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Chapter 464

A tremendous roar echoed from far away.

And Luna’s unique power.

I had expected it, but Luna’s power was now on a level that couldn’t even be compared to before.

While a massive baptism of light poured down, I shielded my eyes with my arm.

The moment the light faded, I took in the archangel slowly descending in front of me.

That baptism of light hadn’t merely been intense illumination.

With just that single strike, fourteen out of the twenty protective spells I had cast in advance had been blown apart.

Should I be astonished that fourteen high-tier defensive spells were shattered?

Or should I be impressed that I managed to block an archangel’s attack with fourteen layers?

Either way, it was complicated beyond words.

Still, it was within the range I had anticipated, so I quickly restored my protective spells and gathered my energy.

The being called the Martial Might of God, the archangel of the right—Michael.

The strongest among the archangels, a being referred to as God’s might.

However, in my judgment, Michael was not such a perfect powerhouse.

If Lucifer existed, and if her power hadn’t disappeared somewhere,

then Michael, by nature, would be nothing more than one who had inherited a portion of Lucifer’s power.

At this point, I could almost feel just how absurd Lucifer’s existence truly was.

As if sensing Luna’s presence, Michael turned his gaze in the direction where Luna was.

“What did you do to Raphael?”

Soon, light flashed between the gaps of his helmet as he asked.

Instead of answering, I pushed the Cursed Sword into subspace and summoned the divine artifact Pragarach into the form of a sword, gripping it in one hand.

I had created Pragarach to face Michael.

The Cursed Sword was sturdy, but it wasn’t enough—and in the first place, dual-wielding wasn’t my preference.

And if I tried to use sword flight, that kind of trivial trick against Michael would only act as a penalty for me.

“Adamantium, is it?”

Light gathered and shimmered within Michael’s spear.

“Ahh!! Kyaa!”

Meanwhile, Elpiria, watching me from the cradle, waved her arms nonstop as if urging me to come hold her.

To a child, their present situation is everything.

In a way, it was only natural.

“……”

But approaching Elpiria wasn’t easy.

Because Michael was blocking the way.

Was it because I didn’t move despite her desperate insistence?

Tears welled up in Elpiria’s eyes.

At that, Michael flinched, then reached out toward her and snapped his fingers.

Her eyes fluttered as though they had suddenly grown unbearably heavy, and soon she sank into the warm blanket in the cradle and fell asleep.

In the silence, Michael and I continued our standoff without exchanging a word.

Whatever he might have been thinking, the fact remained that he had kidnapped Elpiria.

“Bring the rest of those bastards too.”

“They are holding Raphael back. It seems she has regained the power of an archangel. How did you manage that?”

I didn’t answer his question.

To be honest, even I didn’t know.

However, unlike me, Lucifer could have answered that.

“Mother. Was it your power?”

Michael’s voice rang out again, but there was no way the fickle Lucifer would respond.

The initiative was on my side.

As if hidden traps were revealed in an instant, dozens of magic circles formed around Michael, and a vicious cold surged toward him.

In an instant, his legs and various parts of his body froze, restricting his movement—but Michael simply generated light and released an ultra-high heat, effortlessly melting it away.

It was an 8th-circle freezing spell, yet it had little effect.

Still, gaining even that brief hesitation meant it wasn’t a loss for me.

Moving as if vanishing, I closed the distance to point-blank range and swung my blade.

Claaang!!!!

Michael skillfully moved his spear to block my strike, then thrust his golden, spiked gauntlet toward me.

Jjeeeong!!!

The gauntlet, infused with pure white light, emitted such overwhelming force that the surrounding air itself melted and shimmered, as if it intended to burn my entire body away.

Without hesitation, I abandoned any follow-up attack and retreated.

Chiiiiik!!!

The moment I moved away, the ground where I had stood melted like lava.

It wasn’t simply heat manipulation.

In truth, I still couldn’t clearly grasp the nature of the power Michael wielded.

In that case, there was only one option—clash and find out.

Rather than talk, Michael and I immediately began unleashing attacks at each other.

* * *

There was clearly an effect from the Book of Genesis.

Unlike before, when I had faced Michael while he demanded Lucifer’s necklace, now I could feel that my attacks were actually landing on him.

That said, whether I could inflict meaningful damage was another matter.

The same applied to him as well.

My current martial power was practically at the level of ultimate mastery, not inferior even against an Ancient God.

Of course, I hadn’t reached the true pinnacle beyond Grandmaster—but unlike during the Labyrinthos, I now had the synergistic amplification of numerous halls’ powers.

Kkagagagagak!!!

Michael’s attacks, pressing me as he wielded his spear like an extension of his own body, were clean yet terrifyingly powerful.

I carefully observed and responded, making sure not to get lost in thought while reacting as quickly as possible.

In the process, one sleeve of my arm was torn away—but no matter how I slashed with Pragarach, his insane armor refused to give way easily.

Well, armor exists to protect the body, after all…

But with my current attack power, it was clear I couldn’t easily damage his body.

“Whatever trick you used, just because you can reach me doesn’t mean you can kill me, mortal.”

In short, a lack of attack power.

I discarded my hesitation, spun Pragarach once, and reversed my grip.

Then, starting from the back of the hand holding the hilt, I swept my other palm along the blade.

At the same time, Pragarach’s form began to change, transforming into a long spear.

Meanwhile, Michael, as if to say it was meaningless, took a step forward while enveloped in a massive, intangible force.

Chiiiiik…

As his boot touched the palace floor, a sound rang out—something melting, or something rapidly deforming under extreme heat.

The fact that Michael had stopped, judging me weak, was a golden opportunity.

I spun the massive spear and took a lancer’s stance.

At the same time, Michael formed spears of light and aimed them at me.

Jjeeeong!!!

