Barbarian in a Failed Game

314. Heaven (10)

『Get lost…!』

“No way, bastard.”

Crack.

『Aaaaargh!』

The God of Struggle screamed as he reached for the pillar on his back. Khan’s foot drove into his chest, and with a sharp crack, Khan leapt onto his shoulder and tore it apart.

Boom! Crash!

With one arm ripped off and the other flailing, the God of Struggle no longer resembled a high-ranking God.

『Why is he behaving like that?』

『…Why is he screaming pathetically against a mere half-being who hasn’t even reached godhood? God of Struggle! And you, decay! Why aren’t you getting up?!』

A God should not be reduced to such pathetic thrashing even if they suffered some physical loss. Moreover, it was strange that the old crone who lost her head wasn’t rising. Other gods who had just revealed themselves halted their approach, perplexed by the bizarre scene.

‘It hurts…! It hurts so much!’

The pain was so intense that he couldn’t even scream.

The God of Struggle cursed the onlooking gods, who merely watched from a distance, and struggled desperately to escape. Pain was an unfamiliar sensation for a God. They didn’t rely on physical sensations, and their minds were strong enough to endure any typical pain. However…

‘What kind of lightning is this…?!’

The ash-gray lightning emitted by Khan was different. It didn’t merely increase speed and possess the destructive power to shatter even a God’s body. This lightning inflicted direct damage on the very essence of the gods, their “rank”.

The ash-gray power repelled even the will of the world. Naturally, lightning imbued with this power affected the will of the gods.

『Let me gooo!』

It felt as if his soul was being forcibly torn from his body. No, it was worse than that. The pain of his soul itself being ripped apart made the God of Struggle forget his divine name, “Struggle” and scream like a child.

『That lightning… it seems to have some wicked power.』

By then, the gods who had been observing the God of Struggle’s desperate thrashing finished their evaluation.

Decay and Struggle.

Two high-ranking gods were subdued in an instant. They were beings who would normally exert exceptional power even among gods of the same rank if an actual battle ensued.

『Solitude. It seems it’s your turn.』

『My sanctuary…』

As the God of Struggle screamed in Khan’s grip, an entity with an unusual presence among the gods stepped forward. This God was as large as a troll. While that size was enormous by human standards, among the typically larger gods, it was relatively small.

However, its presence was unique. Even while looking at it, it was hard to perceive. Its voice was gloomy, and even a brief lapse in attention could make one forget it existed.

Its eyes were covered with a black cloth, and its face was obscured by long hair that flowed down to the ground, as if embodying a complete severance from the world.

The God of Solitude.

The owner of the sanctuary that E-Urel had used as a hiding place.

“This damn it…!”

E-Urel, rarely annoyed, summoned his doppelganger.

“Stop him from using his authority-.”

… It was too late.

『Ah. My sanctuary…….』

A voice was heard. However, it was buried in memory and could not be recognized. The same was true for the God of Solitude.

“The God of Solitude isolates ‘existence’! Even with the senses of a transcendent, it is impossible to perceive that solitude!”

The solitude of the God of Solitude did not stop at an imperceptible stage. Existence itself was forgotten in the world. Ordinary physical acts could not reach it from the beginning, and before that, existence could not be recognized, so it could not be touched.

Further.

『As it is. I will use my authority to punish those two sinners.』

The solitude emitted by the God of Solitude made even the existence of other gods forgotten.

『W-Wait…! Me too! Include me─! War!』

The God of Struggle, who was convulsing at that sight, desperately shouted the name of some divinity. The God of War, a high-ranking divinity who was also having his faith stolen by the Knight God. The one who led the gathered gods.

But the God of War did not even glance at that God of Struggle.

And then.

“… Damn, is it too late!”

All existence of the gods was forgotten. What remained was the God of Decay, squirming without a head, and the non-hostile God of Struggle.

“In this situation…”

E-Urel’s hand reached into his bosom. He, who looked no different from an ordinary villager, did not even wear proper armor. He did not carry a weapon because he did not need one. However… he had a holy relic.

The holy relic of the Knight God, the Holy Lance Reletalrasa.

Khan also knew the name of that holy lance. He knew what kind of power it could exhibit when its true value was demonstrated. It was E-Urel who wielded that lance to break one of the Arch Demon’s horns and tear off its arm.

“Save it.”

“What? Do you know what this is…? No. This is the only way to break that authority!”

Reletalrasa confiscates the power of knights who made the ‘Oath of Loyalty’. Like reaping what was sown. The moment it was activated, all the knights on the continent would be rendered powerless.

‘That won’t do.’

It wasn’t necessary.

Khan’s pupils elongated vertically. Dragon’s Eye, the eyes that pierced the principles and providence of all things. Even with that, it was impossible to decipher the authority deployed by the God of Solitude.

At least in terms of the purpose of ‘concealment,’ it could be said to be absolute.

But he had another vision. Eyes that even gazed into the will of the world.

Karyan’s eyes captured the mist filling the heavens. That mist, the authority deployed by the God of Solitude, even penetrated physical attacks. He could tell because he perceived it with Karyan’s eyes and analyzed it with Dragon’s Eye.

