Silence had suddenly fallen on the battlefield, if it could still be called that.

  The wind began to carry away the smell of blood, while the light of the starry night covered the reddish stains on the ground. Initially, on that small plain, there was a human platoon, battling the angelic army. Now there was no trace of the first one.

  In their place stood two figures that were not originally there. One of them was dressed in a large black cloak that covered most of his body. He wore a wicked-looking mask to hide his face and a pair of iron gloves over his hands. The expensive-looking black robe and pitch-black top hat suggested Bork that he was in the presence of someone of some status.

  He immediately guessed that the angry mask, and perhaps even the gloves, were magical objects. Bork didn't know what their effects were, but he was certain of one thing: that man was a true enchanter.

  The other figure was clearly a non-human woman with an innocent smile plastered across her face and long red hair tied in a ponytail. Two large dragon wings sprouted from her back, indicating she was a dragonkin of some sort. Her height, second only to the other figure, further supported that theory.

  Gareth and his men were gone. In their place were these two mysterious individuals. It seemed like some sort of teleportation magic, but the Theocracy's soldiers had no idea what kind of spell had been used here. Bork felt that they had to be wary of the masked man. For some reason, he couldn't see the smiling woman as a threat.

  Bork called the angels back, ordering them to form a defensive perimeter on their flank. His watchful gaze studied their movements carefully. His instincts told him something was wrong. And then, the magical enchanter stepped forward:

  "It is a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen of the Reia Theocracy. My name is Almodeus! But you may call me the Absolute Lord!"

  Even though he was about ten meters away, the mage voice came through clearly, as if he were right next to them. Bork did not answer him, too confused by the events, so the man called Almodeus continued:

  "I, and my apprentice Almodea, are willing to make a deal with you. May I have a moment of your time?"

  Bork nodded and motioned for him to continue. The name Almodeus meant nothing to them; it could have been a fake. He had to find out more.

  “Thank you for the opportunity. I hope you don't take this as an insult, but I want to make one thing clear to you gentlemen. That is—you have no chance of winning against me…”

  Bork clenched his fists at that statement. He could sense the absolute confidence in those words. They weren't boasting or a show of power, but rather something this Almodeus guy believed from the bottom of his heart.

  “You're just an ignorant!”

  Tue Theocracy Captain shouted, but Almodeus remained composed, unlike him.

  “Ignorance may be a flaw of mine, in some circumstances. However, does that seem to be the case here? I observed your fight with the Captain. A fine spectacle indeed! But, if I were as ignorant as you claim, then wouldn't I be better off letting that man die? Why show up here if I wasn't driven by the absolute certainty of victory?”

  Almodeus was right. Normally, a mage would use the Fly spell to put distance between himself and his opponent, then begin unleashing spells in rapid succession. But that Almodeus guy hadn't done so. He'd stood before their angelic army with his head held high, fully aware of who they were. That man was anything but ignorant!

  “And this is your deal? Patetic! Tell us where Stronghold is, and we'll spare your life!”

  Bork was growing increasingly irritated. It might be true, Almodeus was somehow stronger than their angels, but he had an ace up his sleeve, a relic of the Gods that not even one of the Twelve Archdemons could take lightly. At least, the ones he knew about. Despite being the sworn enemies of the Theocracy, very little information was known about the oldest among them. Bork himself could only name three, perhaps four at best.

  “He is located in the village.”

  "What?!"

  He didn't expect Almodeus to answer like that. It had to be a lie. What idiot would give such information to the enemy, thereby losing his validity as a hostage? Could he be surrendering? Not likely, after his earlier speech.

  “You think you can fool me with your lies?! You're just a fool!”

  “It wasn't a lie. I just answered your question to be polite, and for another reason too…”

  “You want to give up? If you join us, maybe we can consider letting you live. Maybe you can even get a job washing dishes!”

  Bork burst into a loud laugh, but Almodeus remained calm despite the insult.

