Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Standing at the peak of the snowy mountain, Garen pulled back his wings and looked at the lake on top of an extinct volcano in the distance. Over there, he could vaguely see three figures standing there, all of different colors.

The woman surrounded in black was Ann, the woman in purple was the Deception Demon Master, and there was a Scorpion-Headed Man there as well, the Earth Demon Master.

All three of them were surrounded by a naturally-occurring yet terrifying glow of energy. That was the Radiance of G.o.d that they made absolutely no effort to hide, a phenomenon naturally derived from their essence as a result of their bodies reaching the True Soul Level.

This was a battle between True Souls. As of right now, Garen did not yet have the right to partic.i.p.ate in a battle of this level.

After all, even Tiamat was just a Lower G.o.d, and this time, he might very likely have to face multiple G.o.ds with Middle-Level Divine Power. Although it was only a one-level difference, such a distance still meant that even two Lower G.o.ds may not be able to defeat one Middle G.o.d. G.o.ds such as the G.o.d of Time and Shadow were also particularly adept at battle, so there was an extra multiplier there as well.

That was why Garen had been arranged to watch from the distant sidelines, and placed in charge of sweeping other DemiG.o.ds or Holy Spirits.

That suited Garen just well, since he was not particularly interested in a complete divinity. He just needed one wisp of divinity, and then he could perfect himself, eventually absorbing it and converting it into his Soul Ring. If he had enough Divine Power, then all he needed was to determine his Divine Domain, and he would be able to condense a Divine Persona. To Garen as he was now, that was not particularly difficult.

“Still not here yet?” Garen frowned slightly. They had been waiting in this state for three days now, but Casavon, the G.o.d of Time and Shadow whom they were expecting had yet to make an appearance.

Garen came here in order to steal many different types of divinities. As long as he had enough divinity, he just had to use a little more time and he would soon have even more Soul Rings.

Garen waited patiently and glanced at the color of the sky.

The sky was slightly grey and dreary, the heavy layer of clouds threatening to pour at any moment.

Occasionally, a herd of black migratory birds would fly here from the distance, flitting past volcano the lake. They did not notice the three terrifying presences beneath them at all.

“He's here.”

Suddenly, Ann's voice spoke by his ear.

Garen's entire body stiffened, and he hurriedly pulled back his aura.

He looked into the distant sky beside him. A Three-Eyed Grey Dragon with golden wings had appeared there. It had a large stomach, and like a snake, its tongue was extremely long and red. However, its skin was stone-grey.

“Golden-Winged Dragon Mother, get ready.” Garen recognized her, this grey-colored three-eyed Colossal Dragon was Ann's other student, so she was Garen's senior sister in a sense. She had been following Ann for a long, long time before Garen was.

“I'll take left and you go right. There are others in charge of the other two sides.”

The Golden-Winged Dragon Mother spoke in a quiet voice.

“Understood.”

Garen nodded and instantly flashed a few times with her, until both appeared in the sky above the volcano lake, taking left and right respectively.

At the same time, two others appeared in front of and behind the volcano lake, dressed in black clothes, their faces hidden.

The four of them promptly formed a square formation, surrounding the volcano lake.

Red light glowed from all four of their bodies at the same time.

The red light grew more and more intense, s.h.i.+ning wider and wider, until they rapidly spread and wove together, forming a large and dense red net in the sky above the volcano lake.

The large net was several dozen kilometers in width, enveloping all the s.p.a.ce around them completely and resulting in a blood-colored web ball.

“Maintain for ten minutes,” said the Deception Demon Master's voice.

Barroom!

The corner of the blood-colored web that Garen grabbed with both claws abruptly gave a huge jolt, as though something had happened inside. He applied some force mercilessly, steadying the net he held in his claws.

The other three probably did the same as well.

The ball of net shook for a while and then rapidly fell silent as well.

But Garen was astute enough to notice that large flocks of Colossal Fire Birds were slowly appearing behind him.

These Colossal Birds were burning completely from head to toe. Their eyes were like emeralds as they all rushed toward his back.

Caw caw caw…!!

Amidst the sharp cries of the birds, Garen flapped his wings once. An invisible circular territory of intense poison spread out wide. His unique Natural Poison Region was like a membrane of transparent fog that could not be seen with the naked eye, slowly reaching out.

The fog of the Poison Region enveloped the flocks of Fire Birds, and instantly, the flames burning all over bodies of the many Fire Birds became fainter and smaller.

Their cries became hoa.r.s.e, their flames growing smaller and dimmer, until finally they fell from the sky like so many dumplings.

“Ann!! How dare you…” Suddenly, a menacing man's voice came from within the ball of net, sounding blurry and hoa.r.s.e, as though it came from an extremely long distance away.

The ball of net began to shake violently, as though there was something inside trying to fight its way out.

