Chapter 327 – The False God (2)  

Gi-Gyu could occupy this space and create Eden’s core here with Landmark Proclamation. And if he were successful, the area would produce endless amounts of various energies like Eden, which his creatures could use to grow exponentially.

‘This will become my holy land,’?Gi-Gyu thought. It was risky to try to proclaim this land as his own when Gabriel had already proclaimed this place a holy land for angels.

At the moment, it would be impossible to kill Gabriel here. Gi-Gyu could feel an overwhelming amount of divine energy in his place. Of course, this energy helped Gi-Gyu as well, but the problem was that Gabriel couldn’t be harmed here. And that was why Gi-Gyu was trying to make this place his own.

‘Fighting proclamation with another proclamation,’?Gi-Gyu thought. He wasn’t simply trying to turn this place into a landmark for Eden—he was trying to neutralize Gabriel’s proclamation.

“Ugh.” Gabriel groaned, and Gi-Gyu realized that his tactic had worked. He couldn’t see Gabriel because a giant, bright light still enveloped the latter.

Lou stared at the sky and whispered, “That was Gabriel’s scream…”

During their entire battle, Gabriel had never groaned or screamed. But just now, they had all heard it, including Gi-Gyu.

Realizing Gi-Gyu’s intention, Lou continued, “So he succeeded in neutralizing the proclamation.”

The divine energy suppressing Gi-Gyu’s creatures gradually lessened but didn’t disappear completely. Death, sorcerous energy, and various other energies began taking over the space, sparking a fight between Gabriel and Gi-Gyu’s energies.

Fwoosh!

Another burst of light appeared. But it wasn’t the kind that blinded everyone, and it disappeared quickly to reveal Gi-Gyu and Gabriel.

“Ahh...” Hamiel whispered. Although he was a fallen angel now and had become Diablo, he was once an angel.

“Ahhh…” he moaned again and clasped his hands together. He had become corrupt, but he still served God.

A God of his choosing.

Gi-Gyu.

And his God was facing a false god in the sky.

Lou whispered, “He looks cool.” He seemed nonchalant, but it was clear Lou was impressed.

Gi-Gyu, in Saint Mode, stood in the sky with great equanimity. With El in his hands and Dragon Hunter on his body, Gi-Gyu was a sight to behold. It looked like he was enveloped in a pure white robe. And an extension of that white robe covered his head instead of his usual helmet. And a golden chain—overspread with thorn-like structures—floated above it. It was quite a menacing sight.

“It’s incredible,” Michael whispered. He was most impressed by the wings on Gi-Gyu’s back. They hadn’t extended from his back, but dozens of glowing white could be seen on his back.

Lou wondered, “Maybe they are part of his divine power?”

They weren’t your average wings. They were the materialization of the excessive divine energy pouring out of the robe.

The space began shaking, but it wasn’t Gi-Gyu’s wings or the golden chain boasting such a powerful presence. His most incredible new feature was a huge white and gold sword. It looked nothing like Lou’s sword form in Gi-Gyu’s Berserk Mode. While the black sword was twisted and fiddly and clearly meant for destruction, the white sword was just perfect. It was a piece of art tailor-made for Gi-Gyu by seemingly God himself.

“It’s as if he was born this way. It suits him,” Lou muttered. “I guess that’s a true holy sword.”

According to the ancient document Paimon had studied, God used to wield two swords; one of them was Lou.

‘Maybe?you?were the other one,’?Lou wondered. This had been his theory all along, and Gi-Gyu’s new transformation had seemingly confirmed his suspicion. If they found the ancient document Paimon had lost, they would know for sure.

Lou took a step back and announced, “It’s going to begin now.”

Hamiel and Michael also stepped back and remained quiet. The real battle was about to start.

***

Gabriel seemed shocked because he didn’t make a move for a while. He had already proclaimed this place a holy land, but Gi-Gyu’s proclamation had essentially neutralized his work. And to top it all off, Gi-Gyu had done so by using a skill similar to Gabriel’s.[ref]This is talking about Gi-Gyu using Land Proclamation to negate whatever skill Gabriel had used to first proclaim the land holy.[\ref]

Gabriel was physically injured. Gi-Gyu had gotten hurt as well, but it was still worth it.