The moment his spears flew, leaving behind massive trails of light, I stomped forward almost simultaneously.

[Overdrive (Transcendence of Realm)]

Pragarach in my hand trembled violently, resonating.

I aimed precisely at Michael and hurled it like a thrown spear.

[Heavenly Thrust]

[Destruction]

Michael flinched and reacted belatedly—but by the time he did, the Pragarach I had thrown had already shattered all the spears of light along its path.

Kwachik!!!

Despite withstanding countless attacks without a scratch, his armor warped instantly—then his shoulder plate shattered with a crack!

It was certain that the intangible forces protecting him had been completely pierced.

For the first time, Michael’s ironclad defense had been fully broken.

Adamantium, the spear, and transcendence—perfectly aligned.

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“……”

Michael glanced at his pierced shoulder, then restored his armor with light.

There were no visible wounds, but the consumption was real.

Indeed, he didn’t immediately counterattack, as if shocked that his armor had been penetrated, and instead looked down at his body.

He didn’t speak at length.

He simply pointed his spear at me.

But that alone was enough to understand his intent.

A being called the Martial Might of God.

That meant he now acknowledged me as an enemy capable of threatening his existence.

From here on, he would no longer hold back.

I knew that well.

But fighting archangels wasn’t unfamiliar to me either.

Even if all I had faced were fallen ones, the fact remained—my attacks worked on a fully intact Michael.

That was enough.

With our spears aimed at each other, we began drawing out our power without restraint, intent on killing one another.

* * *

Explosive roars and shockwaves tore through the heavens as if space itself were being crushed.

Emitting pure white light, Michael unleashed attacks akin to a calamity.

I couldn’t block everything.

While I pressed into his openings, my body accumulated small wounds—but his armor was repeatedly pierced, dented, and restored.

As if the earlier baptism of light had been a mere joke, his current attacks tore through nearly twenty layers of my protective magic in an instant and threatened my body.

The buffering effect let me endure, but since I hadn’t fully reached ultimate mastery, each strike was still quite lethal.

Still, it wasn’t as though Michael was a fool drunk on power—psychological tactics wouldn’t work easily on him.

There was a reason he was called God’s might.

His strength was astonishing.

If the compatibility had been worse—like with otherworldly monsters—I might have already lost.

Even so, I wasn’t without options.

I had already known how strong Michael was, and I had prepared my own measures.

In the blink of an eye, after dozens of exchanges, my Pragarach tore through the archangel’s defensive barrier and ripped open his abdominal breastplate before bouncing away—while the tip of his spear grazed my cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.

There was no clear winner.

He restored his armor and rose, and I tightened my grip on Pragarach.

“How troublesome. Adamantium.”

Indeed, because Pragarach was made of adamantium, it produced ten times the efficiency against archangels with just a cost of one.

But that wasn’t all.

Having been transformed into a spirit sword and forged with rare materials, the divine artifact Pragarach had several additional effects.

[Increased Penetration]

[Ignore All Affinities]

The increased penetration was enough to shake Michael’s formidable defenses, but the “ignore all affinities” effect meant it bypassed the intangible energy protecting him as an archangel.

In other words, it ignored defense.

Without using Pragarach’s power, my attacks had landed—but felt as if their damage had been halved.

And that wasn’t all Pragarach could do.

The moment he took to the air, I gripped Pragarach like a thrown spear and fired its tip at him like a shell.

Boom!!

A massive sonic boom shook the ground as a trail of light narrowly targeted Michael.

However, the moment I threw it, Michael immediately stopped flying and plunged toward me.

My spear grazed the cheek of his helm, but failed to deal a fatal blow.

Now that the spear had left my hand, he judged it the perfect opportunity—his spear shot straight toward my abdomen.

It annoyed me that he still didn’t seem intent on killing me outright.

But the threat of his attack was undeniable.

To defend here, I would have to draw my Cursed Sword—or retreat.

After all, throwing a spear isn’t exactly the most efficient attack method.

But blocking with the Cursed Sword was too burdensome, and it was too late to flee.

So—

I activated another ability of the divine artifact Pragarach.

[Ability Activation – Binding]

Sssssss…

As Pragarach formed in my hand again like light, Michael tried to halt mid-charge—but it was already too late.

He had already closed the distance at tremendous speed.

I added that momentum and thrust forward in a counter.

His light-forged spear collided precisely with Pragarach.

[Ability Activation – Increased Penetration]

In the clash of strength, I won.

Pragarach’s spear tip crushed through his light, tore into his helm, and blasted him away.

With that level of damage, restoration wouldn’t be easy.

Michael, sent flying, slowly rose.

Fragments of his shattered spear struck my body as if alive, leaving wounds—but it was within expectations.

The exchanges weren’t long, but each blow was lethal and consumed enormous energy.

I had rarely expended this much power in such a short time.

It even felt like my breathing was growing rough.

Through the torn side of his helmet, his face was almost visible—but not completely.

Still, I clearly saw his eyes.

Eyes that unmistakably judged me as an extremely dangerous enemy.

For a bunch of kidnappers, they sure liked to act noble.

If asked, he’d probably say sacrificing one to save millions was the obvious choice.

The problem was that the one was my and Luna’s child—who hadn’t even been weaned yet.

I retrieved the trembling Pragarach and continued the standoff.

—Interesting. That guy can’t even properly handle his own power.

‘Be quiet, Lucifer.’

I never thought I could finish him in one blow.

But at least I had seen the possibility.

And then—

Something caught my eye as I lifted my head, sensing a strange disturbance in the sky.

Michael, too, flinched and looked up.

The sky…

was trembling.

It was clearly neither Michael’s power nor mine.

Sticky, filthy, grotesque—an indescribable force filled it.

[Finally found you.]

[Translator - Night] 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

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