  "Let's just say, I made a promise to Captain Stronghold. That's the real reason I'm here. I gave my word, promising to protect that village. From your conversion to him, I understand you intend to raze that place to the ground...As you can see, there's a clear conflict of interest."

  Almodeus replied, with his usual static tone.

  "Do you want to beg me to spare their lives?"

  "Not at all. In fact, I'm here to ask for the opposite..."

  Almodeus paused and raised his hands to the sky.

  "I want to give you the chance to save your skin: offer me your will without a fight! From now on, you will no longer serve weak Gods, but a being who embodies the greatest power in the universe! But be careful! If you refuse to give me your will willingly, I’ll take it myself! This is the deal I am willing to make."

  This guy is completely crazy!

  Almodeus took a step forward, while the enchanters took a step back. Bork couldn't explain this mysterious fear he and his subordinates were feeling. Who was Almodeus really? Who was the man under the mask and hat?

  "That's why I showed up here, and that's why I didn't lie. What's the point of withholding information from those who won't see a tomorrow?"

  He began to grit his teeth at those wwords.A soldier of the Theocracy like himself could not tolerate such an affront. The Gods of his nation were sacred; no one could speak of them like that to Bork, the general of one of the Sacred Scriptures. He cursed himself for having feared a name and a man, without tangible proof of his power.

  "Who do you think you are?! Our Gods could easily eliminate you, but why bother them? We'll take care of it! Angels, attack!"

  The man raised his hand toward Almodeus. His spellcasters did the same, and three Exorcists rushed toward the demon. The Absolute Lord could have parried with a spell, or tried to dodge, but…

  "Uh?"

  ...Nothing happened. The man called Almodeus had taken the hit, while the dragonoid had remained in the rear.

  "How pathetic! Was it all a charade to buy Captain Stronghold time? How much did he pay you to cover up his cowardice?"

  Bork started laughing, trying to hold back, having to maintain a minimum of decency in front of his troops.

  "Now that we've got him out of the way, let's move on to…"

  He fell silent suddenly. Why weren't the angels returning? Why wasn't Almodeus's body falling to the ground?

  “Order the Exorcists to return here, now! We have no time to waste!”

  It was an excuse to calm his pounding heart. He just wanted to see the body of the man who had so terrified him on the ground. But the response of his subordinates wasn’t what he expected.

  “W-We already did, Commander!”

  Bork's face paled and he turned back to Almodeus. It was then that he noticed a crucial detail: the three Exorcists had never reached the spellcaster. They remained suspended in the air, but they were not immobile. They were shaking like frightened kittens.

  Are they shaking with… Fear? An angelic summon shouldn't feel emotions!

  As the man was thinking, he heard Almodeus' voice reach his ears.

  "I told you...that you couldn't defeat me. Didn't I also tell you to offer me your will without a fight? Now you've lost your only chance to accept a mercyful death..."

  Bork opened his mouth in shock, followed closely by his masked subordinates. Almodeus seemed dead serious about his veiled threat. The Commander felt he had angered a sleeping dragon.

  “You should have listened to me.”

  The spellcaster moved his hands toward two of the Exorcists and grabbed them by the head. He pulled them closer and began to tighten his grip.

  The summons, gripped by an unnatural panic, swung their weapons, striking him in the sides and shoulders. The halberds seemed utterly ineffective, as if Almodeus's robes were negating every attack.

  “It must be a trick!”

  One of the spellcasters shouted.

  “Of course! It can't be that strong!”

  “What spell did he use?!”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  What most surprised Bork's troops was the wizard's display of strength. The Absolute Lord was being hit relentlessly, yet he managed to hold the two angels aloft as if nothing had happened.

  No, it can't be! If he's a spellcaster, he shouldn't have the physical resistance to withstand an attack from two angels! Who the hell is this guy?!

  A spellcaster wouldn't have been capable of such a feat. Strictly speaking, the man before them should have been a man of knowledge, yet he was managing to do something impossible even for the best of warriors. Something wasn't right.

