Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System
Chapter 169: In The End, Of Course It'd Be You

Facing down that thundering deity as the sky curled with the presence of divinity, the man who borrowed the authority of the Monkey King drew in an extended breath. As the exhale pushed through his lips, it left with a breeze that trickled across the ocean surface.

["72 Bian Shen Wai Shen Fa: 72 Heavenly Forms, Body Outside of Body"]

The divine hairs of the Monkey King were spread out, each expanded into the air with forms unlike that of the monkey–a turtle warrior, dragons that slithered in the sky with elemental forms, serpents that dived into the sea, tigers that roared as they trampled on the air–a great deal of mythical beasts emerged.

The parade of magical creatures roared and howled, shaking the waters and the skies alike as Jotham stood among them, facing the God of Heroes above.

'I won't let you adapt–a hundred different attacks, all at once–try defending that,' Jotham thought.

Against the beasts of scales, fur, and even shells, the God of Heroes was pressed to respond as the seventy-two approached. Plentiful in number, but even more dangerous in strength—fire and ice rained down from the serpentine dragons.

From mischievous furrets, they flicked their paws with strides of chromatic magic. All of this served to bombard Sirius, who didn't remain on one spot.

Foremost between the raining elements, Sirius was confronted by a turtle-man. The shelled figure stood well over two meters tall, with an armored body as plated in steel.

A flick of the wrist cast a lightning bolt at the shelled one's abdomen, though it simply dispersed upon contact. Sirius was left stunned for a moment, though that shock was turned to glee.

"You're actually quite interesting—I take it back! Perhaps a man-made god, but you've reached that level nonetheless!" Sirius praised Jotham, catching the turtle's headbutt with a single hand.

In that moment of passion driven by battle, Sirius yanked the heavyset turtle off its feet, holding it above his head just as an inferno and blizzard poured down.

The soaring dragons above didn't relent, though Sirius didn't seem to mind as he laughed with joy. As the God of Heroes tossed the shelled creature at the end of the elemental downpour, a rumble of the sea beneath his feet brought him to pause for merely a split-second.

VRRRRRR

The surface of the aquatic stretch rippled and parted right beneath his feet, bringing Sirius to look down to replace the emergence of a vast, pale whale. It rose, flying into the air as its gargantuan maw opened in hopes of consuming the lively god.

Sirius ascended, though as he watched the whale soar from the depths of the sea, a flash of frost and fire came down.

"Nnh—"

Against the living armor, the unison of the dancing dragons brought down the hot and cold storm. While the heat did nothing to scathe the divine hero, the biting blizzard clung to his armor.

'I see…He wishes to overwhelm me with a variety of attacks. So, he figured out how my armor functions—impressive,' Sirius deduced amidst the breath of frost and fire.

Across the sky, he moved as a bolt of lightning through the breath of ice, striking against the chin of the azure-scaled dragon that had incurred the cold. Through the cold dragon, Sirius cut through with a blade of lightning, not wasting a moment to give the same treatment to the beast that breathed fire.

Yet, as Sirius passed through the blazing beast, the divine hero's instincts drove him to glance to the side–

"Ghh!"

Before the God of Heroes could move, a force struck him right in the sternum–the expanding staff of the Monkey King. It pushed against his chest, knocking the air out of Sirius' lungs before he immediately bounced back, flicking across the air as he sent his foot directly against Jotham's head.

An immediate follow-up came before Jotham could defend himself, holding his staff in front of his body as a slash of lightning came.

"Ngh–"

Jotham winced as it bypassed the weapon, imbuing a gash across his chest before he was blown away once again. However, before he fell, the man who borrowed the Monkey King's authority waved a symbol into the air, pointing his finger at the God of Heroes–

["Body Freezing Spell"]

"Ah–?"

Sirius found himself unable to move, as though there was no space around his body to budge even an inch. It wasn't as though a great strength had bound him; what kept Sirius from moving felt in that moment more akin to forgetting how to move altogether.

