Boom!
Tiamat soared!
He carried the group in a single bound, hurling himself toward the boundless sky. Even among the Ancient Gods, his speed was monstrously fast.
The land beneath blurred into streaks. At such velocity, the group had no choice but to clutch desperately at the jagged spines jutting from Tiamat's back.
"Is this dragon really Tiamat? Legends said he was dead!"
"How would I know?!"
The wind roared like a storm, forcing them to shout just to hear one another.
But in proportion, Tiamat could hear them just as clearly.
Tiamat—the Dragon God of the Nine Hells. The Nine Hells, now the Deepest Hell, had once been his dominion… until Demon King Bael seized it.
"Speak one more word of nonsense," Tiamat thundered, "and you'll fall from my back to join the vermin crawling below!"
Clinging to a spine, Larter squinted ahead. "Why the Deepest Hell? You all said that was the final destination—why there?!"
Tiamat's eyes flashed with indignation. "Ignorant worms. The Nine Hells is the direct passage to the Earth God's heart!"
"That heart is the only gateway into the Earth God's body. Only there can you slay a god that borders on immortality!"
Larter grit his teeth. "Then why don't you destroy the heart yourself? Aren't you stronger than me?!"
"Do you think I don't want to?!" Tiamat bellowed, rage shaking the skies. "Do you think I want to entrust everything to a feeble descendant like you?!"
"If it weren't for—"
He cut himself off abruptly. If it weren't for what?
"What were you about to say?"
"Silence!" Tiamat snapped. "Your only duty is to complete the mission. Nothing more!"
His temper seethed, but though he spat curses, he never faltered—still bearing Larter straight toward the Deepest Hell.
They crossed the continent and reached a sea of absolute black.
Then, without hesitation, Tiamat dove headlong.
"You're going to—Gah!"
Splash!
They plunged beneath the surface. Yet past the water's skin, there was no sea at all—only an inverted world spreading beneath them.
Tiamat's dive didn't slow. He tore straight through the earth below, drilling into the planet's very core.
And deeper still—another inverted world.
One layer, two layers, three layers—each denser than the last, the air growing thick and suffocating.
The Crimson Lady clutched her head, gagging as the stench intensified.
They had entered the body of the Mother Planet itself.
By the eighth layer, a figure suddenly appeared, barring their path.
A lone human, hovering in the void, faceless and featureless.
Without hesitation, Tiamat exhaled a torrent of Purgatory Breath.
But the figure merely raised a hand. A vast black ripple burst forth, devouring the dragonfire completely.
"You could have fled," the figure said coldly. "But you chose not to. Tiamat—in your long dragon life, you've already missed two chances. Counting this, that makes three, doesn't it?"
As he spoke, his form shifted.
His pupils split into horizontal slits, like a goat's eyes. His body swelled, three pairs of black wings tearing free, legs warping into oxen hooves, and six grotesquely massive arms sprouting from his torso.
That form—!
"He's a Demon King?!"
"Bael?"
In that instant, Larter suddenly recalled the words once spoken to him by the Nature God, Cito:
"When you encounter the Demon King—either defeat him, or strike a deal with him..."
The thought jolted him. Scrambling upright, Larter shouted:
"Bael, there's no reason for you to stop us! The Earth God intends to annihilate all life on this land—you are no exception!"
Bael only laughed, deep and cold.
"No. You're mistaken. The Mother God's will to annihilate life does not apply to me."
So certain, so assured.
Larter clenched his jaw. "And what of power? Don't you crave it? If the Earth God is slain, you could ascend—break through to a higher dimension!"
Bael tilted his head, eyes gleaming.
"Indeed… tempting words. Evolution is irresistible. To climb into a higher dimension is the instinct of every living thing."
He paused, then sneered.
"But you are far too late. Had you come to me years ago, I might have entertained such whispers. I might even have lent you aid, unseen."
"But now, the Mother God has already begun the world's restart. And you? You are weak. Too weak. Why should I risk anything?"
"No. I will stand here. Stop you here. And when the new world dawns, I will endure it. Without mishap, this outcome is inevitable."
"Do not delude yourselves. Devils do not always gamble. Why wager on a phantom chance when I can stand with the Mother God and live?"
Tiamat's fury erupted in a roar that shook the air.
"Enough! He bent the knee to the Earth God long ago. At this point, betrayal is impossible. Just kill him already!"
Bael's grin widened, sharp as a blade.
