Arthur expected Roseborn to discover his existence. He expected the man to conclude that he and Alexia were working together because of her actions in gathering godslayers. He expected Roseborn to view him as a potential threat because of that, and he expected Roseborn to send some of his forces after him.

’But what I never expected was for him to come after me himself!’

This alone was completely outside Arthur’s expectations.

’None of the parallel paths I checked had this possibility.’

Arthur silently stared at Roseborn hovering in the air while thinking of what reason could have made Roseborn come after him.

’It makes more sense for him to lead the force attacking Alexia in the Abyss Labyrinth. Or is it that he doesn’t know Alexia’s location within the universe yet and wants to get it from me?’

He silently activated his Progenitor Authority, and with it, he confirmed two things.

’First off, this guy has divine factors. And this isn’t the real Roseborn. It’s a clone. A very well-made clone that I needed to use my Progenitor Authority to differentiate.’

Knowing that this one was a clone, Arthur began to guess that Roseborn’s real body was possibly in the Abyss Labyrinth, along with the other 8 Candidates he came with.

’But to begin with, did he even bring his real body to this universe?’

Just as Arthur had that thought, a second passed, and Roseborn looked at Lostvayne in his right hand.

"That sword. So you really are Lucifer’s descendant..."

"!"

Arthur’s eyes widened upon hearing those words, and he instantly understood why Roseborn had come for him.

Roseborn’s mention of ’Lucifer’ reminded Arthur of the only time those two had ever crossed paths.

The end result of that encounter was Roseborn’s complete defeat, and he had to flee and hide for several thousand years.

That was enough for Arthur to understand why Roseborn had come for him.

’This bastard wants revenge!’

He chuckled at the thought, his sudden laughter making Roseborn frown lightly as he couldn’t understand what was so amusing.

Arthur, however, didn’t explain and simply placed Lostvayne on his shoulder, the dust and blood on his clothes vanishing as he asked,

"So? Why are you here and not wherever your daughter is?"

Arthur decided to act like he didn’t know this Roseborn was a clone, and, hearing his question, Roseborn looked at Lostvayne once more.

"You’re the one who broke the leash I put on her."

"Leash? Get a load of this guy," Arthur replied with a scoff. "You put a curse on your daughter so you can turn her into a babymaker for your next possession target, and you call it a leash?

Every child might deserve a parent, but not all parents deserve a child, because how could you put something so vicious on your daughter?"

Arthur blinked after he spoke, an expression of mock realisation appearing on his face as he continued, "Oh, wait. Alexia isn’t actually your daughter, but the daughter of the one whose body you stole, right?

Poor dude. His damned ancestor took over his body just because he was too talentless to become a Cosmic Being on his own."

He spoke with a disappointed expression, but despite his words, Roseborn’s expression and mood didn’t change in the slightest.

’Well, isn’t he composed?’

[The body might only be a few tens of thousands, but the soul inside is that of a hundred-million-year-old,] Lostvayne said.

[If he didn’t learn to maintain his composure even after all that time, then he should just commit suicide,] Celestia added, her words making Arthur chuckle again.

Shaking his head, Arthur waved dismissively at Roseborn before saying, "Oh well. I want no business with you, so just go deal with your family matters on your own."

"And leave a potential threat like you alone? When you’re the one she’s creating that army for?" Roseborn said, finally responding to Arthur’s words.

Arthur froze at those words, then immediately burst into sudden laughter, so much so that he dropped his sword and held his stomach.

Roseborn looked at him the way one would look at a lunatic, but Arthur didn’t care, only laughing as much as he could.

"You...pfft...is that your fancy reason? A potential threat?"

Arthur shook his head, looking up at Roseborn as he picked Lostvayne back up.

"I’m not a threat to you, Roseborn Vladi. My relationship with Alexia is purely contractual. She helped me, so I helped her in return.

Normally, you should be trying to convince me to come to your side instead, by promising benefits greater than what she’s offered."

Spreading his arms wide, he unleashed his destructive energy, the crimson silver light dyeing the world around them in his colour as he spoke.

"I’m a Candidate for Destruction. One who is worth more than over a dozen others. In the eyes of someone like you, who gathers Candidates in your empire, I should be a valuable asset you’d want to obtain.

But you don’t see me that way. Calling me a potential threat is just a lie you tell yourself to shield your petty pride, when what you truly want is revenge."

Arthur rose into the air until he was directly at Roseborn’s eye level, and with a grin, he said,

"You got beaten by Lucifer and had to run and hide like a rat for millennia so he wouldn’t find you, and now you want to kill me simply because I’m his descendant."

For a moment after Arthur spoke, silence reigned.

Then, in the very next instant, Roseborn exhaled softly before speaking.

"You’re going to regret those words."

The distance between Arthur and Roseborn became zero in a split second, but right before Roseborn’s fist, swirling with cosmic energy, could reach Arthur, Arthur smiled.

"?!"

Roseborn’s eyes widened at Arthur’s reaction, and in that same instant, the destructive energy Arthur had released earlier enclosed both of them in a sphere with Roseborn at its centre.

The sphere rapidly constricted, crushing everything trapped within it until it closed in on Roseborn himself.

’World Collapse’.

A flash of crimson silver light erupted, followed by a massive explosion whose shockwaves levelled everything across that region of the planet’s surface.

