Chapter 71: The War Part 2

Izumi looked at the group of Apostles who attacked him. Although he was slightly annoyed by the interruption, he wasn't surprised. He figured Ehit would pull something on him.

He gave a glance at the battle of the Capital. Chaos was spread everywhere. Luckily, the innocents were protected by the golems he had summoned using Hajime's satellite attack. He saw Hajime about to fight the Apostle while Tio and Kyouko were joining him.

"Looks like he did send someone after all." He said.

The leader of the Apostle remained stoic as she raised one of her twin swords and pointed at him,

"Your foolish actions end here, Anomaly. Our lord has ordered your elimination." the lead Apostle told Izumi.

"Is that so? But I don't have time for you. I'm needed somewhere el-"

Before Izumi could say anything, he tilted his head to the side as a silver beam of magic cut past him. The boy looked at the source of the attack and saw the sword of the lead Apostle slightly dimming after its recent attack.

"Tch."

He was about to snap his fingers and materialize Dark Matter spikes inside their bodies when he noticed something. It was said that the Apostles were created by Ehit himself instead of being born which meant the god had most likely imparted a part of his strength to them. Using his sensitivity to magic, Izumi examined their power and noticed their similarities. Usually, each person had a different magic signature, just like each person possesses a different set of fingerprints. However, magic signatures could be similar depending on factors such as race, gender, frequency, etc.

Therefore, he noticed their magic signatures when he was about to attack. To be more precise, their magic signature. Each of the apostles in front of him possesses identical magic signatures.

He felt another attack when reinforced feathers were launched in his direction. He raised his hand and formed a mana barrier. Unfortunately, the feathers pierced the barrier and headed for him.

"Hm?" Izumi let out. 'Seems like I underestimated their disintegration magic. Apparently, it could also melt mana.' he thought, as he saw how his mana barrier shattered.

'Looks like I'm gonna have to use Dark Matter.'

He continued to observe their magical signatures as he dodged the attack. Their signatures were identical!

'No two people can have the same magical signature... Unless they were not a person. If Ehit created them, they could be compared to golems or automatons in which he implanted an artificial consciousness.'

The boy grinned,

'I could use that.'

He faced the angels who continued to attack him. For emotionless angels, they displayed quite an irritated expression.

Before he could make his move, he sensed a spike of energy and saw a huge torrent of fire heading his way. Frowning, he concentrated and pulled his mana.

'Water Torrent'

Water started to gather in front of him until it reached the size of a large yoga ball before being shot forward as if being launched from a high-pressure hose.

*FOOOSH*

*BANG*

When the water and fire collided, it produced a resounding sound and exploded in a large amount of steam obscuring everyone's vision. Due to the steam being created by spells, it was filled with mana disrupting his mana sensitivity. Therefore, he quickly got out and readied another spell.

'Lightning'

He focused once more and pulled on another element. Arcs of electricity sparked across his fingers before he trusts them toward the steam-covered area.

*CRACK* *CRACKLE*

Blue lighting shot forward and entered the steam. Since steam is simply water vapors, it was an excellent electricity conductor. Izumi saw flashes of electricity in the steam cloud as the lightning quickly shocked the apostles.

"Did that get them?" Izumi asked himself.

The steam was soon dispersed, and Izumi saw the Apostles relatively unharmed.

"Tch. I shouldn't have said anything." the boy replied.

Either they had elemental resistance or magical resistance, but they didn't get damaged by the lightning attack.

'Looks like I don't have any choice anymore. I didn't want to harm them, but I don't want to waste mana anymore since I still need to deal with the Demon Lord. I don't want to waste any more time.'

Before the apostles could attack him once more, Izumi snapped his fingers.

*snap*

*SHLICK*

Suddenly, a spike erupted from the lead's Apostle's stomach. The latter looked confused before more similar phenomena appeared.

*SHLICK* *SHLICK* *SHANK*

Spikes of black Dark Matter emerged from the flesh of the remaining Apostles.

Izumi had to give it to them. They didn't let out a single scream. Unfortunately for them, their ability to fly had been severed and they began to fall to the ground. However, before they could touch the ground, Izumi created a platform of Dark Matter where they fell unto. Once they were all on the platform, restraints emerged from it binding the Apostle's limbs to it and restraining the "angels from moving. The restraint also had sane properties as the Sealstone effectively cut off their ability to wield mana.

