The Blessing of Correction!
For the first time ever, after engaging in combat with Nodos, Iori took the initiative to speak.
The brief words, transmitted through the vibrating space, carried Iori's words to Nodos behind Almanderus by a faint energy.
"Varied--"
Leiketi was stunned, but she wasn't surprised that the other party had tried to contact her.
To her surprise, she was completely overwhelmed by the other party, and she didn't even have the initiative in speaking.
"... What kind?"
"The answer is 'a taut line,' which has the greatest power."
The giant warrior remained motionless, but Iori's figure suddenly appeared in front of Almanderus' massive body, holding neither the Heavenly Cloud nor the powerful Platinum Divine Blade.
It's just a Golden Short Sword that's more like a work of art.
A taut line—a sudden premonition of disaster flashed through Leiketi's mind.
"Could it be that...!"
"Now! At this very moment! You are like a moth caught in the taut strings of a musical instrument!"
"No... no..."
Iori smiled slightly, and under Almanderus's "gaze," he casually swung his short sword—
That is the power to Severing Karma and effect and destiny, to materialize and cut off one's karma!
"All kinds of karmic consequences will befall you."
"Don't want!!!"
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
The sound of countless threads snapping echoed in Leiketi's mind, and at the same time, the ring beneath her feet shattered, the recoil knocking her unconscious.
"Hooohoo!!!"
Almanderus did not lose consciousness and continued to attack Iori, but the outcome was already predetermined in the face of that suddenly appearing Platinum Radiance.
Boom!
Deflected by the World-Saving Divine Blade, a crack appeared on the Hero Race's armor. Then, like shattered ice, the entire armor was covered with countless such marks. The seemingly indestructible outer armor was actually more fragile than glass!
That wasn't just the power of the divine blade, but also the burden accumulated over jumping through dozens of Worldline —a one-time burst!
"Ooooooo!!!"
Even the resilient Hero Race could not endure such excruciating pain that tore their bodies apart from the inside out, and the Silent Time Assassin let out a fierce roar.
However, Iori remained calm, and the World-Saving Divine Blade gathered again, and a silver-white asteroid suddenly pierced through the Chaos Starfield.
"Leave your eyes behind, Almanderus!"
Chapter 521 The Corrected Blessing!
Lucky!
To be honest, Iori thinks highly of the Hero Race. Even by his standards, they are all extremely strong opponents, and facing any of them would not be easy.
Their powerful physiques capable of traversing the universe are secondary; the key is that each Hero Race possesses a unique "concept," which is both an attribute and a power, and could even be considered part of the Cosmic Truth. It's unclear whether this is their innate talent or something deliberately implanted by the Golden Race.
Unlimited energy, immortality, Time Travel... each of these is a cheat-level advantage, and two of them are the most powerful "concepts" that even Iori can't think of a good way to deal with.
However, Almanderus, who can travel back in time, is not among them!
Time reversal is incredibly cool in any worldview. Combined with the physical body of Hero Race, it's like Saitama with an infinite save-loading ability, and the kind who shamelessly uses sneak attacks... It's terrifying just to hear about it.
But Iori happens to have the ability to counter Almanderus!
Whether it's the power to sever causality or the "Recognition Power" that can be inscribed in the Boundary Record Band, both allow his memories and cognition to remain continuous, preventing the data from being wiped out after loading the save file.
What made him feel even luckier was that the act of time travel itself could easily accumulate "karma," and in order to find his own weakness, Leiketi irrationally made dozens of time travels in a row.
It's like the butterfly effect. At first, it's just a ripple, but after being amplified dozens of times, it has become a huge storm that can sweep across the universe!
At this moment, Iori himself also completed the analysis of "Hero Race Almanderus". The moment he swung the Golden Short Sword, he returned all the layers of karmic consequences. The impact after its manifestation was enough to make a Nodos lose his fighting ability!
