novelraw Chapter 248: Intense Battle! Against The Venerable Remnant!
Chapter 248: Intense Battle! Against The Venerable Remnant!
Louis remained silent for a moment, knowing he had already obtained all the skills of the Ashen Nephilim.
Among them was one that stood out as truly incredible.
He reviewed them one by one.
[Wanderer of Limbo: Level 1]: As the Ashen Nephilim, you are a being who breathes and lives in the Limbo between Heaven and Purgatory. You move naturally between worlds, dimensions, and realms, and with enough proficiency, perhaps even across time. You remain unaffected by any status condition. Time no longer influences you. You can also create and walk across pocket dimensions and realms.
[Curse Devourer: Level 1]: As the Ashen Nephilim, you predate malice and devour curses themselves. Anything that would cause a long-lasting malicious effect on you or any target can be devoured, restoring your stats, skills, authorities, and abilities by digesting them. The more curses you devour, the stronger you become.
[Devourer of Time: Level 1]: As the Ashen Nephilim, time does not affect you, and you can even devour it. Through your own jaws, you ingest the flow of time itself, slowing it down or accelerating it at will. Devoured time can be stored and later used to accelerate time within an area or target for a prolonged period. There is a limit to how much time can be devoured and stored inside your stomach. A skill born from the [T### H####].
[The Fallen One: Level 1]: As the Ashen Nephilim, you are the Fallen One. Unleash your truest power and reinforce your existence to its limits, using every ounce of your strength to transform into the strongest form you can achieve as an Ashen Nephilim or beyond by embodying all the extremities that compose you. This radically increases all stats, combat ability, skill proficiency, and more by 500%. While in this state, you are immune to mind invasion, possession, and similar effects.
All of them were powerful in their own right, but one rose above the rest.
Devourer of Time.
He had already begun testing it, and it worked perfectly.
By opening his jaws and aiming at a target such as the giant pagoda, he devoured its time until even the gold grew weaker and brittle, cracking apart slowly.
He had completely stuffed himself with time after consuming it, enough to repurpose that time once more.
Fearing they might be heard by the entity, Louis spoke to Mirai through telepathy.
"Mirai…"
"Eh?! Ah!"
Her eyes widened as she heard his words. The offer was incredible, but they needed this power, so she agreed without hesitation.
Nodding, both left the temple, leaving the entity watching them from within, utterly speechless.
It had already prepared to fight and kill them, yet they were simply walking away.
Could it be… were they trying to evolve again?
The entity, once great and prideful, had been reduced to countless fragments drifting across time and space because of that fairy.
A large number of those fragments had landed in Louis's own realm, and its remnant consciousness had been struggling to resurrect by amassing power once more.
But it was not easy.
Even as "Oblivion's Eyes," it could not reconnect with the fragments still trapped in Limbo and beyond.
This was only one fragment, nothing more.
Thus, all this time, it had fought desperately to grow its power and expand its influence.
And now these incredibly cautious monsters were about to stop it?
No.
He could not allow that to happen.
Waiting inside his own temple was no longer an option.
If he had to cast aside even his pride to seize the chance to return and fulfill his true purpose, he would do so without hesitation.
…
Louis and Mirai walked deeper into the forest. Once far enough from the temple, Louis activated the power of his Devourer of Time skill. He combined it with his ability to create small realms inside this realm, forming a bubble-like pocket dimension.
With this, they could evolve as quickly as possible.
"Will this really work?" Mirai asked.
"It has to," Louis replied. "We are running out of time. But we cannot remain defenseless. We will divide ourselves."
"Ah, right!" Mirai nodded.
Both split into two perfect clones each using Louis's Divided Wyrm Soul skill and Mirai's Abyssal Shadow Soul Division skill.
The clones inherited their skills and a fragment of their souls. They were not as strong as the originals, but they remained very powerful.
The clones stood guard, sharing their minds in real time as they scanned their surroundings.
