Mad God

Three days had passed since Aerthus received Zelig's 'ultimatum.' When Levictus met with his father, he told him everything he had learned about the workings of the formation and its two layers. Telling him how to counteract it and how he could deploy his own formations to sabotage it. With his time in Rozex, Leviticus developed new talismans, giving them to his father. He wanted to go with him, but if Aerthus failed, the Sect needed someone who had a connection with the west, and Levictus knew best what his father was aiming for. In the end, Aerthus left under the full moon, flying towards Heaven's Gate. His expression was calm, without any real fear or anxiousness as this was not the first he would face against Zelig… but probably the last.

Flying in the air, he remembered the dozens of other clashes they had and the first few where he was obliterated by Zelig. He only survived because of his natural affinity and vigorous life force. At least in the old times, Zelig was a genius-level warrior, not tasting defeat until Aerthus climbed up to the same level as him. It was a shock to Zelig that someone he often believed he had finally killed returned stronger and stronger every time. A complete nightmare as his enemy was always learning from him while fighting to the death. It only took a few decades for Aerthus to catch up, and Zelig finally found someone he couldn't beat when their powers were equal.

The first time Aerthus stood his ground, and their fight ended in a tie, they were greatly exhausted. It was not a loss, at least not yet. But in Zelig's eyes, it was a defeat. It was the first push into the spiral he had fallen into since then. Seeing how Aerthus was walking further and further with firmer steps every time they met was a blow that resulted in today's events. In the end, Aerthus had even left him in the dust, reaching the second stage of Harmony before him. That was when he forcefully ascended, and their battles became even more intense and vicious, but no clear victor emerged as both of them remained amongst the living. It became a habit for Zelig, a way to keep pushing himself, the usual way of life: train, fight with Aerthus, and then improve. When their fights concluded, he would just fall back, recuperate and just repeat the same cycle after a few years or decades later.

Yet when he finally overcame what no others did before him, ascending into the third stage of Harmony, from his forceful second, no Aerthus could be found in the land. He looked everywhere, briefly traveled to the demonic forest, and out into the oceans, but there was no trace of him. When he learned that he had left for the desert, he concluded that he must have found a way to reach a new height… and he could not let him come back stronger. Not when he finally was in the lead again!

Cultivation can distort one's perception of time, and hundreds of years can feel like only decades, while simple years can feel like centuries. So he made Rozex. He raised the Plateau of Harmony, planning for the return of his strongest rival. When finished, he drew back from the world. Zelig was getting ready and wanted to ensure he would come out on top this time. Yet when that fateful day finally came, everything was not as he believed. He was not facing a 'new' Aerthus. He didn't even battle with him; Instead, weird geniuses started popping up left and right, not to mention the demons' appearance! They were just beasts two thousand years ago; now they had one who could match him in battle prowess? What the hell was going on?!

The most outrageous was the fact that one such talent was from his own bloodline, yet she was hellbent on going against him. Going over everything that happened since he decided to return, that damned girl's hand was in everything. Even worse, she was advancing way too quickly! She should have been dead multiple times, yet still lived. She almost felt like a second Aerthus, but even worse as she reached the same height as they did in a quarter of the time that they spent on cultivation!

This had to stop. Right now and right there! The annoying girl had been trapped; now, only Aerthus remained. If he was killed or trapped, he could come up with something to finish them off and not bother with the fox demon. In his mind, the demons should not pose too big of a threat; they should be nothing more than mercenaries, tools used by Aerthus… if he is out of the picture, maybe he can finally take the next step in his own cultivation when he proclaims his victory over him. Once and for all!

"One way or another, this is it…." Zelig whispered, floating in the air, watching towards the west. He saw Aerthus's figure approaching, soon standing before him. Below them, the city was eerily quiet. Every house was dark; no soul could be seen outside, not even guards or scoundrels, nobody.

"Are you going to start the formation right now or only after you battled me and weakened me?" Aerthus asked, crossing his hands before his chest, looking at Zelig with a disappointed expression.

"Depends," he answered with a smile as his body turned golden in color. "If you try to escape, I'll turn it on! If you stay, we will battle, and when I defeat you, I'll turn it on and trap you in it!"

"I see. Then I'll give you no chance to use it!" Aerthus exhaled, and when his breath stopped, he was already behind Zelig, punching straight into his golden spine. His first move ended in a loud bang, resounding strongly, scaring every animal awake even kilometers away.

