"Setsuko, that's enough. We can go—"

"I can do this!" Setsuko shouted and attacked. Even though the energy of Ao that flowed out of her was immense, she ended up getting caught in a backlash with her own attack and flew backwards into another area of Aseroth's domain.

Then she attacked again.

Li Yang couldn't stand this any further.

A certain part of him saw and even felt how much Setsuko was pushing herself to attack the Goddess without even a hint of restraint. It was as if Setsuko was prepared for either her or the Goddess to fall and die at this very instant.

It was only a matter of outlasting the Goddess.

Or whoever actually survived tonight..

"Damn it—"

Li Yang clutched his sword and immediately summoned his points shop screen. That old A-Booster Pack or whatever it was that he bought before—he needed it right now. Boost his levels to the maximum and try to get a clean hit or at least escape with both Setsuko and Mitsuko in tow if that was possible at all.

Now would have been a good time to escape even by himself, it was impossible to get everyone out. It was a logical choice that betrayed any sense of morals all in the hopes of self preservation.

Cowardice.

It was a stupid thought, but he couldn't just let Setsuko go out and kill herself off trying to protect him.

He didn't want to abandon anyone. If he would run away now when there was a literal god in front of him then he'd continue to run in the future. "I'm not going anywhere at all." And it was there that his Temporary Mission earlier finally changed to something new.

Or it rather finally picked up his will and gave him a different set of parameters to accomplish.

[ Survive The Telriah Goddess of the Light ]

[ In Progress ]

[ Certain Conditions Met! ]

[ God Slaying Quest Activated! ]

Your Bonded Member, Setsuko Hirayama, is currently locked in a battle with the Goddess Aurora. Take this opportunity to land a strike at her and sever the preconceived old bond that the Goddess has with the Host.

[ Researching Current Environment To Find Best Attack ]

[ Taking Into Consideration Host's Current Skill Set... ]

[ Compatibility With Certain Skills Are Near 100% Match... ]

[ Borrowed God-Slaying Skill: The End Is Nigh Activated ]

[ Domain Has Boosted Your Attack Power By 200% ]

Mitsuko was caught in the corner of the forest and feeling useless. She couldn't attack anyone at all even when she promised and told Li Yang that he and Setsuko should leave. If she could even manage to use Ao now even when she was utterly drained then it meant that she'd only power up the Goddess.

A certain unbelievable thought ran in her mind of escaping together and leaving Setsuko and Aurora to fight together in this realm—perhaps find a way to collapse it down. She bit her lip and looked at Li Yang for one moment and realized that he wasn't going anywhere.

The atmosphere around the dimension within the nightmare replica of the Sacred Forest turned even darker at this moment. Something cold seeped within her heart as if the entirety of her body's heat left her in that moment.

"Wait what the fuck—" Bao shouted at the sudden power-up.

There was a screen shimmering right in front of Li Yang and while it should have been visible to it and the viewers from the Heavens....

Nothing was appearing in its eyes.

The only thing that happened was the sudden change in the atmosphere around Li Yang and the manifestation of a primordial clock spiralling behind him. Something akin to an old book that opened up and a page was ripped from it.

Maybe Bao just imagined it but in a blink of an eye both the man and the clock were gone.

Bao's gaze shifted back to Aurora and immediately found the man there.

His speed—no, his teleportation was impeccable.

He practically disappeared from sight.

—-

And so she was and had been.

Caught in between two times—a being who couldn't move on from a time that already passed. Goddess Aurora struck and attacked without any hint of remorse or caution—

"Die. Die. Die—" Aurora's attacks were wild and came in a flurry of blows. Each one struck with a magnitude of force that rattled the already collapsing domain of her brother. It was one of the only reminders she had of him and she was tearing it down on her own.

The Goddess' attacks were fast, hurtled like the lights that they were but in the end were thrown so carelessly that it wasn't a fair fight. Or perhaps it was because Aurora never actually had the chance to fight at all.

In the very beginning, she was already a god and never had to fight anything—never had to work for it at all. Her skills were almighty, magnificent but in her hands they were terrible. No matter how powerful they were, if the Goddess Aurora couldn't even hold back her rage then she'd eventually just wear herself out.

