Chapter 540 (1): Elohim x the Man Who Fell to Earth

Creak!!

Under the churning waves, the sound of metal being forcefully distorted echoed, followed by a deafening explosion. White foam surged as a crimson light shot into the sky at incredible speed.

Crushed by the overwhelming external force, the twisted machine was barely recognizable. Yet, under the intense pressure, Mechanical Augmentation underwent evolution, pushing its overall capabilities to new heights.

High above, the machine unfurled, rapidly reshaping itself into a colossal interstellar warship over two kilometers long. Its dense arsenal of weapons activated, locking onto the pale ocean below and unleashing a relentless barrage of firepower.

When in doubt, fire.

As the old saying goes: desperate times call for tactical employment, while total assault is enough in times of sufficient firepower. The Horseman of War, with his endless energy and renewable information resources, faced an enemy he couldn’t destroy—one that could adapt just like him. Thus, he chose the strategy he was most adept at.

His CPU told him that Wayne defied logic, that understanding him was meaningless. Forget everything else. Just bomb the hell out of him.

Electromagnetic cannons streaked through the sky in crimson beams, slicing through the onslaught of tendrils. Each shell that plunged into the depths of the sea sent pale waves surging.

The bombardment was powerful, but it only scoured the surface rather than erase the entire pale ocean. The paleness’s regenerative ability outpaced the Horseman of War’s output. The more he killed, the more it grew back. Like the mythical Hydra, when it lost one tentacle, it would just grow two.

It was impossible to kill them all. Absolutely impossible.

The Horseman of War faced the same dilemma as Elian. While Wayne could do nothing to him, he couldn’t do anything to Wayne, either. The difference was that under Wayne’s pressure, he could evolve. Then...

Wayne would evolve, too.

It was like a fight between the left foot and the right foot.

Rumble!!

The interstellar warship morphed again, its streamlined hull transforming into a space fortress. The monstrous vessel ten kilometers in diameter cast a massive shadow over the pale ocean.

Below, layer upon layer of crimson energy rippled like water, gathering terrifying power from the fortress’s surroundings. Red energy spheres crackled with lightning, their hues darkening as they displaced air, exuding a devastating aura that threatened to end the world.

Literally. It was no exaggeration to say that the single blast could cleave the Chosen Land in half.

The pale ocean stopped writhing abruptly. A fissure split open, thousands of kilometers wide. A massive eyeball had opened, locking onto the fortress high above.

Intangible whispers spread, ancient, decayed, and incomprehensible. They disrupted the fortress and shook the black energy sphere. It nearly collapsed.

Boom—

Following a quick succession of explosions of the white, liquefied space, black shockwaves blasted straight into the pale ocean, striking the eyeball with unstoppable force. The tremendous attack slammed into the eye’s iris, sending ripples cascading outward. With a sharp crack, the iris shattered. The black light surged and thrust through the eyeball to plunge deep into the core of the pale ocean.

Blinding light erupted toward the sky, the expanding energy lifting large swathes of white foam into the air. In an instant, Berlo, the capital of Prussia, vanished without a trace.

Like dominoes, the devastation spread from Berlo. More and more of the pale ocean was torn off and launched into the sky until half of Prussia was gone. The violently shaking ground finally settled.

From high above, one would see a black sphere hundreds of kilometers wide had embedded itself into the pale land, crackling with electricity. Ripples of energy spread and warped space itself. The magnetic field went wild, and gravity lost equilibrium. The entire sky darkened and brightened erratically, with currents slithering across the horizon with thunderous roars.

Then, there was silence. Following a barely audible crack, a black deluge rushed across the land, obliterating Prussia, reducing it to dust before evaporating it.

The shockwaves didn’t stop. They barreled past Prussia’s borders and ravaged the neighboring territories. Even from the depths of space, the darkness was visible.

“The Horseman of War has reached his limit. We can retrieve him now...”

The Horseman of Pestilence gazed down at the Chosen Land. The continent had been cleaved in two, the surface uneven. In its heart, a large landmass had even been gouged out, like a crater left by a meteorite.

“Too bad no one died,” Famine said regretfully. “Everyone has been corrupted.”

Pestilence nodded. It was a shame. Without Wayne, the Horseman of War’s strike would’ve awakened Death, making the ritual much smoother.

“What about Death? Should we retrieve them?”

“I’ll handle that myself,” said Pestilence. “Once, I carved a world out of the Astral Plane and created lives. Bring War there, and Death will wake soon.”

“How about Elian?”

