2405 - The Sword's Pride
"...Curse of Oblivion."
*DROOOOM*
The immense power that Darvion had gathered from the Array of the Curse of the Final Witnesses began to instantly translate into something else...
"...!!" Hedrick began to feel changes in his body, so he immediately struck the void with his legs and lunged toward Darvion to split him in half before that curse could take effect, for after killing the sons and destroying the array that had kept him alive, Darvion had become an ordinary man who could be cut down.
"Hmm?" Hedrick slowed down gradually... expressions of confusion on his face.
His sight had gone until he was struck blind.
He relied on his soul sense to perceive his direction, but it became muddled and faded away.
His hearing and smell vanished as well, and even the sword in his hand he could no longer feel.
His heartbeat began to slow until it stopped, his intestinal movements ceased, the Energy Gathering Center was no longer active, and his Life Artery stopped its slow burning...
[So that's how it is...] Hedrick thought, [The oblivion in the curse's name refers to the organs forgetting their functions.]
The only thing that enabled Hedrick to think and maintain some clarity of mind was the Five-pointed Golden Seal, otherwise he would have forgotten how his soul domain worked, and his Primordial Soul would have forgotten even where to settle...
What a terrifying array.
Terrifying.
"Well, this doesn't look good..." Hedrick watched the golden bubble around his Soul Domain. The Curse of Oblivion, along with hundreds of thousands of wasps, had worn down the bubble and stripped away a large portion of its strength. They would break through at any moment now, and if that happened, he would be killed without a doubt.
[If it's about Energy, I still have 740,000 Spirit Units I can use, and I have the necklace that allows me to use Spirit Units as if they were Natural Energy.] Hedrick thought, [But what can I do with it...]
*Bzzzzzzzzzzz*
The bubble began to flicker, losing its luster.
[This amount of units can't stop the Curse of Oblivion, and I can't use it to kill Darvion either.]
*Bzzzzz—crack*
[Hmm, I've never tried this crazy idea before, but it's worth attempting in a situation like this.]
*Crack* *Craaaack*
[Deletion of Determinacy.]
*Oooooooooooommm*
A surge of soul power erupted from Hedrick, creating a gentle current around him.
Then, in the next moment, he opened his eyes and smiled. "That scared me for a second."
"Impossible!!"
Darvion took a step back, opening his bulging eye even wider as if trying to change what he was seeing.
"This is impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Then he pointed toward Hedrick.
"The Curse of Oblivion is a curse I designed, supported by the Array of the Final Witnesses, which is the strongest array I have ever created. Together, I planned to stand against the likes of the Butcher or the Cosmic Elder if they attacked my galaxy!!"
After another step back, Darvion stopped and marveled.
He could still feel the Curse of Oblivion in the same area, with the same intensity.
It had simply... stopped affecting Hedrick!
"Do you admire my innovative technique?" Hedrick began moving toward Darvion calmly. "I didn't attack you, and I didn't attack the curse—I destroyed the curse's ability to affect me... I destroyed the inevitability of my death if it kept attacking me."
"What?!" Darvion took a step back. "This... this isn't part of the scope of the Path of Destruction. This looks like a description of a technique belonging to Master Causality!!"
Darvion nearly went mad. Quickly, he used a specific movement and directed the Curse of Oblivion toward Hedrick again, but it struck him and bounced back as if it had landed on an inflated tube... as if it couldn't see him!
"You underestimate the Path of Destruction far too much—everyone does, alongside the Path of Death." Hedrick shook his head. "Don't the applications of the Master Laws get destroyed? Don't their users die?"
Then he stood a step between him and Darvion, "Power and an open mind—if wielded by a user of destruction or death, who could stop him?" Then he showed a wide smile, "...who could stop me?"
"Come on!!" Darvion pulled out a pitch-black short spear from his ring, that short spear being Fifth-rank planetary equipment.
Then he thrust it toward Hedrick with all his might.
"Hmph," Hedrick raised his left hand and caught the spear's shaft with ease, "Today the Universe will rid itself of one of its greatest criminals. Your endless crimes are what led you to the Lord's path, led you to our path."
Then he raised his right hand and stabbed Darvion's throat.
"Kkhh khhh!!" Darvion's eyes began to swirl with a strange blackness, and his Soul Domain activated.
"No tricks from you today!" Hedrick shouted and quickly activated an ability, "Total Erasure!!"
*Crack*
The space around Darvion compressed and hardened, then began to close in on him, preventing anything from escaping.
From the heart of the blade began to emerge a terrifying amount of destructive energy that attacked every cell at once, melting them, vaporizing them.
All of this working together made Darvion's suppressed screams end in a fraction of a second, replaced by a faint smoke... but even that smoke was soon destroyed, and vanished.
"Tsk~" Hedrick waved his sword, "A Behemoth's body would have been a fine gift for the Lord, but messing with Soul Masters over matters of death, corpses, and souls is a great risk." Then he smiled and glanced behind him, "I want to see how he'll find a way to bring himself and his sons back to life now."
His eyes then fell upon the nearby battle—hundreds of fleets against the elite of the True Beginning Empire.
He quickly examined his body and his domain, then wiped his forehead, concealing the exhausting Seal...
Afterward, he advanced toward the ongoing battlefield, toward the cameras aboard the Phantom Shadow vehicles, shouting in a loud and transcendent voice:
"From the era of the first Space Beasts invasion until today, I am the only one who has slaughtered a Behemoth within its own galaxy."
Then he raised his sword upward, "I am the Behemoth Slayer and the Scatterer of Groups, I am the Destroyer of Origins and the Crusher of the Arrogant, I am the new owner of this galaxy and everything within it."
And in an even louder voice, "I am Hedrick, I am the Sword of Lord Robin!"
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