Chains

Bethel actually hurled stars at them, literally summoning celestial bodies from the far corners of the cosmos and hurtling them directly into the barrier, within an instant at that, and those stars were almost as colossal as the Sun. It was genuinely astounding that Bethel was able to achieve such a feat, despite not being a God. The sheer finesse and power of his attack stood out the most, for he may be King of Angels with all the uniqueness and characteristics, but there were still heights he couldn't scale, actions he couldn't perform, replications he couldn't achieve, all until he ascended to the Sequence 0 of the Door Pathway. And yet, here he was, performing one of those very feats right before their eyes.

And this meant one thing, and one thing only—the worst, the most devastating possible outcome: Bethel was in the throes of ascension into Godhood. His authorities were nearly reaching the hallowed level of divine. In fact, this didn't surprise Aucuses as much as he hoped. After all, the final, climactic step of the Apotheosis Ritual for becoming the Door was to return to their home, an ultimate anchor that would forever hold them fast in their ever-wandering existence.

In that moment of enlightenment, Aucuses was flooded with a profound understanding of the Mother Goddess of Depravity's sinister intentions: should corrupted Bethel find his way back to Earth, completing the final, fateful step of his Apotheosis Ritual and ascending to Godhood, not only would the Mother Goddess hold dominion over the Door Pathway, but She would also have Bethel as an unbreakable anchor to breach the weakened barrier and descend into Earth unabated. Even if Aucuses and Amanises managed to seal Bethel away, it was but a fleeting respite, a mere delay in the inevitable. In a future where the Lord of Mysteries would inevitably come into being, Bethel would have to be set free, providing countless opportunities for the Mother Goddess to manipulate, to shape, and to descend. It was a diabolically perfect scenario for Her, no matter the outcome.

With a sudden surge of haunting realisation, as the dashing star unfurled its brilliance before him, he beheld the twisted, blasphemous mouths of the Crimson Moon. They seemed to lift, ever so subtly, in a mocking dance, as if She could grasp his innermost musings, as if She derived amusement from their feeble, hopeless, futile resistance.

Aucuses ignored Her. With his actions and thoughts moving at light speed, he turned away from Her to meet the dark and veiled eyes of Amanises, which held a touch of realization as well. He didn't know how much of Her intentions Amanises managed to deduce, but what mattered most now was stopping Bethel from ever reaching Earth. They could worry about the future afterwards as everything was hanging on the axis, even more than they initially considered.

A shared understanding surged between them in an instant; their bond ran deep enough that intentions were crystal clear, needing no words. A single glance and they leaped into action.

In perfect sync, the Evernight Goddess and Eternal Blazing Sun raised their hands together. From her ebony-furred hands, the previously dormant fog burst forth, swiftly shrouding everything in sight, including Bethel and the twin stars he'd summoned. That fog embodied the very essence of the Darkness Pathway, coiling around everything it touched in the comforting embrace of Concealment.

In tandem, the Eternal Blazing Sun, his hands poised before the hurtling stars, radiated a fervent luminescence that mirrored the impending cataclysm—mere meters from their celestial forms. He tapped into the Calamity Authority bestowed upon him by the Tyrant Pathway, letting it surge forth onto the plummeting stars. Instantly, the space itself seemed to throb with his power, and an intense heat emanated from his mythical form. The once-massive stars now shimmered with an unstable brilliance, teetering on the edge of a cataclysmic detonation that threatened to consume the Solar System and all the surrounding star systems, reducing everything within to basic atoms.

But Aucuses couldn't allow it. Right on the heels of invoking Calamity Authority, he wielded his Order Authority, deftly manipulating the chaotic energy surges from the collapsing stars. His will manipulating them to converge and focus solely on Bethel.

