Chapter 367 : On Sin (5)

It began when One Who Bears It’s greatsword swung wide.

From left to right.

A simple motion.

And yet—

Kwa—!!!

Just a single strike.

It was hard to believe such devastation could come from that single movement.

A shiver-inducing slash so powerful that it felt as if a line had been drawn across the world itself.

The shockwave that followed scattered everything it cut through like dust.

However—

Kwachik—!

Yutia’s barrier, though dangerously thin, managed to block the blow.

That moment bought them a sliver of time.

“Hardening.”

As Alon uttered the words while channeling Reverse Heaven, the sins began to move all at once.

“Decision.”

And then—

One Who Bears It, having retrieved his greatsword, began to descend slowly from the air.

Even as the situation turned dire, he came down with unhurried calm, and Alon focused intently on him.

He knew it instinctively.

The moment those floating feet touched the ground—he would no longer be able to catch him.

So—

“The Flower of Eternity—”

Before that foot could fall, Alon spoke the final phrase.

At that very instant—

Zzeojeok—!

Around One Who Bears It, a hemispherical barrier appeared.

Realizing what had happened, One Who Bears It swung his sword again.

But—

Kwa-ga-ga-gak—!

His attack failed to pierce the dome-shaped field.

“Phew—”

Alon exhaled deeply, gazing at the magic he had invoked.

The spell he had used was his reinterpretation of the second-tier magic Shield, recently received from Heinkel.

Its function was to completely sever the inside from the outside.

As long as one remained inside the barrier, no magic could escape outward.

And as long as one remained outside, nothing could affect what was within.

In other words, from the moment One Who Bears It was trapped—

He could no longer exert any influence beyond the barrier.

However—

‘I can’t sustain it for long.’

The spell itself couldn’t be maintained indefinitely.

Sweat beaded on Alon’s forehead as he frowned.

Looking up at the sky, he saw that the countless stars that had been forming nonstop were now slowly diminishing in number.

Even Alon’s seemingly infinite magic, which had always overflowed regardless of the spell, began to show cracks at every fleeting moment.

No matter how endlessly his mana regenerated, it surged and vanished in cycles, ebbing away every time One Who Bears It moved.

That constant fluctuation created calculation errors that left Alon’s mind reeling.

He couldn’t hold the barrier much longer.

Nor could he cast another spell.

Even if trapping One Who Bears It allowed others to strike him, there was no meaning if no one could deliver the blow.

And yet—

There was one reason Alon did not hesitate to imprison him.

“Sili.”

[Yes! I’ve been ready since the signal, sir~!]

Because there was someone else to attack in his stead.

At the sound of Sili’s lively response, blue lightning surged across the dark abyss.

[All set and ready!]

Behind Sili stood a massive pillar, like a lightning rod, waiting to discharge a torrent of azure energy.

It was the very artifact Sili had created when she built the temple near Caliban.

Pazizizik!!!

Now, it had evolved into a divine weapon that devoured the faith of those within the shrine—

Divine Punishment.

It spread through the abyss like a flood, consuming the celestial stream.

Pwa—!!!

With a strange sound, energy converged at the tip of the lightning rod.

“Now—!”

Alon shouted.

Instead of replying, Sili activated Divine Punishment.

—!!!

A blinding white light consumed the galactic depths of the abyss.

The ringing in their ears faded away.

As the light that devoured all faded, Alon thought—

‘The timing was perfect.’

And indeed, it was.

Everything had gone exactly as planned.

They had caught the complacent One Who Bears It off guard, sealed him, and struck with the divine weapon prepared for this very moment.

Everything was perfect.

If One Who Bears It hadn’t blocked it—

“Ha.”

Alon let out a hollow laugh as he looked at him.

Ironically—

The blow, which had gathered and unleashed all external divine power, had not dealt fatal damage.

Instead—

Tuduk—tuduk~!

The newly formed sins had taken the attack in his place.

The moment Divine Punishment fell, they had thrown themselves forward without hesitation to shield him.

The sight of them afterward was dreadful.

If they truly embodied sin, then that blast should have erased them completely.

And yet—

Tuduk—tudu-duk~!

Regrettably, the sins began regenerating from their near-annihilated forms, utterly unbothered.

As if nothing had ever happened.

