Mad God

As the two Dreadnoughts were just descending down, Ren was already below them, wielding a lightning spear, attacking the duo at the same time. With a flash, she quickly separated the two, standing in the middle of them, watching one wielding a longsword coated in black lightning and the other armed with claws with the same electricity jumping between the blades.

"No long-range weapons, huh?" She smiled, but neither of them answered, just going straight into attacking mode. The first to strike was the one with claws, slashing before itself, sending crisscrossed lightning forward that Ren dodged simply by teleporting behind the sword-wielding Dreadnought, exchanging quick blows with it. Black and violet lightning intersected, twirling around each other from her spear and the sword's blade. After three or four clashes, she somersaulted backward in the air, switching her target to the clawed Dreadnought.

Their battle raged on just like this, Ren attacking the two constantly, not giving them a moment of respite. As soon as she felt the suit she was battering relentlessly was adjusting to her pattern of attacks, she simply changed her target, going after the other, breaking up the rhythm of their battles every time. From the outside, it looked like two of her were up in the air, fighting simultaneously. Her quick and simple thrusts with the spear proved efficient in the end, cracking the sword-wielding Dreadnought's weapon and disarming it. Before she could plunge her spear's tip into it, the clawed one teleported in. Throughout the battle for Ren, it was clear that they were trying to conserve energy. Yet they couldn't do it anymore as they were in a stalemate, and the first to run out of energy wouldn't be her. The clawed Dreadnought teleported multiple times in quick succession and was trying to stab Ren through the back, yet when making contact, its curved blades only went through Ren's mirage as she was already farther away. She was holding her spear as a javelin, doubling its size in just a moment. When she threw it, it was a thick bolt of lightning, arriving in milliseconds, exploding violently as it made contact with the Dreadnought. The resulting explosion swallowed both of them as the two were clearly lagging behind in reaction. They could only use their demigod cores to teleport away a moment later, just after the attack had landed, appearing close to Ren, still covered with electricity dancing around their suits.

"How can you shrug off the nullifying effect…?" the clawed asked Dreadnought in Otto's mechanical, emotionless voice.

"Because I am a cultivator," Ren answered with a smile, watching the two while summoning a new spear and spinning it around her arms. She knew they were trying to buy time, conserving their remaining energy, but she did not mind it. Not at all.

"Nonsense!" the other, more damaged Dreadnought exclaimed. It already had visible cracks on its body. "The others-"

"You only met with ones who lost their way." she raised her hand, stopping them from speaking. "You stop being a cultivator the moment you stop improving yourself! The cores that you use for these machines? Came from people who gave up long ago, relying on others sharing their power! Turning to faith in itself is not a problem… but… waiting for a God to uplift you? Heh! Not even a God is willing to help someone who won't put in the effort! Worshiping them in exchange for little crumbs of power? Pfft, don't make me laugh!" Ren snorted, feeling insulted, "Where is the self-improvement in that? They already forgot their own strengths, not even using them anymore!" She shook her head with disappointment in her eyes and voice. "I trained my body from a young age, strengthened my energy points to their limits, survived Nature's tribulation, took control of it, then found my own peace in the end, reaching true harmony with myself! When I formed my core, it was the culmination of all I went through! Do you really think you have any idea what a cultivator is capable of?" She pointed at them with the tip of his spear. "Living in this cave, you only saw the shadows that were being cast into your little holes from the outside world! Don't compare real cultivators to what you think they are! If you want to cut me off from Nature, the Cosmos's energy itself, you need to understand it more than I do! Relying only on those machines to do it? Heh… None of you qualified enough for that!" She smirked at them. "Now… Did I satisfy your curiosity, Sage Luca and Sage Otto?" she tilted her head, still holding her spear towards them. "Don't be surprised… I know something even better!" Ren said, and the moment her last word left her lips, she was already behind Luca's, stabbing her spear through the chest of the disarmed Dreadnought, finishing her sentences, "I know these suits are empty… I don't feel your presence in them… but worry not, I'll find you both soon enough!"

The moment she appeared behind it and her spear went through the Dreadnought, the electricity spreading inside made it immobile, and soon it was shut off completely. Otto's machine was already charging up to self-destruct the moment Ren teleported. They knew an explosion of that proportion would destroy not just the whole city but everyone under it in their bunkers. It was an acceptable sacrifice of the 'ordinary people,' a price they were willing to pay to kill both Ren and Allfather. To their misfortune, being remotely controlled, the Dreadnoughts were too slow against a Demigod.

"You failed the moment you decided you wouldn't risk your own life! You might have had a chance if you were piloting them yourself!" Ren shook her head, already holding a second spear, and stabbed into the other Dreadnought's head, deactivating it and letting it fall down onto the city below. Watching the machines land with a loud bang and seeing Allfather fighting against the sea of dwarfs, she just took a deep breath, sitting down cross-legged in the air. "Shield yourself!" She sent a message to Allfather as her body was enveloped in a ball of violet energy. It was bright as the sun, shining in an amethyst color before expanding outwards, sweeping across everything.

