For the first time since becoming a "Doom Knight", Teest experienced what it felt like to reach his limits.
Dominating death was his power. Controlling the corpses of ordinary creatures was as easy as flicking a marble with his hand. Yet, Perradat's corpse was immensely heavy. Even though this False God didn't resist intentionally, the oppressive sensation of that body alone made Teest gasp for air.
The gigantic divine body absorbed power like a black hole, as if it was in a bloody battle with an evenly matched opponent. This was truly… exhilarating.
Teest focused on manipulating Perradat's body, ignoring Perradat's screams and vomiting right by his ear.
"Fischer Reginald," Teest ordered directly. "Take the chance to leave the ship later."
"What do you mean?"
"Contact the siren race. Whether through negotiation or coercion, gather some marine creatures nearby. I might need them," Teest said.
Even though they had interrupted Star Stealer Sol's reversion, they hadn't yet won completely. He needed to gather forces in his own way.
"Yes." Fischer bowed respectfully.
"Hmm…" Mentor lounged leisurely to the side, casually picking up a glass pot in the servant's quarters and poured himself a cup of lemon water. He exuded a relaxed atmosphere, completely out of place in this tense situation. "It's a bit strange."
Neither Teest nor Fischer took the bait. Mentor didn't mind and continued leisurely, "Even if you were severely injured by an explosion, there are countless ways to escape. How would the attacker completely eliminate you?"
"Your thoughts are quite loud," Teest remarked without turning his head.
"As people get older, they tend to talk to themselves," Mentor said with a chuckle. "We're all smart here. You should know what I mean."
Indeed.
Duke Alva was just a puppet being possessed, just as Perradat possessed Lilith. The combat power of the possessed was very limited. Even with the treasury of Duke Alva at his back, Star Stealer Sol had to rely on "reversion" as its trump card for self-defense.
He must have prepared other means of attack.
"At least… an avatar would suffice." Perradat finally finished puking, her mood somewhat low.
"Avatar?" Mentor asked politely.
"The flesh and blood of a False God, along with a part of the core." Perradat gulped down half a cup of water.
Mentor: "Sounds like you're not going all out."
Perradat finally caught her breath. "Star Stealer Sol wouldn't casually reveal its true body. Using an avatar is more than enough to deal with two severely injured False Gods. Its avatar must be waiting nearby. This is a good opportunity!"
"I agree." Teest grinned. "It's a pity we'll have to wait for the deadlock to break before we consider that."
Nearby, huh…
Think about it. Everything started with their agreement to investigate Star Stealer Sol with Perradat.
Then they found the collapsed Golden Sword and Mentor, who appeared alone, accepting the system's quest.
Following that, their group logically investigated Ship Island, encountering Fischer by chance and stepping into Star Stealer Sol's plot.
Throughout this journey, there were no significant events. When exactly did Star Stealer Sol's reversion begin?
It had decided to kill them. Could it be that it just adjusted the objective environment and then quietly waited in the room for them?
Teest's gaze quietly swept over the two beside him, increasing the shaking intensity of Perradat's body. Perradat cursed loudly on the magic screen and collapsed again, vomiting.
Perhaps things were more interesting than he thought.
No matter, Teest thought. The arrangements he needed to make were already in place.
...
"…As expected." The Old Duke shook his head after a long while.
With the movement of Perradat's body now a foregone conclusion, Nol just needed to be sensible. In this situation, as long as Nol wasn't stupid, "crashing the ship" was out of the question.
Even if Star Stealer Sol rewound again, it couldn't prevent this significant event from happening without being erased by the laws of time on the spot.
"I imagined you'd be more deflated." Nol shrugged. "You really did prepare an avatar."
"So you were worried about this. This is why you insisted on a one-on-one talk—" Before the Old Duke could finish, his whole body shuddered. No, it wasn't him trembling, but Ship Island itself.
"Your body is full of valuable items, which makes it hard to make a move on." Nol tapped the table with his knuckles amidst the trembling. "But Ship Island itself isn't that formidable."
In the night, the giant Ship Island began to disintegrate.
It wasn't a catastrophic shattering, but more like countless invisible hands disassembling the ships one by one, reverting them back into individual vessels. Amidst the earthquake-like tremors, people screamed and rushed towards the nearest boat. The once brightly lit huge island collapsed like a sandcastle in the waves, quickly falling apart into countless scattered fleets.
The world-renowned "Ship Island" of the Alva Merchant Group disappeared just like that.
At least it was better than being smashed on the coast. Nol solemnly congratulated himself for a few seconds.
The Old Duke's room was separated out, crudely floating on the water. This abrupt room swayed with the waves, gradually drifting away from the boats filled with innocents.
"It's over." Nol said, "The fifteen-minute time limit is up, and now I will kill you over and over until your 'extra lives' run out."
His tone was assertive, yet his thought processes didn't slow down in the slightest.
The immediate problem indeed disappeared, but they only blocked one of Star Stealer Sol's attacks. Throughout the forty-three reversions, they observed Star Stealer Sol, and Star Stealer Sol observed them.
Star Stealer Sol only showed the "reversion" card. Whether for offense or defense, he completed everything else through external means. Duke Alva was just a puppet. Even if chopped up, Star Stealer Sol's actual loss was minimal.
Nol and Teest, on the other hand, fought with their true bodies. Their coordination and combat habits were all observed by Star Stealer Sol.
