SON OF THE HERO KING

Sol could not infuse the power of annihilation in this move, it just consumed far too much energy to be able to use it efficiently, but the power behind it was enough to throw Nihil away like a Cannonball straight out of its barrel.

From the sounds, it was clear that she was now suffering from multiple bone fractures and most likely internal bleeding.

"You bastard…!"

Flames flared as Surtr shouted in a guttural roar of anger and indignation. He was a great and proud warrior who had been fighting wars for millennia. How could he accept being toyed around like this by a mere kid?

Sadly for him, Sol had no care for his anger, nor the indignation he felt, and Surtr could only helplessly watch as his position was once again switched with the now faraway Nihil.

He understood that Sol did not wish to deal with him and was well intent on finishing Nihil instead. While anger rapidly brewed and boiled in his heart, he couldn't help but marvel at how insidious this dimension of Sol’s was.

As long as Sol could switch them around as he wished they would be nearly helpless to mount any counterattacks.

The only way to fight against this would have been for Nihil to use her own dimension to balance out the effects of Sol’s, but because of her resurging wounds, she had been unable to do so until now.

Now her state was even worse than it was when she had first escaped from Anubis.

Sol was very clear about his current situation. He was merely a fake demigod right now. Meanwhile, Surtr was a genuine false god. At the end of the day, the amount of damage he could deal to that monster of a being was extremely limited in the pseudo-state he was now in.

But it wasn’t the same for Nihil.

By manipulating causality, he had brought up the minuscule possibility of her wounds resurging into reality.

By using the gimmicks that his dimension allowed him to execute, he was able to stop Nihil and Surtr from properly teaming up and could even stop them from bringing up their full power in fear of hurting each other.

‘Sadly, I am not strong enough to deal a finishing blow to Nihil.’

Sol immediately realized this harsh fact. It wasn’t just a question of power or brute force. His reserve of divine energy was dwindling swiftly. Switching around two mighty demigods like them was no mean feat, after all, and took a lot out of him with each switch.

‘If only I had two or so more days.’

If he had enough time to consolidate all his insights and understanding of his new skills, then with the power of a demigod, Sol was confident that he could bury one of those two right here and now.

Once Surtr found himself at the edge of Sol's dimension, his flurry of ravenous attacks immediately diminished and he tried to cool his burning mind of rage.

Wrath could enhance his powers but falling into the tempo of the enemy was unwise.

“Very well, little dragon, or should I call you the Dragon Emperor? Haha… I acknowledge you as someone worthy.”

The very reason he felt that he was being humiliated was that he kept seeing Sol as a young dragon— a being he deemed unworthy.

It was important to change his cognition of the young man.

No matter if the power of the boy was borrowed or not… The one in front of him was a warrior with strength and smarts worthy of respect— his respect…

Surtr could feel that the fight between the demigods and the duo of Anubis and Tiamat was not going so well. They were still holding on, but they were so weak now it was practically deplorable.

‘This is why coming with those fake demigods was a mistake.’

He chortled. Not everyone managed to become a demigod through their own efforts and talents. Some bastards were simply lucky to inherit the decaying territory of a dead demigod. In fact, the vast majority of the demigods were in that situation.

After all, too many demigods died during the various wars that opposed Order with the advent of Chaos.

Still, these incorrigible trash could be used for stalling time. Sol alone was a handful. If the Dragon Empress and the Necromancer King were added to the fray then they would most definitely be buried here today.

‘We cannot die.’

Nihil was Goddess Ymir's first blessed. She was their herald. It was impossible for such a chess piece to die in such a meaningless battle as this.

The same went for him. If he had to die, it had to be with blazing glory where he, at the very least, inflicted a deep wound to the force of Order.

All those thoughts flashed in Surtr’s mind as he watched Nihil finally create some semblance of a distance from Sol.

The current Nihil was rather pitiful. Her clothes were completely ripped apart, showing the luscious, or in this case grotesque, view of her naked body. There was not even a single bit of eroticism about that view.

After all, she was completely covered in blood from head to toe, with many deep wounds opened all over her body. A part of her hair was even burnt and many sections of her flesh were seared or charred because of Surtr’s sun sword.

"Hm? Neither of you two is going to attack me anymore?”

Sol chuckled, raising his eyebrows, his voice transmitting clearly to the duo. As they were now, it was meaningless to switch them since they were quite far apart and not using any attacks.

Clearly, they were wary of what he could do.

‘Hum. This is quite problematic.’

Even though he was jesting and mocking them, Sol was quite happy with the current situation. His goal had never been to win. But to keep them occupied.

Right now, he felt like he was a jester, pulling up a performance for his beloved audience.

The look of hate and fury those two were blaring him with was truly heartwarming in his opinion.

The leader of the Wings of Freedom, Nihil, had difficulty calming her emotions, unlike Surtr. Surtr was a powerful and experienced warrior used to defeat and endless suffering. In the first place, he reached his current level by devouring hundreds of thousands of spawns of Chaos.

