Chapter 832: A being beyond the cosmos.
"... What's happening? Where is this energy coming from?" Albedo narrowed her eyes as she created several magical circles in front of her.
She looked curiously at the portal as her magic picked up several alerts.
"It seems that one of the scenarios I envisioned is coming true," Albedo thought. "Someone on the other side is also powering the portal."
Just as Albedo sensed this change, Evie wasn't far behind.
"In formation! Don't lose track of the energy flow!" Evie quickly ordered.
"Yes!"
"Reduce energy production and prepare to use countermeasures if necessary!" Evie slammed her staff on the ground, and several magical circles began to appear throughout the room.
"Yes!"
"Emilly, you know what to do."
"Yes, Mother," the little girl nodded as her eyes took on a pattern of various magical circles, spinning as if coming to life.
"This is the heart of Arcane; no one, not even the gods, can invade here. Whoever it is, they will regret it," Evie growled.
"..." Victor and Albedo watched. Victor looked at Albedo and pointed at Evie with a look that said, 'Is this woman serious?'
Albedo simply nodded naturally, agreeing with him.
Victor rolled his eyes. With just a thought, he could count five beings who could invade this place without being detected.
Among them were Agares, Nyx, Albedo, Victor himself, and Erebus.
Not to mention the primordial beings who could go anywhere they pleased.
The portal suddenly stabilized, revealing a green landscape on the other side, but no one had time to contemplate this beauty when a man emerged from the portal.
He had long golden hair that reached his waist, green eyes, a square face, and he was dressed in a complete suit of silver and gold armor. The cape behind him was pure white with a crest in the shape of a circle with an X in the middle and a sword piercing the circle.
The man stood 2 meters tall, carrying a large shield with the same symbol as his cape, and a golden sword that radiated divine light. The man's expression was clearly hostile.
The moment the man spotted everyone, his reaction was instantaneous.
"!@$%!*" He shouted something completely unknown and raised the hand holding the sword. Suddenly, the sword in his hand began to glow with divine light.
This scenario... these clothes, Victor knew them well.
"Damn, a paladin! This movie is getting interesting!" Victor laughed as he began to eat his popcorn and sip his drink.
"Hey, make drinks for me too!" Albedo grumbled.
Victor simply snapped his fingers, and a 2-liter glass of juice appeared in the woman's hand.
She soon returned to watching the 'movie' in which several witches created magical shields to protect themselves, but the 'paladin' cut through them as if they were made of paper.
"That sword is clearly not normal," Albedo said. "To cut through 'magic,' especially such dense magic like that of the witches around, the man's energy clearly isn't enough for that, or it has properties for it, so it's fair to assume it's the sword's work."
"Mm. The sword is of divine origin... The material is quite interesting," Victor smiled.
Albedo narrowed her eyes and then created other magical circles to examine the sword.
"Unknown material... Properties: absorption." She opened her eyes wide when she saw a material capable of doing something so ridiculous. This kind of material didn't exist on Earth or even in the pantheon.
Yes, a god could enchant an item to do something similar, but that's an enchantment, not an inherent property of the material itself.
The man charged toward the women, clearly intending to kill them all.
"Tempest!" Evie created a magical circle, and a pure storm burst out of it, pushing the man backward...
At least for a few seconds. Soon, a golden shield enveloped the man, and he placed it in front of him.
"!@#$%!*" Speaking something strange, his eyes glowed with pure gold, and the next moment, a burst of golden energy erupted from him, pushing everything around.
"Damn, this guy is loaded with hacks," Victor adjusted his 3D glasses, which had almost flown off in the gust of wind.
"1... 4... 7... 10... 20... Holy... How many blessings does he have?" Albedo exclaimed.
"Hmm?" Victor looked more closely at the man and saw several thick different strands connected to him.
"Meh, he still has fewer than me," he snorted.
With his body superior to that of a dragon, he could receive as many blessings as he wanted, and that's what happened when all the goddesses and gods of the Olympian pantheon gave their blessings to Victor.
The effect of the blessing was so great that Victor felt a bit stupid for thinking of destroying the pantheon. Clearly, subjugation was much better; after all, he could accumulate blessings.
But to be fair, it wasn't something he knew before; he never thought it was possible.
The best part of this situation was that as a dragon, he was immune to the 'manipulation' of the gods, and even if they wanted to, no one would dare try to manipulate Victor because they valued their lives.