"This should do," Louis nodded.
"Both can use our abilities as well, so it should not be too hard," Mirai said.
They nodded, entered the pocket realm, and made it vanish from plain sight.
Inside, both selected their evolution options.
For Louis, only two more evolution options remained.
[Showcasing Evolution Options for White Pandora]
[Evolution Options Found: 3]
[Heavenly Throne – Rank 9: Initial Stage]
Evolution Paths: Final.
Possible Skills: [Chorus of a Thousand Angels] [Immortalizing Golden Blood] [Fractured Archangel] [Immortal Gold Body] [Angelic Heaven Domain] [Celestial All-Seeing Eyes] [Divine Light Lasers] [Ever Watchful Eyes of Heaven] [Nine Heaven Creation] [Throne of Heaven] [Devourer of Fate] [Archivist of Creation]
Description: The final evolution of the Fragmented Archangel. Having ascended into a Heavenly Throne Dragon, they oversee creation with their ever-watchful golden eyes, spreading their consciousness and souls across realms and worlds. Nothing can escape their gaze. Fate and time itself must bend before their power, as they can dominate even dragons above their own ranks with their incredible abilities. Only a few have ever been recorded in history, only to disappear quickly for unknown reasons. Their power is undeniably tremendous, and they can handle any task presented to them, for they stand beyond gods and dragon venerables in their own right.
[Celestial Ashen Limbo – Rank 8: Middle Stage]
Evolution Paths: Small.
Possible Skills: [Parallel Limbo] [Body Between Heaven and Purgatory] [Defier of Fate] [Heart of Time] [Eternal White Void Eyes] [Return to Ashes] [Soul Extraction] [Celestial Judgement]
Description: A strange dragon that has never been recorded in history. A direct evolution from the Ashen Nephilim. Upon accepting oneself and all parts, the Ashen Nephilim finally overcomes his fears and fully blossoms into an ascended being. Leaving behind any and all limitations, they are reborn as Celestial Ashen Limbos, completely unmoved by their previous shortcomings. They have accepted their own selves and taken upon the task of overseers of fate and time itself. Their Hearts of Time move the clock of time… or reverse it. Always fighting, always struggling, but never giving up, always seeking the truth and the best ending they can find. Strugglers at heart, heroes in soul, and warriors in will.
"…"
Louis was perplexed by these two options.
One last temptation had been given to him: the absolute power of a Heavenly Throne, to become someone almost identical to that Venerable.
His eyes widened. He felt something calling to him, a voice he could not understand, urging him to choose it.
"You know you want it, don't you?"
"What that evolution could give you is immense…"
"The absolute power you've been seeking this entire time, almost in the palms of your hands!"
"What are you waiting for, you fool?!"
"Will you choose the weaker evolution after all this time, even knowing that being's remnant fragment is about to come and kill you both?!"
"Don't be stupid. Choose it!"
"You know it is the best for you."
The voices Louis had dreaded ever since childhood had returned, his schizophrenia…
Or…
Was it really a mental illness, now that he thought about it?
Until now, he had not even taken pills, yet he had never heard these voices before.
An immense sense of dread suddenly consumed Louis. He felt sick for some reason.
What was this revelation?
Why did it make him feel so strange?
Were the voices…
Not really his?
Could it be that something had been acting as if he were schizophrenic this entire time?
Influencing him.
Making everyone believe he was crazy…
Until Louis himself began to believe it too.
Laughing behind him.
Mocking him.
"…"
He fell silent.
He looked at the other option, resisting their influence.
There, he saw the true next path.
The description alone made his heart nearly skip a beat.