After all, such karmic backlash cannot be resisted by armor or physical body. Even if Leiketi is "wearing" the body of Hero Race, she still has to bear it with her own soul.
Ohhhhh!!!
"Can the Hero Race continue to function after Nodos loses consciousness?"
Iori looked at Almanderus, whose body was covered in cracks but still stood in the void, her calm eyes gleaming with a pale golden iridescence.
For these "Super Robot" creatures, the pilot's unconscious state is probably the most dangerous, because at this time they will rely on their combat instincts—the famous "berserk" state.
"Sigh~"
Iori shook her head, looking uninterested.
"OHHHHH!"
The dark blue-green Hero Race paid no heed to his thoughts. Its agile body moved as if swimming in the ocean. With a flick of its tail, it charged towards Iori, completely ignoring the chaotic energy around it. Its speed was comparable to that of a light cannon.
Seeing this, Iori's boredom intensified, but he didn't slack off. A Divine Warrior cleaved through the chaotic energy, and a long sword wrapped in Lightning Bolt slashed down, as if it had been rehearsed countless times, perfectly intercepting Almanderus' trajectory, with the timing being exactly right!
Clang!
Space twisted, the hard shell was sliced open by the longsword, and the surging lightning illuminated the surroundings as if it were daytime.
The crazed Hero Race completely disregarded his injuries, and amidst a tooth-grinding tearing sound, he broke through the boundary of the Divine Warrior's slash, his spear piercing Susanoo's chest as if ignoring its defenses, passing right through it!
Boom!
The enormous figure of Susanoo vanished instantly, but Iori was nowhere to be seen within it.
The Hero Race lost their target and their movements faltered slightly.
Clang!
A spear! It's also a spear!
The silver-white gun body and the golden-green sharpness are like a breeze sweeping across the wilderness, impossible to catch or escape. The moment it appears in your field of vision, pain has already swept through your entire body!
Compared to Almanderus's size, this spear, which was just over two meters long, was only a toothpick. But even such a slender strike caused the behemoth that could swim freely in the star core to roar in pain.
Iori, however, gripped the spear firmly. He had transformed into a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, his smooth, medium-length hair flowing in the starlight, radiating a soft glow and an aura of holiness. He was as composed and tenacious as a whale hunter, the brilliant light continuously flowing into Almanderus's body and seeping out from the cracks, the surging energy quickly reaching its Critical Point—
"Boom!"
The entire star field trembled slightly as a massive shockwave burst forth from Almanderus' body, causing the behemoth to let out an unwilling howl before its body dissipated into countless points of light.
"Indeed, beasts without reason are easier to deal with than intelligent Nodos."
Defeating his opponent didn't excite Iori much; it was all within his expectations and not surprising.
Although many works regard "going berserk" as a legitimate way to cheat, it hardly needs any explanation. It seems that the audience can accept the abnormal phenomenon of the protagonist's sudden increase in strength simply by relying on the word "instinct".
However, there is a prerequisite: that while losing one's rationality, one's own ability stats are doubled, allowing one to crush opponents with pure violence without reason!
Hero Race are inherently berserkers, and as battles drag on, they may go berserk, becoming increasingly powerful. Even the relatively calm Almanderus is no exception.
—So Iori didn't give it a chance to slowly accumulate attributes.
[Fated Youth] + [Rushing Through the Wilderness]!
The two powers are: the former comes from Verethragna as a hero and guardian deity, and the latter is Lancelot's (Hippolyta's ) Heroic Godhead of Steel.
When Iori enters his teenage form, he possesses a special attack attribute against evil and sinners, which is practically a natural enemy for the Hero Race!
Having personally destroyed their home planet and caused countless stars and races in the universe to disappear, they are undoubtedly the most sinful prisoners in the universe!
This allowed Iori to unleash the power of authority to its theoretical limit, enabling the thrust released by the Divine Weapon of Steel to have the power to easily pierce through stars and to some extent ignore Almanderus' physical defense.
