SSS Awakening: I Can Devour Gods to Evolve My Goddesses

The first meteor fell.

More than a hundred black-red trails were already burning behind it.

They were not aimed only at the first line.

Oath Hall.

Muster Hall.

Forge.

Fountain of Life.

The Rocketier positions.

All of them were inside the impact pattern.

Varkos was not trying to destroy one Troop unit.

Meteor Hell was aimed at the entire Domain.

Cassian looked up once.

"Protect the Domain!"

Aurelia took to the air first.

At Level 20, Folded Sky Ward no longer covered only one small area.

A folded layer of silver-white space expanded above the Oath Hall.

Three meteors struck the same section in succession.

The entire barrier bent downward more than ten meters.

It did not break.

At the same time, Veyra changed the angle of Aegis Fold.

"First line, lower."

"Outer shields angled upward."

"Praetorians cover the gaps between Buildings."

"No one chases what’s in the sky."

Two hundred heavy shields adjusted together.

Silver lines redirected the rock fragments and fire waves thrown sideways after other defenders broke the impacts apart.

Veyra was not ordering Eclipse Legionnaires to tank intact meteors.

They were catching the remnants.

The second defensive layer was the Rocketiers.

All twenty launchers had just recovered to usable condition inside the Fountain.

Now every muzzle tilted upward.

Cassian did not ask Mental Guidance to chase more than a hundred separate targets.

He selected the densest central cluster instead.

"Center-east."

"Overload."

Twenty rockets rose at once.

Mental Guidance pulled their trajectories toward one region of the sky.

BOOM—!

The explosion happened above the Domain.

More than a dozen meteors shattered in the air.

More were shoved off course by the blast.

The number still descending intact toward Forgotten Shrine dropped sharply.

What passed through Aurelia’s Ward and escaped the Rocketiers finally reached Celia.

She did not fly.

Quiet Step moved her only a dozen meters at a time.

Wherever a surviving meteor was actually going to strike a Building zone, she appeared.

The first came down above the Fountain side.

Lifeless Edge left its sheath.

Sword Intent did not produce some enormous light curtain.

It compressed the gray sword light thinner.

One slash.

The meteor split in half.

Celia did not stop.

Her second Quiet Step already carried her outside the Muster Hall.

Severing Arc crossed the air.

Another meteor that had already been pushed off course by the rockets changed direction again and scraped past the Domain boundary before smashing into the canyon wall.

Sigrid looked over.

"That sword is a little unreasonable."

Aurelia was still holding the third round of impacts overhead.

"Legendary Hero with a Legendary sword."

"It shouldn’t follow ordinary rules."

Meteor Hell lasted less than a minute.

Forgotten Shrine looked as if a real natural disaster had passed over it.

The final intact meteor crashed outside the first line.

Aegis Fold flared hard enough to sting the eyes.

Three Legionnaires slid backward at once.

None lost their shields.

The meteor itself cracked apart.

Limbs pushed out of the black-red stone shell.

No head.

Only a burning core inside the chest.

[Hellfire Golem]

[Quality: Elite]

[Level: 30]

And it was not the only one.

Every meteor fragment that had actually landed began producing Demons.

Veyra looked once.

"So the meteors were only the first layer."

In the distance, Varkos raised its second hand.

[Hellbound Command]

The flames around all eight Hellcrown Guards and the Demon army behind them surged upward at once.

The real ground assault arrived the instant Meteor Hell ended.

Before the Fountain existed, this kind of attack would have been dangerous for a reason that had little to do with surviving the first minute.

It was what came afterward.

Aurelia’s Folded Sky Ward had already consumed most of her power.

The Rocketiers had just emptied themselves with another Overload.

The first line had taken injuries from the meteor impacts.

Normally, three high-consumption layers would have entered their downtime together.

Now they did not.

All twenty Rocketiers withdrew into the Fountain’s range immediately.

Aether Mist and Life Energy took over together.

Aurelia descended lower.

She did not force herself to keep going on an empty reserve.

She drank one of her Life Waters.

[Life Water]

Pale-green light spread along her silver-white wings.

The barrier reserve that had nearly bottomed out climbed visibly.

Veyra saw it and said only,

"Once it’s enough, get back up."

