Beyond the Apocalypse-Chapter 1049: Drowning Gods in fear

The True Depravita of Wrath’s expression was cold, merciless, and utterly devoid of hesitation as he flew at his top speed right above the surface, the speed he carried so immense that all the Angels and buildings on his path were obliterated, with shock waves sending those nearby flying away.

And that was far from all.

Above him, thousands upon thousands of golden portals manifested in the sky. From them, god weapons rained down like a divine storm, each strike precise and merciless. Cities were erased in seconds. Angel legions vanished beneath the barrage, their deaths coming faster than screams could form.

Every second, tens of thousands of angels died.

Unlike the First Level, Vlad advanced at terrifying speed this time. Entire regions were annihilated before Heaven’s forces could fully mobilize. Many angels were left behind—those who had managed to hide or flee beyond the reach of the god-weapon rain.

Vlad did not pursue them.

They were irrelevant.

His objective had never been the low-tier drones or the masses that filled Heaven’s lower levels. Even the annihilation of the First Level, catastrophic as it was, was not enough to truly wound Heaven’s foundation. It was not enough to address the source of his fury.

The mirror trembled as the sovereigns watched Vlad advance without slowing, without faltering.

"Is he going after...?"

Brightkin did not finish the sentence. The words died in his throat, as if even speaking them aloud might draw disaster upon them. What he was thinking was something no sane being would willingly contemplate. It defied reason, instinct, and every unwritten rule of survival in the universe.

Yet the White Death nodded calmly.

"Yes," he said. "The Xaos King is going after the Archangels."

The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Then, slowly, the White Death’s eyes narrowed. A faint smile—cold, sharp, and filled with unmistakable approval—appeared on his face.

"If my judgment is correct," he continued, "he will not stop until the Archangel who dared to aim at the souls of his unborn children is dead."

Merlin, King of the Obsidian Dragons, slammed his clawed hand onto the armrest of his throne, the obsidian stone cracking under the force.

"But that will be suicide!" he roared.

Even charging directly into Heaven was an act that placed the strongest Lords in extreme danger. Heaven was not like Hell or the Abyss, where brute force and chaos ruled. Its laws were rigid, absolute, and enforced by entities born from its very essence.

Facing an Archangel—one of Heaven’s living laws—was something no life form in the universe should be capable of surviving.

Archangels were not simply stronger angels. They were incarnations of Heaven’s authority, created directly from its will. Each carried unique Gifts capable of rewriting causality, annihilating souls, and erasing beings from existence entirely. Entire civilizations had fallen to a single Archangel’s descent.

"Maybe," the White Death replied evenly. "Or maybe not. We can only wait and see."

His gaze shifted to the white mirror hovering in the air. The other sovereigns followed his eyes and stiffened, not daring to blink as the image of the Xaos King unfolded before them.

Vlad rampaged across the Second Level of Heaven like an unrestrained divine calamity.

Golden cities collapsed under his advance, their radiant towers crumbling into molten ruins. Angel legions barely had time to form ranks before god-weapons rained down upon them, carving crimson paths through their forces. Every step Vlad took was accompanied by destruction, his presence alone enough to crush weaker angels into nothingness.

What stunned the observers the most was not merely the scale of the slaughter—it was Vlad’s endurance.

Despite the immense drain imposed by Heaven’s Gates, despite the constant expenditure of power required to maintain his abilities, his energy reserves showed no sign of depletion. His stamina appeared endless, as if he were recovering energy faster than he could possibly expend it. The longer the carnage continued, the more unstoppable he seemed.

Soon, he reached the Divine Kingdoms of the Second Level.

Unlike the First Level, the Gods here reacted instantly.

The moment Vlad shattered the barrier separating the levels, alarms echoed throughout the Divine Kingdoms. The Gods sensed his presence immediately, their divine instincts screaming warnings of imminent annihilation. Their first reaction was to contact the Gods of the First Level.

There was no response.

Only silence.

That silence alone told them everything they needed to know.

Faces hardened with fear and grim determination as the Gods rose into the air and gathered together, their divine auras flaring violently. Power surged outward, distorting space as they stared at the lone figure marching toward them.

The closer Vlad came, the more suffocating his presence became. His power pressed down on them like an invisible mountain, crushing doubt and igniting raw terror in their hearts.

"Now!" one of the Gods shouted.

Seven Gods moved at once.

