Beyond SSS-Rank After Getting The God System-Chapter 242 - 241: The Battle For Humanity Part 5

Lillim Vs Ura

Lillim arrived in what seemed to be a recreation of Earth, as it looked in 3000 BC, at least from what she could approximate with her memory scattered by the time differences between realms.

There were thousands of people, though she could tell they were all illusory.

"Ugh, this era was so boring, a bustling city of a thousand measly people. Whichever one of you is here, please show yourself so we can get this over with and I’ll warn you now that your window to surrender is going to close."

"Relax, Mother Of Demons. I created this illusion after finding Mobius’ sands of time. My gift lies in becoming others, but the people of the current age are so terribly dull and I have no desire to play them."

"I don’t care, surrender or die, so I can finally focus on the game and liberating my king from its influence." Lillim had still not tested the full extent of her new body and was eager to do so.

Unfortunately for her she had yet to find a challenge in her new state and thanks to Klaire and Kyubi jumping several steps, she would have to wait to test it against fully fledged ten-star entities and her grandson wouldn’t accept her seeking out a deathmatch.

On the other hand however, Ura introduced himself and made it clear he would not be surrendering under any circumstances, but as she tried to pinpoint him she found it an arduous task.

She had rejected listening to any information Carl had on them, in order to maximise the challenge that her opponents would offer. Whilst she would have preferred a more direct manner of challenge, she was honestly a little happy to find any at all.

She focused her senses, but it seemed that the more she tried to find him, the harder achieving that became. The process was a learning experience she desperately wanted, but unfortunately for Ura, she was not in possession of the ability to tolerate failure, a fact especially true when it came to herself.

To make matters worse, she still hadn’t gotten used to the new sensation of time flow, so in just a few seconds her enhanced perception rendered her patience spent and led her to take drastic action.

She took on her true form and released her full aura in luo of a genuine last warning, then plunged her claws into the sandy ground they were stood upon. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then a set of thirty large blades began a cycle of erupting, retracting, then erupting elsewhere.

She kept the emergence point random to prevent him from following an attack pattern, but what she didn’t know, is that it was an effort made pointless by the fact he couldn’t follow it all.

Lillim’s attack had erupted and retracted more than a thousand times in the first second and all that remained of Ura was a pile of fleshy ribbons as the illusion began to fade, revealing a sterile white room, which housed a central podium upon which sat an hourglass.

"Well that was disappointing, but I’m sure Raziel would like the hourglass."

As she collected it, she decided that there was no fun to have against anyone but Gilgamesh and returned to give the gift immediately and watch things unfold in Alysse’s home.

As she arrived in the Queen Of Constucts’ palace, she sat down and began observing, but the sight made her regret bloodshed for only the second time in her life.

Squidge was clearly in turmoil over it, Kyubi was on a rampage, Klaire was making sure her target lived just long enough for everything he treasured to die before him, Tenko was toying with his prey, as was Sol-Devourer and finally Amaterasu’s target had lost the will to fight before it began.

"It’s going much easier than we expected so far, isn’t it?" Alysse said, her sombre tone noting what Lillim was picking up on.

"Yes it is. Unfortunately, as I’m sure you’re aware, this will be something that stains their consciences for quite a while. Where is Omy?"

"I turned her screen off, it was too hard to watch." Lillim walked over and hugged her little protogé, then she opened a portal and stepped through, before a short while later Omedra fell back through it.

Returning a second later, Lillim had them open a portal to the next spot, stepped through and a few moments later returned. This cycle repeated until Lillim had cleared all of Omedra’s worlds.

When she had finished those she moved onto Levi’s, when she had finished those, she moved onto Aldra’s, in the end none of them completed all of their lists. The only ones she didn’t rescue, ended up being Squidge and Equinox, because Equinox was almost finished and Squidge was trusted to be too stubborn to relent and retire himself when he was at his limit.

When she was finished and back at the palace, they all wore sour faces. "Don’t be foolish children, this was far easier than we expected. War is one thing, but slaughter is something else completely and you are all far too precious to be tainted by such barbarism."

They thanked her one by one, then tried to disperse, but Lillim forbade them to be alone and sent them to their partners and family, with explicit instructions to stay busy and as they all went to help with the evacuee preparations Alysse thanked Lillim.

Lillim didn’t acknowledge it, she sat down and asked to be awoken if the need arose, then closed her eyes.

The truth was, Lillim had seen several iterations of herself over her incredibly long life. At one point, she had been a carefree spirit much like Kitsunoko, at another she was essentially a bloodthirsty assassin.

She would never admit it, but her favourite by far was "Grandma Lillim" and the love and confidence that afforded her from so many individuals, all of whom she loved in return.

"Lillim! Carl’s going to Gilgamesh!"

