Chapter 1680 1680: I Always Come Back
Chapter 1680 1680: I Always Come Back
Gustav's hand became a blade of raw Outworldly energy.
SWOOOSH—SHIIINK!
He slashed across the Overseer's torso, carving through fifty layers of divinized flesh, essence, and conceptual shielding. The wound burst, spilling out roiling black miasma that bled like poisoned fog.
The Overseer howled.
His voice tore through what remained of reality, causing surrounding fragments of space to fold inward.
"You insolent—!"
Gustav slammed his elbow downward.
BAAAAAAAAAAAM!
The Overseer spiraled away again, crashing into a drifting superstructure of broken dark matter.
Even as the Overseer reeled, he tried to retaliate. His hands extended outward, gathering the chaotic, unstable remnants of the powers he had stolen.
"DIVINITY—"
Before he could finish, Gustav's foot crushed into his jaw, snapping his head sideways and interrupting the attack.
The Overseer's stolen divinities sputtered and imploded around him like bursting sacs of molten essence.
"—ghhk—!"
"You're too unstable to even form a thought," Gustav's voice vibrated with oppressive power as he spoke coldly.
The Overseer roared and swung wildly with fist enlarged by dozens of merged deity traits, laced with concept-fracturing force.
Gustav flickered.
The massive punch struck nothing.
Gustav appeared behind him and drove both fists into the Overseer's spine.
KA-THOOOOOOOOOM!!
The Overseer's entire back detonated outward causing pieces of deity flesh to scatter into space like debris from a ruptured starship.
He tried again—launching projectiles made of crystallized divine laws.
They dissolved the moment they neared Gustav.
He shot forward.
Gustav's palm slammed into the Overseer's abdomen.
WHOOOOOOOM!
A shockwave expanded causing a ripple of conceptual distortion. The Overseer's essence convulsed violently.
His monstrous form destabilized, shrinked, expanded, flickered and glitched like corrupted data.
"You…" the Overseer gasped, staggering backward, "…cannot… kill me…!"
"Kill you?" Gustav tilted his head. "You're not even whole enough to understand death."
The Overseer's expression twisted into terror.
Gustav's hand glowed pinkish red emitting a radiant domineering burst of power.
He thrust it forward.
The blast that erupted swallowed everything.
It tore through laws, concepts, and metaphysics. It devoured remaining planets, shredded the cosmic background, and made the last intact constellations wink out forever.
The Overseer's body ruptured.
KAAAAAAA-BOOOOOOM!!!
He exploded open like an overfilled vessel of volatile divinity. His entire chest cavity erupted, cracking like porcelain under stress.
And out of him poured hundreds of corrupted deities.
Oozing with dark miasma.
Twisted.
Writhing.
Screaming.
Their forms were malformed, unstable and dripping a sludge of corrupted essence that dissolved space around it. They scattered like terrified insects freed from a collapsing hive.
Some tried to flee.
Others howled in agony.
Others began to tear into existence itself.
Gustav raised a single hand.
They froze.
Every corrupted deity halted mid-air, suspended completely.
Some mid-lunge, some mid-flight, some mid-scream.
Gustav's eyes glowed.
His aura expanded outward in a sweeping wave of overwhelming Outworldly brilliance.
FWOOM—
His body expelled a radiant pulse.
It washed across the void like a cleansing fire.
The corrupted deities disintegrated instantly, turning into streams of pure luminescent energy.
Beams of light.
Hundreds of them.
All converging.
All funneling into him.
Gustav absorbed every single essence.
Every deity.
Every corrupted echo.
Every last shred, including—
Nocturnis.
His shadowy form broke into dark-blue and purple luminescence before unraveling like mist and flowing into Gustav's chest.
Only one deity remained.
The Overseer.
He floated there half-blown apart.
A massive hole gaped in his torso, glowing with leaking divine essence.
Every breath he took came out as a hoarse rasp, like his very existence was coughing itself apart.
He stared at Gustav with a mixture of horror and defiance.
"Even… if you win…" he wheezed, "…look around you."
Gustav did.
Nothingness...
The universe was nearly gone.
Planets destroyed.
Stars erased.
Reality fractured.
Dimensions collapsing.
Existence hanging by threads thinner than spider silk.
"There is nothing left," the Overseer spat weakly. "You cannot rule over ashes… Outworldly."
Gustav floated forward.
And for the first time, a small smirk curved his lips.
"You forget," Gustav said calmly, "I am the Outworldly."
The Overseer's eyes widened.
"No—wait—"
Gustav placed two fingers on his forehead.
The Overseer convulsed as every layer of defense he attempted to conjure crumbled instantly.
Gustav's aura swept out with unmatched intensity.
A spiraling vortex of pinkish-red engulfed the Overseer.
His form screamed as Gustav absorbed him utterly.
Unlike the Overseer's taboo ability, this one was clean.
Absolute.
Final.
The Overseer didn't melt.
He didn't fracture.
He didn't burst.
He simply ceased.
His divinity, essence, and conceptual existence were absorbed and erased in one act of pure Outworldly consumption.
When the light died, nothing remained of him.
Not even a particle.
Not even a memory in the laws of reality.
He was gone.
Forever.
Silence fell after the destruction.
There was no celestial winds.... no cosmic vibrations... no divine echoes.
Just Gustav floating in the void of a dying universe.
Where entire galaxies once shone, now only faint, drifting specks of cosmic dust lingered. The beauty of creation was gone, replaced by endless dark emptiness.
Only nine lights glowed softly within a protective cocoon nearby.
Gustav extended his hand.
With a snap—
PWAH!
A moon formed beneath his feet.
Instantly.
It was perfectly spherical with granular details etched into its surface, craters forming, layers of stone, metal, and cosmic sediment intertwining.
He commanded oxygen into existence.
Gravity.
Atmosphere.
A soft breeze that rippled across its surface.
The cocoon descended onto the moon gently.
Inside it:
E.E
Aildris
Falco
Elevora
Sersi
Ria
Xanatus
Endric
His family.
His people.
Those he refused to let die.
He dissolved the cocoon into harmless particles and sank slowly, touching the moon's cool surface with his feet.
He stood alone for a second.
Then—
"GUSTAV!!!"
E.E's voice cracked with raw relief.
They shot forward as one, colliding into him in a tight, desperate embrace.
Aildris gripped his shoulder.
Sersi clung to his arm.
Falco practically tackled his waist.
Elevora buried her face against his chest.
Ria trembled as he hugged him from behind.
Xanatus wiped his nose aggressively.
Endric gripped his brother like he'd never let go.
The pressure of their embrace could have crushed a mountain.
"You really are back…" E.E voiced with an emotional tone. "And saved all our asses again…"
Gustav finally exhaled, displaying a rare smile.
"I told you," he murmured while holding them all close.
"I always come back."