Chapter 428: The Savior of Death (4)

Leven's strike split the giant's shoulder, and Drel's slash tore across its back. Light-blood burst from both sides, and a resounding scream echoed. It was a rare sight even in the long history of mankind. Two absolute beings who had reached the pinnacle of martial mastery, the realm every swordsman dreamed of, were fighting side by side.

The two martial kings continued to swing their aura blades, striking the giant of light again and again. Terrifying, reality-defying destructive power poured forth without end. And yet, the giant endured.

Its wounds healed in an instant. It grew even more violent. Beams of destruction shot forth, precisely targeting Leven and Drel. Leven broke into a cold sweat as he expelled aura and hurled himself through the air. This is troublesome.

It was completely different from fighting Tesranach. Each attack was so precise that even a moment's lapse could prove fatal. A relatively smaller giant targeting relatively smaller humans meant its accuracy had drastically increased. Calling fifty meters small felt absurd, but compared to five hundred meters, it was indeed much smaller.

On the other hand, its durability was monstrous. No matter how many times they cut it, it refused to fall. It's not that he became stronger... It's proof of just how overwhelming Tesranach's power is.

The current Jedex was nothing more than a tool wielded by Tesranach. In terms of function, he could truly be likened to a flyswatter. He was merely a tool for killing insects like humans.

Receiving even a small portion of Tesranach's power was enough to tilt the tides completely. Drel ground his teeth. He didn't even have time to savor his newly attained realm as a martial king. How in the world are we supposed to bring that down?

***

The mountain-sized dragon began chanting one incantation after another. "Cold flames, melting frost, light and darkness raging beneath howling lightning."

Through a string of contradictory words of power, he twisted the laws of the world. Countless spells poured forth, slipping through the cracks of established order. The target was the small humans before him.

All manner of natural phenomena embodying destruction swept across the sky and earth. Startled, Karnak and Grateria hastily raised their barriers.

—Block it!

Varos used Shadow Concealment, while Serati, who had no means to evade, simply wrapped her entire body in the aura of twilight.

Most barely managed to block or evade the attacks, but not everyone succeeded. With a desperate scream, the winged angel was flung beyond the city streets. The automatic evasion programmed into her only responded to Dreltein's movements. It was useless against Tesranach.

Serati's face went pale. Milia!

She wanted to rush over and check on her, but there was no time. Grateria's voice rang out.

—She's not dead. She barely avoided a direct hit.

But she would not be able to continue fighting. Tesranach's assault continued. "Die."

It was a simple, almost childish word, but the hatred and fury within it were anything but small."Die and be gone, immutable evil."

Even so, Tesranach did not hurry. There's no need to rush.

There was only one way for the great and powerful to be overturned by the small and weak: By growing impatient and leaving themselves open to a counterattack.

He reinforced his indestructible dragon scales with magic, protecting his body. Because of that, neither the Reversal Blade, nor the Twilight Blade, nor even Karnak's necromancy could break through his defenses.

He steadily pressed Karnak's group while keeping his defenses. In a situation like this, even fleeing was not an option.

Growing desperate, Karnak summoned a swarm of elemental giants. Only to immediately realize he had wasted his strength. "What the hell are we supposed to do?!"

With a snort, Tesranach swept his foreleg, crushing all the elemental giants at once. The reason he had restricted his movements and focused on bombardment was because Karnak's group was too small and fast. So what was the point of summoning large, slow targets?

Even five-meter-tall elemental giants were nothing more than toys compared to the five-hundred-meter Tesranach. Watching them shatter, Karnak grimaced. If he'd just go all out, at least there'd be an opening...

Varos's movements were slowing. His stamina was being rapidly drained. Karnak's breathing grew ragged as well. He still had mana to spare, but his body could not keep up.

Only Serati endured through sheer, overwhelming divine power, but raw stamina alone could not turn the tide. At this rate, the outcome was obvious. They needed a breakthrough. As he darted frantically through the chaos, Varos sent a desperate message.

—Young master, isn't there really any way?

—If there were, I'd have used it already!

Serati, grasping at straws, asked as well.

—Can't you summon something like a giant beast? They've got two giant monsters on their side!

It was a remarkably simple question. If the enemy could field giant monsters, why couldn't they?

—Or could you become a giant monster yourself, Karnak?

—What do you take me for? Of course there's no—

Karnak snapped back irritably before suddenly pausing. Huh?

Come to think of it, it wasn't impossible. There... is one.

***

There was a way. There remained a single method that he could use to overcome this situation. And yet, Karnak had never thought of it until now. No, rather, he had never even considered that he should.

Was it because his mastery in necromancy was insufficient? Impossible. He was, after all, the Monarch of Death. He had long since reached the pinnacle of necromancy. It was simply a method he never wanted to choose. So much so that, on a subconscious level, he had treated it as if it didn't exist at all.