If so.

‘Dark magic.’

He overlaid dark magic onto the ash-gray lightning. If it was the lightning he produced, it could tear that veil apart, but there was another reason he added dark magic.

‘Attributes.’

Kwakakakabang…!

A beam of light traversing the heavens filled with pure white shattered the veil of solitude. The eyes of the gods, each preparing their authority, widened.

How?

Crack!

The gods looked up at the sky from beneath their feet. And there was Khan, still wrapped in the dark magic that enveloped the lightning.

『Die!』

Just as the authority, ready to be manifested, was about to be launched. A night sky that suddenly formed between them split the gods in half.

Rip─!

The night sky extending in all directions was an irresistible catastrophe. Except for a few high-ranking gods and gods specialized in survival, most gods had their upper and lower bodies separated, crawling on the ground.

『How…! How does an apostle possess such power……!』

The God of War was one of the survivors.

He could not understand the current situation.

Only two.

One was a mortal forced to serve as the apostle of the Knight God for hundreds of years. The other was a mortal newly designated as the ‘enemy of the world’ by the God of Magic who became a Supreme God.

Obviously, being a mortal originally meant they could not be a match for a divinity.

But the reality?

‘At this rate… it’s certain defeat.’

The God of War possessed authority befitting his divine nature. His divine eye foretold the fate of war and devised strategies leading to victory. However, all the destinies seen by his divine eye were certain defeats. Although there were countless possibilities leading to victory, the fate seemed twisted, changing every moment.

『This…! We must summon the lords of the seats!』

The God of War quickly made a decision.

They alone could not handle those monsters in human guise. Therefore, they needed help from the highest-ranking gods.

Though the imprisoned Goddess of Justice or the rampaging Knight God, who was E-Urel’s master, might be impossible, they could surely receive help from the gods of Light and Death. Even those unruly gods would not ignore the enemies causing havoc in the heavens.

But before that.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The ash-gray lightning blocked the God of War’s path faster than he could act.

Grasping the head of the God of Struggle with one hand, Khan traversed the space that would take a giant numerous steps.

The lightning wrapped in dark magic struck the God of War.

Crack──!!

The lightning that clashed with the God of War’s halberd scattered bolts in all directions. Even the split bolts were fatal to the gods. And these bolts were not just one or two but innumerable.

The God of War perceived all of it with the unique perception of a transcendent and the authority of war.

… Did he truly perceive it? That uncertainty surged as he was engulfed.

『Aaaargh─!』

The halberd, an embodiment of the divinity’s essence, was split in half. Furthermore, Draupnir, embedded in the handle near the crown of his head, spewed malevolent energy. The grudgeful energy that remembered its time as a Dragon King began to corrupt the God of War’s divinity.

At that moment, the scattered bolts infiltrated the God of War’s body.

A scream identical to the God of Struggle’s escaped from his mouth. Khan, holding the God of Struggle’s head in one hand and the skewered God of War on a sword in the other, spoke.

“Where is the God of Magic?”

… A guttural scream was the only response. As Khan clicked his tongue and tried to thrust lightning through Draupnir embedded in the crown of the God of War’s head,

『D-Death……!』

“What?”

At the word ‘death’ that escaped the God of War’s mouth, Khan’s eyes narrowed. The God of Death? Did that mean he was with the God of Magic?

『Haaargh─!! Let me gooo…!』

This time, the God of Struggle started thrashing around. Though he had been struggling before, this time he seemed genuinely crazed.

Why on earth…?

There was no need to seek the answer.

─Death was close by. It was death with a will, moving and alive. At the moment he realized it, every imaginable form of death engulfed Khan.

He was stabbed by a sword… burned to death… bled out and died desiccated… starved to death… strangled… succumbed to a plague and died covered in blood and pus… shut himself in a room and died of loneliness…

In a brief moment, Khan experienced dozens, hundreds of types of deaths. He felt and remembered each one vividly. An ordinary human’s mind would have instantly shattered.

‘Damn it…!’

Khan bit his lip until it bled and looked up at the sky with wide eyes. Death, appearing in the sky filled with pure white, stared directly at him.

『Ugh… Gordi Khan!』

『If it weren’t for you! I would…!』

『Join us! Become part of death─!』

A reaper cloaked in death. There was no better way to describe the God of Death. The color of death was pale, and in the long, flowing mantle of death, countless human faces emerged, spewing words filled with resentment.

They were all familiar faces. Those who had met their end directly or indirectly by Khan’s hand.

Their words seeped in like a curse. Even though a barrier made from a dragon’s soul protected his mind, every time those venomous words pierced his ears, a torrent of emotions and memories overwhelmed him.

In those memories, Khan endlessly repeated the rare experience of being killed by himself. All the memories were from those who had died at his hands.

And then,

『It wasn’t supposed to be you dying─!』

『Khan… why won’t you avenge us…!』

『Are you playing the puppet of that damn sorcerer, forgetting us?! Answer us…! Khan─!!』

As the faces of his old comrades emerged and cursed him, the master of death declared.

『Die.』

In that instant, his heart stopped──.