The instant her eyes snapped open, Carl’s battle became secondary however and all of creation’s eyes turned in the same direction, toward a small planet of mostly blue that had been the starting line for everything.

The barrier that had warped everybody’s perception of it suddenly cracked and it exuded an aura that felt like tens of thousands of Elder-gods.

"Carl can handle himself, I’m going to go start the fox’s punishment."

As Lillim opened the portal to where she sensed that ever minuscule but always somehow aura, her blood froze in her veins. It wasn’t that of the carefree little fox they all loved, but a force separate from the laws and their many lines, one with the authority to dictate how they behave.

Lillim tore the portal open furiously and stormed through, pinching a fluffy ear. "You have a lot of explaining to do young lady, but before that, let me explain something; I don’t care how high and mighty you get, you will always be our troublesome little fox, so get that aura under control and get ready to spend a lot of time looking at your bedroom walls!"

As Kitsunoko burst into tears and clung to her, the unmistakable form of a smile was plain to see on her face, Lillim’s lecture not upsetting but rather exactly what she needed to hear.

Carl Vs Gilgamesh

As Carl arrived in the chamber that he had met with the committee on every occasion, Gilgamesh stood staring at something beyond normal sight. His undeniably noble features framed by the ever burning halo above his head, which illuminated his arms and armour.

"I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for this to end."

Gilgamesh didn’t answer, choosing instead to keep staring, until a grin spread across his face.

"Perfect. Margo’s game continues at last."

The moment the words left his lips, the world began to twist and revolt against itself. The walls expanded outward to escape a portal flared into life, reality itself trying to escape the being breaking through.

It was a moment of grotesque defiance in the face of defeat and the grinning face of Gilgamesh said it all. He had foreseen his defeat and rather than maintain any pride, he threw it away for the chance to watch his enemy bleed before he died or escaped.

"Well I’ll be! If it isn’t Grumbling Giggly or whatever your name is, side-by-side with my very own boy chick! What a merry affair this all seems to be, delightful!..." As Margo looked aside and saw Gilgamesh trying desperately to disappear, his eyes seemed to bounce off of him and on to Carl.

"...Truly superb, remarkable, I’d certainly remark on it and already have! To think my little chirping boy chick can now stand strong in the face of his dear old dad! A challenger has entered the ring for the title of Papa! Hahahahaha!"

The last two lines, made Carl’s blood boil, it was the kind of cliché twist that was entirely predictable. So Carl decided to act in a way that was entirely unpredictable, desperate to try and catch Margo’s interest to be left unhindered.

Carl ignored Margo and made for Gilgamesh, time slowed to a crawl to his eyes and every footfall echoed with the weight of humanity’s future.

To reach his target, he had no choice but to dash in front of Margo and within arm’s reach, for an almost non-existent fraction of second he wondered if Margo was going to let him pass.

As he came almost level though, he saw the Mad Aspect’s arm move to catch him, before it froze as a portal appeared to Carl’s other side and Levi emerged for her rematch.

Her countless eyes blinked open and burned with the aura of an ascended and a glimmer of elation twinkled in the corner of his eye as he found himself utterly paralysed and unable unable to resist.

In the same instant however, he created a skin tight barrier to neutralise it and his hand moved to end the all-seeing leviathan’s life, but in that moment all of their attentions were stolen.

The barrier that had warped everybody’s perception of Earth suddenly cracked and it exuded an aura that felt like tens of thousands of Elder-gods.

Carl decided to seize the opportunity to catch both of them and kept focused on moving, detaching his blinding soul form.

As Carl’s physical body kept moving towards Gilgamesh, his soul-form began burning through Margo’s barrier with a barrage of punches wrapped in highly condensed divinity.

Finally, Carl reached Gilgamesh, a ball of divinity structured to become a Horobi-star prepared to end the ancient’s existence.

Then several more portals opened all around them, as though Chaos itself had decided to intervene and push all the players on the board together.

As Carl’s body continued to move, a portal opened to his right and a youthful looking woman with dark hair and olive skin began to emerge, while to his left emerged an elderly man whose hair and beard were the same time worn white and eyes glowing a pale blue.

Against Levi a massive face like the hybrid between an octopus and a dragon emerged with eyes that flared in anticipation of one on the brink of starvation about to feast.

Carl dropped his barrier without hesitation and built it back up around his endangered daughter. Even though the creature had been paralysed completely, all it needed to do was fall.

Suddenly Margo snapped himself out of distraction and turned, smashing Carl’s soul form back towards his physical one whilst preparing to finally destroy Levi once and for all as his face wore an expression that was undecidedly torn between world-burning wrath and intoxicating euphoria.

Even to the time-stopping perceptive abilities of the ascended, Margo was able to move fast enough to make them wonder if time truly hadn’t stopped for everyone bar him. In that harrowing instant, Carl thought he might be forced to watch his daughter die helplessly through his soul-form’s eyes.