A strange dragon that has never been recorded in history. A direct evolution from the Ashen Nephilim. Upon accepting oneself and all parts, the Ashen Nephilim finally overcomes his fears and fully blossoms into an ascended being. Leaving behind any and all limitations, they are reborn as Celestial Ashen Limbos, completely unmoved by their previous shortcomings. They have accepted their own selves and taken upon the task of overseers of fate and time itself. Their Hearts of Time move the clock of time… or reverse it. Always fighting, always struggling, but never giving up, always seeking the truth and the best ending they can find. Strugglers at heart, heroes in soul, and warriors in will.
It almost felt as if it had been written by someone who had watched his struggles this entire time, someone who loved him, someone who admired him.
And this was the result of his efforts…
The Celestial Ashen Limbo Dragon.
Its powers and skills looked strange compared to the Heavenly Throne, but…
Had they ever disappointed him?
No.
And above all, he felt like this was a key.
Indeed, a key to free himself from this cage, a cage he had been trapped inside ever since his birth.
Louis resisted the voices and chose this option without hesitation.
"You will regret this, you fool!"
"You absolute imbecile!"
"Why?! Why won't you obey us?!"
"We are your own mind, your own consciousness!"
Louis ignored the voices. The moment the message that his evolution had begun appeared…
Suddenly, peace.
They disappeared, as if something had been taken away from him.
Something he could not detect within his body or soul, but that had been there, ever present.
Until now, no more.
Mirai had apparently already chosen her evolution as well, and both she and Louis began to evolve.
At the same time, outside, their other halves watched the surroundings.
"The evolutions have finally begun…" Mirai sighed.
"Yeah, let's hope for the best— Ah, I shouldn't have spoken too soon," Louis muttered.
RUMBLE!!!
The ground trembled. The entire mountain shook like an earthquake.
Cracks spread everywhere. The pagoda above shattered and exploded.
"W-What's that?!" Mirai panicked.
"He's coming," Louis already knew.
And indeed, he was coming.
BOOOM!
A massive explosion echoed everywhere as a giant made of liquid gold emerged, slowly shaping itself into a massive serpentine Chinese dragon with glistening starlight eyes.
"ROOOOAAARRRR!"
"A dragon?!"
"He's coming."
The giant serpentine dragon descended as the entire Spirit Realm Dungeon grew distorted.
The forest vanished. The sky disappeared and…
TRUUUM!
Both found themselves in outer space, with glistening stars gleaming everywhere. The ground was gone, but an endless nebula made of swirling liquid gold constantly expanded in the background.
The dragon rushed at them, opening its maws and charging a massive quantity of energy.
No conversation.
No negotiation.
It was coming for their lives, and there was nothing else they could do but…
Fight.
And Louis could not have asked for anything else.
"Nightmare Roar."
"Cursed Box."
"Dust of Corruption."
"Ashen Soul Body Transformation."
"Curse Devourer."
Louis unleashed a five-skill combo the moment the beam fired by the giant golden dragon drew closer, combining the effects of these five powerful skills into one.
Nightmare Roar was so strong at this level that a single roar stopped the giant for a moment.
Then Cursed Box, Dust of Corruption, and Ashen Soul Body Transformation fused into Louis himself, turning him into a giant made of curses and specters.
And finally, he used Curse Devourer on himself, devouring the endless curses that poured out of his own body and constantly growing stronger and larger as a result.
"...?!"
Mirai was absolutely shocked by what she saw, but she quickly followed Louis's lead. She summoned her armies and positioned them all for battle as they charged together.
"GRRRRRR!"
The golden dragon fought back desperately. Its initial beam attack did not even reach Louis; it was redirected the moment he unleashed his Nightmare Roar.
But that was only the beginning.
"Dragon… Claw!"
Infusing his gigantic cursed body with Frostheart Pulse and Cinderheart Pulse in quick succession, Louis summoned a dozen claws by hardening his own body and attacked with Dragon Claws.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Dozens of giant claws dug deep into the golden dragon and began tearing through its metallic body.
At the same time, the stars within this domain gleamed like eyes and fired hundreds of beams at Louis and Mirai, bombarding them with explosions.
