276 - The Final Question (2)
TL/Editor: raei
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: none
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Is the future of all things predetermined?
The answer was 'no.'
Unlike the past that had already gone by and the present that was still unfolding, the future wasn't set in stone. Like countless branches spreading from a single trunk of the present - tens of thousands, no, even more. Innurable possible futures existed as re potential.
Chronos's final question, 'Future Pull,' could draw forth just one of these countless possibilities - whichever one the caster desired.
Tick! Tick!
As the endless ticking of clock hands echoed, the world ca to a complete halt.
'He's already beco a full divine being,' Zion thought as he watched the completely frozen Demon King.
'Only divinity can face divinity.'
However, even Chronos's final question that could summon one possibility from the future couldn't directly elevate Zion himself to divinity.
Reaching godhood ant transcending predetermined fate to write your own destiny in this universe anew. That was only possible by breaking all bonds of mortality through sheer force of will alone.
But.
'Other things are possible.'
With this thought, Zion seized one of the infinite possibilities before him - the future where he fulfilled his contract with the gods and received causality from them.
WHOOSH!
Causality that he had never possessed before began surging wildly through his entire body.
Though this causality alone wasn't enough to reach divinity, it was enough for Zion. Everything else had been prepared long ago. His ego had already been worthy of divinity; causality was all he had lacked.
As that causality was fulfilled, all bonds and fate binding Zion began unraveling.
SNAP!
As his limitations broke, his consciousness soared infinitely beyond the fundantal truths existing at the universe's origin.
Along with this, a single pure 'knowing' pierced through the Emperor's core:
Everything was empty.
Just as most of the universe was void.
Just as nothing could be seen when expanding the world again and again until it could expand no further.
From the smallest purity to the greatest imasurability - all these connected to form a single emptiness.
Everything existed yet didn't exist; everything was real yet empty.
The Emperor's ego reached beyond the universe's edge.
The outside of the universe recognized the Emperor.
All things in the world only gained aning through cause and connection, thus 'all things themselves' were illusions and empty.
The sole Authority of Black Star Force - 'Denial.'
That wasn't its true na.
Returning everything to its original empty state.
Return to Void.
Will extended from the world into the universe.
As that expanding will reached its peak and finally, a new existence was carved into the 'Great Fate' that guided the flow of the entire universe-
A ninth star began rising in the eyes of the Emperor who had devoured the world.
Had all flows in the world stopped?
In this world filled only with silence, devoid of movent or sound, the Demon King who had now beco a god watched Zion before him.
Different.
Sothing was different.
The Emperor who existed just monts ago and the being standing before him now were so fundantally different they could be considered entirely separate existences.
No, could 'existence' alone even describe 'that'?
Though Eclaxia had lost all its explosive darkness and hung limply toward the ground, though all the alien atmosphere that had filled the surroundings had vanished-
The King's senses still whispered that the current Zion was far more dangerous.
It felt as if the entire world was sinking around the Emperor at its center.
"What exactly have you done?" The King's voice trembled slightly, unable to comprehend Zion's state despite having reached divinity himself.
"You told
not to disappoint you."
Still not emanating even a speck of darkness, Zion began slowly walking toward the Demon King.
"So I won't."
The King unconsciously took a step back before catching himself, his lips twisting at realizing his own movent. His pride was wounded at being overwheld before they'd even clashed.
"Very well, let's find out then."
As he spoke, the King's outstretched hand transford one of the worlds he had destroyed into a spear. The sheer power flowing from it - enough to instantly obliterate an entire continent - caused the world to scream and distort.
WHOOSH!
The distance between them vanished at the King's will as he struck.
Just as the King's spear was about to pierce Zion's heart through ti that had slowed to reversal from his trait of 'Chaos'-
TAP.
As if this outco had been predetermined from the start, Zion's hand appeared, skipping all interdiate steps, to et the spear's tip.
A hand still containing no power whatsoever.
Thus the result should have been predictable to anyone, and yet-
SCREECH!
That prediction was completely wrong.
A Line.
Starting precisely from Zion's fingertip, a single diagonal line shot up into the sky.
The King's form was instantly swept along it, breaking through the atmosphere and vanishing beyond.
WHOOSH!
Tens of thousands of shockwaves erupted along that line.
The world split by these waves was visible throughout the entire demon realm, far beyond imagination.
Yet Zion, who had created this scene, showed faint dissatisfaction in his eyes.
'The control isn't quite there.'
He had intended to completely annihilate the King with that single strike.
But Zion quickly dismissed that dissatisfaction and naturally took one step forward.