Then as if Chaos decided the situation wasn’t as amusing as planned, two more portals blazed into life, one either side of Margo.

Through them two figures able to move just as, if not faster emerged.

From his right emerged the unmistakable but mutated form of Illerion, two eyes glowing a blood red, with hair now a regal purple and the two dying her skin a mixture of them.

From his left emerged the last one Carl expected to see, especially since the last time he had seen her, it was on the other side of the true gate and she lacked a physical form. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The moment the two saw each other, they seemed to strategise with nothing but eye-contact, even as their common enemy made to seize them.

Before he could however, they swapped places and Illerion ducked under the arm and pulled a blade crackling with untamed divinity that far surpassed her already terrifying usual limits by an immeasurable degree.

The blade cut through his barrier, flesh and bone of his left leg without resistance.

Ishtar, quite literally on the other hand, stepped out, into and through her target’s counter and accepted the blow as a fair price as she planted the foot and twisted to pull a blade of her own from the portal and slice through his right arm before stabbing it through his sternum and swinging it upward to bisect his neck and head.

The sudden change seemed to bring everything back to realtime, Illerion and Ishtar moving as an unfollowable blur and kicking the squid-dragon back through its portal, whilst Carl’s soul-form slammed back into him and helped him force his divinity into Gilgamesh, who in turn was sent flying into the wall behind as the woman and man emerging either side of Carl were paralysed by Levi and fell onto him before they were each grabbed by a dozen hands reaching through their portals and dragged back to where they came from.

All the portals disappeared in an instant, the chaos dying immediately, except the sound of buckling metal from where Gilgamesh struck the panelled walls in front of Carl and the sound of ominous clapping from behind.

"I must admit, you two did splendid! How have you been dear? Looking very lively for a dead woman, not sure who the elf is, but our boy is a bit of a player... Maybe a lady friend? Nevermind that though, he’s a little disappointing, couldn’t even finish Grumbly-Giggles ov-"

As he spoke Gilgamesh began to howl in pain, trying to utilise every means at his disposal to stop an attack in its tracks, but everything he tried was absorbed straight into the point that Carl had struck.

"...Ha! Well colour me surprised! Hunted by every god for ages with no luck, only to be done in by a womanising ginger with weird babies!..."

Carl then opened a portal in front of himself and dashed through, the portal closing behind him immediately.

"...Back to disappointing in a blink! Some hero Ishtar! that suflay is as flat as your sist-"

Before he finished, the true nature of Carl’s attack manifested, the Horobi-star he had planted blooming as Gilgamesh was ripped apart, the parts burnt to ashes and the ashes erased from existence and finally Carl reappeared from nowhere and no portal to strike Margo and send him toward the flourishing star.

It was a delusional hope they all held in their hearts as he approached it, one they all knew was false, but it still crushed them all when he suddenly stopped and rotated to stand flat on the floor again.

"Is that because I said your aunt is flat? Didn’t know you knew her. Anyway! Well done! Marvellous little attempt there! But no! My game has hardly been played, I can’t let it end so soon! Really though, great attempt, well done Trophies and achievements for everyone! Just kidding, they weren’t in the budget."

"Being a widower hasn’t changed you at all, Dear. Margo, let’s go, keep this between us!"

"No! no-no-no-no-no, No! Can’t, besides, pretty sure marriage is til death do us part and we’re a bit past that! Boy-chick! You got a way with the ladies, hook your dad up with a good’n!"

"Get fucked."

"What a mouth, even your language got stronger! Seriously though, well done. Fair to say you beat me today. Mini-boss battle numero uno completed. Enjoy the peace until level two begins. Ta-ta for now Boy-chick, my-chick, spare-chick and chick-chick!"

As quickly as everything had fallen into chaos, Margo disappeared and left them in absolute calm, but like displaced water the ambient chaos of the world they lived in flooded back to fill the space left in the wake of Gilgamesh’s demise and Margo’s departure.

Metal creaked and groaned like that of a sinking ship as the pluto facility started to fall apart as a result of being warped by Margo’s presence.

"Tiamutael, send everyone in this base to where my hometown is!"

Before anyone could even blink, they were in the vast desolate space that had been cleared during Carl’s battle with Clarisse. There were hundreds present and Levi immediately flew up to ensure they were all paralysed, then Carl used divinity to ascend and address them all with the general situation.

When that business had been settled, Carl used what power he had left to create some more of Legion to oversee them all and then turned his attention to more personal matters.

"First of all, thank you both. If you two hadn’t come, then Levi would be dead. Second of all, that’s a nice look, Illerion, but since I remember Ki-ko whispering to you I guess that’s her doing? Third, I don’t think I really need to guess that she’s involved with you being here."

"First, you’re welcome. Second, you would be right. Third, please remember I’d never have been able to save Levi without her."