Damn it... However, even after finding a solution, he felt no joy. Did he really have to use this? He would lose everything.

It had taken so much to get here. He had essentially destroyed the future and crossed time itself to arrive here. But now, he had no other choice.

In the end, it made no difference. If Tesranach was left as he was, the end was already predetermined.

If that's the case, at the very least, I should save them. With a sigh, Karnak slipped his hand into his robe and pulled something out.

His palm was filled with five pitch-black cubes, the Anti-Time-Space Transcenders he had acquired through various means. The cubes rose into the air, and he began a quiet incantation. "Echoes of those who dream of eternal rest..."

The five relics began to rotate slowly around him. A faint smile crept across Karnak's lips. This is... not like me at all.

He had once said himself that one must not rule over death if they wished to live as a human. That had been true. But it had also been false. Just because one chose not to rule over death, did not mean they could live like a decent human.

To live as a human, one simply had to live as one. Whether or not one ruled over death was irrelevant. His voice, laden with power, continued. "Let life and death tear down their boundary and come unto me..."

The five relics collided with one another and shattered. All the death energy and malice contained within them erupted at once. What resulted was a terrifying darkness, power enough for dozens of necromancers to wield absolute power for centuries.

That overwhelming force was compressed into mere minutes. It was a dominion of death no human body could ever withstand. And yet, he accepted it.

One who never tolerated loss chose to bear it. One who never relinquished what was his let go of everything. "Let all things halt within the stillness that lingers..."

Beyond the raging darkness, he saw his companions. He saw Varos rampaging wildly, Leven and Drel wielding their blades with everything they had, and— Serati.

Once, he would not have valued them even a coin's worth. Now, he could no longer say that. Watching them, Karnak made his decision. Yes. I abandon the life of a human.

Darkness seeped into him, engulfing everything he was. "I shall now become the master of death!"

***

Darkness surged upward and a colossal pillar of ink-black rose between heaven and earth. The imperial capital trembled as black mist spread in all directions, soon transforming into a sea of darkness that flooded the city.

From that black ocean, a massive hand slowly emerged. It was a bone-white skeletal hand, and it grasped a nearby building. The building crumbled effortlessly. Then, piercing through the darkness, a massive skull revealed itself. Its vast breath roared like a storm.

Next came skeletal legs, crushing the city once more. Amid the thunderous collapse of buildings, waves of pitch-black surged and rolled. At last, the colossal skeleton stood fully upright.

From a distant height, its eyes gleamed. Within the deep, hollow sockets filled with darkness, blue flames burned. A blue spiritual aura took the shape of a human youth, draping over the skeleton, while tattered black robes wrapped around that spectral body.

Varos muttered blankly,

"Oh my goodness..." It looked strangely familiar. "It's the young master from back then."

It was Karnak, the Emperor of Necropia, ruler of all the dead, sovereign of life and death, and the Monarch of Death. There was, however, one difference from his previous form as the Monarch of Death.

He was far too large. He met Tesranach at eye level, even with the dragon standing tall. He must have been well over a hundred meters tall.

Serati was just as stunned. He could do something like that?

—Lord Karnak?

She had only asked if he could become a giant monster—and he had truly become one. The hundred-meter skeleton slowly turned its head. A message, somehow carrying the sense of a smile, reached her.

—Thank you, Serati. You gave me the hint.

Once something was done once, it could be done again. Drawing upon all the darkness contained within the five relics, he had once more unleashed the technique of Astra Shunaph.

Of course, unlike before, he was severely lacking in the amount of darkness. The true Hollow God of Death was still severed from Karnak by the Shadow of Doom.

In other words, this was a vastly degraded form of Astra Shunaph. It could not display the absolute power it once had, and even at full output it would only last for a few dozen minutes at best.

—Still, I can do things like this!

Karnak extended his skeletal hand forward. When a skeleton over a hundred meters tall reached out, that alone spanned dozens of meters. In an instant, bone-white fingers seized the neck of the giant of light and twisted.

The light collapsed, and radiant blood splattered in all directions. The darkness corrupted the spilled light, preventing it from regenerating its form. Like a lump of cheese caught in a grip, the giant melted away miserably.

Having shattered Jedex in a single blow, Karnak stood before Tesranach. Two colossal beings, each over a hundred meters tall, faced one another, dominating the sky and earth of the capital.

"Heh... heh heh..." Tesranach laughed. "So you've finally revealed your true nature..."

Jedex had been destroyed in one strike, but it was nothing remarkable. Karnak had merely snatched away a flyswatter and broke it. If anything, it was welcome. At this point, Karnak could no longer hide.

"I never thought this would end easily." From the dragon's massive body, the Black God's Grace began to rise like a heat haze. "I will destroy you and save this world!"