Reborn with Steve Stand

"I told you, as long as you sincerely bow your head to me a few times, I could restore Terra to its original state for you."

Looking at Hilder who was lying motionless before him, as lifeless as a dead dog, Fang Mo smiled as he bent down and roughly rubbed her head: "I gave you a chance, but you couldn't even use it."

Hilder's consciousness was already fading; she had clearly lost the ability to respond.

"These people behind me are all witnesses."

Fang Mo raised his hand to point at the Apostle Weapons behind him, then grabbed Hilder's hair with one hand and forcibly lifted her from the ground: "I gave you a chance before, didn't I? You failed to grasp it, so don't blame me... Now, prepare to witness hell."

As Fang Mo spoke, he slowly pulled Hilder's head closer to himself.

"I will personally set the Demon Realm on fire, turning it into cosmic embers, just as Carloso and the Artificial God did back then."

Looking into Hilder's vacant eyes, Fang Mo smiled and continued slowly, "I will bury Terra entirely in the dust of history, eradicating everything related to it. Everyone living in the Demon Realm will die too... Your ambition, your hope, all your struggles over the years—everything will turn into nothing."

"You..."

Hearing this, a flicker appeared in Hilder's dull eyes as intense emotions seemed to bring her back to life. She looked at Fang Mo in despair: "No... Please, no..."

"Don't worry, I won't kill you."

Fang Mo slowly reached behind him: "I will imprison you in the deepest, darkest pit of hell until the end of time. Remember, the destruction of the Demon Realm and the extinction of its people—it's all because you disgusted me. You'll be the last pitiful worm to know of Terra, and you won't even see the end of all things."

"No! Please! I beg you..."

"It's too late. Suffer in endless regret for eternity!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Mo thrust his hand through her heart.

Hilder struggled madly, but the suppressive properties of the End Metal had already taken effect. An infinite force dragged her consciousness into a cold, dark abyss.

And after sealing away this magical progenitor, the ring on Fang Mo's hand burst out with a blinding light.

Yes, it was the ring. Considering that Hilder's specialty was magic, Fang Mo didn't use a greatsword as the sealing medium, but chose a new item from the Tinker's Construct mod—a Tinker's Ring.

The ring in his hand was crafted from a pure crystal matrix ingot, and the End Metal properties were later inscribed into it. As a result, the ring appeared to be a semi-transparent crystal circle, but after sealing Hilder, it underwent a dramatic transformation.

Now, it seemed that the ring's appearance leaned more towards stone.

If one had to describe it... it looked like Terra Stone from a game, dark yet faintly glowing with a bluish-grey hue. The stone-like ring surface was devoid of any decorations, appearing quite ancient, but the inner circle of the ring bore an inscription in ancient Terra language.

Thanks to the localization mod, Fang Mo instantly understood its meaning.

The translation was something like 'to know secrets.'

"Well..."

Feeling the magic energy surging within the ring, Fang Mo casually waved his hand towards the distance.

The elements surged, frigid energy rapidly converged, and in the blink of an eye, a huge magic array appeared on the ground ahead. Within it, countless giant ice crystals bloomed and shattered, further devastating the already ruined forest, now resembling nothing but a wasteland.

"Surprisingly effective."

Seeing the shattered ice sculptures in the distance, Fang Mo nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at the ring in his hand: "Alright, you can stop obsessing over the Demon Realm now. Stay put in the magic ring..."

"Are you the ancient Greek god in charge of puns?"

At that moment, Xiao Yao that had just floated over from nearby heard this and complained: "That was a dimensional evil god, and you're a dimensional pun god, right?"

"Eh, you got it wrong."

Fang Mo turned to his cute little partner and cheerfully argued: "Brother, I'm the ancient Greek god in charge of hellish jokes."

"Screw you."

Xiao Yao raised her foot and kicked him: "There are no hellish jokes in Greek mythology."

"Then what's in Greek mythology?"

Fang Mo didn't dodge and, after being kicked by that soft little foot, put on a faux thoughtful expression: "Let me think... Hmm, the behavior of Zeus, king of the gods... Oh, I get it! I'm the ancient Greek god in charge of lewdness!"

"Please, don't manage that." Xiao Yao facepalmed.

"How about crossbreeding then..."

"That's off-limits too!!!" Xiao Yao couldn't help but shout: "Are you insane!?"

"I wasn't before, but after managing this for a while, who knows..."

