Chapter 377: Is It Finally Victory? (1)
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"You are crazy."
Babylon's Underworld was brighter than ever before. It was almost like it was day, due to the millions of souls that have reached here in so little time. The Apocalypse on the surface hadn't been soft on them.
The two extraterrestrial beings didn't care about that at all. Instead, after the Director spoke of something ridiculous, Eurynome could only scoff.
"You are delusional. No, my bad, it's not exactly a delusion since it's you. You can make it a reality, you illogically motivated woman. However, it's still the craziest thing I have heard in the last few centuries."
The Director giggled at that, locks of colorless hair falling by her face before she tucked them away.
Eurynome sighed, raising her arms in frustration and letting them fall off.
"So you're not gonna let me take him? Listen, I want my daughter back, and I don't care at all about your plan. And ultimately it's not of any help to me, it's rather the opposite actually. If you truly use Neji Hado to bring back that man, it's not good for me or the Prime. I am not sure why you told me all that; now I want to reveal my true powers."
"Can you win though?"
The Director countered her plan in an instant, her smile stretching.
"You are no match to me as you are right now. But if you unseal yourself, then… Well, even then the Omniverse's Will may incarnate itself into Gaia. To add on top of that, even some Abstract may come here. Not that any of that additional number would matter, given I alone am enough to counter whatever tricks you have. Yet, are you sure you want to risk everything, just for a possibility?"
"...."
Eurynome's expression soured. She felt frustrated like never before, it felt so goddamn annoying. A part of her just wanted to let go of the seals and show this filth of a mortal who truly was the strongest, but she held back.
She wasn't the emotional one out of the two rulers of Prime. She had to be calm and strategic, unlike her husband. Obviously, she didn't actually fear her threats, no amount of Abstracts or even the incarnated Omniverse would be of any real threat to her existence, but it would indeed cause other problems.
All because of one thing.
"We are having this conversation for so long only because I have no use for the 2nd Gamer yet. He doesn't meet the criteria yet. If he did, I would have just teleported with him by now. But since he isn't ready yet, I will have to stop you from taking my grooming prey. He is mine, his fate destined him to be mine and mine alone."
The Director got off her seat which was a mold of space & time, dropping to her feet. "That's all I have to say. I have to admit I had an advantage this time due to the situation, so I might not get to intervene next time. But I am sure the gamer will be ready for you the next time you try to mess with him. After this experience, after this… abysmal loss, he will be different. Now it's time I go, it seems 'whoever' met him on the other side has helped him return. Good luck, this time it will be a bit different."
Then, with a shift in reality, the glitch-like existence just vanished. Before she entirely vanished, she leaned over to tuck something in Neji's armor, and then the fabrics of space & time healed themselves.
Eurynome frowned, groaning and rumbling in her throat, while still shocked by what the Director had revealed earlier. She couldn't just grab Neji and leave either right now, she was sure that woman would try to stop her if she tried that, even if she vanished from plain sight.
So, without much to herself, as she began to brew a plan to fix this situation, Eurynome could only watch as Neji Hado opened his eyes and gradually got back to his feet.
His breathing was sharp, his eyes lit, and his conviction strong in his clenched jaws.
* * *
Waking up, Neji's eyes fluttered. He sensed the sound of two feminine voices, but only one source remained when he fully opened his eyes. Eurynome Celestine was just there, as she stared at him with a contemplative and sour expression.
She didn't say anything even as he woke up. He didn't say anything either. The countless System Notifications before his eyes occupied his mind for a split second, as he went through them at an incredible speed in a flash.
He did that while slowly standing up. By the time he stood, his eyes lit up, his confidence suddenly greater, and his hope brighter.
It is as he had expected at the last moment, in his battle against the Hunters. Although he didn't have direct access to the System, he was somewhat connected to it still – so the Experience Points from killing the Hunters had all been collected.
[You have earned enough experience points to level up.]
[You have leveled up 350 times.]
[You have reached Level 4100!]
[Your debuff has been lifted.]
[Along with all your powers, you have full access to your Gate of Babylon.]
[More importantly, Master, you have unlocked your Sub-Class that was restricted due to your debuff. By the way, welcome back.]
[Sub-Class "Lumomancer" has been unlocked.]
[Due to your Level, the Sub-Class has automatically reached Level 41.]
[Along with a bonus "Starting Skill", a total of 42 Skills have been added to "Lumomancer".]
Neji shoved the notifications away and looked into Celestine's eyes. His blue eyes were bright as he looked into her red ones. There was a problem. He still couldn't use his Bloodline Abilities, and using weapons wasn't the best idea, given how easily she apprehended Stormbreaker.
He had to rely purely on his two Classes. No, there was something else on top of that. A few divinities, as he is supposed to get them once every 500 Level. Outside that, there was a special divinity he received due to his special circumstances.
[Mark of Divinity: As you are Gilgamesh, you can use your divinity to strengthen your Stats. The cost is the bare minimum and would grant you a total of 25% boost in all states.]
While staring at the Goddess, Neji grabbed the shoulder pads of his armor and yanked them off. Along with it, the entire top of his armor came off, falling to the side into two Gates. The missing armor revealed the latest addition to Neji's form, lines of blue that majestically went across his body, the sign of all that was divine.
Another gate appeared by his side, and something closer to a spear or lance, but officially called a sword, came out of it, falling right into Neji's right hand.
It had an abnormal shape that didn't match what would normally be classified as a "sword". Well, it was something that was born before the appearance of the concept that the world calls a "sword" – so it's not something that can truly be called a sword or have the shape of any known blade.
