The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 461

As time passed, the End God’s expression grew increasingly fierce.

It must be because things weren’t going as planned, and his frustration was boiling over.

‘It’s over,’ I said, looking down at the End God. I had surrounded him with Ignis [a magical fire] to prevent any tricks, and I was trying to engage him in conversation.

‘The monsters you created with all your power can’t defeat Sein. And you can’t defeat me either.’

Inside and outside.

The tide had turned in our favor.

This battle is our victory.

‘…’

The End God stared at me, his mouth shut tight.

I don’t know what he’s thinking, but he clearly seems angry.

‘It’s your defeat for underestimating my companions.’

The End God was only wary of ‘me’ as an individual.

That’s the End God’s downfall.

‘If you had anticipated Mimir coming to help me and reinforced the barrier so thickly in advance, everything would have ended at that point.’

Because he excluded the possibility of someone breaking through this barrier, I had an opportunity.

‘If you hadn’t recklessly scattered your power outward… if you had considered the possibility that a comparable force was waiting outside, things wouldn’t have ended so easily.’

If the End God hadn’t given up on the battle, it wouldn’t have ended so easily.

If he hadn’t leaked his power outside, but had absorbed all the power he had scattered and prepared to defeat me.

If that had happened, I might have lost.

‘You lost because you were alone.’

This statement doesn’t just apply to the current situation.

‘It’s the same in the past. If you hadn’t turned all the gods into enemies in the past, but had chosen to build your own power, then the Human God wouldn’t have been born. Then you wouldn’t have died back then.’

The End God was too arrogant and conceited.

He assumed he was an absolute being, denied everything else, and destroyed it.

As a result, divine power leaked to the ground, and the Human God was born.

And that Human God took the End God’s life.

In the end, the reason the End God lost in the distant past, in the age of myths, was also because he was alone.

‘So, of course, you wouldn’t be dying at the hands of a human, the very thing you despise so much.’

The End God didn’t reflect or regret his defeat.

He showed no will to find the cause of his defeat and overcome it.

Because he is an absolute god.

He must have thought there was nothing to reflect on or fix.

‘You are a being inferior to the humans you despise so much.’

We reflect when we fail.

We reflect, find areas for improvement, and use them as stepping stones for new successes.

But the End God couldn’t even do this obvious thing.

The End God is just a dim-witted god, less than even us humans.

‘…’

The End God’s eyes sharpened even more.

Seeing such a dramatic reaction, it seems that the words about being inferior to humans are his Achilles’ heel [a fatal weakness].

‘You can’t answer, so I guess it’s hard to deny?’

‘…’

The End God didn’t answer.

Even though I kept poking at his sore spot, he didn’t say anything.

It was as if he was saying, ‘There’s nothing more to say, just kill me.’

‘…What are you plotting?’

That look made me feel very uneasy.

Currently, the End God is acting as if death is his wish.

As if he has set something up to happen after he dies.

As if something will start with death as a trigger.

Because of that, I can’t kill him rashly.

It felt like something irreversible would happen if I killed him.

‘I have no thoughts.’

Did he like my uneasy reaction?

The End God chuckled and opened his mouth.

‘I lost this time. It’s the way of the defeated to quietly leave the stage.’

The End God was coolly admitting that he was the loser.

That made me feel even more uneasy.

For that arrogant god to admit defeat so easily.

He must be up to something.

‘I can’t understand. What are you so suspicious about?’

The End God said with a sneer.

‘My current divine power is almost at its bottom. I still have a lot of mana, but it can’t stand against your mythic magic. There isn’t a single element that would allow me to defeat you.’

The End God crossed his arms leisurely.

‘You know very well that there’s no way to reverse this situation.’

‘…’

That’s right.

As the End God said, there is no way to reverse this situation.

Mimir and I have thought about it dozens, hundreds of times.

There was no way.

Logically, it’s right that it ends like this.

‘So kill me. Kill me and enjoy the peace.’

But the End God is a being beyond common sense.

There might be a way that isn’t common sense.

That’s why I’m stalling for time like this.

‘As expected of a beast. You’re really suspicious.’

The End God clicked his tongue.

‘I’ll say it again. You won this time. I will gladly accept death.’

A keyword that couldn’t be ignored came out.

‘…This time?’

‘You won this time.’

That means there’s a next time.

The End God smiled meaningfully.

‘I will lose my life now, but I will not disappear. Someday, as a new me again. I will be reborn as a being with the awareness of the End God. Just like I was reborn with this body as a mother.’

This was something I already knew.

The End God doesn’t die even if he dies.

He will be resurrected again when the time is right.

‘Are you saying you’ll be resurrected in the distant future and take revenge on me then?’

But that resurrection is a story of the very distant future.

How will he take revenge on me?

‘No. I have no intention of doing that.’

The End God laughed.

‘It will take at least tens of thousands of years for me to die like this and be resurrected again. By then, your soul will be worn out and extinguished. There will be no chance of meeting you again.’

Tens of thousands of years later.

It’s a very distant future.

‘Then. I will be resurrected on this land again. I will achieve my purpose again.’

The End God’s expression turned cold.

‘I will erase this world. And rebuild it as my own.’

Beyond the cold expression, his eyes were shining passionately.

That passionate light looked like anger, and it also looked like hope.

‘By completely erasing this world, I will make your existence as if it never existed from the beginning. I will deny this era itself.’

In fact, anger and hope. The two emotions coexisted.

‘That way, my defeat will be as if it never happened. Because everything will return to nothing with this era.’