And through that explosion, Arthur swung Lostvayne, the blade phasing through the blast and cutting through the multi-layered defensive barrier coating Roseborn’s skin before slicing into his actual flesh and sending him hurtling upward with immense force.

Roseborn was blasted straight through the planet’s atmosphere, and Arthur immediately chased after him, raising Lostvayne with both hands as destruction energy erupted from the blade while he ascended higher past the clouds and into the vacuum of space above.

Arthur continued rising until that erupting power became an extension of his sword that stretched an entire light year long.

’Split Series: Sixth Split.’

Every Mid-Tier Deity and above across the galaxy sensed the destructive energy pouring from Arthur’s blade, power more than sufficient to completely decimate every planet within the Orithyia Galaxy combined, along with the space between them, if unleashed without restraint.

And Arthur, without the slightest hesitation, swung his blade down at Roseborn.

|Galactic Split!|

Roseborn frowned at Arthur’s attack, one that appeared completely unconcerned with the galaxy’s fate, but that didn’t stop him from swirling cosmic energy around both hands before slamming his palms together in front of him.

|Discordance!|

The collision of his cosmic energy-coated palms unleashed a vertical shockwave that crashed into Arthur’s descending slash with such devastating force that the dark vacuum of space brightened with even greater intensity than the supernova Arthur had caused minutes earlier.

Cracks spread across the massive energy blade as Roseborn’s counterattack destabilised its structure and disrupted the destruction energy erupting from Lostvayne, forcing the elongated blade to shatter and violently disperse its power in every direction.

However, that energy did not simply scatter uselessly.

Arthur immediately reclaimed control of it, swirling it around himself before pouring every bit of it back into Lostvayne, the silver lines running along the sword’s blade glowing bright crimson from the immense destructive power.

Roseborn, however, frowned in confusion as he looked around and realised that not a single planet, star, or celestial body around him had been destroyed by Arthur’s energy. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Not even the nearby planets that had been directly hit by the dispersed destructive power had suffered the slightest damage, which made perfect sense because of Arthur’s Selective Destruction.

When he used Galactic Split, he had simply deselected everything except Roseborn, so regardless of how much power the attack contained, even enough to decimate the entire Orithyia Galaxy, it wouldn’t harm a single entity or existence other than Roseborn Vladi.

’Such precise destructive energy control... He really needs to be eliminated.’

Roseborn’s blue eyes glowed faintly as he roused his magic power and commanded the ambient cosmic energy, activating several of his many Authorities.

’Authority of Alchemy: Transmutation of Reality.

Authority of Curses: Bloodletting.

Authority of Alacrity: Instant Transmission.’

A blue light erupted from his body, and instantly, millions of azure spears burst from the planets and stars surrounding Arthur, breaking past the light barrier and reaching his position within a second, their tips glowing with an ominous purple light.

Faced with them, Arthur swung Lostvayne and unleashed an Extinction Slash that cut them all in half, but though the severed portions lost their glow, more continued to grow, the surfaces of the celestial bodies facing him now covered with towering arched spikes of molten earth and searing light that multiplied the farther they travelled.

A second later, the broken sections of those spikes regained their glow and shot toward him as projectiles from every direction, forcing Arthur to fly away to avoid them all.

Arthur curved through space and dashed straight toward Roseborn’s back, pulling Lostvayne back as he closed the distance.

The instant he got close, Arthur swung the blade, and Roseborn turned instantly, miscoloured ten-ringed magic circles manifesting in stacked layers in front of him.

’Authority of Amalgamation: Spell Edict of Anarchy.’

A flower bud appeared at the centre of the magic circle, unfolding into a beautiful rose with dozens of petals. The petals glowed with cosmic energy, but before that energy could be released, Arthur’s horizontally unleashed Stellar Split cleaved the entire structure in half, the compressed energy erupting in a bright flash.

From within that flash, several spears of searing light with glowing purple tips burst out and hit Arthur straight in the chest, the impact sending him backwards until he smashed into the surface of a nearby moon.

Roseborn emerged instantly from the explosion of light, his pupils contracting as he focused on Arthur, frowning lightly at the sight of the spears whose tips were all shattered against Arthur’s chest, having failed to pierce him.

He simultaneously condensed the energy of the blast and shaped it into spears of light, which he then fired at Arthur, using his Authority of Alacrity to increase the speed of his attacks so much that they appeared to teleport, reaching and imprisoning Arthur on the surface of the moon among the dozens of spikes.

The purple glow on the spikes’ tips intensified as Roseborn’s Monarch Rank Curse Authority activated, inflicting Arthur with a powerful curse that had zero damage potential and was created solely for the purpose of immobilising the target.

Roseborn closed the distance the moment he confirmed his Authority had activated, cosmic energy condensing around his hands to form a spear which he thrust straight toward Arthur’s forehead.

’Authority of Death: Final Note.’

A black flame erupted at the tip of the spear, and right when it was an inch from reaching Arthur, the godslayer exhaled softly.

’Destruction Nova.’

A supernova erupted with Arthur at its centre, expanding outward in a split second and engulfing everything around him in an overwhelming wave of destruction.

All the spears pinning him were ground to nothing, the curse law energy binding his body was torn apart and erased, and even Roseborn couldn’t activate his Authority of Alacrity’s instant transmission fast enough to escape its radius.

His protective energy layers were ripped to shreds in an instant, and his skin was burned along his arms and parts of his face as the explosion consumed the space around them.