Ascenders Rift

Within the Old Temple, the battle had finally ended, as both Lyeecia and Alios laid silently on the ground. For some reason, neither of the two were moving as Alios gently grasp Lyeecia's small frame with his hand. 

At this moment, the badly injured Evan was slowly walking over towards the pair. Not long after, he had arrived one meter away from Alios, noticing that he laid on the ground with one arm grasping his shield and the other trying to ease Lyeecia's current state. After a short while, Lyeecia seemed to calm down as she stopped spitting blood, her face was deadly pale as she couldn't even lift her staff correctly, but she didn't seem to care anymore and wrapped her arms around Alios's waist while resting her head against his chest.

The two seemed to have sensed Evan's presence, Lyeecia's eyes shifted towards him as Alios lifted his head from the ground to look at him. Judging by Alios's state, he didn't even have any injuries or lack of energy and was only lying still not to stir up Lyeecia's old wounds. As he saw the two looking at him, Evan remained silent as he knew that the time-limit was only moments away from passing.

Alios made a warm smile as he spoke, "It seems that you've won..."

Following his words, the system which had been silently counting down reacted as a screen if text appeared in Evan's eyes followed by its voice.

[You've survived the battle against two Ancient Beings, Mission 2 has been completed! Because of your incredible feat, your EXP shall be doubled!]

[1000 Exp has been gained!]

[Title Earned - Belanore's Conquerors! All title benefits shall be awakened at level 5.]

[All party members shall be awarded three Rank 1 Mid-Grade Lesser Tier Artifacts.]

[As the leader of the party, you shall be awarded a Rank 1 High-Grade Lesser Tier Artifact.]

[Your raid party has completed an ??? Tier Mission: you are all now qualified for awakening. Scanning the bodies of all candidates: scanning complete.]

[Only two candidates are eligible for a class change; to those candidates, please take this chance to select the class you'd like to receive as soon as possible.]

[Warning: As they've failed to defeat their challengers, both bosses shall be terminated!]

As Evan heard those notifications, his eyes beamed as he quickly glossed over the initial details of the few artifacts that had appeared before him.

[Balnore's Wind Cape - Rank 1: High Grade] 

[Elven Chest Armor - Rank 1: Mid Grade]

[Lightweight Battle Boots - Rank 1: Mid Grade]

[Lesser Power Belt - Rank 1: Mid Grade]

Evan's confidence couldn't help but raise a bit further as he looked at the equipment, he knew how hard it was to get such artifacts, and you'd have to be lucky to get even Mid Grade Loot from monsters below Level 5.

Still, this wasn't the time to carefully assess these objects; he promptly put them in his storage space and stared at Alios and Lyeecia, who was calmly looking at him. A soft wind blew across their bodies as the clothes on their figures swayed along with the hair.

Alios then spoke in a self-mocking tone, "You crafty human boy; I didn't think you could actually release an offensive strike comparable to that of an initial level 8 lifeform. Had I known of this, I would have pushed a bit more power into that shield of mine and easily crushed you with a follow-up. Humph, let me guess, did you plan this from the start, noticing Lyeecia's injuries? Was it your plan to get me in a position where you'd strike both of us down at the same time?"

Lyeecia looked at Evan with an in-depth look as she heard Alios's words, it was at this moment she realized he was far more capable than she'd initially thought.

Evan seeing their looks shook his head and replied honestly, "You're wrong; While I did indeed notice Lyeecia's strangeness, and I only used a part of my power to trick you in the beginning, my only intention was to feign weakness and strive to first take her down. I was then planning on using my speed and the leftover of my strength to keep you at bay for the remainder of the time limit. You suddenly appearing to block the strike, and colliding with her was purely an accident."

Both Alios and Lyeecia looked at each other in shock before they started laughing, "Hahaha!"

However, while laughing, Lyeecia started to cough as she placed one of her slender palms over her mouth. Soon, a few streams of blood began to flow through her fingers, dripping onto Alios's armor.

Alios faced changed as he firmly grasped Lyeecia side and continued to channel wave upon wave of his energies within her body.

Lyeecia's complexion once again changed for a better, but the paleness did not vanish as she stared at him with her mesmerizing blue eyes and spoke softly, "You know that's already pointless don't you, why bother to do it?"

Alios made a smile as he replied, "Why do you ask questions for things you already understand?"

