Chapter 164: The End of the Final Trial

Seiya and Athena finally stood before the omniscient and omnipotent King of Gods, Zeus.

Zeus had foreseen and awaited this moment for a long time.

Lowering her scepter, Athena knelt in reverence before her father, the King of Gods, Zeus.

Seeing Zeus seated upon the supreme throne of the Twelve Olympian Gods, Seiya wore a bewildered expression.

By now, the New Genesis had entered its seventh day. The three judges of the Underworld urged Pandora to quickly enter the Elysian Fields for sanctuary.

Calmly, Pandora replied that hiding anywhere was useless; save for the Heavenly Realm, everything else would be destroyed.

She added that the hope of the entire world now rested entirely in the hands of Athena and the Saints.

The earth truly descended into ruins, and the Twelve Temples were instantly obliterated by falling meteors.

Standing before Zeus, Seiya still doubted reality.

Having already slain multiple deities, he had never felt a Cosmo of such magnificent scale.

Yet Seiya, fearless as ever, instantly flared his Cosmo to its utmost, preparing to strike down Zeus and bring an end to this New Genesis.

With a resounding shout, Seiya unleashed his ultimate attack.

Having just entered the Temple of Hera, Feng Zhe watched as this heaven-shattering energy emanated from the sacred peak of Olympus, a look of astonishment crossing his face.

This was definitely not power that Seiya should have been capable of producing.

"Is it the divine power of Athena and Abel, poured entirely into Seiya?!"

This was undoubtedly a probe—Athena testing Zeus.

By the time Feng Zhe rushed to the Temple of Zeus, Artemis informed him that Zeus, Athena, and Pegasus had departed for an unknown spacetime.

No other god could intervene in the battle now.

Hera, the Queen of Heaven, sorrowfully stated that if Zeus vanished, everything within the four realms of Heaven, Earth, the Underworld, and the Sea, which were sustained by his divine power, would plunge into nothingness.

Mortally wounded and on the verge of death, Hyoga was awakened by a voice. Feeling a benevolent Cosmo, he struggled to his feet and beheld his mother.

Upon clearing his mind, however, he realized it was Mynedias, the Goddess of Love and Harmony.

Mynedias explained that Seiya and Athena had entered a super-world where no other god could follow, and with the loss of Zeus, the world had halted the New Genesis.

The battle of the Saints was over.

With a sweep of her divine power, Mynedias sent Hyoga and Shun into a spacetime vortex.

At that moment, Zeus broadcasted his divine Cosmo across the four realms, proclaiming that Athena and the youthful mortal had fought fearlessly, summoning the miraculous revelation that existed in ancient legends.

Now, this war had come to an end, and all creation began to break free from the dominion of gods, welcoming a true dawn.

The great Holy War recorded in the ancient Apocalypse was about to arrive.

It was an apocalyptic war concerning the fate of the macrocosm.

Bringing this war to a close was neither god nor man, but a legendary warrior descending from the supreme sanctuary of Arcadia.

***

After the conclusion of the New Genesis, the earth was left scarred and desolate, yet life had not been extinguished.

Listening to Zeus's broadcast, Feng Zhe secretly mused, "What on earth brought an end to the New Genesis is unknown, but in all likelihood, it is connected to that existence."

Sighing lightly, he felt that staying here any longer held no further meaning.

Just as he was about to leave the Heavenly Realm, the scene suddenly shifted, and he found himself in an unknown spacetime.

There was no earth, no sky, and no ocean here.

Completely unlike any different dimension, this place was composed entirely of multicolored particles.

A tall and benevolent figure appeared before Feng Zhe, causing a rare look of terror to cross Feng Zhe's face.

This entity's Cosmo was as magnificent as the universe itself.

He was the universe incarnate!

"Zeus!"

The human-shaped figure standing before him was none of other than the King of Gods, Zeus.

If Feng Zhe still possessed the courage to step forward and throw a punch in the face of Apollo, the Sun God, then before Zeus, he lacked even a shred of that courage; simply standing in his presence felt like a sin.

At that moment, a boundless, infinite universe appeared within Zeus's eyes, from which multicolored particles surged forth.

In an instant, those multicolored particles projected a series of images.

Feng Zhe from the Saori era, Feng Zhe from the Shaina era, Feng Zhe from the Lost Canvas Sasha era, Feng Zhe from the Next Dimension Sasha era—a long chain of Feng Zhes, strung together like chapters in a story...

Until the very last image, which was Feng Zhe during the final trial...

Strangely enough, these stories were merely points without a beginning or an end, appearing and vanishing with abrupt suddenness.

And the conclusion of every single scene always dissolved into darkness, as if culminating in an absolute end.

"This..."

Feng Zhe watched in astonishment as those visions plunged into a dark finish, as though his very existence was the embodiment of destruction itself.

"Anyone's life, from birth to growth and ultimately death—everything in this world follows this path, and this is the most fundamental rule of existence."

"Yet you are different. You have no origin, nor any destination; like a breakpoint, you appear abruptly upon the nodes of spacetime."

"Your existence is like a glitch, destined to cause the collapse of all spacetime and ultimate ruin."

Zeus's explanation left Feng Zhe stunned. He would never have imagined that any world associated with him would act like a bug and eventually plunge into darkness.

Now he finally understood why gods annihilated blasphemers.

The gods were the guardians of rules, and a blasphemus was the bug that shattered those rules.

"Is my birth truly devoid of any meaning?"

Feng Zhe's eyes were filled with despair. He harbored no malicious intent toward others; on the contrary, he had inherited a heart of love and justice.

A destiny ending in darkness was absolutely not what he desired.

***

Just as Feng Zhe was about to sink into despair, inexplicably, many voices echoed in his ears.

"Alex, do not give up!"

"Feng Zhe, we are waiting for you!"

"Brother, I'm sorry!"

Countless voices of the Saints resounded in Feng Zhe's ears, instantly restoring the light within his gaze.

The Altar Cloth he wore suddenly erupted with a radiance far surpassing the multicolored particles.

Enveloped by this brilliance, Feng Zhe felt an incomparable warmth.

At that moment, countless forces of faith converged above Feng Zhe's head, intertwining with his divine power of death.

Suddenly, the divine power of death shattered.

Replaced entirely by hope!

At this very instant, the scenes of every world Feng Zhe had ever participated in lit up as if ignited.

Power from various worlds converged into one.

Even Zeus was filled with profound astonishment by this force.

"Indeed, hope is the power that creates miracles."

Zeus instantly changed his mind, and with a gentle breath,

Feng Zhe's Altar Cloth instantly transformed into a pendant, resting upon his chest.

"Feng Zhe, take your newly acquired power of hope and go to the new world! There awaits the path to godhood you seek!"

With Zeus's decree manifesting into reality, Feng Zhe transformed from the super-world into a streak of rainbow light, hurtling straight toward a new realm.

At that moment, Lady Saori Athena shed a single tear, murmuring softly, "Farewell, Feng Zhe. I look forward to our next meeting, when you stand as a god!"

Across countless worlds, all traces of Feng Zhe's growth were erased in an instant, as though he had never been there at all.

And as he sped on as a rainbow, Feng Zhe knew the new world he was heading toward was none of other than...

The Naruto World!

***

The first part of the book, the Saint Seiya series, has officially concluded.

The next chapter enters the new anime world: Naruto!