Garen grabbed the corner of the ball of net even harder, turning aside slightly. Behind him, the countless Fire Birds gathered together, forming a figure of fire.

It wore black armor, and the body inside the armor basically had the same dark-red texture of lava. It was basically an Elemental.

Garen narrowed his eyes. Casavon had three powerful G.o.ds under his command, and one of them seemed to match this person before him perfectly in terms of their physical appearance.

“The Elemental Thane… Aer.” If the one he faced before was an Incarnation of Tiamat, the one he was about to face this time was the true G.o.dhead of a Lower G.o.d.

“A mere Dragon of Disaster..” Scorching hot flames erupted from underneath this Fire Elemental Thane's helmet, and his body kept emitting large gusts of black smoke and high-temperature heat waves from all over his body.

“How dare you offend His Highness Casavon!”

He raised his scimitar and pointed it at Garen.

“To thy soul, I shall…” Bam!!

All of a sudden, a giant black beast pounced at him from the side.

The beast grabbed him tightly in mid-air, and the two of them wrestled and rolled. In mid-air, the beast suddenly sprouted a pair of large black bat wings.

Rainbow-colored circles of light burst forth as a result of the clash between the waves of energy and Divine Power, exploding between the two of them.

Garen watched this scene quietly. Since Ann had arranged so many things, it was only natural that she would not have forgotten to consider the manpower Casavon had under his command.

The two Lower-G.o.d-Level Thanes fought each other madly. One was the Earth Elemental Thane, the beast arranged by Ann, and the other was the Flame Thane.

The mountains and river beneath them rose, and crevices appeared between the giant boulders, revealing the lava that flowed beneath.

The powers of the Earth and the Flames tangled and wrestled with each other. It was a natural phenomenon as a result of a leakage of the two Thanes' power.

Amidst the loud rumbling, several black shadows began to appear slowly on the ground beneath them. The black shadows contracted abruptly, turning into several purple-black metallic giants that were each more than ten meters tall.

These Giants wore sharp triangular masks, and they held long black swords in their hands, their entire bodies covered in many mysterious carvings.

They leaped, their movements nimble, and all pounced toward the four people holding up the net in mid-air.

“Shadow Masks. They're from the Grey Shadow Parliament.” Golden-Winged Dragon Mother snorted coldly. “Careful, each of these Giants is a Level Fifteen Sword Master from the Giant Clan.”

“Leave this to me!”

A woman in black slowly appeared in mid-air beside them. The woman had dark golden curved horns on top of her head, and she wore a black suit of armor that covered her entire body. In her hands, she held two long and thin swords. Her long purple-red hair flew in the wind.

“Chaotic s.p.a.ce-Time!”

She abruptly raised her swords high, and a piercing sound immediately echoed through the entire vicinity.

Psst!!

A ray of purple-red light abruptly shot out of her blade, shooting straight into the air where it turned into a long thin line of purple-red, piercing through the clouds.

“Come, my most loyal clansmen!!” The woman screeched with strange and eerie laughter.

Buzz… Suddenly, a large current of purple-red clouds swirled in mid-air, turning into an enormous tornado that spun slowly in the sky.

With a crackle, a bolt of purple lightning shot past, and the entire sky dimmed.

Immediately, countless purple-red moth-like insects flew out of the tornado. These insects seemed to be several dozen times the regular moths, and each of them had eyes that glowed with a faint neon red light. Their vicious-looking mouthparts opened and closed constantly, as though they were trying to chew something greedily.

The insects pounced down from the sky like raindrops, flitting past the woman and leaping downward.

Roar!!

A Giant roared furiously, waving its Greatsword rapidly until it looked like a wheel as it moved into a sword dance. But even so, it was blocked by the many purple-red moths.

The moths' bodies were extremely hard. Even if they took a hit from the Greatsword, they would only sustain a tiny bit of damage. Then, they would shake their heads slightly and go charging forth once more.

Beneath them, the several dozen Giant were instantly surrounded by the countless moths, intercepted in mid-air.

On the ground, a Giant Sword Master wearing a black cape with golden tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs looked up at the woman who had summoned the moths.

Without wasting any breath on small talk, the Giant Sword Master created an Excalibur in his hand, condensing it out of blue electricity. He took a few quick steps forth, borrowed that momentum, and stomped down hard.

Boom!!

The blue light shot into the air, the Giant Sword Master and the woman cras.h.i.+ng into each other in mid-air. Black and blue Holy Aura Territories rose around the two of them, cutting off all the gazes from the outside world completely.

Garen pulled back his gaze.

The battle between the two sides was growing larger.

A few grey-robed old Wizards gradually appeared in the distant sky. There were still the faint vestiges of the forces from when they leaped through s.p.a.ce, so it was clear that they had leaped here using a matrix.

