High above the battlefield, Clyde continued to press forward without pause as fire and lightning surged violently around his body while each attack he unleashed tore into the massive form of the Celestial Abyssal Beast even more.
His movents remained sharp and controlled, his focus locked entirely on the destruction in front of him.
But in the middle of that relentless assault, sothing suddenly happened.
It was faint at first.
A presence brushed against his senses. A subtle yet unmistakable presence.
It did not co from the writhing darkness itself, nor from the chaotic energy surrounding the battlefield. It was sothing deeper, sothing far older. But sothing familiar to him.
Clyde’s eyes narrowed slightly as his next attack erupted forward. But his thoughts shifted in that instant as recognition struck him.
"That presence..." he muttered under his breath.
He had felt it before.
Not in this world, not in this body, but far back in a ti that should have been left behind. It was the sa existence that had reached out to him in his previous life and reached out to him after he had been killed.
The sa one that had granted him another chance. The sa one that had allowed him to rise beyond limits and stand against the higher realms themselves.
The Ancient Ones. The true Outer Gods.
For a mont, sothing within him stirred violently as emotions he had not expected surfaced all at once. Relief mixed with excitent, and sothing deeper that he could not na as his lips curled into a faint, almost disbelieving smile.
"I thought you were gone..." he said quietly.
He had believed that presence had already faded after granting him rebirth. That it had fulfilled its purpose and disappeared into whatever existence it belonged to.
But now, it was here again.
Even if it was faint. Even if it was distant. That was enough.
Clyde pushed his will forward, trying to reach it, trying to establish even the slightest connection through the chaos that surrounded him.
But nothing was answered.
The presence remained distant and silent, like sothing beyond a barrier he could not yet cross.
His expression tightened slightly as realization settled in.
"So this is just a trace," he thought.
It made sense. What stood before him was only a false imitation. A fake Outer God constructed within this controlled world. It could never truly carry the full existence of sothing like that.
But even a trace was enough to confirm one thing. That the Ancient One was still out there.
The thought sharpened instantly, turning into a far more solid determination as his gaze hardened.
"I’ll find you," he muttered quietly. "After this... I’ll find you again."
The decision settled within him without hesitation.
Then his focus snapped back completely to the battle.
Power surged through his body once more as lightning cracked violently and flas roared along his arm.
Clyde moved forward again, faster than before as he shot through the air and t the incoming tentacles head-on.
His sword burned as it moved.
One tentacle lashed toward him but he intercepted it instantly. The blade slashed through it in a single motion as fire and lightning tore the structure apart. The severed portion dissolved into fragnts of darkness before it could even fall.
A few dozen tentacles followed. Each one t the sa fate.
Clyde did not slow down. His attacks ca faster and stronger, more precisely as he carved through the creature’s defenses while unleashing bursts of destructive energy directly into its core.
Explosions of fire and lightning erupted across the Celestial Abyssal Beast’s body as more of its form shattered under the relentless assault.
The massive entity twisted violently and its form destabilized further as portions of its darkness broke apart and scattered into the sky.
"GRAAAAHHHH!!!"
A distorted, unbearable sound erupted from the Celestial Abyssal Beast as Clyde’s assault tore deeper into its existence.
It was no longer just a distant shriek. The sound twisted into far more violent and raw noises, a mixture of a scream and a roar that carried unmistakable pain. It didn’t co from any known beast or creature in the world.
The massive body of darkness convulsed in the sky as its dark flesh rippled uncontrollably. Fragnts breaking away like pieces of a collapsing void.
"AAARRRRGHHHH—!!"
The sound echoed across the entire ruined city as the creature’s form destabilized completely.
Its countless tentacles lashed out wildly one final ti before losing their strength. The overwhelming presence that had once pressed down on everything began to shudder.
Then it fell completely.
The enormous mass of shifting darkness dropped from the sky.
It crashed through the upper layers of the ruined skyscrapers, tearing through steel and concrete like they were nothing. Buildings collapsed instantly under its weight as the impact sent shockwaves across the entire area. Structures split apart, floors crumbled, and debris exploded outward in every direction as the beast continued its descent.
The ground shook violently when it finally struck the streets below.
A massive cloud of dust and shattered rubble surged upward, swallowing everything in a thick haze as the remains of the city were crushed beneath the fallen entity.
The impact carved a deep crater into the already devastated landscape, leaving destruction layered upon destruction.
For a short period of ti, everything went still except the noises of everything falling apart.
Then sothing moved within the dust.
A burst of white and blue light cut through the haze.
Clyde erged from the collapsing mass.
His body pushed forward through the remnants of the fallen creature as lightning coiled violently around him and flas burned steadily along his arm and blade. The air around him warped under the heat and magic energy he carried as he stepped out from the destruction he had just created.
His gaze remained sharp. His body was still filled with power. His eyes were still sharp. The blood on his face and his tattered clothes made him look more like a beast, not human.
The dark creature groaned and twitched. It was alive.
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