Chapter 117: Yomi’s Reckoning (5)
HUMMMM!!!!
[Karma Affinity]
The air around Jovian warped.
In the same instant, the weight of every death he had caused since entering the Underside surged into him.
As power surged through his limbs, his speed and strength rose by a full minor tier, boosting his temporary output to Tier 30.
The Fate Breaker Sword blazed with reddish light as he vanished and reappeared directly in front of Akasha, blade already screaming toward his throat.
WHOOOOSHHHH!!!!
FWOOOOOM!!!!
At the same time, the Cosmic Human erupted into motion.
Green fire roared around his right fist as he appeared on Akasha’s left flank, Cosmic Union power fully unleashed.
Even though he technically held the highest rank, with Battle Power pushing him to Tier 28, the gap in presence was clear—he was still the weakest of the three.
[Nature Affinity]
[Space-Time Affinity]
THRUM! THRUM! THRUM!
High above, Sunya materialized in a flash of green-gold light. Her Primordial bow was already drawn. Three arrows of condensed Nature and Space-Time left the string in perfect unison—one locked on Akasha, one on Luna, and one on Yume.
And... in the midst of all of this, Akasha did not move.
He raised a single finger.
HUMMMMM!!!!
[Ice Affinity]
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Frost spread over the finger in an instant, and Jovian’s sword struck it with a crash like a mountain breaking apart.
The impact should have torn the finger clean off.... well, if it was anyone but Akasha, perhaps.
Instead, the force vanished into Akasha’s Void Presence as if it had struck an endless abyss.
The Cosmic Human’s green-fire gauntlet crashed into Akasha’s left side a fraction of a second later—and accomplished nothing.
The flames snuffed out against his skin like a candle in a hurricane.
Yume tilted her head upward, eyes cold.
Her pupils flickered, shifting into the same intricate pattern as Akasha’s before solidifying into sharp blue leaves.
In moments, Nature and Space Affinities answered her will.
The three arrows slowed mid-flight, vines of living space wrapping around them and unraveling the condensed energy until nothing remained but drifting green sparks.
Then.... Akasha finally lifted his gaze to Sunya.
The Primal Chaos Dragon bloodline inside him detonated.
HUMMMMMM!!!!!!
CRRRACCCKLEEEEE!!!!!
For more than sixty million kilometers, the world itself screamed.
Gravity flipped in wild surges, and black lightning ripped through the sky.
Entire stretches of land folded into screaming voids and then spat back out as twisted glass. The temperature shot up and dropped in an instant, as if the world couldn’t make up its mind.
The underside wavered, with chaotic bursts erupting like open wounds across the battlefield.
Jovian’s playful grin vanished completely. His blindfolded face went hard.
"...Shit." The single word left his mouth low and sharp, all trace of humor gone.
The Cosmic Human’s solar-fire eyes widened in pure terror. He staggered backward through the air, green flames sputtering around his gauntlet.
"W-what the hell is that presence...?" His voice cracked. "That’s not simple Cosmic Union power..."
Sunya’s green eyes locked onto Akasha, hard and unflinching, but the tension in her shoulders was unmistakable.
"Lord Dream," she said, voice steady despite the chaos warping the sky around them. "You are making a mistake."
Akasha raised his head fully toward her higher vantage point. The narrow grey slits in his pure black eyes disappeared, leaving only endless abyss.
"You see, I was going to play around," he said, voice quiet and terrifyingly calm. "But you’ve done something entirely too foolish."
Akasha raised his head fully toward her higher vantage point. The narrow grey slits in his pure black eyes disappeared, leaving only endless abyss.
"I was going to play around," he said, voice quiet and terrifyingly calm. "But you’ve done something entirely too foolish."
While Akasha hadn’t always shown his possessiveness toward those he cherished and kept close, as a Dragon—no, as a Dragon God—how could he possibly allow the two people he cared for most to be attacked?
More than anything, he wished they could live their beautiful lives without ever having to fight, untouched by conflict.
Not that he would stop them if they chose to fight, of course... but still.
And then, in the very next moment, he was gone.
[Space Affinity]
He reappeared behind Sunya in the same heartbeat, fingers closing around her long blond braid.
He spun once, twice, three times, building centrifugal force, then hurled her through the sky like a spear.
BANGGGGG!!!!
Before she could stabilize, he teleported again and drove a kick into her midsection that folded her body around his foot.
BANGGGGG!!!!!
With another quick teleport, she took a crushing punch that launched her even higher.
One final reappearance—his hand closed around her throat.
Akasha smiled, sharp fangs glinting under the chaotic light.
He held her suspended in the air, fingers tight enough to cut off most of her air without fully crushing her windpipe.
Sunya’s green eyes blazed with defiance even as her hands clawed weakly at his wrist. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"You... will... regret—" she forced out, voice rasping and broken.
Akasha tilted his head, abyss-black eyes staring into hers without a flicker of emotion.
"No," he said quietly. "I won’t."
Then he threw her.
The force of the throw blurred the air itself. Sunya became a streak of gold and green as she rocketed toward the purple-and-white barrier of the Domain.
BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!
She hit the Domain like a bug striking a windshield at terminal velocity.
The impact split the sky with a deafening crack, and a fine mist of blood hung in the air.
She collapsed against the barrier, sliding down its surface, her body battered and broken, yet clinging to life by the thinnest thread.
In the heart of the swirling storm, Akasha hovered effortlessly, his black-and-white hair drifting in the turbulent air, the four black-and-grey horns crowning his head glinting under the fractured light.
His abyssal eyes, dark as the void, moved as he looked at both Jovian and the Cosmic Human.
He extended his hand.
And in that moment, the Dreamer’s Scythe materialized in a swirl of Dream and Light, its long-curved blade humming with quiet, lethal promise.
The weapon settled into his grip as if it had always belonged there.
Jovian’s blindfolded eyes narrowed beneath the white cloth. He recognized the weapon instantly from the last time he’d seen Akasha.
All he knew was that it could hide her from sight. He glanced toward the Cosmic Human to give a warning—
"Fuck—"
His words trailed off, for Akasha had already disappeared.
One moment he was drifting in the open sky, and the next he found himself standing within the dreams of the Cosmic Human.
SHKKKKKK!!!!
There was no grand entrance, no dramatic announcement—only the soft, final sound of a dream being cut.
In an instant, the light in the Cosmic Human’s eyes faded to nothing, leaving them dull and lifeless.
The swirling green flames that had danced around his gauntlet flickered once before vanishing entirely, as if swallowed by the surrounding darkness.
His body locked rigid in the air, then began to freeze from the inside out, ice racing across his skin in jagged white veins.
A second later, he dropped, tumbling through the chaotic sky like a discarded doll, already half-turned into a frozen corpse.
Seeing this, Jovian didn’t hesitate for a second and sprang into action, activating an innate power.
[Fate Severing Adaptation (Above Origin)]
SHKKKKK!!!!!
His own eyes began to dull as Akasha was already in his dreams, striking.
In that split second, he raised the Fate Breaker Sword and sliced cleanly through the fate thread that led to his demise.
The haze lifted in an instant, and a rush of vivid color and sharp detail came flooding into his awareness.
His gaze turned cold and unyielding, as though forged from tempered steel.
With a steady motion, he lifted his free hand and let loose a Decree that rippled through the air.
[Decree of Severing Fate (Celestial)]
HUMMMMM!!!!
"By my authority as the God of Severing Fate," Jovian proclaimed, his voice echoing through the shattered sky, "For the rest of this battle... whatever demise you seek... shall be severed!"