Lyeecia gazed deeply into Alios's eyes as a bit of tear's rolled down her cheeks, she closed her eyes and placed her head against his chest when she spoke, "I really wish we could start over, with another chance in a different life.."

As Alios heard this, he smiled, dropping the arc shield from his other hand as he raised his free arm and touched her cheek when he replied, "None of that matters, what's important is that we both knew what we shared... was only a fraction of our lifetime."

Lyeecia felt touched by those words; she no longer said anything and only continued to lay on his chest in silence.

Evan looked at this scene in silence as he had seen a lot of painful partings in his lifetime; this scene wasn't new to him, so it didn't faze him as much. He walked closer to Alios and spoke when he saw that they had stopped their conversation, "I'm curious, why didn't you finish us off? You could have both annihilated us with hardly any effort from the beginning. Why did you give us this chance?"

Alios and Lyeecia remained silent for a few seconds before they looked at each other and stared at Evan when they replied.

Lyeecia spoke, "To be honest, I don't even know myself. Usually, we'd annihilate anyone that comes this far, as we were filled with a terrifying amount of hatred for that God and the sinister Devil with their armies. This would have resulted in the reset of this world were the souls of those Conquerors before us would return to new bodies, and the cycle would continue again. Yet, upon seeing you this hatred, these feelings of ours were suppressed, it gave us a chance to recover the emotions we've long since forgotten. Cough!"

Alios seeing her state, once more eased her pain and continued her words, "You could say that after recovering our senses, we only wanted to do one last good act. Our time has already past, much like that Aperehs; I suppose we too were unconsciously searching for a chance where we could be rid of this burdensome curse."

Evan was a bit surprised, he knitted his brows and asked, "So, you're saying you were both looking to die?"

Alios looked at Evan and replied with a smile, "Correct, much like Aperehs, death to our kind would be the most fitting end. A true form of release from this cage of endless torment..."

As Evan heard this, he felt a hint of pity for the pair, he wanted to say something, but Alios spoke again, "You don't need to pity us boy, this time would've come sooner or later, it only depends on when. Also, our time is no longer much..."

As Alios said this, a ripple came from the sky as a massive golden portal that was many kilometers wide had appeared. The moment Evan sensed this ripple, he shifted his eyes upward and gaped in surprise as he felt a terrifying aura from behind it.

Joe and the others who were previously looking at their equipment halted as they looked up at the scene in utter terror.

"What the hell is that?" Fatty Joe exclaimed as he accidentally dropped Rick, who he had taken out of the crater. Even his equipment fell onto the ground making clanking metallic noises.

"Che! This darn fatty," Rick cursed in his mind when this happened, he couldn't even correctly move as he fell onto the ground. He turned his body over and looked at the sky with an in-depth look before he muttered, "Could this portal be similar to the kind that had annihilated that Goblin Sorcerer? If so, then this won't be a pretty end for that pair..."

"So terrifying... yet so strange, why do I feel so different around this portal?" Layla said as she looked at the portal with a strange look in her eyes. Though frightened by its appearance, it was as if something inside her felt at comfort with the golden rift.

"I don't like this feeling..." Emilia said as her face turned dark. It seemed as if the spirits of the world were telling her of the viciousness of the portal.

While everyone looked up in shock, only Breya remained silent as she still in an unconscious state.

Suddenly, a massive eye had appeared glaring towards both Alios and Lyeecia, who seemed to be at ease as if they didn't care about it.

Evan, who saw that eye, however, was stunned as his mind exploded, "A Supreme Apex Tier Life! To think I'd see a pinnacle being from the heavens here!"

As the eyes stared at the pair, it emanated a cold intent as a cluster of power was beginning to gather around it an alarming rate.

Evan's heart grew cold as he saw this, he knew that if he was the target of this being it didn't even need to gather such energies to kill him, a mere look would be enough. While this scene was changing, Alios spoke again.

"Human boy..." Alios said.

Evan, hearing this regained his senses, he turned and looked at him awaiting his next words. Alios looked at Evan and smiled as he continued, "Before we go, we'd like to leave you, humans, a bit of hope. Out of everyone here, we've found two who are worthy enough to accept our heritage. Lyeecia, let's do it now."

"Right," Lyeecia replied as she heard Alios's words, the two then proceeded to point their fingers towards Evan's group.