SWOOSH!
Following this movent, his form appeared before the King who had been knocked into outer space, carried by the denied laws of the world.
Then Zion gathered all the starlight pouring from space into one hand, converted it to void, and struck the King with it.
The world cracked and shattered from the blow's unfathomable might.
The King responded by transforming another world he had destroyed into a weapon, but-
CRACK!
It was useless.
His weapon shattered without lasting even a mont as his form plumted back down.
BOOM!
The King crashed into the center of the battlefield between humanity and the demon realm, causing an explosion large enough to instantly vaporize an entire city.
Space itself split along his descent path, revealing infinite void before vanishing again.
"Guh..."
The King barely managed to rise in the center of the impossibly massive and deep crater.
Before he could properly recover-
SWOOSH!
All darkness in existence descended before the King's eyes.
An endlessly ominous yet endlessly thrilling sight.
GRAB!
A pure white hand shot out from within to seize the King's throat as Zion's next attack began.
Black Star Force.
The power to return everything in this universe to its original empty state - to nothingness.
The true Authority of Black Star Force was now being unleashed.
Though temporary and thus imperfect, its power still affected the universe itself beyond the world.
"Ah..."
On the now-silent battlefield, Hero Claire's dazed voice erged as she watched the battle between two divine beings in a trance.
Just observing was causing her soul - which had reached humanity's peak - to gradually crumble.
The level was truly unfathomable and mythical.
She couldn't even breathe properly, let alone look away.
'What is this...'
The Demon King's power far exceeded imagination, making her previous attempts to defeat him seem aningless, but everyone on the battlefield was focused on-
SCREECH!
Zion, who was utterly demolishing the King with an overwhelming difference in power.
No, they couldn't even be sure if that being was still their Emperor.
Zion's form appeared blurry to their eyes, like static on a screen.
Just as ordinary humans couldn't properly see an angel's form.
It was a phenonon born from the imasurable difference in level.
Perceiving his form or sensing his power was impossible.
'Is this... the Eternal Emperor's true power?'
No, could re 'power' describe this?
No, could this even be a being that lived in the sa world as them?
They had known he transcended common sense, but this was beyond that.
'Just what are you...'
As the hero's eyes trembled wildly-
CRACK! SCREECH!
The King of Despair was being overwheld by Zion.
'How, how is this possible...'
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing worked.
Whether transforming an entire world into lightning and firing it-
Or condensing and unleashing all the sun's energy-
He couldn't even touch a hair on the Emperor before him.
Moreover-
WHOOSH!
His body and essence kept returning to void.
Had he been an ordinary mortal being, it might have been comprehensible.
But he was divine.
Though a lesser god, he was still a complete divine being.
Annihilating a divine being's essence was fundantally different from destroying a mortal being.
It was equivalent to twisting part of the 'Great Fate' that moved and regulated the entire universe.
Sothing impossible even for high-ranking gods.
Yet the Emperor before him was doing it as naturally as breathing.
GRAB! GRAB! CRACK!
He was completely outmatched.
The battle itself had never even been established.
It felt like a supre predator playing with its prey before the kill.
The King knew his traits of 'Chaos' and 'Change' were exceptional, even for a lower divine being.
What trait could the Emperor possess to so overwhelmingly suppress him?
'I wanted to beco stronger, but...'
This wasn't what he had wanted.
His death seed certain at this rate.
He had to prevent that sohow.
HAHAHAHAHA!
Demonic energy covering the entire demon realm transford into a massive tidal wave, targeting Zion alone.
WHOOSH!
Zion erased the wave with just a light clench of his extended hand.
"Emperor."
As if expecting this, the King imdiately twisted causality to summon dozens of tidal waves simultaneously.
"You always exceed my expectations."
The world's laws began distorting from this trendous power as space-ti changed arbitrarily.
"In the past, and now."
But.
Path of Void.
Even these nurous waves vanished as if they had never existed before Zion's transcendent technique.
"Your power clearly surpasses mine."
Though he watched his attacks disappear without the slightest effect, the King's eyes didn't waver.
No.
"But I cannot accept defeat like this."
They shone with stronger will than ever before.
His previous two attacks had been-
CRACK!
rely groundwork for the final strike he was now preparing.
As the King clenched his fist at maximum power-
All the fates of the worlds he had destroyed gathered in his hand and began transforming.
The flow of causality and everything between heaven and earth began changing.
"Then take this."
As the world rapidly collapsed around them-
"Yes, it's ti to end this."
Zion glanced toward the edge of the world before turning coldly toward the King.
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