Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the pale void, the Outer God from the starry sky descended like one receiving a pilgrimage, arms spread as he strode forward. Dense Magecraft arrays gathered on either side of him, firing blazing bands of light. Wherever those cold spears of light passed, the world rotted away, and all things were destroyed.
Relying on a serpent's extraordinary perception and an almost impossible intuition, Samael searched with everything he had for gaps between the crisscrossing forest of light spears before they could close around him. He kept adjusting his posture, weaving through them again and again.
Even then, the Ancient Serpent still refused to shut his mouth. He kept chattering at Marduk's ear, poking at the man's scars without mercy, driving this [Omniscient and Omnipotent God] into greater and greater rage. Fire nearly burst from Marduk's eyes, and he looked as though he wanted to crush the flea before him a hundred times over.
For a time, the assault grew even more frantic. Everywhere one looked, the entire field was filled with blazing white light.
Facing that overwhelming barrage of light spears, the Ancient Serpent was in constant danger, like a small boat sailing through a raging sea, liable to capsize at any moment. Everyone in the Ten Ages of Gods felt their hearts clench, their palms tight with cold sweat.
But for Samael, there was some relief in this. Having himself as the target was still better than letting Marduk lock onto the immobile World Tree.
On one hand, a moving target was harder to hit than a fixed one. That was common sense.
On the other hand, the World Tree could no longer withstand another impact of the same intensity as before. If the Ten Ages of Gods sustained by it fell into mortal danger, Samael would have no choice but to step out and take the blow, whether he wanted to or not.
That was what it meant to attack what the enemy had to save. If it came to that, he would only be more passive.
Left!
Just as Samael's focus slipped slightly, a Mana beam radiating terrifying heat stabbed diagonally toward him, forcing him to instinctively twist aside.
But the next instant, every hair on his body stood on end. His pupils shrank to pinpoints, and his scalp went numb.
Above!
In an instant, several "Swords of Damocles" crashed down from overhead. Unable to dodge in time, the Ancient Serpent had no choice but to tuck his spear under his arm and sweep it through the air, shattering one band of light after another.
BOOM!
Amid a violent roar like the explosion of a star, Samael was blasted a hundred li away by the recoil. Metal feathers scattered from his back, and the bones in his arm were nearly pulverized.
Retreat!
Wounded, the Ancient Serpent immediately used the momentum to crash straight into a floating Age of Gods shard behind him, avoiding the worst of the attack and buying time for his immortality to repair the damage.
"Bug, don't even think of running!"
Marduk roared hoarsely, and the White Giant God rushed into the new battlefield after him.
Within the Age of Gods shard was a blue sea.
Because it had peeled away from the main body of the World Tree and been corroded by the tide of nothingness, the laws of this realm could no longer sustain themselves.
Ether storms raged ceaselessly in the sky. Waves hundreds of meters high rose from the sea. Submarine volcanoes erupted violently, throwing poisonous smoke and rolling dust in every direction.
Looking around, the sea was covered in bloated, mutated corpses of marine life. Cities with Greek-style architecture had collapsed across the islands, the dead buried beneath the ruins. Life was almost extinct here, and the entire place looked like the end of days.
But before Samael could dwell on it for long, the raging thunderstorm and wild winds in the sky were instantly torn apart by hundreds of bands of light.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The next moment, light bands falling from the heavens pierced the sea surface, stabbing through the crust like knives through butter. Even larger earthquakes followed. Thick magma erupted from cracks in the earth and poured into the sea, making the entire ocean boil violently like a pot of scalding soup.
"Caught you, bug!"
The White Giant God who had barged inside spread his divine will across the entire realm and locked onto Samael's position in an instant. With a casual wave of his hand, an Ether stream compressed to the limit, hundreds of meters wide, plowed brutally across the sea.
Several lonely islands floating upon the water crumbled in an instant.
Crack!
Not only that, the entire crust of this Age of Gods shard shattered under the bombardment.
