Chapter 260: [Great Silence]

Tick-tock

There was still the sound of rain falling.

In the hazy drizzle, violent bombardments continued to echo. The thin layer of water on the ground kept flying into the air, only to be evaporated by terrifying high temperatures or frozen into fine ice by extreme cold.

However, even these ice fragments couldn't fall back to the ground, as they were quickly smashed apart by a figure speeding past… as expected, it was Kalpas.

He remained the same—an indomitable force, determined never to retreat, letting out wild laughter as he attacked Nozomi. The Honkai beasts along the way were too fragile to stop him. Aside from the annoyance of having to "clear the road" constantly, there was only the thrill of battle and the joy of tearing his enemies apart.

"Hmm... as expected, I can't do much against you like this."

Even as the number of "soldiers" around him dwindled and the Honkai beasts were being wiped out, Nozomi showed no signs of anxiety. Instead, he observed everyone's actions with great interest.

He seemed indifferent to the Honkai beasts torn apart, burned to ash, or pierced by arrows—viewing them as mere words, not true "compatriots."

"Haha... seems like I'm at a disadvantage again without realizing it..."

Nozomi sighed softly, gently tapping his toes, causing the accumulated water beneath him to ripple. He gracefully moved, dodging Kalpas' furious charge and the sharp blades coming at him from all sides.

He flipped midair, adjusting his stance, and with a casual wave of his hand, a stream of blue water deflected the pink arrows coming toward him.

"Perhaps it's time I increased my output a little?"

The smile never left Nozomi's face, and his tone remained as calm and gentle as water.

He raised his hand, catching Kalpas' punch effortlessly. Blocking the attack, he waved his free hand, summoning massive, azure octopus-like tentacles from the shallow water to fend off Hen and Kosma as they attempted to flank him. Numerous tentacles complicated their efforts… but they were swiftly shattered by pink crystal flowers blooming as the arrows from Elysia struck true.

Yet Nozomi didn't seem fazed.

He sheathed his hand back, thrusting forward, and a swordfish-like construct of water burst forth, piercing Kalpas and pushing him back.

Nozomi continued his fluid dodging, manipulating water to block incoming projectiles. The roaring flames enveloped his figure.

Kevin clenched his sword, determination burning in his eyes. With the flames of Judgment of Shamash at his side, he slashed down at Nozomi.

Flames surged, swallowing Nozomi's figure whole.

However, Kevin's expression didn't relax—he had not landed a direct hit on Nozomi's true form.

The others, equally tense, watched on as Irine slightly grasped the lantern around her waist. The burning light within it flared, spreading warmth and reassurance, dispelling the eerie fear that gripped everyone's hearts.

"[This place should be the sea.]"

Nozomi's murmurs echoed from a short distance away.

They turned, finding him not far off, seemingly injured with burn marks across his arms and blue "blood" dripping from his wounds. Yet the injuries were healing before their eyes.

This time, everyone noticed Nozomi didn't seem to enjoy fire much. In fact, he seemed to be disgusted by it.

His once constant smile faltered—brows furrowing slightly, the curve of his mouth drooping ever so little.

But just as quickly, Nozomi's expression returned to its usual calm, leaving the group no time to dwell on it.

With a wave of his hand, the rain intensified into a heavy downpour. Humid air compressed the flames' range as accumulated water recovered the ground.

Amidst this chaos, a splash of pink flew overhead—the arrows of Elysia—bouncing between the crystal dome she had conjured to shield the group from the rain.

Unfazed, Nozomi led a flow of blue water as he dodged easily, eventually catching an arrow and crushing it between his fingers.

"Elysia..."

Nozomi locked eyes with Elysia, pulling her bowstring tight for another shot.

"Oh my, I feel embarrassed being stared at like this…"

Elysia tried to keep her smile, her tone as cheerful as ever, but her sorrow was hard to hide. She shot arrow after arrow, keeping Nozomi at bay, but with sadness lingering in her gaze.

