Chapter 76: The power of [VOID]
As Arthur attacked with his sword, giving Diana absolutely no time to prepare, a glowing magic circle appeared, instantly creating a magical barrier in front of her.
Arthur’s silver sword flashed, activating several skills at once. It hit the barrier and managed to cut through it with only a slight delay. However, that split-second delay allowed Diana to blink safely away.
A wand appeared in her hand as she started mumbling words that made no sense.
A huge, blue magic circle materialized above them, from which thousands of sharp ice weapons rained down on Arthur and the surrounding.
Arthur gripped his sword a little tighter. The blade shined brightly, activating a powerful skill.
He slashed upward at the falling ice weapons, releasing a massive wave of silver sword intent that cut through the ice and seamlessly sliced the magic circle above, preventing it from launching another attack.
Diana narrowed her eyes. "I thought you would be drained after using a Divine Skill, but you look pretty fine to me..."
"Or..." she trailed off.
Looking closely at his pale face, she smirked.
"You used a skill that allows one to recover their original strength for a short time..."
Arthur was Level 97 right now, while Diana was Level 95, so there was not much difference in their levels.
As for how fundamentally strong they actually were, only time would tell...
Arthur didn’t show any outward reaction to her taunt and replied coldly, "Stop mumbling, puppet. Let’s finish this."
Diana looked annoyed. "Who are you calling a puppet?!"
Arthur said calmly, "I will not fall for your trickery again, [Zethe-thoth]."
Diana laughed condescendingly. "Unlike you, who was actually their puppet. I was the one who sought them out."
Arthur frowned.
He noticed the way she spoke about the Void God was different from what one would expect of a mind-controlled puppet. It was as if they were distinctly separate people.
Maybe it is one of its new, devious schemes.
Arthur’s sword intent spread around him like a protective cocoon, naturally reducing the effectiveness of her spells. It couldn’t be helped; he also needed to defend himself against any stray invisible tentacle.
He trusted [The Sleepless Sword], but after [Zethe-thoth] had managed to fool his Patron God time and again, he had decided to be extra cautious.
Arthur asked tentatively, "Why would you willingly seek out a abomination like it?"
Diana looked at him and continued with a nonchalant look, "Why? Isn’t it obvious... for power, of course. And luckily, I managed to become their Chosen."
Arthur looked at her in genuine shock. "Chosen?"
[The Sleepless Sword] spoke in his mind: ["A Void God is a divine being as well. Hence, it can bestow a blessing. But most mortals don’t survive such blessings and the ones that do become no different from mindless abominations."]
She continued with a tone of respect:
["But this woman not only managed to become a normal Blessed, but a true Chosen, and somehow managed to retain her consciousness. Do not underestimate her, child. She is probably a monstrous talent, much like you and your sister."]
Diana smirked confidently. "Why are you so surprised? Did you really think you were the only one special enough to become a Chosen?"
Arthur shook his head. "While I know it’s incredibly rare, I am not arrogant enough to think that no one else can become a Chosen."
"But to think you would willfully seek out an enemy of humanity... that is what truly shocked me."
Diana scoffed. "Does it matter?"
Arthur grew enraged. "You say, ’does it matter’? Do you not know what that abomination was doing to our world all this time?!"
Diana clicked her tongue dismissively. "Isn’t it just culling a bunch of weaklings and dead weights?"
Arthur realized that Diana was fundamentally different from him.
While he sought to protect humanity and this planet, she only sought absolute power.
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "I see. At least now I won’t feel bad for cutting you down."
He was on a strict timer with his skill and he didn’t have time to waste talking to a power-hungry lunatic.
They were currently far away from where ordinary people lived. He had deliberately chosen this remote area so that no one or at least the least amount of people possible would be hurt in their fight.
Diana smiled, not minding his blunt threat at all. "Actually, we don’t even have to fight. We can even work together." She desperately needed strong meat shields if she ever wanted to explore the No. 1 Death Zone.
Arthur sneered. "You really think we can work together after all this?"
Diana said mysteriously, "Only benefits are eternal, while friendships or enemity are impermanent."
Just then, Diana heard [Zethe-thoth]’s pained, distorted voice echo in her mind: ["diAna, tHings aRe gEtting cOmpliCatEd nOw. i wOn’t bE abLe tO mOve diRectly fOr sOme tiMe."]
Arthur immediately noticed her confident expression become somber. Just then, he received a message on his communicator. Seeing the text, he regained some of his confidence...
Diana, it seems we will have our discussion later, Arthur thought, as she suddenly tried to back away.
Arthur immediately launched a fierce attack at her.
"I don’t have time for your childish tantrums!" Diana snapped, as she blinked safely away.
She then tried to teleport again, only for Arthur to launch a massive sword slash that destabilized the surrounding space, blocking her exit.
