“This should do.” Claud let out a deep breath, and then placed Lily down. A deep sense of fatigue rushed through his body, but with Will of Freedom active, he didn’t even need to remain standing; he was free from all physical forces, including gravity.

This was what allowed him to fly so freely in the sky, unimpeded by howling winds and strong gales.

“It’s different when we fly like this,” Lily patted her hair. “My hair is still neat and tidy. It’s like we’re on the bed and just lying around.”

“Right?” Claud chuckled. “It’s really fun. I used Will of Freedom to move around freely throughout the Trial back then, and no one could find me, no matter how hard they tried.”

“Hmm. I’ll need Aeon Fold to upgrade a Fly skill to do that, right?” Lily asked. “But I don’t have either skills. If only I can get it or something. That’ll be nice. Anyway…”

She handed over the small stack of skillstrips that she had purchased from other shops in Vacuos County. Each of them had powerful effects on the user’s mana, granting various offensive abilities and augmenting its potency overall.

This was going to be Claud’s present to the Red God.

He took long, deep breaths, and then looked up at the sky. It was in the middle of the day, and the red sphere that was the half-descended Red God had been sealed. The birds in this remote, desolate mountaintop chirped softly, the wind gently caressing their fluffy downs.

“Lily. We’re starting. Hang onto me tightly, will you?” Claud smiled at her, and then readied himself to tear the skillstrip. Absolute One’s Order bonus augmented the following skill to last seven days, while improving the effect, but it also empowered all skills used within the ten seconds it was active. Claud intended to use these skills to empower his mana to an extreme level, and then hurl the product at the debilitated Red God.

As Lily clung onto him lightly, Claud reflected on the actions he was about to do. Indeed, he was no fighter — his actions thus far were closer to that of an assassin or a thief. His actions, while fairly reckless on a tactical level, were cautious overall — no one would expect Tot to act now of all times, after all.

He was going to do just that, though.

Claud rehearsed his actions a few times, and then took a deep breath. The process was simple — he would activate Absolute One, tear all the skillstrips in a single blow, harness his mana and compress it into an insane degree, and then hurl it towards the Red God.

The powers of the Red God were incredible, yes, since Dia and Kemata could withstand his attempts to capture them for a full forty seconds, these skills weren’t invulnerable. After all, none of them were hexa-folders or above — it was clear that the Red God wasn’t omnipotent.

Besides, how many times had the Red God died across all these iterations?

It was proof that the Red God, despite having a near-omnipotent power, couldn’t get away from his methods, or that of his other selves. And they all used the same method.

Absolute One. Mana.

That was it.

Claud checked that his Will of Solitude skill was still active, and then rubbed his palms. It was an incredible upgrade from his Presence Nullification — Will of Solitude would only deactivate after its allotted period was up, or when he decided to deactivate it. He no longer needed to—

“Enough.”

Lily looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“I was telling myself to stop thinking about superfluous stuff, that’s all.” Claud touched his chest. His heart was pounding madly, as if it couldn’t wait to pump the blood that would fuel his next actions, and Claud flexed his right arm once.

There was no point in waiting anymore.

His hands shivering slightly, Claud glared at the red sphere, and then murmured two words.

“Absolute One.”

The world shimmered around him as his hands ripped apart the skillstrips, and the mana surging out of his body darkened to a deep twilight instantly. The surging, water-like energies took on a viscous quality, and yet they whirled around him like the wind, swift and nimble.

Claud raised his right hand and pulled it back, the action sucking up every bit of mana that was pouring out of him. A blazing, pulsing lance of twilight took form, and the air around Claud and Lily warped.

This time, Claud didn’t prevent any quips or elegies for the Red God. There was no will within him to send the God of Precision off, nor was there any desire to interact with the past and the myriad iterations that had occurred to pave the way for him today.

For the Red God, he could only deliver death, and it was death he would deliver today.

The muscles in his right arm bulged, and for that faintest of moments, Claud felt himself return to his peak form, free of all restraints and chains. The heavy weightiness seemed to melt away, enabling his body to burst out with far greater strength than he thought possible.

With a roar, he hurled the five-metre spear towards the red sphere. His body returned to its usual lethargy as the spear left his fingers with a rumbling thunderclap, but Claud forced himself to ignore the soul-sucking sensation and took to the skies.

The sky turned to night a second into their flight, and the two of them turned their heads involuntarily. The twilight lance was dyeing the sky where it passed, and darkening the midday sun, and time seemed to slow as the lance closed in on the red sphere.

Red lightning bolts tore through the twilight sky, attempting to strike down the twilight lance, but nothing seemed to faze the latter. A multi-layered shell of red light rippled into existence a moment later, shrouding the Red God’s physical body.

The world shuddered as the lance stabbed into the shell of light, and Lily’s grip on him tightened. Thousands of red crescents erupted from the shell as it ruptured without pause, cleaving through the skies and heading to the world below.

Silence descended upon the world a second later. The whirling energies that shrouded the Red God, the remnants of the multi-layered shield, the divine light that the sealed Red God emitted, the red lightning bolts…all of them abruptly dimmed and ground to a halt.

In that moment, time stood still.

Claud looked at the dimming red sphere, watching as the lance of twilight that ran through it faded away.

“You did it,” Lily whispered. “You killed…”

“He’s dying. Not yet dead.” Claud looked at the dimming red globe, and the absurd notion that the Red God hadn’t quite understood what had happened to him floated to the forefront of his mind. Like a villain, who hadn’t quite registered that there was a deadly arrow protruding from his chest…

The red lightning faded away a moment later, and the red globe’s light winked out without any warning. Colour fled from the world, leaving behind a landscape of black and white, and a red box appeared in Claud’s vision.

Grey words appeared in the box, letter by letter, each of them exuding a solemn finality.

The world returned to normal as the words faded away, and Claud felt a great sense of relief course through him. However, the divinities had been provoked — multiple heavy presences had manifested, and Claud doubled down on his escape, bringing Lily faraway.

“…You did it.” Lily looked at him, and the arms wrapped around him tightening. “You really did it.”

Claud nodded. “Yes. I did it. I killed the Red God. It’s unbelievable, and—”

[, has been completed.]

[With the slain at your hands and your will, you have gained 87% of ’s lifespan. The remainder will go to those who harboured similar aspirations.]

[Your passive skill, Understanding, has evolved to Omniscience (False)!]

[You have learned the passive skill, All-Life Nemesis!]

[You have stolen the passive skill: Cornerstone of Coincidence!]

Claud looked at the words in silence, and then let out a sigh. “Looks like the Status system also has an interest in this.”

“You…got something?” Lily’s arms tightened.

“Yeah.” Claud nodded heavily. “A lot of somethings, in fact…what exactly is this Status? Who’s monitoring it?”

Making a mental note to check his Status when he returned, Claud and Lily flew back to Vacuos, leaving behind the brewing maelstrom of divinities.

How long would it take for people to learn that the Thief of Time had killed the Red God?