And just like that, the battle resumed as though nothing had changed.

***

The fight dragged on.

In other words, a futile war of attrition continued.

The sins and their opponents exchanged endless blows.

Alon and Yutia struck at One Who Bears It again and again—five times so far.

Yet, regrettably, none of those strikes had delivered a meaningful wound.

In fact, Alon began to wonder if it was even possible to harm him at all.

Kwachik—!

“My Lord!”

“...!”

Blocking another strike aimed straight for his heart, Alon grabbed his pounding head.

He forced his dizzy mind to analyze the situation.

And the situation—

Even at its best, was grim.

At worst—hopeless.

Deus and the others were holding off the sins as best they could.

Yutia was barely managing to fend off One Who Bears It’s relentless attacks.

And so, for now, the battle line held steady.

No—it looked as though it was still running.

Alon swiftly rolled his eyes around, scanning the battlefield.

Everyone fighting against the Sins looked utterly exhausted.

In contrast, the Sins showed no sign of fatigue or damage.

That meant, as time went on, the situation would only grow more hopeless.

Unlike those things, which seemed to possess no limit to their stamina, this side was rapidly wearing down.

‘The moment even one of us collapses from exhaustion on this field—’

Defeat would be certain.

No—annihilation.

“Hah—”

Alon exhaled raggedly and forced his mind to think.

He wasn’t in peak condition himself.

After using Reverse Heaven more than five times, his head felt as though it were burning from within.

And the awakening he triggered using Blackie had already far exceeded its safe limit.

Even so, he prepared another strike.

But regretfully, no ideal strategy surfaced in his mind.

He had already tried every method imaginable through those five attempts.

No matter what kind of attack he unleashed, in the end, it always failed to land the finishing blow.

Whenever significant damage was about to reach One Who Bears It, the Sins would immediately shield him with their bodies.

In short, unless he could kill the Sins first, it was impossible to harm One Who Bears It.

But the Sins he created would not die.

It was a situation without an answer.

And yet—even without an answer, he could not stop thinking.

Alon didn’t want to die.

Alon didn’t want to lose anyone.

So, in the midst of desperate thought and frantic movement—

“!!.”

Alon found it.

Or rather, he thought he did.

He couldn’t be sure it was the right answer, but one thing was certain.

“Yutia—”

“Yes, My Lord.”

There was no other choice left.

“Can you hold that thing off for as long as possible?”

“Understood.”

Leaving Yutia behind with her nod of assent, Alon pressed his foot into the ground—

“Formation of Thunder.”

He activated Raijin Form.

Pazik—!

In a flash of blue lightning, Alon shot up into the sky.

For that brief instant, he looked down upon the battlefield below.

The first thing he saw—

Soldiers trapped in the black abyss, unable to escape, surrounded by jagged terrain like spikes.

Their faces all carried the same look of fear, spreading like a plague.

Each of them knew instinctively that this was the end.

Seeing them, Alon whispered,

“Manifest—Faith.”

He drew forth the divinity of Kalannon.

Pazizizizik—!!!

With a skin-crawling crackle, lightning exploded outward, flooding the abyssal world in blinding light.

He raised his hand toward the heavens.

And then—

Pazizizizik—!

Blue lightning linked the ground and the sky, gathering into his left hand.

One Who Bears It turned his gaze upward, ready to move, but—

Uuuung—!

His motion was blocked by the multiple layers of barriers Yutia had created.

However—

Kwajijijik!

Regrettably, every barrier she made shattered instantly each time his greatsword swung.

He broke through them faster than she could reconstruct them.

The moment he destroyed the final barrier, he leapt forward—

“Not so fast~!”

Someone blocked his path as he prepared to leap skyward.

It was Ryanga, wearing a feral grin.

Kwaaaaaang—!!

Still midair, Ryanga’s kick slammed into One Who Bears It’s shoulder.

The ground beneath exploded apart.

“Makalian Eclipse—!”

As the shattered earth was bound by threads of violet light, it wrapped around One Who Bears It like a net.

Black hands emerged from the massive sphere, layering upon one another as if to shield it.

The Sins rushed to his aid, trying to break through the encirclement.

But—

“Rang-chang, rang-chang—”

“Formula—!”

