Chapter 425: Godification State

BOOM——!!!

The pillars of golden and blue light crashed violently against each other in mid-air.

In that instant, the world lost all sound and color.

An unimaginably massive energy storm detonated outward from the point of impact. Violent gales and shockwaves swept through the entire underground space, tearing up and pulverizing layer upon layer of the hardened rock floor.

Robin and the others had to use all their strength just to stay on their feet and avoid being blown away by the apocalyptic tempest.

However, the stalemate lasted for less than three seconds.

Aiden's golden beam began to lose ground. The blue beam of divine power seemed to possess an endless reserve of energy, moving with overwhelming force to devour the golden light inch by inch.

The veins in Aiden's arms bulged fiercely, but the gap between him and that divine power was simply too vast.

The golden light shattered piece by piece.

Just as the devastating blue beam was about to strike Aiden...

A figure silently stepped in front of him.

It was Artemis's remnant thought. She didn't look back; she simply opened her arms calmly, as if embracing the light that was powerful enough to destroy everything.

There was no explosion. There was no shockwave.

The terrifying blue beam struck her body and, like a pebble dropped into a lake, seamlessly merged into her.

Artemis's body began to turn translucent. Countless silver specks of light drifted from her form, scattering like dandelion seeds caught in the wind.

"Aiden... I leave this to you."

Her voice, ethereal and ephemeral, echoed directly in Aiden's mind.

"Use my arrow... end this."

Leaving only those words behind, she completely dissolved into a sky full of light before Aiden's eyes, quietly fading away.

She was merely a wisp of thought clinging to the Divine Weapon "Orion," with barely any essence remaining. Taking that strike from Antares—an attack fueled by her own true body's divine power—had pushed her far beyond the limits of her existence.

Artemis's remnant thought dissipated into a flurry of light before Aiden's eyes. But Antares's assault did not cease.

Its massive, multi-jointed maw snapped open, spitting out a purple laser condensed with ominous divine power. It wasn't a beam; it was a line of absolute destruction sweeping across the entire cavern.

Robin and the others' expressions shifted drastically. They immediately grabbed the non-combatants, Furina and Hermes, and scrambled awkwardly behind the rubble for cover.

The purple laser swept past. Wherever it touched—whether solid rock or broken floors and walls—was silently sliced cleanly in half, leaving cuts as smooth as mirrors.

The moment the laser swept toward him, Aiden's figure blurred into an afterimage. Dodging the beam, he retaliated with several fiery flying slashes.

However, these strikes—powerful enough to cleave mountains—landed on Antares's carapace and left only a few shallow scratches, scattering a few sparks. Under the flow of its purple divine light, even those minor scratches healed rapidly.

Staring at the monster before him, whose defense, regeneration, and attack power were virtually absolute, Aiden let out a slow breath.

Conventional methods were entirely meaningless now.

He closed his eyes, casting aside all stray thoughts. The magical energy within his body began to boil in an unprecedented manner.

A magical incantation slowly spilled from his lips.

"Ignite the dawn—with a newborn blazing sun, tear through the sky, and grant unto you the light that burns all stars to ashes."

A wisp of white-gold fire quietly ignited at his chest. The flame was as pure as fresh snow, yet as fiercely blazing as the dawn of creation. His white hair ceased drifting in the wind, instead catching fire, transforming into the same brilliant white-gold radiance.

"I am the blazing sun that will eventually rise, burning everything to ashes until the very end."

He opened his eyes. His blue irises had vanished, replaced by twin orbs of pure white light burning silently in their sockets.

His body slowly levitated, his toes floating three inches off the ground. White-gold flames seeped from every inch of his skin, cloaking him into a burning humanoid figure.

"Beyond choice, beyond survival. Forging armor from dying embers, wielding a blade of sparks, bearing the wounds of ten thousand generations with a solitary, unbroken vessel. In this moment, the ideals of the masses converge into a single, ultimate vow. Step forward, for this is the name of salvation."

"Cross the long night, shatter illusions, cleanse chaos, and sever disasters. A mortal body bearing the mandate of heaven, the heart's fire illuminating the eight directions."

Aiden slowly raised his head.

The white-gold flames condensed frantically behind him, gradually taking the shape of a blazing sun.

"—This is the moment of deification."

As the final word of the chant fell.

BOOM—!

The white-gold flames erupted into the sky, swallowing everything in the vicinity.

[Godification State: Lord Ravager]!

Seeming to sense an unprecedented threat, Antares let out a piercing shriek. Its massive scorpion pincers, carrying enough force to pulverize a mountain peak, smashed ruthlessly down toward the burning humanoid.

However, the figure merely tilted slightly.

There were no wasted movements, no dramatic dodges. Like a gentle breeze gliding over water, his body naturally shifted out of the way at an impossible angle.

The colossal pincer practically brushed past him as it struck, blasting a bottomless crater into the ground.

Antares unleashed a torrential storm of attacks. Its stinger became a blur of lethal afterimages, and the purple lasers spewing from its mouth wove into a net of destruction.

Yet, none of it could touch the burning figure.

His body seemed entirely disconnected from his conscious mind, every single limb and muscle naturally executing the most perfect evasion. He didn't think; he didn't predict. He simply existed there, effortlessly avoiding every single attack.

This was the realm of Ultra Instinct.

During a brief gap as he sidestepped a laser, Aiden finally moved.

Before anyone realized it, Godslayer: Surtr in his hand had also been coated in a layer of white-gold flame.

He took a single step, his figure vanishing instantly, and reappeared directly above Antares's head the next moment. He brought the sword down.

CLANG——!!!

This time, there were no useless sparks.

Godslayer: Surtr bit solidly into Antares's carapace. The white-gold flames erupted with terrifying destructive force, melting and tearing the armor on its head apart, leaving a massive, bone-deep gash.

But Antares's regeneration, bolstered by divine power, remained horrific. Purple light flowed over the injury, and the massive wound began to heal at a visible rate.

The battle fell into a bizarre stalemate.

Antares possessed enough attack power to annihilate a city, yet it couldn't even touch the hem of Aiden's clothes. Meanwhile, Aiden's attacks could break its defenses, but he couldn't inflict fatal damage against its absurd regeneration speed.

The aftershocks of their battle, however, became the death knell for the subterranean ruins.

Every collision of their attacks triggered violent energy storms. When Aiden was occasionally knocked back, his body shattered the stone pillars supporting the dome, while Antares's stray lasers reduced massive swaths of the walls to fine dust.

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