had also personally experienced Fia’s power—that feeling of helplessness where even using all his trump cards were countered one by one had filled him with intense fear, subconsciously resisting making an enemy of Fia. Now, not only was his great revenge achieved, but he had also blasted the outworlder into fragments without even a corpse left. Indescribable exhilaration and the feeling of cheating death gave him unprecedented relief.

Until a clicking sound of disapproval rang out in the sky.

Crisp enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

“Hmm… is this your full strength? I feel it’s not even as strong as the magic you used struggling for your life back then. Its power is only a tenth of when I first arrived in this world, no, maybe one percent of an orbital bombardment? But considering you’re a native god, that’s something to be proud of, I suppose. After all, the world’s upper limit is right here.”

“You—!”

It was as if an invisible giant hand forcibly shoved the Elf God’s laughter back down his throat. His voice cut off abruptly. His eyes went wide as he stared incredulously at Fia, who was slowly stepping out of the smoke. The latter showed no injuries whatsoever—not even her black hair or skirt hem were disheveled. There was no sign she had just experienced a violent explosion.

Unscathed? How was that possible!

Fear flickered in the Elf God’s scarlet eyes. He knew showing cowardice before an enemy was foolish. One strike wasn’t enough to decide anything; the real battle had just begun.

He feigned composure, his voice low.

“To remain unscathed against my divinity—is this also outlander magic?”

“No, it’s the magic of this world. I just made a small improvement.”

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Fia extended her index finger and thumb, gesturing a “small” amount. Her leisurely expression told the Elf God she was confident of victory in the coming battle.

“Your divinity is indeed troublesome. Even defensive magic disperses under your attack. But divinity is just that—divinity. It’s the world’s protection upon you; you cannot actively manipulate this power. [Spatial Leap]—you’ve heard of this spell, right? If I use [Spatial Leap] on myself to get away from you, you can’t cause me any trouble. Any place I can see is a position I can instantly reach. And [Spatial Leap] centers on me, not you. So the world’s favor toward you won’t interfere with my use of [Spatial Leap]. I put it that way—do you understand?”

“When it comes down to it, it’s hard to say whether divinity is truly the world’s protection for you, or some kind of innate divine magic. If it really is the world’s favor, then when you regard me as an enemy, I should be rejected by the world and unable to use any magic.”

“Correspondingly, since it can judge me as an enemy, the world should possess self-awareness. Only then can it discern your expectations, distinguish between those who are good for you and attacks that hold malice toward you. If so, you can’t be called gods. You should be called the world’s favored eldest children. The thing granting you divinity is the true world god.”

Having said this, Fia smiled faintly, letting her skirt and jet-black hair flutter in the wind. Though her figure was petite and delicate, it gave the impression of an insurmountable chasm.

“Unfortunately, there is no world god in existence. So your so-called divinity won’t prevent me from casting spells just because you see me as an enemy. Rather than beautify it as ‘the world’s favor,’ it’s more apt to say ‘magic cannot be used against entities within a certain range.’ And even ‘magic’ here is debatable. I’m genuinely curious—to what extent does an action have to be judged as hostile? From what I’ve seen so far, [Spatial Leap] works, [Bee Shield Forcefield] doesn’t.”

By the end, Fia’s voice had taken on many rising inflections. The cold curve of her lips rose to an angle that made the Elf God’s hair stand on end and alarms blare in his heart. From this moment onward, he felt he was no longer a soul favored by the Overlord, but prey to be slaughtered. The temperature of the entire space plummeted.

He forced himself to rally, strenuously suppressing the urge to retreat within. His gaze turned savage as nine scarlet eyes appeared one after another atop his head. Not only that, but with a wriggling behind his back, several familiar figures split out from the Elf God’s body.

Though the Chaos had no features, Fia identified them by her photographic memory. They were all the demon generals she had killed, including the Demon General of Despair.

Almost every demon general erupted with immense hatred. Without needing commands from the Elf God, all the Chaos possessing demon general consciousness surrounded Fia, blocking her escape routes. Each demon general’s strength approached the Ninth Rank. Under the guard of the nine scarlet eyes in the air, the Elf God’s momentum surged dramatically.