‘This sucks.’?Gi-Gyu frowned and watched Gabriel. The situation was chaos personified, and Gabriel had surely lost his sanity, making him a somewhat-conscious ball of extremely compressed energy. Gabriel looked like a doll after Gi-Gyu had shocked both his physical and emotional state. This was as good a time as possible to hurt him fatally, but Gi-Gyu had a reason not to.

[Charging at 87%]

The Saint Mode was different from Berserk Mode, which allowed Gi-Gyu to attack crazily by burning whatever energy he had at the moment.

[Charging at 89%. You have one minute till full charge.] The Saint Mode appeared to prevent overworking Gi-Gyu’s body. It forced him to absorb the energy around him to gather enough power to fight. Was this El’s doing for wanting to keep him safe?

He could attack before he was fully charged, but that would entail a penalty.

[If you release power beforehand, the charging rate will decrease significantly.]

Gi-Gyu decided to be patient to increase his attack’s efficiency. Even more importantly, he was currently busy studying Gabriel’s condition.

‘Gabriel has power comparable to God.’?This was why Kronos had prophesied that Gi-Gyu would die trying to defeat Gabriel. He could say that Kronos was wrong, but he had to admit that Gabriel’s power was troublesome.

‘He must have purposefully corrupted all the angels to steal their divine energies.’?It explained how Gabriel got all the angels’, including the archangels’, powers.

-Master.

El’s voice was filled with rage.

[Charging at 93%]

‘I’m sorry,’?Gi-Gyu apologized to her. These angels were once her family and world, and Gi-Gyu had used her power to destroy them. He couldn’t imagine what she was feeling right now.

-There is no need for an apology. I’m grateful.

It appeared that El’s anger wasn’t directed toward Gi-Gyu.

-I would like to thank you for giving me a chance to eliminate that cursed Gabriel.

El’s fury was toward Gabriel.

Just then, Gi-Gyu saw Gabriel finally move. Gabriel was now a doll with God’s power. His awkward movement and hollow eyes proved he was a shell of his former self now.

The doll with God’s power was about to make a move.

[Charging at 98%]

‘El,’?Gi-Gyu called out to her. ‘Use me as your tool.’?

Gi-Gyu had expected this. He was a part of the situation, but El was the one most deeply involved.

‘El,’?Gi-Gyu called out again. ‘Use me to exact your revenge for your kin.’

-Thank you.

She sounded like she was about to cry.

[Charging completed.]

At that moment, Gi-Gyu felt the physical limitations disappear a bit. It had been a long time since he had felt this way. It was similar to when Jupiter had stolen his body and imprisoned Gi-Gyu’s consciousness in Gi-Gyu’s body.

But this felt a bit different. Unlike then, he was wide awake and could regain full control whenever.

“Gabriel,” Gi-Gyu said to his opponent. His voice was a mix of two voices, a male and a female, making him sound unisex.

“You’re the one who has gone truly corrupted. You not only abandoned your faith but”—Gi-Gyu grasped his new sword and took his battle stance—“you also tried to be a god.”

The sword became so hot that it began steaming. It didn’t give off a destructive aura, but there was something very dangerous about this steam.

“I shall punish you.” Gi-Gyu shot out toward Gabriel.

***

“I can’t even rest,” Botis grumbled.

“Please persist for a bit longer,” Tao Chen replied.

“I know. At the very least, the things Paimon brought have made the situation more tolerable.”

“Indeed.” Tao Chen nodded.

In front of them were the corpses of demons and angels.

“Kwerrkk…” The problem was that they were rising again. Thankfully, they didn’t have many enemies around them because Paimon and the things he had brought took care of the bulk of the monsters. Botis and Tao Chen just had to deal with the leftovers.

“It looks like the angels are being controlled by the necromancers,” Botis announced in annoyance. They had to kill the same enemies repeatedly because the necromancers kept reviving them. And wholly annihilating a monster was the only way to push it out of this cycle.

Normally, necromancers couldn’t control higher beings like angels; strangely, that was exactly what was happening here. “I never expected to witness something like this in my life,” Botis muttered.

Tao Chen grinned and replied, “I guess you have the right to be surprised.”

.

Botis’ age was beyond what humans could comprehend. He had lived a very long life.

Botis said to him, “You must be tired too.”