…At the moment, Star Stealer Sol seemed to have the upper hand.
…This won't do. He wouldn't let things end like this.
After a moment of thought, Nol reached out to Duke Alva, surrounding him with blue will-o'-wisps. The Old Duke quietly watched him, as complex magical fluctuations gradually swirled around him.
Pfft.
With no warning, blood splattered across the entire tea table.
Blood dripped into the tea, turning the snow-white sugar cubes a dark red. A trail of blood splattered diagonally across the Old Duke's face, a drop of blood streaking across his carefully groomed mustache and slightly upturned lips.
A long sword, glowing with black and red flames, pierced through Nol's chest.
The sword entered from his back, its bloody tip emerging from his chest.
At the same time, numerous sealing artifacts were activated simultaneously, firmly locking the surroundings, keeping Teest and his companions outside.
Nol didn't turn around. "Urgh…"
A tightening sensation in his throat, followed by intense pain, made his entire body convulse.
It hurt, more than any injury he had suffered before. It was as if someone was pressing a red-hot iron into his internal organs, and countless toxic needles were drilling into his bone marrow.
He recognized the sword. It was a system-produced "Dragon Slayer", with 30% extra damage to dragons and dragon-related monsters. Besides, the long sword was additionally cursed against undead monsters, along with overwhelming divine power… That was undoubtedly Star Stealer Sol's power.
The pain spread rapidly through his flesh and blood, becoming increasingly unbearable. His blood felt like boiling lead, nearly overwhelming Nol's sanity.
"I thought you'd scream," a voice said.
"So… That's how it is…" Nol struggled to squeeze out a voice from his throat. "Ha…"
The blue fire still burned around him, but compared to before, it was dim like a candle in the wind, about to extinguish at any moment.
"No wonder along the way… you played no substantial role… and that strange… quest…"
Nol didn't need to turn around. He knew who stood behind him.
Enbillick Alva.
He had "fainted" in place earlier, and Teest didn't take him along.
Star Stealer Sol's interference started before they boarded Ship Island. After all, even without Billy's guidance, with the well-informed Mentor, their destination would still be set as Ship Island.
Along the way, the information provided by Billy was either something they could notice on their own or irrelevant…
The power of Star Stealer Sol raged wildly along his wounds. With such power, Enbillick Alva wasn't merely a simple puppet.
He was Star Stealer Sol's avatar—he was Star Stealer Sol himself.
So that's how it is. That's how it is.
Star Stealer Sol couldn't change significant events, but if he quietly returned to the past, altering some inconsequential details, he wouldn't be punished by time.
So, even earlier, "Star Stealer Sol from the future" had been quietly watching and studying them. Recalling their encounters with Billy, Nol suddenly felt like laughing.
Not to mention the system's protection for this operation… Even without it, he would have found it hard to suspect Billy. This guy couldn't change established history, but he planted a sufficiently friendly image in their hearts.
A reliable companion, a strong ally just right.
A happy family man, successful in his career, deeply in love with his family.
To lessen their suspicion, this guy even staged self-harm, completely embodying a victim.
Facing such a guy, no wonder Perradat would suddenly and inexplicably lose.
"You really are…" Nol clenched the sword tip tightly, the sharp blade cutting into his fingers.
"As long as you're gone, Perradat would never cooperate with that lunatic Teest." The Old Duke's smile widened again. "You should know, the enemy is most relaxed when they think they're about to win."
Without Ship Island to suppress the waves, the small room was tossed about on the water.
Nol remained silent for a while, then weakly smiled. "You really are… merciless… What exactly did I and you… in the past…"
His eyes bore into the Old Duke's face, as if trying to carve a hole through his gaze.
"Ah, yes, yes, you seem to have forgotten, perhaps a side effect of death."
The Old Duke stood up, walking towards Nol. He grabbed Nol's neck with a surprisingly strong grip.
"I've killed you once already. You shouldn't have come back." Behind Nol, Golden Sword spoke in a familiar tone.
The Old Duke snapped his fingers, activating more system artifacts one by one, nearly extinguishing the blue fire around Nol completely.
"It's remarkable. This is the end of the God of Creation."
In front of Nol, the Old Duke spoke softly, as if to soothe a baby to sleep. Meanwhile, the sword tip in Nol's chest slowly rotated.
"…Do you have any last words, Lord Nol?"
Nol: "…"
Nol: "Pfft."
He revealed a smile that could be called gentle.
"I know, I'm likely to die from being too trusting." He slowly straightened up, his fingertips lightly touching the blood-drenched sword tip. "Coincidentally, I have a boyfriend who trusts no one."
As soon as he finished speaking, the blue fire around Nol was completely extinguished.
No, to be precise, there was still one spot where the blue fire remained lit—the place where the long sword entered from behind Nol, the sword itself encircled by a small ring of blue fire.
That wasn't a fire ignited by Nol himself. It had been obscured by many other fires, making it indistinguishable. The Old Duke only then noticed that at Nol's chest, where the sword churned the flesh, there was also a faint glow of fire.
Spatial manipulation.
From the beginning, the long sword had only pierced a thin layer of flesh on Nol's chest. The distance of this spatial teleportation was very short, perfectly concealed.
In the next moment, the surrounding protective magic was destroyed by an explosive force. Waves tossed, shadows wreaked havoc, and countless golden threads shot from all directions.
"Continue," Nol said.
In the darkness, those blue eyes glowed like fire.