Birth Of The Crafts-God

"So delicious. It was too bad he couldn't last long."

The effeminate licked his lips as he adjusted his clothing.

The White Antler Snake slithered forward and approached, but the man was scared of it.

"You weren't satisfied as well?" The man looked at it.

"Sss." The Imoogi forked out its tongue and hissed.

"Alright. I'll help you find another meal. But for now, we need to handle our guests."

The man turned and stared towards his right with a strange smile on his face.

Within ten seconds, a few silhouettes suddenly appeared and spread out in an arc. They numbered roughly twelve figures, either standing on the ground in hanging in a branch of a tree. What they all had in common was that they stated at the blonde effeminate man like predators.

"I've finally found you."

An individual in full body armour appeared in front of the effeminate man. From the soft, yet somewhat cold voice, it was easy to tell that the speaker was a woman —although with the effeminate man as an example, one could never be too sure.

"To think you wouldn't escape the Forbidden Void Expanse."

"As they say, the most dangerous place is usually the safest place, princess." The effeminate man stared at the armoured figure and smiled.

"Safe indeed." The armoured figure, or the princess, mocked.

"Your colleagues are already dead. Give up." A middle-aged man who stood beside the presence said.

He radiated an incredible amount of killing intent while maintaining his gaze on the effeminate man. The latter didn't doubt that the second he made a move the middle-aged man would lunge at him.

"For two weeks and two days, you've been chasing after us. What crime did we commit? Even if we are guilty in your eyes, don't we have the right to defend ourselves?" The effeminate man shouted.

"Who do you think you're fooling?" The middle-aged man sneered.

"Innocent? Your crimes are as obvious as the Sun at midday. Furthermore, you think by clearing the corpses, we wouldn't know what happened here?"

The effeminate man's eyes flickered but he didn't say a word.

"Enough." The princess cut in.

She then stared at the man with the golden hair.

"Surrender. If you give us enough information, I will try my best to vouch for you and have your sentence reduced."

"Princess." The middle-aged man grimaced.

"I said that's enough." The princess retorted.

The effeminate man stared at the duo before he burst out laughing. He held his belly with his left hand and covered his face with his right. His laugh started off normal but became twisted as he went on.

As his laughter went haywire, the effeminate man threw his head back and began shivering like a feverish patient.

The middle-aged man found it irritating as he frowned at the behaviour. But before he could chastise the man, the latter suddenly stopped.

"What a magnificent play. Ha~ I haven't seen anything this funny in a long while."

The effeminate man said as he let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, his ambience and voice turned dark.

"Vouch for me? Reduce my sentence? You must think that I'm stupid."

The dozen men who stood alongside the princess and the middle-aged man suddenly entered combat mode. The middle-aged man clenched his fist and out of the blue, a nanotech blade took form within his hand.

"Rather than waste time with words, why don't you show me the power of a pure-blooded Oklo?" The effeminate man, who abruptly began to behave different, stared at the princess in armour.

All of a sudden, the middle-aged man disappeared from his spot and appeared in front of the effeminate man. The nanotech saber glowed with a dim scarlet aura as it swung down at the man. At the same time, the middle-aged man unleashed his aura and utilised it to lock on his target.

The aura of an eighth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner instantaneously burst out and it promptly cut off movements within one metre of the middle-aged.

Even as this happened, the effeminate man showed no reaction and faced the blade calmly. For a second, it looked as if he wasn't the one in danger and face-to-face with an angel of death.

*Clang*

The White Antler Snake abruptly interfered between the two, shoving one of its antlers in the way and blocking the strike from the middle-aged man.

Despite clashing with a Grade 4 vestige, the antler remained firm and didn't get a scratch.

"Vile beast!" The middle-aged man shouted as he glared at the Imoogi.

"Roar!"

The White Antler Snake surprisingly let out a loud roar at the man, instead of a hiss. Being within range, the middle-aged was forced back by the sonic attack and only managed to find his footing after seven steps.

"Why don't you play with my little friend for a while." The effeminate man said.

It wasn't known whether he was speaking to the middle-aged man or the Imoogi, but it didn't matter.

He then turned towards the princess and said,

"There are too many flies here. Let's go somewhere else. As for the flies, I'll have them entertained."

The effeminate man patted the Imoogi and it suddenly shimmered with a pale yellow glow. Its antlers extended by half a meter (19.7 inches) while its aura also rose considerably. Although the Imoogi was still only at the peak of the seventh level, it was infinitely close to the eighth level and much stronger then before.

After that, the effeminate man turned towards another direction and dashed away.

"Help the viceroy." The princess commanded before she chased after the man.

The dozen men immediately surrounded the Imoogi as they prepared for a life-and-death battle.

The middle-aged man, or the viceroy, wanted to say something but it was too late as the princess had gone.

"Number 1 and 2, assist the princess. If she dies or gets injured, I'll take your heads myself." The man glanced at two individuals in black amongst the dozen.

The two didn't say a word and simply nodded before turning towards the direction the effeminate man and the princess left.

"Roar!"

The White Antler Snake roared once again, forcing the two abruptly come to a stop.

"Vile beast!" The viceroy shouted as he appeared in front of it and brandished his sword.

The Imoogi slithered and positioned its antlers in the direction of the attack, effectively neutralising the attack. However, this forced it to redirect its attention away from the duo in black to the viceroy.

The duo, number 1 and 2, seized this opportunity and swiftly departed.

"Decagon formation. Now." The viceroy commanded.

The remaining ten men immediately formed a decagon with the viceroy and the Imoogi at the centre.

"It's been a while since I've faced off against a Grand grade bloodline. Your blood should be suitable for serum development. Don't disappoint me." The viceroy said as he stared at the White Antler Snake.

"Ssss."

The Imoogi hissed at him.

. . .

"You know, I've faced both your brother and your cousin before. They were both dangerous characters who were too powerful for me to kill." The effeminate man said as soon as he sensed the princess had arrived.

He then turned towards her as he continued,

"I'm glad you're not the same."

The air suddenly turned cold as the princess stared at the man. Even with the mask on her face, it was easy to tell that she was displeased by that statement. The man was basically saying that she was weaker than her brother and cousin.

"You will die today."

The princess' voice was in the negative as she balled her right hand into a fist. Her aura was immediately unleashed —peak seventh level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. The grey dried ground cracker under the pressure with fissures spreading out from the princess' spot for you to a metre radius.

"Haha. If even your brother couldn't kill me, what makes you think you can?" The effeminate man ridiculed her as he waved his hand.

At that moment, the princess had appeared before him and delivered a punch, but the effeminate man jumped backwards and dodged the attack.

"You're still too green." He sneered at her.

The princess was unbothered by the comment as she extended her right arm towards the side.

Nano particles crawled out of her armour in masses like a colony of ants. As the nano particles appeared, they began to stack up on each other until they formed what look to roughly be a spear.

Once the rough shape of the spear took form, the nano particles clung tightly to each other and smoothened their appearance, resulting in the absence of even a nanometre gap in between them. The barely passable spear now looked like a finished product, and it glistened with a metallic sheen almost as if announcing to the world that it was an unused creation.

All of this happened within a second and at the same time, the princess extended her left hand towards the effeminate man as she said with a low voice,

"Down."