Aurelia was already rising again.

"Exactly what I intended."

Two Legionnaires cut by meteor fragments withdrew through the Fountain’s coverage as well.

Their wounds did not remove them from the battle.

One rotation window later, before the next group had even finished fighting, both had already refastened their shield straps.

One side kept spending strength.

The other kept returning.

That was what Varkos hadn’t accounted for in its first attack.

The eight Hellcrown Guards split across both wings.

Celia met the right side.

She did not use the fact that she was a Level 20 Legendary Hero as an excuse to clash directly with a Level 32 Epic.

She looked for an armor seam first.

The first Hellcrown Guard brought down a burning blade.

Quiet Step slipped her past the front.

Lifeless Edge cut upward through the gap beneath its arm.

[Severing Arc]

A gray line flashed.

The wound ran from the right shoulder into the chest.

Under Hellbound Command, black-red flame immediately flooded toward the cut.

Normally, an Epic Demon like this would have sealed the wound within several breaths.

But a gray Lifeless Mark attached to the wound edge first.

The recovery slowed by more than half.

Celia’s eyes brightened for the first time after seeing the result.

"Works on recovery targets."

Cassian stood behind the second line.

"Then keep cutting the same wound."

"That was already the plan."

The second Severing Arc did not change targets.

Same right shoulder.

Sword Intent multiplied the cutting and penetration of the same sword technique by 2.4.

Lifeless Edge kept the existing wound from closing smoothly.

The second slash went deeper than the first.

Aurelia’s Thunder Crown followed immediately.

BOOM!

The first Hellcrown Guard’s entire right side blew open under lightning.

Celia looked at Aurelia.

"Fast follow-up."

"You made a big enough opening."

"Then keep going."

The two Legendary Heroes did not waste power surrounding the same target.

Aurelia handled the front, the air, and large-area lightning pressure.

Celia focused on cutting through the hardest layer on high-grade enemies.

The 890,000 Battle Essence and 1.2 million Aether Cassian had just spent were already showing on the battlefield.

Before the Level 35 Varkos appeared, he had genuinely added a real armor-breaking option that could threaten defenses above Celia’s Level.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Rocketiers had recovered.

Thirty-second reload complete.

Cassian looked at the mass of ordinary Demons still pouring forward.

"Second volley."

Veyra did not warn him about the cost of Overload again.

The Fountain had already proven that cost could be recovered between combat and recovery windows.

Twenty rockets crossed over the shield line again.

BOOM—!

Another huge section of the black tide disappeared.

Stormlance no longer needed to waste Thunder Javelins clearing Common targets.

All twelve bolts of lightning went into the remaining Epic and Rare enemies.

Highblood likewise focused only on high-grade rear-line targets.

With the Fountain in place, Forgotten Shrine could finally treat high-consumption skills as part of a combat cycle instead of saving every one as a last resort.

If something could be erased with firepower, erase it.

If a Ward was needed, open it.

If Thunder Javelin could end a high-grade target, use it instead of saving it for a hypothetical next wave.

Because before the next wave began, some of that power could come back.

Enemy numbers dropped by the minute.

Cassian’s side kept sending recovered people back from the Fountain area into the line.

Varkos noticed soon enough.

It had remained in the rear maintaining Hellbound Command.

The third time its gaze landed on the Fountain, its expression finally changed.

"Fountain of Life."

For the first time, its voice held something other than arrogance.

"Why does a newcomer Lord have something like that?"

Cassian did not answer.

Varkos was already charging in person.

Its first strike crashed head-on into Aurelia’s Folded Sky Ward.

The silver-white barrier collapsed inward.

Aurelia was driven back dozens of meters.

Varkos only staggered once.

Level 20 Legendary against Level 35 Legendary.

The gap still existed.

But Aurelia had not been removed from battle in one hit.

Before the second strike, Celia entered from the side.

Lifeless Sword Arc.

For the first time, the gray sword arc struck Varkos itself beneath the ribs.

SHNK!

Not a surface scratch.

Black-red blood sprayed out.

Varkos snapped its head around.

Infernal Renewal activated at the same time.

Fire surged toward the wound edge and tried to pull it closed.

