96. The Battle of the Timeless Temple
Kingu's gaze froze.
He seemed to see something unbelievable: the sun... had risen.
On the lush grassland.
Night that should have fallen, and the stars that should be shrouding the sky, but now...
A sun hovered in the sky! Not the dawn's first light, but a complete and undeniable sun!
It radiated blinding light, overlooking everything on earth.
Below the sun stood a figure. Despite the absence of night, a golden halo, as if forged from radiance, solemnly appeared and rotated behind him, emanating an aura identical to the blazing sun above.
His eyes, burning like a sun, gazed down at Kingu—and at the colossal goddess of creation.
"No...impossible!"
Kingu instinctively took a step back. This was illogical! This! This! This!
However, no matter how much Kingu denied it, reality was reality. The sun had truly risen!
Tiamat's advance halted. Before the figure standing tall under the blazing sun could fall, the goddess of creation, symbolizing the primordial sea, would stop here.
Kingu was unwilling!
He was so close, just one step away!
How could he stop here!
Kingu wanted to leave, to charge straight for Uruk. The guy before him was too strange, but from the moment he entered this reality marble, he had become its prisoner! It was all too late! The invisible cage had already descended…
He… couldn't get out!
…
The people on the city wall watched the figure disappear before their eyes, and they simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mr. Kevin… he really did it!"
Mash's voice trembled slightly as she loosened her grip on the shield, her knuckles white from the force. The girl's eyes were filled with disbelief. Several observations at Chaldea had clearly indicated that the other party's peak power was closely related to the sun's movement… yet it's already night right now! The other party had actually stopped the Goddess of Creation's advance single-handedly!
"It's a Reality Marble!"
Dr. Romani's excited, slightly hoarse shout over the communicator instantly dispelled everyone's doubts.
"The Reality Marble that Mr. Kevin used pulled Tiamat into his inner world!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka raised a hand and fiercely wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. A relieved smile crept onto her tired face:
"Phew… what a rollercoaster of emotions, my heart was pounding."
She felt that all the surprises she had experienced in all the previous Singularities combined couldn't compare to the weight of this day in the Seventh Singularity…
In Chaldea, Romani slumped heavily into a chair, a weak smile barely escaping his lips.
"Yes, today was truly a rollercoaster."
An unknown teammate that suddenly appeared.
The Goddess of Creation.
The Beast.
And…
Goetia.
"Romani!" Leonardo da Vinci's serious and urgent voice rang directly in his ears, interrupting his thoughts, "We've found it! The source of the Goetia's spirit origin reaction!" Roman nodded, his gaze turning solemn as it fixed on the singularity coordinates indicated by Leonardo da Vinci.
However, as Chaldea conducted a deep scan and analysis of those coordinates, all the busy staff in the command hall slowed down, their faces simultaneously displaying incredulous astonishment. Some even subconsciously rubbed their eyes, wondering if the equipment had malfunctioned.
On their screens, it was clearly displayed that what was detected in the target area was precisely the unique spirit origin reactions belonging to the seventy-two demon pillars under Goetia's command that they had previously captured—exactly seventy-two!
However, strangely, these spirit origin signals were unstable. They flickered wildly at a dizzying speed! Almost every second, multiple spirit origins dissipated.
Even more terrifying was that, almost simultaneously, the same number of spirit origins reappeared in the same locations!
This cycle of dissipation and re-summoning was incredibly fast, fluctuating wildly around a total of 72.
This scene far exceeded any record in the Chaldea database.
It was less a battle and more like a cold, relentless—
"...execution ground?" Roman's voice was dry, an unbelievable thought surfacing, "Like...the seventy-two demon gods being repeatedly, endlessly killed?"
As people attempted further investigation, fragmented images began to appear before their eyes.
Image One:
One sword, two swords, three swords.
Amidst the ruins, a figure flashed and charged wildly. The clothes, once a gift from a friend and should have been pristine white, were now completely soaked in a thick, crimson stain, indistinguishable between the blood of the enemy and their own, or perhaps the two had long since become indistinguishable.
Each swing of the sword brought forth a rain of blood, and arrogant laughter continuously erupted from the blood-stained figure's mouth:
"Hehehehehehe..."
"Hahahahahaha—!"
"Goetia, come on!" "
A roar, accompanied by a simple yet incredibly fast leap and thrust! The holy sword transformed into a silver meteor, instantly piercing the massive trunks of the three demon pillars blocking its path!
Scene Two:
Just as he landed on the scorched, rock-strewn ground, before he could even regain his footing, several demon cannons, powerful enough to vaporize mountains, accompanied by devastating shrieks, locked onto and enveloped him from different angles!
However, what made the observer's heart stop was—the figure didn't attempt to dodge! He actually… forcibly stepped forward into the demonic storm capable of leveling a city!
"Boom—!!!!" "
A torrent of magical energy crashed down upon his body.
But that figure, like a mythical boulder blocking a flood, actually cleaved the destructive magical energy in two! The violent energy flow, as if striking an unshakeable rock, was forced to scatter and splash to both sides! In this brief energy gap, the holy sword in his hand erupted with an even more dazzling silver-white light, and a massive crescent-shaped sword beam swept out!
"Buzz—!"
With a single strike! Within the field of vision, all the demon pillars attempting to block the path and launch another attack were wiped away as if by an invisible giant hand, instantly turning into scattered ashes!
