Ten Lucky Draws: I Became OP - Chapter 495: The Time To Decide (2)
Chapter 495: The Time To Decide (2)
At the sound of Ash’s snap, all beings froze.
They didn’t know why, but in this moment they all felt as if something inexplicable was about to happen.
As these beings were all strong enough to be deeply attuned with Reality, that any single notion was enough to know when a change would come.
A major change.
Ash’s voice rang out clearly across the grand hall.
“Lord Alchemy,” he said, looking directly at the ancient man standing below the dais, “you know I wasted a lot of time looking into your background…”
The Lord of Alchemy straightened his long white beard, his ancient eyes narrowing with restrained fury.
“What? How dare you look into things without my knowledge?!”
Normally, the revelation of something like someone digging where they aren’t supposed to… it would result in death.
But everyone in attendance knew by now, that this Pantheon… it was nothing any of them could handle.
At least not while in their domain.
Hearing the nonsense of the Lord of Alchemy, Ash’s smile didn’t waver.
“It truly pained me to find out the precious title… your entire identity… that’s all you have to hold dear.”
After a slight pause, Ash shrugged,
“Well, it matters not.” He said, “Since you chose to scheme instead of handling your loss like a man, you will be the reason of all existence is stripped of Alchemy.”
The Lord of Alchemy’s face paled at the sound of those words. Even though it sounded like an exaggeration…
Who would be the one to call his bluff?
“You wou—!”
His words never got a chance to finish.
Elysia appeared on Ash’s shoulder with a thought, the Codex already open in front of her. Her small hand moved across the page as she wrote with elegant precision.
“And so, all Alchemy vanished from all of Reality. Any and every notion of it will no longer be usable within any mana verse.”
The moment the words were written, existence itself let out a deafening, soul-shaking wail.
It wasn’t a sound that came from any throat — it was the scream of the verse itself.
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH—!”
Across every corner of the Eighteen Realities, beings who had dedicated their lives to Alchemy felt something vital ripped away from their very souls.
Alchemists in hidden their labs watched in horror as their cauldrons went cold, their formulas dissolving into meaningless scribbles.
They all clutched their heads as the conceptual understanding of refinement, transmutation, and creation slipped from their minds like sand through fingers.
Entire factions devoted to the craft descended into chaos as their foundational techniques dissolved into incomprehensibility.
“No… this… is imposs—”
The Lord of Alchemy — the living incarnation of Alchemy itself — began to fade from existence.
First, his long white beard unraveled into nothingness, followed by the slow disintegration of his robes, and then the very flesh from his bones, each fragment dissolving into shimmering golden motes that scattered and vanished into the void.
His eyes, wide with unmitigated terror, reflected the dawning horror of a being… who was aware that his presence was being eradicated from the very fabric of Existence itself.
“Not so fast, old bones.”
Snap!
Before he could vanish completely, Creara snapped her fingers.
A dark, rune-covered golem appeared at her side. With a flick of her wrist, the last fragments of the Lord of Alchemy’s essence were yanked into the golem.
“All of this will be meaningless, after all, if you can’t watch the void you’ve brought into existence,” she said.
The construct’s eyes glowed once before it became motionless, now housing what little remained of the once-great Lord.
—-
Ash turned his gaze to the Prime Devourer.
The ancient being’s shifting form rippled with visible unease, especially seeing the outcome of Lord Alchemy.
Ash spoke calmly to Don, who was still floating nearby with the recording orb.
“Don, explain to the viewers and the guests what this beast is.”
Ash had been meaning to get a new contracted beast for quite a while, but as time went on, his strength kept surpassing that of any creature he came across.
That changed when he started working on his own novel.
’I won’t give him much, but what he does have will be more than enough,’ he thought, and with an easy flick of his wrist, a colossal, spiraling serpent appeared in the middle of the hall.
Don grinned widely, clearly enjoying his role as commentator.
He floated closer to the massive serpent, gesturing dramatically toward it with both hands as the orb recorded every detail.
It was a colossal serpent whose body seemed to stretch infinitely, coiling through the air like a living river of night.
Its scales were a shifting gradient of deep obsidian black and molten gold, each one etched with glowing runes that constantly rewrote themselves, representing the eternal cycle of creation and destruction.
“Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests, and all you lovely viewers back home in Pantheos! Allow me to introduce this beauty. Ouroboros, the Serpent of Origin and Finality!”
Information flowed into Don’s mind from the Ash, and he continued with theatrical flair.
“Born from the very concept of cycles — creation and destruction, beginning and end — Ouroboros is the embodiment of the eternal loop.
She devours to renew, consumes to rebirth. This majestic serpent is not just a beast… she is a living paradox of existence itself. And tonight, she has a very special meal.”
Don turned toward the Prime Devourer with a dramatic flourish.
“Prime Devourer! The self-proclaimed consumer of Reality Nine, creator of Existential Horrors… how does it feel to be on the other end of the food chain?”
The Prime Devourer’s form twisted violently, shadows exploding outward in a desperate defense.
HUM!
Ash simply smiled and gave a small nod.
Ouroboros lunged.
HISSSSS!!!!!!!
SCHUUUUU!!!!
The massive serpent swallowed the Prime Devourer whole in one fluid, unstoppable motion.
There was no scream, no final resistance — only a brief, muffled ripple of shadows before the ancient being was gone, consumed completely.
The hall continued to watch in stunned silence as the serpent coiled contentedly.
Lastly, Ash turned to Ancestor Sealing.
The old man stood frozen, internally panicking as he realized Ash was someone not willing to reason or negotiate.
His ancient eyes darted around, searching for any escape, but he found none.
Ash smiled and then looked directly at Ancestor Seeker, his golden eyes calm but piercing.
“Are you on my side… or against me?”
