"In that case," the outsider asked, "when will I be able to 'live' by your side?"
The current you had already placed an enormous bet.
The Golden Sword Wielder asked:
"Do you dare gamble everything away?
"That is a wager you would never be able to place!"
The golden fishtail would be dealt with by my own hand.
I would destroy this technique in one stroke.
The fighting serpent within the water ring was already dead.
The core of the Ascendant Demon had been removed.
From top to bottom.
From the inside out.
From the foundation to the soil.
In the end.
Everything converged into a single point.
It became a terrifying fluctuation from the Divine Realm.
And this was still not the end.
Aside from that.
Above the golden ring of fire.
An unknown cosmic aura, far too immense to measure, continued to spread.
That power had also begun to stir.
Should it attack the amplified selfish emotions hidden deep inside your heart?
This.
This could be called the most terrifying strike against your understanding of the world.
A scorching pain that had lasted a thousand years.
It was also the most terrifying strike of this life.
However.
At this moment, even with your storm-woven mysteries unleashed.
Only the faintest trace of regret remained.
Blood.
Because this blood had not yet followed the path passed down from the upper realm into the depths of the heart sect.
It had merely burned itself through the Divine Realm.
If, after the high heavens, it had not been frightened into swallowing those two spheres.
Then right now.
It might still have become a little stronger.
But that no longer mattered.
Even in such a night.
It was still like an astonishing little insect in the middle of a thunderstorm.
It wanted to roar.
It wanted to drag the lower-level demonic nature out from within his body.
Everything had been invited into the ranks of monsters.
Oh!
For some reason.
Inside that body.
There was an energy form completely different from the power that had lasted for a thousand years.
It was more like a cosmic body capable of rushing toward the undying totality of the present age.
A decision had already been made.
That was right.
For a cosmic ruler like you.
This power could still be guided and controlled.
He wanted to take full control of that body.
The unfinished guidance and the twelve layers of guidance.
According to his insight.
Shiko might still have had another half month, or perhaps half a year, left in that body.
However.
With a body that had endured for a thousand years.
It could be determined that, with the energy of this universe, that fragment of guidance could still be used across a considerable range.
It was a top-tier treasure and a top-tier understanding.
Every path cut open by storm and every blade mark left along that road.
None of them were truly enough to break the full movement of an otherworldly demon.
After so many years of cultivation and refinement beneath the moonlight.
The only one who might be able to break that understanding.
Would be the one who killed him from outside this world.
But then came the turning point.
The moment he entered this universe.
He was immediately submerged by it.
All he could glimpse.
Was the energy that came and went, swelling and transforming again and again.
The wind said.
After this universe appeared and gathered all those years together.
Your strength had already reached a level that could not be explained by time alone.
Just as he wanted to draw a boundary with that impossible path.
A light suddenly appeared and struck you with unbearable pain.
However, that impossible path was still a thing from beyond the demonic realm.
You could still use the empty space of guidance.
You could still create a path of cosmic refinement from that void.
"For now, shut your mouth."
If this guidance could be used to subdue the energy of this universe.
And could allow that guidance to reach its strongest state.
Then that alone.
Might mean you no longer needed to keep pursuing righteousness, profit, or opportunities.
The principles contained within it had also been recorded.
So as long as you broke through the barrier of that hand.
It could be considered that you had obtained the cosmic gate of guidance.
That would be enough to show your ability to subdue that power.
It would be enough for you to survive and grow stronger by relying on yourself.
Oh!
What an absurd legend!
"As for me."
Once I reached the upper stream of convergence, I would no longer merely be the ruler of this universe.
I could even become the eternal ruler of multiple universes.
I could become the true Cosmic Ancestor who ruled all life.
That single statement.
Was fatal to the truth of your gravity.
"Little brother.
"You are rather excited now that you possess the ability to control cosmic life."
The fairy-like being said:
"You cannot stop your Pokémon.
"Perhaps this is fate.
"When you first saw him, he was still a baby among First-tier Legendaries.
"With the body of an infant, he became the leader of those clownfish-like creatures."
And that fairy-like being also came from the Dark Realm.
At first, no one had expected it either.
Shiko had not imagined it back then.
He had tried to obtain that living divine body.
But in the end, he did not obtain the result he wanted.
Instead, they discovered such tremendous combat power.
It was almost greater than the mighty body that had been left behind after that battle long ago.
This was a body that had inherited the highest energy of the universe.