Meanwhile, the ominous dark fog of Evernight continued its relentless advance, swallowing their surroundings, devouring collapsing stars. The sole entity untouched was Bethel, desperately striving to escape yet ruthlessly restrained by the Evernight Goddess. Each attempt to open a Door for teleportation, to reach Earth or anywhere else, was cruelly thwarted by her authority of Misfortune, rendering his chances of success tragically abyssal, or by her authority of Negativity, turning the space into a maelstrom almost beyond his control. The thick fog drew nearer, pulsating and resonating, akin to the voracious maw of a cosmic beast, poised to engulf him.

It became painfully evident that Bethel's prior attack had been a mere diversion, a fleeting moment to keep the Gods occupied, allowing him a chance to slip past them and reach Earth in one swift move. It might have succeeded if he weren't facing the Evernight Goddess and the Eternal Blazing Sun, who operated with seamless coordination, amplifying their already formidable powers to corner Bethel entirely.

Bethel abandoned attempts at teleportation, now focusing on confronting the encroaching dark, foreboding fog. His crimson eyes ignited into a brilliant silver blaze, irises transforming into a silver Serpent devouring its own tail. He extended his hand, poised to tear the fabric between him and the looming fog. Meanwhile, a fraction of his attention remained fixed on Aucuses, apparent in the subtle tension when the stars he hurled froze and grew unstable. Another replicated authority blossomed around Bethel, signaling a countermeasure against Aucuses—

Yet Aucuses, swift as ever, outpaced both Bethel and Amanises. He channeled all the power and energy of supernovas toward Bethel, ensuring he alone bore the full brunt of it.

And then Bethel detonated.

A searing, blinding ocean of light erupted from his figure, engulfing the entire solar system and beyond. On Earth, warring armies froze in terror, and even the most apathetic beyonders stared wide-eyed in sheer disbelief as the Night transformed into an overwhelming Day of scorching brilliance. The searing blaze consumed them all in a cataclysmic surge of heat and blinding radiance before they could even muster a gasp. Desperation and panic swept through the ranks, attempts to shield themselves proving futile. Screams and cries of disbelief echoed in the chaos.

Yet, inexplicably, none were affected in any way by the blinding brilliance—all and everything except Bethel, just as the Eternal Blazing Sun had intended. And the ocean of light disappeared as swiftly as it appeared, for the exploding figure of Bethel was finally consumed by the ominous fog of Evernight Goddess.

Immediately, Amanises fiercely pulled all the battlefield into Concealment, constructing a different space, a dimension in and of itself, to sharply separate Bethel from the World and Cosmos, to where she would be the one to rule the space, not Bethel.

She was still being painstakingly meticulous because Bethel hadn't fallen, despite bearing the full brunt of two supernovas. At the last moment, before his body exploded either due to the Fortunate replicated authority of Wheel of Fortune pathway or just driven by the usual cautious and cowardly instinct of Beyonders of Mysteries pathways that acted on its own, Bethel miraculously managed to conceptualise himself, turning into an ethereal creature to avoid the terrifying onslaught of Aucuses.

But the silver lining was, even Gods couldn't face such an attack without taking damage, much less a King of Angels. It didn't matter if he was so close to Godhood. His conceptualisation couldn't provide much help at all.

Ultimately, Bethel had almost entirely been suppressed by them.

But there was still the corruption of Mother Goddess of Depravity that could introduce unforeseen developments, so Evernight resolved not to take any chances, unleashing all her authorities to claim the space in the dimension under her control completely.

The reckoning, final moment was here.

———————

Bethel stood on the precipice of losing all semblance of control, his mangled form a grotesque tableau of oozing shining blood and entrails. Some parts of him resembled nothing more than writhing, squirming vermin, slipping and quivering, melding and entwining—all driven by the singular, desperate purpose of reconstitution. To either elevate his torment or to exacerbate it, a curtain of deep crimson clung to his shattered figure, preventing him from collapsing into utter ruin and assisting him in the gruesome task of reassembly at a horrifyingly rapid pace.

