Re:Awakening with Ultimate Power as a Cosmic God-Chapter 81: Ch : Your Choice - Part 2

Malrik didn’t care about negotiations or philosophies anymore.

All he could see was Betty’s smirking face, dancing on the remains of his home, speaking as if Callex was some experiment gone stale.

His heart thundered. His grip tightened.

With a roar that echoed through the tunnels, Malrik lunged at her, sword flashing with steel and fury. He aimed to kill.

"Oh my, we’re skipping foreplay?"

Betty chirped, flipping backward with unnatural grace.

The hem of her stolen dancer’s garb flared around her like wings. She landed effortlessly and smiled wide.

"Come on then, hero boy. Show me what Callex’s pride can do."

"Malrik! You’re not her match. Fall back!"

Nova snapped, eyes narrowing.

But Malrik wasn’t listening. He charged again, blade swinging wild and hard. Betty ducked once more and spun around him.

"Oof. You fight like a soldier. Predictable."

Nova moved to assist—but a soft sigh stopped him.

X’lat stepped in front of Anna, his synthetic gaze locked on her with mechanical indifference.

"You are the unpredictable variable. That cannot be allowed."

He muttered.

His arm morphed, extending into a bladed limb as he lunged at her.

Nova’s instincts screamed.

He shifted, intercepting the strike before it reached Anna, his own blade flashing up with a clang of colliding metal. Sparks flew.

"Anna, stay close."

Nova said.

But X’lat had planned for this. In the moment of confusion, he sent a surge of static aether through the walls.

It split the passage with a deafening rumble, separating Nova and Anna from Malrik and Betty entirely.

"Nova!"

Anna called, but her voice was swallowed by collapsing stone.

X’lat tilted his head.

"Efficient outcome achieved."

Nyx’s voice came alive in Nova’s mind, sharp and tense.

[Nova. The Core of Reason is spiking. Its influence is bleeding into the field. You may experience reduced aether control.]

Nova clicked his tongue.

"Doesn’t matter. I’ve got fists."

He shoved X’lat back and reached into his inventory, pulling out a blade—simple, old-fashioned, one he rarely used. But it would suffice.

"Then fight like the monster you are." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Nova muttered.

X’lat did not flinch.

"Very well."

The two clashed again.

Meanwhile, Malrik struggled to keep up.

Betty was too fast, too fluid—her every movement was like a dance, graceful and mocking.

She swirled around his blade, laughing as if his attacks were part of her choreography.

"You’re really trying, aren’t you? So tense. So angry. But you’re not moving like someone who wants to win. You’re moving like someone trying not to lose."

Malrik gritted his teeth and struck again. She ducked under it and spun into his blind spot.

"Too slow."

Her palm struck his side.

The shockwave sent him reeling.

He gasped and stumbled, breath knocked out of him. Still, he stood up again, sweat clinging to his brow.

She looked bored now.

"You’re not even worth breaking a nail over."

He dashed toward her with everything he had. He roared, twisted, feinted—

She didn’t even flinch.

Before he realized what happened, her hand pierced straight through his chest.

His eyes widened.

The world tilted sideways.

Blood sprayed the ground behind him. Betty leaned in close, her voice soft.

"You’re not bad, kid. But you’re such a boring partner. I prefer a little more spice in my partners...like Nova. He’s my dream partner. Ah, how I wish to cross swords with him once more."

She let go, letting him collapse to the cold stone floor.

The pain didn’t register at first—just a searing numbness spreading from his chest. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.

Betty crouched beside him, tilting her head.

"Still alive? Persistent. I like that."

She pulled something small from her inventory—a shimmering orb, glowing with pale, divine light.

She dangled it before him.

"Here. A gift. A piece of someone else’s god. Consume it and maybe you’ll live. Maybe you’ll die screaming. Who knows? Either way... you’ll be interesting."

She set the orb near his outstretched hand.

Malrik tried to speak. To curse her. To spit.

But his body refused him.

She leaned closer, voice almost tender.

"Don’t worry. You’re not alone. We all make desperate choices when the world is falling apart."

She stood up and stepped away, her voice light.

"Think of it as your second chance, darling. Use it wisely—or don’t. I’m not your mother."

She disappeared into the shadows, skipping like a child leaving a game halfway.

Malrik’s vision swam. His fingers twitched, inching toward the orb.

He didn’t know why.

His world had crumbled. His pride was shattered. Callex was dying.

Maybe... maybe there was still something left to protect.

And maybe—just maybe—that meant doing the unthinkable.

His hand closed around the orb.

And he swallowed it.

The moment the orb touched his lips, something ancient and wrong surged into Malrik’s body.

He convulsed violently, body arching off the stone floor as heat licked at his veins. His scream echoed down the tunnel, guttural and raw.

Aether exploded around him in chaotic bursts—golden, black, and flickering red—clashing with his own.

The pain was unbearable. Like his flesh was peeling back to let something else wear him.

And yet... he didn’t die.

The glow dimmed.

His breath steadied.

His eyes opened, bloodshot but sharp.

His wound—it wasn’t healed, but it was no longer fatal. Skin and muscle had sealed just enough to keep him alive. Something foreign pulsed beneath it.

He sat up, drenched in sweat and blood, his whole body trembling.

He could still feel it inside him. That fragment of godhood. Something unknowable.

Something that didn’t belong in a human form. It was buried deep in his chest now, nestled where her hand had pierced him.

And it was watching.

Malrik growled and pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. He felt unstable—like every step might collapse him—but he also felt stronger. Clearer.

’Not your power. But yours to command... for now.’

He didn’t understand it. But he would use it. For Callex. For the Queen. For himself.

A low rumble carried down the corridor again. The sounds of battle. Distant clashing steel, aether pulses—Nova and Anna were still fighting.

He limped forward, and then, an explosion happened.

Further down the tunnel, Nova’s blade met X’lat’s again and again, sparks illuminating the cramped space.

Each blow sent pulses through Nova’s arms. X’lat didn’t tire. Didn’t flinch. His movements were perfect.

But Nova was adapting.

"Why follow someone like Betty? What does your logic say about this madness?"

Nova snapped, kicking off the wall and lunging in low.

"She is erratic,"

X’lat admitted, parrying cleanly before he continued.

"But unpredictability makes her... efficient. Furthermore, we have the same goal. It is a given that we will cooperate. Furthermore, I would like to add that we stand on an equal footing and thus, any argument you make about me following her is irrelevant."

Nova gritted his teeth.

"I got it. So you are still a lackey but you refuse to say it."

A spark of movement behind them made him pause for a half-second. And then, an explosion broke the wall open between them and where Malrik was.

Malrik.

The soldier stood—barely—but his presence radiated something sharp. Something divine. His eyes locked on Nova’s.

"I’m not done yet."

He rasped, voice hoarse.

Nova blinked. The wound in Malrik’s chest was still fresh. The fact that he was standing was impossible.

And yet... he was.

X’lat paused, scanning him.

"...Unexpected."

Malrik smiled darkly.

"You’re not the only one with surprises."

He didn’t wait for a signal. He charged back into the fight, raw and reckless. Nova cursed, then followed.

"X’lat, hurry up. We need to leave now."

Betty’s voice was sharp and X’lat followed it instantly.