’His destruction energy is potent enough to deal this level of damage? So not only is he a Superior High-Tier, he must have already begun Monarch Rank Comprehension. And that destruction Aspect of his must be incredibly potent as well.’

Roseborn analysed Arthur’s powers purely from what he was seeing and experiencing, and he was getting it all right.

It should be remembered that Arthur’s concealment ring was still active, and Roseborn didn’t have the power to bypass its concealment and see Arthur’s true Existence Realm.

Looking around lightly, the man noted that not only was the moon Arthur had fallen on still intact, but so was every other celestial body caught within the range of his Destruction Nova.

’He’s choosing what gets destroyed and what doesn’t. So he has the power of Selective Destruction, as well.

Is that his Aspectual Authority? Or is his Aspectual Authority something else? How many Aspectual Authorities does he have?’

All those thoughts crossed Roseborn’s mind in the same instant Arthur closed the distance, swinging Lostvayne horizontally and unleashing a razor-thin slash of law energy straight toward Roseborn.

’Extinction Slash.’ 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Roseborn’s pupils instantly dilated as the slash crossed space faster than light itself, forcing him to tilt his head aside at the final possible moment. The crimson silver line barely missed his face, slicing away several strands of his hair before continuing deeper into space behind him.

The Flugel’s eyes narrowed instantly as he recognised the energy of the law Arthur had just used against him, and he immediately activated his own Authority over that universal law.

’Authority of Extinction: Catastrophic End.’

Dark blue extinction energy erupted outward from Roseborn’s body in violent waves before condensing around his right arm, and then he swung it forward. The surrounding space fractured apart as a massive torrent of black-blue destruction exploded across space toward Arthur, the attack consuming everything in its path indiscriminately as nearby asteroids and moons crumbled into ashes almost instantly.

Arthur curved through the vacuum at terrifying speed, crimson silver trails stretching behind him as he flew past an asteroid belt, while Roseborn chased after him with all six wings spread wide and cosmic energy roaring around his body, the pressure radiating from the Flugel ripping apart everything unfortunate enough to lie in their path.

The moon Arthur had crashed into moments earlier split apart under the extinction law energy released from Roseborn, massive chunks of molten rock scattering through the surrounding vacuum before rapidly crumbling into ashes.

|You were running your mouth so much earlier,| Roseborn said, extending his left arm and activating another Authority.

|Why are you running away now?|

Arthur glanced back at him with a grin, pointing at his temple as he replied, |It’s strategy, old man. Strategy.|

The instant those words left his mouth, he sensed the cosmic energy behind him rapidly condense, and Roseborn vanished from his sight through the power of his Authority of Alacrity, reappearing directly behind Arthur with layered magic circles rotating around his arm as he swung his hand downward.

’Authority of Amalgamation: Spell Edict of Elemental Chaos.’

Flower buds bloomed from the centres of the circles before unfolding into enormous radiant roses whose petals glowed with condensed cosmic energy, and in the next instant, torrents of lightning, black fire, cursed ice, and compressed water erupted outward together in a catastrophic flood powerful enough to extinguish entire stars from existence.

But Arthur simply spun around and swung Lostvayne into the point-blank attack, as though everything around him had slowed to a crawl while he alone moved normally.

’...what?’

"Stellar Split."

Roseborn’s brows furrowed at the strange sense of incongruity he felt as a slash of crimson silver destruction erupted from Lostvayne and cleaved straight through the incoming attacks, destroying them instantly.

The Flugel immediately used his Authority of Alacrity to avoid the slash’s trajectory, then activated another Authority in the same instant.

’Authority of Alchemy: Forbidden Transmutation.’

The residual elemental law energies of the destroyed attacks abruptly transformed into millions of glowing dark purple needles, which instantly changed direction and shot toward Arthur from every angle, their speed amplified so much by the power of Alacrity that they appeared to teleport across space itself.

"Tsk."

Arthur instantly skipped through time to avoid the first wave, then teleported to evade the following waves, the needles chasing after him without pause and piercing through rogue planets and asteroids whenever they missed their target.