For its shape, it had a grip, a handguard, and was the same length as a longsword, the section that should contain a blade deviates from the normal form of an edged weapon. The "blade" itself and the tip of the sword, spun in a spiral shape, are dull. It had the shape of a cylindrical, drill-shaped pillar made up of three independently rotating segments engraved with crimson cuneiform lettering that spin slowly in an alternating direction like querns, the middle segment spinning clockwise and the top and bottom segments spinning counterclockwise.
Indeed, it was the supreme weapon. Sword of Rupture, Ea.
It was the most powerful Noble Phantasm contained in the Gate of Babylon and the pinnacle of all those used by Servants. Unlike all of his other nameless weapons that were able to be passed on to other wielders throughout history, it is a sword only Gilgamesh possessed, a unique existence that can only be possessed by him, that is suited only for a ruler's use and made him transcendent.
Now, as Gilgamesh, it was Neji's and he could bring it out of his Gate of Babylon anytime he wished. In retrospect, given this was specially tailored for him, this had more use than Prime Thor's Stormbreaker.
Now, with his divine buff, plus this weapon that could literally create a miniature Big Bang, Neji stood straight before the Goddess.
[Image Here]
Only five seconds had passed since he had woken up. He looked into Celestine's dull eyes as she stared at him, all ready for battle.
"Only thing impressive about this crap is your physique. I must say it's charming. Anyhow, are you done with your little light show? Then come, attack."
"No."
Neji declined her in a deep voice. The winner of a battle between him and her was clear. Even with all these new powers and buffs, there was no way he could defeat this woman yet. The text floating over her head that read [Tier 49] was a scam when she could replicate any power in the Omniverse.
Neji had another plan. All this light show was just preparation to counter her for a few seconds if she tried to stop his plan.
With a thought, another Gate opened by his side, and this time a little card came flying out of it. It was a black card. The color was so dark that it was identical to the void if not for its shine.
"That-" The Goddess blinked, and then she blitzed towards him. "How dangerous a thing you have there."
It was the Card of Death, given by his Dimension Elevator acquaintance, Famine Fatale, an agent of death. The first time they met, she gave him this and said he could ask for help in a dire situation, for a price.
Now, this seemed like such a dire situation. He wasn't exactly sure why Celestine wasn't finishing him off right away again, but he was going to take this opportunity to call for help. Old Man of the Mountain commented on it earlier, though he didn't use it because he was sure someone like Famine Fatale wouldn't be that useful here, but what if this attracted someone bigger instead? Like her employer, for example.
As Celestine blitzed him, Neji waved his EA.
[Enuma Elish: The Star of Creation That Split Heaven and Earth]
The blitz was uncalculating, and therefore Celestine found herself right before the red beam that shot out from EA. She didn't have any time to dodge, no, it was right before her. All she could do was prepare herself for the blow, as the [Anti World] attack ironically named "creation" slammed at her.
The beam went past and through her, and at that rate it would hit the roof of the underworld and cause it to collapse, causing a red sea to gush down to destroy the last safe haven on this planet. So, Neji opened a portal right on that spot, and the beam was sent somewhere else, into the sky outside.
In the meantime, his other hand was busy gushing mana into the black card. He wasn't exactly sure of the process, but it was probably working, he could feel the barrier that Celestine had around this world quivering as his call for help slammed against it.
"You clever child."
Celestine suddenly said, and Neji's hair at the back of his head stood up. She was behind him. He turned off Enuma Elish, quickly turning around, but all he could catch was Celestine's hand that grabbed his face.
Quickly, his feet raised and slammed on her abdomen, sending her flying and making her hit a wall in the far.
The beam wasn't ineffective. For the first time since all this bullshit started, Neji noticed she was actually injured. Her gray skin was red, and she was fuming, there was even a small burn on her cheek as she flew away.
"Anytime now."
Neji continued pouring his endless mana into the card, while Celestine rushed back at him, Excalibur from before returning to her hand as she came to clash his EA with it.
Neji and Celestine were just about to clash their swords, and both of them knew that nothing of the underworld would remain after that clash. Yet they had no choice but to throw their weapons against one another.
However, before the edges of their swords could touch… two dark-skinned hands appeared out of thin air and used two fingers each to sandwich the swords in a spot.
The class stopped just inches away, with a tall chocolate woman between, as the black card in Neji's hand turned into an essence.
"A small warning,"
The woman spoke in a deep voice, her green eyes focusing on Neji.
"Our service isn't usually this fast. It takes a few minutes to jump into reality. You are lucky that the opponent you called me for happened to be… well, her. So my employer decided to make an exception."
"Quite a big one at that."
A new voice suddenly said, as the chocolate woman, Famine Fatale let go of their swords and bowed in empty space. Both Neji and Celestine turned to it as well, with Neji's heart beating, and Celestine's throat growling.
"It has been a while,"
A woman with skin as pale as Eurynome before the beam walked out of a crack in the air. She had white hair but… it was more colorless than what Neji had, as it was in a bun. With her golden eyes gleaming, she wore a black dress with two metal shoulder pads.
"Madam Celestine, nice to meet you again."
Oh, there she was. Neji smiled. Class-1 Abstract Entity… that was her.
[Mistress Death – Abstract Entity – Tier Inexplicable]
For once in this maddening situation, Neji felt relieved.
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Master4thWall Note: Calling out the crazy amount of complaints that says "MC needs to be saved so many times".
There is only one point to retort on that. *The only people that Neji needed to be saved from, are two. The Primordial and his Wife. The amount doesn't matter, as that is the exact point. No matter how many times Neji tries right now, he can't win against them. If he could, then we would already be the endgame chapters.
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