The transcendental words echoed inside Liam’s mind. With every passing second, his understanding of Chaos and Order rose and the sounds became louder. Simultaneously, the strain on his soul and Will also grew. He knew this increased strain wasn’t a deliberate act by the Chaos beings. It was a mere consequence of his high Perception coming into contact with the limitless knowledge that the entities were trying to impart to him. It was an interaction that no mortal vessel would be able to bear. Liam thought to himself.

If I weren’t the Last Star, my soul would have been completely extinguished long ago.

With this realization came the desire to be worthy of his condition. He was inherently different from every other creature to have ever existed, including the Chaos beings and the Creator, who was the one most similar to him. It could not be described as good luck, since he would eventually have to face his duty, fight the Creator, and take his place in the eternal cycle of Chaos and Order, nor as bad luck, since it allowed him to achieve power beyond all imagination. However, from Liam’s point of view, it was the best-case scenario, as he had already planned to go against the Creator and reshape reality from the beginning. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that was granted to him. The opportunity to achieve his greatest dreams.

With renewed determination, Liam cleared his mind and focused. He did not concentrate on the incomprehensible sounds themselves. No matter what he did, the knowledge drilled into his mind and burned itself onto his brain, never to be forgotten. Looking for a deeper meaning to the already boundless words would only drive him insane. Instead, he focused on gathering his Will and withstanding the words for as long as possible. It meant that his Will developed at the same time as the transcendental knowledge poured into him.

Every second seemed to stretch into an eternity. Even though the voices should only be able to speak to him for a minute and a half, out of which they had already spent a third talking to him, Liam felt as if he had been listening to the increasingly louder sounds for years. He no longer knew how much time had passed or for how long this would continue.

“Ugh!”

He couldn’t help but let out a groan. The blood vessels in his body continuously burst and regenerated right after, while his muscles and organs were torn and put back together. While he was aware of what was happening to his body, he couldn’t feel any of it. It was as if part of the connection between his soul and his body had been severed due to the sheer weight of what was happening.

Inside his Inner World, Liam’s soul sat on the black sea’s surface with a contorted expression. The cracks in the sky repeatedly flashed with golden light, while the water below the soul writhed as if it were alive. The entire sea thumped like a beating heart while the voices’ words flowed out of it unceasingly. The now deafening words dominated the entire Inner World, filling every corner of it.

Then, they stopped.

Liam’s soul’s expression slowly relaxed. The cracks stopped flashing, while the water grew still. It was over. Liam’s consciousness returned to his body.

“Huff, huff…”

He couldn’t help but take several deep breaths. He forced his body to stop trembling, regenerating all the damage that it had suffered. The voices’ presence was gone, truly indicating that their time together had come to a close. Cursing under his breath, Liam stabilized his condition, stood up, and used his Aura to get rid of the sand covering him. He eyed Arimiar’s ship in the distance before turning around and looking at Cinzolia. Rather surprisingly, none of the Aura chains had chased him into the desert.

I got lucky. If the chains or some soldiers had chased me all the way here, they would’ve been able to easily capture me while I was stuck talking to the voices.

It was a testament to how broken Cinzolia Fortress’ spirit had become after his twenty days of siege. None of the enemies bothered to go after him anymore. Sighing to himself, Liam looked at the sky. The purple and green colors still intertwined and pushed against each other, but it had become clear that the purple one had gained more ground over time.

I planned to go the ship before fighting, but… Let’s just settle this once and for all.

Liam closed his eyes, opening them just a few seconds later. They were sharp as a blade, burning with steeled determination. The sand around him, for kilometers on end, began to float. As his will alone changed the world around him, he thought to himself. Would it be better to use part of his stored XP right now, in order to make the fight end as quickly and seamlessly as possible? The problem with that is that he would once more grow unused to his strength. Once his thoughts reached this point, Liam immediately discarded the idea.

Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories. I already don’t know how powerful the enemy is exactly. I cannot afford not to know myself, either. I will go into battle with the body I have become used to.

His feet left the ground as he shot upwards, flying towards the very center of the place where the two colors in the sky met.

