Chapter 122: An Unforeseen Move

I could freely use the power that had once split Asgard.

It was clearly a disaster. 

No, it was a level of strength that could not be described by the word disaster. 

In a way, one could say the level itself was different.

‘Is this truly the God of Creation?’

Though he was once called the Supreme God, the God of Creation was far too different. 

It was an overwhelming power, as if he could not be classified as the same kind of god. 

And the weapon I used to oppose him was  Anus. 

The very sword that the Old Swordsman had once used to show me his will.

“Hahahaha!”

“What kind of sword is that?!”

Laughter erupted from the side of the Church of Creation. 

It was only natural. 

I was the one who opposed the master of their church. 

If they could mock and ridicule me to break my spirit, that too would become a strategy.

And…

It worked more effectively on the people of my order than on me. 

The atmosphere turned gloomy. 

It was inevitable. 

The Anus I had pulled out was a broken, old, and worn-out sword. 

It was impossible to compare it to the Pangu Axe, which radiated streaks of extraordinary energy no matter how one looked at it.

And that was the reality. 

The Pangu Axe was a powerful weapon that could open a new dimension by splitting Chaos and dividing heaven and earth. 

In contrast, Anus was merely a sword imbued with a portion of the Old Swordsman’s will.

“Your efforts thus far have been admirable. However, this is where it ends.” Leon spoke as if his victory were already assured.

“Clack.”

He took a stance. 

It wasn’t some grand or elaborate posture.

It was merely the simple action of lifting the Pangu Axe.

However…

“Boom!”

In that moment, an immense pressure, as if a massive boulder had been placed upon the area, consumed the scene. 

It felt as if…

“Rumble!”

The energy flowing from the Pangu Axe was forcing me to submit.

“Gasp!”

“Ugh!”

Even those who were not directly targeted by that energy let out cries of horror, suppressed by the overwhelming momentum.

“Be annihilated.” Leon made his declaration.

-Whoosh!

The Pangu Axe fell like a guillotine executing a condemned prisoner. 

It was a simple motion, a vertical strike but the resulting ripple effect and the wave of power were far from simple.

I could feel it.

-Whirrrr!

The very power of this world, what we call laws and order, was attempting to cleave my body. 

It was an inescapable necessity. 

The moment the Pangu Axe fell, I should have died from that compressed force.

But I resisted.

‘I cannot be imprisoned by the rules of the world.’

That was will. 

The aged swordsman had split a forest with his will. 

No, it wasn’t a forest; he had split the world. 

That should have been impossible. 

How could a man whose body was so frail that he could barely hold a sword cleave the world?

However, he stepped outside the fate and laws given to him and became an exception. 

Through a steadfast will.

I, too, intended to escape those laws through my will.

-Slide.

I raised my sword.

-Whirrrr!

Along with that movement, the Sword of Will bloomed. 

The sword, which was only a half-fragment, became complete. 

No, it wasn’t just half a fragment.

The remaining half of the blade vanished. 

It wasn’t just the blade. 

Even the hilt disappeared, unable to withstand my will.

In the past, I had borrowed the power of Anus when manifesting the Sword of Will. 

I had mimicked the remnants left by the old man, imitating them. 

But it was different now. 

Since I was no longer incomplete but had become my whole self, I could complete a perfect will.

Contained within that will were…

Malice, terror, exhaustion, despair, and fear—everything was included.

“…I strike.”

Through that, my will became one. 

I was able to execute the slash.

-Ssh.

I simply drew a light horizontal line. 

In that moment…

“Crash!”

I alone could tell. 

I knew that the absolute law created by the Pangu Axe had been shattered.

“What?!”

No, I wasn’t the only one who knew. 

Leon was also struck with horror at the sight. 

How could he not be? 

It was the Pangu Axe. 

Like Ea, the Sword of Genesis, it was a weapon that could cleave worlds and dimensions. 

I had survived the laws imposed by a weapon that only the God of Creation could fully wield.

“How can this be…!”

He still looked as if he couldn’t believe it.

“One Mind. The will channeled through it shakes the laws.”

Just as the Old Swordsman had shaken the laws in the past.

The limits of the flesh. 

The limits of the will. 

The limits of the domain. 

It broke all those limits. 

That was the will created through One Mind. 

Will was a power more potent than anything else.

“How dare you!”

Leon was infuriated. 

He was a god. 

Not just any god, but the God of Creation who had created all other gods. 

Therefore, he couldn’t help but be shaken by the words that the limits of his domain were being broken. 

If I had just been talking, he would have dismissed it as nonsense.

However, evidence that he could not deny had appeared. 

The Sword of Will, which shook the absolute laws of the Pangu Axe, was that evidence.

“Hyaaah!”

He let out a battle cry. 

To someone at his level, such a cry wouldn’t serve a practical purpose, but it could be seen as an expression of an even more intense will.

And then…

-Vroooom!

It was even more powerful than before.

“Aaaah!”

“Gasp!”

The range of the attack wasn’t extremely compressed; it was a powerful strike capable of blowing away everyone in the Order of Victory, including me. 

Was he trying to hide his own agitation?

But…

‘I can see it.’

I could see it clearly. 

I saw his wavering. 

I saw the opening created by the thought that the Pangu Axe and his own power, which he believed to be absolute, might not work.

Wavering makes the will weak. 

And will is the fundamental energy for everyone, including gods. 

The moment it faltered, a gap was bound to appear.

And my response to that was…

-Ssh!

