Chapter 38: The Disaster Beyond All Disasters
Silence.
An unnatural silence consumed the battlefield.
Thousand of soldiers.
Thousands of demons.
Even the wounded.
Nobody dared to make a sound.
Because every instinct they possessed was screaming the same warning.
Danger.
No.
This was beyond danger.
This was annihilation itself standing before them.
Kajkha’s hands trembled around the handle of his axe.
His heart pounded violently.
Sweat dripped down his face.
Something that had never happened before.
Not once.
Not in ten thousand years of war.
Not against dragons.
Not against beings capable of destroying universes.
Yet now-
His entire body was shaking.
Vlox simply stared at him.
Expressionless.
Calm.
Silent.
But somehow that silence felt more terrifying than any rage imaginable.
Behind Vlox, Astraith stepped through the dimensional crack.
The moment she saw the battlefield-
Her golden eyes darkened.
Mountains had vanished.
Kingdoms had are trumbling.
The horizon itself was stained red with blood.
Then she saw it.
Far in the distance.
The remains of Black Mountain.
Or rather-
What was left of it.
A shattered wasteland.
Nothing remained.
Not a single stone.
Not a single tree.
The home she had cherished for thousands of years had completely disappeared.
Astraith slowly lowered her head.
For a moment she said nothing.
Then she looked toward Kajkha.
And the battlefield trembled.
Pure dragon aura erupted from her body.
The sky cracked.
The earth split apart.
Several demon soldiers instantly collapsed unconscious.
Others died where they stood.
Not from an attack.
Not from magic.
Simply from being exposed to her anger.
Kajkha’s face paled.
"...Impossible."
Astraith’s voice echoed across reality.
"You destroyed my home."
The Demon General instinctively took a step backward.
Then another.
Then another.
For the first time in his life-
Kajkha was retreating.
Vlox noticed.
And spoke.
"Trying to run?"
Kajkha froze.
His entire body locked in place.
No matter how much strength he used-
He couldn’t move.
Not even a finger.
Not even his eyes.
Reality itself had bound him.
The Demon General’s breathing became erratic.
"W-Who are you...?"
The question escaped his lips almost unconsciously.
Vlox stared at him.
Then answered.
"I am Vlox."
The name alone caused space to distort.
"I existed before existence."
The stars above shattered.
"I existed before time."
Entire dimensions trembled.
"And I am the one who created the Omniverse you have been carelessly destroying."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The battlefield froze.
Every human.
Every demon.
Every survivor.
Their minds simply stopped functioning.
The Creator?
The creator of everything?
Standing before them?
Kajkha’s eyes widened so much they almost burst.
"N-No..."
His voice cracked.
"That’s impossible..."
Vlox tilted his head slightly.
"Impossible?"
A small smile appeared on his face.
The smile somehow felt more terrifying than his anger.
Then-
He snapped his fingers.
Instantly-
A destroyed universe reappeared.
Everyone watched in disbelief.
The shattered stars returned.
The broken galaxies reformed.
The dead planets revived.
An entire universe restored in less than a second.
A second universe returned.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
Then a hundred.
The countless universes destroyed during the war were restored instantly.
As though their destruction had never happened.
Kajkha’s mind completely broke.
The feat he had spent centuries
accomplishing-
This man reversed effortlessly.
Vlox lowered his hand.
"You were saying?"
Kajkha could not answer.
Because he finally understood.
The gap between them wasn’t large.
It wasn’t infinite.
It was beyond infinite.
A difference so vast that comparison itself became meaningless.
Then Vlox looked toward Aria.
The young commander was still frozen in stopped time.
Then Vlox looked toward Aria.
The young commander remained frozen within stopped time.
Covered in blood.
Covered in wounds.
Barely standing.
Her sword was broken.
Her armor shattered.
Her life force was fading rapidly.
Astraith glanced at her.
"She fought until the very end."
Vlox remained silent.
His gaze lingered upon the warrior who had stood against impossible odds.
Against an army capable of destroying universes.
Against a Demon General far beyond her strength.
Yet she had never retreated.
Never surrendered.
Never begged.
For a moment, Vlox simply watched her.
Then he spoke.
"She earned her death."
Astraith slowly nodded.
Not everyone could be saved.
Not every battle ended in victory.
And not every hero survived.
Vlox raised his hand.
Not to heal her.
Not to revive her.
Only to remove her pain.
A faint golden light surrounded Aria’s body.
Her wounds remained.
Her fading life remained.
But the agony disappeared.
Allowing her to meet her end with dignity.
Then-
Time resumed.
The wind returned.
The battlefield moved once more.
Aria staggered forward.
Blood dripped from countless wounds.
Her vision blurred.
Yet she remained standing.
Kajkha stared in terror at the being before him.
But Aria no longer cared about the demon.
Her gaze rested upon Vlox and Astraith.
Though she did not know who Astraith is but he remember Vlox.
Then she saw-
The war was over.
A faint smile appeared on her face.
Her sword slipped from her hand.
And as the battlefield watched in silence-
Aria Valencrest finally collapsed.
The commander who had carried humanity’s hopes until the very last moment had reached the end of her journey.
Then-
Vlox took a single step forward.
One step.
That was all.
Yet the entire battlefield shook.
Kajkha screamed.
His knees slammed into the ground.
Cracks spread across the earth for thousands of kilometers.
The Demon General desperately tried to stand.
He couldn’t.
The pressure was overwhelming.
It felt as though all existence was crushing him from every direction.
Vlox stood before him.
Looking down.
"You destroyed my home."
Another step.
Kajkha coughed blood.
"You destroyed Astraith’s mountain."
Another step.
Kajkha’s soul began breaking apart.
The Demon General screamed in agony.
"STOP!"
Vlox finally stopped walking.
The battlefield became silent again.
Then Kajkha looked up.
Tears filled his eyes.
Fear consumed him completely.
For the first time-
The proud Demon General begged.
"Please..."
His voice trembled.
"Spare me..."
Astraith’s expression became cold.
The countless humans buried beneath the
battlefield flashed through her mind.
The ruined worlds.
The erased universes.
And Black Mountain.
Her home.
Then she spoke.
"No."
Kajkha’s face became pale.
Vlox slowly raised his hand.
A small black sphere appeared above his palm.
It looked harmless.
Tiny.
Insignificant.
Yet the moment it appeared-
The entire multiverses trembled.
Because everything instinctively understood.
That sphere contained enough power to
erase existence itself.
Kajkha stared at it.
His soul nearly collapsed.
"N-No..."
Vlox’s expression remained emotionless.
"You feared no consequences."
The sphere grew slightly larger.
"You believed yourself powerful."
The heavens cracked.
"You believed nobody could stop you."
Reality shattered around them.
Then Vlox looked directly into Kajkha’s eyes.
"And now."
The black sphere touched the demon’s forehead.
Kajkha’s entire body froze.
"Learn the difference between power and authority."
The battlefield watched in silence.
And for the first time-
The Demon General understood that his story had already reached its end.
The true judgment of the Creator had begun.