Izumi then flew to the first one. And for the first time, the Apostle expressed anger to him,

"The Lord will not let this go. He will come after you and everyone you care for. He will kill them like the mere toys they a-ACK!"

The Apostles tried to threaten Izumi when suddenly a spike emerged from her chest effectively cutting her off. However, the spike also came out with something else: her heart. The Apostle only had time to look at her heart out of her chest before dying. Izumi looked at the heart before creating a small scalpel and telekinetically cutting into the organ. Blood squirted out of it, but Izumi had created a mana barrier to avoid the blood. He then created surgical gloves before digging his finger into the heart and retrieving something. It was a glowing white marble emitting small wisps of gold.

"So, this is the source," he said to himself.

He could feel the tremendous amount of mana from the marble. Even more than his own reserves.

'This will help me open a way into the Sanctuary.'

The boy turned to the remaining Apostles who tried to overcome the restraints using their physical strength and spoke,

"Thank you for this gift, ladies. To express my gratitude, I shall send you away-"

The Apostles had quizzical expressions on their faces.

"-to whatever afterlife you Apostles go to.' the boy replied before slicing their heads off.

He then retrieved their cores for later use.

*BOOM*

Just as he retrieved the last core, he heard a large explosion. Turning around, he saw the Church's headquarters falling down. In front of the destruction was Tio, in her dragon form, and Aiko-sensei on her back.

'Looks like they did destroy it after all. I was afraid I would need to do it myself due to the original story being changed.'

He looked back at the Apostle's corpses and raised his hand towards them. His hand began to glow silver and a large beam attacked the first body. Not even a second later, the corpse disappeared and not even the ashes remained.

'Quite the useful magic.' Izumi thought to himself.

While he was fighting the "angels", he was able to replicate their disintegration magic. It was useful in disposing of waste. Once he dealt with the bodies, the platform disappeared, and he turned to Hajime's and Kyouko's fight.

The fight was going well. The Apostle had sustained a considerable number of injuries and was on the verge of being defeated. He turned toward the demon invasion and saw the golems quickly defeating the demon army.

"Looks like I can leave it to them. I better get going now."

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the drones he had left in the demon lord's castle. Finding its coordinates, he calculated his position and his drone's before opening a portal. The space in front of him dissolved and revealed the large throne room which he quickly entered.

The throne room was a large one that reminded him of the ones he saw in movies and anime back home. Although, it looked a little eerie. He turned his gaze to the throne and saw its occupant.

The Demon Lord Alva

The latter looked at Izumi in surprise before cooling his expression all in the span of a few milliseconds.

"Welcome. And who might you be?" the demon lord asked.

Izumi raised an eyebrow,

'He's pretty carefree.'

"I'm Izumi Miyamura."

He spread his Observation Haki and found some guards standing outside.

'Looks like he is alone in this room. I'm quite lucky.' Izumi thought to himself.

"Ah yes. I've heard about you." Alva said.

"You did?"

"Yes, I've heard about the one who brought down the meteor from the sky and decimated a large portion of a monster stampede invading a city in the human country."

"Is that so? And I'm pretty sure you guys are the ones who instigated the monster stampede."

"Hm? As far as I recall, it was one of your comrades who did it, didn't he?"

Izumi sighed.

"Now, may I ask the reason for your visit?" the demon lord asked.

"I wanted to ask a question."

"Oh? Ask away then." Alva smirked.

Izumi closed his eyes,

'Spirit Vision.'

He then opened his eyes as he channeled his spell into them. Usually, Izumi's method of sensing mana was based on touch and feel. Sort of like a sixth sense. The spell he had cast was a vision-based spell he had created after acquiring Spirit Magic. It allowed one to see people's souls. This spell also increases his mana sensitivity by enabling him to see their mana too. This spell allows his sensitivity to spread to another sense. Izumi had chosen his eyes.

In the teen's perception, the world changed as mana became visible. He could see the tremendous amount of mana the Demon Lord possessed. Even more mana than Hajime. And the latter was the person with the most mana Izumi had ever encountered.

He frowned and watched the demon lord's soul.

'There goes my theory that Yue's Uncle had been possessed. Otherwise, I would have seen two souls.'

It was then he noticed something. With all dark crimson mana within the Demon Lord's body, he saw hints of gold similar to the wisps emitted by the cores of the Apostles.