She could only pull the bowstring and let the arrow fly out, further restricting Nozomi's ability to move, while cooperating with her companions to find an opportunity to "attack" him.

Boom!

It was the sound of Kosma stomping on the ground. With a violent posture almost as violent as Kalpas, while Nozomi was still dealing with Elysia's arrows and Irine's swift sword, he suddenly rushed towards him, and the huge force directly knocked Nozomi back.

Then came Hen's attack and Kalpas' suppression... Even if he controlled the water on the ground to repel Kalpas again, the coordinated attacks of Hen and Kosma once again limited Nozomi's energy...

Boom!!

With the cooperation of everyone, Nozomi was "knocked away" for the first time. Just when Nozomi adjusted his body shape in the air and brought up the blue water to counterattack again, the red flames also rushed over quickly.

Then came the pink arrows and the silver-grey swords... along with Kalpas' extremely excited laughter and attacks. Even if all of this was resolved, the coordinated attacks of Kosma and Hen would come again.

Boom!!!

After repelling Nozomi once again, Kosma took advantage of the situation and rushed forward almost instantly, trying to maintain his suppression of Nozomi. However, a huge "pincer" stretched out first and clamped Kosma's body tightly.

Looking closely, they could see that Nozomi was standing in a huge, azure crab, with his hands stretched out, grabbing something in the air... At the same time, everyone noticed that Nozomi's expression had changed.

It was no longer that gentle smile, but just calmness, as calm as water.

Although the remaining wounds on his body were still healing quickly, and he looked as if the damage inflicted by everyone was of no use to him, it could be seen from his expression that the situation he was facing was not good.

The hand that was grabbing Kosma in mid-air was also obviously exerting force as if he wanted to control the blue crab to crush Kosma.

However, the pink arrow attacked again, and the crystal covered the crab's shell. Hen's attack followed, shattering the pink crystal along with the crab's shell... Even though he was repelled by Nozomi again, he succeeded in distracting him.

"Hmm...ha!"

Kosma gritted his teeth, struggled hard, and forcibly broke the "pliers" that were restraining him, then kicked Nozomi back.

A silver-gray figure flashed by in the blink of an eye, and the sword blade flashed with sharp silver light, stabbing straight toward Nozomi's neck, but when it was about to stab, it was bounced away by the azure water droplets on the side.

Using force, Irine placed her hand horizontally, raised the "hand cannon" in her other hand, and was about to pull the trigger towards Nozomi, but Irine's eyes suddenly froze. The sudden sense of crisis made her immediately give up the attack. She tapped her toes and left the spot at an extremely fast speed so that the crescent-shaped water blade only cut off some of her hair tips.

At the same time, Kalpas stretched out his hand and pulled Kosma, who wanted to move forward again, behind him, allowing him to avoid being split in half by the sudden waterblade.

After the arrow fell, the pink crystal grew rapidly, forming a flower-shaped shield to block the oncoming water blades for everyone. The raging flames evaporated all the numerous water blades.

"Sea water, as calm as a mirror," Nozomi's whispers were clearly heard by everyone.

When everyone looked at him again, they found that he was holding a "bow" made of blue flowing water.

Pulling the slender "bowstring", he constructed a blue arrow just like Elysia, and countless blue water droplets condensed emerged, and reorganized into the shape of an arrow around it.

And then... at the same time, Nozomi released the bowstring, and it flew out at the same time!

Azure arrows came like rain... No, considering its nature, it was "rain"!

"It's too much to copy others!"

Elysia couldn't help but yell.

But she was not idle either. She pulled the bowstring at the same time, and the pink arrows bounced back and forth in the "dome" like light, blocking all of Nozomi's arrows.

At the same time, Nozomi took the opportunity to release the "bow" made of flowing water in his hand. He moved his fingers slightly, controlling the accumulated water on the ground, bypassing the flower-like crystal shield, and directly attacking Kosma and others behind.

However, as the extreme cold that penetrated into the bone marrow spread, the spikes made of accumulated water had already frozen into ice before they hit, and could no longer move forward even a bit.

