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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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During the Silver Age, when human civilization flourished, it wasn’t players, but witches and priests who dominated the world.
However, even they were ruled by beings of a higher order.
The Avatars, deities descended to the mortal realm.
Even the most arrogant humans learned humility before an Avatar. These divine beings possessed powers beyond human comprehension, capable of performing miracles.
‘Tsk, I had a bad feeling about Eugene…’
That was why Limon, having ordered the others to stay back, now fought Vellus alone.
Whether through his Unique Skill or some other power, Vellus had become an Avatar, achieving divinity.
Even Lee Cheon-gi, the Infinite Monarch, risked instant death facing him. The fact that Vellus was now moving freely, no longer bound by ‘Rule of Law,’ was proof enough.
‘Not just an immortal, but a divine Avatar. This is troublesome.’
He lunged, his sword slicing through Vellus’s neck. A decapitated Vellus swung his hammer.
Limon dodged with a backbend, spinning, severing Vellus’s leg. He raised his sword to block the returning hammer…
Thwack!
A severed heel slammed into his side, sending him reeling. He planted his sword in the ground to steady himself, deflecting the incoming hammer. A sharp pain shot through his side.
‘What?’
He had blocked the heel and dodged the hammer. Yet, somehow, he had ended up blocking the hammer, leaving himself open to the heel.
Limon didn’t panic.
He clicked his tongue, swinging his sword. Vellus twisted, avoiding the blow, but Limon’s blade, angled precisely, peeled the flesh and muscle from his arm, leaving only bone.
He stomped on the severed muscle, preventing regeneration, and prepared to dismantle the rest of Vellus’s limbs…
Clang!
His sword met the hammer, and he was pushed back, his attack interrupted.
‘…What’s going on?’
He had dodged the hammer, severed the arm. Yet, somehow, he had ended up blocking the hammer instead. It was as if his previous actions had been undone.
This strange phenomenon, now occurring for the second time, wasn’t something he, with his vast experience, could ignore.
“Time reversal… or causal distortion?”
Whoosh!
The hammer swung again. Instead of dodging, Limon stepped back, murmuring,
“The way you’re keeping up with my sword suggests a war or combat deity.”
Avatars weren’t omnipotent.
Their divine powers varied depending on the god they embodied. Some nurtured crops, controlled the weather, or commanded souls. The problem was that Vellus embodied a god of war.
‘Damn it. If it were a sword god, I could suppress him with my swordsmanship.’
As a Sword Master, Limon could predict Vellus’s every move. But if Vellus could alter the past, rewriting causality, his predictions were useless.
Successful strikes missed. Killed opponents revived. Dodged attacks connected. The power to reshape reality by altering the past was a divine miracle, an interference with the very laws of the universe.
And that wasn’t Vellus’s only miracle.
‘Stronger with every death? What a pathetic god.’
With every decapitation, his body grew tougher. With every pierced heart, his movements became faster.
It was a crude, almost vulgar power, a promise of eventual victory as long as he didn’t die.
‘I can’t subdue him with causal distortion active. And the longer this drags on, the more troublesome it becomes. I have to sever his divinity in one blow…’
He was Limon Asphelder, the last Sword Master, who had slain even demons. He knew how to kill a god.
The problem was the aftermath.
‘Gods never die quietly.’
A god, connected to the very fabric of reality, caused ripples upon death. Depending on their divine power, their demise could trigger earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, or volcanic eruptions.
Vellus was only an Avatar, an incomplete one at that, so the repercussions would be less severe.
He estimated the damage.
‘…If I kill him here, half the metropolitan area will be gone.’
Limon cursed inwardly, facing a divine being whose death could cause a catastrophe, killing millions.
He racked his brain for a solution.
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[…What’s going on?]
“I’d like to know that myself.”
Li Chingwei and Na-kyung arrived at the devastated lobby, tilting their heads in confusion.
The maze-like structure was explainable, some skill at work. But Vellus, who had fled in such a sorry state, was now rampaging, and Limon was fighting him alone. It was unexpected.
“Apologies for the state of the hotel, Princess.”
“Don’t worry about it. He’s not an opponent we can afford to be concerned about property damage.”