"How arrogant you are, Tiamat. This is no longer the age you remember."
"Yes—you were born an Ancient God, as were your kin. Tens of thousands of years ago, I gazed up at you, yearning to stand at your height, to be your equal."
"And now? I stand above you."
"I am stronger than all who bore the title of Ancient God before me. This is a summit you never reached. I have already ascended to the pinnacle of Ancient Gods!"
Tiamat seethed. He knew the truth.
Bael's strength was not his own. He had surrendered wholly to the Earth God. His might was nothing but a gift.
The pinnacle of Ancient Gods—the peak of the 5th Step. One step more and he would breach the Earth God's dominion. But he would never take that step.
The Mother God would never allow it.
Bael was a guard dog, nothing more. Loyal, leashed, and shackled.
But what did that matter now?
Here, in this moment—Larter and Tiamat could not defeat him.
However—
"Quite the grand speech. Did you forget to brush your teeth before spouting it?"
Arthur drew the holy sword Achilles from the scabbard across his back, its light flaring.
"If you can withstand a single strike from me—"
Bael's eyes narrowed. "And if I do withstand it?"
"Huh?" Arthur blinked. "You… can understand me?"
Bael smirked.
"Ah, it seems your grasp of devils is outdated. Elven linguistics are formidable, but mine surpass even theirs."
"So tell me, swordsman. If I endure your strike—what then?"
"Then I'll consider you formidable."
Arthur's calm words made Bael burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! Had we met under different circumstances, I would have gladly made a wager with you. Something truly… entertaining."
"But now, devils have no such—"
Before Bael could finish, Arthur sprang forward!
His wrist flicked—steel gleamed—Bael's body split cleanly in two!
"What—?!"
Stunned, Bael reeled—only for Arthur's boot to slam into his shoulder. In the same motion, Arthur's blade came down, severing his head with a single stroke.
"That's why I said: if you can take one strike from me, I'll consider you formidable."
Arthur turned, shouting, "What are you standing there for? Don't wait for him to recover!"
Snapped out of their shock, the group immediately dove deeper into the layers of Hell.
Behind them, Bael's bisected body twitched. With a grim effort, he seized the halves of his head, dragging them together, fusing bone and flesh into one piece. His body re-knit, whole again.
"You gave me a minor surprise," Bael said coldly. "Your strikes might suffice against men—but I am immortal."
He raised a finger. "Imprisonment!"
A beam of sorcery lashed out. Arthur froze where he stood, glowing runes binding his limbs in rigid light.
Bael's arms blazed with hellfire. Hands clasped together like a mock prayer, he thrust the flames inward.
"Freeze!"
Crack!
A storm of white mist burst forth, a blizzard sweeping through the entire Deepest Hell.
Absolute Freeze!
Bael's movements locked. Frost rimed his horns, his body stiffening.
At that moment, the Frost King descended astride his Frost Dragon, an endless horde of White Walkers at his back. They rained from the heavens, collapsing the upper space in a tide of ice and death.
Arthur grinned through the frost.
"Fine then. Just for saving me this once, the next time I kill you—I'll spare your life."
The Frost King pulled his dragon alongside. "What?"
Arthur shrugged. "If you don't like it, I won't save you next time. Better you die here."
"Joking," the Frost King muttered.
Even as they spoke, Bael's form shattered the frost around him.
"Interesting. Another power, beyond this world. You are not native here, are you?" His voice dripped with disdain. "What does it matter? All of this is meaningless."
"Even if you slip past me, you'll never reach the heart. The number of Ancient Gods waiting there is beyond your imagination!"
The Frost King stared down from his dragon, voice calm as stone.
"Seven seconds."
Indeed—Absolute Freeze had bound Bael for no longer than that. His body at the 6th Step was a fortress of higher dimensions.
Not true immortality, no—but to those whose strikes couldn't touch that plane of existence, he might as well have been.
Then—the sky blazed.
A figure descended, wrapped in radiance, ten thousand wings unfurled in a storm of gold.
"Noisy."
With a sweep, her countless wings became rivers of Holy Slash, striking Bael in a storm of divine light.
Boom!
The detonation rocked Hell.
And in its heart, the Angel hurled a pitch-black Ancient God like refuse, slamming the corpse into Bael's face.
"You think I can be killed by corpses that refuse to die? Your world's gods are truly naïve."
When the smoke cleared, Bael stood unharmed, grinning with delight.