'So that's what this is. I finally figured it out.'

"Why are you remaining silent? Ask your question while I am still generous."

Izumi's eyebrow twitched.

'Generous, my ass.'

He took a deep breath,

'It doesn't matter anymore since I figured the whole scheme out.'

Izumi looked up and straight into the demon lord's eyes and asked,

"What's your relationship with Ehit?"

At this point, he was threading on unknown grounds since the webnovel wasn't completed yet. Either the Demon Lord is being controlled or he is in cahoots with the god. In any case, there is definitely a connection between them.

"I beg your pardon?" Alva looked confused,

"You heard me. I can see it in your mana. Although subtle, there are hints of the same mana found in the Apostles." Izumi replied.

Alva looked unfazed before his face split into a grin,

"Is that so? You're able to see mana, hm? How interesting."

Izumi raised an eyebrow,

"You're not even going to deny it? What kind of demon lord are you?"

Alva then stood up from his throne.

"That is unless you are not the Demon Lord." Izumi finished.

Alva looked at the teenager with a condescending expression,

"Quite the detection, Anomaly."

It was then Izumi's suspicions cemented into his mind. No one called him Anomaly except the Apostles. That's when Alva snapped his finger and two silver portals opened beside him where more than twenty Apostles emerged.

"Unfortunately for you. I am no mere demon lord. I am a god. The only one above me is my lord, Ehit!"

Alva pointed a finger at Izumi in a dismissive way,

"Get rid of him."

Before the Apostles could charge the teen, the latter snapped his fingers once more. Suddenly, discs larger than the diameter of the Apostle's neck sprouted from it effectively decapitating every single one of them. Alva looked around in confusion,

"What?" he whispered.

"That's not going to work on me anymore, Alva," Izumi smirked.

"Alva frowned,

"What did you do? That was no magic."

Izumi was loving the demon (god's?) expression. It's always fun to see the condescension wipe away from people's faces. Alva became angry and thrust his hand toward Izumi. Suddenly, two stone-like creatures beside his thrones opened their eyes revealing red glowing orbs, and attacked Izumi.

'Seems like Alva can use Yue's uncle's Ancient Magic.'

Izumi pointed a finger at the two creatures and they were suddenly engulfed in a large sphere of Dark Matter. The sphere then glowed silver with (Disintegration Magic) destroying the creatures inside and Izumi made the sphere disappear leaving no traces of Alva's creatures.

Alva looked confused. It was not magic therefore he couldn't create a counter for Izumi's esper abilities. Hell, the word "esper" didn't even exist in Tortus's vocabulary.

"Looks like it's my turn." Izumi.

Izumi lifted his hand toward the ceiling and the entire sky behind him was filled with Dark Matter spikes. Alva for the first time since Izumi arrived looked uncertain and perhaps even fearful at the attack.

"Go."

Suddenly Alva shouted,

"By the order of Alvaheit, I order you to stop!"

Suddenly, Izumi felt like something was weighing on his very soul. The spikes stopped mid-air.

'What?" Izumi let out.

Alva, seeing his reaction, started to laugh.

"HehehehehHAHAHAHAHA! That's right! You can't defeat me because I am a god! A pathetic insect can't hope to fight me! This is a command from a supreme being. A god! The Divine Edict!" Alva said with a deranged expression.

It was the first time he had felt something like this. He started to get a headache. The last time he had this sort of headache was when he fought Saiki in the canyons. However, he figured out how the spell worked and flexed his Conquerer's Haki releasing himself from the spell. He could also feel the resistance bracelet activating and offsetting the (Divine Edict.)

'Well, that caught me off guard. I underestimated the Divine Edict. Fortunately, I can now say resistance bracelets are successful.' Izumi thought.

He then picked himself up and looked at Alva with a smirk. When the latter saw his power not working on Izumi anymore.

"W-What?"

"Looks like your so-called Divine Edict does not work on me."

"No." Alva backed away.

"Yes," Izumi replied, widening his grin and taking a few steps forward.

"No! By the order of Alvaheit, I order you to stop!"

Izumi felt the power once more, but it was quickly washed away by the magic imbued in the bracelet. The teen continued to walk as the spikes in the air started to vibrate.

Seeing his spell ineffective, Alva started to become hysterical,

"Stay away! Stay away from me!"

