‘Is that possible?’

Raphael abandoned his prejudices. He evaluated Grid without taking into account that Grid had a human origin. He obediently acknowledged the being known as the Only One God and pledged to regard him in the same way as Rebecca.

...If he hadn’t admitted this and continued to remain prideful, he would’ve been killed right away.

Nevertheless—

‘Grid might’ve surpassed the Goddess, but that’s impossible.’

Raphael couldn’t admit that Grid had transcended the Goddess.

The Goddess was the creator of this world. She was the one and only supreme being. It was fundamentally impossible for a being greater than her to be born. This was the providence of the world. How could the creator be inferior to others?

But the Refractive Dragon existed, a transparent being who was covered in mirror-like scales. It was as if the universe had created him to kill the Goddess. All of his features countered her. However, he couldn’t hurt the Goddess. All he could do was chase her.

More than anything else...

‘Even Chiyou spent over nine hours crossing this path.’

Yes, the great Martial God Chiyou was also below the Goddess. At least in terms of the total amount of magic power and divinity, the Goddess was overwhelmingly superior to Chiyou.

A long time ago, Raphael witnessed Chiyou cross this path with his own eyes. This meant that Chiyou was one of the five people who were aware of the existence of this path. This was just useless information because Asgard rejected Chiyou.

Grid just took his fourth step. The impact was huge. The path of light was unable to bear the weight of Grid’s footsteps and roared vociferously.

“No, why...?”

It was an incomprehensible phenomenon. Raphael became even more confused. Nothing made sense anymore. He witnessed the scene in front of him with his own eyes but he still wasn’t convinced.

Rumble...!!

The more Grid moved forward, the stronger the turbulence of the path became. The shaking came from the resistance that occurred every time the minerals growing along the path suppressed Grid’s magic power and divinity. The light that formed the path refracted again and again, swallowing and then spitting out Grid’s appearance.

‘Shit.’

Grid was sweating heavily. He had to squeeze every muscle in his body in order to barely take a step. He also had to bend slightly forward to lower his feet. It was hundreds of times harder than walking in water.

Grid remembered the days when he used to walk around construction sites with no physical strength. Right now, he was dizzier than when he used to spend time climbing with bricks on his back. He quickly became exhausted, both physically and mentally, even though he wasn’t performing any hard labor. He almost wanted to hit Raphael, who was talking behind him.

‘This guy is crazy.’

Grid’s jaw twitched as he gritted his teeth and squeezed out all his strength. All his teeth would’ve shattered if he had an actual human body. However, Grid’s body was resilient. He endured the pressure and kept moving.

Grid’s tenacity allowed him to make the tenth step. Just then, light surged forward like a tidal wave. Beyond the wave, tens of thousands of ores of various sizes and shapes were embedded in the bare ground of the path like landscape stones. All of them were convulsing as if they were going to jump out.

Raphael was looking at the situation contemplatively.

“W-Wait...!”

Stardust was an Asgardian mineral that had been growing since the beginning of time by absorbing and scattering Rebecca’s light. It had been developed for a long time and gained an ability at some point—the ability to absorb and disturb magic power and divinity. This place could be used as a back road purely due to the existence of Stardust.

In other words—

“Please, stop!”

Raphael was familiar with the functions of Stardust. He immediately understood how serious the situation was.

“Um...?”

Grid stopped as soon as he heard Raphael’s warning, but it was already too late. The minerals on the path were already screaming and trembling, turning purple.

This was the Annihilation energy flowing backward. The Stardust had been tempered for a long time by the Goddess’ light, but it couldn’t digest the Annihilation energy.

“This...! This is ridiculous...!!”

Raphael was very frightened.

“As expected, this happened.”

Marie Rose was unfazed. It was as if she had foreseen this situation from the beginning. She didn’t react in any way.

The Annihilation energy led to the destruction of everything. No one had gained this power before Grid. Could a mere mineral bear the power that could kill the old dragons and gods? Obviously not.

In the end...

“Oh my god.”

It was Grid’s fault, the master of the Annihilation energy, for not foreseeing the current situation. Raphael had escaped death because he hadn’t been subjected to the power of the Annihilation energy, so he was innocent in this.

Finally, Raphael couldn’t help raising his voice. It sounded almost like he was sobbing. “Why... Why did you deceive me?”

Tears flowed from his eyes and his neck veins bulged. The Goddess’ only resting place was on the verge of collapse. Guilt and sadness overwhelmed him.

“Are you taking revenge for the wrongs I’ve committed in this way...?”

Raphael couldn’t control himself any longer. His legs gave out. He flopped to the ground as he sobbed.

Stunned, Grid tried to explain. “No, I...”

Tens of thousands of Stardust, tinged with purple, cracked at once.

Subsequently—

Baang!Baaaaaaang!

—they exploded. They couldn’t handle the Annihilation energy they had absorbed.

“A-Ahhh....”

Raphael only saw red in front of his eyes. The Annihilation energy released by the cracked minerals dyed all of the surrounding light with purple. The minerals reflected the light and gained a dark red-purple shade that looked very much like blood.