It was time to bring the siege of Cinzolia Fortress to a close.

Liam’s figure continued to ascend, rising for over two thousand kilometers. That was when he first began to feel the air shaking. It trembled, expanded, and imploded repeatedly. Zancorix’s atmosphere was disturbed as a whole. The turbulence only grew more intense the further Liam rose, even though the air became thinner. A few times every second, a large shockwave would hit Liam’s body, which remained unshakeable. The shockwaves became more frequent and stronger the closer he got to his destination. By the time he could see the two culprits, he was being hit by almost ten shockwaves every second.

The figures of Arimiar and the enemy commander shimmered and disappeared repeatedly, as they moved at such blinding speed that the naked eye was unable to grasp their movements. Liam’s eyes, however, saw all of it.

They’re faster than me, but not to the point I cannot react.

This was the first time he witnessed a battle between two Commander-class beings. He needed to understand just how powerful they were compared to him. His eyes narrowed as he abruptly sped up, his eyes analyzing his opponent at the same time.

The enemy commander was a four-meter-tall humanoid with grey skin and two horns protruding from his forehead. He wore grey and green armor, with no helmet, and wielded a greatsword almost twice as large as his body. He had long white hair and surprisingly handsome features, even from Liam’s human point of view. His expression, however, was completely rotten, being an intense frown. Liam knew it was because he had already been noticed.

Liam’s eyes moved to the other fighter. The even taller lizardman with navy blue scales and purple eyes smiled happily, but his expression could not hide the shock he felt. It was more than obvious that Arimiar had never expected Liam to join him.

The human youth’s gaze focused as an enormous green sword took shape right in front of him, the tip of its blade pointing towards his chest. It was the same attack that had turned his body to nothingness for the first time. This time, Liam’s eyes were calm and still as a lake. He swung his spear, shooting out several Crescent Moon Waves, while black Aura gathered under his feet and acted as a platform for him to perform Waterstep. The waves smashed into the sword’s left side, diverting its direction just slightly. The sound of splashing water rang out in the skies as Liam’s figure shot to the side. The off-course sword passed by him uselessly as it fell towards the desert below.

He had successfully avoided an attack that, not so long ago, would have destroyed his body.

The purple Aura in the sky flashed before gathering. Arimiar’s axe’s head burned with a purple glint as it dug into the grey-skinned enemy’s side. The humanoid screamed before its figure disappeared, reappearing over twenty kilometers away. The enemy had paid a heavy price for its attempt at taking Liam’s life. This alone could change the course of the battle, but Liam wasn’t satisfied.

At the same time, Arimiar proved to be relentless. With his abundance of combat experience, there was simply no way for him not to recognize what an opportunity this was. The grey warrior had been distracted and injured, choosing to retreat. Arimiar’s response was natural; he pressed on. The lizardman’s figure also disappeared before reappearing only a meter above the enemy commander. Arimiar’s axe and the opponent’s greatsword collided.

A shockwave just like the others was the result. It hit Liam’s body head-on as the youth watched the other two fighters’ movements attentively. Almost a full second later, the impact’s deafening sound echoed. Liam thought to himself.

They both specialize in close combat.

Their range of attack should consist of hundreds of kilometers, yet Arimiar had chosen to move into melee range instead of attacking from twenty kilometers away, which was frankly nothing at their level. It meant that the two’s strength was so similar that the lizardman commander was willing to take every advantage he could, unwilling to let the force of his blows be dispersed for even a small distance. From this decision and attack alone, Liam managed to understand several things.

Back on Earth, they would have been able to wipe out humanity.

Arimiar’s single, melee-range axe swing had been powerful enough to completely level New York City. Liam had no doubt that as long as Arimiar was willing, the lizardman could use Area of Effect Skills to raze a much larger area to the ground. Given enough time, the commander would be able to reduce Earth’s surface to tatters, killing off all life. Naturally, the Kingdom of Luweth’s commander would be capable of the same.

I’m not at their level, but I would have no issues destroying the three Americas in the same timespan.