Atticus stared at the crimson do encasing the city with cold eyes.
'The champions made it.'
As a god, he could only affect other gods' abilities. No matter how powerful his will was, it could do nothing to this shield.
He felt Magnus and Kiara's hard stare and turned.
'I'll have to abandon them to leave.'
He couldn't affect the do, which ant it would block him and the princess. However, Magnus and Kiara were a different case. They were champions.
Atticus gripped his katana tight.
'I'd rather die.'
The very thought of abandoning a loved one sickened him. He would rather condemn the entire world than do it.
But reality was rciless. It was a fact that Atticus knew all too well.
He turned away and scanned the city. Even now, the Redflas were only a few dozen and none posed any threats to him.
'They planned for this. Everything.'
Though Atticus wasn't sure who, soone had been watching him. They knew he had been protecting his companions. Knew he wouldn't abandon them.
'They used them to trap .'
Atticus fixed his burning eyes on Prya, who wore a wide grin.
"You're slow. Looks like you've finally figured it out! Haha!" She threw her head back, laughing. "You can't leave this city without throwing your companions away. But you won't do that, will you? You don't have the spine."
The other Redfla gods burst into laughter with her. But soon, their voices died as Prya's grin twisted into sothing feral and unhinged, her aura churning violently around her.
"Get on your knees and grovel," she hissed, "or I'll make sure your little pets beg to kill them just to make it stop—"
Atticus descended from the skies in a streak of crimson light, smashing into the ground. The force sent a deep tremor through the earth. Prya and the other Redfla gods narrowed their eyes. For a mont, the world went silent. Then, from the center of the haze, a violent eruption of crimson light tore outward.
"You dare!"
Prya's will flared instantly, shielding her in a blaze. The explosion struck into her shield with the energy of a star, forcing her back step by step. The other Redfla gods reacted just as quickly, their wills igniting as they fought to withstand the storm.
But Prya's eyes trembled the mont the next wave hit. An unbearable, suffocating heat pressed down on her like a mountain of molten iron.
"What… what is this!?"
She felt like she'd been subrged in a pool of searing lava. Her will spat fire and pressure in every direction, yet her skin still sizzled as the heat burned through her.
"Impossible!"
She snarled and poured more power into her will, shoving her foot forward against the storm as if forcing herself through a hurricane made of fire.
"There's no way…"
She gritted her teeth as her will flared, pushing back against the scorching storm.
Atticus was newly ascended. It hadn't even been an hour since he arrived in the viscount layer, and all he'd fought was a Redfla viscount whose will he couldn't absorb to power up. His will should've been a flicker compared to hers. Even if he sohow found a way, in what universe did any will burned hotter than the Redflas?
Her eyes glowed red as she roared.
"There's no way your will is stronger!"
Crack!
Prya's heart froze as cracks began spreading across her will. Her body sizzled more as heat flooded her.
Despite the agony, she stood dazed, her trembling eyes filled with pure disbelief.
"Impossible."
The storm burst through her will, swallowing her scream as she and the other Redfla gods were burned, seared, and erased in the collapsing inferno.
The flas kept on expanded outward. Entire rows of buildings vaporized. Stone lted into rivers of glowing lava. The ground cracked open, glowing from beneath. And in the epicenter of the maelstrom, Atticus stood alone, eyes scanning the aftermath through the blazing haze.
'The gods are taken care of.'
Only a fool would follow others' demands when the end ga was obvious. There was no world where the Redfla would spare his companions even if he surrendered.
'It worked more than I thought.'
Atticus had used nothing but others' will arts until now. But this was far from being Omnicognition's full potential. Just as he could effortlessly see through a will art, he could as easily form one, complex or not.
The attack he'd just unleashed was a testant to that fact. With his will, he created an unending storm of fire whose temperature was unlike the world had ever seen.
Still, Atticus' expression was hard.
'The champions are still alive.'
He'd killed all the gods, yet there was still a significant number of champions alive. This only cented his assumption that this was planned, by soone very clever.
'The gods of each champion are not in the territory.'
All the gods were dead, yet the champions were still alive. Without killing their gods, the champions would still remain in the ga.
'I can't affect them.'
The ground had turned into molten lava, yet they walked across it like it didn't exist.
"Krk!"
'Hm?'
Atticus fixed his gaze on a smoking mass slowly dragging itself toward him.
"Y-you… y-you d-dare…! H-how… how d-dare you…! D-do… you… kn-know… who I… am…? My… father… he'll— I'll… I'll k-kill you… I'll… f-fucking… end you…"
'She's still alive.'
While the other gods had died and turned to ash, she had sohow still survived.
'Barely.'
Her body was a blackened ss, patches of bone showing through. What remained of her face was lted and unrecognizable; only one bloodshot eye still glowed, trembling with rage.
Her will had broken, yet she moved slowly towards him with sheer determination.
"I-I'll… m-make… your c…companions… scream…" she gurgled, coughing out smoke. "Y-you… d-dare… attack… us… you… c-can't—"
'I don't have ti for this.'
A streak of light flashed.
Prya's words died in her throat as her severed head tumbled across the scorched ground, the single surviving eye still wide with disbelief.
As Atticus sheathed his katana, he allowed his mind to work fast.
'I could try that.'
He appeared by Magnus and Kiara, who both wore somber looks.
"I want to try the territory perk," he said.
As they both nodded, Atticus focused on the closest territory and tried to will them away. A blinding light engulfed him and he vanished, appearing in the middle of a deserted town.
'Shit!'
His eyes widened when he saw that Magnus and Kiara weren't with him.
'I have to go back.'
With a thought, he vanished once more and appeared before the startled Magnus and Kiara.
As he shook his head, Magnus and Kiara's expressions turned grim. They exchanged a silent, resolute look and faced Atticus.
"You have to escape," said Magnus.
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