He lifted his hands and Izumi felt his gravity increase two-fold. He quickly analyzed the spell and reverse-engineered it. It didn't take even a second the cancel Alva's spell. Seeing his spell ineffective, he tried for another spell. This time it was a fire spell. A giant fireball sailed toward the teen, but the latter quickly calculated the trajectory and speed of the spell before activating (Flash Air). A portal opened up in front of the fireball and another one opened up in front of Alva.

"Wha-"

Before the demon lord could answer, the fireball impacted him, burning him alive.

"AAAARRRGGGHHHH!" the demon lord shouted in agony.

Izumi frowned,

''The hell? He's so weak. Did I overestimate this world's gods?'

However, he shook his head,

'Just because he's weaker than I expected does not mean I can let my guard down.'

He saw Alva disperse, the fire with water magic, and snarled at Izumi.

"By the order of Alvaheit, I order you to DIE!"

The Japanese teen felt something grab his heart, but the bracelet made quick work of the spell before it could do anything to him.

"Alright. Play time's over." Izumi said and pointed at the spikes hanging in the air.

They vibrated and, before Alva could attempt another attack, shot forward piercing his four main limbs.

"AAARRGHHH!" the god shouted in pain once more when he found his limbs pierced.

Alva tried to escape from the spikes. The Anomaly... no. This monster was getting closer. He could see the spikes in the sky behind the Anomaly ready to shoot toward him. He didn't understand. He didn't understand why he was on the ground before the insect. Humans were pitiful creatures meant to be toys for lord Ehit and him. They could not go against th might of the god. It has been like this for hundreds of years. He was a god. A god meant to rule over all. He was supposed to be on the ground.

Alva didn't understand why (Divine Edict) was not working on the Anomaly. The was nothing wrong with the edict. It was as if his order was being repelled. It couldn't even reach the monster. He tried to move once more, but for some reason, he couldn't muster any power.

'What's happening? What happened to my power!?' he thought, 'I can't feel my mana!'

Izumi had finally arrived in front of him and kneeled down to his eye level.

"I bet you're wondering why you can't feel your mana, right?"

Alva looked at Izumi in fear,

"What's happening!? What did you do to me!? Release me!" Alva shouted.

Izumi smirked,

"What you are pierced with are spikes with the same properties as Sealstone. It completely shuts down a person's ability to use mana. And the inventor of this material is the body of the one you stole." Izumi replied.

Alva widened his eyes in fear. He knew about the Sealstone. He himself had the material in reserve somewhere. He never that one day it would be used on him.

It was then Izumi got closer,

"Release me! The Lord will have your head! He will have your friends and family's heads. He will torture you for eternity until you won't even remember your name!"

Izumi listened to his rant silently before interjecting,

"Are you really a god?"

The question stumped Alva,

"What?"

Izumi tilted his head. Something felt off about this "god."

"A god is a being capable of wielding authorities of their respective nature. But you don't have that do you?" Izumi asked.

One could see gears turning in Izumi's head,

"I HAVE AN AUTHORITY. BY THE ORDER OF ALVAHEIT, RELEASE ME!" Alva shouted.

Izumi let out some disdain,

"That was no authority. It's just a spell targeting the soul of the opponent with a weaker will. It's just a gimmick that enables someone to feel like a god." Izumi replied before looking into Alva's eyes.

Seeing the fear in the so-called "god", Izumi couldn't help, but laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Holy shit! You're just a fake!"

"Release me, you insect!"

The spikes inside Alva's limbs twisted eliciting another scream of pain. Izumi's laughter died down before he looked back to the fake god.

"It doesn't matter. You're going to tell me where the Sanctuary is."

Alva looked at the boy in shock before grinning,

"You can't. The Sanctuary is a different place where your filthy hands couldn't even hope to touch."

Izumi looked at Alva for a moment before shrugging,

"Oh well. Looks like it can't be helped," the esper-mage said before placing a hand on Alva's head.

"You know. It sounds hypocritical to me, but mind magic always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. However, you gotta do what you gotta do. Especially, when trash like you don't seem to know your place."

"Wha-" Izumi didn't Alva answer before activating Spirit Magic.