"Ah… Angel. How long has it been since I last saw a creature like this?"
"You weren't born of Heaven, were you? The Angels I know don't bear so many wings."
"Tell me—whose power was it? Who gave you life? Who created you?"
Angel Moon's gaze cut into Bael like ice.
"You want to know?"
Bael's grin widened.
"If the one who made you is weak, then there's no need. At the very least—"
Before he could finish, a vast, immaculate hand of pure white burst from the void, seizing his face in its grasp!
A voice resounded, vast as eternity:
"Let me tell you a cosmic truth. In this world—nothing is eternal."
"Aging."
The word reverberated like law itself. Bael had no time to resist. His body instantly withered beneath an unseen torrent of time.
Immortality is only a comforting lie.
Under the unrelenting current of time, even the universe itself shall one day crumble, buried beneath the flow of ages.
A creature might endure trillions of years… but what if all that time were forced upon them in a single heartbeat?
The answer was obvious.
Death—instantaneous.
Within mere seconds, Bael's body decayed. His vaunted flesh withered to ash, bone crumbling to powder, each fragment of his being dissolving into nothing.
To command time at such a scale—!
This could never be the ability of any mortal life.
It could only be—
"Chapter—"
Whoosh.
A whisper of breeze scattered Bael's remains into a ring of drifting ash. The colossal white hand vanished as though it had never been.
The three witnesses stood shaken to their core.
"Our Lord… acted personally?"
"How terrifying…"
"A peak of the 5th Step, erased in a single instant?"
Just one step short—yet the gulf was infinite.
The despair in Bael's eyes, the helplessness etched upon his final gaze, was seared into their hearts forever.
If this feeling could be put into words, it was only this:
To destroy you—what does it have to do with you?
Deeper within the Deepest Hell—
As Bael had warned, the Earth God's heart was not guarded by him alone. Countless manifested Ancient Gods swarmed its abyss, forming an endless wall of flesh and shadow.
Tiamat had brought them as far as he could.
With a mighty heave, he flung Larter and the others toward the abyss, while he himself hurled his colossal form into the tide of black Ancient Gods.
"The wrath of the Ancient Dragon clan has burned in our blood for ages! Tens of thousands of years of rage, Earth God—have you ever felt it?!"
His roar shook the abyss behind them.
And Larter, hearing it, cast away every stray thought.
At this point, there was no room for hesitation.
Only one goal remained.
The heart. The vast, throbbing heart that pulsed below like the core of the world itself.
All around, the pitch-black walls of flesh bulged and split, manifesting Ancient Gods that assembled into an immense barrier.
Zane drew the second sword from his back.
The sword of his Paladin days. The blade he had cast aside when he abandoned his oath.
"If justice truly exists in this world, then grant me the strength to tear through this darkness. Allow me to unleash one final Holy Slash!"
Zane's heart burned with purity, with righteousness, with the will to protect. He prayed to Justice itself.
But what answered him… was silence.
"Anything! Just once more—anything!!"
Zane roared with every fiber of his being. At that instant, a dark, emerald radiance burst forth from his sword!
If no justice exists in this world—then let evil answer in its place!!
That viridian surge erupted from the cross-shaped holy sword, twisting into the shape of a colossal blade.
"Holy Slash!!!"
The strike descended. Power beyond comprehension cascaded from heaven to abyss.
In that instant, Zane's body was torn apart, disintegrated by the very force he had unleashed!
Boom!!
"Zane?!"
"Zane!!"
Larter's desperate cries echoed, but Zane could no longer hear. His life had been consumed—claimed by a power whose origin none could name.
And yet…
The flesh wall below still held fast.
Not enough.
Still not enough!
Far, far from enough!!
Jena bit down hard, her eyes blazing.
"Elven Dual Sages! Primordial Elf King! Thousand-Legged Spider Empress! I offer my flesh and blood as sacrifice—to shatter the Door of Truth!!"
She raised a blade toward her chest—but Crimson Lady's hand seized hers.
With a silent shake of her head, Crimson Lady stepped forward.
She was the first to descend, pressing her palm against the pulsating flesh wall. Slowly, she drew a golden needle from her throat.
"Cito guided me here… perhaps for this very moment. So then—"
"Bloom, one last time."
Pffft!!
As the golden needle left her skin, a torrent of crimson power erupted from her body!
It was not of this world. Perhaps it was never meant to exist in this world at all.