But Lifeless Mark was already attached.

The healing speed visibly slowed.

Varkos finally looked at the sword in Celia’s hand.

"You’re only Level 20—"

Celia’s second slash was already there.

"If the sword goes in, that’s enough."

Same place.

The wound tore open again.

Deeper.

Varkos struck back and blasted her away with one palm.

Celia landed and retreated seven steps.

Her right arm was numb.

Blood touched the corner of her mouth.

She did not force a third exchange.

She drank the first of her Life Waters immediately.

Life Energy burst through her body.

The numbness in her right arm retreated rapidly.

A section of the Aether she had just emptied returned.

She raised Lifeless Edge.

"I can cut again."

On the other side, Aurelia had already raised Folded Sky Ward again.

Varkos finally understood the problem.

"You’re cheating!"

Veyra stood behind the first line and actually laughed when she heard that.

"The rules gave us the Fountain."

"Go argue with the rules."

Varkos did not have time.

Only four of the eight Hellcrown Guards remained.

There were fewer ordinary Demons too.

When the Rocketiers raised their third round of firepower, even Cassian did not let them dump every Overload rocket into low-grade targets.

"Three on the right stay for Epic."

Mental Guidance altered the trajectories.

Seventeen rockets washed the center.

Three curved after a Hellcrown Guard trying to leap over the shield line.

The explosion slapped it out of the air and back into the ground.

Sigrid followed from below with Thunder Javelin.

BOOM!

One fewer.

Injured soldiers continued moving toward the rear.

There was no second Life Reconstruction.

The Fountain did not currently have enough reserve for another reconstruction of the same specification.

But the inability to revive another dead soldier did not turn the Building into a useless ornament.

It kept repairing injuries.

Kept restoring Aether.

Kept returning exhausted fighters to combat.

Before wave thirty-three, Overload had been the kind of ultimate an entire unit could only commit to once with extreme caution.

Now, with Varkos actually on the battlefield, all twenty Rocketiers had completed another reload.

Injured Legionnaires were still recovering behind them.

Troops who had emptied their Aether in the last exchange were returning to combat-ready status in groups.

The Fountain had not given Cassian another same-spec resurrection.

It kept pushing power that used to be one-and-done back onto the battlefield.

Twenty launchers lit again.

The next barrage was ready.

Varkos started to panic.

Infernal Renewal kept repairing the wounds Celia and Aurelia left on it.

Every repair consumed more of its own power.

Lifeless Mark made the problem worse.

The first wound beneath its ribs had never fully closed.

Every time Celia found another opening, she attacked the same place.

Third slash.

Fourth.

The cut widened from a handspan to half an arm’s length.

The black-red flames around Varkos grew thinner.

At last, it stopped caring about the two Heroes and turned violently toward the Fountain.

"Destroy that first!"

One Hellcrown Guard broke over the flank at the same time.

Its target was also the Fountain.

Eira moved fastest.

Storm Body flared to full strength.

Her short spear met the burning blade head-on.

She blocked the first strike.

On the second, a dark-red secondary blade suddenly folded out from the middle of the weapon.

SHNK!

Straight through her chest.

Eira’s body froze.

Sigrid’s face changed instantly.

"Eira!"

Aurelia was faster.

Six Stormlance had received Life-Echo Brand long ago.

Now one of those Brands lit.

[Life-Echo Brand]

[Fatal Damage detected]

[Restore recorded life-state]

Silver-white light tore out of Aurelia.

She visibly swayed in the air.

The fatal wound in Eira’s chest closed as if the moment had been pulled backward.

Her stopped breathing resumed.

Storm Body reignited.

Eira did not stand there in shock.

Her spear drove upward into the Hellcrown Guard’s jaw.

Sigrid’s Thunder Javelin landed immediately after.

BOOM!

The Epic Demon was smashed back into the ground by both attacks.

Eira withdrew to the rear line.

Aurelia did not force herself to continue empty either.

She drank her second Life Water immediately.

Fountain of Life.

Life Water.

Life-Echo Brand.

Three separate recovery mechanisms.

None replaced the others.

Together, they closed the high-grade combat-power gaps Varkos had been trying to create.

Veyra looked back just long enough to confirm Eira was standing.

