Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-420

Amen gritted his teeth and released a powerful pulse that sent the nearby space in shambles.

All of a sudden, everything within a thousand-mile radius around him twisted into a vortex. At its core, a black hole formed, swallowing everything just like the Abyss.

It took nearly all of Amen's concentration to sustain the black hole. In his mind, so long as the black hole was there, it didn't matter what kind of attacks the Grand Commanders threw at him, the black hole was just going to swallow them anyway.

Unfortunately for him though, he had severely overestimated his plan.

Alice raised a brow and scoffed. She raised the Excalibur and struck down. Her strike was filled with the brilliance that the Excalibur exudes plus her extremely potent knowledge about the Sword Law.

As the Sword Empress of this generation, she had reached a realm where there was nothing she couldn't cut so long as she puts her mind to it. She just needed a sword in her hand and she could carve a path toward sovereignty.

As her sword swung downwards, everything in front of her was sliced in half; the stars, space, elements, and even time itself. This also includes the Black Hole that Amen was so proud of and it even included himself.

The Black Hole went unstable and it caused an explosion that nearly devastated the nearby cluster of stars.

Amen himself was also sliced in half, but he didn't die. His regeneration managed to stitch him whole again. However, that didn't dull the pain he felt.

And just because he's still alive doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't suffering from Alice's attacks.

Alice's Sword Law still lingered despite his recovery. It wreaked havoc on his inner physique, destroying him from the inside. It was a scar that he will feel for a while, but it wouldn't kill him. It'll just cause immense agony.

The onslaught of the Grand Commanders didn't stop there either.

After seeing that the Celestial God managed to recover from Alice's strike. The other two wasted no time and continued with their attacks as well...

Mary condensed a giant arrow from her bow. It shone with a divine brilliance that could almost compete with the Celestial God's own. She released the shot and it streaked towards the god, bypassing spacetime as if they were nothing but air to it.

That contained a potent energy that was enough to pierce and destroy several celestial bodies at once. The arrow flew so fast that the Celestial God barely had time to defend himself.

Additionally, he was also interrupted by Blake who suddenly increased the pull of gravity around him by a thousandfold, preventing him from even raising his hand. This resulted in Amen tanking the arrow to his face, which exploded and engulfed the Celestial God within.

And just because she could, Alice followed up by shifting her stance. She performed a deadly stab with her sword which negated distance altogether. Her target was God's heart.

Amen roared in agony. The Grand Commanders of Humanity didn't hold anything back against him. They were deadset on killing him and it shows.

He had never been injured this much in his entire life, and he had lived for eons. To add to this vexation he felt, it wasn't those ancient beings that managed to hurt him this much.

It was the creatures that he had once thought to be pushovers. Weak and fribble creatures that he thought would never amount to anything, yet slapped him with the cruel truth.

He had built his kingdom and his prestige for eons. He started a universal purge to eliminate all sorts of threats to him, yet these once weak and pitiful creatures evolved in an explosive manner which caught him off-guard and ruined everything he had built so far.

If he had known that this was going to happen, then he would've eradicated them sooner.

Once the explosion subsided, it revealed the Celestial God's wretched form. His once divine countenance was replaced by an overwhelming agony and weakness.

His divine body was torn into pieces, struggling to keep itself together. Black goo oozed out of his wounds, a sign of the Abyss leaking from his body.

Due to his injuries, the truth behind his form was displayed before everybody. The white and gold around turned out to be nothing more than a facade. Beneath all of it, was a wriggling mass of darkness.

A sad and ominous form of darkness was Amen's true form all along. The Divine grandiose he exuded earlier was just a mask to hide his real wretched form.

Amen was a Nightmare Incarnate. Most likely an ancient one but still, he's born from the depths of the Abyss, which explains his connection to it.

As for the explanation why he hid his true form? That remains a mystery, something that only Amen himself could explain.

One could think that he did it because he hated what he looked like, or because he had other plans entirely. However, if Amen himself doesn't reveal the truth behind it, then these would remain as is... speculation and nothing more.

Alice, Mary, and Blake didn't seem to be perturbed by what they saw. In fact, one could tell that they're somehow already expecting this. Ashton didn't look surprised either.

In their eyes, whatever Amen's true form was, didn't exactly matter. After all, his appearance didn't change what he is...an enemy to their peace. Therefore, this goal still remains the same.

Kill him to save their race. It's as simple as that.

Amen, could feel their desire to kill him. It was so thick that it was already manifesting around him. And judging by how injured he was, he could tell that if he didn't do something right now, he will die within the next minute or so.

And so, in his desperation, Amen tried to flee, sending the Grand Commanders in hot pursuit.

Amen ran towards where the Abyss was sealed. Facing the possible threat of dying, his instincts kicked in and caused him to seek shelter from the one that gave birth to him.

Using his power to harness the strength of all kinds of Celestial Bodies, Amen impacted the seal, desperately trying his best to poke even a small hole he could use to crawl inside and reunite with his mother.

Sadly for him, no amount of raw force would ever move or even touch the seal that Ashton placed on the Abyss, so his efforts were useless.

The seal was created from Ashton's Dream Laws, which were ethereal in form. Unless the Celestial God somehow miraculously gains even the slightest clue on how it works, he could only dream of ever touching the seal.

On top of that, the Extreme Yang Illumination Array was included in the seal's creation. Extreme Yang is an element that's harmful to the Abyss and its kind. This meant that not only was Amen unable to touch that seal, but even coming close to it was harmful to him since he was also born from the Abyss.

That being said, Amen was truly desperate now. He was fighting for his life. He no longer held any thought about winning or taking revenge. Those were beaten out of him already.

This was the reason behind it anyway. He wants to live.

He wanted to be an immortal figure, a creature that transcends even the lifespan of time and space itself. He wanted to live forever, to be untouchable. That's what he dreamt of.

Originally, he was satisfied with just existing in his own space. If it weren't for that ridiculous prophecy he received from one of his oracles eons ago, he would've stayed in his place forever.

Amen was afraid of dying. He didn't want to die, he wanted to live. That's why when he received a prophecy that someone out there was fated to kill him, he got consumed by fear.

His fear turned irrational and he started a universal conquest. Anything or anybody that could pose an existential threat to him was an enemy in his eyes. Something that he must squash like a bug to ensure his immortality.

Amen had set up many schemes and plots to achieve his goals. He was ready to sacrifice everything to pursue True Immortality in his own ways, yet despite his accumulations and frantic desire to live forever, he still couldn't manage to escape the bindings of fate.

He might've been able to postpone it, but that's all he could do. Now, his time has come.

The worst part is...the prophecy might not necessarily be true. Because there, it was said that the Child of Prophecy will be born to kill him, yet Ashton doesn't seem to be all too concerned about his fate. He's just watching.

The ones who truly wanted him dead were his friends...

Said friends already caught up to him, and with their combined efforts, launched a devastating attack that he just couldn't avoid anymore.

He already threw all caution to the wind. His desperation went into overdrive as he desperately tried to seek shelter towards the Abyss, yet until the very end...he failed.

And just like that, the Celestial God's dream turned into dust, scattering away along the vacuum of space, just like what happened to his body. Even until his last breath, all Amen could think of was...

'...True Immortality...was it all just a lie?'