No matter how deep one hides in the darkness, there is no place the light of the Great Sun Tathagata cannot reach.
Where the light descends, there is no place to hide, nor any place to flee.
The light that erased the darkness caused even the shadows to vanish.
An overwhelming radiance blanketed the world, turning all creation into light.
However, the Radiance Transformation was not merely a simple white light.
It was a light that revealed the truth and eut through illusions, forcibly exposing the enemy’s true form and weaknesses.
The reason why Je Hyeon-oh and Won Tae-beom’s previous attacks had failed was simple.
The eyes covering the sky were entities no different from lies.
As the celestial being revealed its essence, the eyes beyond the mask scrutinized it keenly.
CEO Cha ascended toward the sky, riding atop a plunging tentacle.
And among the countless eyes of falsehood, he found the truth.
It was an eye located right in the center.
Unlike the other eyes with circular pupils, this one alone possessed a thin, long horizontal pupil.
Only that was reality, not an illusion.
The light that had spread across the world returned as a sword.
The light, grown even larger by devouring the darkness, converged upon the Great Sun Tathagata.
The blade vibrated minutely under the energy condensed to its absolute limit.
The hand gripping the hilt tightly swung the sword down.
A single strike.
A pure white trail was carved along the elegant trajectory of the blade.
It was a strike of peerless precision, crossing over the enemy’s most fatal weakness.
However, it was the power of a human against a god.
Not even a tenth of the Radiance Transformation’s true power was unleashed.
Despite being a force capable of splitting the seas and tearing the heavens, it managed only to leave a long, shallow wound on the horizontal pupil.
Blue droplets of blood beaded in the scratch-like fissure.
Simultaneously, every single eye turned to look at CEO Cha.
It was a gaze that shattered the barriers of the mind.
"...!"
The golden veil above his head blocked the gaze, but CEO Cha’s body staggered helplessly.
Had the veil not been there, his brain would have been crushed instantly.
CEO Cha landed on a tentacle and slid a long distance.
As he barely managed to stop himself by stabbing the Great Sun Tathagata into the mucous surface to slow down, a black figure shot past him like a projectile.
Je Hyeon-oh, with his metallic wings spread wide, swung his hand toward the wound CEO Cha had left.
A black line was drawn.
It was merely a repeated clawing over the existing cut, but the wound grew distinctly deeper.
Once the only attackable part among tens of thousands of eyes was confirmed, messages fell consecutively into the minds of Je Hyeon-oh and Won Tae-beom.
Won Tae-beom immediately unleashed a flurry of strikes with his gauntlets upon the wound.
The first was a golden brand, and the second was a heavy blow.
Boom!
The moment the gauntlet struck the eye, a vibration echoed as if a fortress wall had been hit.
The power was certainly lower than the previous attacks.
However, because the strike landed on a wound that had already breached the outer skin, the shock and vibration were absorbed entirely, crushing the tissue.
The wound, which had been nothing more than a thin crack, tore open vertically.
Je Hyeon-oh immediately clung to the eye and ripped at the wound with his metallic hands.
It was the moment blue blood erupted from the forcibly widened gap. With a cold, clattering sound, the six metallic wings disassembled entirely into blades.
And they were driven deep into the wound.
The blades moved as if possessing their own will, digging and churning deeper into the eye.
The sound of metal clashing against metal continued, and just as the scratch was about to develop into a fatal wound.
A gloomy wrath flowed down.
It was the voice of a god, different from anything heard until now.
Before they could even realize something had gone wrong.
The world turned black.
Blackout.
And when the darkness, which had lasted only a few seconds, lifted.
The world was inverted.
It was a sight where the laws of nature were shattered into pieces.
The ocean sat above their heads, and tens of thousands of eyeballs lay beneath their feet.
For a moment, they were overwhelmed by the sight of the earth and sky flipped.
Then, a living hell unfolded.
Everything poured downward from the ocean that had become the sky.
The eyeballs situated on the ground rolled their pupils, greedily devouring the things falling toward them.
An iron door, once part of the prison, struck an eyeball directly.
The iron door marked ’Sector X’ melted with a searing sound the moment it touched the surface of the eye, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
It wasn’t just inorganic matter. Living beings were no exception.
The debris floating in the ocean erupted into smoke the moment they touched the eyeballs, melting into a neon-green liquid.
Though the pain must have been extreme, no screams were heard.
It was because their already broken brains had been crushed by the erosion.