Unmatched heat erupted from fissures leading straight to the planet's core. Space twisted and trembled without end. Wherever it passed, seawater and islands alike vanished into nothing.
This small world was finished...
Divine power surged wildly through Samael's body. He forced his way out of Marduk's lock, turned into a streak of light, escaped outside, and plunged into another world shard.
Run, insect!
Perhaps Samael's miserable state had stirred Marduk's sadistic pleasure. A cruel grin spread across his face. Like a cat playing with a mouse, he continued to toy with the old enemy struggling for his life beneath his claws.
In a scorching desert, the Ancient Serpent had only just stopped atop a half-buried golden tower to catch his breath when white light like a falling sun tore through the surging sandstorm and came crashing toward him.
Again!
Samael's heart pounded wildly, and every hair on his body stood up. By instinct, he shot into the air.
In the span of a breath, the golden desert stretching ten thousand li below him was vaporized at close range by the heat, while the sand farther out melted into magma flowing wildly across the surface.
Everywhere one looked, the world was crimson.
Go!
Samael's heart tightened. Without hesitation, he turned and left this Age of Gods shard, which was likewise falling apart, fleeing toward a new foothold.
Marduk, whose pleasure in torment only grew stronger, pursued him relentlessly.
For a time, the vast mountains of Huaxia, the fertile lands between Mesopotamia's two rivers, Persia's boundless plateau, Maya's dense rainforest, and more became battlefields for the two gods one after another.
One Age of Gods shard after another, peeled from the World Tree, melted and collapsed under the tyrannical might of the Star Demon God.
The living beings barely surviving within were stripped even of the right to weep silently amid disaster. As their small worlds collapsed, they were utterly annihilated and reduced to a wisp of dust.
Soon, only a few world fragments remained floating above the tide of nothingness.
The little mouse, covered in dirt and riddled with wounds, was about to have no hole left to crawl into and nowhere left to retreat.
Seeing his old enemy forced step by step into a dead end, his face pale and despairing, the light in the White Giant God's right eye seemed greatly pleased.
Again!
Under the dense bombardment, Samael barely broke through the pursuing light bands at the cost of one arm. Gritting his teeth, he crashed into an Age of Gods shard that happened to be floating behind him.
Hmph! Still not giving up!
A cold smile settled on Marduk's lips as he stepped inside with the posture of a conqueror.
Found you!
Standing in the dense sea of trees, the White Giant God fixed his gaze on the mist-shrouded valley. He grinned wildly, and before his raised arms, countless Magecraft arrays hummed and trembled.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
The next moment, Mana beams as dense as a meteor shower screamed through the air, plowing across the misty valley and kicking up vast clouds of crystal-like dust.
With nowhere to hide, the Ancient Serpent leaped into the sky like a stray dog, clutching the arm that had not yet fully regenerated.
Seeing his old rival in such a pitiful state, Marduk laughed wildly, his expression growing even more hideous.
"Cry out in fear, beg for mercy, and finally drown in this boundless sea of suffering. For you, that is the only salvation! Ahahahahaha!"
Unexpectedly, the cornered man looked back at him. His lips moved, and a strange smile spread across his face.
Reading his lips, Marduk instinctively translated the words one by one.
"Idiot!"
"Roar!"
At the same time, a cold, murderous roar suddenly came from within the misty valley. An indescribable chill made Marduk's breath catch.
BOOM!
The next moment, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. A towering monster, forty meters long, glittering with brilliant crystal-blue light, with four pairs of abdominal legs and a spider-like body, charged out from the misty valley. Eight compound eyes stared darkly at the culprit who had disturbed its sleep.
By the time Marduk came back to his senses, he discovered that the trees had instantly crystallized, and even the sky had become crystalline plates.
As for the one responsible, he had already fled.
The invincible Star Demon God froze for several seconds as if reflecting on life. Then a string of trembling roars erupted from that blazing white figure.
"Fuuuck!"