  "Absolute Supremacy -a passive ability that blocks all physical attacks below level 80. It's not my strongest defensive skill, but it'll do the trick. Plus, normal weapons can't even hope to damage me. As for these stupid angels, though..."

  Almodeus then began to tighten his grip even more on the two Exorcists' faces. Soon, their heads popped like bottle caps.

  “What about you, though? What could I do?”

  The caster shifted his gaze to the third angel, who was frozen in terror. Without Almodeus having to move, the last Exorcist's head burst on its own like a balloon.

  “I expected a sea of blood, but instead the angels dissolved into luminous particles. Curious… Here's a difference between my world and yours.”

  As the Absolute Lord slowly straightened, he continued to speak of things no one could understand. However, this only intensified the Split Sun Scripture's fear of his mysterious power.

  Bork swallowed.

  "How the hell did he do it?"

  "Impossible!"

  "It must be a trick!"

  Bork's men stammered, utterly astonished to see someone thought to be a sorcerer—a scholar, essentially—capable of accomplishing a feat no warrior who trained all his life could have achieved. Bork immediately noticed that he was losing control of his men, but he sympathized with their surprise; he himself could only be astonished. He tried to maintain control, he had to appear firm. He was the leader, the Captain!

  "I'm really curious to know how your magic works. It's similar to that of my world. I'd like to see more, but for now I'll resist curiosity; it's always been a great vice of mine!"

  Almodeus commented in a serious yet playful tone, taking two small steps toward Bork's formation. Those were enough to make the first line of spellcasters retreat.

  "It's my turn! You wanted the massacre? Now you'll have it!"

  At those words, Bork seemed to lose his composure and ordered the spellcasters to attack with the Exorcists. There were forty-seven of them left. A cold shiver ran down his spine. He was sure he couldn't defeat Almodeus. The safest option would have been to flee, but he had already cornered his prey, Gareth Stronghold—how could he let him escape now?

  "Irony of Fear. "

  Normally, Almodeus would have used an Absolute spell, but in this case, he decided to try something softer. Once he cast the level 6 spell, black tentacles burst forth from the angels' shadows and grabbed them, squeezing the summons until they exploded into green particles. In less than two minutes, not a single one of the forty-seven Exorcists remained.

  "Fa…Fabolous Master! You are fantastic, Master!"

  Almodea applauded, still struggling to say Master instead of Father and stumbling over the words.

  "With just one attack? Impossible! Who the hell are you?"

  Bork shouted in astonishment. The man was slowly giving way to panic.

  “-No matter what happens to me, that village is safe! It's defended by a man far more powerful than I am.”

  Stronghold's words came back to him at that exact moment, the scene before him having shown him their truth. The Commander mind began racing with a thousand possibilities.

  Could this be the one Stronghold was referring to? No! A human can't defeat an army of angels with a single blow! Especially since the angel I summoned, Greater Observator, increases the defenses of all allied angels! He must have used a magical item! One that powerful MUST have a cooldown!

  Bork brought his hand to his chest, where his heart was. It was beating too fast. He was terrified. He turned to his subordinates, glaring at them with disdain.

  "What are you doing standing there?! Attack! Are you sorcerers or not?!"

  He yelled, panicking. All the spellcasters raised their hands and obeyed his orders, beginning to conjure up fireballs, lightning bolts and other offensive or debilitating spells in rapid succession, but nothing seemed to have any effect.

  -Charm, Magic Arrow, Hold, Paralysis, Poison, Zap, Fire Ball.

  These and many more were the spells cast upon Almodeus. Yet, he remained unmoved.

  They all suffered the same fate.

  The blows vanished as soon as they touched the masked man's robe, inflicting no damage. It was a result that not even high-level enchanted armor could achieve. Bork tried his best to find a logical explanation for what he was witnessing, but he couldn't—panic was making him lose touch with the real world.

  "These are all very interesting spells, like those on my world. Maybe I'll let some of you live so you can tell me who taught you..."

  Almodeus commented, taking another step towards them.

  Why am I so scared from just looking at it? Something's wrong! I have to eliminate him before it reaches us!