Then she looked at Cassian again.

"She’s alive."

"Yeah."

"Don’t let her take a second one."

"She’s already out."

Veyra nodded.

That was enough.

More than ten minutes later, all eight Hellcrown Guards were dead.

The last ordinary Demons had been cleared by the Rocketiers and the Eclipse line.

Only Varkos remained standing on the battlefield.

It looked nothing like the creature that had first appeared.

Thunder Crown had burned its left shoulder black.

Stormlance had left a penetrating wound in its chest.

The worst injury was still its right side.

Celia’s original wound had never closed.

Varkos lifted its head.

The sky began turning red for a second time.

The patterns of Meteor Hell started forming again.

Aurelia judged it immediately.

"We can’t let a second one fall."

Celia saw it too.

She asked Cassian only one question.

"Need the last hit?"

Cassian had checked the Boss panel the moment it appeared.

Core Trait: None.

"No."

Celia smiled.

"Then this is simple."

Quiet Step.

She did not charge Varkos from the front.

She circled back to the right side again.

Sword Intent compressed everything into Lifeless Edge.

This time, not Severing Arc.

[Lifeless Sword Arc]

Only one gray line appeared.

It drove straight through the wound Celia had already cut open four times.

SHNK—!

The injury split from the ribs all the way into the chest.

Infernal Renewal flared desperately.

It did not close.

Lifeless Mark had suppressed that section of flame until it could barely gather.

The half-formed Meteor Hell above Varkos faltered.

One breath.

Enough.

Aurelia climbed to the highest point of the battlefield.

Her silver-white wings folded inward completely.

Above the canyon, a massive sword of lightning pressed through the unfinished deep-red clouds.

[Skyblade Descent]

The sword fell.

BOOM—!

White light pierced Riftwind Canyon from sky to ground.

Varkos tried to raise one hand.

The old wound on its right side ruptured first.

Black-red flame poured out of its chest.

It managed half a word.

"I—"

Its body separated along the opening Celia had created.

Then Skyblade Descent swallowed it whole.

[Aurelia Dawnwing has killed Demon Lord Varkos.]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Level: 35]

No DEVOUR notification appeared for Cassian.

There had never been a Core Trait.

Who owned the last hit did not matter for DEVOUR here.

What mattered was the settlement.

[Battle Essence +700,000]

[Aether Crystal +1,000,000]

[Advanced Attribute Tome ×1 | Bound]

[Skill Book: Meteor Hell ×1]

[Aether Crystal: 858,466 → 1,858,466]

The final item did not enter the warehouse immediately.

A Seal edged in deep-gold patterns hovered above Varkos’s corpse.

[Domain Environment Advancement Seal | A]

[Quality: A]

[Use Requirement: Environment Foundation reaches B]

[Effect: Advances a B-grade Environment Foundation to A-grade]

Cassian reached out and took it.

Veyra had already walked over.

Behind her, the first line was reorganizing.

Pale-green Life Energy still glowed around the Fountain.

"Can’t use it now."

"Yeah."

"You’re still at C."

"Still missing B."

Veyra looked at him.

"So that’s another thing to find?"

Cassian stored the A-grade Seal.

The last time he had worked on Environment Foundation, he had spent 1.1 million to push it from F all the way to C.

At the time, plenty of people had treated that as nothing more than making the Domain a little more comfortable.

Later, Aether Mist had let him compress the first ten waves.

Today, the Fountain had changed the skill cycle of the entire army.

Now A-grade had already landed in his hand.

Only one grade remained in the middle.

Cassian looked at the Seal in storage.

"B isn’t the reward."

"It’s the next gap."

The corner of Veyra’s mouth rose.

"Of course you don’t hear ’can’t use it now’ and think ’useless.’"

Cassian closed the warehouse.

The war fog had not fully disappeared.

The Shattered Marches Ranking had not settled.

And the Black Banner-controlled neighboring Region to the southeast had not vanished because Varkos was dead.

But wave forty-five had put three things in his hands at once.

The Fountain had proved itself.

The new Legendary Hero had proved herself.

And the A-grade Environment Seal had arrived.

Now he only had to fill the missing grade.

Then take the next thing worth having.