A darkness so deep that not even light could escape it spread across a vast expanse of the starry sky.
The universe, already deathly silent, became even quieter as immense waves of darkness swept over everything.
For a moment, every being watching the battle was unable even to communicate telepathically.
About four or five seconds later, the abyssal darkness gradually receded.
Immediately afterward, a figure wreathed in blazing light burst out from the darkened region.
The moment the observers watching the battle saw that figure, their expressions changed in shock.
The figure was covered in blood, with disheveled hair, half of which had been burned away. His helmet was nowhere to be seen.
Even the ancient-looking armor covering his body was in ruins, riddled with holes.
And beneath the shattered armor, patches of flesh continued crumbling into dust with each passing moment, unable to regenerate.
That figure was none other than Amun.
Having barely escaped the range of the Maximum Precaution attack, dim flames flickered around his body as he transformed into light, desperately putting as much distance as possible between himself and the abyssal darkness.
But then... The contracting darkness seemed to twitch.
An invisible vibration spread outward, and the divine bird that was Amun-Ra was forcibly slowed down.
Amun struggled desperately like a sparrow caught in a net, trying to escape the gravitational pull of the abyssal darkness, yet unable to break free.
The gods and buddhas watching from the shadows were all stunned into silence.
It was a sight none of them had ever witnessed before.
Even Mata, who was watching from afar, found it difficult to believe.
For Three-Digit gods and buddhas, their bodies had long since been transformed into something close to star spirits.
Ordinary physical injuries, and even damage to their souls, were incapable of completely destroying their bodies or preventing them from regenerating.
And this battle was taking place in the depths of outer space. There were no restrictions here like those imposed by the Little Garden continent. A Three-Digit could easily display their true power in this environment.
Yet even under these conditions, Amun had been grievously wounded by that single attack.
"The Authority of Destruction..." Shiva, who had been watching the battlefield the entire time, spoke with an unusual gravity in her voice. "And the energy level driving it is extremely high."
In the Little Garden, even the power of different authorities varied.
There was a clear difference between an authority powered by the strength of a Four-Digit and one fueled by the divine power of a Three-Digit.
And if one were to rank the Three-Digits, the divine power of Star Spirits, pure-blooded dragons, and naturally born gods and buddhas would be considered the highest quality.
Next came the beings like demigods, half-dragons, and half-Star Spirits.
After that came high-quality divine power accumulated through vast quantities of merit, such as that possessed by the saints and saintesses of the Cross Pantheon.
At the bottom was the energy source of ordinary humans.
Of course, among Three-Digit God Kings, the level of their divine authorities was essentially the same.
That meant their strength was determined by two things: the number of authorities they possessed and the quality of their energy source.
The combination of the two determined the actual strength they could bring to bear.
And right now, the "Kalki" before them was clearly using energy of an exceptionally high level.
On top of that, he had continuously driven his Authority of Destruction and even made use of the stellar impact created by Amun himself.
That was what had produced such an absurdly devastating result.
Staring at the darkness covering the distant reaches of space, feeling the gravitational pull within it that resembled a black hole, a pull so powerful that even light could not escape, as well as the profound destructive force concealed inside...
Shiva quickly reached her conclusion. "His application of Authority is still rather crude, but the level of his energy is at least comparable to that of a half-Star Spirit."
The moment Shiva said this, the gods secretly listening from the shadows immediately formed their own conclusions.
In terms of actual combat strength, this "Kalki" was clearly at the level of a rule-breaking Four-Digit being.
His Authority of Destruction was crude for a Four-Digit, but the technique he had just used, directly igniting a sun and turning it into a black hole, had its own unique brilliance. To some extent, it compensated for his shortcomings.
So by conventional standards, that previous attack should be regarded as the full-power strike of a Three-Digit being at the level of a half-Star Spirit.
"Hiss!" x 99
Somewhere in the distance, the atmosphere of Jupiter was mysteriously sucked away until half of it had vanished.
"Poor Amun! He really drew the short straw!"
Everyone present was an upper-level existence, so they clearly heard the mocking tone.
Still, it was understandable. Amun might not be as universally hated as Zeus, but he was hardly well-liked either. He had a reputation for being despicable, having bullied more than a few gods with his overwhelming power.
Yes, they might all be Three-Digits, but they weren't equal.
Take Hermes and Indra, for example. Both were Three-Digits.
And Hermes? Wasn't practically every Three-Digit being using that poor kid as a punching bag?
Whenever Zeus needed to vent his frustration, Hermes would be the first one to get beaten up.
And Hermes never fought back.
Why?
Because he couldn't beat a single one of them!
His strength was in being a messenger and in his loyalty, not in combat.
If Zeus hadn't backed him, how could he possibly have obtained the Spirit Rank of Hermes Trismegistus, the Alchemical God, and risen to the Three-Digit level?
He'd still be down in the lower layers eating dirt.
"Still, is Kalki really this strong?" One of the more straightforward gods and buddhas asked through telepathy, "He's certainly a naturally born god, but he was born through a human womb, so he started out at a disadvantage. And he's only been born for a year. To reach this level, wouldn't he at least need to collect five Sun Authorities?"
Not a single person among the spectators bothered answering the earnest fool.
Who still believed that the Kalki inside the battlefield was actually Kalki?
Sure, he looked like him.
His Spirit Rank was also the same.
He even possessed a terrifying ultimate technique. One that had never been seen before.
But anyone who actually believed he was Kalki was an idiot.
For all they knew, one of Ouroboros' Three-Digit big shots had simply put on a disguise and was pretending to be a harmless newcomer.
This was exactly why being a Three-Digit in the Little Garden was like walking on thin ice.
You could never know whether the enemy standing before you was genuinely a newcomer... or a terrifying powerhouse pretending to be one.
Back then, there had even been people in the lower layers who mocked the man who called himself the "Weak Old Man."
The surprise?
That old man was none other than Mithras.
And now, the grass growing over their graves was probably tall enough to cover an entire star.
Just as the Three-Digits were becoming increasingly wary... The battle in the starry expanse was gradually reaching its conclusion.
The sun divine bird shrieked again and again as blazing radiance erupted from its body.
Meanwhile, the darkness before it continued contracting, steadily swallowing everything within its range, including the divine light.
As the erosion continued, struggle flashed through Amun's eyes.
Then, at last, it faded into tranquility.
"Why do all of you insist on forcing me..." Amun let out a bitter sigh.
The divine light in its eyes gradually faded.
At the very end, it gazed into the abyssal darkness before it.
Its vision seemed to penetrate the pitch-black surface and see the figure standing within, his hands behind his back.
"You've won."
Amun sighed.
The light in his eyes settled into stillness.
And in its place, a completely new will began to awaken within his body.
Seeing this, Ryo's expression finally changed.
"Spirit Rank Devouring?"
.
.
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