The Invincible Young Master

Chapter 256 - 256 - Final Card

Azeroth stood unmoving amid the fading void flame, vast and unshakable, his presence pressing down on the empty white like a living law.

The black fire clawed at his fused body, trying to wrap around him, trying to seal and erase him as it had done before.

It failed. The flames slid away without resistance, as though they were brushing against an unchangeable truth, unable to leave behind even the faintest mark.

At the beginning of this battle, Azeroth had never doubted the outcome. Even when Reynold revealed himself as a once-in-an-era genius, even when he forcefully stepped into a false celestial state that defied the natural order, Azeroth had believed the end would remain the same.

A mortal, no matter how gifted, should have been crushed beneath his authority without effort.

Reality had proven otherwise.

Again and again, this human had shattered his expectations. Again and again, Azeroth had been forced to withdraw, to adapt, to rethink his approach. Two of his heads, severed and sealed, stood as undeniable proof of that failure. Only now did he fully accept it.

Humans were no longer the fragile beings of ancient times.

They had advanced. They had evolved.

And this one, standing before him with a body riddled by glowing cracks, flickering yet refusing to fall, was the clearest proof of that progress.

He understood Reynold's condition now. Once an existence stepped into the celestial state, true death became distant.

As long as Reynold's divine stars remained intact, his body could be destroyed again and again, only to be rebuilt under their authority.

Azeroth could continue to attack, continue to tear him apart until the false divinity finally pushed Reynold beyond recovery, but that path carried risk.

And Azeroth no longer wished to gamble.

This human was not only powerful, but dangerous. Every clash had shown Reynold's ability to stay clear-minded, to seize even the smallest opening and turn it into a fatal threat. Azeroth had already paid a heavy price for underestimating him.

Without another word, Azeroth raised his massive, scaled palm. All six serpentine heads lifted in perfect unison as his authority gathered.

Space itself groaned, darkening and warping as an ominous force condensed before his hand, heavy enough to make the void tremble.

[Annihilation]

The word echoed like a final verdict.

A sphere of pitch-black miasma took shape in an instant, so dense it seemed to swallow the light around it.

There was nothing within it but pure destruction, a single, absolute intent, to erase.

It surged forward, ripping through the void as it rushed toward Reynold, leaving behind collapsing space and dying laws that failed to recover.

Reynold's pupils shrank.

He moved at once, forcing his battered body to twist aside, but in that same moment an invisible pressure crashed down upon him.

Space itself hardened, locking him in place beneath overwhelming authority. He raised his hand, trying to carve a path free, yet his movements dragged, his response just a fraction too slow.

There was no time. The sphere reached him.

At the instant of contact, it collapsed inward, compressing violently as if devouring itself.

Reynold and the surrounding space vanished together. There was no explosion, no sound, only absence. A hollow where existence had been erased completely.

For a heartbeat, nothing remained.

Then space rippled.

Reynold reappeared some distance away, his body reforming in a burst of unstable light. He staggered in midair, breath coming in harsh gasps, his presence flickering wildly as instinct forced his gaze upward.

Where two divine stars had once revolved above him like a celestial crown, only one remained.

"You sacrificed one of your divine stars," Azeroth said. "It does not matter. This ends with your erasure."

Dark authority gathered once more around his raised arm, the laws of destruction answering his call without delay.

Reynold did not move to defend himself.

Instead, he let out a slow breath.

"I suppose…" he said quietly, "I can't hesitate anymore."

Azeroth's eyes narrowed. "Hm? You still have something hidden?"

A low, contemptuous rumble followed. "Use it while you can. Before absolute strength, petty tricks are meaningless."

That was when he felt it.

The remaining divinity around Reynold surged inward all at once. It no longer flowed through his body. It no longer held his false celestial state together.

Instead, it was dragged, violently and completely, into the last divine star above him.

In a single instant, the radiant pressure vanished from his form, and the crushing aura that marked him as a celestial collapsed.

What remained was only his mortal self.

Reynold's body sagged, barely held together by fading light. In the endless white emptiness, he could no longer even keep himself suspended.

He began to drift downward, as if gravity had returned for him alone. The glowing cracks across his skin remained, and through them his life force poured out, leaking away at a terrifying speed.

Azeroth stiffened. Disbelief flickered through his many eyes, then twisted into fury.

"Are you mocking me?" The six voices overlapped, shaking the void with rage as crimson light burned in his gaze. "You dare return to your mortal state before me?"

Reynold lifted his head with visible effort.

"I had to," he said hoarsely. "For my final trick… to work."

Above him, the lone divine star flared.

Its light surged sharply, swelling outward as if it were about to explode and swallow the entire white emptiness.

The pressure it released twisted space itself, forcing even Azeroth to pause. For a brief moment, the star reached a terrifying brilliance.

Then cracks formed.

They were fine at first, barely visible, but they spread rapidly, tearing across the surface and splitting the radiant core from within.

The divine star began to break apart, fragments of condensed divinity peeling away and dissolving into the white void.

"It seems your little trick has failed," Azeroth said coldly. "You've lost."

Reynold's body entered freefall, his strength finally giving out. As darkness crept into his vision, a faint smile touched his lips.

"No," he whispered. "You've lost."

The world tilted as he fell, his sight blurring, consciousness slipping away. Yet through the haze, he could still see it, at the heart of the collapsing divine star, a golden-haired silhouette standing calmly amid the storm of shattering light.

"Forgive me, brother," Reynold murmured within his fading mind. "Since I couldn't use your techniques… this was the only way."

Then a familiar, emotionless voice of the mirror echoed through his consciousness.

[Warning]

[Subject Spark released.]

[Divinity: 13% of the original]

[Condition: Unstable.]

[Caution: Subject's divinity has exceeded 10% limit. Due to exceeding the host's current limit, the subject is unstable and may turn hostile.]