No sooner had the word been spoken than Sanguinius found himself hurled toward the raging sea.
"C… how?!"
He was bewildered.
One moment, he was grazing the clouds like a blazing comet; the next, he was plummeting toward the ground in the same fashion.
"M… my wings?!"
The radiant white wings, which Sanguinius had gained through the unleashing of his power rooted in purity and holiness, no longer obeyed him.
He tried to right himself mid-fall, but his winged limbs seemed frozen by something he had neither seen nor felt.
So, he used "Suspicion" to unravel the hidden truth within the world around him.
That's when Sanguinius truly grasped his situation.
'I… I have to escape, if I can.'
Any notion of victory melted from his mind like a snowflake dissolving before the sun.
Sanguinius had realized just how this battle was neither "just" nor "fair."
If he truly insisted on pressing forward, he would lose—or any victory would taste bitter due to the cost it would exact.
To understand what Sanguinius was experiencing, one must grasp the logic of creation in biblical cosmology: the Word.
Long ago, Sanguinius had heard that the world was created by it and for it.
The exact words were:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
It was with God in the beginning.
Through it all things were made, and without it nothing was made that has been made."
(John 1:1-3)
The biblical God is not merely a creator god but the God of all things.
In this sense, He is a primordial entity, akin to the Chaos of Greek mythology.
Thus, "Suspicion" revealed something astonishing to Sanguinius: everything, including himself, was influenced by the will of the biblical God through His Word.
The worst part wasn't the Word itself, but the myriad interpretations it could carry.
The biblical God is an entity known for speaking to His believers… yet rarely heard by them.
A strange phenomenon, explained by two causes:
The first is sin.
Sin is something He abhors.
Yet He continues to speak to believers through "His Word" because He loves the sinner himself.
This is why a sinner cannot hear Him, spiritually blinded by sin.
The second reason, more conceptual and spiritual:
God speaks to all, but He is ignored by the sinner and the fool due to their lack of understanding.
Why such a situation?
Once again: all was created by the Word.
Things were created through it.
Thus, God's Word is constantly present around believers, but they lack the wisdom or insight to comprehend it.
It manifests everywhere in various forms, for creation itself is the physical expression of this Word: an alteration of reality in the form of a code that believers cannot interpret.
So, "Suspicion" revealed the Word to Sanguinius:
that of his Father.
"Damn reality manipulator… you're a cheater!" he shouted toward the golden sky, but received only cold silence in return.
Sanguinius was hardly in a position to say this, for he himself manipulated reality.
The difference?
He focused on positive things, whereas his Father was the God of *all* things.
After all, it is written:
Isaiah 45:7 — "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things."
The biblical God wields reality manipulation without true limits, save for His pure divine power and His imagination.
'No wonder He could seal Trihexa alone…' Sanguinius thought, as his magic had been used to fly in place of his wings.
Sanguinius even theorized that his Father had died because of the two celestial dragons during the Great War.
Otherwise, he couldn't see how Lucifer and his three companions could have defeated a weakened biblical God in a direct confrontation.
The only explanation was an overuse of the Word's power in sealing Trihexa and, later, the two rampaging celestial dragons with the power of Outrage.
For even in a weakened state, the biblical God's power remained simply too great by nature.
This power is so unfair that Sanguinius now likened himself to a player trying to challenge a game master.
That's how absolute God's divine authority over all things is.
It doesn't grant Him destructive power comparable to that of the two dragon gods or Trihexa, but…
'…it's a pain to deal with.'
Especially when facing the biblical God one-on-one, though the angels might intervene sooner or later.
Brute strength wouldn't suffice here.
Especially since he was alone.
"Advanced magic: Explosion."
Faced with this complexity, Sanguinius raised a hand to the sky and unleashed his insane amount of mana in a brutal, crude attack.
Against his current opponent, he had to abandon any power tied to pure holiness, like his Trust.
He would rely on the support that Holy Power and Trust could provide, using his magic and physical strength as his primary forces.
It was the only solution he deemed viable.
As for his opponent's insane magical level?
Sanguinius had a trump card he rarely used, unlike his version stuck on Baal Secondus.
'Analyze the Word using the data provided by Suspicion and find a flaw in its logic!'
As soon as he voiced his request, the AI chip Rasputin chimed in:
[ding… affirmative]
[initiating analysis of the power named: Word… in progress]
[estimated time to completion… error]
[insufficient data]
[host is recommended to gather more information before initiating analysis and consider a future simulation]
Sanguinius clicked his tongue in frustration before unleashing a series of colossal explosions against his Father's divine energy attacks and himself.
If Megumin could see the level of magical explosion Sanguinius was using and its activation speed, she might faint from excitement.
But…
"D… dimensional barriers?"
Sanguinius had forgotten that the God before him was the creator of the Longinus Dimension Lost.
The biblical God's understanding of magic was profound, and His power tied to the Word allowed for countless effects, much like Sanguinius's own current magical system.
Thus, Sanguinius could destroy his Father's attacks with his Touki-wrapped fists and explosive magic.
But reaching Him directly was another matter.
Sanguinius then decided to attack in a specific pattern he knew was unknown in this era.
"You are strong, my child…"
The cloud dissipated due to the shockwaves caused by the explosive magic clashing against the barrier.
Beyond the golden light, a silhouette sat upon a throne.
Sanguinius could pierce through the light emitted by the throne, but his instincts warned him against committing such an "offense."
"…but I am beyond the concept of strength," he said calmly.
Outrageous words, yet spoken as an undeniable fact.
At that moment, Sanguinius was furious.
An expression the biblical God saw as that of a child angry after realizing the extent of his limits before an adult.
He opened His mouth once more, intending to put an end to the farce that was Sanguinius's little rebellion.
But…
*Boom*
"H… how?"
The biblical God's voice did not hide His bewilderment, as He noticed several dimensional barriers had been breached by an attack from above.
The Earth's atmosphere…
Thanks to His immense wisdom, the biblical God had already noticed that the explosions caused by the magic seemed to convey a code.
But He didn't fully understand its meaning.
He needed time to comprehend the unfamiliar language, which people would later know as: Morse.
Especially since the biblical God had no prior knowledge of it.
"Orbital strike, you son of a bitch!"
Perhaps caught up in the excitement, Sanguinius flipped off his Father before vanishing.
Despite his bold words, he immediately teleported to Neo Citadel, under the shocked gazes of Michael and the biblical God.
He hadn't used the opportunity Mobius had given him to attack but to flee after realizing, through Suspicion, that the space was no longer monitored by the biblical God.
Thus, he employed a tactic not taught to Mittelt and Thrax for fighting against a stronger opponent.
Flee…