The massive blade came down. Amid a piercing explosion, billowing smoke and dust, swept up by turbulent air currents, spread outward, and the intense wind pressure sent the ant-like Dragon Tooth Soldiers and Artificial Lifeforms flying.
Everyone steadied themselves and refocused their gaze through the dispersing dust, staring at the scene at the center of the battlefield in stunned disbelief.
Within a hundred-meter-long conical impact crater, the surrounding stones had been baked by intense heat into glass-like crystals. The enormous stone sword pierced the dark green serpent's abdomen and pinned it to the ground. Its leaking ghastly green blood was like spilled concentrated sulfuric acid; the moment it touched the earth, it sizzled, killing every insect and ant nearby.
At that moment, whether it was the people of Thousand Tree or the Clock Tower faction, all of them looked at one another in confusion at this sudden turn of events.
What on earth was going on?!
The deity within the grand hall froze slightly, then a trace of surprise appeared on its face as its vertical pupils narrowed.
"Are you going to betray me, Avicebron...?"
"This is not betrayal. It is still praise offered to you!"
The magus within the Gothic Castle slowly straightened up. Raising his head through the broken walls, he gazed toward the Temple of the Gods above the clouds and murmured as though in reply.
Behind that mask, his eyes held both pilgrim-like fervor and an arrogance that looked down upon all things.
The most perfect creation was not something bestowed by God, but a challenge launched by mortal strength against true origin!
That deafening voice of the heart echoed, and his drifting thoughts carried the magus's memories back to a night several days earlier.
"So this is the Adam you sought? It is practically