One unfortunate planet was instantly riddled with thousands of the projectiles before exploding apart completely, its molten core erupting outward into space as continents and oceans vanished within a storm of destruction.

In the same instant as that explosion, Roseborn appeared above Arthur once more, cosmic energy gathered around his body in vibrating waves.

’Authority of Music: Requiem of Collapse.’

A deep resonating hum spread through the vacuum between star systems, and instantly the surrounding cosmic energy descended into disorder as invisible soundwaves crushed toward Arthur from every direction.

Several rogue planets within the surrounding light-year radius cracked apart under the overwhelming pressure, while massive sections of nearby Oort clouds were violently scattered across space.

Arthur’s wings immediately unfurled, temporal and destructive energies erupting from all of them in the same instant his Authorities activated.

’Destruction Nova. Time Bomb + Time Shatter.’

Three techniques activated simultaneously, beginning with a crimson silver supernova that exploded outward from his body in a split second, consuming the vibrations, erasing the incoming needles, and tearing apart Roseborn’s multi-layered barriers.

With barely a split second of delay, a single burst of temporal energy exploded within the Nova, and with a distortion in time, Roseborn was instantly hit by several dozen bursts simultaneously, the impacts blasting him backwards through space with burns spreading across parts of his arms and face.

’His Temporal Authority is this strong?!’

The Flugel immediately raised his gaze from the burns on his arms to the space around Arthur’s Nova, noticing the minute cracks in spacetime that predated the temporal energy bombs continuing to explode around his position.

’He used temporal energy to replicate the effect of one blast dozens of times in an instant.’

Just as the man figured out what Arthur had done, the question of why Arthur was still using Time Bombs even though he’d already escaped their effective range crossed his mind, and when the hairs on his body stood on end a second later, he understood why.

|Stellar Split.|

Arthur’s voice echoed from behind him and reached Roseborn’s ears, and the man instantly turned around via the power of Alacrity.

’The bombs were meant to draw my attention and stop me from noticing his teleportation!’

Roseborn immediately clapped his hands together in the same instant the colossal slash of destructive energy from Arthur’s blade descended upon him.

’Discordance.’

The collision of his cosmic energy-coated palms released a massive vertical shockwave that slammed directly into Arthur’s incoming slash, destabilising the destruction energy and causing the gigantic blade to rupture apart violently.

But before the energy could dissipate, Arthur activated AGSD, absorbing it all through the singularity and condensing it into his left fist, which smashed toward the side of Roseborn’s face.

The man immediately raised his right hand to block the strike, but his hastily raised guard couldn’t fully defend against it, and his defensive barriers shattered like glass, the force blasting his body through space and sending him hurtling uncontrollably through the vacuum.

’Guh! Spatial Anchor!’

Ambient spatial law energy swirled around him and forcefully stabilised his body, and instantly, black blue energy rushed out of his palms as he activated another Authority.

’Authority of Extinction: Catastrophic End!’

Dark blue waves of extinction law energy erupted in every direction, spreading outward to consume anything nearby indiscriminately, but they didn’t travel very far before Arthur countered.

’Annihilation Sphere.’

A massive omnidirectional sphere of crimson silver destruction erupted from his body and collided directly against the incoming extinction field, erasing the black waves of extinction and leaving behind shockwaves that spread through the dark vacuum before fading away.

Roseborn closed the distance to Arthur with Instant Transmission before the godslayer’s Annihilation Sphere had even finished doing its work, a spear of cosmic energy held within his grasp.

’Authority of Death: Final Note.’

Black flames erupted around the spear tip as he thrust directly toward Arthur’s chest, the surrounding vacuum fracturing apart under the sheer density of death energy compressed into the attack.

Arthur, however, had already foreseen the attack through Memories of the Future and reacted in time, raising Lostvayne horizontally and blocking the spear.

The collision shattered the surrounding space instantly, violent shockwaves erupting outward with enough force to split apart continents on distant planets despite the impact happening millions of kilometres away from them.