It spun violently, gathering in a storm of energy that unfolded into a vast crimson lotus.
Crimson Lady's body shriveled as the bloom opened. Watching the petals form, she closed her eyes with serenity.
"I know I don't belong here. I know my gift is calamity to this world's lives.
But this once—I must."
"…Father… thank you for adopting me."
Long ago, an Ancient God had left this world, returned, and carried with him a red crystal embryo.
Tens of thousands of years later, that embryo awoke to human blood—becoming a little red-haired girl.
Boom—!!
The scarlet lotus erupted, detonating with apocalyptic force. The massive flesh wall tore open, blasted apart!
Larter threw his arms around Jena. From his back, immense Dragon Wings burst forth, the ancient bloodline awakening in full!
The wings shielded them, bearing them through the inferno until silence returned.
They emerged beyond the wall—where the Earth God's heart throbbed before them, vast and terrible, within arm's reach.
But then—
A tide of black tentacles exploded from the walls!
Too many.
Too fast.
They bound Larter in an instant, crushing him tight.
"Damn it!!"
"It's right there!!"
Larter's roar shook with rage and despair. So many lives had been cast aside to bring him here—yet he was helpless at the very threshold.
Why?!
Why am I not stronger?!
And in that moment—
A golden light blazed in Larter's eyes.
That was…
Han?
Yes—Han had been in his line of sight all along!
Han had reached the heart first. He turned his head, locking eyes with Larter.
In that instant, their pupils mirrored one another—and their positions reversed!
Han was suddenly ensnared by the writhing tentacles, while Larter stood before the colossal, pulsing heart.
"The rest… I can only leave to you."
No hesitation. Larter brandished the Heaven-defying Sword and drove it straight toward the Earth God's heart!
Every gaze was fixed on him. Everyone who had bled and burned to bring him this far—this was the moment they had staked everything on!
Han's eyes widened, straining to see—how would Larter kill a being of the 6th Step?
The blade gleamed, Larter's muscles bulged, his arms trembled with unleashed force, and then—
Clang!
A clear, metallic note rang out. The Heaven-defying Sword was deflected!
"What—?!"
Han froze. Even that sword couldn't pierce the Mother Planet's flesh?!
Had everything been a lie? Had he misunderstood the prophecy?
Not only Han—Larter himself was struck dumb.
"…No…?"
He staggered back a step, disbelief in his voice. "No—why won't it…?"
"Larter! Where's the blood Cito gave you!" Han suddenly roared.
Blood?
Yes—the blood!
Larter fumbled at his chest, pulling free a tiny vial. Inside it shimmered a single crimson drop.
He poured the blood into his mouth. At once, his pupils shifted into golden vertical slits. Power erupted from within, coursing down his arms and into the Heaven-defying Sword!
With both hands clenched white around the hilt, Larter roared and swung once more—
But again, the strike bounced harmlessly off!
"Damn it—break!!"
"Open!!"
Larter hacked like a madman, the Heaven-defying Sword rising and falling in a frenzy.
Each strike landed with brutal force—yet the colossal heart remained pristine, not a single mark upon it.
"Why won't it yield!!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The ceaseless ring of steel echoed through the abyss.
Above, Tiamat was being torn apart by swarming Ancient Gods. He saw Larter's futile struggle—but said nothing. Instead, he bellowed a roar that shook the entire Deepest Hell.
"ROAR!!"
The dragon's cry crashed down like thunder. Spurred on, Larter poured every shred of power into one last strike—
And the Heaven-defying Sword snapped in two.
Clang!
The sound of its shattering echoed like a death knell.
At that instant, the titanic heart stirred.
From its throbbing surface, a humanoid figure slowly rose. His skin was pitch-black, his lower body fused with the heart itself, his upper body the naked form of a man.
And when his face came into view—
Larter froze. His pupils shrank.
"Zane…?!"
The figure—Zane's very image—smirked.
"Is that what you call an attack? Hah. For a moment, I almost worried."
His voice dripped with mockery. "My power flows within your veins. And you think to wield it against me? Foolish child…"
Zane's body—long since devoured by the Mother Planet—had been remade as its own vessel.
He lifted one hand, and from the quivering flesh wall rose Zane's old cross-shaped sword. It fused seamlessly into his arm, grotesquely becoming part of him.
"Though you've colluded with otherworldly invaders, you are—after all—still born of my flesh. I will… reluctantly… permit you to return to me."