“Hehehe… Did you think my power was only this? Take your arrogance to the grave and regret it! Kill her! She can’t use offensive magic near me!”

“I’ll repay the pain you inflicted on me a hundredfold! Go to hell, Graaaaaah!”

The Demon General of Despair moved first. The Chaos-formed Despair General, bearing the silhouette of Estelle’s brother Norton, charged forward. The blades his hands had transformed into carried the sound of tearing air, aiming straight for Fia’s waist, intending to shear her body in two.

As an obstacle, a shield wall of countless hexagons immediately materialized before the Despair General. But he didn’t slow down. He forcibly sliced through the shield wall with his Chaos-formed blades. [Bee Shield Forcefield] was as thin as paper before him. He easily reached within less than half a meter of Fia, his black blades even passing beneath her arms, less than an inch from her vulnerable waist.

The Despair General could already envision Fia’s agonized expression as she was severed at the waist—hot blood splashing on his face, Fia’s desperate, piercing scream ringing through the sky. He looked up, wanting to savor Fia’s bewilderment, the fearful expression of one about to be cut in two. And indeed, as he thought, Fia seemed panicked that her [Bee Shield Forcefield] was so easily breached, momentarily frozen in place. The Despair General’s savagery and smugness grew even stronger. He couldn’t help but laugh heartily, then cruelly closed his arms, forcibly snapping Fia’s body in two!

But he didn’t get his wish.

When the Despair General forcefully closed his arms, he discovered in horror that they wouldn’t budge. It was as if an invisible spatial barrier blocked him. No matter how hard he strained, he couldn’t move them an inch.

Wasn’t she supposed to be unable to use magic? I have divinity now. Surely no magic should work against me!

Only upon looking closely did the Despair General realize what blocked him wasn’t magic, but a pair of slender hands that had somehow clamped around both his wrists. Though his body was formed of Chaos, these delicate arms, which seemed like they would snap with a firm grip, were completely undamaged. Instinctively, the Despair General looked up. What met his gaze was Fia’s stern, expressionless face. But he vividly remembered that moments ago, she had worn the panicked expression of a frightened little girl.

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A misperception?

The Despair General doubted his own vision.

And then.

No. It was a trap! She’s toying with me!

The Despair General immediately understood. He struggled desperately, trying to pull himself free from Fia’s restraint, but his arms remained motionless. A feeling of despair and helplessness instantly engulfed him from all sides. The fear of being tortured to death by Fia in the past returned with a vengeance, in an even more cruel form.

He realized Fia’s earlier panic was merely humoring him, letting him savor the despair of falling from heaven to hell. The humiliation and timidity of being toyed with twice after resurrection consumed his entire soul. He didn’t want to repeat the same fate. He struggled fiercely, roaring hysterically, even kicking like a child in an attempt to break free from Fia’s grip. But no matter how he struggled, a magical barrier always blocked him. He couldn’t even touch Fia’s clothes.

“Let me go, let me go! You bitch!! Let me go!!!”

Facing the cornered Despair General’s struggles, Fia’s voice remained unhurried. The difference was it had become much lower than before, the chill within indistinguishable from that of hell. It reached a point where the remaining demon generals feared to approach. The Despair General’s struggles, like a bird tied by the foot, reminded them of the invincibility this elf princess had etched into their souls.

“You know, there are three people I hate most in this world. The first is the culprit who swapped the two Anastasias. The second is the mastermind who provided the recording crystal to Lucitine. As for the third—that’s you.”

Grasping the Despair General’s body with [Telekinesis]—divinity would instantly collapse the spatial hands, but Fia’s speed in crystallizing spatial hands without chanting was faster. Before one spatial hand could collapse, ten in succession had already taken shape. For the current Fia, using hundreds of First-Rank spells simultaneously was the most basic of basics.

She lifted the Despair General’s body. As her right hand raised upward, it flickered with the golden light the Despair General knew well. His struggles grew even more frantic. His words had shifted from curses to pitiful begging.

“Let me go, I’ll tell you anything! I promise not to do evil anymore. No, have me attack that god over there, no problem. I can be your dog! Let me go, let me go, I’m begging you, let me go!!!”