It also made Shiko's interest grow even greater.
The fairy-like being remained there.
After breaking through the demonic obstruction for so long.
It still had not achieved its own goal.
But its necessary completion had now appeared.
When the final attack fell.
The entire heavenly realm.
No.
The entire universe was pierced through.
That force shuttled through the surrounding space and the four extending arms.
It was so fast that one could only see the places where they had left traces behind.
Even the silver chains, crackling with lightning, were swept into it.
Everywhere, cosmic space was shattered.
Massive black clouds suddenly appeared.
Within this region of the universe.
The might of that attack was simply too great.
So great that at least half the galaxies in the entire universe were affected.
It was not even worth crying out over.
Could it be that the Creator God of this universe truly intended to abandon this part of the cosmos?
Could he only rely on creating a new universe at any moment to replace these shattered, petrified planets?
The aftershock of the ending.
Took a very long time to completely dissipate.
Everything around them went dark.
A tiny ringing sound echoed like water being pierced.
After a very, very long time.
A faint trace of light finally appeared in the dark realm.
Only at that moment.
Could they more clearly see their surroundings.
Broken and damaged spatial gates.
Shiko's body.
Was floating in the old void.
His injured spirit body had long since been shattered beyond counting.
The demonic arms had opened wide, releasing the power of guidance.
Under the power of such a profound cosmic authority.
The substance nailed into his soul, body, and bones had been completely shattered.
It had already become impossible to clearly recognize.
There was no visible power left.
The wounds on his body.
Could already be considered the true destruction of Shiko.
At this moment, he hovered quietly in the old void.
Not a single trace of living vitality or fluctuation came from his body.
The old man fell into contemplation.
The underworld river was different.
And those alien elites did not recognize much either.
In their eyes.
How could there be anyone who did not know how important Shiko was?
Just as they were about to speak.
After using another attack.
Even they no longer knew how it was possible to deliver a killing blow.
This.
This was the strongest sword of the Creator God whom this universe feared the most.
The Golden Sword Wielder had never even dreamed of this.
His heart had already been carved full of the countless ordinary blows from that impossible path.
From birth until now.
He had already passed through an extremely long stretch of time.
From the time he was still a young celestial body.
He had experienced far too much.
Across all those years.
He had been marked again and again by others.
And today.
At this exact moment.
A new beginning had been completed.
For what reason had a path been broken through, layer after layer, by a being born from the soil?
The wounds were as massive as mountains.
If he could not survive them, then he would almost certainly be extinguished along with this star.
From this universe, which had arrived for reasons unknown.
Every golden bracelet that belonged to a divine seat had appeared.
There were not many living beings left.
There was almost nothing but sand.
If the origin valley of Pokémon talent and power was still there.
Then even the old man.
Would absolutely not be a match for that deity.
"Divine Ancestor.
"Divine Ancestor."
You truly believed that the so-called deity you recognized was a powerful opponent worthy of a battle.
Little Shiko.
Your strength.
Compared to the ten lifetimes and storm trials recognized by the divine realm.
Had not merely reached their level.
You had gone far beyond them.
You had even caused considerable damage to yourself.
The greatest reason was that the Divine Realm had already been thrown into chaos, scattering into rainbow-like waves.
The fairy-like being said:
"This has changed far too much.
"This golden-fire scattered battle body.
"From a small fairy-like Pokémon hidden within a dark stone chamber.
"To the being now called a divine warrior.
"How much time did this long leap of tempering and growth take?
"Not even a full year.
"For a physical body to be refined to this point in such a short time.
"If he is allowed to keep developing like this.
"In the end.
"What kind of existence will he become?"
The full Shiko.
Because of this Creator God.
Because of the hand that had created him.
Had drawn out this golden sword.
The Golden Sword Wielder had seen the golden light after the first strike that defeated the secondary stage of Eternity.
After that, he could no longer find Shiko's figure.
He had returned to his own native world and begun the battle against the impossible path.
What he used.
Was the complete evolved form of Shiko's body.
A body created and guided by intelligence itself.
Otherwise.
The stability of his own cosmic rulership would have been shattered by Shiko's breakthrough.
And the you in reality.
Even if you were no longer tyrannical enough to kill without regret.
Had unexpectedly won beneath the War God.
You had not been defeated by Shiko.
In fact.
During the battle, the demonic guardian had once again fallen and left.
As far as you were concerned, things had reached the shape you had imagined.
The Golden Sword Wielder asked again, but still could not write down a clear answer.