Evan looked at their actions in a puzzled manner, but before he could say anything. The scepter and the shield from the pair began to shrink at an alarming rate becoming the size of a palm, as this happened, they turned into rays of light which quickly appeared before Layla and Fatty Joe.

When the artifacts appeared before them, both Joe and Layla were shocked. They looked at the glowing items in puzzlement before two voices sounded in their minds.

"Accept the Artifact and claim our legacy, use our power to fight for your freedom!" The voices said.

"This... no way!" Joe said in surprise before his eyes shone excitedly.

Layla was also a bit surprised, she looked around and saw that Evan was staring at them from a distance. At this time, Evan already grasped what was going on, when he saw Layla's look, he nodded and spoke, "Quickly accept it, it would be better than anything that the system would reward you with here."

"Okay," Layla said as she reached her hand towards the wand.

Joe seemed to have heard Evan's words; he no longer hesitated and reached his hand for the glowing arc shield. Soon, both of them had grasped the artifacts causing bright rays of light to shroud their bodies for a moment before fading away.

As this happened, both Joe and Layla had a glowing mark of a weapon on the back of their palms. They soon after lost their consciousness, with Layla falling onto Emilia's side while Joe smashed onto Rick's heavily injured body, pressing him down with his weight.

"Joe!" Rick cursed out loud as he spat a bit of blood on the ground finding it even more humiliating.

Evan had no time to laugh at his predicament, as he faced Alios and Lyeecia once again. When he looked at them now, the two seemed different; it seemed as if they had lost a large amount of power as Lyeecia could bare open her eyes while Alios had a slightly tired look.

Alios gently held Lyeecia as he looked at Evan and spoke with a firm expression, "Human, no matter what happens, nor what you may experience, always remember that the battle ends with the loss of one's spirit. If you hope to win, you must never give up, never forget the power of one's unyielding spirit!"

As Alios said this, his aura seemed almost divine as he looked like a changed person, erupting a power like none before, he lifted his head with his haggard expression glaring towards the heavens with pure hatred.

Lyeecia who barely open her eyes firmly gripped his chest as her eyes ran with water, her lips parted when she spoke, "Let's go..."

Alios seemed to have transformed into a war god; his body erupted with all of his remaining power as he blasted toward the sky like a rocket.

Evan looked at this scene in shock and awe, but it was at this moment the eye had faded from the rift, as a massive finger had appeared. It pointed towards the duo that was charging towards it like a ray of it as a voice sounded across the world.

"Prisoners of the Ancient Era, your time has come! Accept your Divine Judgement!" As the voice echoed far and wide, a bright golden-purple beam shot from the heavens towards Alios and Lyeecia.

In a moment, it had arrived before the pair, as Alios struck out a mighty punch with everything he had. The power of his blow pierced through the ray, sending a sharp earthen beam towards the finger.

As this happened, the voice sounded again, "It is futile to resist, your fate is already determined!"

Not long after, the golden ray from the finger had covered both Alios and Lyeecia; their figures appeared distinct within it as Alios with his fist pointing towards the heavens gave one a dominant and unyielding feeling.

Evan looked at this in awe as he recalled Alios's words, he muttered, "An unyielding spirit, I shall forever heed your advice, so rest easy..."

After a short while, the pair had turned into specks of lights, which soon after vanished from this world. The golden ray of light didn't seem to do any damage when it touched the ground; it promptly faded into nothingness.

The giant finger now hovered silently within the massive rift, but if one looked closely, they would notice a tiny wound had formed on its surface, causing a small portion of golden blood to drip towards the ground.

The finger didn't seem to care about this, as it promptly retracted, causing the rift to disappear. It was only when that happened that Evan, who was looking up noticed the strange blood that was falling like rain.

"Hmm, blood? Wait, the blood of a Supreme Apex Life, such a wonderful opportunity!" Evan said with excitement in his eyes as he closed his eyes while keeping his head upward.

The blood rain soon fell upon Evan, Joe, Emilia, Layla, Rick, and Breya. As this happened, a strange scene occurred as everyone began to glow with vague golden lights as a voice sounded in each of their minds.

[Supreme Blood detected, commencing body adaption.]

***

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Ascenders Rift - https://www.webnovel.com/book/16131271505970705