He knelt in the heart of an abyss, surrounded by unending Darkness that appeared to stretch into eternity. His seared hands gripped his blood-soaked hair with agonising force, his disfigured face pressed into his knees. From his mouth spilled forth a macabre mixture of gleaming blood, wriggling worms, and his own viscera, each tainted in a vivid shade of crimson. They squirmed and writhed as if imbued with a grotesque semblance of life, each one a nightmarish entity unto itself.

Darkness began to writhe and slither, almost with a sinister deliberation, encircling Bethel. His eyes snapped open, a fiery chasm of crimson, tears of blood streaming down his cheeks, carrying traces of sorrow, anger, and grief—too many emotions for the Darkness to contain. "BEGONE!" He howled, his voice contorted and fractured, yet pulsating with an undying force.

Immediately, Bethel's form exploded in a dazzling display of radiance, akin to turning himself into the very heart of the Sun, a force determined to obliterate the encroaching Darkness. Yet the brilliance emanating from him, while blinding, lacked the purity and magnificence of the Sun. Instead, it was a ghastly, twisted glow, tainted with a malevolent, crimson hue.

In response, the Darkness withdrew completely, recoiling as if repulsed by the corrupting light. Just then, a thunderous voice boomed forth from the encompassing Darkness, resonating from every conceivable direction, pulsating with fury and revulsion. "I am the Sun!" the voice thundered, a declaration imbued with a terrifying intensity that sent Golden streaks slashing through the Darkness. "Burn, pretender!"

Bethel's brilliance was instantly snuffed out, replaced by a searing conflagration of white, a cleansing fire that consumed him from the inside out, setting his very soul ablaze. He let out a wail, a shriek of unadulterated torment, a sound that curdled the blood. Yet he refused to succumb, for the crimson curtain dulled the purifying blaze of the Sun, his searing, liquefying eyes straining towards the streaks of molten gold, his scorched mouth contorting into a macabre grin as his lips moved. "Degeneration.."

From behind Bethel, the crimson curtain unfurled, revealing an eerie upside-down cross manifesting on its surface.

"Replication is forbidden here!" The thundering voice boomed once more, carrying the same unyielding force, a command imbued with Order and Law. The streaks of Gold within the encompassing Darkness grew even more pronounced and dense.

The nascent upside-down cross promptly disintegrated, the curtain enveloping Bethel once more. With Darkness suppressing his spatial dominion and Gold thwarting his replication abilities, he was now more constrained than ever. Still, the crimson shroud offered a glimmer of support.

Yet, the resounding voice showed no inclination to afford him any further opportunities. "Space rejects your dominion!"

"Reality itself repels your existence!"

"Escape is but an illusion!"

One by one, these decrees were imposed upon Bethel, encasing him in unseen yet unyielding chains, until he cowered and trembled weakly on the darkened ground. As if these agonising laws weren't sufficient, obsidian, foreboding chains extended from the Darkness, hoisting and ensnaring him amidst the very heart of the abyss.

To combat the malevolent influence of the bloody curtain coursing through Bethel, a mirage of twinkling stars and a radiant golden sun materialised above him, twirling upon themselves and casting their luminous rays downward, bearing the essence of purification and serenity.

In the end, Bethel floated still, his head hung low, and his hand splayed wide, his legs pressed together—all tightly bound in chains, both metaphysical and literal. His form was utterly broken and shattered, marred and scarred, corrupted and twisted.

Finally, Mr. Door had been decisively suppressed and sealed by the Eternal Blazing Sun and the Evernight Goddess.

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A/N: I know there wasn't really much of a fight. It was just Bethel being smashed and demolished by Aucuses and Amanises. But considering Aucuses is already a dual-pathway God here, Amanises holds the Moon Authority as well, to a considerable extent. They are the strongest Gods in the world now, right with the True Creator. So Bethel hadn't really had much going for him from the very beginning, other than the Crimson Curtain. Hope you liked it, regardless!