Puff! Puff!
In a blur faster than sight, Zane swung his blade—Larter's left arm was severed cleanly.
Before the limb even struck the ground, another flash came—his head, his right arm, all torn away in an instant.
Then, from the heaving heart, a swarm of black tentacles erupted, coiling around what remained of him. They dragged his broken body inward, devouring him whole.
"Larter…" Jena collapsed, her knees hitting the ground. Her voice trembled with despair.
They had failed. Utterly, without suspense.
Han exhaled, his outline flickering. His figure shimmered through Jena's pupils before slipping free of the tentacles' grasp.
"The plan has failed."
Above, Tiamat's vast form was being torn apart by the manifested Ancient Gods. Her wings shredded, her spine snapped, her colossal head rolled into the abyss—yet her gaze lingered on the heart below.
No fury. No grief. Just an unfathomable look, as if gazing into eternity.
Then—light split the darkness.
Arthur, Angel, and the Frost King descended together!
The space twisted strangely here. Gravity inverted with every layer.
To dive was to fall upward, then be pulled down again. A single misstep would trap them in an endless loop, forever caught between reversals.
It was the Mother God's heart twisting the world itself.
Arthur landed hard, a hand pressed to his gut. "Damn it—stop spinning. I'm gonna puke…"
The Frost King's frosty gaze locked on Han. "Is it over?"
Han's voice was flat. "Yes. It's over."
He hesitated—then added quietly: "Larter is dead."
"You call that over?!" Arthur barked.
The Frost King's hands tightened on his reins, his White Dragon thrashing beneath him. The heart pulsed below, vibrant, alive—looming like the end of all things.
"What the hell are we waiting for? Run! Before it's too late!"
But Arthur only slung his greatsword across his shoulder. His grin was humorless, his eyes grim.
"Then let me try."
He hurled himself downward, sword-first—
Only for the walls to writhe alive.
An ocean of black tentacles surged out, snapping tight around him in midair.
From the heart, a voice echoed, cold and final:
"Yes. It's over."
Angel's golden wings trembled as she looked upon the pulsing heart. Her teeth ground together.
"But my Lord hasn't given any instructions yet…"
What was this situation now?
In the void.
Everything was drowned in silence, a stillness like death itself—until, suddenly, a rhythm stirred.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A heartbeat.
Then another. And another.
The sound echoed endlessly in the darkness.
Larter floated within it, numb, disembodied. His thoughts dissolved into haze.
It's over…
So it ends like this.
Everyone will die—because I couldn't kill the Earth God.
Who…
"Why the sigh?"
The voice slammed into his mind like thunder.
"You did very well."
Larter's thoughts lurched. Who?!
"You're asking me?" The voice rumbled, ancient and sardonic. "You may grudgingly call me one of your ancestors. I am Bahamut. What a coincidence—we're both trapped inside that bastard's belly."
Larter's heart sank. "Because I failed…"
"Failed?" The dragon's laughter rolled like an earthquake. "Why think that way?"
"You completed your mission."
Larter froze. "I… completed it?"
The darkness split apart—two colossal dragon eyes opened, gleaming like twin suns.
"Of course. Being eaten by the Earth God was your mission. Didn't Tiamat tell you?"
Tiamat?
Do you think I want to pin my hopes on a weak descendant like you?!
If it weren't for…
Weren't for what?
Confusion swirled through him. "My mission… was to be eaten?"
"That's right." Bahamut's voice reverberated. "Because neither you, nor Tiamat, nor even I, could slay the Earth God—not even with its heart bared before you."
"Understand this: the only reason it dared expose its heart is because it knew you couldn't touch it. Not a scratch. Not even close."
"The Earth God is an impregnable fortress, a wall so high no blade, no god, no power has ever breached it."
Larter's mind trembled. "I… still don't understand…"
"Enough, child." Bahamut's gaze burned through the void. "Open your eyes. See for yourself."
And with those words—
Flash!
Light erupted, blinding, searing.
When Larter's vision cleared, he stood in a sea of blood, waves stretching into eternity.
From its depths, his body slowly rose, unbidden.
And above him…
The heart.
A heart so vast, so colossal, its scale annihilated reason. It loomed beyond comprehension, each pulse like a world-ending quake.
The Earth God's heart.
What they had seen from outside—
It had only been the tip of the iceberg.
This was the truth: the heart was a thousand times larger than what any of them had glimpsed.