Due to the mental overload, the debris died while bursting into frantic laughter.
Kihahak, hahak, kkhahahak!
The sounds of mad laughter echoing from everywhere pierced the ears.
I caught my breath atop an eyeball, clutching the golden sphere.
The moment I saw the pure white light created by the white man, I felt a twisting sensation.
It felt as if the heat boiling throughout my body had suddenly cooled.
Even when I gave orders for battle, that feeling did not fade.
In the moment I was distracted by the unfamiliar sensation, a sudden, powerful force surged in.
It had poured its own power into overturning the entire domain.
In the inverted world, I lost my balance and fell onto an eyeball.
Because I wavered, even if briefly, the subordinates and possessions under my influence were also impacted and fell with me.
I first checked the status of my subordinates.
A large chunk of their health bars had been shaved off.
Furthermore, their health was continuing to drain bit by bit, though fortunately, no other debuffs were applied.
The other two entities I had placed under my protection were in a similar state.
Along with the loss of health, they were taking continuous damage.
However, the remaining entities who were not under my protection were the problem.
Their health depleted relatively faster.
It was because the moment they touched the eyeballs, their life force was stolen while mental erosion occurred simultaneously.
Even if I placed them under protection now, they would not be fully shielded because their inherent power was too weak.
They had become entities unusable in battle.
Feeling the unpleasant power of ■■■ constantly trying to dig into me, I thought.
’Should I use Punishment?’
I felt I had to end this in one go with the strongest power I possessed.
Though my subordinates were in the middle of showing off their skills, I couldn’t watch any longer, fearing they might be in danger.
To increase the power of Punishment, I needed to gather energy.
I decided not to waste power on unnecessary things.
’I should dispose of all the temporary possessions.’
If I withdrew my influence from those other than my subordinates, they would simply melt away and vanish by the eyeballs.
It was a bit of a waste for the top two entities, but their utility did not compare to the safety of my subordinates.
It was just as I was about to withdraw my power.
The sound of singing drifted from somewhere.
A woman’s voice, as if singing a sweet love song, grew closer to me.
Strangely, I.. stopped everything I was about to do and listened to the song.
Without knowing why, I simply listened in silence, and suddenly, I felt a soft touch.
Looking down, small, white balls of fur were gathered at my feet.
They were Number 2 and Number 3, whom I had registered as temporary possessions.
’They were slowly melting.’
Smoke continuously rose from the parts touching the eyeballs, and neon-green liquid flowed.
’Did they come to ask for help?’
But they did not plead with me. They petitioned nothing from their god.
They simply clung to my side.
With the physical pain and the mental erosion occurring simultaneously, they must have been in agony.
Yet, it was puzzling that they didn’t let out a single groan, as if they were accustomed to the pain.
Among the entities, they were in the lower tier with poor stats.
Being insignificant creatures with no special talents, it should have been even more painful, yet I couldn’t understand why they clung to me so desperately without any apparent purpose.
While I was looking at the small creatures, a large vine plant approached me.
This was Number 1, also registered as a temporary possession.
The moment I saw the vine plant, a random thought popped into my head.
’It used to be bigger than this.’
Its size had shrunk significantly. It had likely melted while pushing through the eyeballs to reach me.
The vine plant, now no longer fitting the description of ’giant’, approached me with gestures so urgent they were desperate.
I stared coldly, wondering if it was finally going to beg for its life.
However, the vine plant did something entirely unexpected once it reached me.
It hurriedly pushed its stems beneath my feet.
As if intending to become my footstool.
It seemed to be trying to make me touch the eyeballs as little as possible, but doing this increased the surface area of Number 1 touching the eyeballs, causing its health to drain even faster.
I swallowed a hollow laugh.
’Does it want to die faster?’
Number 1 was also a lower tier entity. It possessed no power to achieve anything.
I deliberately stepped on Number 1, which would soon melt and vanish.
At that, Number l’s stem twitched.
I thought it was in pain, but it wasn’t.
Number 1 extended a single vine and gently wrapped it around my ankle.
It was ensuring that my foot would not accidentally touch the eyeball.
The neon-green liquid from the melting Number 1 left a long trail on the hem of my pants.
I slowly furrowed my brows.
The singing had grown closer.
A woman, buried among the eyeballs with only her upper body remaining, leaned her face against my leg.
It was Number 12.
Her lower body had already melted away. Having lost her spider form, she couldn’t even produce webs.