Arthur pushed back against Roseborn’s spear, releasing more destruction energy to resist the violent death energy trying to invade his body, his teeth gritted from the strain.

’Holding on without using Soul-Devouring Oblivion is harder than I expected...!’

[He’s an entire Existence Realm above you. That much is obvious,] Celestia replied telepathically. [The only reason you’ve managed to damage him so far is because of the law of destruction’s durability-ignoring property, but that alone won’t be enough to bring him down.]

[Why haven’t you used my Weapon Authority already?] Lostvayne asked, a trace of confusion running through the Ego Weapon’s voice.

’Because of those stalker gods watching from a distance! I need to save enough power to deal with them long enough to use my trump card! That’s also why I haven’t used Extreme Nothingness!’

Arthur’s Progenitor Authority was currently active, and it expanded his Divine-Factor sensing range to three times its normal extent, allowing him to detect several dozen god Kings observing the battle between him and Roseborn from many light-years away.

He had no way of knowing whether they were allies like Uvton and Rilene’s cohort or enemies like Craig’s lackeys, so he could only wait until they made a move before acting accordingly.

This entire exchange with his Ego Weapons lasted only a few seconds in real time because of their heightened perception of time, and immediately afterwards, Arthur activated his Anti-Divine Gravity Authority and generated an immense repulsive force that blasted Roseborn backwards through space.

Arthur used the opening to calm his breathing before immediately replenishing the energy within his sword.

But instead of closing the distance for another exchange like Arthur expected, Roseborn merely floated back silently while the spear of death energy in his hand gradually dissipated.

He glanced to the side momentarily before returning his eyes to Arthur, the surrounding cosmic energy vibrating intensely as it rapidly gathered within his wings before erupting from their tips as concentrated beams that shot forward, collided at a single point before him, and merged into one massive beam that blasted directly toward Arthur.

’Authority of Extinction: World End Cannon.’

Arthur effortlessly avoided the black-blue combined beam through teleportation, flashing straight toward Roseborn’s left side while swinging Lostvayne toward the man’s neck.

Roseborn had already anticipated Arthur closing the distance through teleportation, so the instant Arthur appeared beside him, Roseborn folded his left wings around his body and unleashed a point-blank beam of extinction law energy from the spell circles rotating across the back of his wings.

But Arthur had already anticipated Roseborn expecting his teleportation, because there was no possible way Roseborn could have believed Arthur wouldn’t be capable of avoiding a direct attack like World End Cannon.

So before Roseborn could even release the extinction law energy from the spell circles behind his wings, Arthur had already activated another teleportation, vanishing and reappearing not beside Roseborn this time, but directly beneath him, specifically underneath his legs.

The Cosmic Teleporter activated, and a portal spiralled into existence behind Roseborn while Arthur grabbed Roseborn’s right leg and pulled the man downward into the portal with all his strength before slamming him onto the surface of a random uninhabitable giant planet located at the distant edge of the galaxy connected through the portal.

Roseborn’s back collided with the planet’s surface with enough force to shatter the crust and blast straight into its molten mantle before sinking toward its solid core, pulled downward by the suddenly appearing gravitational well Arthur’s Authority had created around it.

Even so, Roseborn didn’t suffer the slightest bit of damage from the impact, but Arthur didn’t care because he’d only done it to distract Roseborn while activating Temporal Imaging on him.

However, right as he did that, another figure leapt through the Cosmic Teleporter’s portal just before it closed, flashing in behind Arthur with a spear coated in golden divinity flying straight toward the back of Arthur’s head.

The seemingly unavoidable attack shooting straight towards Arthur’s head abruptly veered away from its intended trajectory when it collided against the dense gravitational barrier surrounding Arthur’s body, the warped space around him redirecting anything moving toward him away from its target.

And the instant the attack missed, Arthur teleported behind the sudden attacker, Lostvayne erupting with destructive energy as he said, |Did you really think I wouldn’t be expecting you, Craig?|