  Bork turned to the only remaining angel. The one he had summoned himself, the strongest so far. It was a level 45 angel, the Greater Observator. It was a defensive summon, buffing all allied angels within its range. It wasn't usually used for attack, but this was a desperate case. The Greater Observator's attack power was only slightly superior to that of the Exorcists, but its defense excelled even among angels of its level. Even if it couldn't eliminate Almodeus in a single blow, it could survive a counterattack.

  -Or at least, that's what Bork hoped.

  "Greater Observator! Destroy him!"

  The summon obeyed the order and began to fly towards Almodeus, who had stopped, as if awaiting its arrival.

  "Go with Sacre Smite!"

  Sacre Smite was a level 4 holy spell that dealt enormous damage, especially against negative energy beings, such as demons or undead. Bork smiled wickedly as a beam of pure white energy shot out of his angel's eye, striking Almodeus squarely.

  We won! No human being can survive such a blow!

  He was about to let out a cry of triumph, when…

  "Is this the pain? I haven't felt it in a while. I remembered it being sharper and less annoying. Maybe deactivating my passive defenses to take damage was a useless experiment."

  Bork opened his mouth in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Almodeus was completely unharmed after that powerful attack. Once again, it seemed his robe had absorbed the blow. Before he could give another order, Almodeus raised his right hand towards the angel and began to speak:

  "Now it's my turn. Fear Smite!"

  Bork didn't know the effect of that spell, and that was already a very serious matter in itself, considering he was a skilled wizard.

  "Look there! Captain Bork!"

  One of the underlings pointed to the sky. A red A-shaped shape had appeared beneath the clouds, so bright it dwarfed the starlight on that cold night. Bork was certain that the A would dwarf even the sun, so large it was. From that crimson symbol, a strong beam of red light shot out, striking the Greater Observator, instantly reducing it to dust.

  "A-Again in one fell swoop? H-How?! A superior angel can't be defeated like this..."

  I can't understand what Almodeus is; he's certainly not human! Who are you? Why are you here? What do you want? Can this being really have such power that it can even outshine the Gods?

  With Greater Observator eliminated, Almodeus moved closer to the Theocracy men, staying about five meters away from them.

  "I see you've run out of angels. Let that be a lesson to you! The darkness will always be stronger than the light!"

  He announced in a solemn tone.

  Driven by fear, Bork's men began casting spells wildly again, hoping his defenses had somehow weakened. Despite being elite soldiers, they had never encountered anything so seemingly unstoppable. They fired Firewall, Poison, Zap and other spells again. Nothing worked.

  "Don't come any closer!"

  One of the men shouted, so frightened and exausted that he grabbed a rock and threw it at the Absolute Lord. A couple of his companions, panicking, did the same, throwing mortar and earth instead. Almodeus laughed under his mask at this desperate act, but someone didn't take it well...

  "How dare you?!"

  To everyone's surprise, Almodea moved with astonishing speed. She caught the stone midair with her right hand and threw it back at the thrower with such force that it broke his mask, piercing the skull beneath it.

  The body of the poor man who had thrown the rock fell to the ground. Despite his smiling face on the mask, everyone could tell he had died instantly - and that he wasn't happy at all. The other throwers fell to the ground shortly afterward, as if struck by a sudden heart attack.

  She was faster than the speed of the bullet…And what happened to the others?!

  Bork swallowed. Until now, he had completely ignored the dragonkin, but now it was undeniable that she too was a threat. The young woman's calm smile had completely broken, revealing a furious and angry face.

  “Forgive my apprentice. It seems she used an instant death spell on some of you. She’s a bit lively. Ah! AH! Teenagers these days, am I right?"

  Almodeus's tone lacked any seriousness. He sounded like a father talking to the teacher whit a daughter that was doing something naughty in kindergarten.

  Bork swallowed again. Instant death spells? He didn't know any of them. Were those even a real thing? The Commander knew they had existed in the past, but they were so rare that he had begun to doubt himself about their existance. Being a great magician, a precise rule applied: if he didn't see something, it meant it didn't exist.

