"...ah, that poor thing," Blake murmured as he watched how Ashton nearly passed out due to how much he was laughing.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that he's feeling a tad bit of pity towards the Celestial God.
It's such a bizarre thing to see, a human mocking an actual God blatantly in the face without suffering repercussions. Ashton had the god dancing on top of his palms all this time and the god couldn't even do anything about it.
He was completely outclassed and outsmarted in the battle of wits. And the one who defeated an ancient being like him was none other than a creature whose age doesn't even come close to a fraction of his.
What a truly humiliating defeat. But such a feat may never be replicated as easily if it wasn't Ashton who does it.
"I mean, are we even needed here?" Alice asked nobody in particular. "From the looks of it, the Celestial God's nearly dead from the sheer anger he feels. Ashton could just continue this way and this will be over eventually."
"Killing a god through anger and vexation..." Mary murmured, "That'll be an epic worthy of his myth. I'm not against it."
Blake, Mary, and Alice were fine. They're at their peak state actually.
While it was true that they were swallowed by the Abyss, they weren't really in any form of danger. The Abyss doesn't have the strength to consume them swiftly, especially with their strength. If anything, it'll take months, years even, of constant attempts before the Abyss, could do so.
That's plenty of time for them to plan to escape on their own.
But of course, with Ashton here, there's no need for them to stress themselves with that. Not only did he seal the Abyss, but he had also cured them of their wounds and exhaustion, returning them to their peak state and more.
Additionally, there's no need for them to worry about their men.
Ashton already informed them that the army was on their way home. He had established a Spatial Tunnel that replaced the wormhole, allowing them to return to their world safely.
Their trip was just going to be longer this time, but at least they were safe and sound. That's what's more important.
Truly, everything happened just how Ashton planned it. The Grand Commanders themselves are clueless about some parts of the plan but that was for the best. After all, knowing too much would ruin it. Besides, Ashton included their possible reactions to his planning anyway so he was completely prepared for everything.
Now, the only thing that's left was the final confrontation against the culprit of it all. The Celestial God.
"...ahh! Whew! Okay, that's enough. My stomach hurts from laughing already." Ashton wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and sighed. "Let's get this over with shall we?"
"I will kill you!!!" The Celestial God roared, sending out waves of pure malice which Ashton just waved off.
"Ah, no, no!" Ashton shook his head and formed a cross on his fingers. "This battle won't be between us. I'm quite scared you see. Direct confrontation has never been my specialty."
Despite wanting nothing else other than to wipe that smug grin out of Ashton's face, the Celestial God could only stand still in his place.
As much as he hated to admit this, there was no denying it. Ashton was virtually untouchable. The Celestial God, even up to this point, has no idea how to deal with his Dream Laws.
He doesn't know when it starts or where it ends. He wouldn't even know that it has happened unless Ashton reveals it himself. It was truly vexing yet there was nothing he could do about it.
For all he knows, Ashton might deliberately be provoking him into making a move just to humiliate him even more. Of course, there's also a chance that he might be telling the truth as well. But see how finicky all of this is?
Whatever he does, Ashton could use it to his advantage. No matter how hard he tries, there's nothing he could do to gain an advantage against him.
What he hated the most is that Ashton had the perfect grasp of this situation. As much as he didn't want to believe that Ashton has accounted for everything, he was starting to believe it.
"You will be fighting my friends instead," Ashton revealed. Making this decision, probably on his own. "Wasn't that your idea? Since you can't do anything against me, you'll target my friends and my family to hurt me."
"Well, I'm giving you that chance." Ashton showed a flashy grin which made the Celestial God sick to his stomach. "Don't worry, I promise that I won't interfere in your fight. I won't use my Dream Laws to interfere either. You will truly fight them in the flesh."
"You could kill them, or they could kill you. Whatever the result is, will be up to fate. I'll just be a bystander this time around, I promise."
And as if on cue, the Grand Commanders flew forward and faced him, gripping their weapons in stark opposition to his Divinity.
The Celestial God noticed that Ashton was creating distance away from them, yet he didn't do anything to oppose it. Instead, he gave the commanders a measured gaze, formulating a plan on his head.
Amen was tired of this. He was truly at the end of his wits and patience. It hurts to even think, making him decide that it's not worth it anymore.
The plan he made was simple. Break all the opposition on his way. He may not be as strategic as Ashton was but he was surely powerful. Using his strength, he will show Ashton that in the face of absolute strength, all schemes are useless.
If this was Ashton's plan to weaken his resolve, then he just had to smash it apart. Whether he adheres to his promise or not, Amen doesn't care anymore.
His final goal was Ashton's death. He will make sure that after all of this, the Child of Prophecy will fall. He can recoup his loss, he could start all over again so long as he lives. That is his ultimate goal.
Seeing the steeled resolve behind the Celestial God's countenance, the Grand Commanders braced for the gruesome fight.
With a stressed grunt, the Celestial God raised his fingers and called upon the power of the Celestial Bodies.
A milky pure silver glow concentrated at his fingertips. This was pure Celestial Energy he siphoned from the stars around him. Like a gun, he pulled the trigger which sent a concentrated beam of silver light to streak towards the Grand Commanders.
Blake snorted and stepped forward. He took a bracing stance and received the attack head-on. The attack landed on him but it failed to move him. Blake grinned behind his shield and tilted it up, deflecting the beam there as well.
A steady chant could be heard from Mary's lips as four orbs of light condensed around her. In a split second, these orbs flew with blinding speeds toward the Celestial God.
Alice was idle either. Stepping forwards bravely, she planet one foot firmly in the vacuum of space as if it was solid ground. The Excalibur in her hands glowed firmly with a resplendent golden brilliance. She performed a wide horizontal sweep which sliced everything in her path.
The Celestial God grunted in the face of these attacks. He clenched both of his fists and pulled the space around him, forming a vortex that swallowed the orbs that Mary sent toward him.
This vortex, however, was sliced in half as soon as it was done absorbing Mary's attacks. This happened because of the sheer sharpness behind Alice's attack.
The Celestial God experienced a drawback because of that, but nothing that injured him severely.
Amen then called for the power of the Celestial Bodies once more. This caused numerous space rifts to open around him. Then, the rifts started spewing chunks of asteroid towards the Grand Commanders.
Mary clicked her tongue and summoned her bow. In mere seconds, she drew the string hundreds of times, sending volleys of arrows. Each arrow penetrated every asteroid that appeared from the space rifts, causing them to explode before they even came close to them.
Suffice it to say, Mary treated this attack as if it was just some target practice...
While Mary was doing that, Blake suddenly turned into his Titan Form. He flew towards the nearby lifeless planet and ripped it out of its orbit. He then hurled it towards the Celestial God, saying:
"You aren't the only one who could toss stars, you know?"
The Celestial God snarled and erected a barrier surrounding himself. But that didn't last long because Alice had something to say about that.
"No flimsy barrier for you."
She drew her sword and performed a series of slashes that pulverized the barrier in no time. The Celestial God's pupils dilated and hurried to form another one but it was too late.
The planet that Blake hurled at him was already on his face. And to really drive the idea home, Mary shot the planet with an explosive arrow, causing it to blast shards at the Celestial God's entire being.
"Anything you could do, we could do better. I suggest you treat us seriously now or you will die full of regrets."
