One Sword, One-Shot Kill

Morty used to think his grandpa's creative profanity was unmatched in the entire universe. Who could have guessed that an Old God's foul mouth would be even more outrageous?

After living for at least several billion years, watching civilization after civilization rise and fall, learning countless things, Ulthar had become a being layered over with all that knowledge.

He could be called the uncrowned king of profanity.

"You p4shit, you upright-walking ape all the way back through your family tree to your ancestors! When your species chopped off its tails and stood up, did your brain capacity double while your brain matter shrank to the caffeine content of one cup of iced honey tea and one cup of iced coffee?"

"If you want to play with the mud of weak civilizations, get lost to some other world and play with your pathetic little fireworks that can't even blow up a planet! Don't come play on our turf!"

"Do you know why the Great Old Ones can never travel to other worlds?"

"Once they set foot in another universe, they leave behind their mark. Once that extremely difficult-to-remove mark exists, they can enter that world!"

Although Ulthar's insults were vicious,

Morty's ears had long been baptized by his grandpa's filth, evolving an automatic profanity-filtering function.

So, after filtering out Ulthar's curses,

Morty understood why this furious Old God showed none of the composure one would expect from someone billions of years old.

Originally, these Cthulhu monsters had no idea other universes even existed beyond this one.

The Old Gods, who had the power to seal away the Cthulhu monsters, had no desire to share that secret with those guys whose looks...

Were so handsome they could make your brain freeze solid in the middle of summer.

But Cthulhu had been to another universe before!

That family of four had accidentally left their marks in that universe.

Normally, they only needed to spend a few more million years before they could reach another universe...

Wait, millions of years?

I'll have been ashes for ages by then!

What the hell does that have to do with me?

If you can, make me immortal too.

Otherwise, shut up!

Watching Morty go from looking nervous to completely unconcerned, Ulthar, an Old God who had seen through countless human hearts, immediately understood why Morty did not care at all.

I'm only going to live a few decades. You're talking to me about something millions of years from now—do you think I'd care?

Especially for a short-lived species like ours. If you're offering me the torment of immortality, all I want to ask is: can you double it?

I really don't want to live only a few decades...

But Ulthar had not come merely to curse people. After venting his anger, he said he had come for Morty's grandpa.

As Earth's watcher,

he had naturally seen what Morty's grandpa, AI Rick, and the Great Old Ones had been up to. Usually,

unless the affected area was too large, the Old Gods generally did not want to interfere.

That was until Cthulhu's family of four ran off to another universe right in front of him.

It had nearly scared him into having a heart attack on the spot.

Well, if he had a heart.

In short, this had started because of Morty's grandpa, so Morty's grandpa had to take responsibility!

"Then you need to figure out a way to bring him here..."

Morty could only feel one hundred and twenty thousand percent admiration for the Old God's thinking.

If you have a way to deal with Grandpa, then all I can say is...

Teach me!

I want to know how to deal with Grandpa too!

"You seem important to him. After he threw you here, did he just stop caring about you?"

Morty said, "He's never cared about anything..."

"Then I can only... see for myself!"

The moment Ulthar finished speaking, his body flew toward Morty.

Silent Sword, the golden longsword, was raised instinctively by Morty, and then...

Ulthar was cut in half at the neck on the spot.

In the span of a single second, his body crossed countless billions of light-years, going from full of life to vanishing into smoke after death.

Morty saw it clearly.

He was utterly shocked.

"Holy shit... that Old God was so weak... No, this sword must be ridiculously overpowered!"

Before Morty could marvel at Silent Sword's absurd combat power,

a thunderous boom came from the sky outside.

It was as though some invisible thing enveloping the entire planet was dying...

He hurried outside.

The blue skies and white clouds melted away like ice racing at the speed of light, slowly losing their color.

The dark starry sky, the twinkling stars, and those utterly emotionless eyes

threw the once-peaceful Arkham Town into instant chaos.

Countless people ran from their homes toward the church, begging the gods they worshipped to grant them protection.

The priest, who had witnessed the entire process, had not a trace of color on his face. Amid everyone's pleas, he was pushed onto the pulpit to speak words even he himself could not believe.

AI Rick, busy at work aboard the spaceship, heard the chaos outside. He poked his head out of the cabin, looked up at the sky,

cursed under his breath, immediately turned around, and went back to desperately make Magic Potion.

Because there had only been one god protecting and watching over this planet!

Though no stone carvings or books had ever recorded what would happen after Ulthar died, the sky was disappearing before their eyes, and the galaxy had become the backdrop above everyone's heads.

Could that possibly have nothing to do with Ulthar?

Standing before the church, Morty gradually came back to his senses. Looking at where Ulthar had died, he could not accept it at all.

The fact that an Old God had died by his hand just like that.

This isn't scientific!

Why the hell?

You're an Old God!

You're supposed to be able to fight Cthulhu monsters on even footing, so why did I just stab you to death with one swing???

This battle felt less exciting than a level-zero newbie fighting a little white rabbit!

One sword, one-shotting a god to the point that I'm questioning my entire life...

But knowing he had caused a huge disaster, Morty did not dare linger outside the church. He took off running toward the spaceship.

What he could do now was finish the Magic Potion and deliver it to Old K.

Then he would take the three divine items and run home.

As for everything else...

Let's follow Grandpa's usual tradition!

Kill them and don't bother burying them.

Morty ran as fast as he could and soon reached the spaceship.

Inside, AI Rick had already fallen into a frenzy, both hands moving so fast they left afterimages.

At this rate, he would at least become a champion hand-dancer in an old folks' dance competition someday.

Even under those circumstances, he could still spare a moment to glance at Morty entering the door and take a jab at him.

"Rick has been in this world from birth until now, built so many weapons, and never killed a single god."

"You've been here less than a day total, and you first ran into the death of a Great Old One, then personally killed an Old God. Are all the Ricks and Mortys from the outside world this brutal?"

Seeing that this guy still had the mood to tease him, Morty roared, "Get to work! Once we finish the Magic Potion, we're getting the hell out of here!!!"