Fang Mo chuckled, showing no sign of regret, and instead looked expectantly at his partner's little ice cream, as if asking for a reward.

"When we get back, you can go sleep on the sofa by yourself. I'm sharing the bedroom with Ah Xue!"

Xiao Yao noticed Fang Mo's intention, instinctively pulled her leg back, and said fiercely.

"Aw, come on."

Fang Mo couldn't help but spread his hands: "Greek mythology is already chaotic, so why do you care if I manage a little crossbreeding... What else can I manage? Trash fish? The ancient Greek god in charge of trash fish?"

"What, like the ancestor of some female demon on Mount Olympus..."

Xiao Yao couldn't hold back her laughter: "Maybe I'll get you a book of the God of War series later, and you can cosplay as the god of female demons or something. I'd like to see you shout 'trash fish' at Kratos."

"No way, no way!"

Hearing this, Fang Mo waved his hands in refusal: "I'm afraid Zeus will want to mess with me..."

"Tch."

Xiao Yao rolled her eyes disdainfully, then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to ask: "By the way, you just said you were going to blow up the Demon Realm? How do you plan to explain that to Hua?"

"Oh, I was lying to Hilder."

As Fang Mo spoke, he casually put the ring back into his storage space.

"...What?"

Xiao Yao looked at him in surprise.

"What kind of expression is that?" Fang Mo couldn't help but ask: "You didn't really think I meant it, did you?"

"You're the one who dared to repeatedly whip a living planet's corpse."

Xiao Yao said.

"But wasn't my mentality completely shattered at the time?" Fang Mo spread his hands: "Things are different now. You're by my side, so of course I have to restrain my ugly side a bit, right?"

"What are you pretending for? You've always been a mess in my eyes."

Xiao Yao sneered, but the next second she floated over and grabbed Fang Mo's hand: "Do what you want to do. I'll be with you."

Fang Mo was taken aback.

But soon, he smiled.

"Relax, I'm not so bored as to blow up the Demon Realm."

Fang Mo casually said: "That place is full of little manhole covers, so cute. If I had to blow something up, I'd rather blow up the Empyrean Realm. Uh, wait... The Empyrean Realm has Erje too, so I can't blow it up."

"Erje?"

Xiao Yao looked at him curiously: "Who?"

"Uh..."

Fang Mo's expression stiffened: "Just... a person from the Empyrean Realm. I suddenly feel that Empyrean Realm people are quite friendly too, and they all play with technology. Maybe if you touch something, you can unlock a few new modules? It'd be a shame to blow it up."

"Is that really what you think?"

Xiao Yao seemed a bit skeptical: "But your attitude seems a bit..."

She was still talking when, suddenly, deep within the forest, a terrifying aura exploded, sending waves of energy surging out. The magic energy roared, shaking the very space around it.

"Hmm?"

Fang Mo's expression tensed as he felt this aura.

"Damn!"

However, the little creature beside him was even more agitated, suddenly bristling: "It's Carloso! That bastard shattered my spatial barrier... Hurry, go kill him! Quickly! Use time-stop directly!!!"

"Roger."

Hearing this, Fang Mo also became a bit more serious.

Time-stop was instantly activated, and simultaneously his figure vanished from the spot.

The aura from Carloso was not concealed at all, making it easy to locate. Fang Mo charged straight ahead, everything in his path being shattered, and in almost no time, he saw the figure deep within the forest.

The Creator God of the Arad Universe, Carloso.

He was a well-proportioned and handsome silver-haired youth with a cold expression and an overwhelming aura. His upper body was bare, with luxurious golden armor around his waist, and his lower half was covered in a pure black robe that concealed his legs, giving him an air of transcendent nobility and detachment.

At that moment, he was slowly extending his hand forward.

And just there, a middle-aged man with a peculiar appearance was kneeling.

That was the enigmatic warrior mentioned earlier. He looked like a warrior who had wandered for years, disheveled and unkempt, with a beard and brown hair streaked with dust and grease. But for some reason, there was a strange light orb in his belly.

He was raising his hand as if trying to reach the Creator God Carloso before him.

But due to the time-stop, he remained frozen in that pose.

However, although he was immobilized, the Creator Carloso was unaffected, as if sensing something, he turned his gaze towards Fang Mo.

"Huh?"

Fang Mo was slightly surprised to see this.

Having run through so many scenarios, whether it was Marvel, X-Men, One Punch, Chainsaw Man, and the like, many knew that Fang Mo held several powerful weapons.