However…
"Shattered Hope."
"...?!"
The golden dragon's eyes widened for a moment as it suddenly felt strangely dizzy and tired, but that was all.
It was a strange feeling, but not enough to stop it.
Louis had not expected it to stop the creature right away, but he knew it would serve a greater purpose later as his true follow-up—Void Maw used alongside his Eye of the Black Abyss.
Once more, the metallic dragon started being torn apart, shred after shred exploding everywhere.
Louis laughed, his claws and maws digging into the monster's body!
And at the same time, the beams coming from the eyes constantly fired but were unable to damage his body properly.
Mirai attacked with her army, destroying the stars—all the eyes the entity had placed beforehand—one after another.
"GRRRRR…!"
Taking too much damage, the golden dragon made another attempt.
And it stopped being a dragon altogether.
SPLAAASH!
It merged with the liquid gold nebula in the background, becoming a titanic being that expanded into countless eyes and humanoid torsos.
An army of thousands of giants made of gold surged alongside the advancing gold.
"What's going on?!" Mirai was still confused.
"Mirai, we are fighting a fragment of a Venerable. Expect the unexpected! Use every single trick up your sleeve! This is not the time to wait for an opportunity!" Louis said.
"Understood!" Mirai nodded. She surged with immense power, transforming into a giant snake out of nowhere and hissing as she unleashed a massive sea of burning purple and black chaotic flames.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
From the flames, thousands of spectral demons emerged, infecting the gold and turning it pitch black, making it decay into ashes.
"Ah… well done."
Louis was shocked by how much Mirai had been holding back. He nodded and decided to go even further himself, combining more and more skill effects and empowering himself to the limit.
"Reverse Pandora: Celestial Light Wielder!"
For one thing, he knew the gold was completely immune to the light he produced.
But that did not matter. He had his own trump card as well.
"Abyssal Void Wielder!"
Naturally, the opposite of light was the deepest darkness of the void.
And on Louis's dozens of claws, such power now manifested. It further fused with his ethereal body, forming a giant dragon made of ashes, light, void, flames, frost, and more.
"Abyssal Void Wielder – Black Swords of Despair."
He began to wield the skills and combine their effects through spell casting, literally evolving them even further at the same time as using them as endless spell-creating grimoires.
Countless black swords manifested at his command, descending as they contained the despair he had been absorbing, making them explode across the sea of gold before any of it could reach him.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
The amount of explosions was simply ridiculous. The nebula of gold quickly lost thirty percent of its entire mass, exploding and quickly gathering, compressing its own gold into a giant figure.
The figure of a great venerable god, with a long beard, long hair, and sharp blue eyes, stared at Louis and Mirai furiously.
"How can you be so persistent?"
"Must you keep struggling?"
"Continue fighting pointlessly?"
"Enough is enough."
"You cannot win the battle that is already won."
"And what gives you the right to think the fight's already won?!" roared Louis. He turned into the giant and marched forward, using Dragon Claw and tearing through the gold, only for the gold to regenerate and conjure hundreds of golden spears that impaled his body and exploded.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
However, Louis barely took damage thanks to his transformation's damage negation. He swiftly flew toward the gold titan like a gigantic dragon specter and attacked.
He used Wanderer of Limbo constantly, appearing and disappearing from the golden emperor's sight while surprising it with constant attacks from every side.
"...Enough."
However, the emperor had had enough.
TRUUUM!
"Ngh?!"
Louis and Mirai felt an immense pressure weigh down on their shoulders. Both fell to the ground below, crashing into a massive golden star and shattering it apart.
BOOOMMM!!!
At the same time, under such immense, all-powerful, and overwhelming pressure, the Venerable stared down at them with indignation.
"I was made by him in his image, to be his eyes themselves. And I swore I would never stop working," the giant spoke. "I will now take your body as mine, dragon, and from then on I shall continue serving my master even as—"
"SHUT UP!!!"
