He recognized it clearly, that power was Holy Light, no, it was power that gave birth to Holy Light. The light was not harsh, yet it shone with brilliant clarity, and to him it felt like deadly poison. Even the two aspects he had nurtured for thousands of years within his body began to tremble.
"No… something is wrong with this light?" "What exactly are you? Monster!" "It is you, isn't it, Dawn? Are you plotting against me, or is this your desperate struggle?"
He shook his head from side to side, trying to find the source of that radiance. Yet at this moment, the brightest thing in his sight was only Belial.
Augustus was wrestling with the same thought that had crossed Elfido's mind earlier, whether it was time to retreat. Looking at this scene made him feel like watching a monkey suddenly erupt in golden light, absurd yet unsettling. Still, something felt off, since the pressure was grand but lacked the endless despair and suffocating darkness he knew too well.
The visual effects were impressive, but to someone of their level, such effects could be created at will and in far greater excess. What truly unsettled him was the look on Elfido's face, like a rat seeing a cat. That old schemer who had been grinning moments ago now looked terrified.
"Maybe I should test him first. I cannot be instantly killed again, not within my own territory." Besides, the other side was also using Clone. Who was afraid of whom?
As Augustus thought this, the air around him suddenly grew heavy. Shock spread across his face as he sensed danger closing in, though he could not tell why. He only saw the Great Dragon glance his way, without any sign of using power, yet what followed stunned him.
His very being was being rejected.
"This state feels strange," Belial thought. "It does not feel like a simple energy burst at all."
Within this vast network-like domain, Belial could sense other souls connected to it. There were many lingering records of light and darkness from the past mixed within. He could not take control of those users, but merely observing them was easy enough.
What he saw made his skin crawl. Many of the records showed groups of people in churches, bowing and praying to him. Others showed close perspectives of people clasping their hands in prayer, and among the recent ones he even recognized familiar faces from those he had once saved.
"This is not faith, is it? No way, I am still young and I do not want to sit on a throne like that," Belial muttered.
He could also receive the emotions carried in those prayers, sorrow, longing, and helplessness. Some were old records, yet there was even someone praying right now, someone he had rescued before. He felt that he could respond through this channel as well, but he dared not try, since his presence was too vast and a careless word might shatter them.
What puzzled him more was the nature of his current power. It did not seem to come only from that strange energy and light flowing into him. Instead, it felt like some hidden system within him had finally gained its own source of strength and temporarily unlocked this state.
Something long dormant inside him had awakened for the first time due to this influx of power. There was no time to examine it further. "What matters is killing those two first," he thought. "But just how far can I go like this?"
He looked toward Augustus, and his perception was no longer limited to physical form. It surpassed elements and Magic, rising into concepts beyond easy description. He felt that he could sense and control them with ease, while elemental Magic obeyed him in a way it never had before.
In the past, elements only listened after being forced. Later, after unlocking planetary control, they became far easier to use. Now they treated him like a supreme commander, responding with reverence. He barely needed to spend anything to move vast amounts of power, though this state still drained its own reserve.
Belial lightly nudged those concepts, and the resulting resonance caused a chain reaction in the material world. On the level of Laws within Augustus's territory, it stirred a massive upheaval.
"What is happening?" Augustus shouted.
His body rose into the air as overwhelming pressure crushed him. His massive form was torn apart into fragments of Shard, yet strangely he could still feel pain without returning to nothingness. The golden knight was dismantled piece by piece, as if an invisible giant were playing with a toy.
The Great Dragon did nothing but follow him with its gaze. Then a wave swept over him, and Augustus realized he had been completely stripped away. This land and space, though still nominally part of Faris Empire, no longer belonged to him.
At the center of his realm, a permanent hole had been carved out. It felt like a higher existence had performed a crushing strike on his Laws domain, tearing it apart. Even his Clone suffered the same fate.
The soldiers, generals, and heroic spirits connected to him all broke free of his control. Far away in Faris Empire, near the capital, many officers and soldiers suddenly came to their senses. They looked around in shock, remembering the horns and drums of battle, yet unable to recall anything else.
All they could see was a sacred, godlike Great Dragon looking at them from afar. Then a piercing scream echoed from the mountain palace. It was the cry of Emperor Augustus.
"Damn it, impossible! My Laws, my territory, my army!" Augustus roared.
He tried to reclaim control, but it was useless. No matter how hard he struggled, even right beside the capital, he could not command them. Rage and fear filled his eyes, far greater than before.
"One down," Belial said. "Now it is your turn."
He turned his head and found Elfido already gone. That old man had fled while Augustus was being torn apart. Using various authorities and Laws, he had escaped tens of thousands of miles away.
Still, Belial could see him. Elfido was carrying an Iron Coffin, its lid pried open just a little, revealing a blurred glow of four-colored metal. It was partially restored power from Fate, used to hide his trail.
Ignoring what would happen to Edward, he fled into a blood-red Extra-Dimensional Space. He knew the terror of the Holy Sword, power drawn from the world itself. If so, escaping to Abyss where it held no sway was the best choice.
"He sees me? From this far away?" Elfido trembled.
Turning back, he saw only the black-red hues of Abyss, yet he felt as though he saw that pure white Great Dragon. It stared at him with blood-red eyes, then slowly opened its jaws and spread its wings.
Golden holy flames of Gold Rank spiraled around it, gathering into a radiant halo behind its back. A sun formed, composed entirely of patterns and Magic Array. Its light grew brighter, bursting forth and tearing through space and time, shredding the veil of Fate as it surged toward the endless blood-red hell of Abyss.
Though its power weakened beyond the bounds of the world, it still charged toward Elfido with unstoppable force. "You think this can kill me? You are overconfident," he shouted. "This is the edge of Abyss, supported by the Authority of the gods."
The red-black filth of the surroundings gathered into a massive sludge that wrapped around him. It was struck by the flood of light and rapidly eroded, melting away like snow. At last, he was fully exposed to the blazing radiance.
His screams were wild and broken as his soul and flesh were burned and stripped. Countless souls and faith he had consumed were torn away. Yet in the end, only half a ruined body and a head remained.
"Haha… this time I win," Elfido whispered. "Black Dragon… Dawn… you still cannot kill me."
A familiar female voice answered, "But you have not won yet."
He turned to see a figure draped in white, holding a long hammer, branches of Gold entwined around her. She raised the hammer toward his head. The same light made him recognize her at once.
"I knew it was you!" he screamed. "You poured all your faith into that dragon, didn't you?"
"Yes," she replied calmly. "But we agreed that taking things back mattered more than killing you. Your life is worth less than what you hold."
She brought the hammer down, smashing his head and driving a streak of light into his shattered soul. Within the red soul, two-thirds of a sun were revealed. One blazed brilliantly, while another was like the fallen dusk sun of Gold Rank.
She did not linger. Time was short before the beings of Abyss reacted. Swinging the hammer again and again, she shattered the brightest sun and took it into her hands, finding it empty inside.
"At last, one recovered," she murmured. "We have reclaimed two-thirds of the sun, but I can barely hold on."
She complained softly, noting how her remaining faith had all been spent in an instant. With a sigh, she laughed. "The result is not bad, but it means I have to clock out early."
Tilting her head, she smiled again. "Instead of rebuilding from scratch, why not just send a ready-made one?"