"Hmph." Mydei let out a cold snort, still not turning around. "You should be grateful to have an elder brother who understands you and is willing to rush about to speak on your behalf."
"It was he who revealed to us the truth behind the brutal cycles, who proved to us that even on this seemingly cruel path of yours, a faint glimmer of 'salvation' still remains. Otherwise..."
His voice suddenly turned icy. "Given your actions of seeking to slaughter comrades and trample hope, I might prefer to call you—Executioner."
"Phaethon?... Elder brother?" Phainon murmured the two words, a complex expression flashing briefly across his face.
"Enough talk, Deliverer." Mydei finally turned slowly, his gaze blazing as he stared directly at Phainon. "You used the Black Tide to lure away the majority of my Castrum Kremnos forces, and now appear alone before me. Surely you didn't come just to exchange a few nostalgic words?"
"Since Phaethon has already told you the truth," Phainon said, no longer dwelling on emotion, his eyes turning cold and focused once more. "Then you should naturally understand that becoming a demigod, bearing a Coreflame... was a mistaken choice from the start."
He raised his hand. The colossal sword "Dawnmaker," symbolizing the murky dawn, manifested in his palm, burning with baleful flame.
"Since you claim to have experienced one hundred and eight thousand, six hundred and forty-two cycles," Mydei showed no fear. Instead, he took a step forward, his fighting spirit rising like a tangible force. "Then you must also know that facing a demigod who wields the authority of「Strife」, you have absolutely no chance of taking this Coreflame by peaceful means."
His steps were resolute as he walked toward Phainon, his momentum climbing with each stride. The entire Castrum Kremnos Colosseum seemed to tremble under his feet.
"Step forward and face me in a decisive battle, Deliverer!" Mydei roared a thunderous challenge, initiating the fight himself.
He halted, spreading his arms as if embracing the entire battlefield. His voice was solemn and reverent, like the declaration of an ancient oath:
"I, son of Gorgo, demigod of「Strife」, pay homage to you here—"
"*May the countless scars I bear add luster to your blazing sun of Deliverance!*"
Phainon nodded. "This place is too confined for a battle between us. For fairness, let us depart for a vaster battlefield!"
Having said that, Phainon's aura surged to its zenith! Dazzling divine light erupted from within him. Golden ichor flowed like boiling magma across his body, forming patterns, his power rising to an unprecedented peak!
"*With this state of full might, I pay homage to you!*" Phainon, having unleashed his second form, spoke with a voice like a giant bell echoing through the void.
Mydei looked at the imposing figure of Phainon before him, and the long-dormant, blazing flame of a warrior finally ignited in his eyes.
"Nothing would please me more!"
The battle erupted!
Mydei's arm muscles tensed. A golden spear, comparable in size to a great tower, instantly materialized. It tore through the air with a piercing shriek, aimed directly at Phainon's heart!
However, Phainon simply raised "Dawnmaker" calmly. Dark amethyst flames ignited along the blade.
"Ssshh—!"
There was no clash, no explosion. The overwhelmingly powerful golden spear was cleanly split in two, from tip to shaft, by Phainon's blade, dissolving into a shower of scattered light points.
"A courtesy returned!" Phainon raised "Dawnmaker" high, its tip pointing at the firmament. The sky over all of Castrum Kremnos abruptly darkened, as if forcibly dragged into night.
"*With the embers of a bygone age... to break the dawn of the next!*"
BOOM—!
The sky was torn asunder! Countless meteors burning with black flame, trailing long tails, poured down like a cataclysmic judgment!
And at the center of that meteor shower, a colossal asteroid with a radius exceeding thousands of kilometers cast its shadow, instantly engulfing all of Castrum Kremnos.
It descended slowly with the absolute mass to obliterate everything! The air wailed, space itself warping slightly.
"This power... is truly fearsome..." Mydei looked up at this calamitous sight. There was no fear on his face, only a hint of fanatical fighting spirit. "But when has「Strife」ever feared an imbalance of strength?!"
He clenched his empty hands together. A golden greatsword, over a hundred meters long, appeared out of thin air—the Titan-exclusive weapon of「Strife」!
Its blade was engraved with the epics of countless wars. Its mere presence filled the surrounding air with the phantom sounds of clashing metal.
"*All nations laid to waste, all armies turned to ash!*"
Mydei roared, wielding this god-like weapon, charging directly toward the largest asteroid. Along the way, the greatsword transformed into a golden storm. Wherever it passed, smaller meteors were shattered and detonated!
Countless fireballs erupted across the sky like a grand fireworks display, each bloom containing destructive power.
But the meteors were endless, and the largest asteroid continued its slow, crushing descent. The gravitational force it brought was already causing the structures of Castrum Kremnos to crumble.
Just as Mydei chose to pit a mayfly against a tree...
"*In this place,「Sky」does not manifest!「Ocean」does not exist!「Earth」is not present!*"
The voice was not loud, yet it carried an indisputable authority.
The instant the words fell, those meteors at the horizon carrying momentum of annihilation, and that gigantic asteroid that had already drawn near, blotting out the view—all of them, as if paused, hung eerily motionless in mid-air.
Immediately after, their very forms of existence began to disintegrate. From solid entities, they dissolved into countless flowing streams of "0"s and "1"s, and like erased code, vanished into nothingness without a sound.
"Phaethon, you came after all." A slight ripple passed through Phainon's eyes. He could feel that power which forcibly rewrote reality—potent and unfamiliar. It resembled the authority of「Law」he knew, yet was different. More direct, more overbearing.
"Phainon, after over a hundred thousand attempts, you should understand by now," Phaethon's figure abruptly appeared beside Mydei, who had half his body embedded in the ground from withstanding Phainon's previous strike.
He bent down, reached out, and grasped Mydei's shoulder. With a seemingly casual pull, he "extracted" this demigod of「Strife」from the earth, his movement as effortless as helping up a fallen child.
"You cannot kill any comrade, or seize any Coreflame, in front of me."
"To think... you have persisted for over a hundred thousand times as well..." Phainon murmured softly. The sheer length and solitude represented by that number felt heavy even to him.
"Well fought... Deliverer." Mydei steadied himself, wiped a trace of golden blood from the corner of his mouth, and looked at Phainon with a complex gaze.
Then, he did something unexpected—he actively extracted the Coreflame of「Strife」, symbolizing conflict and struggle, from within himself, and offered it to Phainon without a hint of reluctance.
"Take it, Deliverer. A demigod of「Strife」always honors his losses."