Brushing the dust off his shoulders, Orsaga casually absorbed the drifting souls in the air—treating them like ambient particles scattered through the sky.
Only then did he realize what he'd crashed into.
"I thought I'd landed on something important. Turns out it was just a fortified bastion. Well… I suppose it counts as a bonus snack."
After gathering up his incidental gains, his wings spread wide and beat rapidly. Without delay, Orsaga took off once again, soaring back toward Helion to resume their chaotic battle.
Now that the isolation barrier had shattered, sunlight once again bathed the sky.
As the God of the Sun, Helion immediately began drawing in solar energy through the broken clouds, replenishing his power with alarming speed—like someone chugging health and mana potions in a game.
Naturally, Orsaga noticed this abnormal recovery rate—but he didn't care.
In his view, this was just part of the cost of invading a foreign world and fighting gods on their home turf.
His inherited memories had already warned him: Divine Authority was like holding a share of the world's administrative privileges. In times of external invasion, the world would naturally empower its gods to repel foreign threats.
There were only two ways to deal with this:
1. Seal their authority before combat begins.
2. Overpower them so thoroughly that even world-enhanced buffs couldn't save them.
After all, even a world could be destroyed. Gods, who were bound to a world's fabric, were hardly exempt.
Now that there was no longer any restriction from the barrier, Orsaga and Helion's battleground had expanded without limit—the vast blue sky and the endless ocean became their new arena.
And just like two cataclysmic storms colliding, their every movement devastated everything nearby.
Anything caught within range was utterly annihilated.
"...?"
On a coastline far removed from the chaos, a group of fishermen had just returned from sea, unloading their fresh catch.
But a strange rumbling from afar drew their attention.
Raising their heads, they spotted radiant multicolored light shimmering across the distant sky.
Confused murmurs followed.
One young fisherman turned to the man beside him, puzzled.
"Captain, what's that over there?"
The captain, still organizing the day's haul, squinted toward the horizon.
After a moment's thought, he offered a vague answer:
"A rainbow sky? Must be some kind of… weather phenomenon? Maybe auroras?"
"Oh…"
Calculating their rough location, the young man added hesitantly:
"It looks like it's heading this way… Should we take cover?"
Without looking up, the captain waved him off.
"Cover from what? We're already docked. Even if there's a storm, we're anchored tight. We'll be fine."
Out at sea? Maybe.
But now? Their boats were moored and secure. He felt confident—no weather could touch them.
"Alright…"
Seeing that none of the crew seemed worried, the young fisherman decided to drop it. Still, he kept glancing up at the sky, curious.
As thunder rumbled in the distance, he convinced himself it was just another summer storm.
'Man... the ocean really is full of wonders. Never seen skies like this before.'
A few minutes passed.
Then, his hands froze mid-sort.
As that kaleidoscopic glow crept closer, he spotted something through the clouds—flames.
"Is that… fire?"
Unsure whether his eyes were playing tricks on him, he splashed seawater on his face and blinked hard.
Then he looked again.
This time, he saw it clearly:
A massive, flaming figure descending from the clouds—its silhouette vast, its form obscured by smoke and heat.
"..."
He slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
Then he screamed.
"Captain!! Look over there!"
The captain, confused by the outburst, turned his head—
And his face turned pale.
"...Oh gods…"
Though he couldn't make out every detail, the mere shadow was enough to dredge up ancient myths and terrible memories.
He didn't need more information—he needed to run.
"First Mate! Pull up the anchors!, We're leaving—NOW!"
But they were too late.
Before the ship could even leave the shallows, a series of titanic waves surged from the horizon—slamming their vessel back to shore like a toy boat in a bathtub.
Desperately, they paddled with everything they had, trying to break free from the growing currents.
But it was no use.
Soon, a heavy mist rolled in from the sea—thick and suffocating, swallowing the world around them.
Then, something changed.
The waves that had pushed them back… suddenly reversed direction.
The current turned into a violent pull.
Now their ship was speeding forward—faster than it had ever moved. It felt like some invisible force had seized them, dragging them across the water against their will.
The captain's face went ashen.
Watching the swirl of water around them, he understood.
"This isn't a storm… We're in a vortex!"
He couldn't believe it.
They were in shallow coastal waters. How could a giant whirlpool form here!?
The answer came soon enough.
Beneath the waves, at the ocean floor, a sphere of crimson flame was burning violently.
The whirlpool had formed because the surrounding seawater was being evaporated at an impossible rate—the ocean funneling inward to replace what had been lost.
All around them, the sea was devouring everything.
Driftwood, fish, aquatic monsters—all were being pulled into that flaming hell.
And within seconds, each was incinerated into nothing.
The young fisherman stood in stunned silence, mind racing.
'So… those falling flames from the sky. Each one must have caused a vortex like this.'
His gaze drifted upward once more.
Far in the distance, the sky was still flashing. Explosions boomed, and new flames continued to rain down like shooting stars.
'Just how many of these whirlpools are there…?'
Even as he drifted helplessly toward death, his thoughts were consumed by awe.
'What… are those things in the sky?'
---
And above—amidst flame, lightning, and war—the combatants continued to clash.
Neither side spared a single thought for the thousands, or tens of thousands, of lives being caught in the crossfire.
To them, the sea and the islands were merely terrain.
To be shattered, burned, reshaped, and ruined.
As for the creatures who lived on them?
They died before they even knew what had happened.
And not a single soul mourned them.
__
T/N:
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