The End God smiled faintly.

A smile that looked very happy.

‘I have been defeated by you now. But in the future, I will not be defeated by you. I will become an absolute god alone, not defeated by the Human God or you.’

It was sophistry [a clever but false argument].

Sophistry to the point where I wondered if there could be any more sophistry than this.

No, it would be more accurate to call it self-justification rather than sophistry.

The End God is unable to accept his current defeat.

He says he has been defeated, but in his heart, he doesn’t think he has been defeated, but has only retreated once.

That’s what he must be thinking.

‘So kill me with peace of mind. You are the victor now.’

‘…This bastard is even more of a nutjob than I thought.’

Mimir glared at the End God with a disgusted expression.

I could at least understand that I couldn’t understand the End God’s incomprehensible values.

But not that sophistry.

It’s disgusting because I can understand it.

For that to be a god.

That’s what I thought.

‘Say whatever you want. Because all of that will also be as if it never happened.’

The End God looked at me and Mimir with a comfortable expression.

The End God really seems to be trying to dismiss this whole situation as if it never happened.

It was self-justification that had reached the level of a god.

‘…Ha.’

Mimir shook her head as if there was no answer.

She looked like she didn’t want to see or talk anymore.

‘Successor.’

Mimir’s eyes were saying.

‘Enough, just kill him.’

‘I don’t want to see his face anymore, so just erase him.’

‘…Okay.’

I felt the same way.

I don’t want to hear the End God’s sophistry anymore.

It doesn’t seem like the End God has a last resort, so I can just kill him like this.

I moved the Ignis that I had positioned around him.

Just in case, I slowly and meticulously bound the End God.

‘You’re not letting your guard down until the end.’

‘That’s obvious.’

The Ignis slowly tightened around the End God.

In less than a minute, the Ignis will touch the End God’s body.

And then the End God will disappear from this world.

‘I will remember.’

Beyond the Ignis, the End God glared at me.

‘Your face. Your voice. Everything.’

I scoffed, looking at the End God.

‘You said you’d make it as if it never happened? What kind of sophistry is remembering?’

He said it wasn’t a defeat because he would make it as if it never happened.

But he will remember me. He will remember his hatred for me.

What kind of sophistry is this?

If he’s going to make it as if it never happened, he should forget his hatred for me as if it were flowing water.

‘I will remember it and recreate it in the new world I create.’

‘…What?’

Words I never imagined came out.

‘And I will make you suffer eternally in that world.’

‘…’

‘I will make you taste all the terrible pain you can’t even imagine.’

That’s because the End God’s words were too pathetic.

It was like a kid getting beat up by a friend at school, and not being able to express his anger directly to his friend, so he creates his friend’s avatar in a game and beats the avatar up.

It was the ultimate patheticness that made me frown.

‘All of your companions will be subjected to the same punishment as you. You should look forward to it. Everyone…’

‘Oh, shut up.’

Mimir cut off the End God’s words with a disgusted expression.

Chiiiiik-!

At that moment, the Ignis touched the End God’s skin, and the sound of flesh burning was heard.

‘If you want to do that, then do it. It’s your world. I don’t care if you do a puppet show or a torture show with us as puppets.’

Mimir said, looking down at the End God as if he were pathetic.

‘Of course, if you can do that.’

A strange light flowed from Mimir’s eyes.

She had a very happy expression.

‘But do you know? Divine power can be researched enough using modern technology.’

‘…’

The End God frowned.

He had an expression that asked what she was trying to say.

‘Don’t you understand what I’m saying? If we keep researching, we can neutralize the divine law that allows you to be resurrected infinitely in the future.’

At Mimir’s words, not only the End God but also I was surprised.

A means to completely kill the End God will be created?

‘…Nonsense.’

‘Do you think it’s nonsense?’

Mimir smiled meaningfully.

‘We even completed the no-chant casting of mythic magic, which you declared was absolutely impossible?’

‘…’

The End God’s expression was completely distorted.

‘Look forward to it. I will definitely find a way to completely kill you, even if I have to use all of my remaining life.’

Chiiiiik-!

The End God’s body melts.

The skin had already melted and disappeared, and the internal bones and organs were exposed.

The End God, who had melted more than half, with his eyeballs protruding, frowned.

It was an expression that couldn’t be more unpleasant.

‘According to your theory, you will be an eternal loser then?’

‘You…’

The End God was enraged by Mimir’s sarcasm.

No matter what, it seemed that he couldn’t stand Mimir’s words.

Mimir looked at the End God and chuckled.

I didn’t like that she was so relaxed until the end.

Now, I feel a little relieved.

‘I promise you, I will definitely…’

‘Yeah, I’m not scared.’

Mimir stuck her tongue out slightly and made a ‘bleh’ sound.

The End God’s expression became even more ferocious.

‘Definitely… definitely you two…’

The End God’s words were not finished.

Before that, the End God’s body completely burned and disappeared.

‘That day won’t come.’

Mimir narrowed her eyes, looking at the place where the End God had been standing.

‘You’re done here. I’ll make it that way.’

With determined eyes, she stared at that spot.

For about 3 seconds.

And at that moment.

Crack, crack, crack-!

The black curtain that had filled the surroundings began to collapse.

As the End God disappeared, the barrier that the End God had strengthened also began to disappear.

‘It’s over.’

Mimir said casually, looking at the collapsing barrier.

‘…Yeah.’

I also looked at the same place as Mimir and answered.

Beyond the broken barrier, sunlight began to pour in.

It was as if light was driving out the darkness.