Bardi's pupils flashed with a violent, icy light, and his expression was frigid.
In an instant, golden sunlight erupted from the pores of his body, tearing through his flesh and burning him from the inside out. His chest swelled, the barbs protruding from his body appearing hideous and terrifying. His muscles surged with overwhelming power, radiating a blinding golden light, an aura of solar energy rising fiercely around him.
He unleashed the energy within his body, but it was too immense for his divine power to fully contain. Instead, he channeled it to drastically strengthen his cellular structure, exponentially increasing the force of his next attack.
He looked like a Super Saiyan, his entire being radiating scorching solar energy against the surrounding darkness.
The fractured gravel on the ground floated weightlessly, trembling from the sheer force, producing a series of deafening boom boom boom sounds that shook the air. The intense heat distorted the atmosphere, causing it to waver.
His expression was grim, his chest expanded, and his body, covered in sharp, grotesque bone spurs, resembled a demon. Yet, with the golden sun energy blazing around him, he seemed like a fusion of hell's terror and celestial radiance.
With every step he took, the already shattered pit beneath him sank even deeper, and cracks spread outward like an intricate spiderweb. Crackling! Countless massive fissures tore through the ground.
The corridor—a kilometer wide and eight thousand meters thick—suspended in the heart of the Peak, began to quake violently. Countless fragments of rock collapsed into the sea of blood below.
The corridor's stone, the hardest material in Azarath's sanctuary, far tougher than Earth's diamonds was still no match for Bardi's overwhelming power. It crumbled beneath him.
Wherever Bardi stepped, the thousand-meter-wide corridor collapsed completely.
Enormous fractures spread along its length, sending colossal chunks of rock plummeting into the sea of blood, creating massive, crimson waves.
Amidst the chaotic rubble rising from his unleashed solar energy, Bardi knelt. His face was shadowed with grim determination. His eyes—now completely golden—flashed as he gathered his energy. A sudden burst of golden light erupted from him, and with a mighty push, he leapt.
The corridor took the full force of his movement. The sheer impact shattered it completely, sending enormous slabs of dark, cold-glowing stone tumbling into the blood-red sea below. The destruction spread like a chain reaction, rock after rock breaking apart, plunging into the depths, generating monstrous waves that crashed against the rock walls of the Sacred Peak, producing countless bubbling currents of blood.
Bardi's entire form transformed into a streak of golden light, cutting across the vast, star-filled sky like a blazing comet, his radiance breathtaking as he shot directly toward the gaping wound in Trigon's chest.
"NO!! STOP IT!!"
All six of Trigon's eyes ignited with fury, a blinding, blood-red rage fueled by hatred. A crimson, malevolent glow pulsed from his pupils. His gaze locked onto Bardi, who was hurtling toward him with relentless, burning intensity.
But neither Raven nor Bardi knew the truth.
Trigon did.
At this moment, he was the one most terrified for Bardi.
Not out of concern. But because Bardi was recklessly exhausting his own energy at an unsustainable rate, pushing himself toward death and the complete annihilation of his soul.
And that meant Trigon would be unable to claim it.
Bardi's soul was far more valuable than this meaningless battle.
Trigon could forfeit everything, his projection, his grip on Earth, even the entirety of life in the universe. He could abandon all he had conquered across existence.
As long as he could obtain Bardi's soul, nothing else mattered.
But now, Bardi was destroying himself, his very essence collapsing, his soul disintegrating before Trigon could seize it.
This drove Trigon into a maddening rage.
This was everything. A power beyond dimensions, beyond rules, beyond time, beyond space.
Immortal. Absolute. Eternal.
A trait possessed only by the true singularities of the multiverse.
Even in the realm of gods, there were only a handful of such beings, fewer than a few hundred across all known existence. Their rarity was matched only by their terrifying power, enough to make the cosmos tremble.
Yet this divine trait existed within Bardi's soul.
That alone was enough to drive Trigon to madness.
