Against The True Gods

Caine's gaze was locked on the horizon, his mind unreadable.

An interesting thing he'd discovered was that, after killing another chosen of fate, he'd receive their runes, which would stack atop his and have a multiplicative effect rather than an additive effect.

But beyond that, if the person Caine killed had also killed other Chosen of Fate, he'd gain the amount of runes they had, multiplied by the number of people they had defeated.

So, for example, if someone killed two people, they'd have fifteen runes—five of their own and five from each of the people they killed.

But the issue was that, when Caine killed them, not only would he get fifteen additional runes, but he'd get forty-five runes added, to make a total of fifty runes added to his own for a single kill.

And considering Caine had killed everyone except Autumn, the amount of strain and pressure he was under was hard to fathom by any.

But he remained calm and indifferent. From the horizon, his gaze panned over to Autumn once more.

With a glance, he could tell the man still only had five runes, the original amount all received upon arrival.

It was obvious he'd been waiting here, without killing anyone, just not to accumulate any runes.

Before, Caine would've perhaps been disgusted or found it funny, but he truly didn't have any thoughts about it.

Things were as they were. There was no point in complaining.

He was massively weakened, his opponent wasn't—end of the story.

WHOOSH!

The winds howled as the two stood, unmoving and silent. Their gazes met, yet no clash of Wills occurred, something that deeply rattled Autumn.

In Caine's hand, a battered and broken spear appeared, the edge of its long blade now dull and the pole covered in cracks, a reflection of the countless battles he'd waged.

Autumn didn't wait for Caine to engage and immediately swung at the air, his body vanishing and reappearing in front of Caine.

The latter calmly parried the attacks, sparks igniting from the clash of their blades. But this wasn't all.

From their connected blades, a ripple of neutral qi snaked from Caine's blade and into Autumn's, immediately invading his body and turning chaotic, tearing apart the balance of qi inside his flesh.

He stumbled backwards, blood leaking from his mouth, but Caine didn't pursue. He stood where he'd been, unmoving and calm.

He merely stared at Autumn, waiting for him to attack once more. Autumn laughed seeing this, unable to believe he was being looked down upon.

At no point in his life had anyone ever looked down upon him. In fact, none of his battles had ever lasted more than one exchange.

And that was before he came here.

Now, with the countless years of quiet cultivation he'd undergone, none should've been able to even gaze upon him and yet…here he was.

He found it just as funny as it was exciting.

BANG!

Veins erupted across his body as his aura grew and towered, his aged and refined qi shaking the air as his blade became supercharged with qi.

His golden aura gathered and coalesced into tongues of flames that flickered around him, swirling like a mantle and burning with such intensity that the world seemed to tremble and boil over.

Noticing this, Caine took a step forward and ran toward Autumn, his speed normal and almost unhurried.

Suddenly, each of his steps seemed to leave a ripple on the solid ground below, runes of silver flickering around him as he closed in.

The ripples overlapped and spread across the lands of carnage they fought in, seemingly reaching its limits before it all suddenly pulled back, dragging all qi in its path as it did so and flowing into Caine's leg.

The massive torrent of energy flowed from Caine's leg and into his blood qi, his blood qi then exploding with power and fueling his arm as he swung upward, his speed so high his afterimages overlapped and clashed into a fresque of frozen frames, akin to capsules of sealed time.

But unlike what Autumn believed, this wasn't all.

All of Caine's afterimages began to glow with a soft emerald light, the power from his blood qi diverting and flowing into them as if they were real bodies.

And that, they were.

Countless blades fell upon Autumn, each seemingly full of endless power.

His gaze narrowed, and his qi rapidly twisted into runes he used to continuously teleport backwards, his hands simultaneously moving to cast formations that summoned shields of all types.

But it was all futile.

Caine's True Will merely flickered and the distance between them collapsed, bringing Autumn's neck right back upon the edges of his blades as the countless shields he'd casted were rendered useless, Caine effortlessly moving through them.

[Blight Art: Remembrance of the Blade]

Time slowed to a crawl.

The first of Caine's blade tore through Autumn, but before any blood could be spilled, another blade fell, followed by another, and another and another and another and another.

The blades fell so fast that their impacts lagged and layered, unable to keep up with the speed of all the countless after images hacking down.

BANG!

Suddenly, all the afterimages snapped back into Caine's body and his gaze narrowed, his Will slowly wrapping around his crumbling blade as he swung again once more.

[Blight Art: Blade of Concession]

SHURRRRR!

Time retook its course and at once, all attacks impacted, layering into one grand explosion, so potent and violent the world around seemed to black out for a bit.

Autumn's body was vaporized, each part of his flesh torn and split into such small bits that when Caine's qi followed to burn and shatter him, nothing was left. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOSSHHHHH!

Countless waves of compressed air wound into one another, exploding at once and shaking all that was around.

Caine's robes widely fluttered under the chaotic storm his swings had caused and yet, his body remained firmly rooted and his gaze just as indifferent.

He waited for a few moments, then, without any word, began to walk toward the gate.