Nihil also faced her fair share of hardships. But the difference in experience was simply too much. This was even more so since she was the one getting blasted apart, not Surtr. This simple fact could explain the current difference in their psyches.

“You must be quite happy.”

She spat those words with such intensity that Sol was surprised there was no literal power of curse in those words.

His smile remained the same as he gave a deep bow to her.

“I am but a humble jester. Giving my all to please a less than satisfactory audience. I do hope though that my performance was able to meet your expectations, milady.”

His lips formed into an elegant smile, laughing he pointed at Surtr with a small movement of his chin, “Of course, if you are not satisfied why not go for another round? I believe our friend there, hovering at the edge of my dimension behind, will be once again a willing participant.”

“You…little piece of…”

“Pardon madam. What are these uncouth words coming from such a beautiful mouth? But please… If it helps you feel better, do continue. I have heard that cursing could help lighten the burden on the heart. But madam you see…”

All expressions vanished from his face, morphing into a look of cold indifference as he looked down at her, “I am honestly quite disappointed. I had many expectations from you. Your grand ideals, while laughable and naive, managed to intrigue me. Your plans were vicious, ruthless, and insidious. I had a great opinion of you in my heart. But now that I stand at the same height as you, I realize that you are naught but a child with too much power.”

Sol was indeed quite disappointed in Nihil. He had been expecting some deep mastermind who could stay calm no matter what situation or disadvantage she would be put under, but her childish rage was simply ridiculous.

‘Is she really the one who made all the plans of the Wings of Freedom?’

Sol tilted his head inwardly in confusion. Now that he thought about it, how did she create the current WoF? She had been imprisoned with Drei for quite a while and when she got out, she should have not been able to move into the mortal world.

He was tempted to see her past but doing so would be a waste of his divinity. As a demigod, Nihil's age was in the thousands. Searching through one thousand or more years just because of curiosity was unwise.

“I have heard enough boy.”

“Oh? Are you finally going to attack? Not scared of hurting your princess?”

Surtr laughed loudly as his body slowly began to grow.

From ten meters to a few hundred meters, then one kilometer and even more.

The shadow of his mighty form covered everything in front of Sol’s view, obscuring even the light of the stars.

Under the pressure he emitted, Sol’s dimension showed signs of cracking, unable to fully withstand the full power of a false god with his dwindling divinity.

“Now then, Dragon Emperor, I believe it’s time to end this farce.”

(AN: /watch?v=PA6ZAlPcovg&ab_channel=quinny366)

Surtr’s voice resounded like the crackles of almighty thunder, filling every part of the world. Sol knew that switching such a huge target was basically impossible. Still, he did not feel any semblance of fear.

He knew that Surtr was trying to escape. In his current form, there were few things Sol could do to stop him. Messing around with a false god in his dimension was one thing.

Stopping him from fleeing was another matter altogether. Not even Tiamat had been able to stop him from doing so back then during the war.

This was why Sol had decided to not even stop them.

Rather than wasting time and energy doing something so meaningless, it was better to go all out for one last attack.

“Firstly, I like the title of Dragon Emperor you gave me. Though I would like something more personal, this would have to do for now. Secondly… It’s indeed time to end this.”

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Nihil bringing her dimension back. She was still horribly wounded, but with his dimension weakening, she had enough power to bring hers back and superimpose it.

Now it was impossible for Sol to switch the two of them.

Flames flared in the night sky as the heat of the radiating sun was brought into the world.

<<Cruel Sun>>

A supernova formed high above him as if a sun had seen its eclipse and the resulting explosion was ready to reduce everything into ashes.

Now that Surtr was not limited by Sol’s dimension, it was once again easy to see just how truly powerful he was.

A being of cataclysmic proportions, able to reduce all life on a planet to nothing with a mere thought.

“Your might is truly worthy of respect.”

Sol could see the sun constantly growing and even his dimension showing signs of breaking down. It was now only a question of seconds before it was destroyed.

If he was here with his original powers of a mere Duke, he would have already been evaporated.

Surtr wasn’t the only one preparing a big attack.

<<Dimensional Fissure: Black Hole>>

“Haha, how absurd.”

Sol could only laugh dumbfoundedly, a Supernova and now even a Black Hole? It seemed that he really pissed them off.

He also realized just how ridiculous his own body was currently. After all, standing so close to a black hole should have been impossible.

Still, once those two attacks hit, then it would be game over for him for sure.

“Well, let’s see if it will work or not.”

Sol closed his eyes and opened his arms wide, and the two attacks finally landed on him.

(AN: I did say that CH 279 would be the last cliff. Technically…I didn’t lie. This is really the last cliff of this arc. Haha. Now let’s see if Sol survived or if I am going to have to search for a new MC.)