"Ahahaha! I waited for this for sooo long!" Zelig laughed, turning backward without flinching and releasing a flurry of punches like a boxer, hitting the blocking hands of Aerthus.

When a punch landed, fleshy, meaty sounds echoed, followed by the grizzly battle music of bones cracking and breaking. When he stopped his hands, Aerthus skidded backward in the air; both of his hands were limp and distorted, bending in the wrong way. Zelig smiled as his opponent shook his arms, regenerating them instantly into perfect condition.

"Yes… just like always…." He whispered, turning his hands into shiny, golden blades, looking like a human mantis, going after Aerthus again. From their centuries of fighting, both of them knew the other perfectly. Their fight also displayed this subconscious understanding. Between them, there was no need to use big, flashy spells, as it would be the easiest way for Aerthus to recover from them. It would only deplete Zelig's energy reserves first. What remained was two figures; fighting at a speed that someone in the 2nd stage could not keep up with. Not even when looking.

Aerthus remained composed throughout their battle, dodging the incoming blades, executing counter-punches, landing on Zelig's golden form, and leaving behind chunks of his own flesh and blood as his fists bounced off the seemingly impenetrable body of his. Yet as Aerthus drew his fists back, they were already repaired, and even when Zelig's blade-like arms separated his left hand, Aerthus just let it fall to the ground, regrowing a new one in under a second.

"I was always curious if you could regrow your head!" Zelig laughed, turning into silver from gold, picking up speed as he continued pushing, giving up his defenses. After a flurry of attacks, he finally managed to decapitate Aerthus, sending his head flying, spinning in the air. What he saw next made him open his mouth a little. The fountain of blood that should have spurted out was still connected to the floating head, like a string of red jelly, stopping it mid-air, drawing it back onto his neck, and resealing the wound effortlessly.

"Are you satisfied now?" Aerthus cracked his neck with a calm expression.

"Freak…" He clicked his tongue with apparent jealousy in his voice.

"No comment!" he put his hands together as his aura blasted out, shaking the air itself as he slammed his fists onto the top of Zelig's silvery head. He barely could raise his bladed hands to block, yet even those shattered, sending him down into the city, smashing through the dome of his Heaven's Gate, making the whole main building collapse onto itself. Aerthus was not yet done; floating above it, his fists started to glow, turning into two suns as he absorbed all the energy around them in a 500-meter radius. Zelig barely climbed out from the rubble, his silvery form flickering on and off, revealing his bruised, bleeding flesh beneath it. Seeing the blinding light above him, he quickly tried to recover, but no energy could be absorbed from the air as it was eaten up by Aerthus. With a loud roar, he finally punched down, and two giant, energy fists whizzed downwards, pushing the air to the side with a loud rumble.

"It's not enough!" Zelig shouted, "I am the King of the earth! RISE!" He roared while raising his hand, and his aura was fighting back against Aerthus's. The earth beneath him and the rubble of the collapsed building rose up, forming two similar fists, meeting his rival's in the air, resulting in a deafening blast. Wild energy winds were spreading out in a circle, destroying any and all tall buildings around them, wrecking the whole city's landscape, yet no souls were rushing away, panicking or screaming; everything was silent and lifeless. "You are going to die here!" He flew up, dodging the falling debris, turning again golden, and rushing at Aerthus. "Stop!" Zelig ordered with a dark, commanding tone as his eyes lit up in a purple light.

Even when Aerthus did not look into them, he felt a tug on his consciousness, which was on par with Rumira's seductive charm. Thanks to the constant mental battle against the foxes' Queen's powers, he could tear himself free from Zelig's formidable influence, dodging his attack.

"You improved!" Zelig smacked his lips, "But can you keep it up?" He flew after him, shouting orders constantly as his eyes were glowing, even starting to bleed, but he did not stop. Whenever he said a direction, Aerthus felt another tug as his body involuntarily tried to do as Zelig ordered. Even if Aerthus overwrote his thoughts, they appeared quicker than he could process them. That millisecond of change and stumble in his posture was enough for Zelig to land blow after blow. After a few minutes of another close-quarter exchange, Aerthus's body was riddled with cuts, holes, and missing chunks of flesh. They were exposing his organs and skeleton underneath his skin. When they separated, both of them were gasping for air, and as Zelig's body turned back into human flesh, Aerthus's quickly started to regrow and regenerate the missing parts.

"Good enough!" Zelig laughed as the formation disk surfaced in his palm, activating it immediately. Night soon turned to day as the city lit up, consuming a million souls instantly. He was sacrificing the whole populace, alongside every member of Heaven's Gate who stayed behind.