As soon as these people appeared, they lowered their heads and began to chant a spell quickly, their hands scattering countless crystalline powders into the air.

“The leaders of the Grey Shadow Parliament!” Garen recognized these five old Wizards, they were all peak-level Great Arcanists from the Northlands. Even the weakest one was at Level Eleven. The highest-leveled one, on the other hand, was a Level Fourteen Great Arcanist.

Each of them had the faint image of a tall tower floating behind them, symbolizing the fact that they each had a huge Wizard Tower and Elemental Pond supporting them.

Garen glanced at Golden-Winged Dragon Mother's direction. She was already exchanging blows with a yellow shadow, and bolts of gold-colored Divine Power sprayed out of their battle. Clearly, her opponent was also a Lower G.o.d.

“Looks like I'll have to handle this on my own.” Garen did not think that this was the extent of the Grey Shadow Parliament's firepower this time.

Just then, the chanting stopped abruptly.

The bodies of the five old Wizards suddenly gathered together, and actually molded into one clump like mud. Then, they quickly turned into a Warrior dressed in a huge white suit of armor and wielding two sabers.

“Emperor!!” the Warrior roared in a low voice. A white star suddenly lit up in the sky, and the white starlight pierced through the clouds and the tornado, s.h.i.+ning down directly on his body.

In an instant, countless magnificent and holy patterns continuously appeared all over the Warrior's body.

He took one step forward, and his body disappeared abruptly, reappearing behind Garen.

He swung his saber!!

A diamond-shaped crystal appeared in front of the saber and was instantly shattered by the blade.

Bam! The countless crystal shards shot toward the back of Garen's head, hiding the trajectory of the saber's tip.

“Decay,” said Garen in a low voice.

A cloud of black fog erupted from his body, covering everything within a several-dozen-meter radius. It covered the Warrior as well.

This was his Divine Persona's Authority. He could use his Divine Power to activate a powerful ability, as an embodiment of the laws. Everything trapped in the fog was limited by the laws of this place, and so began to decay slowly.

Be it their stamina, strength, speed, or essence, these would all fade quickly with the pa.s.sage of time.

Pfft pfft pfft!

Countless crystal shards all landed on Garen's body.

However, it was as though they were cras.h.i.+ng into wood. They left no trace whatsoever.

The tip of the blade also pierced into Garen's scales mercilessly, and the thin golden layer of the Divine Membrane was instantly broken through. The tip of the blade tapped directly against the dragon scale, emitting a piercing screech of friction.

“Dragon Light Slas.h.!.+” The Warrior used all the power in his body once more, and an arc of golden electricity burst forth from his hand, extending along the blade and instantly reaching the top. It became a huge force that propelled the blade forward viciously.

Pfft!

The arc of lightning shot out of the blade tip and struck into Garen's scales.

The Warrior's other hand abruptly turned into a blood-red tentacle of pure energy which wound itself around one of Garen's wings fiercely, with a smack.

“A Divine Weapon?” Garen raised an eyebrow. That blood-red energy tentacle meant that the opponent was clearly using a Divine Weapon to temporarily block of his Decay Authority.

This was also because he had too little Divine Power. If his Divine Persona was not limited to such weak Divine Power, if he had the Divine Power of a Lower G.o.d, then unless it was a Middle- or Upper-Level Divine Weapon, it would have been impossible to go against the power of Divine Authority.

But Garen was not surprised in the very least. If the opponent did not have at least this much power, how would they dare to partic.i.p.ate in a battle of this level?

“Saber of Domination!” With a shake of his hand, he emitted a pitch-black ball that instantly enveloped the Warrior before him. It also swallowed up the red tentacles.

This was Tiamat's ultimate move, but since it was part of the Domination Divine Persona's Authority, Garen managed to absorb it into his Authority as well after a period of a.n.a.lysis.

This was the benefit of concentrating all his potential into his increasing his Intelligence. Within a few short days, he had completely digested Tiamat's Authority.

“Unfortunately, since it's the natural ability of the Divine Persona, I can only use the Lower-Level Authority once without a cost. If I wanted to use it a second time, I'll have to add on some extra Divine Power as a starter. Garen calculated how much Divine Power he had saved. He left just a wisp to allow the Divine s.h.i.+eld's protective mechanism to run and operate automatically, and converted all the remaining Divine Power into Potential so that he could strengthen himself.

The Divine Power he obtained from devouring Tiamat pushed his Intelligence all the way up to 400 points. Unlike before, he now needed twenty Potential Points to increase his attributes by one point, so it was quite the cost.

400 points in Intelligence caused the computing speeds of the Willpower Neuroprocessor to increase to an unbelievable level. The computing tasks that required several days, and took G.o.ds several months, now only took him several hours.