Chapter 258

Syd silently observed the scene.

So far, everything had unfolded similarly to the previous vision, except that Sunshine was more powerful this time, disintegrating Arishem's red energy beam more quickly.

But in the next moment, something different happened.

After Sunshine had dispersed the red energy beam, its light reached Arishem's body.

Just like before, it was blocked by an invisible barrier that Sunshine was slowly breaking down.

At this point, the black-robed Syd in the vision spoke.

"Light!"

In an instant, everything within a radius of 27 or 28 kilometers was bathed in blinding light.

Above the atmosphere, a large bright region appeared out of nowhere.

The next second, the light vanished, condensing into a thin beam as thick as a finger. It shot toward Arishem with unimaginable speed.

Boom!

The beam, combined with the light of Sunshine, struck Arishem's invisible barrier, breaking it down further.

This time, unlike before, Arishem's emotional waves grew stronger—surprise and astonishment radiated from him. He was clearly taken aback that such a powerful being had emerged from Earth.

However, despite his surprise, he still didn't take it too seriously.

Even though the Earthling had managed to surprise him, it wasn't enough to shatter his barrier completely.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before the energy of this unexpected Earthling began to wane.

The beam dimmed…

Sunshine faded…

Although more of Arishem's invisible barrier had been disintegrated than last time, it still wasn't enough.

Syd could feel it too. As Arishem looked down on him with disdain, he released a larger red energy beam, ready to end him once and for all…

But Syd, squeezing out the last remnants of his potential and light energy, spoke one final curse.

"From this moment, light will forsake you!"

The mysterious, rhythmic divine words—like a law of the universe—had barely left his lips when the red energy beam reached him.

His divine body began to break down.

Skin, muscle, bone…

Golden blood splattered…

In the end, just like last time, he vanished within the red energy beam.

But unlike before, even as he disappeared, everything culminated in a curse—a god's curse!

In fact, with his body disintegrating, the curse was almost certain to come to fruition.

Boom!

Just like in the previous vision, the red energy beam pierced through the Americas, causing the continent to tremble.

While the people of Earth were left shocked and horrified that the terrifying Messiah had been dealt with so easily, Arishem paid no attention to any of it.

As soon as the Earthling perished, something strange began happening to Arishem.

Unnoticed at first, the light in his field of vision started to fade.

His massive, crimson body was turning pitch black as all light disappeared from him.

Color, which only exists because of light, vanished. Without light, there was no color…

Naturally, his body lost all color, turning as black as a void, reflecting no light whatsoever, like a black hole.

All light near him rejected and repelled him, like two opposite poles pushing each other apart. Light fled from him…

It was as if his body had always been incapable of reflecting or absorbing light—as if this had always been the truth.

But this wasn't the worst part.

The most severe consequence was that as he looked at things, he could no longer see any color.

Everything he observed rejected being seen by him.

His entire vision quickly plunged into complete darkness, leaving him blind to everything around him.

From his distant vantage point, Syd could sense Arishem's shock and anger.

"Ant!"

Furious energy surged around Arishem's colossal body.

Clearly, the curse Syd had cast before dying had deeply enraged him.

Most importantly, it seemed that the curse wasn't something easily dispelled.

It was as though the curse had been laid upon him by an abstract deity, like the Goddess of Death or Eternity—nearly impossible to shake off.

Arishem couldn't believe it.

How could a lowly Earthling cast such a powerful curse?

At that moment, Syd's vision blurred, and the familiar scene of the alley reappeared before him.

Syd's lips curled into a slight smile—his mood was quite good.

Although he hadn't been able to resist Arishem's attack in the end, he had at least succeeded in provoking the Celestial, who had previously exuded nothing but indifference.

More importantly, he had managed to curse him.

Even though Syd wasn't sure if the curse would eventually be lifted, it would certainly inconvenience Arishem for a while.

With that, Syd's attention shifted back to his own growth.

The death vision made one thing clear—his strength was still insufficient.

That Celestial, Arishem, could show up at any time, and with his current power, Syd was guaranteed to die in such a confrontation!

He didn't want to end up like in the vision—dead, only managing to annoy his enemy for a moment.

At that thought, Syd remembered something and sighed, "It's a pity that my unlocking progress for Balder's abilities is so low. Otherwise, things might have been different…"

Even without considering other divine abilities, the mere fact that Balder's death would cause light to disappear and the sun to lose its heat would be enough to cause havoc.

"I wonder when I'll finally obtain such a trait?" Syd mused with a sigh.

While Syd pondered this, SHIELD was in a flurry of activity.

Moments ago, they had detected an unusual energy release at a specific location.

"What's going on?" Director Fury asked with a frown.

Looking at the data on the screen, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease.

What could release such a vast amount of energy?

"Sir, the energy readings are in. The energy detected is very similar to the energy released by the Tesseract during the Battle of New York."

A staff member calculating the data responded.

What?

Fury's eyes widened in shock.

"Is this the Tesseract releasing energy, or...?"

"What is that white-clad warrior up to?"

Fury hadn't forgotten that the Tesseract and the Mind Stone had been taken by that white-clad warrior during the Battle of New York.

He suspected that the recent energy anomaly was caused by the warrior using the Tesseract, or perhaps the Mind Stone.

Or maybe… the Aether?

…

While Fury puzzled over the situation, Syd's focus remained solely on growing stronger.

(End of Chapter)

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