"You got quite the mouth, kid," replied Alio with a smile beneath his hood. Arthur managed to catch a glimpse of his mouth, covered with a thick beard. "Even at the pri of your forr power, you weren't so arrogant."
"Arrogance?" asked Arthur with raised brows. "I just pointed out your cris and your punishnt. Does that make an arrogant person, Fallen God Alio?"
"It is either arrogance or foolery to disrespect a god."
"A fallen god," corrected Arthur, and he could see the veins bulging on Alio's half-hidden face. Of course, it was wrong to anger a calamity, but Arthur was not about to be an ass kisser for survival. "How about I offer you sothing instead?"
"I would love to hear it," said Alio while reining his anger. "Well, if I don't like it, I will kill everyone here."
"I will co down toward Kera, and the army will retreat. Then, we can fight or settle whatever scores we have."
"Step down, soldier," interrupted General Perli while shielding him. Arthur was surprised to see him step up even after Alio made them doubt him, but it seems General Perli had a pride of his own. "I will not allow negotiations with the enemy, especially at the expense of my n."
"You said earlier that so sacrifices are necessary for the kingdom."
"There are things that we cannot sacrifice, kid. One of them is our pride as a unit! If I allow my soldiers to be used as pawns, we will never be anything more!"
"Well, to be honest, I am not a soldier," revealed Arthur to allow the army to retreat. Fighting here in the sky with this monster would result in unnecessary deaths. "I am wearing a disguise."
"…what?" frowned General Perli as he turned. "You are not Galil Kerstin?"
"That is the first ti I hear that na, to be honest," said Arthur as he 'undid' his disguise and took a different appearance. Even though he had the mind to take a stranger's face, Arthur took the face of Alexie Linan.
The illusion wore off, and the soldiers gasped in horror as Arthur's face began to change. In the end, he was a completely different person, with blond hair and green eyes.
"You are… Alexie Linan from the Veran Kingdom!" identified the scholar knight from earlier, and Arthur nodded in response. "You should be in Runera, participating in the recent runic exploration!"
"I escaped because I knew what was going on here," said Arthur as he turned to General Perli. "Despite the differences you had with my master, I can see that you are a real man who cares about his soldiers."
"Your master should be the Major Genera's brother, Yuvan Perli!" said the sa scholar from earlier. "I heard that the two brothers were both geniuses of the martial and runic path, but they were enemies to the bone!"
"Are you a comntator or sothing?" asked one of the lieutenants standing to the side. "Major General, what should we do about this conman?"
However, General Perli was silent as he stared at Arthur. It seems he was conflicted about sacrificing his brother's disciple for the sake of his army.
"You chose to break their trust in you to save them?" laughed Alio. "It seems there are still emotions within you, Outsider. You were more powerful as a logical puppet."
"This is a waste of ti," said Arthur as he unleashed his mana. "You can either choose to go with my plan, Major General, or you can fight with to the death."
"Fine," said General Perli as he turned toward Alio. "Let teach you about the Unbroken Corps, boy," said General Perli as he unsheathed his sword.
"I guess we are retaking the hard route," said one of the generals surrounding Major General Perli. "Whatever the reason is for infiltrating our unit is, it is irrelevant now. You wanted to go with this monster to save us, and that is enough reason for us to fight."
"Oh ho! You all chose to die! I like humans; they always make stronger with their ideals!" Alio looked ecstatic. "Co forth, and die!"
Arthur saw the crazed smile on Alio's face, and he knew that this was the result of absorbing the strength of millions to beco a god. However, what uneased him more was General Perli choosing to fight. His face was hardened, and his expression was unwavering. He carried the eyes that told everyone he was ready to die for his mission, and he was.
"Listen, Maryam," whispered Arthur to the runemaster beside him. "I will teleport you to the city and specifically to my neighborhood. But, unfortunately, I cannot accompany you because this monster will follow and endanger my family."
"You are delegating duties now?" said the runemaster with a raised brow. "I am not your follower."
"I know, and that is why this is a request. I will repay you one day for it," said Arthur as the tension between the two sides began to rise. "There is no ti. Leave."
"Attack!" shouted General Perli as he brandished his sword, and the generals ran forward. Arthur struck Maryam with his rune, making her disappear, and turned to fight.
However, all he could see were the flying bodies of the generals being sent his way. General Perli was standing a few ters ahead of him, and he watched his comrades slam into the iron cabin and make dents in it.
"...with just a wave of his hand," muttered General Perli with a grave expression. "This astonishing level of strength is truly akin to those of gods."
"And you have angered the god," said Alio as he pulled down his hood, revealing his face. With a giant crazed grin, Arthur managed to see the face of the mass murderer that betrayed Jizo before.
His skin was sandy as if he had spent years under the sun. Covering his mouth was a thick beard, which hid half of the big veins on his face. Each vessel was as wide as half a finger, and they ran like cobwebs that covered his face.
"Those are the eyes of a monster, not a god," said Arthur as he walked past General Perli. Alio's eyes were bloodshot and unfocused as if he had lost sanity. "You were given this power by mistake, and it's ti I reclaim the artifact."
"I take whatever I want, brat! Hand over the rune you have," said Alio as he reached out toward Arthur. "It belongs to and none other than !"
"Then your title should be the unjust plunderer," said Arthur as his legacy rune appeared. "It seems you don't use mana, and just your physical stats. That is the reason the monitors couldn't track you down."
"This body is everything I need!" shouted Alio as he retracted his fist and readied himself to punch Arthur. General Perli snapped out of it and rushed forward, knowing that letting Alio attack full-on would kill his soldiers.
"Soldiers, retreat!" shouted General Perli. "Our fight will be on the grounds of Kera!"
Then, Arthur felt sothing rush past him. A figure ramd into Alio and carried the monster off his feet and the airship. General Perli wanted to take the fight to the ground, lest it kills his soldiers.
"You are too late, old man," said Alio as he punched toward the airship while falling to the ground. That simple gesture caused a sonic explosion in midair that sent General Perli and Alio hurling to the ground.
"BOOM!"
The airship, which was in the trajectory of the attack, carrying Arthur and the soldiers, received the full-on punch of Alio. The re air pressure caused by his attack tore the ship apart and almost did the sa for their eardrums.
Arthur watched as the tal plates got torn in half under the impact of his attack, but he was prepared for that. The mont the attack reached them, his rune-covered every soldier on the ship and teleported them toward the city.
The airship turned into nothing but scraps, but no life was lost. Everyone appeared on the ground in the middle of the rubbles caused by the invasion, creating a giant flattened land. Arthur was huffing as the mana consumption tired him, but he had no ti to waste.
"Everyone!" shouted Arthur toward the soldiers. "This place will be the main battlefield! Those who aren't confident about surviving, go and rescue the citizens and prevent the other monsters from interfering!"
The soldiers were dazed as they suddenly appeared on the ground. Their eyes turned to Arthur, who was giving orders, realizing he was the one behind saving them. Then, without a mont of hesitation, the foot soldiers ran away from the battlefield.
"Young man," said the swordsman general toward him. "Where did General Perli and…" he was about to ask about their location, but Arthur kept staring above them. Then, finally, the two figures pierced through the clouds before slamming to the ground, making the battlefield shake.
"Now, we need to take down this monster," said Arthur, his body burning like a golden fla.
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