"Final Seal… BREAK!"
A bright light ascended high into the air, piercing even the clouds above. In that instant, a shimmering golden barrier surrounded her from the imminent blast, protecting her from all their destructive wrath.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
Destruction was an understatement compared to the horrific sight that filled the air above.
It was like a bomb of unspeakable proportions had been set off, consuming the very air itself in an overwhelming layer of golden flames.
As for the Black Armor Soldiers, thanks to the holy barrier set up by Rasera, all of them were left unscathed.
As the light and smoke cleared...
"Huu..."
A woman in knightly armor stood at the epicenter of all that destruction, her silver hair now floating in the air as bright radiance swelled from within her body.
"... Let's end this now," She muttered, her pure golden eyes looking straight at the Archdemon
"Pffft! End this? You humor me!" Wil'liam's laughter echoed in the air as he clutched his stomach with his newly regenerated limbs.
From the way he looked, it was like he hadn't taken any damage at all.
Despite hearing such haughty words from her opponent, Rasera said no more to the demon. Instead, her body was now all-white, the personification of purity.
WHOOOOOSH!
In a flash, several chains of light rushed from her and charged at the Archdemon who could barely react to any of it.
"N-Ngh!"
The Demon's entire body was bound by the luminous chains, and the golden layers of energy were all tightly wrapped by her constraints.
Then, right as Wil'liam made to break out of his restraints, he felt a sudden overpowering feeling that brought him to nearly fall to his knees.
A word poured through the air... and it made everything go blank.
"[Corruption of Stars]."
The first thing that Wil'liam thought when he felt the overwhelming feeling was...
'I NEED TO STOP HER!'
At that point, he knew there was only a single second between life and death, a tiny fraction of time that would determine his fate.
And so, he decided to use the most logical strategy ever.
"[Time Stop]!"
By his words, the entire world suddenly came to a halt. Rasara ceased her movement, every noise from nature to the demon's roar in the distance became silent, the wind stopped blowing, and the grass no longer swayed. The sky and the Earth turned an eerie matte gray. Only Wil'liam was free from the gray filter as everything else was frozen in place.
He had simply halted time itself to stop the Goddess' actions, granting him enough time to counter.
"Alright, now all I had to do is-"
ZZTZ!
Like glass, everything literally shattered and returned to its natural color.
"H-HUH...?!"
Much to Wil'liam's shock, his almighty power, his trump card, the ability that could bend time itself and what made him as the second strongest servant of the Demon Lord... had shattered like fragile glass!
'W-WHY....?'
Wil'liam did not have the luxury to indulge in such confusing thoughts, though. If he couldn't stop time itself, perhaps due to the interference of the power that the woman was about to unleash, then he would simply resort to another solution.
"[Astra Smite]! [Fireball]! [Greater Rejection]! [Meteor Fall]! [Slow Weakness]! [Blasphemy]! [Distort Moral]! [Field of Unclean!] [Greater Word of Curse]! [Hellflame]! [Greater Insanity]! [Napalm!] [Vermillion Nova]! [Wall of Hell]! [Orbs of Destruction]!"
He would simply spam all of his skills, spells, and powerful attacks at the same time.
Using all of them at full power, all activating instantly, they would surely be enough to prevent her from using such power... right?
WRONG!
The moment those powers were sent towards her, a golden barrier materialized around her, and all attacks were nullified.
None of them worked.
Then, with Rasera's Divine Blade pointed towards him, and something white glowing right at the tip, Wil'liam had yet another thought.
'I... I HAVE TO GET AWAY FROM HERE!'
If stopping time didn't work on his opponent, then Wil'liam figured he could just teleport away.
"[GREATER TELEPORTATION]!"
However...
ZZTZ!
...Even that did not work!
"WHY... WHY IS NOTHING WORKING?!" Wil'liam screamed as he desperately tried to sharply descend, unable to fully think given the time constraint that weighed heavily on him.
However, thanks to the other constraint that held him down, he could not move.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO NOWWWW!!!"
Wili'am, now stuck in midair and out of any other options, wriggled and squirmed within the chains that bound him.
There was only one more alternative, but judging from the bright light that was already condensed at the tip of the Divine blade, Wil'liam knew he didn't have enough time to know if it would work.
In desperation, his thoughts called out for the only Skill that could possibly save him in this predicament.
'[Ethereal Form]! [Ethereal Form]!! [ETHEREAL FORM]!!!'
[Ethereal Form] allowed him to transform his body into a ghost-like form, hence becoming a phantom-like entity. It was almost like turning into a Specter, since it allowed its targets to pass through things.
Unlike regular other similar Skills, like [Phase], which had many limitations, such as the disruption of all senses when in use, [Ethereal Form] did not have any of those weaknesses.
Also, unlike [Phase], which made the user still vulnerable to energy-based attacks even if they were intangible, especially against [Astral Smite] which is a skill that counters those types of abilities, [Ethereal Form] made the user immune to either energy-based attacks or purely physical attacks.
Never both at the same time, though.
Seeing as the power that was rushing from Rasera was made of pure energy, Wil'liam obviously went with the Energy Immunity option.
Then, without any further announcement, the one second was over.
And so, the bright burst of light was sent forth.
It looked like white light, one so bright and intense that it was impossible to truly decipher its true color.
To all who witnessed it, their sense of color and discernment were suspended. The overwhelming clash of spectrums and the sheer multiplicity of complex powers that raged and flowed inside it was too much for any mind to process.
And so, due to being indescribable, the mind could only register a blank color.
White.
White light rained down on the Archdemon Lord in a swift motion, much faster than the sound that was bound to follow much later.
It fell before the former Space Tyrant could properly register another thought.
No... that wasn't entirely true.
There was a trailing thought that flowed within the mind of Wil'liam as he felt his mind, body, and even his soul fade into obscurity.
Its existence and nonexistence seemed to clash and converge at a single point, and while he had that sole thought, it felt as if that was the only thought he had ever conceived throughout his long lifespan.
"Ah... I'm dead."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
The white light easily destroyed everything surrounding the Archdemon with unstoppable force, like a flood of water that gushed down without end. It burst through the ground and the walls, easily breaking through everything beneath even him.
Miles after miles, the beam traveled down and devastated everything in its path.
Nothing was spared.
No... nothing could be spared.
Wil'liam did not know this, but [Corruption of Stars] was not an energy or physical attack. It couldn't even be qualified as just an attack.
It was all of those things at once.
All of destruction clashing upon creation in a spectrum of light so intense that no one could even comprehend.
Anyone bathed under such a radiation irrespective of the resistance they offered, was bound to meet an inescapable fate.
Complete obliteration!
Wil'liam was a witness to this, as was the crowd that watched this epic display with gaping mouths.
It felt like the dance of celestial lights, but converged within a single blast.
Nothing remained after that.
It was just as Rasera had declared it to be...
...The end.