Mad God

As the battle raged on the ground, up in the air Kai and Ren faced off against the two Sages, piloting their Dreadnoughts. Kai was already used to his new body, exploring its capabilities and specialties since the day he got it. He was not foreign to the concept of taking over another's body; out in the wild world, multiple spells were developed for that reason only. Of course, the higher one's strength, the greater the dissonance was between a transmigrating soul and its new host. This is why it was rare and only a last resort amongst cultivators, especially true for those who were born with talent. The difficulty always came from regaining their former powers as taking over a new body. It always came with a considerable power loss, not to mention losing a potential special gift with the original body, which would be impossible to transfer over. It was like restarting one's own cultivation from an earlier stage.

Yet his current opponent would not believe his words at all. Otto was already frustrated with the power Kai wielded, turning his Dreadnought automated warning system into mute mode as it was constantly bombarding his mind with its alerts. His shielded arm was only at 24% integrity by now, most of its surface riddled with cracks and dents in the form of a fist.

"This is not right!" He groaned, watching Kai disappear, his mind already calculating where he was going to reappear just by perceiving Kai's tiny twitches and eye movement, but what happened next was unexpected. Otto was caught turning to the left, where he predicted the next attack would come from, while Kai simply reappeared where he was previously, kicking straight at the exposed Dreadnought, sending it tumbling backward in the rain.

"You do not have much experience in fighting, do you?" Kai tilted his head, enjoying the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins once again, reminding him of his old days. To when he was still a younger cultivator, only a few hundred thousand years old, not yet a leader of a whole realm. Just a demigod amongst many others. When he got no answer, he just smiled, flexing his muscles and letting Otto regain his stance in the air. "I never used an affinity like this…" he said, closing and opening his fists multiple times, feeling the air getting colder as he drained it of energy and the raindrops turned into icicles around him. They were breaking apart, hitting his body with a constant, chiming melody. "My original body was normal and had no special properties, especially not something this… unique!" He sighed as he took a deep breath and his arms turned blue, covered in thick ice, right up to his neck.

Ren's old body, the one that was the Mad God, Athos's for thousands of years, was born with the same gift that Toobu had. He could siphon energy from his surroundings, turning it into his own or releasing it as a fiery attack. Of course, Kai could now showcase much more than Toobu could, not to mention how far Athos developed his body in the ancient days. By the time he reached the demigod status, his affinity was constantly in effect, even if he had restrained it. The air around him was always cold, uncomfortable, and dreadful. Anybody standing too close or for too long was in mortal danger. They would feel like being in the vicinity of death, and their lives slowly sucked away from their bodies. This was one of the reasons why Athos was a feared cultivator way before being named the Mad God. He lived a secluded, lonely life devoid of human or even animal contact. Especially because the latter scattered the moment they felt his presence. The second reason he was not seen as a human was that his affinity influenced his mind, turning off all feelings, freezing them completely, and only letting the cold and hard logic govern his daily life. By the time he became a demigod, he could not feel fear, anger, happiness, or excitement.

This was his curse but also his final blessing in disguise. With his experiments, his calculating mind came up with the solution for how to fill his own core and reach Godhood. It was to separate it from his own body the moment when it was filled and not let it consume or expand on it once again. He worked for hundreds of years to set up a ritual of abandoning his fleshly remains and ascending into a higher state… or dying in the process. What he did not know back then, and not even now, was that his conclusion was correct. In the realm of Kai, before its destruction, to ascend into Godhood, one had to come to the same conclusion and take the 'Last Tribulation,' as they called it. One would shed its original body and form a new one after successfully obtaining their Godcore. Of course, a lot of cultivators died at this stage, unable to maintain their souls, only supported by their core until their bodies were reformed and simply entered reincarnation right there and then. This led to a second, weaker method. The method Kai used on his disciples in this realm.

All the other Gods, be it Nilier, Skoorn or Alphina, and Oynega. All of them became Gods by Kai sharing his powers, lifting them into Godhood, and helping them complete their cores. This came with its drawbacks, but it mainly affected Kai, weakening his overall powers. Not to mention, he did it four times nonetheless. Later on, this was the main reason why they could reduce him to such a state that only his Godcore remained, weakly shielding his soul. A God formed this way was inferior to one who was a 'natural born,' and their powers never could match one who took the last step themself. They lacked the synchronicity with their Godcore, being less effective in utilizing it. Not to mention, very few Gods were willing to permanently weaken themselves by uplifting another.

"He was the first in my realm to be natural…." Kai murmured, with a proud smile, watching the icy arms on his new body. "Most beings like him keep their original body, turning it into a Demigod puppet. Well, now I am the puppet!" He chuckled. He knew the moment Ren offered it to him this would not work as she expected. Yet he stayed silent. He saw this happen multiple times throughout his long life. An abandoned body of a God would never be able to ascend into Godhood. Ever again. Not even by placing a Godcore in it. Even if repaired with gold, a broken vase would never be what it was initially. For Kai, this was not a concern; he already was at peace with living out his remaining time like this, however long it may be. It was enough. He wanted to see where his realm would go and what future they would make for themselves. When he created it, he never imagined this would happen, but now he felt proud that he made a Unique Realm!

In the Cosmos, amongst trillions of other realms, those which came up with their own cultivation, best suited for their realm's properties, were called a Unique Realm. They were not boxed in by another realm's ideas, rules, or viewpoints. They did not rely on others to show the way; instead, they found their own. They were the true rulers of the Cosmos. Their unique cultivation, and by that, their mindsets always prompted them to search for new ways, new methods to advance, and to explore the Cosmos. Now, seeing Ren fighting against the other Dreadnought and knowing about the unique way of the Immortals, Kai was sure the moment she reopened the Sky and connected this realm to the Cosmos, endless opportunities were going to open up for them. And this all came from his desire to hide and cower away! Who would have thought?