Diana looked furious. "You really think you are a match for me?!"
As she spoke, two massive magic circles formed one in the sky above and another behind her. The one in the sky was a powerful, normal elemental spell, but the one behind her gave off an ominous feeling...
The sword intent around Arthur became razor-sharp in response and he prepared for a fight to the death.
....
Back in Night’s home:
Blade crossed her arms. "Sara, at least make sure you are not being followed the next time you come here."
Sara still couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened with that invisible entity, but then she remembered Arthur’s call and quickly pieced some things together.
The only person she had met in person before coming here was Diana.
That, together with the call from Arthur begging her to take charge of the city, only made her far more determined to go through with her risky plan.
She looked at the summons. "We need to hurry..."
The others, still completely clueless as to the grand scheme but trusting Sara nodded and agreed since she was the one asking for help...
...
In the Dream City:
Sara’s Soul Projection looked down at the sleeping Night, then silently split in two.
It effectively halved its remaining strength, but it couldn’t be helped. For what she had to do next, if she entered the city with a completely separate Soul Projection, Zora might get suspicious.
Unlike her, Zora seemed to be vastly more aware of exactly what happens within her own city.
One half of the Soul Projection stayed guarding Night and the other half stealthily teleported to the middle of the Dream City.
She immediately received a telepathic message from Zora: "What are you doing? For outsiders, teleportation inside the city limits is prohibited."
Sara replied smoothly, "Sorry, I didn’t know."
Zora, "Inform me before you do something like that next time."
"Okay," Sara agreed.
Sara sighed inwardly. So strict. But at least I managed to successfully teleport in once.
She mentally prepared herself.
What would happen next would probably get her permanently kicked out of this city or worse, even executed by Zora.
But she was perfectly fine with the consequences, as long as it worked...
...
In the Desert City:
Sara’s main physical body teleported to the center of the city.
While she prepared the core array, she had tasked Blade to drop the others at the outer corners of the city, placing them in a hexagonal arrangement.
After she finished meticulously setting up the complex magic circle, she messaged the others telepathically.
"We will begin now. Are you guys ready?"
The others, standing in their designated positions and holding small magical flags in their hands, replied, "Yes."
Sara nodded. "Let’s begin."
A violet magic circle, using the divine Game of Chess as its anchor, expanded outward. In mere seconds, it completely covered the entire Desert City...
...
Out in the Desert:
While Diana and Arthur were fiercely fighting, a huge violet magic circle suddenly appeared in the sky, covering the city.
Diana looked up at it, gritting her teeth. "Damn Sara, I should have just killed her!" But she was also puzzled as to why the Headmaster hadn’t become [Zethe-thoth]’s puppet yet.
Things were rapidly getting out of hand.
She decided to stop holding back. The ominous magic circle behind her rapidly expanded, and she muttered, [Void Invasion].
Suddenly, the surroundings darkened. The area around the spell completely lost its color. The spell expanded aggressively and reached Arthur in a fraction of an instant.
Arthur felt all the hair on his neck stand on end. He noticed that as the spell expanded, the affected area literally became the [Void] itself. Absolutely nothing material remained inside it.
He then heard [The Sleepless Sword]’s genuinely surprised voice: [This... This is the true [Void] from outside the cosmos... where nothing exists... how is this possible?!]
Arthur, not having any other method to dodge such a fast all-consuming attack, was forced to use his divine skill again, but this time for a short-range blink.
He turned into a silver sword and instantly reappeared one kilometer away.
When he looked back at the utter destruction the spell had caused, he was horrified.
In a diameter of 500 meters, nothing was left except the black [Void].
He could not even see a single dust particle remaining. The [Void] was all-consuming, making zero distinction between a rock, a tree or a human.
In the dead middle of the [Void], he could see Diana standing proudly like a dark Empress unaffected in the slightest.
Arthur thought grimly, How am I supposed to defeat something like that?
In the webnovels he used to read, the main characters always talked about how they could confidently cut Devils, Ghosts, Gods and eventually cut everything in existence and even existence itself.
Yes, Arthur was a Reincarnator...
In his past life on Earth, he had died saving a blind old lady from getting hit by a truck, only to be hit by it instead.
After his reincarnation into the future, at first, he thought arrogantly he was the destined savior of the world.
But little by little, the harsh reality of fate had put him in his place, molding him into his present, exhausted self today.
Looking at this sword... can I do it too? If I really tried, can I cut this [Void] as well?
His Patron God did say there was absolutely nothing in the cosmos that couldn’t be cut; you just needed a sword that was sharp enough...
He made up his mind. He would face her head-on, even if it meant his death. She was too huge a threat to humanity to let live...
Gripping his silver sword tightly with both hands, he prepared himself...