A persistent ringing blared in his ears for hours. Nobody else seemed to notice it—not even the Minor God of Fire when he finally regained consciousness. But it was there, and it bothered David to no end. It appeared shortly after the fight with the Voidlings ended, rattling David’s mind tremendously. Even now, after hours had passed, he could still hear it, adding frustration to his exhaustion.

  Healing the Ascendants, cleansing parts of the wastelands, and all that political nonsense with the Minor God of Fire and his cronies had been endlessly frustrating, and the ringing in his ears certainly didn’t help anyone. If anything, David grew more irritated as the hours elapsed, and he was overjoyed when the fire god finally recognized his annoyance. He did not seem particularly pleased with David’s attitude, but that mattered little.

  He’d healed the fire god, curing wounds that would have taken most Ascendants weeks and a considerable amount of Might to tend to—that was assuming they even had the means to extract an Overlord’s Nihilum. Most didn’t, so the Minor God of Fire was lucky with David’s presence. In more than one sense, the god was lucky to have David there.

  Maja should take care of this mess in the future—or Lukas, for all I care. He shook his head and leaned back on the reclined chair the Tirac Artificer built for him a while ago. He took a deep breath, channeled pure Blood into the chair, and enjoyed the faint breeze as it swirled through the wooden front porch of his little home.

  Taking breaks was important, even more so after the consumption of a Void Overlord and all those talks about alliances, demands, and whatnot. David couldn’t remember half of what the Minor God of Fire demanded, which was all the more reason to deploy Maja and his Champions to deal for him instead. They should take care of all issues related to his territory from now on. If anything, they were already doing most of the work, so they may as well do everything.

  While that was probably unfair, David had never been one to manage masses. His life before the Integration didn’t count either. That was a time long forgotten, where tasks and jobs he didn’t even like had been forced upon him. David’s current life was nothing like that. Well, mostly.

  There were still beings with enough power to “demand” things from him. The Minor God, for example, demanded his presence in future meetings, which was a waste of precious time, to put it plainly. He shouldn’t have to talk about alliances and all those other things when one-fourth of the Earthen Union had already been lost to the End. If nobody stopped the End, the cosmos would fall into the End’s grasp. This time, there wouldn’t be another Cycle. This was not a trial run—it was their only chance at survival.

  “I should be out there, devouring Voidlings, augmenting the Corrupted Divine Heart. Now that the End is attacking more than ever!” he muttered, shaking his head.

  Before that, I gotta get used to those damn changes. David closed his eyes and felt the power of 500 units of Vitae coursing through his body. Crossing the threshold had been a much bigger challenge than he’d anticipated, which was a good thing in a way. Not even the System could accurately rate his power level any longer. Of course, he was still not as strong, durable, and fast as the gods, Overlords, and especially not the Void Monarchs, but he was getting closer.

  The gap was shrinking, and it was only a matter of time, of Vitae, and of a disgustingly high amount of Might before he’d be ready to fight them—all those blocking his path, be they gods or Voidlings.

  David was happy with the results of today’s fight. First of all, defeating an Overlord empowered Vitae and increased its quantity as well. Then there were the gains granted by the Earthen Union and the Weave. Defeating and consuming the Overlord removed a lethal threat as well as a pest-like source that would have tainted the entire continent if left unattended. The planetary bond grew stronger, steadily increasing the influx of Might.

  If Zachariah were here, I’d ask him to hunt Overlords with me.

  Alas, the Regressor wasn’t there. He was…somewhere. Probably. David sincerely doubted he was dead. Or so he hoped. Zachariah was a pain in the ass, but he was a good guy. It was hard to tell if they needed him since it was unlikely the Regressor would grow strong enough to attain godhood, form a Divinity, and advance it before the final battle started. Then again, David had literally no idea what Zachariah was planning to do. Nor did he know how strong the Regressor was at this point.

  All he knew was that he needed to rest a little, ease the ringing in his head, and wait until Titanblood leveled up a few more times.

  To his greatest misery, David wasn’t graced with the luxury of a long break. Not even one hour after he settled in the reclined chair to enjoy his first break in a long time, golden letters formed before him. He was so used to those damn letters that he knew instantly something was up. Seraphine wouldn’t message him for no reason, after all.

  The serpent found you. He’s on the way. Leave your territory if you do not want to see it annihilated.

  David jerked up, hair standing on end.

  “Fuck.”

  Of course, he could be mistaken, and Seraphine was talking about something entirely different, but David only knew of one serpent with the strength to destroy his territory. Only the Poisonous Beast God—Zephyr—could push him into a corner, forcing him to watch helplessly as his territory was annihilated.

  He had come. At last, the Poisonous Beast God had found him.

  That was… actually, it was something David expected to happen since he learned about the completion of the World Awakening as well as the descent of the first Minor Gods. After all, Zephyr was only a Minor God. The Poisonous Beast God had been so troublesome that David had been certain Zephyr was equivalent to a Major or Ancient God, yet he was only a Minor God—one so weak he was one of the first gods to reach the lands of the Earthen Union.

  “You want me to leave my territory? How can you be certain—? No, he is definitely after my life.” David slapped his cheeks and took a deep breath. First one, then another, and a third, until he regained full control of his emotions.

  Protecting his territory while fighting a Minor God was utter nonsense. Sure, he’d have a slight advantage in his territory since the Weave would be easier for him to access—and harder for Zephyr to use—but that wouldn’t rebalance the additional strain of having to protect his territory from a Minor God’s wrath.

  “Where do you want me to go?” he asked the golden letters, but they dispersed without an answer.

  David cursed and used Passage. He appeared in the middle of a council meeting, which he should have joined but didn’t, and appeared before Maja in a flash. She was in the middle of saying something when David emerged.

  She, like the others, was surprised by his sudden appearance and jerked back. Some unsheathed their weapons, expecting an attack, but David ignored them all.

  “Zephyr is coming. I will head to the… I think I’ll move to the ocean.” He tried to put a smile on his lips, but it wouldn’t work. David then planted a quick kiss on her lips. “Take care of the territory while I’m away. If something happens, just know I—”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Maja’s mind rattled and worked overtime, but she responded quickly. She pressed a finger gently atop his lip, stopping him in his tracks.

  “Don’t say anything. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. You will survive, and… and everything will be all right.” While Maja tried to sound confident, as hard as David tried to smile, she failed just as much. Doubts flashed through her eyes and tears welled in them. However, the tears never left her eyes. She stared at him, pulled him into a tight embrace, and released him after what felt like an eternity.

  “You will be fine. I… I will be waiting for you.”

  David stepped back, winked reassuringly at Maja even though he had no idea what was about to happen, and used Passage to teleport high into the air. His eyes searched the distant sky until they locked onto a massive stream of lifeforce. The source of lifeforce was still far away, maybe even beyond Kamia, but David could sense it already. That wasn’t the best way to start this ordeal, but so be it. The being in the distance moved rapidly, so David used Passage again to move tens of kilometers away from Orhain. Near instantaneously, the lifeforce’s trajectory shifted.

  Satisfied with the shift, David teleported again. He moved to the mountains near the ocean bordering Kamia. While that closed the distance to the Poisonous Beast God, it also ensured there weren’t any civilians between them. Again, the Beast God’s trajectory shifted. The Beast God’s form unraveled before his eyes as the beast closed the distance rapidly, and David quickly realized that the Poisonous Beast God was a serpent slithering in the air.

  There were no wings attached to his sinuous body like Electra had, yet it moved fast and freely. For a moment, David wondered if he had to face a Dragon God as Zephyr closed the distance between them rapidly, unraveling more of his appearance. The Poisonous Beast God resembled the mythos of eastern dragons, but… did that really change anything? Whether he was a dragon or a massive serpent did not really matter.

  David slunk away. He retreated slowly, heading toward the expansive ocean.

  He unleashed Bloodlust, combined with [Fearwrought], in an attempt to mask the uncertainty that threatened to consume him, and prepared for battle.

  Electra was with him. She rested in the Beast Core after the fight with the Overlord and was not quite back at full power. Neither was David. He was still getting used to the changes of Titanblood and its mutation into [Void – Vitae], but it had to be enough.

  Electra rippled within him and emerged from the Beast Core that had grown alongside David. They didn’t waste any time and fused. Crimson, ethereal wings sprouted from his back at once. This time, an ethereal tail, thick and crimson like condensed pure Blood, jutted from his tailbone and extended several meters. The halo of a massive Sacred Beast emerged around him, and David embraced its power.

  His eyes ached as the Sacred Beast’s Arcana, a gift acquired from consuming William, merged temporarily with David as well, augmenting his eyesight and several other traits drastically.

  Using strands of pure Blood, David connected the Source with several Skill Runes and Sparks, creating a link that allowed instant usage of the respective abilities. He was already proficient enough to use most Skill Runes, Sparks, and even Intents almost instantly, but the link allowed him to use them even faster, more consistently, and to overlap them, unleashing a dozen abilities at once if needed.

  The sinuous wave of raw, oppressive lifeforce closed the distance rapidly, but David blocked it out. He conjured the Obsidian Blade in its scimitar form, and he cast [Bloodbound Bastion], [Crimson Bulwark], and [Herald’s Blessing], connecting them to Scalemore as he conjured it. Scalemore looked battered, to say the least. After the Overlord pierced his abdomen, Scalemore had suffered tremendously. It had been on the verge of falling apart when David removed the torrents of the Overlord’s Nihilum, stopping its decay. Nonetheless, it was the armor of an Ascendant, and it was strong enough to take a few more blows.