Ren was oblivious as to what she had done in her two lives and missed the smiling Kai a few meters away. She was way too occupied fighting against the strange machine. The black lightning was not something unfamiliar to her. Or at least not its properties. Not just one Demigod came up with ideas to trap another by cutting their connection to the world. But it was not a foolproof plan. It only worked if the caster's strength could withstand the energy outburst from the other Demigod's body... and it was clear to Ren that the machine before her lacked in this aspect. Wielding her energy spear, she let it meet with his hammer directly, and before it could be extinguished, she tightened the grip, letting out an explosion-like energy burst, pushing Luca back. It sounded like thunder every time they clashed, and Ren was wearing a grin on her face all the way. Whenever Luca teleported, Ren was already upon him as if reading the future, forcing him into a melee battle. Every time the purple spear met with the hammer or with the body of the Dreadnought, it chipped off from its surface, throwing golden sparks everywhere like fireworks.

"You are a damn sturdy little box, aren't you?!" Ren laughed loudly, "Damn! Be a good boy, and let mommy open you up!"

Seeing Kai just stand there and smile, watching Ren fight, Otto decided to go on the offensive for once. Capitalizing on the momentary pause in his enemy's offense was the best opportunity since they started to fight. By now, he purged the damaged shield arm of his, abandoning it, firing up the emergency plan he had made. Back in their home, another arm lit up with white lightning, filled with the remaining energy they could muster up with their resources. It teleported to the battlefield, attaching itself to his Dreadnought in under a second. He immediately raised the new arm that ended in a giant tube, and the next moment, a sea of greenish flames swept forward, engulfing Kai completely.

"Burn to ashes!" Otto roared with evident frustration inside his suit, letting it echo outwards in a mechanical voice.

"Impressive!" Kai's voice came from the fire as his body's outline was hazily visible, blocking the all-consuming flames with a giant, transparent, icy shield.

"More! MORE!" Otto shouted, increasing the intensity of his flamethrower, ignoring the warnings of how much energy it was draining from the suit. What he missed was that Kai exclaimed because of his body's efficiency in draining the fire from its energy, turning it into his own. And not because he was injured. By the time the gooey mass reached the shield, it was barely flammable, losing its effectiveness.

"Let me try it too!" Kai said as he took a deep breath, and the ice on his hands turned into bright, orange flames, blasting forward from his palms, battling the Dreadnought's own. Soon, Kai's attack started to push back, incinerating the greenish flames themselves and getting closer and closer to Otto. When it finally reached the source, the tip of his flamethrower simply exploded, throwing both of them apart, flying through the heavy storm, leaving thin trails of water droplets and sizzling clouds of steam behind.

The Dreadnought's arm was completely destroyed, and the flamethrower's ending was opened like a chrysanthemum, releasing thick smoke. Otto was screaming inside his suit, suddenly suffering from severe pain assaulting his mind. His suit was at its limits; the damage it sustained to its system was now seeping into his body's pain receptors, making Otto unable to ignore them any further.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" He constantly cursed, sending a message out from his suit to the golems still bombarding the battlefield. "KILL THEM ALL!"

When the order arrived, the mechanical weapons started to rush forward into the crowded field of slaughter, simply blowing themselves up, killing ents, demons, and their own soldiers as well. At that moment, when the rain was also slowly stopping, and the clouds started to clear, a blinding flash disrupted the energy flow all around them. Allfather's actual body, the humongous tree, appeared above them. It was blotting out the sky from its thick roots, the earth still falling down as its leaves rustled loudly. The whole area was washed in the scent of spring, like after a refreshing rain, bringing calmness and joy, influencing even the dwarfs inside their power armors. The snow under them started to melt, quickly turning the battlefield into a muddy hell, trapping the machines and dwarfs alike. Yet for the ents, it was a great boon; they quickly rooted themselves down again, draining nutrients from the earth, healing their wounds, refilling their powers, and launching a counterattack. Their roots traveled underground, coiling up and dragging down the crazy golems, preventing the suicide bombing from continuing while the bird demons focused on the power-armored dwarfs, starting to push them back.

"Our first attack is a failure!" Luca sent a message to Otto, "We need to retreat for now and regroup; we need to use our secondary plans and launch an assault from multiple fronts! We miscalculated!"

The hard reality was hitting Otto in the face now, and he had to make a decision before they lost too many men. When sending the retreat order out in the end, he himself used the rest of his suit's powers to teleport next to Luca's almost-destroyed Dreadnought, bringing him alongside as they vanished from the air.

Kai did not give chase, turning his eyes to the ground, watching the battle turn its tide once again as the dwarfs started a hasty retreat, going back underground once again.

"Come…" Ren flew next to Kai, with a completely drenched body and hair but in an excited mood. "We are going to follow them!"

"Are you sure?" Kai raised his eyebrows.

"I'm coming too!" Allfather's voice arrived as his original body was shrinking down and turning into that of a thin and tall human man whose skin was dark and brownish, looking like a tree's bark on the surface. His lush hair radiated with a robust and greenish hue.

"Sure!" Ren nodded without batting an eye, flying forward, seeing one of the holes closing in before her. She just summoned a lightning javelin, throwing it forward, blasting the whole mountainside apart. "I want to see their home!" She laughed, disappearing into the darkness, followed by Kai and Allfather a moment later.