Chapter Thirty: Hinata

Hinata fell into my arms like a fragile feather carried by a dying breeze.She was still alive—but a strange, shimmering blue light wrapped around her entire body, pulsing faintly like the heartbeat of a fading star.
“I… Infinity…”Her voice was barely a whisper, trembling on the edge of silence.
My mind froze, the sight of that eerie glow rooting me in place when—
“I’m sorry… I followed you… I was happy you finally made another friend… but at the same time…”Her words fractured, breaking apart in the air. She never finished the sentence. Instead, with the last of her strength, she tilted her head closer to mine.
SMOOOCH
Her soft lips pressed against mine in a fleeting, desperate kiss—a kiss heavy with everything she could not say.Then, as if surrendering to the light itself, she closed her eyes… and vanished, her body dissolving into the same blue radiance.
“Hi… na… ta…”Her name stumbled from my lips, raw and hollow.
A cold rage exploded inside me. I jerked my gaze to where Mitreanreax had hovered moments ago—but he was gone.What awaited me instead was a scene of pure carnage: a deadly battlefield where survival itself felt like defiance.
Two gods emerged from the fractured sky, their arrival tearing reality with a thunderous distortion. Their eyes locked onto me like executioners marking their prey.
BAD-UMP. BAD-UMP.
Hinata’s final kiss burned against my lips. What did she ever do to deserve this?My heart pounded. My blood boiled until steam hissed from my skin, Zinertia trembling to be unleashed.
“Mind… you were warned to stay out of this. Or do you wish to meet the same end as the two beside you?”The voice rang out, cold and arrogant.
The speaker—a god dressed in immaculate white—floated down with effortless grace. His hair, impossibly long and silver-white, shimmered like moonlight. His attire mimicked the elegance of mortal fashion, yet radiated an untouchable divinity. Hands clasped behind his back, he descended with a smirk carved from contempt.
Beside him hovered a second god, draped in armor reminiscent of ancient Greek myth. Broader, more robust, he remained silent, deferring to the white-haired one.
The white-haired god—slender, youthful, and nearly my exact height—lowered his gaze to meet mine.
Not even a day had passed since my brutal clash with Eldraneel, and already fate dared to place a higher god before me.
My body moved before thought.I shot forward with a speed I had never achieved before, Zinertia screaming through my veins.
“RESET PUNCH!!”
My fist slammed into his chest with bone-shattering force, launching him high into the heavens.
LV had already slipped free of my body the moment Mitreanreax appeared, preparing for the inevitable fight.
I rocketed after the god I’d struck, but he showed no sign of pain, his body floating limply as though my attack were nothing more than a passing breeze.Believing my Reset Punch had landed true, I summoned him back with a blade of condensed Zinertia gleaming in my left hand.
But then—he vanished.
No time to react.
A whip-like kick lashed down from above—yet no one was there.
Before I could even look up, another kick ripped into me from below.Then from above again.Then below.Over and over, faster than thought—as if I were battling two invisible enemies at once.
Each impact sent a jolt of raw electricity tearing through my flesh, each strike threatening to rip my body apart.
“Uwaaah!!”Blood burst from my mouth, hot and metallic, as the relentless assault finally relented.
Hovering before me, he reappeared, eyes glowing with merciless amusement.Then—he blurred forward, faster than lightning.
“RESET PUNCH!!”
His fist buried itself in my chest, a killing blow that nearly pierced my heart.The sheer force locked my body in place, pinning me like an insect atop his fist.
“Is it already over?” he said with a cruel, almost bored smile.“Your victories so far were nothing but sheer luck—and a touch of Zinertia. You lack the speed of a god.”
I spat blood and glared through the haze.Yes… I knew that voice, that terrifying velocity.The higher god before me was none other than Light—God of Lightning and Speed.
“Hmm… boring if it ends like—UUNH!!”His taunt was cut short by a grunt of pain.
Snapping out of the Reset Punch’s grip, I drove a crushing wave of Zinertia into his gut, blasting him away in a violent shockwave.
Head ringing from the earlier blow, I forced myself onto my knees midair.
“I almost underestimated you… but the real fight starts now!”Light’s voice sharpened, crackling with electricity.
The sky blackened, clouds churning into a storm of writhing darkness.Bolts of lightning slashed across the heavens, illuminating his silhouette in an unholy glow.
I can’t stay down. I have to show them what humanity is made of.
I surged to my feet, pain screaming through every nerve, and stared him down as thunder roared.
Then—he vanished.
The speed… it defied comprehension. Each movement erased him from existence, leaving only the echo of his power.But if I couldn’t match his speed…
Then I’d change the game.
“Summoning!”
I wrenched space itself, dragging him to my right.But the instant he appeared, he disappeared again.
“Again!!”I snarled and summoned him back, timing my call to the heartbeat of his vanishing—
“I got you!” I shouted.
But it was a trap.A diversion.
From above, a storm of lightning spears rained down.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!!!”
Agony ripped through me. Every cell in my body felt as if it were being torn apart molecule by molecule.Unable to move, I plummeted toward the ground.
As I fell through the boiling air, I caught sight of Light below, energy gathering in his palms—a lethal storm of light aimed straight at me.
Instinct screamed. My eyes widened. Time slowed to a single, crystalline instant.
“Reverse summon!”
In a blink, I summoned myself above him, narrowly evading the annihilating blast.
BAAAAAAAAAAM!!!
The explosion devoured everything within a kilometer, the shockwave clawing half a kilometer into the sky.The earth below was left a crater of smoking ruin.
BAD-UMP. BAD-UMP.
So this… this is the might of a higher god.
The pain from his lightning still seared through me, but I forced my body to obey.I had to stand.I had to fight.
Ignoring the devastation below, I unleashed my Zinertia in a roaring surge and dove from 600 meters above, fist cocked, targeting him at 300 meters.The wind howled like a living beast as I fell.
The instant I neared striking distance—he vanished.
Perfect.
Instead of summoning him to me, I twisted the tactic.I summoned him right in front of me, but shifted my attack away before he fully materialized.Then, before he could counter, I double-summoned him above me.
“LINGERING DEATH SLASH!!”
My blade tore through the air, carving through his newly-appeared form again and again.
Light materialized mid-slash, Zinertia cuts tearing across his body.
I seized the opening, chaining summons to hurl him across the sky, each movement punctuated by another feral Lingering Death Slash.
But suddenly—his body flared with blinding radiance.
Thinking he was charging a light wave, I dodged, only to be hammered by thunderbolts from every direction.
Electric agony surged through me, threatening to rip my soul from my flesh.But I kept moving, dodging through the agony. My speed might not rival his, but I was still a god—and that was enough to endure.
“Impressive!” Light’s voice boomed with manic delight.“I’m truly impressed… to think you managed to wound me this badly. You live up to your title.”
Floating horizontally for a heartbeat, he pivoted upright without a single motion.His eyes burned with a predatory gleam.
“Dragging this out will tarnish my reputation… This is where it ends… human.”
And then—he vanished.
No time to summon.No chance to breathe.
The world slowed to a crawl as my eyes locked onto his form slicing through the air—a blur of impossible velocity.For the first time, I saw him move, a streak of lightning carving space itself.He passed within a hair’s breadth, smiling faintly.
And in that frozen instant, he whispered a single, chilling word into my ear:
“Time.”
The sound shattered reality.
The universe stopped.Motion died.Even the storm above froze mid-strike.
Time itself… had been stolen.