"I’m going to kill your ’beloved’ just like all the previous tis."
Zenith’s face darkened, "It was you the whole ti? Heh..." Her eyes suddenly lost their light, "I see..." She said simply as mana began to gather around her.
Asmodeus raised one hand, and Elion’s entire body scread at him to move. Elion’s Enhanced Cognition flared instinctively, and for the briefest instant, he saw a thin invisible line.
It ford in front of Asmodeus’ finger and shot toward him without sound. Elion moved as fast as his body could allow him. Even as Zenith’s form flickered to defend him, he wasn’t going to take his chances.
Substitute!
His body vanished from where he stood, an afterimage taking his place, quickly replaced by a solid piece of rock.
The invisible cut passed through the rock and sliced cleanly into the far wall behind him. The golden-veined stone split open soundlessly, a perfect line carving through it from floor to ceiling.
Elion reappeared several tres away, stumbling slightly as pain tore through his stump from the sudden movent.
Zenith’s eyes widened, stop beside Elion.
Asmodeus’ brow rose faintly.
"Oh?"
Elion sucked in a ragged breath.
Asmodeus looked at him with sothing close to mild interest now. "You perceived it?" he paused thoughtfully, "And even avoided it."
The next attack was aid at both of them. Elion moved before he fully understood why.
Kurogoroshi scread in his hand, and he threw himself sideways. The cut passed close enough that several strands of hair fell from his head, severed cleanly before drifting to the floor.
Zenith reacted at the sa ti, her hands flashing with pale light as she raised a layered barrier.
"Don’t block it!" Elion shouted. Too late.
The invisible line touched the barrier, splitting it in two.
Every layer divided cleanly in two, the cut passing through it as if defence and air were the sa thing. Zenith twisted away at the last mont, but the edge grazed her shoulder, opening a perfect line of blood across her blue skin.
She hissed in pain.
Asmodeus did not even blink, having hurt his own child.
"This is the difference between borrowed strength and dominion," he said. "You accumulated power through repetition, Zenith. You learned tricks, and you sharpened yourself through desperation."
His eyes turned colder.
"But I rule here." He paused briefly and looked back at Elion, "You, however, have earned my interest. How about it, I will let you keep your life, in exchange, you beco my slave? Don’t worry, I treat all my slaves well."
Elion didn’t respond to the offer. In fact, he didn’t even consider it. Why live if he was going to beco soone else’s slave?
Besides, this was the sa guy who was said to have been sacrificing his own kind to fuel his power.
"What happened to lroy and the others?" he asked, trying his luck.
He didn’t know what to do here, but if asking bought him a bit of ti to think, then he would do so. And he was genuinely curious.
Asmodeus smiled.
"Trying to stall?" He scoffed. "Very well. I will play along, but this is futile. Resistance is futile." He raised a finger.
"I left them sothing else to play with."
Boom!
A reverberating boom suddenly echoed from the distant battlefield, and that told Elion all he needed to know.
The battle was still ongoing despite Asmodeus being here, which ant he was telling the truth.
"You thought I would take my chances fighting so many Saints alone? That I would start this whole war without a plan?" Asmodeus asked. "No. I started this war because I was confident in winning. And your so-called Saints of humanity will die at the hands of my secret weapon. The weapon I have been preparing for so long."
He spread his hands and opened them toward the sky.
"I have created a god!" he declared boldly.
Elion frowned.
’A god?’
How ridiculous. He wouldn’t believe such an absurd delusion without first seeing it himself.
"That is hard to believe," he said simply as he took out a Greater Healing Potion he had just bought from the system.
He uncorked the small bottle and popped it into his mouth, and the stump of his arm imdiately began to regenerate. Bone stretched outward first, followed by muscle, veins, flesh, and skin, all weaving themselves together at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Five seconds later, the entire limb had regrown. Asmodeus looked back at him with a raised brow.
"How peculiar. What is it that you used to heal so quickly? So sort of healing potion?"
His expression soon returned to its usual indifference.
"No matter. I will allow it. So, what is your choice? Do you want to live, or do you want to die?"
Elion took in a deep breath and got back onto his feet. He stretched his new arm calmly, flexing his fingers one after another. It was as good as new. In fact, it felt stronger than ever.
’Maybe I should do this more often. Train until I can’t walk, then heal myself back to health.’
He smiled lightly.
’It should be fun.’
He didn’t even stop to think about how absurdly unhinged such a thought was. If it could help him get stronger and train without worrying about recovery ti, then it was completely worth it.
As long as he had enough points to spend on a couple of hundred greater healing potions, then he would certainly try it out. He finished testing his new arm and looked back at Asmodeus.
"I will admit, it is quite a tempting offer."
Asmodeus narrowed his eyes.
Seriously, who did this green boy think he was?
A re Advanced Mage dared to speak to him as though they were equals. Sure, the boy had managed to evade a couple of his attacks, but Asmodeus had rely been playing with him.
Why was he still so confident? As far as he could rember, Asmodeus had cut his head off many tis already without effort. This ti would be no different.
He had taken a liking to the boy because he appeared to possess so potential since he would make a good pawn. So why did it sound as though he was seriously considering declining the offer?
Asmodeus scoffed inwardly.
Such a thing was not possible.
If the boy refused, he would simply kill him and revive him as an undead. It made no difference. He was only extending this offer out of the goodness of his own heart.
The boy had never truly been given a choice.
It would be a simple affair.
What truly concerned him, however, was the damned stone. It still refused to accept him as its master. And he needed it to escape this damned trial world.
He didn’t know much from the previous tis, since his mory was so hazy, but this world wasn’t real, and he was going to get out of here if it was the last thing he did!
Even though he didn’t know where he would end up after making it out, he would figure everything out from there and start over. This war was just a fool’s errand now.
The mont he found out about the peculiarity of this fake world, he was shocked! had soone trapped him in here without his knowledge!? But now that he was aware, he needed to take possession of the stone more than ever.
’It should be capable of getting out of this trap.’
Perhaps it would be simpler to let the boy take possession of it first, then have him use it to help him escape. However, he would have to kill the boy and turn him into an undead before that happened.
Who knew what the brat might do if he managed to claim the stone first? Even Asmodeus was wary of the Philosopher’s Stone and its capabilities.
He watched as Elion raised his hand. Then, slowly, the boy lifted his middle finger and showed it directly toward him.
For a mont, Asmodeus almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
"Go fuck yourself, demon!" Elion shouted at the top of his lungs. "Now, Zenith!"
Zenith swiftly dropped onto one knee and slamd her fist into the ground. Mana burst from her body and flooded into the stone beneath them.
Boom!
A shockwave tore through the chamber. The floor cracked violently, the stone buckling and rising in a rippling avalanche that descended toward Asmodeus.
Elion lunged toward the Philosopher’s Stone once more. Every speed-enhancing ability he had access to activated at the sa ti.
His body blurred as his hand shot forward at an impossible speed. He didn’t know if he would get another chance.
If that bastard used the sa ability as before, it was all over.
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