"You're an anomaly. That man is clearly a human... or a race close to a human," Albedo said.
"Cough..." A pale woman coughed up blood on the floor. "This pure energy is annoying," she complained viciously, then slammed her hand on the ground.
The next moment, a giant magical circle appeared in the area, and creatures began to emerge from the circle.
"Oh? Necromancy."
"A disgusting art. But interesting, albeit limited," Albedo's opinion on the matter.
"Oh? I thought you didn't care about the aspects of necromancy, after all, it's magic too?"
"I don't. Dealing with corpses is quite unpleasant; they stink, and even with magic, it takes a while to get rid of the smell."
"I see... So you're quite clean, huh."
"Yes, I like to stay clean."
"..." Albedo narrowed her eyes at Victor; somehow, she felt that he was thinking something bad about her.
When the man saw the corpses, skeletons, and other beings emerging from the magical circle, his expression turned absolutely disgusted.
He pointed his sword at the corpses.
But the girls around didn't stand still; they started casting magic at him, mainly curses to weaken him, but... All the offensive magic just bounced off the golden shield and ricocheted.
"That armor is clearly another divine artifact..."
"His power is influencing it too; he doesn't have as much power as the witches, but he has enough 'quality' to push them... Oh? The armor's material is the opposite of the sword," Victor analyzed.
Albedo analyzed again with her magical spells and saw that the armor had 'repelling' properties.
"I understand... The set works in synergy; the sword absorbs, the armor repels, and the man acts as the intermediary."
"He can control this phenomenon too, with so many blessings, I wouldn't doubt he has other tricks up his sleeve... Dangerous tricks."
Hearing what Victor said, Albedo's head started spinning, and she soon realized. 'Suicidal tricks... Huh.'
"!##$!!*" He shouted something with the sword pointed at the corpses, and the next moment, a dark red energy burst from his body.
And in the next moment, the corpses stopped moving, and their lifeless eyes glowed with a red light, then they turned to look at the witches.
"... Heh, duality. He has powers of the negative side too," Victor commented.
"Although unlike you, he can't use both together; he has to alternate the 'modes.'"
Proof of Albedo's words came next when the man's dark aura changed to the lighter aura.
"This situation... He's clearly a world champion."
"World champion?" Albedo raised an eyebrow at this unfamiliar adjective.
"Think about it; the man came through the portal alone, and he has the blessings of various gods, even gods from the dark side," Victor said and then stopped explaining.
But he didn't need to explain much; after all, he was dealing with a competent woman, and a few words were enough to make her understand.
"I see... The other side saw the portal suddenly appear as an invasion and took countermeasures," Albedo said. She ate some popcorn and commented, "It seems like the other side is more united than our side."
"Or... on the other side, there aren't as many gods as on our side," Victor said.
"... Just one pantheon that controls the entire planet, huh."
"Yes."
When the corpses started attacking the witches, Evie finally had enough and couldn't control herself anymore.
"Enough!" Her eyes glowed, and the next moment, several magical circles appeared all over the place.
The corpses summoned by the pale woman disappeared like dust, and various chains appeared in the air and held the man's body.
"Wow, so many light shows." Victor laughed.
"She's gotten stronger," Albedo commented. "It seems her research has deepened."
"It looks like she's going to try to capture him," Victor commented.
"A foolish move," Albedo sighed.
"Indeed." Victor simply nodded. You don't capture a powerful enemy without means to suppress, restrain, or completely erase their power.
"Speaking of which, Albedo. Did you notice?"
"... Of course..." Albedo rolled her eyes. Did he think she wouldn't notice that?
"That man is using magic too."
"Fufufu, isn't that interesting? A human wielding a divine artifact, using magic, and using powers from the dark and light sides of the scale."
"As you said before, he may look like a human, but he could be a completely different species from what we have. After all, a human growing up in such an energy-rich environment will clearly have more 'potential' than ours," Victor reminded Albedo.
"That's true... It's not good to make assumptions without thorough research," Albedo agreed.
The man gritted his teeth and let out a horrible scream that once again filled the area with golden energy.
"Tsk." Evie began to control the environment around her; several magical circles were created.
Curses, environmental control, individual control, suggestions.
She was using all the magic in her arsenal except for strategic-class, and it wasn't affecting the man... It was as if he was made to fight beings like her.