I drew my sword vertically. 

Once? 

No. 

Countless layers of Karma had been accumulated to complete that single vertical slash.

Tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of times. 

That Karma was contained entirely within the will.

“Clang!”

I blocked the unstoppable attack, the power of the Pangu Axe. 

No, I didn’t just block it.

“Crack!”

A fissure appeared on the Pangu Axe, which possessed an astonishing sharpness.

“…!!” Leon was horrified. 

The Pangu Axe was not only powerful but was also a weapon that was supposedly indestructible. 

So why?

‘It is the opening created by your agitation.’

Certainly, the Pangu Axe was powerful. 

Its hardness, forged since the beginning of time, was something that even my powerful will should not have been able to pierce. 

But it had been pierced. 

It was because Leon was the one using it.

The gap created by his agitation, his wavering. 

My will wedged itself into that gap and created this miracle.

“This is impossible! This can’t be happening!”

The disbelief of a being who thought himself omnipotent.

“Hyaaah!”

His attacks…

-Whoosh, whoosh!

They raged like a typhoon. 

But while the exterior was threatening, the substance was nothing special.

‘Just as I expected.’

Everything was going exactly as I had anticipated. 

The God of Creation? 

He was certainly strong. 

If he had been in his perfect state, there would have been no way for me to defeat him, no matter what I did—even if I had perfected my will.

He had only one weakness: his vessel. 

To intervene in the mortal world, a divine being needed a vessel. 

And that vessel must have been created by Salmora. 

Naturally, there was no way Salmora would have allowed the God of Creation to descend perfectly.

‘Knowing him—a man who uses any means necessary to achieve his goals—he must have forced the creation through an action that neither Light nor Darkness could have predicted.’

Because I knew Salmora better than anyone, I could predict how he would act and it seemed I was right. 

The God of Creation inhabiting the vessel could not fully exert his power or will. 

He was in a state where he had been forcibly contained within the vessel named Leon. 

And this being named Leon must have been hastily created by Salmora as well.

In other words…

‘He lacks the Karma accumulated through time.’

Even I needed 1,000 years of time to be reborn as my complete self. 

But he, Leon, had to accept it all in an instant. 

Of course, there would be a difference in talent. 

Since he was a vessel for the God of Creation, he likely possessed immense talent and ability, far beyond what I could easily fathom.

However, no matter how great the talent, one could not possess the Karma that can only be built through time and years. 

He was unstable. 

He was like a great tree shaking in a small breeze. 

And that great tree was shaking violently as it failed to stop the Sword of Will.

The shaking was so immense that the tree could not distinguish whether it was shaking itself or if it was being shaken by the wind. 

And my Sword of Will was one of the factors shaking his very roots, making his instability even more severe.

“Clang, clank, clang!”

I neutralized his attacks. 

The will to simply strike left irreparable scars every time it collided with the Pangu Axe….

“Crack, shatter!”

The Pangu Axe, which boasted absolute hardness and strength, was slowly collapsing. 

At first, the cracks were mere hairline fractures, but they soon began to spread across the entire weapon.

“Snap, crackle!”

Finally, it was destroyed.

“Aaaaaah!”

A scream like a desperate struggle. 

Horror and disbelief at the impossible. 

The moment that reached its peak, I realized something. 

I realized that the preparation to strike him was complete.

The ultimate state of slashing? 

The peak? 

It was nothing. 

It was merely a high-speed motion intended to cut someone. 

That was why it was even more powerful. 

Without any distractions, focusing entirely on the act of cutting, solely to produce that result.

-Ssh!

I cut through the Pangu Axe. 

But the sound was different than before. 

A sharp sound of metal clashing against metal should have rung out.

“Crunch!”

I heard the sound of something collapsing. 

Without exception, it was the Pangu Axe in Leon’s hand.

‐Scatter

The absolute weapon, unable to withstand my will, turned into powder and dispersed.

“Why…?”

Leon was stunned. 

I walked toward the man who still hadn’t grasped reality.

“Thud—”

I approached him but the man, wearing a look of total despair, didn’t even seem to notice my approach.

“Effort is not completed by talent alone.”

The thing he lacked. 

The thing he couldn’t do because he was born with perfect power and perfect ability from the start.

“No matter how hard the metal is, without years of patience and tempering, it is merely an ordinary lump.”

He was metal that could be called the finest. 

But unless it was tempered with time and effort, it was just a peculiar metal. 

Unless he was given time, he would always be incomplete.

“Salmora… hasn’t come.”

I looked around. 

But Salmora was nowhere to be seen. 

Given his nature…

‘Did he already predict this?’

If he was a man who read several moves ahead, he would have included my victory within his expected outcomes. 

And he would have planned everything by predicting even that result. 

If so, I would also read his move and seek a reversal.

“I… I have lost.” Leon admitted defeat. 

Since the Pangu Axe, his greatest authority and weapon, was broken, he no longer had the will to resist. 

With his current strength, he couldn’t exert any more power.

I approached him. 

He tightly closed his eyes as if sensing death.

However…

-Ssh

What reached out to him was not the Sword of Will, but my hand.

“Take it.”

Leon stared up at me blankly.

“You were born with the greatest talent. I will fill the parts you lack.”

Up until now, I had killed or slaughtered everyone who challenged me. 

Therefore, I would change my method. 

This was a master stroke that even Salmora had not predicted. 

I intended to accept Leon, the God of Creation, as a companion and awaken his talent.