The powerful force combined with the elemental affinity resulted in this outcome—
As Almanderus was defeated, Iori her Teuchi a huge spatial rift, through which the Uranus could be seen floating in the small world.
At that moment, he reached out and caught a streak of light that flew out from the Uranus, wrapping around his wrist like a nimble snake. When the light faded, a brown-black rock bracer was revealed, with beautiful natural patterns on it, like tree rings or the cross-section of sedimentary rock.
Iori glanced at the wristband with some surprise, then silently communicated with a certain being in her mind before pointing her hand at Almanderus.
An incredible thing has happened!
The Hero Race, who should have vanished and returned their souls to Nodos, left behind a glowing outline the size of a basketball amidst countless points of light...
Call out!
The ball of light rapidly shrank, landing on the wristband and taking up space in the corner. After dimming, it became a delicate dark blue gemstone.
[CG updated]
[The Hero's Return (1/5)]
The second contract is complete!
Rewards Overview:
[Corrected Blessing]
Actively use the Power of Blessing to see the future, whether it is about to happen or is more distant.
Depending on individual qualities, one can observe varying numbers of possibilities, from which one can choose the future they desire.
As time passes and events occur, if the future is not the one you chose, you can observe the past, select a node, and return to before the event occurred.
Continuously modifying the timeline can narrow down the possibilities, but it doesn't necessarily align with your choices; it depends on the actions you take.
Each individual possesses uniqueness within the flow of time, therefore their physical condition will not recover as time rewinds. The burden incurred from jumping through timelines will continuously accumulate on their body.
(Note: Compared to the abilities that Almanderus possesses, the time scale that can be jumped to is smaller, the possibility of observation is less, and the load generated by resisting the flow of time is greater.)
Only after completing all contracts can one receive a comprehensive upgrade in abilities.
—Iori's eyes lit up, and she was pleasantly surprised.
This CG actually gave him the ability to reverse time; the effect of this CG is simply too powerful!
Furthermore, Iori instinctively connected the Soul King and Yhwach's abilities, as well as his [Sword of Judgment Karma]... If they could be used in combination, the effect would surely be even more powerful!
He already possesses the Third Magic, immortality; if he were to also have time-related abilities protecting him, he would truly be unstoppable.
Cough!
I almost made a bold prediction.
As we all know, the combination of immortality and time-related abilities is best not associated with "invincibility," otherwise it could easily trigger Law of Causality!
Iori herself has the skill to use flags to turn the tide, so she's quite careful in this regard.
"Um?"
After Almanderus disappeared, only a woman lying flat in a long dress remained in the void, which made Iori frown.
In the animation, this time-based Hero Race is the only one that can be remotely controlled. Its controller does not need to transform directly, but can summon the Hero Race inside the body and remotely command the battle like controlling a battle pet.
However, the so-called "remote control" is only an external manifestation. The souls of the Hero Race and Nodos are fused together, and in essence, Almanderus is herself.
The relationship between the two should be quite harmonious. When Iori's counterattack knocked her unconscious, Almanderus, in order to protect her soul, had already summoned her back into his body and actively chose to bear most of the backlash. As a result, many gaps were created in his indestructible body, which is one of the reasons why he lost so cleanly.
—The bodies of the Hero Race are actually constructed from energy and transformed into physical forms, similar to the Third Magic, and are essentially soul power.
Star Soul Juvenile Gaia, intercepted Almanderus ' "eyeball," and it's unknown whether it will ever recover, while the female Nodos was completely unharmed.
"Nodos... we can't just return it to the Silver Race like that."
After a moment's thought, Iori decisively waved her hand, and a gentle force enveloped Leiketi, sending her into the small world.
"The fluctuations in Nodos have disappeared."
"Were they killed?"
"There is also the possibility of spatial jump."
"With the contract in place, Nodos cannot leave this star system."