Driven to the threshold of death, she rubbed her cheek against me and sang a happy song of love.
Watching that sight, I...
...felt a truly strange emotion.
The temporary possessions gradually gathered around me.
All 11 entities clung to me, acting insolently by surrounding a god despite being mere insignificant creatures.
’I have to use Punishment.’
But I couldn’t take my eyes off those melting beings.
While I was staring at them blankly.
"Mr. Roasted Chestnut!"
Number 6 approached me.
Its skin was that of an orca, with slightly curved fins on its back.
However, the thick hide was riddled with mottled holes.
Number 6, melted in various places, spoke cheerfully while leaking neon-green liquid.
"So you were here. I am glad you are safe."
Number 6’s lower body was not visible.
At a glance, it seemed submerged in the eyeballs, but I knew.
Just like Number 12, it had already melted.
Number 6, who had pushed through the eyeballs with its arms to reach me, shouted brightly.
"I swam my heart out in the Sea of Neo. It is all thanks to you, Mr. Roasted Chestnut!"
It told me that thanks to being immersed in Neo, it had regained its original form rather than the humanoid one; although its legs were still broken, it had been able to swim freely in the vast ocean for the first time in a long while.
"We shall protect you, Mr. Roasted Chestnut, until the moment we die. Do not worry and recover your strength."
Number 6 looked up at me and made a tender promise.
I wasn’t trying to recover. I had been trying to withdraw my power from them.
But...I couldn’t do anything.
I looked down at Number 6.
Once again, a random thought clouded my mind.
’It was much bigger than this. It was taller than me by far.’
As I watched in silence, Number 6 looked at me and smiled.
"I have never once feared death. On the contrary, I have always awaited it!"
It was a lie.
I read the hidden fear within Number 6.
It reached out its hand toward me. However, the hand stained with scars could not reach me.
As if there had been no intention to touch me from the start, Number 6 simply kept its hand extended and continued speaking.
"But it is a bit regrettable. I originally had no lingering attachments... but the moment I served Mr. Roasted Chestnut as my god, however brief, was truly joyful."
Its eyes, glossy like black pebbles, sparkled as if it had had a wonderful dream.
"I found myself imagining what it would have been like if Mr. Roasted Chestnut were truly our god. Ah, of course, I know it could never happen! I was merely indulging in a momentary delusion."
Number 6’s gaze dimmed slightly.
The health bars of the temporary possessions had very little left.
Their death was not far off.
"Do you know? While swimming in the Sea of Neo, I realized. I cannot swim as magnificently as before, and I am pathetically unsightly, but still.."
Number 6 said with a wide smile.
"I love swimming, Mr. Roasted Chestnut!"
I heard the sound of the sea.
There was no blue ocean here. It was only an inverted world swarming with eyeballs.
Nevertheless, I heard the sound of undulating waves from a vast ocean.
I slowly opened my lips.
"Don’t go."
But Number 6 could not hear my voice.
Because it was merely a temporary possession, not a subordinate.
Number 6’s eyes widened in surprise, then it smiled weakly.
"Do not cry, Mr. Roasted Chestnut. Isn’t this a rather cool parting?"
It wasn’t cool at all. I grit my teeth and shook my head.
Number 6 spoke to me in a soft tone.
"I shall miss you, Mr. Roasted Chestnut."
"No. Don’t go."
"I hope... Mr. Roasted Chestnut will miss us, even just a little."
I called its name.
"Orca!"
But Orca never heard my voice in the end.
The hand that had reached toward me tilted helplessly, and soon fell to the ground.
[Number 6 has died.]
The orca’s body turned into neon-green liquid.
Windows announcing the death of the creatures popped up consecutively.
[Number 3 has died.]
[Number 2 has died.]
[Number 1 has died.]
[Number 12 has died.]
[Number 5 has...]
All 12 creatures had died.
I stared at them blankly.
I did not want to forgive the one who touched my subordinates.
Because I thought only that was important, I had created new abilities.
But what I truly needed was neither Punishment nor Blind Faith.
I hugged the golden sphere in my arms tightly.
Looking at the dead creatures at my feet, I thought.
About what I truly desired.
[Pun?ishment’ has been del?eted?]
[’Sum?mon??’ has been ??del? eted?]
[’Blind? Faith’ has ?been deleted?!!]
What I wanted...
The ability I hoped to have as a young god was.
[You have acquired ’Resurrection’!]
It was the power to create a happy ending for myself.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter