Andrew Robinson Leinbach
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Chapter 342: Divine Massacre
🕑 Added 2025-01-19 15:43:23 +0000 UTCWade
Five days later, the next god died.
Goraline, the Radiant Beauty, a master of the fire element with the Courtesan divine role and the half-human half-succubus who’d followed their lord since the beginning, had been in one of the other cut off universes when they were trapped, joining them a day later. And now she’d been cut in half, her body severed from head to groin by the God of War’s spear, the Heavenly Spark Soul King appearing behind her on the B rank planet everyone had moved to without anyone noticing.
And, somehow, she’d died instantly, something that should have been impossible with her Vitality.
Then her body was taken into what felt like a spatial storage soulstructure, not an artifact as far as Wade could sense, and the Heavenly Spark Soul King disappeared.
It didn’t make sense. They’d fought the Heavenly Spark Soul King before and, while he was terrifying, they’d discussed his power and realized the Magician had likely been weakened by the contract breaking attack the Mistress of Oaths and Deception was known for, almost certainly at the same time as the Primordial Sovereign’s three children, so they’d thought the Heavenly Spark Soul King wasn’t as dangerous as they’d originally feared.
Devourer’s Teeth, he’d felt the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s aura when he’d killed the Magician, and, while there had been thirty-six Laws, all at the high grade or peak grade Law Dragon level, there had been no True Laws. Yet the aura he’d just felt had two early grade True Laws of space and time and four middle grade True Laws of fire, water, earth, and wind.
“The God of War’s somehow taken over his body.” Q Farlan, his son, showed confusion mixed with fear in his aura. “This is a trap by the Primordial Humans.”
Quite a few gods, almost certainly having the same feelings as Farlan, turned to look at the three remaining deities of the Primordial Humans, and, at that instant, the Heavenly Spark Soul King, or maybe the God of War, attacked a second time, again killing a god with a single slice of his spear, this time an unaffiliated one-eye deity.
Then, as before, the Heavenly Spark Soul King took the body and disappeared.
Three separate gods tried to flee and nothing happened to them, each able to leave the universe, setting in motion twelve other gods fleeing as well, each able to get away without the Heavenly Spark Soul King attacking them.
Getting away, however, wasn’t of any benefit. The way back to the Prime Material was blocked, and every other universe was one the Heavenly Spark Soul King used to control, so they wouldn’t be able to hide.
The man didn’t have Law energy, the signature power that normally made A ranks far, far more powerful than B ranks and below, but he was able to make up for the difference with his control over natural energy, infusing the power of his Territory into his skills instead.
Once he regained control over his old universes, he’d be able to find them whenever he wanted.
And this was obviously his plan.
Both gods he’d killed so far had owned at least one universe, unlike any of the gods who fled, and the cowards were on borrowed time as a result.
Desperately, Wade moved to be closer to his wife, one of six other gods in their group who’d taken some of the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s Territory, hoping against hope some miracle would happen.
Maybe the God of War had somehow taken over the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s body and wouldn’t want to kill his wife, the mother of his two captured siblings. Maybe one of the elder gods would sacrifice some of their power to bash holes through the multiple universes necessary to come rescue them. Or maybe the Heavenly Spark Soul King would forgive them for targeting him, his people, and his wife for death.
Another god died, this time one of the elves. Then a fourth, the only dwarven god, the Windfather.
The Heavenly Spark Soul King obviously had a powerful stealth skill, likely a Divine grade version of Stealth somehow empowered further by natural energy and boosted to the Supreme grade, as well as Polymorph to shrink himself between appearances. And both were empowered by four middle grade True Laws, so, even if the Laws weren’t related to shadow, only a handful of gods present could see through his movements even a little bit, and Wade was not included among their number.
Wade was, however, probably the fourth strongest god present. With his death Law, Reaper divine role, and years of activity, he was above the other single element single divine role gods when it came to combat. And he was with the largest faction present.
Still, the strongest gods the United Federation of Planets had managed to trap had been the Master of the Eternal Forge, followed by the Magician, the Lord of Twilight Flame, and the Lady of Hellwater, all of whom were either dead or captured. So now the only gods above Wade were his son Q Farlan, a master of the life and death elements with the divine roles of the Ruler and Death; the elven goddess War Dance Koraline, a master of the water, death, and metal elements with the divine roles of the Tactician and the Entertainer; and the independent human god known as the Sky Lord, a man who’d managed to kill a god as an A rank before advancing, a master of the fire, water, and wind elements with the divine role of the Ruler.
The Heavenly Spark Soul King, however, wasn’t going after any of them, instead focusing on those who’d stolen his universes.
This made his attacks too obvious, however, and, with the two of them working together, War Dance Koraline and the Sky Lord were able to block the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s spear when he attacked his fifth target, another of the elven gods. They weren’t, however, able to keep the Heavenly Spark Soul King from being able to flee and disappear.
And they weren’t able to save his sixth target, the only god of the Vilorax, a humanoid race with six arms and insectoid features.
“Why aren’t you even trying to help?” The Sky Lord yelled at members of Wade’s group, the twelve scarab gods, and Wade belatedly realized all twelve had moved to another section of the continent everyone else was standing on, all twelve sitting down.
“From everything I’ve been able to tell, Lord Aalam is pretty reasonable,” Parvorax, the Heavenly Scarab of Fire, spoke back, his mana vibrations easily reaching them only a few hundred kilometers away. “So it’s possible he might not kill us if we surrender.”
All twelve scarabs appeared sick to Wade’s divine senses, though he was pretty sure he, as the only one with the divine role of the Reaper present, was the only one who’d noticed.
Kilvorax, the Heavenly Scarab of Space, had a mortal daughter who’d joined the United Federation of Planets, so Wade suspected a bloodline curse of some kind given the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s past. With this new point of information, however, Wade was almost positive the Heavenly Spark Soul King was still in charge of his body. He was just making use of the God of War’s Laws somehow, which was even more terrifying.
“You also did him a favor by protecting the Alchemist of the Deep Woods in the past,” Parvorax continued, speaking to the Sky Lord. “So, if he’s willing to spare anyone, you’d be high on the list.”
The Sky Lord appeared to think for a second, and then he lowered the glaive he was wielding, also taking a seat. And the result was the Heavenly Spark Soul King appearing next to him and cutting off his head.
“You may have protected one of my teachers,” the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s voice emanated out as he cut the Sky Lord in half three more times before collecting the dead body. “But that doesn’t excuse you for hunting down Steel Swamp Sorin in cold blood. And you will make up for your crime for eternity.”
The elf he’d previously targeted died before anyone could stop him and, of the originally eight gods in their group who’d taken over his Territory, only one was left, Vora. And the universe they were in, the planet they were on—both of which had previously been the Territory of the Sky Lord—began to suppress them all.
“Karvac, any ideas?” Wade asked the Divine Seer as Koraline and then the last remaining elven god were killed as well. “Should we try to surrender?”
“No.” Karvac sat down as well as the three remaining Primordial Human gods were slaughtered. “It’s no use. It’s hidden behind the aura of the God of War, who’s soul the United Federation of Planets is somehow able to control well enough to allow him to possess the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s body for this battle, but the Heavenly Spark Soul King is being empowered by half divine roles of the Tactician, the Guardian, the Messenger, the Actor, and the Ruler.
“If I had to guess, the Mistress of Oaths and Deception somehow has the ability to take over the power of gods as well as their identities, and they long ago killed Perival, the Divine Bulwark, the Wind Runner, King Selrah, Bellatrix La’Vore, and Carina the Wise. Likely also Ralphon Tari and the All-Seeing Eye as well.”
Two more gods died.
“That’s also why the Heavenly Spark Soul King targeted Goraline first. With her power absorbed, the Mistress of Oaths and Deception would only need you, Vora, and me to complete her set. Though it is possible she needs a replacement for Perival as that clone was likely killed by the God of War.”
The Heavenly Spark Soul King appeared behind Farlan and there was nothing Wade could do to protect his son.
They shouldn’t have gone after the United Federation of Planets. They should have left the Yin Yang Sage and her husband alone. They shouldn’t have been so sure of their power.
Vora died next and part of Wade died with her.
“I’m sorry my love.”
Then, while the Heavenly Spark Soul King killed Karvac, Wade attempted to commit suicide by burning his soul and blowing himself up. He’d at least be able to deny the Mistress of Oaths and Deception his power.
Alas, however, it was not meant to be.
A time and space sealing artifact appeared over his forehead, empowered by the God of War’s Laws, and Wade couldn’t move his own power even as he was killed as well.
Comments
Kasper Lynderup Jensen
It seems like most of the gods do have empathy and the capacity to be kind and reasonable people. To their peers at least. I get the impression that they see mortals more like livestock than people. A farmer can also be a nice person, but if you are a cow then you will probably not agree with that. Even animal rights groups kills animals when they have trouble finding homes for them. So even if most of the gods have a reasonable moral code, that matters little when they only apply it for other gods. But also yes war can be used to justify many things, like the wind runner.
nugitoBambino
man i feel kinda bad for wade lol. Him and his wife didn't seem that bad morally, relatively. But still, war's gonna war I guess. Tftc!
