Against The True Gods

Caine didn't take more than a dozen steps forward before he stopped.

There, in front of him, at the foot of the grand gate, Autumn's body began to reform, threads falling from the dark grey skies above and intertwining to revive him.

PAH!

Naked, his body reappeared, lungs instantly expanding, gasping for air as he screamed in horror, writhing like a wounded child.

Caine watched it all without moving.

A few moments passed, and Autumn's True Will seemed to recover, washing over his body and instantly allowing his sanity to return.

Covered in sweat, with his chest heaving, he lay on his back, dried tears staining his face.

But suddenly remembering he was still in the midst of battle, he rapidly stood up, white robes draping over him as he immediately assumed a battle stance.

For the first time, Caine smiled, a soft and incredibly pure smile. 'Life and Fate affinities bound together by a deep study of Temporal arts. How ingenious.'

Though Caine thought of it lightly, what Autumn had created was essentially a technique that gave one a form of pseudo-immortality.

If he refined his True Will more, he could truly become immortal solely by using the technique he'd been crafting.

But then again, to Caine, if after millions of years spent peacefully cultivating, this was the most the man could create, perhaps he wasn't so impressive.

He'd created his rings when he was nothing but an idiotic teenager. If he could, anyone could.

Of course, Caine's thoughts were ludicrous and reflected the ridiculous standards he set for himself, but he didn't care.

'He also has a Heavenly Body. I'm not sure if it's natural or not.'

Heavenly Organs were simply parts of the body blessed by the Heavens with incredibly potent power and abilities, ranging from Heavenly Eyes—the rarest of them all—to Heavenly Musculatures, a relatively common blessing that gave one divine strength. It was almost like an organ in itself had its own separate Innate Circle.

In rare cases, one could be born with all of their body parts being Heavenly Organs, thus creating a Heavenly Body, one of the many wonders of existence.

And it seemed like Autumn had inherited one.

In fact, Caine was almost certain that the technique the man had created had come from him attempting to understand the hidden abilities of his organs and body.

But Caine wasn't envious, not in the least.

The body constitution his bodily pillar gave him was… special. Now that he was in the Spark Realm, the might of his Innate Circle would slowly begin to take root and show its effects.

'Anyway.'

Caine's thoughts refocused, and he swept his spear across the rough ground as he walked toward the trembling Autumn.

What Caine found strange was that he wasn't trembling in fear but rather excitement. Well, actually, he didn't know. Flickers of excitement and fear intermingled to form a strange emotion suffusing through his being.

Autumn exhaled a breath, his sword rapidly reforming in his hand. Slowly, atop his head, a beautiful golden crown appeared, along with a horrifyingly potent wave of power.

Caine's gaze narrowed. This wasn't the first time he'd seen someone else with a crown in this place, but the issue was that he'd realized he couldn't use his own, the same way he, for some reason, couldn't talk to Elura as she seemed to be in a deep state of slumber.

The crowned chosen of fate, as he called them, were some of the toughest enemies he'd faced here.

Caine's gaze relaxed, as did his posture. His breathing began to follow rhythmic cycles that attuned him to the world, just as the faint reflection of his rings appeared in the depths of his blind eyes.

The world's qi embraced him, wrapping around him, its tendrils softly dancing around his cracked blade and holding it together.

The two stared at one another for the faintest of moments before they vanished, the impact of their departure only exploding moments after their blades clashed, as if the world was struggling to keep up.

CLANK!

Autumn's True Will was terrifying, seemingly creating a domain that enveloped the both of them—a domain where all was within his grasp.

Space was akin to a field he could move across with the most insignificant of thoughts, and time became a wheel he could steer to his liking.

He teleported around Caine so fast that countless iterations of himself attacked at once, moving at different speeds, as if each from different timelines.

But Caine remained indifferent. His mind was supreme.

With a methodical approach, he analyzed all that was in front of him and his blade followed.

His blade swam through the air like a fish in water, smooth and unfettered, as he parried strike after strike and danced around Autumn like a dove soaring through the heavens. His footwork was so complex he seemed to truly be dancing.

His fluttering robes harmonized into a lullaby that echoed through the battlefield, as quiet as it was. Their rapid and powerful steps became akin to drums, as their rhythmic breaths played off one another—a balanced tempo that highlighted the hymn their battle created.

Fists whistled through the air, forearms clashed, blades rebounded against one another, qi exploded, and Wills erupted.

Amidst the raging battle, Caine's gaze suddenly lost all emotion as he released all the air from within his lungs.

His aura entirely died down, and he became a shadow.

[Blight Art: Enhance]
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Autumn barely reacted before he saw his left arm flying through the air, his own blood showering him. His gaze panned to the right, meeting Caine's rapidly streaking qi-covered blade.

[Blight Art: Lag]

His body froze, and the blade tore through his head as if it were a mere cloud, instantly shredding it to pieces.

But aware the man was immortal, Caine's movements didn't stop—not in the least. He spun, his blade rising from the humble earth and toward the mighty heavens as he tore upwards, his muscles bulging and his countless Wills manifesting.

SHURRR!

Autumn's body was cleanly split in two, but before both sides could separate, Caine's figure blurred and an afterimage of himself layered atop his body, cleaving the enemy before him laterally.

Another afterimage layered atop of him, then another, and another, and another.

Autumn's body was shredded and dissected, but unlike before, threads of fine silk immediately fell from the skies, rapidly stitching him together and bringing him back from the brink of death.

Caine immediately retreated, closely dodging an exploding wave of Autumn's strange golden qi. But taking advantage of his sudden retreat, Autumn charged forward.

As he did so, his hand swiped forward, and countless beams of qi shot at Caine, forcing him to zip through them as he retreated.

But this was what Autumn wanted. Having pinned Caine at his desired location, his hand moved, shooting forward and violently tightening into a tight fist.

SHAH!

Countless threads appeared from thin air, binding Caine and chaining him down as he was forced to stop dead in his tracks.

The many beams Autumn had thrown and crashed into the ground had exploded and etched runes into the ground. These runes glowed, linking into a grand formation.

Planting his foot forward, Autumn glided forward and toward Caine, his blade drawn back, almost as if sheathed, and his back curled backward.

A low and primal roar escaped his lips as his hips pivoted and his chest torqued toward Caine, his blade unsheathing and harmonizing with the formation around him.

[Ancestral Season: Worldly Summer]

A blade split heaven and earth in half.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!