Even though his own body had reached the pinnacle of existence, he could never ignore a being with such a soul.
No—more than that. If Trigon could consume this soul, nurture it into the ultimate form of existence, and devour it whole, then his power would transcend yet again.
At that time, he could have even ascended to the second level of Hell and challenged the Lord of Hell himself. Perhaps he could have rivaled Lucifer and completely taken control of Hell.
With such a precious source of power, how could Trigon bear to let Bardi die? How could he allow Bardi to push himself to the brink?
Trigon's heart was filled with anguish, greater than anyone who had ever cared for Bardi, and his fury burned even hotter than the wrath of those who loved him.
In Trigon's furious gaze, the golden energy around Bardi surged violently. His body shot forward like a streak of light, hurtling straight toward Trigon's chest.
His expression was cold, his golden eyes dark and unreadable. His body, covered in jagged bone spurs, looked as monstrous as a demon. Yet within that blinding golden energy, there was a contradiction—light and darkness, justice and evil, angelic radiance and demonic fury, all intertwined.
Bardi's form within the golden light suddenly expanded. His arms swelled with raw power, his barbed bones ejecting and vaporizing in an instant. His muscles bulged wildly, thick veins snaking across his skin like coiled dragons. His blood surged like a tidal wave, and limitless energy gathered in his fists.
His clenched fist radiated golden light, illuminating the dark starry sky—brighter than any star.
Bang!
In that instant, golden brilliance flooded the entire void.
Trigon's chest had already been struck by Raven. This space was now a vacuum, no sound could travel, only the violent eruption of light tearing through the eternal darkness.
His massive, blood-red sternum jutted outward, shattered from the earlier impact. Blood sprayed in all directions. Deep within, the rhythmic thud-thud of a colossal heart echoed—like the roaring engine of a cosmic war machine.
Bardi's golden fist, infused with pure solar energy, smashed directly into Trigon's exposed heart.
In an instant, Trigon's heart buckled under the sheer force. The concentrated solar energy detonated from Bardi's fist, blasting through his chest with unstoppable might. A beam of golden light erupted upon impact, tearing through Trigon's core.
The protective bones around his heart crumpled and caved inward, stabbing into the very organ they were meant to shield. Before blood could even burst forth, the golden energy had already seared through his crimson flesh, incinerating his heart and obliterating it entirely.
Blood exploded into the vacuum, droplets floating like cursed rubies, flickering with an eerie glow.
In mere moments, a massive hole gaped in the center of Trigon's chest. His heart was utterly destroyed, his torso punctured clean through.
Bardi flipped through the air, absorbing the counterforce of his devastating strike. The golden energy surrounding him dissipated, revealing his lean yet monstrous form, his skeletal spines still jagged and exposed.
He had used approximately a quarter of the strength he could currently wield for that single punch.
The violent solar capsules within him continued to be absorbed, strengthening his cells and generating unimaginable power. But once the energy was depleted, his body would collapse at a genetic level, his mental strength would fail, and his very soul would disintegrate.
Using the momentum of his attack, Bardi maneuvered through the air, adjusting his stance before soaring toward Raven, who floated in the sky.
With his left hand, he gently cradled Raven like a fragile child, letting her rest against his arm. Then, descending from the sky, he landed on another corridor with a resounding impact. The ground beneath his feet cracked apart, the force spreading fissures through the stone.
Standing tall with his slender yet formidable frame, Bardi's gaze locked onto Trigon.
"Trigon isn't dead yet."
Raven's face was pale as she clung to Bardi's arm, her body weakened. She had launched both physical and spiritual attacks, using her soul and dark energy, but the effects had been minimal. At most, she had managed to disorient Trigon for a fleeting moment, long enough for Bardi to land his devastating strike.
But even with his heart obliterated, it wasn't enough to kill Trigon.
"I know."
Bardi spoke calmly. He could still sense the overwhelming life force radiating from Trigon.
(To be continued.)
***
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