"Mother, you can't capture him! Expel him!" Emilly spoke after recovering from the previous explosion.
"10 points to Ravenclaw for the correct analysis, the helpful hint," Victor laughed.
Albedo rolled her eyes but also chuckled at Victor's comment; she clearly understood the reference.
Evie heard her daughter's advice, and the next moment, she stopped casting other spells and created a magical circle in front of her.
"Tempest multiplox!" A gust of wind blew out of the circle, and although it didn't damage the man, it was strong enough to push him back toward the portal.
"@$#!!!*" The man said something, but no one understood what he said.
Seeing that he passed through the portal, Evie, not wanting to take any more risks, ordered, "Close the portal now!"
"No, you can't close the portal." Suddenly, two voices echoed around.
Surprised by the sudden voice, everyone looked toward the source and saw a man and a woman whom Evie knew very well, sitting and eating popcorn.
"What the-..." Evie was left speechless, but she couldn't even finish speaking when she heard Victor say, "Yo, 'Master.' That was a great movie; I really enjoyed it."
"Me too, it was quite fun," the woman smiled satisfactorily.
For some reason, Evie felt like she wanted to cough up blood, just like those young masters she had encountered in the past. Instead, her face twitched and turned red, and for a moment, she saw stars.
"M-Mother!"
"Aya... She fainted; it seems the shock of seeing us here completely caught her off guard, huh," Victor laughed.
"Fufufufu, I'll try to do more things like this in the future; it's quite interesting," Albedo laughed too. Then she commented, "But, 'Master,' huh? Why did you call her that?"
"Well, she promised [was threatened] to teach me magic, so she's my magic master, even though I never had time to study with her."
"Hmm... As a dragon, isn't it useless to study magic? After all, you control existence."
"It's never bad to have extra knowledge," Victor said.
And Albedo liked these thoughts very much; she agreed completely with Victor. Despite being a goddess, she never stopped seeking knowledge; after all, that was her obsession and also the way she thought.
Knowledge is power.
On this, the two could agree.
"Please stop talking and help my mother!" Evie exclaimed.
"Hmm?" Albedo and Victor looked at Evie and Emilly. Then they both sighed at the same time and said, "No."
Emilly was speechless at their attitude.
"She's so weak just for fainting due to an unexpected situation; she clearly isn't my daughter. She should know that there are beings out there who are capable of ignoring all defenses, no matter how good those defenses are. I am proof of that fact."
When Albedo said this, a strange silence fell around Evie's 'daughters,' who were tense because of the sudden intruders.
The man, they could easily recognize, after all, despite a few changes and new features on his face, he was quite familiar. And precisely because they knew them, they didn't dare to do anything; they still valued their lives.
But the strange woman who was clearly a witch? They had no idea who she was, but hearing what she just said, they all thought, 'It can't be... Albedo Moriarty!? The creator of Arcane!?' The witch's eyes shone with enthusiasm.
"Oh... You're quite famous here, huh."
"Of course, I created this country after all," Albedo boasted with pride.
"Hmm, it makes sense." Victor nodded as he got up from where he was sitting and floated toward the portal; halfway there, his two dragon wings appeared, shocking all the women around who didn't know about his evolution.
He floated in front of the portal, and the next moment, the man was back again.
He came with determination on his face, but that determination wavered when he saw an unknown man floating in front of him.
Looking at the man's wings, horns, and his dragon-like eyes that looked like violet flames with shades of crimson.
The man's determined face was replaced by horror.
Victor didn't even have the opportunity to say anything. The reason for that?
The man in front of him simply turned around and ran back to the portal.
"... Uh... I must commend him for making a quick and correct decision."
"He clearly has sharp senses; he easily perceived the threat, even though you didn't release any energy."
"Hah, he was quite amazed by my elegance."
"I don't know. He seemed pretty horrified to me," Albedo laughed, and then she floated toward her daughter and gave her two slaps, one on her right cheek and one on her left cheek.
"Wake up, it's not time to act like a Disney princess."
Evie suddenly wakes up while holding her face and points to Evie and Victor.
"H-How long have you guys been here!?"
"Since the beginning," Albedo replied indifferently, her eyes gleaming with amusement.
Evie had the decency to blush a little when she remembered her arrogant words declaring that no one could come here. She had completely forgotten about her mother's existence.