“Irrelevant. She’s never been part of the plan,” said Pestilence. “Her purpose was to create war, and she’s done her part. It’s time for her to exit the stage.”

“She knows a lot of sensitive information. Is it wise to leave her to the enemy?”

“Doesn’t matter. The Final Judgment will be upon us soon, and all will be doomed. Whether they know of it or not won’t change anything.”

Pestilence shifted his gaze to the writhing pale ocean and the ‘humans’ coming back to life within it. He said coolly, “Wayne thinks that he’s protecting the world, but it’s the contrary. Since he’s become the world, we only need to judge him to judge the entire world.”

With a wave, he retrieved a metallic head from a distant void. It was War’s head, severed and banished to the Astral Plane by Wayne himself.

***

White foam writhed and multiplied exponentially, filling the bisected Chosen Land at a visible pace. Life of all scales returned, and ruins reassembled. Everything was restored to its original state, from something as small as flowers and grass to something as big as mountains and buildings.

A white mass surged and took the form of Wayne. His face ashen, he coughed twice.

The cost of thoughts was so steep that he almost didn’t make it.

“Amazing. I can only take nine attacks like that. What do I do on the tenth hit...?”

Wayne’s expression darkened with concern. He was like someone who worried about running out of power when the battery level was 90%.

That was the downside of being a protagonist. The villains could do whatever they wanted and bomb whatever they wanted to bomb. But heroes had to protect the world, and that required careful consideration of many aspects.

In the sky, the space fortress had shrunk and reverted to its original form: the Horseman of War and his metallic steed. The metalhead couldn’t convey melancholy with his expression, but his dim energy eyes spoke volumes. He was clearly just as frustrated. He had given it his all, yet hadn’t even taken off a leaf. He was in despair, too.

How could he be the Horseman of War if he couldn’t even kill a single lifeform?

The two stared at each other. The Horseman of War had four eyes—if you counted his mount—while Wayne only had two. To make up for it, he opened his large chest eye to give himself a third eye.

He was still at a number disadvantage, but he won in quality. The large eye on his chest could rival ten eyes.

He was getting competitive over something strange again.

Wayne glared at War. He had wanted to kill War in his infancy and shatter his components, but... This? Who calls this an infant?

He was at a loss. War’s stimulation had pushed Wayne to take another significant step in evolution, tapping into more of his potential. His corruption had become stronger, and he could plunder at a greater speed. Even his evolution had become more efficient.

However, with no way to corrupt the Four Horsemen, such progress brought him no joy.

What could he do? How could he overcome this bottleneck? Did he really have to go to Dragonheart Island to seek out the Sea God?

The Horseman of War drew his energy greatsword and prepared to charge on his mount, but then he received a mental command from Pestilence. He sheathed his weapon.

Wayne narrowed his eyes, realizing that War was going to retreat. He didn’t stop War. Instead, he locked onto the surrounding space, planning to trace War back to the enemy’s lair.

But the enemy left no openings.

War—or rather, Pestilence, directing from beyond the atmosphere—had anticipated Wayne’s move. He ordered War to abandon his current form and transfer his thoughts so as not to expose the location of their base.

War was a collective of information, and his physical body was merely the manifestation of the information. It didn’t really matter.

All of the universe was matter, and matter was energy, and energy was information. For knowledge to become god was for information to become god.

Under Wayne’s resigned gaze, the Horseman of War and the metal steed rapidly decayed. Time accelerated across their metallic shells. The once bright red coating flaked away, with rust spreading across the surfaces.

Metal components and parts rained down, dissolving into the pale ocean. The Book of Greed took one lick before spitting it all out in disgust. It tasted of rust.

“It’s dull to fight you, Wayne, but it’s fun to talk to you. I look forward to meeting you again at the Final Judgment...”

War’s metallic head disintegrated, and his energy eyes dimmed. “Then, I’ll judge you in the name of War!”

Wayne watched silently. He wouldn’t say no to meeting War again since emotional manipulation was fun for him, but he was sick of battles he couldn’t win. He did not look forward to their next encounter.

“On the bright side, I’ve got Elian locked up. That’s one less horseman to deal with. I’ve gained something.”

Wayne reassured himself. His gaze shifted to the mutated Chosen Land. After a moment of silence, he waved and sent the pale ocean sweeping across the entire world.

Once something had happened once, it would happen countless more times. Corruption was no exception. The first gig would never be the final gig. Wayne had tasted the benefits of corruption, and with the threat of the Four Horsemen, he abandoned his reservations, reshaping the entire world in his image.

“I must reverse the corruption in the future...”

“My life essence, tell me that you can do it, that you have no limits...”