But compared to a god and a human..

These people would grow weaker than her. That fox girl, despite having nine-tails and swallowing down another stone that had been around the beginning of Telriah was still much weaker and she'd rid of her—

Slash.

The sensation of a blade stabbing within her was empty, dull and it may have only been her imagination that she felt it at all with her vessel. It cut cleanly as if someone had thrown a pebble into clear waters. The Goddess Aurora was supposed to be immune and invulnerable to the pain—invincible!

So why was there something leaking out of her eyes?

Finally, the figure of a man appeared in front of her from out of nowhere. Perhaps he had been there all along now that the Dissolution Skill of his finally wore off and he was now visible to her.

There he was—

Goddess Aurora reached out and clutched her brother's face. Her fingers dug slightly in his cheeks and he was a little weaker than when she remembered. And yet without even blinking an eye at her, no hint of recognition visible at all—Li Yang dug his blade deeper into the Goddess' center without any hesitation.

If he risked his neck this far, then it was inevitable that he needed to actually go all out and see through the end of this. historical

He stabbed right at the energy core that he expected the Goddess also had. If the people here were created in the same image as their gods, then possibly it was right here. The obsidian sword that Bo Lifen's friend gave him was said to be the sharpest material ever, and it held up to his words—its incompatibility with the world's energy was now proving itself useful.

Li Yang absolutely had no idea where everyone else was, all he knew was that he landed a strike.

The attack that landed on Goddess Aurora was the same as before.. and it was the strangest thing to feel nostalgic over when this attack was meant to put an end to her existence.

"Hahh.. have I mistaken you for someone else?" Aurora clutched his face closer. The two of them were now trapped in this position and she didn't quite mind it as she stared at his dark eyes and hoped to see anything, anything at all.

To be awoken when she had put herself to sleep and be kept away from the entirety of the universe and her world then to see him again.

It almost felt like a repeat of everything.

Changing and adapting was a difficult thing for the gods. But it wasn't all that bad as Aurora thought it would be as she stared at Li Yang's face and then found nothing at all.

"Maybe you are, maybe you're nothing but a fading remembrance of what Aseroth once was. Regardless, my mind is made up now."

Similar to what she had done in the past, Goddess Aurora mustered up the remaining energy within her that lay uncorrupted by the darkness from both his and the fox girl's attack. It was a little difficult now that she thought of it. While the attack was weaker than what she remembered, the Goddess herself wasn't the same as before.

Her gaze temporarily shifted to Setsuko and smiled briefly. Her own creations were also starting to become so much greater than she and her own brother fathomed before. Decidedly, the Goddess buried herself into the man's blade until their noses touched.

"I don't want to see your face ever again."

She kissed him goodbye.

Li Yang's eyes bulged open at the sudden affection thrown into his direction. But before he knew it, the man was forced to squint his eyes shut at the overwhelming illumination. The world around the two of them finally faded into a searing bright light.

It was akin to what Li Yang witnessed before and yet he wasn't so sure if this was simply a way to the afterlife. A kiss of death bestowed by a Goddess. Before he could finally discover it for himself, there was the cusp of finding something loosen and stretching within him.

A cord that was yet to break.

"Yang—!"

Setsuko chased after the figure that disappeared into the lights. She reached out her fingers into the remaining glitters in the air as she fell on her knees. The world around her darkened completely without a light.

"I'll find you, Yang—I'll find you again, I swear it." She placed a hand on her chest as her shoulders shook. "Even if it's the last thing I'll ever do, I'll chase you down to the end of it all. I will find you."

—-

Author's Note: Welcome to the end of the World of Telriah arc!

Have you read the Tower of God? I'm sure you have. At least the first chapter, yeah? Spoilers to that. But I really like the simple motivation of the 25th Bam at first in chasing the person he considered the light of his life. It's got nothing to with her name.

That certain desperation and determination to do anything for someone while staving off the fear. Finding the courage to do something because all other options are dark if you don't pursue it? Amazing.

PS. This chapter was written thanks to some help with the people in my discord. Thanks guys!