Chapter 143: Thunder Versus Thunder
’Huh...’
[1:29]
[Mental load increased by 1%]
Cillian, who had tumultuous thoughts running through his head just moments earlier, all within the span of several seconds, found the broken shard in his hand suddenly shimmering and reacting.
’The fuck?’
A look of surprise appeared on Cillian’s face in an instant.
Before his heart could rejoice with delight, Cillian’s expression stiffened.
But now what?
What was he supposed to do after the reaction?
It wasn’t Cillian who had found something, but Oliver, who immediately dragged Cillian inside a window. He shouted, spewing a mouthful of blood.
"Break the fucking shard!"
His shard was also reacting in the same way as Cillian’s, making them realize that it had already activated.
They all just needed to break it.
And they did.
Crack—!
Oliver immediately broke his shard, the Artifact immediately shattering into pieces.
Then, a tall yet slender pillar appeared, transforming the Artifact into a towering column that reached toward the sky. The pillar then produced chains carved with Arch Language that extended toward the Hidden One, trying to bind the ’God’ in place.
Crack—!
Cillian immediately broke the shard in his hand, feeling as though something had been taken away from him before the same pillar appeared, with chains immediately rushing towards the Hidden One, who seemed not to have noticed them.
’Is he unaware of it?’
Cillian immediately looked at the ’God’ after being dragged inside the window once more.
The Hidden One was hurt by the same thunder strikes that clearly belonged to him.
However, his mental state was already in turmoil after discovering that he was nothing more than a weak ’God’ and realizing that he would not be able to escape this world. In the end, the Hidden One felt like giving up.
It was then that the Hidden One’s eyes swept across the battlefield, feeling the influence of his thunder strikes until he saw Cillian and Oliver moving through it, with the old man taking the full brunt of the attacks.
It was almost unbelievable that Oliver had been taking that much damage.
But the ’God’ didn’t focus on it.
He locked gazes with Cillian, who disappeared after being dragged inside the window, only for him to appear on the other side.
"It’s because of this guy..."
His vessel was badly hurt, half of his influence had been taken away by that giggling entity, and he was also the reason Arthur had become impatient, as he could no longer take the souls of his victims properly because of it.
"You want a fucking fight, you disgusting mortal?!"
Hidden One raised his hand upward.
"Bring it on, you fucker!"
Cillian raised his hand in response to that scream, shouting in response.
Then, both of them brought their hands down.
Silence.
Then...
Flashes of thunder.
Bang—!
It rained down from the sky.
Baang—!
[Mental load increased by 1%]
It rained down endlessly.
Baaaang—!
[Mental load increased by 1%]
The flashes of thunder blinded Cillian as he felt his head being fried.
Baaaaaaaang—!
[1:00]
[0:59]
"Ugh!"
Cillian’s veins popped out as he sent hundreds of thunder strikes every second, feeling that there was only a minute left before the ability stopped working. Once it ended, he wouldn’t be able to hold the Hidden One any longer.
That’s why, as long as the Hidden One wasn’t noticing entirely what was happening around him, Cillian would fight him to keep the ’God’ distracted.
Or perhaps the Hidden One was already aware of it, and simply wasn’t paying attention to them?
’Fuck it. We ball.’
Cillian didn’t care anymore.
He’s going to fully enjoy this while fully trusting their fucked-up plan.
[Mental load increased by 1%]
"Die—"
Coughing out a mouthful of blood, losing count of how many instances it had already happened within this night, Cillian continued whatever he was shouting as he raised his hand once more.
His ears started to bleed.
"Die!"
[Mental load increased by...]
[Mental load increased by...]
Rumble—!
The chaotic situation inside the thunder strike zones had reached its climax. Whatever remained of the buildings after being struck by flashes of thunder dozens of times was disappearing left and right.
The area where both Cillian and Hidden One’s thunder clashed was leaving a mark.
A huge hole was forming.