Tao Chen smiled and swung his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, causing an enormous squall. It pulverized all the enemies before him but only thrust aside the ones on the sides, who quickly got back up.

Botis asked curiously, “How did you become so powerful?”

Botis had sparred the most with Tao Chen. He had never expected Tao Chen to become this strong in such a short period.

‘I can’t defeat him now…’?Botis knew that Tao Chen had become stronger than he was.

Tao Chen swung his weapon again. He was exhausted from his battle with Lou earlier, but his recovery rate was unmatched now that he was a ruler. The enemies coming after him fell again.

Kaboom!

Botis and Tao Chen turned when they heard an explosion. The sound had originated from the Colosseum, and bright lights scattered above it. They could only imagine the fight that had occurred inside.

Tao Chen whispered, “It must be over now.”

The scattering lights above the Colosseum held an unimaginable amount of power. Botis agreed, “I think so too.”

When Botis glanced back, he noticed the monster—that had been after him—collapsing one after another. The scattering lights were likely a signal of Gi-Gyu’s victory.

Botis added, “He must have won.”

The angels and the monsters were collapsing helplessly. Looking down at his hands, Botis murmured, “I’m still alive, which is proof enough.”

***

The battle had ended too easily, considering Gi-Gyu's opponent had as much power as God.

The beautiful white and gold sword touched Gabriel’s neck.

“It’s over, Gabriel,” Gi-Gyu said in his unisex voice while holding sword El.

“Ugh…” Gabriel moaned. His body wasn’t doing well. And surprisingly, his numerous cuts weren’t bleeding blood—they were oozing bright light.

“I guess I’m collapsing…” Gabriel finally opened his mouth. He hadn’t said much since he had made an appearance, most likely because his enormous power was overpowering his consciousness. Gabriel looked down at his hands in disbelief to see the light seeping from the cuts on his palms.

“I guess I failed in the end,” said Gabriel.

“...”

“So, are you Michael?” Gabriel addressed Gi-Gyu as Michael. It seemed that he had lost consciousness for a while. He continued, “You’re glowing brighter than I am. I became corrupt, abandoned my physical body, and even stole all the angels’ power, but…”

Gabriel looked up at the sky. His divine energy thinned as he gradually lost his power. He added, “You’re glowing brighter than me. I obtained a power comparable to what my God had, yet…”

Gabriel looked at Gi-Gyu and whispered, “You’re shining brighter than I ever did.”

It appeared that Gabriel had regained consciousness. His energy reserve was slowly draining; in return, he regained his psyche. El still didn’t finish him off.

“Kronos was right.”

“...!” Surprise appeared on Gi-Gyu’s face. This emotion wasn’t from El but purely from Gi-Gyu.

Gabriel explained, “I was never meant to succeed… This was supposed to happen from the beginning.”

“What are you talking about?” Gi-Gyu asked, but El replied instead of Gabriel.

-I don’t think he has actually regained his mind. I believe it’s just a small fragment of him left behind in his shell that is repenting.

“Ahhh… I… Us… Why were we created…? For what?” Gabriel slumped, but he wasn’t dead yet.

-There is nothing left inside of him—no mind or consciousness.

There was sadness in El’s calm voice. It was time to eliminate the last remaining part of him. After Gabriel was gone, there would be no more angels in this world. El belonged to Gi-Gyu, and Hamiel was a corrupt angel. Gi-Gyu had tried to sync with the angels but had failed.

The only one left was Michael.

‘But he is human.’?Michael’s body used to belong to Gabriel, but his mind was still human. After today, there would be no more angels in the world.

“You may repent for your sin as you die,” El announced as her sword form plunged into Gabriel’s chest. A fire began burning Gabriel’s body, and from his feet, he turned into dust. Too much divine energy had already ruined his body, and now, it was disappearing from this world.

Gi-Gyu and El waited patiently. Their long and tedious battle was winding down.

“...!” Gi-Gyu jolted when he saw Gabriel, who had been slumped like a helpless doll, raised his hand. He was pointing at something.

“...” Gi-Gyu saw that Gabriel was pointing at Michael, who was looking their way. But then, Gabriel’s hand disappeared along with the rest of him.

Gabriel’s voice rang in the air, “Raphael, I’m sorry.”

“Ackkkk!” Michael grabbed his head and began screaming.