Golden sword slashes and invisible blades intercepted the Sins who charged in, undeterred even as their bodies dissolved.

Kwa-duduk-duk—!

Then, dozens of golden coffins surged forward in synchronized motion.

When that suffocating chain of attacks came to an end—

Kwaaaang—!

As though mocking their efforts, One Who Bears It shattered all restraints in an instant.

He shot upward toward the sky—

“!”

And appeared directly beneath Alon in the blink of an eye.

An incredibly fast ascent.

“No!”

“Master!!”

Ryanga and Seolrang widened their eyes and shouted up toward the sky.

The soldiers below, who had moments ago held fleeting hope under the blue lightning, now felt despair and resignation flood their faces again.

At the same time, as if delivering the final blow—

“Block—!”

“Brother—!!”

One Who Bears It raised his greatsword high, mocking the screams that echoed from below, and aimed straight for Alon’s heart—

Kwaduk—!

But he failed to pierce it.

The small blossom of the Eternal Flower embedded near Alon’s heart had stopped him.

For that brief moment—

Alon’s numb gaze met One Who Bears It’s void.

Their eyes intertwined.

And then—

Lightning fell.

—!!!!

Blue currents burst in every direction, striking down upon One Who Bears It.

A blue sun rose within the dark galaxy of the abyss.

All eyes turned toward the lightning-wreathed Alon and One Who Bears It impaled upon the spear.

Despair turned into doubt.

Pazik—!

Doubt turned into belief.

Pajijik!

Belief turned into praise.

—!!!

And praise, into hope.

But—

Even as all looked on in awe, Alon instinctively knew.

‘It’s not enough.’

He gazed down at One Who Bears It.

Despite the direct strike, his greatsword still moved.

It passed through the spot where the Eternal Flower had vanished—

And reached straight for Alon’s heart.

Even if the greatsword didn’t reach him—

This attack alone would never be enough to defeat One Who Bears It.

He had to do something.

Right now.

He needed one decisive move that could end this.

In that fleeting moment—

Countless thoughts raced through Alon’s mind.

But at this point, there was nothing left he could do.

He had already poured every last drop of divine power into this strike.

He could use Reverse Heaven again—yes, that would surely finish One Who Bears It—

But if he did, it would also kill him.

His body was already far past its limit.

Still, as his mind struggled to find a way—

‘Do you know what’s most important when one becomes a god?’

‘...What?’

‘Shall I tell you?’

‘What is it?’

‘It’s Imprint.’

“......Imprint?”

‘It’s about how you are perceived as a being.’

Hearing Eliban’s voice echo through his mind like a flashback, Alon suddenly understood.

As if Eliban had known this very situation would come, his earlier words now revealed the only path Alon could take.

There was no hesitation.

And no delay.

“Reverse...Heaven—”

Alon’s head burned once again.

Blood-tears streamed from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

His thoughts began to flicker, cutting in and out.

His vision darkened and brightened in chaotic rhythm.

And Alon realized it—

The moment he took even one more step forward, he would be crossing a river from which he could never return.

Yet even knowing that—

He clenched his teeth.

And moved.

The dark galaxy began to fill with Alon’s starlight.

Mana poured out of his body in violent bursts, distorted by calculation errors.

And in that instant, Penia’s words resurfaced like a dying flame.

‘Mmm~ if it works like this, then we’ve finally perfected the technology we first set out to create. But—once again, you must not use it.’

‘...Because the mana cost is too high?’

‘Yes. I’m serious—this spell consumes so much mana that even Reverse Heaven won’t be able to keep up. If the Marquis can’t perfectly control the flow of power beyond a certain point, he’ll die the moment he casts it.’

‘That bad?’

‘Of course. After all, this spell combines multiple decoded spells into a single executable sequence.’

From the gauntlet on Alon’s hand, a black mist-like substance began to flow out.

‘By the way, why did you choose that as the activation phrase?’

The stars that had been maintaining their form moments ago began to transform all at once.

‘Because it fits the first page.’

‘That’s the reason?’

‘Yes. It sounds cool, doesn’t it? So let’s go with that.’

As Alon’s right hand formed a seal—

“Let there be light.”

Within the abyssal galaxy—

A sun was born.

Hundreds of suns.

And with them—

Awe blossomed.