Chapter 160: 160. “It’s over.”

“[Resurrection],” Ifrit chanted and released his Manifestation again. Ifrit’s Soul Manifestation was an Eternal Cast and summed up to a single principle; damage redirection. It was a rare type of ability that displaced damage through space-time.

It had limitations of course. The place where he needs to redirect the damage has to be of the same kind as the initial target. For instance, when he saved Lanya, to redirect the damage she took, he necessarily had to choose a humanoid living being that was as strong or stronger than her. Normally, he would have chosen to send it back right at the attacker but he chose to put himself on the line since it allowed him to absorb significantly more damage than if he had selected a third party.

But now it was different, he was going to attack, not protect. Ifrit smirked and clenched his fists. Blood colored flames gathered around his knuckles and were ready to explode.

He kicked the ground and swung his fist at Hephaestus. The Blacksmith God also swung his arm and when the two fists clashed with each other, the air exploded and the wind created a perfect spherical crater.

In terms of pure power, Ifrit had lost that confrontation. But he grinned nonetheless as a second shockwave boomed. Hephaestus’ blank eyes widened as he looked at his other hand. For some reason, he was feeling pain in that hand although he didn’t use it.

Then, Ifrit kicked him in the chest. Once again, it didn’t do a lot of damage but somehow, a second after a loud noise resounded and the entirety of Hephaestus’ upper body was caved in. The Demon coughed blood and roared before swinging his ax.

Ifrit grunted and grabbed the blade barehanded. The momentum strangely vanished and, instead of Ifrit’s, it was Hephaestus’ hand that started bleeding for some reason.

“This is the true ability of my resurrection, big guy,” Ifrit uttered before striking the Demon in the neck. The blow occurred once, then dozens of times more. “I can inflict damage, duplicate it, then redirect it. For one strike of mine, you take at least ten times more.”

Karaskan observed with a rivetted expression and Hephaestus roared in anger. He channeled his mana and infused it in his weapon. He then expended all of his strength and struck Ifrit with it.

The fire Djinn groaned. “Well, you found out pretty quick,” he grumbled and crossed his arms. The blade of the ax hit him and although he managed to redirect half of the damage, he failed to get rid of everything as he took on the rest. Hephaestus gained two bloody injuries on his arms in return but Karaskan casually healed him.

Ifrit was sent flying through the air. He snarled and extended his hand toward the sky. A massive crimson fireball appeared which he sent at the giant. Hephaestus seemed to have learned of his previous altercation and dodged the fireball instead of defending against it to avoid any damage duplication.

At the same time, Zeus flew over the clouds and prepared to cast his magic that will signal the beginning of Gabriel’s plan. He lifted his hammer and the clouds below him started turning black and denser. Thunder roared and lightning discharged from the storm clouds to connect with his hammer.

From the ground, it just looked like the sky had darkened, but above it, everything was filled with deadly lightning. Zeus gritted his teeth and seemed to struggle. He reinforced the grip on his hammer before throwing it downward.

The hammer pierced through the clouds and reached the ground at the speed of light. It fell directly on Hephaestus and then brought down with him a pillar of bright, white lightning. Ifrit smirked and his eyes glowed, magnifying the damage by at least five times. Because of it, a devastating earthquake was created.

When the lightning died down and when Hephaestus figure was just barely observable, the others began their assault. Chulainn had recovered his power as the Guardian of Hell and howled.

His fur was shining with crimson light and seemed to be on fire. In front of his wide-open mouths, three magma rock-like stones were hovering while glowing with a red hue.

"[Third Blue Art, Fragor Magnus]," he chanted and the stones quickly shrunk to be replaced by chaotic flames. He howled and the three fireballs made their way toward Hephaestus’ silhouette.

The latter looked emotionlessly through the smoke; his body covered in fuming burns. He lifted a newly summoned hammer before striking against thin air. Red cracks appeared on the surface of reality and beyond Hephaestus' vision, the world broke apart as if he was seeing it through broken glass.

Space itself seemed to be cut apart and the three fireballs of Chulainn were stopped and destroyed before exploding. Hephaestus conjured a wall of black metal and protected himself from the flames and shockwave.

Benefitting of that, both Poseidon and Hades appeared just in front of his head and struck him with their weapons together. It was unreal as the giant's body was knocked back by two figures that were no bigger than ants for him.

They made good use of their size to pound Hephaestus with all they had. The giant could only suffer at first but then something helped him. A pair of eyes glinted from inside his shadow. Ominous and thick darkness clad him like armor and shielded him from the two gods' assault.

Hephaestus instantly put strength in his arms. And, as if he was releasing his frustration, he swung both of his weapons with a maximum of power.

Poseidon was struck by the ax and barely managed to avoid life-threatening injuries by parrying it with his trident. But the flames and shock still hurt him as he was sent flying.

Hades could only grit his teeth as he blocked the hammer with his shield. Like before, the red cracks appeared and Hades felt like his organs were being twisted.

Thankfully, Ifrit’s Manifestation was active and reflected at least half of the damage.

Hades clicked his tongue in annoyance. He conjured a giant fireball with a single thought and sent it above the huge Demon’s head.

"Old fish! Your turn!" He shouted as he shielded himself from the hammer again and then crashed on the ground.

"I know, old imp!" Poseidon bellowed as he was getting up from the rubbles. He planted his trident in the ground and extended his hand toward the sky. Then, similarly, a sphere of water formed just beside the fireball.

