A Certain Multiverse's Holy Right

"I will use this sword to bring an end and a beginning to this world. This is the wisdom of the goddess!"

Divine power, nearly searing in its intensity, roared around Athena's form. The mere residual energy caused the surrounding space to warp and burn, halting the very movement of the wind.

In front of Roy, Athena revealed her true form. She was the moon and the darkness, the mother of the earth, and the queen of the night.

Roy's mystic eyes locked onto the object in Athena's grasp.

It was a blade of black steel, a piece of burning, smoldering metal. It was a sword that attracted, absorbed, compressed, destroyed, and released.

The movement of stars seemed to revolve around it, sketching out perfect arcs that morphed into tornadoes, hurricanes, and storms.

The sword in Athena's hand slowly took shape—a pitch-black weapon that absorbed light like a black hole, reducing all it touched to dust. It was a terrifying weapon capable of obliterating anything in existence.

This was no ordinary blade. It was the Sword of Storms, the Dragon's Sword, the Sword of Dawn, the Sword of Ruin, and most importantly, the Sword of Wisdom of the goddess.

Roy's instincts as a Campione screamed a single truth: death was inevitable. Against the Sword of Wisdom, within the scope of this world, no entity could hope to survive. Whether it was a Campione, a Heretic God, or even the Last King, they would all fall to its power.

The only way to combat this sword was to produce a force of equal or greater magnitude. Anything less meant annihilation.

Roy recalled what he had seen through his clairvoyance—of this sword's destructive history. Only the Last King wielded an authority capable of matching it.

Thousands of years ago, a Campione, seasoned in killing gods and possessing numerous authorities, faced Athena in battle. Like Marquis Voban, he reveled in slaughtering gods, charging into battle with arrogance and laughter. Yet, in the end, his cries of despair echoed as he met his doom.

That mighty Campione's final act was to use an authority usurped from a certain god of thieves to steal Athena's Gorgoneion. As he succumbed, he hurled the stone badge away, depriving Athena of much of her strength and forcing her into a deep slumber.

Athena's Sword of Wisdom was not something any Campione could overcome alone. It was a blade that could pierce through anything—even the divine.

"This is both destruction and rebirth. This is both the beginning and the end. Thus, the world is created—"

Athena raised her hands high. Between her palms, an expanse of pure darkness emerged. Roy couldn't discern if it was truly a sword because it absorbed all light like a black hole, rendering it impossible to see.

"Roy Crowley, you didn't run? No, you know there's no escape. Wisdom transcends distance and time. My thoughts alone can reach you, no matter where you hide."

Athena gripped the Sword of Darkness, her hands steady as the black star-like weapon pointed directly at Roy.

In that moment, his body trembled uncontrollably. A surge of divine power coursed through him as the unmistakable feeling of death's arrival engulfed him.

"It's over," Athena declared. "I will remember you, Roy. A bold demon king like you, so unlike the others, is not easily forgotten—even by me. Go now, to the wilderness of underworld. Wander there as a lonely spirit until you fade into nothingness."

Blood stained her lips, and a flicker of regret flashed in her amber eyes. But Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. Her heart, tempered by battle and illuminated by the sparks of wisdom, left no room for hesitation or mercy.

"If you won't speak, then exit like a true hero!

"I am Athena, mother of a thousand dragons and snakes. I command you all—transform into a sword!"

The wind did not blow; instead, it coalesced. Roy's magic eyes pierced through the surface of this secret power and grasped its true form: wind pressure. With absolute wind pressure, time and space fractured. This pressure crushed everything, forming a vortex as destructive as a black hole—a manifestation of wisdom itself.

Athena hurled the Sword of Wisdom which looked like a black star from her hands. A monstrous gravitational force erupted from the black star, pulling in everything within sight. Snow, rock, mountains, trees, earth, air, rivers, and glaciers—all were drawn inexorably toward the star, consumed and transformed into parts of underworld.

This was not just a weapon—it was a storm of gravity.

"Wuwuwuwuwu—!"

The violent winds roared like the rage of a devil. Roy's legs planted themselves firmly against the ground like roots, but it was futile. Even as he mobilized all his divine power, he could not counteract the overwhelming gravitational pull.

The terrifying Sword of Wisdom resembled the gaping maw of a primordial beast, howling as it devoured everything in its path.

He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but realized that in this absolute void, even sound could not exist.

The Alps were collapsing all around. Anyone witnessing this scene would see it as nothing less than divine punishment.

"What a terrifying Sword of Wisdom."

Roy sighed inwardly.

"Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff—"

Roy's body was like a tattered rag. Though his muscles and bones still clung stubbornly to the earth, the blood within him was irresistibly drawn by the Black Sword of Wisdom. Countless capillaries ruptured across his body, and blood burst from his pores, drenching him in red and leaving him a figure entirely cloaked in gore.

Yet the sheer multitude of wounds left him feeling numb—an absence of pain amidst the overwhelming assault.

"The flaw with 'Holy Right' is the need to confirm an opponent's 'maximum output.' Luckily, Athena's move hasn't reached the level to kill me instantly. Otherwise, that sword would have been the end of me.

"...But now it's clear. Athena's strongest secret technique, her most profound wisdom, is right here. My right hand has already adjusted its output. Even if you were a true black hole, I would still smash this universe apart! Let me defeat your proud wisdom!"

Roy, now a blood-soaked figure, felt a stirring in his heart. The space around his right shoulder began to twist unnaturally, as if a golden hand were emerging—crossing the expanse of the cosmos and breaking through dimensions to reach him.

In the pitch-black void, devoid of all light, a towering golden hand suddenly materialized. Its brilliance overshadowed the sky itself, and its divine radiance even arrested the flow of Athena's wisdom.

"What... What is this?!"

Athena, having stood in place calmly after unleashing her Black Sword of Wisdom, awaiting the inevitable outcome, now found her pupils contracting in sheer astonishment.

She knew the terrifying power of her Black Sword of Wisdom. The edge of the black star functioned like a black hole's event horizon, a boundary where space and time were distorted to the point that light itself could not escape. Within its confines, only darkness reigned. Even Athena herself was incapable of perceiving what lay within the range of her sword's attack.

All she knew was that any enemy caught by this sword—no matter how powerful—would be torn apart, reduced to nothing by its immense gravitational pull, and dragged into the underworld.

But now, gold emerged in the blackness. A hand that could shatter the universe, brimming with divine miracles, stood before her. This was beyond the scope of Athena's wisdom, a revelation so sublime that even glancing at it threatened to unravel her sanity.

Athena immediately sensed the mortal danger she faced. Reacting swiftly, she bent her body and summoned the Shield of Aegis to defend herself.

Then, in the black void—where no sound should exist—Athena heard a voice, booming and filled with undeniable authority:

"I ask you, 'Who is most like God?'"

In that instant, the endless darkness that filled Athena's vision was utterly consumed by blinding light. If her Black Sword of Wisdom was the black hole of the universe, then this light was nothing short of billions of supernovas detonating at once, overwhelming and transcendent.