Scene Three:
The next second after those demon pillars turned to ashes, magical energy surged violently in the air, and new, identical demon pillar shells materialized and took shape out of thin air! Their empty eye sockets flashed with crimson light; they had no souls, no fear, only the absolute command instilled by Goetia—stop that madman at all costs!
Scene Four:
A magical cannon, thicker than any of the previous ones, imbued with a terrifying aura of destruction, precisely targeted at the charging Xiling! Its power was so violent that it instantly neutralized all of Xiling's forward momentum, even pushing him backward and carving a deep trench in the ground!
Then—
"Boom—!!!!"
An unprecedentedly terrifying explosion erupted from the ground! A mushroom cloud, a mixture of flames, dust, and destructive magic, shot straight into the sky! The shockwave swept across the entire Timeless Temple—this was the attack of the Demon King Goetia!
Scene Five:
Before the smoke and dust from the explosion had completely dissipated, a meteor shot out from within! Its speed was unbelievable; the smoke and dust behind it couldn't even fill the gap created by its breakthrough! Its target was singular—the figure seated at the center of the collapsing throne, Goetia!!
Goetia was clearly prepared. His pupils showed no surprise, only a deep solemnity and… an indescribable sense of frustration.
His heart was pierced, his limbs broken, even his head blown apart, yet his opponent showed no hesitation. His target was crystal clear: to obstruct his great undertaking!
Why?
Why?
Why was his opponent standing against him?
Before his raised palm, unimaginable, terrifying energy was gathering and compressing! At the same time, the newly resurrected demon pillars, like the most loyal swarm of bees, fearlessly rushed towards the meteor, layer upon layer, trying to buy that brief fraction of a second enough to complete their charge!
Scene Six:
"Goetia!!!"
A roar drowned out all the previous booming sound! The holy sword's sharp edge cleaved through everything in its path, arriving before Goetia and colliding with the terrifying magical energy cannon! It wasn't a physical collision, but a clash of pure, ultimate magic and will!
"Clang—!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
An indescribable roar! No shockwaves spread, because all the energy was compressed into that single point of impact! The Timeless Temple shattered like a mirror, instantly covered in a spiderweb of black cracks! The entire temple structure groaned under the strain, as if it would shatter and collapse completely in the next second!
But… it was only as if.
At the critical point of complete spatial collapse, a vast power emanating from the temple's core surged forth, instantly healing the terrifying cracks and restoring the destroyed structure to its original state. Like a reversed image, it was reconstructed and restored.
This was Goetia's confidence—as long as the temple exists, the demon god will not die; as long as the demon god doesn't die, the temple will not perish! It was a near-unsolvable cycle!
Scene Seven:
Goetia stared at the mangled face. In the collision, half of Xiling's cheek had been grazed by the violent energy; skin and muscle had instantly carbonized and peeled away, revealing the stark white cheekbones and teeth beneath, with smoke still sizzling from the wound's edges.
Seeing this, Goetia questioned this crazed enemy for the first time:
"Human…don't you feel pain?!"
"Human! What is your purpose? Standing before me, obstructing my great cause?!"
Almost simultaneously, hundreds of top-tier magic cannons bombarded from all directions! They struck at Xiling precisely!
The destructive light once again engulfed him, pushing him away from the throne.
Without hesitation, Goetia raised his hand, a precise beam of magic shooting towards his own chest—there, the remnant sharpness of the Holy Sword had left a wound. The beam swept across, instantly evaporating and clearing away the wound and its surroundings.
Scene Eight:
At the epicenter of the explosion, smoke and dust slowly settled. A person stepped out, his clothes almost completely reduced to ash, revealing a similarly charred body, riddled with gruesome wounds yet rapidly healing.
Does it hurt?
Of course it hurts!
However, on Xiling's face, mostly burned and revealing bone, the expression wasn't pain, but a smile!
The Holy Sword pointed at Goetia on the throne.
"Wasn't it... You who came at me first?!"
"I merely... made you pay for your blood debt!"
The silver light of the holy sword surged once more!
"Come, Goetia! Our battle... is not over yet!"
On the throne, Goetia looked at the enemy, bearing horribly wounded and charging like an undead monster, and thought, "My wisdom cannot comprehend such a being."
"...In the end, it's just a mad beast!" "
This is what Chaldea observed: an unimaginably protracted war.
Two monsters, unaware of death.
In a frenzied battle, the Demon Pillars had already died tens of thousands of times in their observation.
...
In this battle, neither side dared to be careless. If the battle spiraled out of control, the future seen through their clairvoyance would become reality, and the other side only needed to swing their sword and defeat the enemy in the fastest way possible!
Hit again! Xiling reached the edge of the temple...
His wounds instantly healed.
Xiling looked at Goetia on the throne; the other's eyes seemed to be constantly scheming the future.
"...Truly troublesome."
"Seeing the future, huh!"
The wielding holy sword, Xiling, charged once more!
Goetia silently watched the charging figure, his eyes reflecting his own future—death.
The opponent's sword grew faster and faster.
He was already feeling the strain.
Aside from his initial carelessness in not using his clairvoyance from the start, resulting in his arm being severed by a single strike.
In the subsequent battle, he hadn't allowed her opponent to get close.
But now, his opponent could not only get close to him but also injure him...
It wasn't carelessness; his opponent was rapidly growing stronger, at a rate he couldn't comprehend!
Time was running out.
...