"You are a lost cause…." Aerthus looked down at the city with a tinge of sadness in his eyes. He knew the moment he arrived that no living beings were in the city anymore. Not in a sense; one would describe them anyway. All of their minds were consumed, destroyed by Zelig, leaving only breathing, slowly decaying, mindless husks behind to serve as the formation's energy source. Every talisman he brought was now useless as it would only 'save' them from a merciful death. In the end, he just watched the golden energy rise up and start to form shackles around him, aiming at restricting his movements and imprisoning him for eternity.

"Finally, they were useful for something!" Zelig grinned, feeling victorious. "I'll imprison you the same as that mini bitch of a disciple of yours! Then grind down your lifeforce, bit by bit, until you can't regenerate anymore and finally die for real!"

"What an idiot." echoed a familiar, lively voice right out from the golden energy, drawing a small smile onto Aerthus's face.

"So the formations are connected?" Aerthus whispered, hearing Ren's voice.

"Yep! I felt it the moment that dumb-dumb activated it!" Ren replied, ignoring Zelig thoroughly. "So… should I tag you out?" She laughed playfully. As Aerthus's cocoon was closing in, he finally felt the same thing that made Ren sit down and just start to leisurely cultivate, making the same decision as her, surprising Zelig. Especially because the formation trapping Aerthus was at least twice as strong as what Ren faced.

"Sure!" Aerthus nodded, quickly adapting, starting to meditate as a golden ball slowly formed around his figure. "And tell about it to Levictus! We could build something like this; it would help the elders greatly when they are at this threshold. We just need a replacement for the fuel!"

"What are you two talking about?! Just die already!" Zelig roared, frustrated, clamping down on the formation disk with two hands, gasping for air as the golden ball finally completed, sealing Aerthus off. When it fell to the ground with a thud, it became unmovable, even by him. "Damned false bravado!" He spat to the side. It was that moment when the formation disk suddenly cracked in his hand. "What?" He blinked his eyes rapidly, yet he could feel nothing wrong with Aerthus's prison.

What he did not know was the events playing out at the same time in Rozex. Ariana was already standing excitedly beside her Master's cocoon, watching it crack like a bird hatching from her egg. In the end, it just blew apart, revealing Ren's floating, naked figure, who slowly opened her violet eyes, forming a smile, looking at her disciple.

"Yo~ I told you I'll be out quickly~."

"Master!" Ariana cried out, jumping forward, hugging her closely amongst the falling, dissipating golden energy. "Eh… you need to wear something! You are naked, and everyone is watching!" She panicked suddenly, picking out a sect uniform and dressing her up as it was true; hundreds of people were watching the "show."

"Let them watch~" she stuck her tongue out, caressing Ariana's face. "Come, we need to go. There is a cultivator who needs to die!" She patted her shoulders, and both of them disappeared without any fluctuations of energy, appearing hundreds of kilometers away.

"Wha-?!" Ariana looked around, but as she blinked her eyes, they were once again far, far away, yet she felt nothing. "M-master?" She looked at Ren, who was looking forward, bringing her along, teleporting forward once every second.

"Spatial displacement. A demigod can teleport." She said with a small smile, "Usually, not immediately after ascending, but I have a good grasp on how it works~" She winked as they also moved forward again, skipping another hundred kilometers or so. "Of course, there are drawbacks! You can only do it with what you see with your eyes! You need to see where you are going, visualize where you will be, and change places with what you perceive and understand! You can't swap places with living beings, not even foliage, only inanimate objects! A living thing is too complex to swap places with; this is why Levictus is a genius…" she whispered with a happy smile.

"Then… how are we doing it now? You even brought me along, Master!" she asked curiously as she was already accepting what she was experiencing.

"As I said, I have a great insight into it! For me, it is easy to bring someone with me; I just need to focus a little bit more~" She laughed, blinking once again. "Especially outside! I just have to displace ourselves with the air~ I wanted to show it to you, so you can prepare yourself when you finally ascend to this level~ It is going to be a great experience for you, Ariana~ And I'll kill a nutjob in the meantime~ The perfect outcome!"

"A demigod…" Ariana whispered, hugging her Master's neck, snuggling up to her as they constantly teleported forward. "Master… I don't think I can ever catch up to you…."

"Oh, don't worry about it! You will!" She looked into her eyes for a moment. "Now starts my road of becoming an Immortal… I have no idea how to do that… this is going to be fun! You have all the time to catch up, ahaha!"