Chapter 1960: The Final Battle - Maria VS Gabriel [3] |
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"D-Do something, you bastards!"
Gabriel swiftly seized control of his brothers, who had all frozen in fear before Maria’s overwhelming strength. He forcefully channeled their powers.
The four remaining masks spoke in cold, robotic voices.
"God Heals."
Raphael acted first. Radiant golden and blue light bathed the cosmic monarch’s body, rapidly healing every wound.
"Beauty is God."
Purple and pink flames swirled around Gabriel’s cosmic form, forging a majestic armor of divine beauty that shielded him from incoming attacks.
"Righteousness of God."
At the same moment, Uriel’s powers were absorbed into Gabriel’s Outer God Eye.
"God... is... My... Light..."
The red eye blazed, unleashing a colossal beam of crimson light that devoured everything before it in a single second.
And yet—
SLAAASH!
Maria tore through the all-consuming red light with relentless fury and struck Gabriel’s cosmic body with four of her weapons at once.
Michael and Camael targeted the crimson eye, stabbing it repeatedly until it could no longer fire its deadly lasers.
"GYAAAAAAHHH!"
Uriel’s scream of horror echoed as Gabriel felt a searing pain rip through him.
Inside the fused entity, Uriel’s body and soul burned in utter agony, consumed by Camael’s Flames of God’s Judgment and Michael’s Light of Justice.
"Uriel!"
Gabriel made his decision. This was what he had planned from the beginning. Half of his body shapeshifted into a monstrous mass of white feathered wings, golden eyes, and snapping jaws. He tore Uriel apart and devoured him.
"B-BROTHER?! WHAT ARE YOU—AAAAAGH!"
Uriel struggled desperately, but he could not fight back. Gabriel consumed him before Michael and Camael could finish him off, claiming his power.
"I am sorry, Uriel! Your sacrifice will not be in vain. I couldn’t simply let you die and waste your power! I hope the three of you can understand!"
The monstrous half retracted, revealing Gabriel’s original angelic form once more. But the remaining three Archangels had already witnessed the horror of his true nature. He was not the brother they had believed him to be.
"Uriel...! How could you, Gabriel?!" Raphael shouted in rage.
"He was our dear brother! You could have sealed him—anything but this!" Jophiel cried.
"You swore that all five of us would govern the universe together...!" Zadkiel said, voice trembling with betrayal. "Why did you break your promise?"
"You already knew what I was when you agreed to the plan!" Gabriel snarled. "If you wish to rebel, then I have no other choice!"
"What?!"
"ACK!"
"Gabriel, stop!"
The three Archangels fought desperately, but within the cosmic monarch’s body, Gabriel held absolute power. His form twisted once again into a nightmarish mass of white wings and eyes. His jaws tore his siblings apart and devoured them.
His many eyes rolled back in ecstasy as he fed his endless hunger for worlds and powerful beings. The screams of his "beloved" siblings only made their essence taste sweeter.
"HA HA HA HA HA!"
Having consumed all four of his siblings, Gabriel laughed maniacally. Michael and Camael realized too late what the monster had done as they felt their brothers’ souls vanish.
"What did you do, you bastard?!" Michael roared.
"H-How could you?!" Camael gasped.
"They were nothing but useless baggage! They’re far more valuable inside my belly—as my power!" Gabriel laughed. "And now the two of you will join them. All seven of us will become one!"
TRUUUM!
Gabriel’s cosmic embodiment merged completely with his true body and soul.
In that instant, countless red and golden eyes sprouted across the once-majestic angelic titan. Hundreds of white and black wings burst forth across its form as the titan grew larger and taller. Its humanoid face split open, revealing a gigantic vertical maw lined with razor-sharp teeth and drooling tongues.
"SHAAAAAHHHH!"
Hissing like a monster, Gabriel warped space and time around him. He lunged at Maria, hammering her with enormous fists while his jaws gnawed viciously at her body.
"Finally showing your true colors, bastard?!"
Maria’s four swords pierced Gabriel’s body simultaneously. With a savage upward slash, she split his arms and wings apart.
SLAAASH! .
"GAAAAHH?!"
Gabriel screamed in agony as his severed limbs flew away—only to return to him as he smirked. The severed pieces transformed into monstrous Outer Gods of their own, latching onto Maria and biting deep, sucking her blood.
"Ugh! What the hell is this?!"
"You’re an Outer God and you don’t even know how to use your own powers?" Gabriel mocked. "It seems I was always far more suited to be an Outer God than a loose end like you!"
As Maria and Gabriel wrestled, the universe itself trembled. Their colossal astral bodies smashed through dozens of planets and stars, carving a trail of cosmic destruction in their wake.
CRAAASH!
They finally collided with a massive gas giant surrounded by dozens of moons. The impact caused the planet to implode instantly.
Maria seized the moons and channeled a familiar power.
"Seleneum!"
Space warped within her chest as a giant living moon manifested—Seleneum herself. Her surface quivered as enormous purple tentacles erupted from it, revealing her true nature as a young Outer Goddess.
The dozens of moons rushed toward her and fused with her body, enlarging Seleneum until she matched the size of the gas giant itself.
"I am here, Maria! I will fight for you, as I promised!"
Having met the required conditions, Seleneum received Maria’s cosmic power and was reborn as the Domain of the Moon. The young Outer Goddess, now a Domain, gained overwhelming strength. She rapidly transformed into a dimension of beautiful stars and endless night, dominated by a giant silver moon shining brilliantly in the darkness.
All of it condensed and reshaped into a long sword—Maria’s fifth blade.
Channeling the power of Selene and her Moon Titan might, Maria wielded the fifth blade, infused with her Primordial Concept of Moonlight, and slashed through Gabriel’s torso, splitting him in two.
SLAAASH!
"UNNGH?!"
Gabriel screamed as he desperately tried to rejoin his severed halves. Aberrant tentacles of white, blue, and black surged from both sides.
Maria then slashed through the creatures still latched onto her body, using the Path of Nihility to erase them down to the subatomic level.
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