Louis roared, his aura exploding with immense power.
"REVERSE PANDORA!!!"
His aura continued growing larger and larger.
"FRAGILE SHELL!"
"FRAGILE ILLUSION!"
"SOUL SEAL!"
Louis reversed three skills immediately, obtaining their full power at once.
"SUPER-HARD SHELL!"
His strength and endurance increased tremendously, and his body became immensely tougher than before as well.
"INDESTRUCTIBLE MIRAGE!"
Fragile Illusion reversed. From a fake-out skill, it became the real deal, enhancing Louis's form and turning him into a giant celestial of blinding light, temporarily making him immune to damage.
And lastly…
"SOUL LIBERATION!"
The souls he had sealed earlier were liberated, and also the very strange, bizarre soul of the Venerable he faced grew warped and different, beginning to twist strangely.
And at the same time, all the souls he had sealed were freed as soul spirits.
But that was only halfway of his plans…
"Reverse Pandora: Soul Wyrm Division!!!"
As he resisted the immense pressure, his Soul Wyrm Division suddenly reversed!
In that instant…
"Soul Wyrm Fusion!"
TRUUUM!
All the souls he had freed were re-absorbed, empowering Louis through the roof as he merged with all of these souls at once.
"RAAAAHHHHHH!"
He infused all his power into his dragon claws, but instead of slashing foes, he closed these floating fists and then…
"Dragon… Punch!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each punch came with a great deal of explosions, shattering the invisible pressure and then smashing the giant made of gold, covering him with hundreds of such blows.
"Reverse Pandora: Seven Great Evils!!!"
And as if that were not enough, the seven great evils that emerged suddenly turned into radiant white and golden light, becoming angelic dragon spirits themselves.
"Seven Great Virtues!"
As he roared, the world around him came undone for a moment as the virtues flashed through the air in an instant.
Charity, patience, kindness, diligence, humility, chastity, and temperance manifested as seven angelic dragon spirits, raining blessings and then fusing with Louis's body through Soul Wyrm Fusion.
FLAAASH!
His giant form grew even larger, spreading dozens of angelic wings and overflowing with angelic and heavenly power.
"WRAAAHHHH!"
With a mighty roar, Louis opened his jaws, unleashing a gigantic beam of black and white light that pierced through the titan of gold.
BOOOMMM!!!
The Golden Emperor groaned, rapidly reforming himself and conjuring a giant sword made of countless numbers and letters.
"Divine Legendary Calendar Sword Fragment!"
"Know your place."
SLAAASH!
"Ngh?!"
Louis tried to evade but was unable to. Time itself stopped and he was cut.
His reversed form of Fragile Illusion should have made him immune to physical attacks, and it did.
But not to what this attack was… it was something beyond a physical blow.
"LOUIS!!!"
Mirai panicked as she saw Louis being split apart into two, blood and guts splattering everywhere…
Only for him to smile and explode into dust.
"...?!"
The Golden Emperor's eyes widened as Louis suddenly reappeared behind him, wielding a long spear of Abyssal Void and thrusting it forward.
"I am not easy to kill, bastard!"
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"NNGHHH!"
The Venerable resisted the blows as his body exploded and was covered in giant holes. Mirai came to help, rapidly unleashing her swarm of snakes and pushing him to his limits.
"Lowly creatures. What do you think you can accomplish? The war is already over. You… all of you have already lost, long ago."
"SHUT…!"
"…UP!!!"
Mirai and Louis roared together, their voices resonating as one as they attacked the Venerable with everything they had from the front and the back, tearing his body to shreds, corrupting it, shattering it, anything they could.
"Uuuggh…! You… truly are… incredibly stubborn…"
Louis and Mirai gasped for air, glaring at the giant made of gold slowly dissolving into the cosmos before them.
But both remained silent, looking around, saying nothing.
Could it really be done?
He had disappeared!
And yet…
His presence never disappeared.