  David cut into his palm, drawing dark blood from his veins. Titanblood had leveled up again, which, while great, didn’t change much about his blood’s potency. He willed [Blood Manipulation] to pull the dark Titanblood across his body and called upon the Law of Blood to intertwine his blood with the thick, plated armor of [Crimson Bullwark] as it formed.

  The crimson armor was dyed and framed in dark blood that resembled the pitch-black darkness of the abyss. The armor was stronger than ever, but was that enough to fight a Minor God? Unlikely, but he was about to find out anyway.

  He applied [Origin Lightning] and [Herald’s Blessing] on his soulbound blade and unleashed a considerable amount of Vitae to coat both body and sword. A moment later, Words of Power rolled from his tongue as he prepared the Law of Unbinding. He applied Rend to the Obsidian Blade, which expanded as a grayish-silver shimmer poured from the weapon.

  Not even a minute later, David felt the pressure of divinity washing over him. The Weave screamed in his ears, thundering as though he stood at the center of a gargantuan thunderstorm, and something green rocketed through the air.

  David cast and overclocked [Bloodbound Bastion] half a dozen times. He had already realized he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough, but the projectile pierced through the crimson barriers as they materialized before him. The barriers drained the projectile’s momentum; however, it was still as lethal as before. The smell of burned energy, smoke, and sizzling reached him all at once, and the projectile would have struck him if he hadn’t jerked to the side. His wings flapped hard, and he accumulated enough momentum to escape the shot as it plummeted into the ocean, sizzling and burning through the surface.

  “Weak.” A thunderous hiss rang in David’s ears. It was not spoken in any language he knew, yet he understood it perfectly well.

  “So you are the Healer. The aid of the fool, the annoyance of the cosmos.”

  A massive shadow passed over him, and David cast Passage to teleport above. His body tensed, and his eyes narrowed as he locked onto the creature that was even longer than he’d expected. Zephyr was a monstrosity, and David had to face him.

  “I wouldn’t call myself an annoyance,” David said as calmly as he could. “Well, actually, that is not true. I am a pretty annoying guy.”

  “Silence!” Zephyr hollered, his voice ringing in David’s ears. Pressure, weighing heavier on his soul than before, pressed down on him. “Are you going to waste my time, or will you let me consume you?”

  Was that really a question? He doubted anyone would say, ‘Sure thing, consume me. I’ll just stand here and do nothing while you eat me alive! Go for it, buddy!’

  That was utter nonsense, and the Poisonous Beast God’s eyes showed clearly enough that he knew very well how nonsensical his words were.

  “Fuck you!” David growled, slashing at the Beast God. He unleashed Lightning Rend, amplified with [Herald’s Blessing] and the Fragmented Law of Unbinding. Zephyr didn’t move as the bladed energy whipped from the Obsidian Blade. Not at first, at least. His eyes narrowed to tiny slits only when the power of Unbinding unraveled before him.

  His maw snapped open faster than David could see, and a fountain of green liquid burst out. The Weave pulled and twisted as the crescent blade and the spray of liquid collided. An explosion erupted at the point of impact, and Lightning Rend fell apart—but not without distracting the Beast God.

  David used Passage to reappear beneath him. This time, he was close to Zephyr and pressed his hand firmly against its massive, slippery scales. Liquid poured from the scales even before his palm touched the Poisonous Beast God, but thick, viscous droplets formed the instant he made contact. The conjured gauntlet covering his hand sizzled and fell apart near-instantaneously, followed by sharp pain and the smell of burned flesh. Acid poured down his palm, corroding his hand rapidly, but David paid no heed to the pain.

  He cast [Lifeweaver’s Bond], followed by [Equivalent Exchange], both overclocked and augmented with enough Might to mark Zephyr. A moment later, Vitae poured out of his acid-covered hand, first consuming the deadly liquid, then flowing into the Poisonous Beast God.

  Or so was the plan.

  Zephyr moved faster than expected. No more than a dozen units of Vitae made it into one of the Beast God’s scales before he shifted.

  “So that is the End’s Power? It’s weaker than expected. Then again, you are weak, and so is your control over it.” Ridicule and disgust mingled in the Beast God’s voice. The emotions flooded David until rage and anger replaced them. Yet, it wasn’t his emotions that had replaced the disgust and ridicule; it was Electra’s.

  The Beast God slithered through the air at breathtaking speed and turned to stare at David. Their eyes locked for a moment, and it felt like Zephyr could see through him—exposing his soul and unraveling everything—until deep laughter rang out and the sensation vanished.

  “Oh, you did not kill my offspring? That is surprising. Then again, you are weak. Of course, you allied with someone equally weak.”

  Electra hissed, and their fusion intensified as the emotions of two overlapped and merged into one.

  David tried once more to gauge Zephyr’s power, but he failed. The Poisonous Beast God was strong—stronger than he was.