But most people thought Fang Mo's most terrifying weapons were his fire sword or light sword.

Overlooking the true danger of his time-stopping End Sword.

In fact, the ability to 'stop time' was the real ultimate weapon. Even without other weapons, Fang Mo could simply activate time-stop, then have Steve use Devour to consume the enemy. This combo meant almost certain death for anyone unable to break free from the time freeze.

Moreover, Fang Mo's time-stop wasn't like the seconds-counting one in *JoJo*.

His time-stop was counted in minutes.

Across all realms, perhaps only that plastic toy held by a certain AV male might be more overpowered.

Indeed, Fang Mo's time-stop had proven to be unfailing until now; no one had ever broken free from its constraints to act freely in frozen time before encountering Carloso.

"Did he break free?"

Fang Mo glanced at Carloso in the distance, narrowing his eyes: "No, that's not it... This guy is completely unaffected by time-based abilities?"

Yes, after observing for a moment, Fang Mo quickly realized what was happening.

After all, this guy was a Creator God, and not just a planetary-level one.

According to Arad's lore and setting, this guy was the Creator of the entire universe, with incredibly high limits, even more ridiculous than Valoran's Star Forger. The latter merely forged stars, while this one created the universe itself, with authority and grandeur beyond comprehension.

And speaking of authority...

Fang Mo couldn't help but think of a concept from the Marvel universe.

Dimensional Demon Gods.

As is well known, within their dimensions, Dimensional Demon Gods are deities. Even without mentioning the likes of Cyttorak in the Crimson Cosmos, even Dormammu could surpass time.

So Carloso being immune to time-stop made sense.

"Interesting."

Understanding this, Fang Mo wasn't afraid but rather excited and expectant: "This should be the peak of combat power in *DNF*, right?"

With this thought, he became eager to try.

"..."

But Carloso on the opposite side said nothing. After observing Fang Mo for a moment, he turned back to the mysterious warrior before him, then grabbed his hand.

And at the moment he grasped the mysterious warrior's hand.

A golden light burst forth.

The mysterious warrior's flesh instantly disintegrated, turning into a pure and powerful light. Meanwhile, countless figures appeared behind Carloso, all of whom also turned into light, as if drawn by some force, and flew into Carloso's body.

As these light orbs merged into him, Carloso closed his eyes, seemingly absorbing the power.

An incomprehensible, intricate ring appeared behind him, resembling a gear, or perhaps a form of truth, radiant and brilliant, almost impossible to gaze upon with the naked eye.

Simultaneously, his bare upper body was fully covered in a layer of golden light.

Gradually forming an exquisite armor.

"...Hmm?"

Seeing this, Fang Mo couldn't help recalling the scene from the Big Shift CG, realizing that Carloso's state was identical to that time.

If he guessed correctly, Carloso was probably about to start blowing up maps.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Thinking this, Fang Mo frowned and warned: "If you dare to blow up my map, even with hacks, I'll beat you so bad your mother won't recognize you..."

However, Carloso seemed to ignore him. Having absorbed countless fragments, his body surged with immense power. He raised his arms and swung them outwards, much like Pain releasing Shinra Tensei, but the power between the two was utterly incomparable, enough to dim the stars.

"Damn!!!"

Fang Mo cursed loudly upon seeing this. The next moment, white light flared from his eyes, and the power of the dimension was instantly activated. He seemed like another god descending, raising his hands and making a grasping motion towards Carloso.

A light brighter than the sun burst from his body, and simultaneously, the Void Ring glowed faintly.

An overwhelming force capable of crushing and subduing all things pressed down on Carloso, forcibly containing the explosive energy at its source. The two forces clashed and ground against each other, and even the smallest fragments falling to the ground exploded with the force of atomic bombs.

In an instant, the entire Grand Forest began to shake violently, mushroom clouds rising one after another.

Countless roars turned into waves, shattering the earth and tearing the sky.

Even far-off Hedonmar was affected; countless people turned their heads at the same time, looking towards the forest in terror, unsure of what was happening.

"To hell with your Big Shift! I refuse to acknowledge that crap!"

As for Fang Mo, he was viciously activating the gravitational field, forcefully squeezing his hands together while cursing, finally slamming his hands together: "Now it's my turn to protect Arad! Shut up!!!"

With a loud roar, the world-destroying energy suddenly contracted.

Finally, it was forcibly drawn back into Carloso's body.