Vol 6. Chapter 167: Undying Body & Infinite Power

The thunderlight faded from the wrecked battlefield. Leon slowly stepped forward, flicking off the lingering arcs of lightning from his hand. Kaiser came up beside him, standing shoulder to shoulder as they stared ahead at the empty field.

Neither of them showed much expression. Though just moments ago Kaiser had been shaken by Leon stepping into the realm of the divine, now that he’d steadied himself, he knew—even an attack of that apocalyptic scale wouldn’t be enough to deal fatal damage to Atos.

As the dust cleared, Atos staggered up from the deep crater, dragging his ravaged body. He hunched his back, raising his right hand high into the air. The cursed sword, which had been knocked away by Kaiser’s lightning, seemed to sense Atos’s call. Across nearly ten meters, it turned into a streak of violet light, slashed through the sky, and landed perfectly into his grasp.

"I thought you'd at least show some surprise," Kaiser said quietly.

Leon shook his head and replied in a low voice, "I’ve always had a long-standing standard for judging whether I’ve actually won a battle."

The battlefield was tense and solemn, but Kaiser didn’t mind taking a few extra seconds to hear this ‘standard’ Leon spoke of.

So he asked, "And what is that?"

Leon inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled, his gaze fixed on Atos, who was rapidly healing.

"If your enemy is truly about to lose to you, then they’ll definitely start spouting all kinds of threats, trying to show their resentment and unwillingness to accept defeat."

As he spoke, Leon resumed his fighting stance.

"But what Atos just showed... was merely disbelief that I could wield divine power. Nothing beyond that. And I think the state he’s in right now—this miserable, broken look—he did that on purpose."

Kaiser raised a brow at that.

"On purpose? Why do you think that?"

"He wanted to test what divine power could actually do to him."

Leon gathered fire and wind elements in both hands.

"Now that his little test is over... the real fight begins... To the death."

And just as Leon suspected, Atos’s body was quickly restored. He rolled his neck, joints cracking loudly. Then he opened his eyes and looked straight at Leon.

"Too bad you inherited Zeus’s divine power. A god of battle and slaughter, sure... Far superior to those third-rate gods of wisdom and light. But... That’s all it is. I won’t let you take this world from my hands, Leon Casmod. I’d rather... destroy it myself."

With that, Atos gripped his sword with both hands and suddenly plunged it into the ground.

Seeing this, Leon’s brow furrowed. "What’s he doing now?"

A flicker of unease crossed Kaiser’s eyes, but he forced himself to remain calm.

"Remember when I told you that Atos has already fused with the Void?"

"I remember. That’s what makes him immortal. Why?"

"Immortality is only one of the powers he gained from that fusion."

Kaiser clenched his fists. For the first time, a ripple of tension surfaced in his steady tone.

"The Void Realm doesn’t just let him regenerate again and again... it also grants him virtually limitless energy."

Leon blinked in surprise.

"So what you're saying is, our opponent isn’t just unkillable—he doesn’t even get tired?"

"Exactly. You can't kill him. You can't outlast him."

"In simple terms, yes."

Kaiser also readied himself for battle again.

"When you visited the Time Palace just now, you must’ve seen what my sister was planning, right?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah."

"Exactly. That ancient mechanism had only just begun activating. And her goal—without a doubt—was to replicate Aurora."

Combined with the notes Leon had read in Safina’s private library, it wasn’t hard to guess: she intended to use the Dragon Kings’ power to let the Mirror Abyss Eyes replicate divine status.

Then she’d take Aurora’s place on the throne.

No wonder those siblings hadn’t planned to tell Leon about it from the start. If they had, Leon definitely would’ve been distracted—maybe even caught in a far more difficult dilemma.

"And the plan’s next step is: once the new God of Time is born, Safina will have enough divine power to suppress the Void again."

Kaiser explained, "So we have to push Atos back to the far side of the Void Rift the moment my sister ascends. Force him back into the Void and seal the Gate once and for all. Only then... can we call it a true victory."

The conditions for victory were now painfully clear. And just as painful in their difficulty. Still, it was better than the impossible choice they’d faced at the beginning.

Leon nodded.

"Got it."

"Done discussing?"

Atos’s hoarse voice rang out from a distance.

"If you're done... then prepare to die!"

The moment he spoke, he let out a low growl. Violet light surged from his body. In an instant, multiple Void Rifts tore open beside him.

But this time, what poured out wasn’t Void soldiers or monsters. It was wisps of dark-violet spiritual energy. These energies fused into Atos’s cursed sword, making it flicker with an ominous glow.

The eye embedded in the hilt began trembling violently, its whites bloodshot with crimson veins.

"He’s drawing power from the Void Realm," Kaiser muttered.

He summoned Night Abyss and held it ready.

"Don’t forget what he said. Even if it means destroying Samael temporarily, he’ll take it. He wasn’t joking. We’re facing a monster who’s undying, unbound by this world, and constantly recharging. The only way to stop him is to push him out of this world."

Leon gathered elemental power and replied softly, "Alright. Let’s go."

"Yeah."

The moment the words fell, the two of them vanished. The next instant, Leon appeared in front of Atos. The powers of thunder and flame fused into a long blade, and he slashed down toward Atos’s face.

Atos raised his sword to block. The clash of elemental forces sent shockwaves and dust exploding outward.

Leon seized the chance—launched a fierce knee to Atos’s gut, then followed up with a wind-charged blow. Atos’s body was hurled into the air. Leon kicked off the ground and chased after him.