“You don’t have the right to beg for mercy.”

The moment the words fell, her fist, which had gathered [Strength Boost I], slammed fiercely into the Despair General’s head. He couldn’t offer any resistance. His head burst like a water balloon filled to capacity. Black slime scattered in all directions mid-air, then plummeted straight to the ground.

The space above the world of the dead immediately fell silent. But besides Fia, everyone felt the air was unusually noisy. The Despair General’s dying shouts and curses still echoed in their ears.

“Gulp.”

Someone swallowed saliva first. The demon generals gathered around Fia backed away one by one. The Despair General was now a cautionary tale. They had grown stronger, yes, but growing stronger didn’t mean they could defeat the elf princess before them. Billions of firefly lights combined couldn’t match the brightness of a supernova. The disparity between the two sides was more terrifying than the difference between heaven and earth.

“What are you all standing around for? Go! Go!”

Though he had no respiratory system, the Elf God’s breathing was extremely rapid. He waved his arms frantically, as if that would embolden the retreating demon generals. But all efforts were in vain. Far from advancing, the demon generals began disintegrating one by one, losing form and plummeting straight down.

“Urgh—”

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The Elf God froze on the spot. It took a full breath before he reacted.

“Cowards!!!”

He roared in frustration. His out-of-breath panting echoed through the air, but it couldn’t change the situation. Fia’s mocking voice followed.

“Looks like you’re not very united. So, self-proclaimed god, will you exit voluntarily, or shall I see you out?”

“Don’t lump me together with those cowardly Darkborn! Even without them, I can still kill you! I can revive countless times, but you only have one life. Today, even if I destroy myself, I’m taking you with me!”

The storm Fia had witnessed before kicked up again. The Elf God rapidly reverted from humanoid form to his original massive eye stance. The nine scarlet eyes encircling him also became his rings, spinning rapidly.

Soon, the Elf God’s enormous eye, over ten kilometers in diameter, condensed a scarlet magic circle. The nine smaller eyes forming the rings also flickered with magical light. However, these smaller eyes weren’t condensing large-scale magic—they launched a sea of fist-sized light pellets, each equivalent to the Seventh Rank in power, at Fia, attempting to prevent her approach.

“This is the power of a god! I am the great god!”

A sound like synthesized vocals, mixed with fury, reverberated through heaven and earth. Clouds and ground shook together. Anyone weaker present would have had their brains shattered on the spot.

A rain of scarlet light pellets shot towards Fia, blanketing the sky and blocking every escape route. But far from retreating, Fia flew rapidly towards the Elf God, meeting the scarlet pellets head-on. She was no longer the elf princess who could only dodge and hide from the Elf God’s attacks. While her enemy had grown stronger, she too was recovering her power at an even faster rate.

Seventh-Rank light pellets striking her body didn’t even count as a minor irritation. A single manifestation of [Aegis of the Firmament] created a clearing spanning a hundred meters. The successive explosions and air disturbances couldn’t trouble Fia at all. Eventually, Fia grew too lazy to repeatedly use magic. She simply used [Wide-Area Gravity Manipulation] with the Elf God as the center, redirecting all the scarlet light pellets in the sky towards the Elf God himself.

Unfortunately, the Elf God’s dense divinity showed its effect again. [Wide-Area Gravity Manipulation] lasted only an instant before vanishing. This wasn’t enough to change the trajectory of the scarlet light pellets. They still came in an overwhelming flood, dyeing the entire pitch-black world red. Moreover, as time passed, these scarlet pellets increasingly included brighter individual shots whose power approached the Ninth Rank.

Additionally, though Fia’s Ninth-Rank single-target spell [Heaven’s Punishment Holy Spear] struck the Elf God heavily across space during this time, the Elf God merely used one of the nine eyes rotating around him to block it. That eye burst into black water, but the Elf God’s main body was unscathed. And now there was no more time for Fia to use eight more [Heaven’s Punishment Holy Spear]’s. The eye constituting the Elf God’s main body was about to complete its spell.

In fact, Fia could already see scarlet eyes opening one after another in the earth beneath her feet and the sky above her head. These eyes were condensing dark red beams of light, densely filling the entire visible world.