Yo Ouin, approaching them, bowed respectfully. Li Chingwei asked calmly,
“Can you explain what happened?”
Yo Ouin summarized the events that had transpired in the lobby.
[A god? You mean he’s an Avatar?]
“That’s what the Sword Saint said.”
Na-kyung was surprised.
Avatars were rare in this age of players, especially one embodied by a Specter of the Liberation Brigade, a notorious criminal, not a devout priest.
“…You said his armor transformed?”
“It seems he used some kind of skill, sacrificing his comrade.”
“I see.”
Li Chingwei, however, wasn’t concerned about Vellus becoming an Avatar. She simply observed his transformed armor with a curious expression.
‘Astral Engines can’t be enhanced so suddenly with skills or sacrifices.’
She mused silently. If not through skills or sacrifices, how had Vellus managed to reinforce the Astral Engine enough to accommodate such power? How had he survived the reckless enhancement?
‘If there’s something that can do that…’
[Hmm?]
As Li Chingwei stared intently at Vellus, Na-kyung blinked. She felt a tingling sensation on the back of her neck, as if someone was watching her.
She looked around, then froze, her eyes widening in surprise.
[The Team Leader’s friend!]
Eugene, her heart ripped out by Vellus, knelt on the ground, lifeless.
Na-kyung leaped from Li Chingwei’s arms and rushed to Eugene’s side, grabbing her knee with her wing.
[Miss Eugene! Wake up! You can’t lose consciousness now!]
Desperate, she used telepathy, speaking directly into Eugene’s mind. But Eugene, despite being addressed by a talking chick, didn’t react.
She simply smiled faintly, her lips moving silently.
[Saying goodbye? This isn’t the time for farewells!]
[I know I’m eloquent!]
[Don’t talk… no, keep talking! You have to stay conscious…!]
[…What?]
[Wait, what do you mean?]
As Na-kyung struggled to communicate with Eugene, Li Chingwei, finally tearing her gaze away from Vellus, approached them.
“Do you know her?”
[She’s a friend Team Leader made recently. But why is she here…?!]
“The Sword Saint’s friend? Her?”
Li Chingwei was surprised. Unlike Na-kyung, who hadn’t recognized Eugene, she knew who Eugene was.
How had this mad berserker, the most unhinged member of the Liberation Brigade, become friends with Limon?
She looked at Eugene, then asked Na-kyung,
“What is she saying?”
[Um… that’s…]
Na-kyung hesitated, unsure how convincing her next words would sound.
[She’s talking about the violin.]
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‘The Black Abyssal Violin. That damned thing is his weakness.’
Coincidentally, or perhaps inevitably, Limon reached a similar conclusion as Li Chingwei. It wasn’t just that Vellus kept clutching the violin while wielding his hammer.
Limon sensed a resonance between the violin’s melody and Vellus’s divinity, the Constellation’s power within him. The Black Abyssal Violin had been dissolving the fragments of starlight within Limon’s body.
It wasn’t surprising that it affected the power of other Constellations.
‘If I can stop the music or take the violin away…’
But knowing the weakness didn’t mean he could exploit it.
‘Damn it, he won’t let go.’
Whether Limon severed his arm or tried to snatch the violin, Vellus would simply rewrite causality, undoing his actions and counterattacking.
The causal distortion miracle made his weakness irrelevant. It was also the reason Limon couldn’t simply drag him out to sea and dispose of him.
‘There’s only one option left.’
Limon thought of his last resort.
‘Sever the connection between his divinity and the natural order.’
Any priest or witch would have called it madness. It was like trying to stop ripples in a lake by destroying the lake itself.
Limon knew the risks. He had only attempted such a reckless feat once in his long life, and even then, he had nearly died from the backlash, absorbing the full force of the disrupted natural order.
But he didn’t hesitate. It was the only way to kill Vellus without causing widespread destruction, and he was confident he could succeed.
He was Limon Asphelder, the last Sword Master, who had overcome countless trials.
He gripped his sword with both hands, ready to unleash his ultimate technique…
Clang!
“…Hmm?”
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Thanks Fusion!