Chapter 889: The true enemy
Pompeyo’s eyes widened as he witnessed the death of the Devil Lord. Terror flashed through him as Vlad closed the distance like a crimson storm. The Patriarch of the Zanis Family had no strength left for a prolonged duel. He could barely endure the fire devouring him, much less withstand the wrath of the monster racing toward him.
"Get away from me!" Pompeyo roared.
A massive golden blade materialized in his hands, sweeping out in a vast arc of radiant light aimed to cleave Vlad apart.
"Hmph." The True Depravita of Wrath sneered.
He swung Freya’s rusted sword, and reality itself groaned. His strike tore through the fabric of space, effortlessly sundering the golden arc and slashing across Pompeyo’s back. Blood erupted in a crimson geyser, the wound searing with malignant force.
The Patriarch of the Zanis Family clenched his teeth, ignoring the agony. He did not stop. He continued diving toward the homeworld, desperate to reach it, to escape the inevitable. But Vlad was already upon him.
The Depravita of Wrath’s lips curled into a brutal smile. He had killed one Lord already. Now he would claim another.
Then, suddenly, time itself seemed to freeze.
Every warrior in the Void Between Worlds felt it. Legends, devils, even the White Death himself—all froze as the universe seemed to hold its breath.
And then it happened.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
A titanic explosion erupted from the heart of the Zanis Gomeworld. The planet quaked. The earth split apart in blazing fissures. From the cracked, burning land, something vast began to rise.
A monstrous claw heaved upward, tearing through stone and fire as though the world’s crust were nothing but fragile skin. Each talon glistened with otherworldly radiance, immense and curved, trailing rivers of molten rock in their wake. The sheer weight of its emergence sent shockwaves rippling outward, and the ground itself groaned like a dying beast.
It rose at terrifying speed. The atmosphere bent and warped as it pierced the sky, lightning crackling across scales harder than mountains, ridges of alien armor gleaming with impossible power. From below, it was as though a living mountain was clawing its way into existence, blotting out the heavens with an aura of terror older than creation itself.
Only now did Vlad react. His instincts screamed with such overwhelming horror that for a moment he felt his heart seize. The claw sealed not just space but every form of teleportation—even Negative Teleportation, the technique that acted outside the Laws themselves. Its mere presence displayed power so transcendent that it rendered the void itself its prisoner.
The claw reached Pompeyo first. Tendrils of alien flesh wrapped around him, fusing him into its form, drawing him to safety. Then the talons stretched outward toward Vlad, intent on snaring him as well.
The True Depravita of Wrath burst forward, faster and faster, his crimson lightning igniting the void as he fled. But no matter how fast he moved, he was not fast enough.
Just as the claw was about to close upon him, a beam of golden destructive energy slammed into it.
Altharion.
The Crown Prince, who had been containing and revolving the cataclysmic energy from the self-destruction of the twelve Half-Step Lord automatons, released it in a desperate strike at the precise instant. The golden explosion crashed into the claw, halting it for the briefest sliver of time—less than a nanosecond. It was not enough to save Vlad by speed alone.
But it was enough to shatter the seal binding reality.
The grip upon reality loosened, and Vlad seized the opening. In that instant of reprieve, his consciousness latched onto one of the distant Superior Legends that was full of dread, and he triggered his Negative Teleportation. Space inverted, and he slipped free from the claw’s grasp.
He reappeared far from danger, releasing a long, shuddering breath of relief. Without hesitation, he dismissed his fusion, allowing Freya, Jormungandr, Ouroboros, and Fafnir to emerge at his side.
The four True Depravitas gazed upon the massive claw with dread. Around them, silence fell. Every living being—ally and enemy alike—looked upon the claw with the same primal fear. Even the White Death was no exception. He felt it clearly: this hand alone possessed strength greater than his own, and he could not even imagine what kind of entity the body behind it must be.
The claw flexed, preparing to strike again. The void shook under its oppressive will. But then, unexpectedly, it trembled.
Cracks split across its surface. Sound like shattering mountains echoed as invisible forces battered it from every direction. At first, some thought another attack had landed, but soon the truth became clear.
The Laws of the universe themselves were repelling it.
The claw resisted, straining against the rejection, but its fingers began to crumble. Chunks of its alien flesh and armor disintegrated into nothingness. With a final, reverberating groan, it withdrew.
But it did not retreat quietly.
A mantle of force flared around it as it sank, releasing a shockwave that thundered across the void. The Graecian forces were hurled back, Legends spinning helplessly through space. The surviving Zanis warriors and Devils seized the opportunity, retreating in chaos toward their homeworld.
Though many were confused—some even terrified by what had appeared—they knew one thing for certain: remaining in the void was suicide.
And then it was gone. The claw slipped into the hole from which it had risen, and silence returned to the stars.
The battle in the Void Between Worlds was over.
Graecia had won. They had destroyed the satellites and formation cores, shattered the shield that guarded the Zanis Homeworld, and slain a Lord. By any measure, it was a monumental victory.
But no one cheered.
Every heart that had witnessed the monstrous claw knew the truth. The thing they faced was not merely another enemy—it was a terror so vast its fingers alone could crush moons. Its brief emergence had silenced all pride, all triumph.
They had won the battle among the stars.
But the war had only just begun.
—
End of Book 9 – War Across the Stars