“Despicable ant! All your magic is useless against divinity! Even your sword from the past is battered and scarred. What else can you use to contend with me?!”

The voice didn’t originate from the Elf God’s body, but from every single eye covering the sky and earth.

Without timidity, Fia halted her flight. She put away Laevateinn and instead took out the moon key, its tip bearing a mechanical structure, resembling a miniature Rod of God at first glance. She gently stroked this unadorned, indestructible staff and said calmly.

“A firefly in decaying grass dares to call the sun an ant. Dealing with you now, I don’t need complicated magic. Let me show you what absolute power really is.”

Ignoring the countless eyes staring at her from sky and earth, ignoring even the scarlet magic circle in the distant Elf God’s eye, Fia raised the moon key above her head like a throwing spear. Her expression had shifted from the initial impassiveness to a cold smile tinged with excitement.

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“I wonder what mood you’ll be in, being killed by the same method.”

The second after her words fell, golden butterfly wings unfurled behind Fia, high in the sky—wings so resplendent, their brightness completely overwhelming the Elf God’s scarlet light, covering the entire heavens like the sun itself.

With her raised right hand as the world’s center, space itself seemed on the verge of shattering, unable to bear this condensed to the limit power. Large black cracks appeared in the sky around Fia, constantly breaking and repairing, repairing and breaking. But anyone could see the extent of spatial fragmentation was growing. A violent suction seemed to reverse gravity itself, drawing buildings and rocks from the ground up towards the sky.

What created all this wasn’t [Overload], but the stacking of five identical spells.

[Strength Boost I]

[Strength Boost II]

[Strength Boost III]

[Strength Boost IV]

[Strength Boost V]

Even ordinary magic texts only documented up to [Strength Boost III], let alone that Fia could now enter the Forbidden Library of the Holy Tree—the restricted area of all Silvar—to study. What she learned from the Holy Tree wasn’t just the fourth level of [Strength Boost], but the fifth level, the limit of the [Strength Boost] spell itself. Enhanced by [Hyper-computation], five strength boosts were enough to elevate Fia’s power—already sufficient to tear apart the earth with brute force—to a level completely surpassing Ninth-Rank magic, leaving it far behind.

Similarly, the Elf God also felt this terrifying power that made his soul ache. Yet he still believed his divinity would cause all magic to dissipate. He immediately activated every eye, including the scarlet beam condensed by his main body, over ten kilometers in diameter. All his magic, carrying terrifying power that evaporated the very air, shot fiercely towards Fia, mixed with the Elf God’s roar as he poured all his magical power and divinity into it. The golden sky was once again covered by red.

“ Die!! “

And Fia, who had been waiting, didn’t hesitate either. For the first time, she felt her muscles ache from excessive force. She mobilized every cell in her body, gathering all the power she could muster in that moment into her right arm. Then her right arm, carrying her whole body’s strength, hurled the moon key.

Carrying unparalleled force, like the divine punishment of a falling Rod of God, the moon key blazing with golden light met the oncoming scarlet beam head-on in mid-air. Then, without the slightest delay, it forcibly split the scarlet beam in two. With a thickness of merely an arm’s width, it completely suppressed a beam over ten kilometers wide. This process took less than 0.1 seconds before the world was once again filled with vast golden light. Finally, on a trajectory even Fia herself couldn’t track—this exceeded the limit of physical capability—the moon key instantly buried itself in the center of the Elf God’s eye. Fia watched as the Elf God disintegrated in an instant, the black Chaos composing his body splashing up like giant water bursts.

But this didn’t mean it was over.

As the Moon Key pierced the Elf God and plunged deep into the earth, a massive swelling emerged on the surface. At first, it seemed like large spherical bubbles rising from the ground. But with the intense flash beneath the bubbles, a colossal mushroom cloud and an unprecedented explosion, in the blink of an eye, sent the entire city of the kingdom of the dead flying into the sky. The world lost sound and color. Everything was obscured by blazing white light.

In less than a second, the moon key was shot by Fia into the deepest part of the entire continent, nearly piercing the core that constituted the world.