Though ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ he still couldn’t fly outright, he could now maneuver mid-air using wind elements—an effective compensation for his lack of spatial abilities.

"Heh..."

Atos let out a deep laugh.

"Interesting."

With a roar, he unleashed Void energy. The cursed sword surged forward, firing a dark beam straight at Leon.

*Demonic Art – Annihilating Evil Ray: Ghost Wail*

——

This was originally a wide-area wipeout technique. Atos had used it to slaughter thousands of Void creatures—and hundreds of Silver Dragon warriors—when he first arrived in Samael.

And now, that life-ending energy was concentrated into a single beam.

Worse still... Because it came from such a high angle, even if Leon dodged it, the beam would hit the ground directly. In that case, the entire Silver Dragon Territory would be engulfed in fire within seconds.

Atos grinned wickedly.

"Leon, unlike me, you don’t have an immortal body. You’d better dodge. Oh right—if you do dodge, everyone down there dies."

Leon flew straight toward the Annihilating Evil Ray. He knew exactly how dangerous it was—dodging it was definitely possible.

He gritted his teeth, activated the wind-element skeleton to shield himself, and reinforced his defense with earth element.

Even so... Leon wasn’t sure if he could actually withstand the Evil Ray. And even if he could—would he have enough strength left to keep fighting?

"Leon! Charge forward! I’ll block it for you!!"

As if answering him, a violet figure shot past from the side—rushing straight into the Evil Ray.

"Kaiser!!..."

Kaiser met the destructive beam head-on, bracing Night Abyss horizontally to absorb the monstrous impact.

"Leon! Don’t freeze up!!" Kaiser shouted.

Leon snapped back into focus.

Now was the moment to strike.

Kaiser had opened the path—Leon couldn’t waste it. He surged forward with wind element speed too fast for the eye to follow, flanking Atos.

"Oh? Not bad. You two actually know how to coordinate."

"Shut up."

They clashed at close range. Leon had realized—if they kept exchanging ranged, high-explosive spells, then it wouldn’t matter who broke first. The whole region—and everyone in it—would be obliterated.

So Leon forced Atos into melee combat. Only that way could he minimize the battle’s collateral damage.

But Leon had underestimated the power of the Five-Spirit Divine Shadow—and how serious Atos had been when he said, “Even if I have to destroy Samael temporarily...”

BOOM—BOOM!!!

The two of them traded punch after punch. Their physical collisions alone unleashed shockwaves and sonic booms across the sky.

After several rounds, Atos caught Leon’s wrist, twisted, and hurled him toward a distant mountain.

Leon’s body crashed down like a cannonball, slamming deep into the mountain range.

But it didn’t stop there.

Atos unleashed multiple Void sword slashes—each strike tearing into the peak, crumbling the mountain instantly.

Stone, trees, dirt—everything collapsed on top of Leon. A mountain’s weight, plus several sword blasts, buried him.

Atos hovered in midair, watching the ruins cave in with a grin.

"I know you’re not dead. Come on out—let’s keep fighting."

Just as he finished speaking, a flash of blue shot up from the rubble.

Leon burst skyward without a word, launching straight into the second round of hand-to-hand combat.

He conjured another thunder-fire longsword, and with even greater speed than before, charged at Atos.

*Divine Art – Nine Hells, Four Gates Reforged: Godspeed Slash.*

With the Five-Spirit Divine Shadow augmenting it, the fourth gate—Godspeed—was even stronger now.

A lightning-fire slash, combined with absurd velocity, produced power far beyond even “Night Armor.”

WHRRRRRRN!

The two blades clashed, a sharp hum reverberating through the night sky.

Leon gripped the hilt tightly—but unfortunately, he still lacked the ability to summon from afar. So he hadn’t yet reclaimed his Thundercloud Blade.

He could only fight using weapons formed from elemental power. If he had the Thundercloud Blade in hand, he wouldn’t be struggling this much.

"Haaah!!"

Leon shouted, pushing more elemental energy into his strike.

A massive sword beam—nearly a hundred meters long—sliced across the sky, lighting up the dark-violet clouds.

*Divine Art – Fire Thunder God.*

Atos was blasted back by the impact.

He stopped about a hundred meters away, but the moment he did—the sword beam exploded.

Even high above the ground, the explosion’s shockwave took a few seconds to hit the surface.

Dozens of trees were uprooted. Silver Dragon soldiers on the battlefield were blown away.

The entire field plunged into deeper chaos. But when the smoke cleared, Atos was still floating steadily in place.

The Void energy had boosted him again—he was now stronger than before.

"You can’t beat me. And I can’t kill you quickly either." Atos spoke calmly. "Let’s see who lasts longer. Will it be your half-baked divine powers—or... the full might of the entire Void Realm?"

Half-baked...

Leon frowned at those words. Atos had noticed.

The Five-Spirit Divine Shadow had a time limit—or a power limit.

Seeing Leon’s expression, Atos let out a mocking chuckle.

"What, don’t tell me you thought I wouldn’t notice? When you first got the pseudo-divine powers, you hit me with all five elements like a madman. But for the past few minutes, you haven’t used earth or water. And now, the ‘fire’ in your elemental blade is flickering."

"My guess? In a little while, even the wind keeping you airborne will vanish. And when that happens, you’ll lose your pseudo-divine state completely."

Atos had thousands of years of battle experience—an ancient monster.

He raised his cursed sword and prepared to attack again.

"But in the end, you’re still just mimicking a god. That said, I’m glad to have such a strong opponent."

"So then... let’s continue!"

Leon clenched his fists and glanced down at the Time Palace.

*"You have to hurry... Safina."*