He dwelled into Alva's mind to find any information about Ehit and the Sanctuary. This "god" has lived for centuries by stealing the bodies of demon lords throughout history. He saw so many atrocities committed by him that even the gods would reel in disgust. Finally, he found the information about Ehit. However, as he was combing through the information. He was suddenly blasted by a powerful voice,

"BEGONE FILTH FOR THIS WORLD WILL NOW BE JUDGED!"

Izumi was then painfully ejected from Alva's mind.

"FUCK!" Izumi shouted.

Alva on the other hand began convulsing in his restraints.

"MY LORD! PLEASE HAVE MERCY! GIVE ME ONE CHANCE! ONE MORE CHANCE!" Alva cried out as he convulsed even more. His skin began to glow brighter and brighter.

Izumi realized what was happening too late! and didn't have time to open a portal.

"OH SHI-" *BOOOOOM*

Alva's body exploded creating a huge magical explosion destroying the throne room and probably the castle.

A few seconds later, in the ruins of the castle, pieces of debris moved.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

As the debris moved, a hand struck out along with a body. Izumi coughed some more as he dragged his body out.

"Cough! Cough! That son of a bitch. He killed off his subordinate without a second thought." Izumi said as he finally freed himself before standing up.

The whole castle was in ruins. All the demons who were in the castle were probably dead.

"What the actual fuck? Ehit transformed Alva into a magical nuclear bomb."

Izumi looked at himself and clicked his teeth. He had avoided the worst after barely erecting a Dark Matter wall with the properties of Azantium. However, he was full of injuries and his clothes were in a mess.

"Broken ribs, bruises, cuts. I was so close to dying." Izumi said as he shook his head, " I better heal up."

He focused on his mana and called forth a spell.

'Transient Infinity.'

His body began to glow green and his injuries healed at a visible rate. A few seconds later, his body was back in shape. Even his clothes were repaired. Izumi then frowned as he recalled the information he could learn before Ehit blew Alva up.

Ehitruje or better known as Ehit.

Apparently, Ehit has been in this world for a long time. A very long time. However, the shocking thing was that Ehit was not born from Tortus. No, he arrived from outside of this world. Another world just like how Izumi did. Ehit's world was a world where science and magic meshed to create an advanced civilization. However, due to circumstances, Izumi couldn't find in Alva's mind, Ehit had to escape to another world since his world was dying. That world was Tortus.

Izumi couldn't help, but laugh,

"That guy's just a human this whole time. There is no god in this world. This whole situation is if Superman had gotten a god complex." Izumi.

Seeing this world's inhabitant, Ehit created a spell that converted people's faith into power. However, over the course of millennials, he had accumulated too much faith power and his physical body couldn't handle it anymore. Therefore, he created the Sanctuary and discarded his physical body. The Reisen Gorge is the result of the construction of the Sanctuary. Izumi couldn't imagine how much mana the false god had used to leave a barren desert void of mana where it even made it difficult to cast magic. However, due to discarding his physical body, Ehit couldn't step foot on Tortus due to the World's law.

Izumi reached for his ear and found that the earbud had been destroyed in the explosion. He projected another one and placed it in his ear.

Suddenly, he heard a radio crackle in his mind,

'...mi... zumi... Izumi!' Izumi could Kyouko shouting his name.

'Sorry. Sorry. I'm here, Kyouko. My earbud got destroyed What's up?' he replied.

'What? Where are you!? What happened to you? I tried calling you so many times, but you weren't answering! Something happened here!' Kyouko said immediately alarming Izumi.

'What? Calm down, Kyouko. Breathe and explain it to me.' Izumi replied.

'I don't know how to explain this, Izumi. A large silver circle appeared in the sky above the Capital after we defeated the demon army and the Apostle.'

'What!? Can you repeat that?'

'I'm telling you. Out of nowhere, a large silver circle appeared above the capital. No one knows what's going on, but there was something that Apostle said before Hajime-san killed him.'

'What did she say?'

It was then Nagumo's voice was heard,

'She said the Divine Judgement is descending. You know what that means?'

Izumi recalled the words he heard in Alva's mind,

"Oh shit. Oh, shit Shitshitshitshitshitshit!" Izumi cursed out loud and in his mind.

'What's going on, Izumi' Kyouko asked concerned.

'Everyone, get ready! Arm yourselves! Whatever you do, get ready!'

'What's going on Izumi!' Shea's voice was heard.

'It's Ehit! He's going to destroy the world!'