"FOOLS."
"...!"
"...?!"
And to their shock, he was indeed not dead. The entire Spirit Realm Dungeon trembled. The dimension he was manipulating began to distort and transform.
Endless seas of liquid gold poured from everywhere, weaving giant nebulae of liquid gold as thousands of eye-shaped stars gleamed, firing lasers at them.
"It's not dead…!" Mirai said. "W-What is this?!"
"I see…! This entire time we have been fighting a mere avatar!" Louis realized. "This bastard is… this entire Spiritual Realm Dungeon…! It is his vessel, his body!"
"W-What?!" Mirai screamed in disbelief.
"I ALREADY TOLD YOU."
"IT IS FUTILE."
"THAT FAIRY, A REMNANT OF THE PRIMORDIAL GODS, WAS ABLE TO DAMAGE MY BODY AND CORE TREMENDOUSLY."
"HE SHATTERED MY VERY AUTHORITY."
"HOWEVER… I WILL RETURN TO MY PRIME."
"ONCE I HARNESS ALL MY POWER."
"ONCE I IMMORTALIZE AND ARCHIVE THIS ENTIRE UNIVERSE!"
"AND YOU… ARE NOTHING BUT THEIR REMNANTS, NOT EVEN THE ORIGINAL ONES. PATHETIC REMNANTS, UNABLE TO CHANGE THE FATE THAT MY MASTER HAS ALREADY DECLARED."
"PARALLELS THAT WILL NEVER COMPARE TO THE ORIGINALS… WHY AM I EVEN BOTHERING WITH YOU? PERISH THIS INSTANT."
"What is he talking about?!"
"I don't know but…! We have to keep fighting!"
Mirai and Louis combined their auras as their skills were unleashed one after another.
Louis tried out the reverse forms of the other skills as they resisted with whatever they could the onslaught of lasers and the incoming gigantic golden palms.
"IT'S FUTILE. WHATEVER YOU ATTEMPT WILL END IN YOUR DEMISE."
"YOUR FATE HAS ALREADY BEEN REWRITTEN, AND THIS ENTIRE TIMELINE SHALL SOON BE PRUNED AS WELL."
"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH."
"STOP FIGHTING AND ACCEPT YOUR FATE. BE AT PEACE."
"Shut the fuck up!!!"
Louis roared. His aura exploded.
"The Fallen One!"
RUMBLE!
Darkness and light collided within his body and then exploded inside him. Louis, in that moment, transformed, becoming a giant dragon of black and white.
This was the power of his skill [The Fallen One]!
In this form, all his stats, combat ability, skill proficiency, and more skyrocketed by over 500 percent.
But that was not all.
He grabbed Mirai and used Wanderer of Limbo, disappearing as he moved through dimensions and appearing above the entire destruction.
The eyes quickly looked at him to continue attacking.
However.
"Inverse Pandora: Wanderer of Limbo!"
TRUUUM!
Space around him distorted, blackening like the void itself. Mirai gasped as she saw the eternal black abyss of purgatory beneath him.
"W-What is this skill?!"
"Prisoner of the Abyss!"
In that moment, the entire domain of the Venerable was swallowed by an endless black abyss. The entire world distorted, shattered, and was then remade.
"WHAT?"
The Venerable was shaken as he found himself in a strange, chaotic abyss, trapped inside. His powers over his own dimensional body weakened severely, and although he still had them, his authority could not extend beyond as much as before.
And above him, Louis shone brightly with both black and white light, glaring down at him as countless black chains emerged from everywhere.
"You know? This is what humans used to call an Uno Reverse Card."
"WHAT SORT OF NONSENSE…!"
The Venerable roared. His countless eyes and forms surged, only for black chains and abyssal dragons to emerge everywhere, attacking him back.
"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COME…! WHAT SORT OF SKILL IS THAT?!"
"Not even I am completely sure, so let's find out together, shall we?!"
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