  That duel was proving to him that he had been wrong all along. Despite his vast knowledge, Bork knew nothing of his opponent's techniques.

  "Almodea, you should know that I don't even notice an attack like that..."

  "But Fat...Fabolous Master!"

  The half-dragon turned to face the other, with her back to the enemies. It was obvious that she didn't see Bork and his team as a threat either.

  Normally, the Commander would have been furious at such an affront, but the fear he was feeling at that moment kept him in check. The sudden deaths of his subordinates had made him realize that this Almodeus wasn't bluffing. He really was going to kill them all.

  "Is there any decency in this world? I understand being scared, but throwing a stone and dirt at you is an insult! If they're really that desperate, they should bow down and beg for mercy! Is this how it works, right?"

  Almodeus seemed to sigh, then patted the girl on the head. Almodea's reasoning made sense, but she couldn't expect anyone in that new world to know them. In the original world, no one in their right mind would have confronted Almodeus, not even if they wanted a death sentence written with a dedication.

  "You're right, and I thank you for defending me-"

  The Absolute Lord moved his hand to the girl's shoulder, trying to calm her down.

  "-But don't worry now...I'll take care of it."

  Almodea nodded and sat down beside the other. He watched her for a few minutes, as if to make sure she had truly calmed down.

  Bork took another step back. He wanted to run away. The Greater Observator, who had been defeated with a single, measly blow, possessed an extremely high defense stat. Furthermore, Bork himself had strengthened it through the use of Advanced Guard, a level 4 spell that allowed the defense stat to double for a short time. He had also used Under Divine Flag to increase that bonus by an additional 30%.

  Simply put, very few could defeat a Greater Observator summoned by him, let alone with a single blow. Even the members of the Scripture of Discord, with the exception of a few individuals, considered the pinnacle of human power, couldn't. This meant Almodeus was superior to them. It wasn't something a human could handle.

  "Captain Bork! What do we do?"

  One of the sorcerers asked him. Even though he was masked, he was visibly panicked. Normally, he would have punished such a cowardly tone, but it would have been hypocritical in this circumstance. Bork was terrified to death too.

  "We have one last trick up our sleeve!"

  He smiled and pulled the golden cross the Cardinal had entrusted to him from his jacket. Noticing it, Almodeus raised an eyebrow, surprised for the first time since the outbreak of hostilities. No one noticed, however, since he was masked.

  "We will summon a top-level Angel!"

  A bright light emanated from Bork's cross. His subordinates made way for the glorious conjuration. From the brilliance, it seemed to be even larger than the Greater Observator.

  Almodeus, who would soon have to face the approaching creature, remained unperturbed. Instead, he began to mutter to himself.

  “That cross…Could it be the Key to the Millennium?”

  “The Key to the Millennium?”

  “Exactly, Almodea. It's an extremely rare item, containing a level 100 monster called Exod. It's said that it was locked inside the key because it was too powerful to contain. We are talking about a being that can destroy a kingdom in one day at worst. But don't worry, I doubt they'll be able to summon it. If they do, I order you to return to the Fear Tower immediately.”

  “Of course! But… He mentioned an angel. Exod isn't one, is it?”

  “Exactly, but that doesn't mean the monster he's about to summon is weak. Be on your guard, little spot.”

  The Aspects, or Virtues, were level 100 angels, capable of destroying entire kingdoms single-handedly. They wouldn't have been a problem for Almodeus, but their Divine Magic could seriously harm Almodea. Even a single scratch on her wouldn't be tolerated.

  "Almodea. Stay behind me, okay?"

  "Okay!"

  Almodeus stood before the apprentice to shield her. His tone was authoritative, completely different from the stoic and ironic one he'd used earlier. Although the Absolute Lord was aware of the girl's high resistances, being Almodea a demon, she was consequently weak to holy magic. He wouldn't want his daughter to be needlessly harmed.

  "Come to me! Archangel Authority!"

  Then, a powerful light illuminates the darkness of the night.