They summoned every fragment of divine power they possessed, drawing directly from their Divine Kingdoms. They pushed beyond safe limits, sacrificing the lives and souls of their followers to fuel their strength. Entire cities within their kingdoms were drained in seconds, millions of angels reduced to lifeless husks.

To Gods, worshippers were not equals. They were resources—meant to be consumed when necessary.

The combined energy of seven Divine Kingdoms condensed into a colossal beam of destruction. The ground split apart as the cannon fired, tearing through Heaven’s landscape. Thousands of angels perished instantly in the backlash, but none of the Gods hesitated.

The beam struck the True Depravita of Wrath head-on.

The explosion was apocalyptic.

A blinding flash engulfed the battlefield, followed by a shockwave so violent it flattened everything within hundreds of kilometers. When the light faded, a crater rivaling the size of a moon scarred the Second Level of Heaven.

The Gods staggered, breathing heavily.

They knew punishment would come. The Archangels would not tolerate such devastation. But smiles crept onto their faces regardless.

They had done it.

They had killed the invader.

Those who perished were heroes—martyrs who had given their lives for Heaven’s safety.

As the smoke and divine fog slowly dissipated, the Gods straightened, pride swelling in their chests—

And froze.

At the very center of the destruction stood the Xaos King.

Unharmed.

Not a single wound marred his body. His armor gleamed, untouched by the blast. His eyes burned with cold fury.

"Impossible..." one God whispered, his voice trembling.

Horror seized them all.

In an instant, Vlad exited Quantum Form.

Reality snapped back into place.

The next second, he was among them.

No warning. No words.

His blade flashed.

One God was cleaved cleanly in half, his body separating before he could even process what had happened. Vlad’s left hand shot outward, tearing the heart from another God’s chest and crushing it.

"ATTACK!" one of the remaining Gods screamed.

Panic erupted.

Axes, hammers, spears of light, blood-forged arrows, and golden webs were hurled at Vlad from every direction. The sky itself seemed to collapse under the barrage.

Every attack passed straight through him.

The Gods’ faces drained of all color.

Vlad appeared behind a massive God wielding a hammer that seemed heavy enough to shatter worlds. Still intangible, Vlad’s hand slid effortlessly through the back of the God’s skull, reaching into his brain.

The Quantum Eye flared.

Vlad solidified.

"ARGHHH!"

The scream was cut short as the God’s brain was crushed into pulp from the inside.

Panic turned into despair.

"What do we do?!"

"Our attacks can’t touch him!"

"He can kill us with a single touch!"

"We’re supposed to reinforce the upper levels!"

Any remaining courage shattered completely.

The True Depravita of Wrath turned toward them. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He vanished.

One God’s head flew through the air, blood spraying across the sky. Another exploded into gore from a single punch.

The last two Gods finally broke.

Terror overwhelmed what little composure they had left, and they turned in desperation, attempting to flee the battlefield. Rational thought had long since abandoned them. They knew, on some level, that escape was meaningless—once a Divine Kingdom was destroyed, death was inevitable—but fear does not listen to logic. It only screams for survival.

They never made it far.

Before either of them could cross even a fraction of the distance, the eyes of the True Depravita of Wrath ignited. A pair of searing beams of condensed energy erupted from his gaze, slicing through the heavens with absolute precision. The beams pierced straight through the chests of the fleeing Gods, detonating their hearts in an explosion of divine blood and shattered organs.

The Gods died instantly.

Yet even in death, their bodies did not fall.

Their lifeless corpses remained suspended in the air, orbiting slowly around the Xaos King like broken celestial puppets. Golden blood drifted through the sky, staining Heaven itself.

Vlad inhaled deeply.

The Eye of Gluttony opened.

An invisible vortex erupted around him, devouring everything that remained of the fallen Gods. Their divine energy, life force, souls, and even the smallest fragments of spiritual essence were torn from their corpses and swallowed whole. The bodies shriveled and crumbled into ash as their power was stripped away completely.

Power surged through Vlad’s veins.

Charged with overwhelming strength, he raised his hand toward the sky.

Massive golden portals tore open above every remaining Divine Kingdom in the Second Level of Heaven.

With a single, casual wave of his hand, the portals unleashed their judgment.

Colossal spears of divine annihilation rained down, slamming into the Divine Kingdoms like incarnations of death itself.

In moments, the Divine Kingdoms ceased to exist, reduced to fragments and drifting debris.