[Judgment of Shamash——]

Kevin stepped forward, holding the flaming sword tightly in his hand! Bringing on the rushing, roaring flames, and then... stabbing forward!

[Unsheathed!]

The flames were roaring, bringing with them a terrifying temperature as if they were going to burn everything around them, and Nozomi's figure was also engulfed in the flames.

Only...

"Kevin! Get out of the way!" Elysia, who suddenly realized something, shouted immediately, and out of trust in Elysia, Kevin immediately dodged to the side and pushed away Hen and Kalpas from his side.

Then...

Snap——

A huge, azure, crescent-shaped water blade swept straight across, splitting the flames in two and cutting the pink crystal shield in half. The huge waterblade continued to extend until it hit the other end of the "dome" and disappeared. Before disappearing, it even made some cracks in the pink crystal of the "dome."

He quickly withdrew his shocked gaze and looked vigilantly in the direction of Nozomi... and found that he had a dark and strange sword in his hand.

As the azure water flowed, the injuries on his body and the "hunter suit" that had been burned a lot were recovering quickly... He returned to his original state!

"Is your attack over?"

His voice was no longer gentle, but just as calm as water.

"Then... it's my turn, right?"

(TL: NEVER LET YOU GO~)

Nozomi looked at everyone with those calm eyes.

He took half a step forward, slightly tilted his body to avoid Kalpas' attack, squeezed into his arms, raised his hand, gently placed it on his chest, and then... pressed down!

Boom!

The enormous force directly pressed Kalpas to the ground, causing the accumulated water to fly and the ground to crack.

He raised his head slightly to avoid the pink arrow that was shot at him, kicked Kalpas on the side, plowed the ground with his body, and moved his fingertips slightly. A whip-like azure water stream jumped out of the accumulated water, deflecting all the silver-grey sword blades that were flying toward him. At the same time, he swung the sword to block the pink arrow that was rebounding back.

"...."

Irine stepped heavily on the ground and suddenly increased the speed of her sword, cutting off the water flow. she raised the "hand cannon" in her hand and pulled the trigger continuously at Nozomi at a very close distance!

But…

Clang clang clang!

Nozomi simply turned the greatsword in his hand and used the sword to block all of Irine's attacks.

Even the final stabbing attack was caught by Nozomi. Even this time... the rapier failed to leave a scar on the palm of his hand and failed to make the dark blue "blood" flow out.

Even...

Snap!

He used a little force with his fingers and broke the rapier!

"What?!..."

Irine's pupils were filled with fear, but she immediately made the right choice—she dropped her sword and stepped back while using the "hand cannon" to cover herself.

Thanks to her own [ability], she possessed extremely fast speed, which enabled her to avoid the fate of having her arm cut off by the water blade... Then, she was pierced in the side by the sharp spikes that emerged from the water.

"Mm-ugh!"

She endured the pain and broke up the spikes that pierced her body, then quickly retreated to the back to avoid being chased by Nozomi. At the same time, Elysia quickly came to her side and gently pressed her hand on the injured place. Pink crystals quietly spread, which barely helped her stop the bleeding.

With the fusion warrior's own recovery ability, Irine could return to the battlefield after a short wait.

Kevin on the other side swung his sword again to suppress Nozomi. Kosma and Hen cooperated with Kevin to restrain Nozomi... However, after Nozomi picked up the sword, his combat capability seemed to have risen by several levels so that they could no longer suppress Nozomi like before.

Soon, Elysia also rejoined the battlefield, and Kalpas stood up again, laughing excitedly, even a little... happy? He continued to attack Nozomi.

"Kevin!"

After realizing that this might not work, Hen immediately shouted and quickly retreated with the others.

"Um."

Kevin also understood what he meant and released his own restrictions almost instantly. An extremely cold storm raged in the "dome." The extremely low temperature was difficult for even fusion warriors to bear for a while. Needless to say, the accumulated water on the ground froze into ice in an instant.