Grid suddenly became as light as a feather. All the pressure on him was gone. He had no choice but to finally understand what had happened.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

He glanced at Raphael, who was sobbing while hitting the ground.

Grid tried to comfort him. “Thinking positively, this is for the better. At least this way, we can get to our destination quickly. Isn’t that right?”

“......”

The group was at a loss for words. The reason they used this back road was to avoid Asura’s gaze. They needed the help of Stardust to suppress their magic power and divinity, so they could hide their presence. According to the original plan, they would be able to launch a complete surprise attack on Asura without giving him time to prepare.

But that plan was now ashes. The back road was the foundation for this plan, but it collapsed. There was no way to fix this. How was this better?

Noe clicked his tongue. “Wow... You are completely shameless, nyang.”

He looked tired as he glanced at his master, whom Noe had served since he was born. He was used to this. Both Grid and Noe had always been like this. Thus, Noe was able to predict Grid’s next move.

“That’s just how things are. What do you want me to do?”

“Wahhhhh!”

Noe’s hair stood up and he hurriedly hid behind Marie Rose. If he had reacted half a second later, Grid would have caught him and tickled his stomach.

“Beast! Master is a beast!”

“This is the first time in my life that I have heard a cat calling a human a beast.”

“......”

Raphael, who was almost lying face down in frustration, slowly raised his head. His expression was calm. He didn’t dare to resent Grid and Noe, who were chatting happily despite committing a crime of treason against the Goddess. He couldn’t afford to do anything because he was weak. It was impossible for him to shout now that he had been subdued by Grid’s power.

Raphael was trying to suppress his sadness.

“I’m sorry,” Grid said.

"......?"

Puzzled, Raphael looked up at Grid, who offered an apology, an act of acknowledging one’s faults and asking for forgiveness. Usually, only the weak who wanted to survive did something like this. Raphael had been observing the surface for many years, so he clearly knew this.

“I didn’t do it intentionally.”

There was no reason for Grid to apologize now. He hadn’t intended to do it, just like he said. The destruction of Stardust was an accident caused by force majeure. Raphael also knew this, so he couldn’t criticize Grid carelessly.

“However, I know that I have caused trouble to Rebecca. Let’s kill Asura and restore this place once everything is over. It should be possible with the help of Hexetia and Khan, who are familiar with minerals, and a certain cheap bastard.”

“...I’m sorry.”

Eventually, Raphael bowed deeply. The tears that had just stopped were now flowing again.

“I’m sorry not only to you, but also to all the humans I have harmed so far... I also... I also want to atone for those sins.”

All things changed, sometimes due to the passage of time, sometimes due to trivial reasons. Raphael changed because of the second option. He experienced too many emotions because of Grid’s small actions. He regretted and reflected on all the mistakes he had made in the past.

“......”

There was a moment of silence. Raphael’s sudden change in attitude made Grid, Noe, and Mumud feel a bit startled. Grid’s clone had been standing by Marie Rose’s side as she stroked her full-term belly with a slight smile. Now, he finally spoke.

“Is he nuts?”

Just as expected from Grid’s clone. He had the same thoughts as Grid. Thanks to this, Raphael came to his senses and blushed. He knew how to express this feeling. It was like writing a love letter before going to sleep and then reading it in the morning. Plenty of humans had experienced something like this during their life. Raphael often witnessed this from an observer’s point of view.

Raphael, whose ears were red, hurriedly spoke to lighten up the awkward atmosphere. “A-Anyway! I will make sure to atone to humans someday!”

Slash!

Suddenly, the light of a sword fell.

"......?"

Without knowing the reason, Raphael’s head was separated from his body and flew through the air.

The situation became tense.

Grid’s Defying the Natural Order pierced the abdomen of Asura, who had suddenly appeared and decapitated Raphael. A shield of rainbow magic power appeared from the ground. Thanks to this, the Breath that Asura fired from his mouth dissipated before it could reach Marie Rose’s belly. The claws of blood-red magic power that flew along the path of Marie Rose’s arm tore Asura to pieces.

But Asura survived. Beyond the scratch marks that looked like they had been left by a massive beast, Asura stood firmly with his arms crossed. What flowed around him was rainbow-tinted magic power. This was Mumud-style Magic Shield.

Asura’s purple face was distorted by a grin. [There were so many opportunities to learn from you.]

[You...!]

Raphael’s angry intent spread faintly. He was contributing to the battle even though he had been decapitated and was dying.

He tilted the halo above his head and aimed at Asura, firing powerful divinity.

[Ahahahaha!]

Rather than panicking, Asura laughed boisterously. A halo appeared above his head. One, two, three... ten, twelve... twenty-five, twenty-six... fifty-one, fifty-two, and finally, ninety-nine...

There were a total of ninety-nine halos above Asura’s head, signifying all the angels he had slain. Asura had done a lot while Grid’s group was busy destroying the Full Moon Fortress of the demon cultivators.

Flash!

The ninety-nine flashes of divinity devoured Raphael’s divinity and reduced him to ashes.

God of Fighting Asura—the seed of disaster left by Baal had finally blossomed. It was the ugliest flower in the world.