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Chapter 303

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‘Pass for now. I can’t handle the nausea.’

If the timing had been earlier, maybe I wouldn’t care.

But receiving it now, while standing off against a goddess?

I couldn’t guarantee what kind of disaster that would bring.

“Lispa. Move everyone else back.”

In this world, everyone except Lispa and me were nothing more than fragments of memory anyway.

They had no true life or death.

And yet, the reason I still cared was simple.

I just couldn’t see them as not people.

The moment I spoke with them, shared emotions with them, even if they existed only for a fleeting instant—they were people.

Of course, once we left this place, all of it would be forgotten.

The aura circulating within me was already building a complete world, enforcing its own laws.

They say all rivers return to the sea.

In the end, no matter how far you go, the destination is the same.

When you reach the very end, you attain the realm of one who can alter the laws of the world itself.

Like now.

[Nameless Sword]

[Falling Firmament]

Craack!

A sword held in no hand flashed, and a massive scar split across the world.

The rift carved into the vast heavens lingered, distorting space instead of vanishing.

“That’s impossible… How can a mere human…?”

“What… what is that?”

The faces of warriors—men who had polished their martial arts their entire lives and held pride in them—were filled with shock and terror.

Even when the white goddess Eve had appeared, they had held onto their resolve, not letting go until the very end.

But now, that last grip slipped from their hands.

When they had seen my Sword Moving with Will in the training ground, they had been horrified.

But now, it wasn’t just horror—they were lost in confusion.

This was the end of the sword, the peak all swordsmen strove for.

And yet, it was a realm they couldn’t truly comprehend.

The wall beyond Swordmaster—the Mindmaster’s domain—was the highest reality known to mortals.

Across the Eastern Continent or any other, reaching Mindmaster was seen as the highest peak, and even then, only the rarest of figures in history had ever touched it.

But the Grandmaster’s realm beyond that wall?

And further still—those heights beyond even that, where existence itself was uncertain?

Such a realm was already far beyond their capacity to grasp.

At least the Archangels might understand.

“What… what is that…? It’s terrifying…”

This man… is he really…?

Lispa muttered in a daze, then frowned and asked:

“An overclocked Master Key? Leon… are you really human?”

She felt it too.

Lispa Elde Remielia.

Even she, who had existed for eons as an Archangel, was staring at me with trembling eyes.

Her earlier, sensitive reaction when I manifested the extreme technique hadn’t been an exaggeration.

I checked my body’s state slowly.

I had forced my body into a higher realm through the Master Key’s adjustment.

The fact that my body could withstand such a forced elevation without collapsing was thanks to both this space’s special nature and the Master Key itself.

It wasn’t a complete manifestation of the extreme realm, so I couldn’t draw out my full power.

But this much was enough to stand against the abnormal goddess before me.

Behind the white goddess, space split open, and out stepped a monster hundreds of meters tall.

But it wasn’t just its size.

Its very existence radiated immense power.

It was clear that Eve had forged it from her authority over Life.

The God of Death, Adam.

The Goddess of Life, Eve.

I already knew their story.

Compared to Death, the authority of Life didn’t look all that dangerous at first glance.

But authority, in the end, is all about how you use it.

The monster lunged at me, moving impossibly fast for something with such a gigantic body.

“Get back!”

Lispa cried out.

But I did not retreat.

I simply refined the mana floating in the air into aura, shaping it into a sword.

The monster’s enormous arm came down on me.

Just before it struck, I moved my sword slowly—gently.

The sound that erupted could never have come from something so small colliding with a fist so large.

Craaaack!!

The monstrous white-blooded body collapsed in an instant.

“What the…?”

The authority binding its flesh unraveled as my sword cut through it, and without it, the form could no longer hold.

But that thing was never the true threat.

The real one was the white goddess floating proudly in the sky.

Come to think of it, since she appeared, she hadn’t truly attacked once.

The spear of light that had pierced Lispa wasn’t the full measure of her power.

Other than that, she had simply observed, done nothing.

Now, she began to move.

With her gesture, life spread into all things.

Not just to beings and matter—the authority extended even into the laws themselves.

If I had wielded Death’s authority properly, I might have been able to use it like this.

At least, it made for good study.

She tried to resurrect the massive white-blooded giant I had destroyed.

But just as Life was absolute, so too was Death.

The collision of authorities sparked a phenomenon I could feel clearly.

Not allowing her even the smallest opening, I pressed my assault.

Craaaack!!

The sword I swung ignored space, slashing straight toward the white goddess.

Her body should have been split in two, but she was still a goddess.

She slipped out through the rift in space, time, and law itself, escaping the strike.

Then, at last, she began her true assault.

Her hand danced through the air, and behind her, a massive circular structure began to form.

Ten disks, joined together by radiating branches.

Lispa gasped in disbelief.

“The Sephirot! That crazy witch actually brought out the Relic of Paradise?!”

Sephirot?

Was that the same as the mythology I remembered…?

No.

The name sounded similar, but many things here differed from the information of my previous life.

-Malkuth.

A mysterious, indescribable language flowed forth.