[0:39]
The Hidden One navigated through his own thunder strikes, trying to predict where Cillian and Oliver were moving. However, because of how versatile Oliver’s Traveler was, he never managed to land a direct hit.
Oliver was only being struck thanks to the randomized nature of the thunder strikes.
He truly was the strongest Ruiner of this world.
[Roars of the Sealed God[???]: [0:29]]
However, even Oliver was reaching his limit... until he did.
Oliver tried ’sliding’ his hand through the air once more, planning to drag Cillian through the ’window’ again, only for it not to appear.
"!!!"
They fell from the air while being surrounded by thunder strikes.
’Shit... He’s at his limit—’
Their fall lasted only a moment before Cillian clicked his tongue and activated his Mimicry once more.
"Air Jump!"
[Temporary mimicked activated: Air Jump[Three]: [0:50]]
[0:49]
Grabbing the old man by the hand, Cillian hopped through the air, evading the thunder strikes for only a moment before one of them struck his already injured shoulder.
[Roars of the Sealed God[???]: [0:19]]
"Damn it..."
Cillian willed the power within him once more before raising his hand and bringing it down.
Then, one, two, three... and too many to count thunder flashed before Cillian, their blinding light almost impossible to look at as they were about to hit him.
However, Cillian countered them with his own mimicked thunder strikes.
Sizzle—!
One thunder strike managed to sneak through, and given a few more seconds, it would have hit Cillian. Just then, Cillian felt his leg being dragged into a ’window’, allowing him to dodge the thunder strike that was about to hit his head.
"I really can’t anymore..."
Oliver muttered, unable to finish his sentence when he realized that the Traveler had finally reached its limit after that last window.
He knew... knew that one more and he’d instantly lose control.
There would be no keeping it under control or trying to return it to normal. The Traveler, which he seldom used and only relied on in emergencies, his hidden card, had finally reached its limit.
Yet Cillian wasn’t angry and knew what Oliver was trying to say.
That’s why Cillian could only laugh in ridicule. Not at Oliver but to himself.
He grabbed Oliver’s tired, bleeding hands, as a result of the excessive use of his ability, and used Air Jump to move around the area.
[0:15]
Here through there.
[0:12]
Cillian tried his best to do the same thing Oliver had done earlier, as their roles were now reversed. Even so, doing what Oliver had accomplished was goddamn difficult.
[0:09]
But Cillian persevered.
But that futile struggle was stopped when stationary thunder strikes, suspended in the air, were about to hit him.
No, those thunder strikes were intentionally stopped.
Cillian dropped down to the leveled floor.
"..."
Cillian slowly gazed up and saw the Hidden One looking down at him.
That ’God’ was the reason it stopped.
Even if Cillian used Air Jump with Oliver, he wouldn’t be able to escape.
[0:05]
"What did you say to me, mortal?"
[0:00]
Cillian’s timer for the Roar of the Sealed God ended, and he could only look toward the Hidden One, who seemed to be emerging as the winner of the fight.
The residue of power left at his fingertips left.
Cillian slightly lowered his head while stabilizing his unsteady breathing. With no abilities left in his reserved mimicked storage, it looked like Cillian had accepted his fate.
The Hidden One started to form a smile... until he saw Cillian slowly raise his head, wearing the most satisfied smile on his face, causing his own smile to be some kind of deformed.
’What—’
"You can’t see the chains, don’t you?"
The Hidden One found his statement confusing.
What chains?
The tip of Cillian’s lips grew wider.
"It looks like this Artifact is designed to really kill your kind, ’God’!"
The Hidden One started looking around his body... only to find nothing. There wasn’t anything there at all!
’The pillars that suddenly sprouted... What were those? Were they supposed to do anything?! But I haven’t sensed anything strange about them at all! Right... Maybe...’
Maybe Cillian was bluffing...was the last thought that crossed the Hidden One’s mind before he was erased from existence.
The invisible chains that had bound him, the only thing he hadn’t been able to see, brightened and tightened around his body, crushing his soul.