Then, Elysia pulled the bowstring and used the arrows to stop Nozomi's movements. At the same time, Kevin raised the Flame Sword in his hand and adjusted its output to the maximum, vowing to use this attack to [defeat] Nozomi...

Then, Kevin noticed that Nozomi's attention did not seem to stay on him, but instead... looked at Elysia?!

Elysia also realized this, and a sense of crisis like a tsunami instantly engulfed her. She immediately gave up the idea of drawing the bow again and planned to dodge to the side.

Immediately, everyone could see that Nozomi was holding the strange big sword in his hand, with the tip of the sword hanging on the frozen ice surface, and then... from bottom to top, it was an upward thrust towards Elysia.

[Jumping Waves]

It seemed as though they could hear Nozomi's whispers in their ears.

Immediately, a huge waterblade emerged and passed by Elysia.

However, although Elysia dodged the water blade, her "dome" could not dodge it...

Snap—bang!

First, there was a slight cracking sound, followed by the sound of the crystal shattering and the "dome" dissipating.

Crash——

The sound of heavy rain came again, enveloping everyone, and this time, they were affected even more. The rainstorm seemed to carry some special power. The heavy feeling and the hostility that emanated all the time stimulated everyone's nerves.

The heaviness brought by the rain made it difficult for them to move, and their combat was seriously affected. The hostility emitted by the rain seriously interfered with their perception, making them unable to sense Nozomi's specific location. They could only try to see with their eyes.

But in this white rainstorm, Nozomi's figure seemed so blurry...

Moreover, everyone knew clearly that in the rainstorm, the combat capability of Nozomi, the "Herrscher," would definitely increase sharply... otherwise, Elysia would not have directly deployed the "dome" to block the rainstorm.

Now that the "dome" has been breached, how can we limit the sunlight? How can we stop the heavy rain?

Ah... it's very simple...

Smash the rain clouds! Scatter them!

[Judgment of Shamash——]

Raging flames swept all around, extreme cold and extreme heat intertwined, making it impossible for anything around to get close, not even Kevin's companions... They could only stay away from Kevin, or restrict Nozomi to prevent Nozomi from stopping Kevin.

Kevin, on the other hand, cracked the ice beneath him, tightly gripped the flaming sword in his hand, and leaped up in the rainstorm. Then he was suppressed by the violent rain as if he was about to fall from mid-air.

At this moment, a pink light flashed and an arrow flew over, passing through the white rain curtain, growing and extending in the air, forming a small, flower-shaped crystal platform that could be stepped on, allowing Kevin to use the force to climb up again.

[Unsheathed!!!]

Relying on his intuition, thinking that the height was enough at the moment, Kevin resolutely swung the flaming sword in his hand.

The flames reached the sky, brilliant as a pillar of fire connecting heaven and earth. The extreme temperature evaporated all the surrounding rainwater and burned all the accumulated rain clouds. Even the few remaining building debris on the ground showed signs of melting, and the trees that were fortunately spared were directly ignited and turned into black charcoal.

Thanks to this, the accumulated water on the ground was frozen into ice, and the rain clouds in the sky were burned by flames, leaving Nozomi with little to rely on.

"Hiss… huh…"

Kevin, who started falling from the sky, began to adjust his breathing, ignoring the slight burns on his body. With the help of the platform shot and built by Elysia again, he stepped heavily and rushed towards Nozomi from the air.

Flames... started to ignite from the sword again.

The fire was like a judgment falling from the sky... and was about to fall on Nozomi.

Nozomi certainly would not sit and wait for death, but he now had to deal with the obstruction of several other fusion warriors.

He blocked Hen's sudden attack, swung his sword to force him back, and swept towards Kosma, trying to force him back as well, but was blocked by Kosma at the cost of half of his side being seriously injured. Kosma then used this method of exchanging injuries to forcibly restrain Nozomi's greatsword.