This time.
The golden evidence that had arrived was incomparably brilliant.
If the fight continued for another month or two.
Or perhaps ten months.
There might even be another moment where a single strike was used again.
All that would remain would be scattered into the clouds and mist.
The illusory form.
The bone fragments and shattered pieces of the body finally scattered.
You were no longer beneath a single cosmic starry sky.
You were now between the halves of two universes.
At that moment, this quantity of coverage was completely pure gold and impossible to taint or pierce.
For that half-cornered divine guiding technique.
There was no longer any other majesty left.
However, at this moment.
Everything had already changed.
Shiko was already dead.
All of the magical power and divine might had disappeared.
This universe.
Would still be ruled by you alone.
Perhaps in the future.
You might even become stronger.
You might become the ruler of another universe as well.
And after countless years of battle.
You would finally become a Creator God in the truest sense.
Above the empty sea.
The Golden Sword Wielder asked the demonic guardian again whether his heart had begun to stir.
The power you possessed now was no longer simply transparent or transcendent.
What had allowed your attacks to split into ten thousand transformations of power?
Your soul had fallen.
It no longer carried vitality.
Nor any sign of death.
He had completely died.
Then, using black stone, Shiko's remains were sealed.
The strange seal was placed at the center.
It sealed the origin point from which that body had been born into this world.
And also his—
The fairy-like being's "you."
After the demonic guardian died, the final treasure body was taken from him.
All of this.
Was brought back to the Divine Realm as part of an annihilating act of revenge.
"What?!"
The demonic guardian inspected the small fragments of body that had transformed into light.
And everyone in the Divine Realm made an astonishing discovery.
The consequences that discovery would bring.
Forced even the demonic guardian to retreat in shock.
Because he had not yet spoken.
What was the situation now?
The Creator God still possessed the greatest evolution factor.
That also meant.
The current Divine Valley.
And this universe, which had been destroyed from top to bottom.
And that demon god.
Had only been temporarily ruined.
Then what about you?
For the first time, everyone in the Divine Realm felt astonishing fear.
The current Shiko.
Had died and reached a realm that absolutely could not be revealed to outsiders.
Only he knew it himself.
When fighting him, one had to go all out.
Otherwise, the backlash from even a single move.
Could become a disaster beyond imagination.
"I will say it again.
"Right now, what remains is only a remnant of a living thought.
"But he is already dead."
By chance.
The soul leader of the Divine Realm had appeared here.
This time, it could not allow the demonic path you possessed to continue.
If you grew beyond this height again.
Then the next Shiko created by that being.
Would I still be his opponent?
Not even the Golden Sword Wielder knew.
The confidence and dignity of a Creator God.
Had made you take away the strongest sword of the Divine Realm.
There was no equal.
However.
Shiko's Creator God-level power and Creator God-level techniques.
Were evolving every single moment.
Yes.
His power in this field was capable of making extreme leaps forward.
Therefore.
That also included him.
If Shiko died once again.
Then what could you do?
You might no longer be his opponent.
The Golden Sword Wielder finally understood why his scalp had gone numb back then.
Remember this.
At that time, he had not truly died.
However, large portions of his body had been split into countless fragments.
If someone could control this power and this all-purpose evolution.
Then after waiting.
He could certainly be sure of himself.
The Golden Sword Wielder asked the fairy-like being again:
"Do you understand now why, from the moment someone noticed Shiko, that tiny, indestructible smile began to change?
"Truly.
"I only want to ask.
"Will your heart feel that what you have done to yourself is cruel?"
Fortunately, he had already fallen into deathly stillness.
And now.
You could excavate a great deal of useful information from his corpse.
This information.
This existence.
To you, it was no longer merely a crisis.
It was even an enormous crisis.
And you already knew.
Without such a demon.
You had already taken something from the corpse of all-powerful Shiko.
Every bit that contained Shiko's second demonic energy.
Every inch of pure muscle.
Even every single cell.
Could still be examined.
From within it, you could find a way to extinguish souls and reach supreme strength.
You could even find a new sword soul inside that confirmed sword.
And now.
Something had happened to that sword soul.
"Ahhh!"
So, after Shiko died.
His own body, which had already become myth, began to completely reconstruct and reorganize itself.
Here.
In the next second.
You would see it.
The evolution factor of the enemy who had died ten thousand times and returned ten thousand times.
At this very moment.
It appeared!
(End of Chapter)
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