With that act, Jotham fell towards the sea with his chest oozing blood, flickering between consciousness and unconsciousness, holding the binding spell as long as he could.

'I'm leaving the final move to you,' Jotham tiredly thought.

As Sirius fought to break from the spell that froze his body, something caught the corner of his eye. With what little control of himself he had, the God of Heroes glanced over, seeing the sore sight of Polaris, whose body was bruised and battered, yet had a focused look.

'What is he doing? He's not attacking while I'm bound? No–what is that?' Sirius questioned.

In that moment of compromise, the divine being realized why Polaris did not approach; instead, the martial artist had thrown something in his direction. A dagger–it was one that looked familiar to Sirius, though he didn't recognize why at the moment. Instead, the only thing he knew is that he could not let it reach him–for some reason, his body told him that much.

Yet, the binding spell restricted him, forcing him to draw upon further body–Crack. At the world's peak, the orb that kept it all held together cracked further as a flood of godly power returned to Sirius' body.

The abundance of divine strength allowed the God of Heroes to tear himself out of the unseen binding, pushing his arms out with a gust of wind breathing outward. It was within a single meter of his body, though with ample time to react, Sirius flickered away–

"--?!"

Sirius' moved himself leagues away, though found the dagger still right there, chasing after him at the exact same position. It wasn't as if it changed direction to follow him–no, it was different, he figured that out immediately.

'This blade…It's anchored to my position, wherever I go,' Sirius realized.

A glance across the desolated sea brought him to a conclusion: it was the manipulation of space at the hands of Polaris.

Instead of evading it, the God of Heroes opted to meet the ominous dagger directly, reaching his hand out with the intent of repelling it.

["Blade Warp"] [Mana: -100] [1100/4000]

From thousands of meters into the sky, across the transient world's continents, Finn found himself transported to his dagger, grabbing it as he was brought face-to-face with Sirius.

There was merely a partial millisecond to react, though Finn knew what to do without thinking twice—

["Orcish Boost"] [4:59]

With enhanced strength, he pushed the dagger against the living armor of the deity. It took some push, but the blade made it through.

"Nrgh!—" Sirius struggled.

Though the blade stabbed into the abdomen of the god, Finn knew it wasn't enough. It would never be just enough to land such a simple strike—

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["The Art of Dying"] [24:59:59]

Imbued through the blade of the dagger and into the stomach of Sirius, the aspect of death was instilled. As the dagger delivered the end, Finn readied himself for retaliation from the man he stabbed, though found no such response.

What the assassin found was an expression devoid of malice as the armor that clung to the God of Heroes' body unraveled.

"Somehow, I had a feeling. I knew in the end, it'd be you to deal the final blow," Sirius calmly remarked with a small smile.

Finn didn't know what to say as he retrieved the dagger, unable to conjure any words in the face of the one he expected to show him hatred. Just as he pulled his blade away, he began to descend towards the ocean, as did the god that was dealt the final blow.

The sky cracked and fractured as though being hit by world-shattering hammers, raining down glistening shards of the planet.

["Sirius, God of Heroes defeated."] ["Anarch Coin x50000 obtained."]

[Level fifty-four reached!"] [25000/335000]

[Assimilated ability from ["Sirius"]: "Magenta" | "Scales of The Hollow Hero"]

[New Skill(s) Obtained: "Plunder"]

Seeing the rewards of his victory, he looked up as he plummeted, seeing the bright orb atop the world shatter in completion, trickling down in a violet, tranquil rain. Everything was coming down; the sky itself crumbled as clouds split and stretched.

Below him, the ocean itself was tossed around, rising into the shattering sky as though lifted from the planet's crust. It left him landing on nothing but a shallow pool once his feet finally reached the ground once again.

Somehow, falling from such a height didn't bring any harm, instead feeling as though he weightlessly landed. It wasn't surprising to him, seeing as the fading world's gravity seemed completely off, watching the sea itself rise up in a parade of aquatic orbs.

'It's over now…We can finally go back home–whatever is left of it, anyway,' Finn thought, glancing down at his body.