Threads of energy began to emanate from Victor's ten fingers and moved towards the portal.
Seeing this change, Albedo focused on the dragon in front of her with obvious interest in her eyes.
"W-Wait, Demon King! What are you doing!?"
"Changing the portal's position," Victor spoke neutrally, as if it were very easy to do.
"Huh...?" Albedo didn't know how to react to these words.
"You really have the devil's luck. The first ritual you perform to search on a planet, you discover your species' homeworld and also open a portal in the middle of their civilization."
"Heh, can you sense where the portal was opened?" Albedo asked curiously.
"I can see, not just sense. Now that the connection is established, the image is much clearer to me."
"Don't be fooled by the landscape in front of you; it's just an illusion created by the beings on the other side. They were clearly expecting invaders."
"... That's interesting." Victor's words might seem meaningless, but to someone like Albedo, she could easily understand what he meant.
'If they were expecting invaders, it means that somehow the other side is accustomed to invasions or received some kind of warning.' For a moment, her thoughts turned to the primordial beings.
She could see them doing this, after all, clearly, the other side was a 'weaker' planet than ours, with few supernatural beings.
To give an advantage to the weaker side and 'balance' this unexpected situation, they gave a warning to the 'administrators' of that planet, namely the gods.
Although she thought this, she knew it was just an assumption and shouldn't rush to judgment.
"Hmm, I can't remove the portal... Someone is interfering. Wait here." Victor steps through the portal.
...
In a medieval city, the citizens looked up at the sky and saw a blue portal emanating overwhelming energy.
Near the portal, a group of individuals covered in golden armor floated in a battle-ready position.
"Alfey, what's wrong!? Why did you flee from the battle!?" A woman wearing armor similar to the man's, of the same height, with golden hair and green eyes, asked.
"On the other side..." The golden-haired man swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and calmed his breathing.
"There is a-" He didn't have time to report because the portal vibrated, and a man emerged from it.
The man's wings spread out, casting a giant shadow over the city. Pure red energy silently overflowed from his body, sending chills down everyone's spine.
"Oh? Interesting, so there's a battalion of beings like you?" Although the man was saying something, no one understood his words.
The woman who had asked what happened to the man opened her eyes in shock when she saw this being. She clearly understood the state her companion was in now. She never thought that such beings existed on the other side.
Beings they thought were extinct, a Drakyo.
But it wasn't just the existence of this being that stunned her, it was... how incredibly beautiful he was. Even though she had encountered the Gods in the past, she had never seen anyone as beautiful as this man.
The man looked around, checking each individual, and then his gaze went to another place, specifically to the sky.
The man's eyes narrowed with power, and the next moment, he opened his mouth to say something unknown to them.
"Break. Contain. Disable."
The words spoken by the man seemed to carry a power capable of shaping creation because the next moment, he said this:
The portal became much more stable and appeared to be under the man's complete control.
Ripples began to appear in front of the group, and several beings started to materialize.
The 'Gods' were here, and they clearly didn't look happy.
But this appearance only made the man's smile grow, and the next moment... an explosion of pure red energy burst from the man's body.
It was as if the world was crashing down on everyone.
"S-So much power."
She didn't know who said that, and she didn't care because she was feeling the same way as them.
Even though they were all in the sky, it was extremely difficult to stay afloat. Some even fell to the ground as if gravity had increased hundreds of times.
And to think all of this happened just because of the power emanating from the creature's body.
If there were any doubts that he was a Drakyo, those doubts were completely evaporated now. Only these beings had such power. Who were these invaders!? And what did they want on these lands?!
The man's mocking smile grew, and he said something as if he were disappointed about something.
"Weak."
Although no one understood his words, everyone understood their meaning, and it infuriated all the beings present. But what could they do?
The next moment, as if he had finished something, he pointed to the black- haired man.
"Get stronger; I will return."
Again, they didn't understand what he said, but the meaning of his actions was worth more than a thousand words.
That arrogant smile, that disdain in his eyes, that pointing gesture, his words
—everything clearly was a challenge! They didn't understand each other, but as warriors, they could tell what he wanted.
The man turned and entered the portal. Not even seconds later, the portal disappeared, allowing everyone present to breathe again.
The man left behind a group of stunned gods and mortals, an experience that impacted many powerful beings who thought they were invincible.