Hen, who had just been forced to retreat, turned around and fought back. Even though all the attacks were blocked by Nozomi with one hand, don't forget that Kalpas was also there...

"Hahahahahaha!!!"

Kalpas's laughter was still wild. He clenched his fist and swung it towards Nozomi's face. This time, he hit it! A deep mark was left on Nozomi's face!

However, it was not known whether it was because Kalpas's attack angered Nozomi, causing Nozomi to directly raise the big sword in his hand, and together with Kosma who was holding the sword and refused to let go, he used it directly as a "hammer" to forcefully repel both Hen and Kalpas.

Then he punched Kosma directly, breaking the bones in both his arms, kicked him out, and took back his sword.

But at this time, Kevin had already come to Nozomi with the flaming sword. The flames falling from the sky, the judgment falling from the sky had already arrived, forcing Nozomi to hastily raise his sword to block.

[Judgment of Shamash: unsheathed!]

The flaming sword fell, and flames engulfed his body. The raging flames flowed on the ground like waves, melting the ice... no, it directly sublimated into gas, without any melting process at all!

'This should be all right, right?' Hen and Kosma thought so.

But...

"I have to praise you again... You have really grown a lot."

He... Nozomi's words were still clearly heard from the flames, and even... he had returned to his previous soft, gentle, water-like, wind-like tone.

The flames dissipated, revealing the figure of Nozomi holding the sword in one hand and blocking Kevin's attack... From the two swords against each other, it can be seen that Kevin is constantly increasing his strength, but his flaming sword has not advanced an inch... Even if it moves occasionally, it will soon be pushed back by Nozomi.

And Nozomi's face... returned to that gentle smile, as if everything that had just happened was not a "battle" to him, as if he had never been serious from the beginning of the war until now.

"Well... in return, I have to show a little sincerity..."

"Oh, by the way... you probably haven't seen my "blood relative" yet... she's really cute."

"To be honest, you guys hit her so hard just now that it really made her anxious for a long time."

"Oh, no, no... You should know her. After all, someone here has seen her..."

"As for what I am trying to say by saying so much, what is it? Ha..."

Nozomi's mouth corners slightly raised, and his golden and scarlet pupils seemed to be glowing slightly at this moment.

"I just want to tell you one thing..."

Everyone can see it! Behind Nozomi, blue water is flowing, as if something is about to "come out" of Nozomi's body.

"My 'blood relatives' and I are connected by...blood."

It is similar to Nozomi's, with white hair like waves.

It was scarlet eyes similar to Nozomi's.

She was wearing a bright red dress.

"We are..."

She landed gently on the ground and stood behind Nozomi. She tilted her head slightly and scanned everyone present with her dangerous scarlet eyes, like some kind of predator.

Tick-tock

The rain clouds that had just dispersed came back again, and a hazy drizzle fell from the sky again.

"Never separate."

Water began to accumulate on the ice again, but this time, the water did not freeze into ice...

"So..."

Nozomi was still smiling and speaking softly in a gentle tone; and Skadi, who was behind him, gently raised her hand, summoned the azure water, outlined a short staff like a conch, and slightly adjusted her breath.

Small azure and bright red fish jumped out from the puddles on the ground, circled around them, and swam happily.

Unable to be observed by the people present, a gorgeous and gentle "song" quietly emerged on the surface of the planet, flowing in silence.

————————

[Song of the Century (Color), Triggered]

[Perform a "miracle" related to "salvation/destruction"!]

————————

"[Please listen to this song from the distant sea]"

He opened his mouth together with her and sang a strange and soft "song" softly.

And from this moment on, the people present... no, the whole world, everyone on this planet found that their entire world fell into "silence."

Whether it was the voices of people around them, the sound of buildings collapsing in the distance, the sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves, the sound of rain falling from the sky, they couldn't even hear their own voice, not even through bone conduction!

Everything disappeared, all perceptible sounds disappeared.

The whole world fell into [silence].

Except... the voices of Nozomi and Skadi, except... their "song."

There is nothing else.