Then, the lowest of the discs began to shine, and a halo of five-colored light surged outward, wrapping itself around the surroundings.

Instinctively, I knew I mustn’t let it touch me.

I smoothly gathered my sword and struck.

Claaang!!!

With a heavy recoil, the five-colored radiance faltered and recoiled.

Wherever the light touched, the world withered and shriveled as though it had lost all life force.

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I had no idea how this was tied to the pattern of the Sephirot—I knew almost nothing about theology, after all.

The moment I pushed back the radiance, I stepped forward.

I severed the laws of the world and slipped into the rift.

Before I knew it, I had reached the White Goddess’s side, and my blade swept down smoothly.

To that which had no form, no source, and no essence, I gave form, origin, and a core.

And then—

I cut it.

The White Goddess evaded, but the lowest sphere of the Sephirot she had manifested was sliced away.

Malkuth down.

Even as I sneered, the White Goddess did not stop.

-Yesod.

Her voice resounded again.

Another disc lit up, and beings with pure white wings appeared all around.

Angels?

No.

Those were nothing more than lumps of immense power wearing the guise of angels.

Compared to archangels, their dignity fell short.

The rays of energy they unleashed chased me like living serpents.

But I didn’t flee—I charged straight through.

And with a single sweep of my blade, I cut down everything before me.

Beyond the beams that shattered like frozen water turning to shards of ice, I thrust forward and, this time, my strike landed squarely on the White Goddess’s body.

In an instant, one arm and a wing were severed.

Yet she showed no sign of pain and immediately launched another assault.

-Hod.

-Netzach.

I’d been noticing it for some time—the more discs lit up, the stronger her power grew, and the greater the burden weighing down on me became, no matter how many I cut down.

The only way forward was to finish this before I lost the strength to fight.

Just as she tried to invoke Hod and Netzach once more, my blade struck.

I severed the very conduit of power she was using.

At last, a reaction flickered across her face.

What’s wrong?

Surprised that even your authority can be cut down?

This was the only way to kill an ancient god.

Of course, I was well aware the White Goddess was not in her full form—she was already partially suppressed.

But regardless, I cut first and asked questions later.

Craaaack!!!

One of the discs she manifested shattered cleanly, while another was cleaved deeply.

Boom!!!

At the same time, an immense pressure crashed down on me—not mere gravity magic.

If gravity was the pull of massive bodies, this was the arbitrary manipulation of the very existence of such masses.

One sphere had activated, perhaps. It didn’t matter.

For in forcing the Sephirot to manifest, she had created an opening.

In an instant, I was behind her, my aura interfering with her form.

Now she had nowhere left to run, nowhere left to block. Goddess or not—once her existence was fixed, she could be cut.

That was when it happened.

For the first time, the White Goddess’s face twisted into a chilling smile. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on n0velfire.net

-Tiphereth.

“Dodge!!!”

Lispa’s desperate cry came too late.

An intangible sharpness cut through the air, filling my entire vision.

It wasn’t mere slashing—it was the severing of existence itself, condensed into one pure act.

See?

It’s just as I thought—it’s slightly different from what I heard in my past life.

No space to evade.

The intangible sharpness filled everything, even cutting away the sound of Lispa’s warning.

Space, time, escape—all were severed.

Strictly speaking, it was akin to the essence of my own ultimate swordsmanship.

But that hardly mattered.

A swordsman is one who cuts and thrusts.

If the target lies before him—be it even the chief god—

He cuts.

Slaaash!

Like carving form into the formless, my blade severed the very principle of existence.

In the duel of ultimate sword-essences, it was I who prevailed.

“What the—? Tiphereth… broken? How is that even possible?”

Even those ignorant of the truth instinctively knew that Tiphereth was something that should not be cut, but rather would cut you instead.

But I clearly recognized it, gave it substance, and severed it.

And in doing so, the White Goddess hiding behind it fell within my strike’s arc.

Her upper body sliced apart, she stared silently at me, then slowly moved her lips.

-Keter……

Craack!!!

I had no idea what she was aiming for, but the fact that she prepared a counter even in that state was unsettling.

Before the strange incantation could finish, I stomped upon the floating Sephirot, crushing the glowing circle underfoot.

As though the axis of a massive machine had collapsed, the Sephirot dissolved into glittering dust and scattered in all directions.

From that moment, the White Goddess’s divine form began to fade until it dissipated like mist.

All that remained were the gazes of those who looked at me with fear beyond reverence.

It was the gaze one would cast upon something inhuman, a terrifying existence.

A being who had reached the pinnacle could not help but radiate overwhelming presence.

Hiding such presence was possible, of course—but not in the middle of a battle.

It was the first time I’d been subjected to such stares, and it felt strange.

As the heavy silence lingered, Lispa snapped her fingers.

Instantly—

The world shifted, and time began to rewind.

“Lispa?”

Without a word, she hugged me from behind.

“Don’t look at them. They only felt fear instinctively. There’s no reason for you to be the object of such dread.”

“……”

For some reason, I felt a sudden swell of gratitude.

“…Tch, your back’s really firm…”

Huh?

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