Hades and Poseidon chanted in their minds afterward, and the two magics collided. A hissing sound resounded right away and the steam covered the battlefield.

Hephaestus wanted to blow it away but his body suddenly stopped moving. He looked down and saw a white marble ground below his feet.

From outside of the steam cloud, Azes was holding his parchment and the words on it were fading away quickly. He nodded toward Gabriel and she clasped her hands together.

"[Divine Protection]," she intoned and waved her hand.

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Eight small spheres of light formed around the steam. Those lights instantly connected together to shape a cube that confined the whole area. Soon after, Gabriel's eyes glowed again and her wings also produced the same light. The cube was then surrounded by a sphere that appeared to be of glass, mirroring the appearance of everyone around it.

Gabriel smiled and shared her next instructions. Michael and Aphrodite nodded and flew off. Chronos closed his eyes and sat down as if he was going to meditate. He then murmured something, "[Resurrection]."

Right now, Hephaestus was virtually blinded and constrained. Azes' Manifestation was holding him down and everything around him was meant to block his sight and senses.

Sometimes, natural phenomena could be employed more effectively than magic since they can’t be ‘dispelled’. The steam inside the sphere was there to cloud Hephaestus’ vision. Of course, any individual above the fifth level of the Mortal Realm could see through it. But Gabriel had added two barriers. One to condense the steam and another one to reflect images.

Now, Hephaestus could only see his own undistinguishable shape blurred by the steam. And without knowing that a barrier like that was set to confine the steam, Hephaestus and even Karaskan would think that they were trapped in a sort of illusion and try to use magic meant to counter it.

If Arima was there at that moment, he would have praised Gabriel for making this plan. This was a beautiful misdirection.

Layla also thought the same as she was floating above the temporary prison with a black and white book in her hands. Though as soon as Azes' Manifestation stops, Hephaestus and Karaskan will discover in no time what's going on and leave the confinement area.

But in any case, all of this was just to buy some time and prevent Hephaestus, or to be exact, prevent Karaskan from anticipating their attacks.

Layla suddenly smiled and looked far away with her piercing eyes. A sort of black winged-snake made of lightning was approaching them with tremendous speed. “{He’ll arrive soon. He must have been displaced earlier because of both the Forbidden Art and the dimension collapse.}”

"{Understood. Do it now!}" Gabriel gave the signal and everyone released their auras. Chulainn even went as far as activating his Soul Manifestation. Aphrodite and Michael worked together to devise a threatening magic combining wind magic and the energy of Michael's spear.

One of the other particularities of the Weapon-Type Manifestations was the second form which consisted of the release of the weapon's raw energy. It was a method that resulted in a powerful strike but overloaded one’s magic circuits in the process, barring any chance to summon the weapon again for at least 24 hours.

Poseidon and Hades were also getting ready to perform that same release. Zeus used the last bit of his mana to partially activate his Manifestation and summon a giant lightning dragon.

Meanwhile, Ifrit was amassing an insane amount of mana within his body and channeling it around his fists.

Inside the improvised prison, Karaskan's eyes flashed. When he felt the auras exploding around him, he finally knew what kind of situation he was in. "(They’re preparing an all-out attack... I can't feel their positions. The auras are mixed up too. I can't even determine who is using what. Hm, they thought this well, I can’t use my darkness without knowing their position,)" he thought then interacted with the unknown creatures inside Hephaestus.

Veins suddenly popped on the fallen god’s body as he gathered his strength to break free from Azes’ grasp. Karaskan was about to conjure his own magic as well but something made him freeze.

***

"Do what you deem necessary," Layla smiled. "[Third Destruction Art, Pars Impios]."

The Lawless Tome opened and flipped the pages alone. It slowly left Layla's hands and then stopped moving right in front of her as if it was staring at her. Layla tilted her head and the book imitated the gesture. Words then started appearing on the blank pages. A light flashed and the Lawless Tome vanished.

***

When Karaskan saw the white and black hue surrounding him, it was already too late. In his last thoughts, he was utterly shocked. "(What is this magic? It's like…it's ordering me to sleep…)"

Truly, the Tome knocked out Karaskan. Nothing more.

Layla was surprised at first that there was no obvious change. But when she received the confirmation from the Tome itself, she informed everyone else.

Michael and Aphrodite were the first to act as their white tornado pierced through the sphere and struck the one who was inside.

The Hephaestus may have been brainwashed by Pandora and Karaskan but he wasn't dumb and certainly not dull. When the tornado closed in, he immediately understood what was happening.

Azes's bind was still active, but he had collected enough momentum to move. He swung his hammer to stop the descent of the tornado. The red cracks and the shockwaves it produced hampered the tornado as if there was an impenetrable wall blocking it.

After the sphere shattered, the steam was quickly dispersed by the wind and the ones who attacked next were Hades and Poseidon.

The former impaled his own shield with his sword and dropped it on Hephaestus. The weapons exploded and shrouded the Demon with bright flames. The explosion shook the earth and Hephaestus used his ax to at least cover his head.

His skin was burned badly and the tornado was gaining terrain. He was still resisting until Poseidon threw his weapon at him. The trident lanced Hephaestus’ back and, in the blink of an eye, encased him in a block of ice that extinguished the flames.

Finally, Zeus’ dragon coiled around the giant and bit his neck through the ice. Afterward, the tornado ultimately hit its target properly and wrecked the area, drilling the earth, and digging out tons of stone and soil.

Then, it was Ifrit's turn, precisely when Chronos opened his eyes. "It's over."

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