The sudden electrical wave was disabling the machines and the armors of the dwarfs, disarming them, in some cases, literally. Thankfully, Allfather noticed it in time as he blinked away, shielding himself while the purple curtain of energy washed over the city, heading into the different caves before disappearing. Watching Ren reopening her eyes, she was visibly exhausted; even if she tried not to show it while standing up, she was breathing more quickly than before.

"Are you okay?" Allfather asked, placing his hand on her shoulder, arriving next to Ren.

"Mmhm." she nodded, licking her parched lips. "We need to start preparing the place. Before descending down, I sent a message to Thunder Valley. They are on their way, and so are my disciples too. We are going to take control of the city!"

"And the dwarfs?"

"I'll leave it to you and the demons," she said, closing her eyes and regulating her breathing. "I won't butt in; this is your fight to settle. This started with your people; you need to end it in whatever way you see fit!"

"But you are going to have your opinion..." Allfather replied, looking at her face with a serious expression.

"Yes." She answered after a short pause, looking back at him before descending to the city in ruins to check on the surviving dwarf forces that were now immobilized.

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In the Western Desert, in a particular spot, the sand dunes were turned into pure glass, blindingly reflecting the strong sunlight, breaking it into multi-colored beams, and displaying a mesmerizing light show every hour the sun was out. Wherever one looked, they could only see the otherworldly landscape, which would remain there for millions of years before, once again, being covered in sand, becoming a legend of the realm. But right then and there, it was a new wonder, created by the battle between a God and three Immortals.

"Damn, why am I the one who took all the punches?!" Invictus groaned, flying in the air, sandwiched between his siblings. He was riddled with cuts, bruises, and swellings, which were rapidly dissipating and healing as he grumbled to his siblings. A few minutes ago, he was even missing his own head; it had just now reformed itself, still shining smoothly as his hair was in the process of regrowing.

"Because you are the muscle!" Kaizer smirked, "I am good at sneaking and stealing, infiltrating, assassinating! If you would have let me ambush her… but noooo, you need to fight 'mano a mano' and all that bullshit! So don't complain now!"

"Um! He is right, big brother!" Ophila nodded, "You are the muscle, second brother is the swindler, and I am the brain!"

"Hey!" Kaizer twitched his mouth.

"She is right!" Invictus laughed, slapping his own face with a happy expression. "That was so satisfying! Bwahahaha, this was the first time I could go all out! Now I know where to improve!"

"Master's style has really rubbed off most on him, huh?" Kaizer looked at his sister, receiving a heavy nod in response. "Do you think Nilier is going to cause trouble now?"

"If she does, the next time, she won't be able to escape!" Invictus cracked his knuckles. "She was worse off than us, so she would need to rest first anyway! If the other three decide to come out from their own realms, we just have to beat them up the same way!"

"Fighting all of them simultaneously would be a tall order for even us…." Kaizer said as he furrowed his brow.

"It would." Ophila agreed, "We can't go to war yet! We need Master to be back for that! So don't provoke them, big brother!" she warned sternly.

"I am not a muscle brain!" He rolled his eyes. "I can restrain myself! By the way…." He turned serious as his siblings expected something heavy from him next. "Do you think Master was into masochistic things in bed? Did you see how she looked? With that whip and clothes?! Was it even clothing?! It was nothing but a bondage costume!" He said, speaking rampantly, "Or was she the one who liked being whipped?! Goddess of Purity, my ass!"

"I think big bro failed to regrow his brain…." Ophila murmured.

"He never had one," Kaizer replied with a deadpan look, ignoring Invictus's rambling.

"I do have one!" the oldest sibling grumbled as he was being looked upon with weird expressions.

"Yeah, between your legs!" his siblings replied simultaneously. "No wonder it is a small one!"

"Fuck you!" Invictus laughed heartily. "Ahhh, how I missed this! Since building our sects, we rarely had time to travel like this…." He sighed with honest, heartfelt thoughts, drawing similar smiles onto his brother and sister's faces.

"Let's go!" Ophila sped up, "We better hurry; if the others learn where our Master is, they may come out before us!"

…
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Back in Nilier's realm, she was sitting in a wooden bathtub in her garden. The water was clear and green colored, releasing a strong, herbal smell into the air as she was submerged in it, right up to her neck. Her body was already healed and perfectly in shape, but she was breathing heavily, and when she opened her eyes, they were flickering weakly. Every move she did was hurting, and she felt like a mortal, one that was 87 years of age. She was not holding back in their fight, but no matter what she did, the trio was impossible to defeat. The last time she felt like this was when they fought against Kai and subdued him entirely by a miracle.

"No… that was even worse…" She murmured, regulating her breathing, but soon she trembled as another thought invaded hers.

"You fought." Skoorn's voice arrived, making her hot bath feel cold to the touch.

"I did," Nilier answered with an annoyed voice.

"I sense that you lost."

"It was a draw." She corrected him.

"That is a loss," Skoorn repeated. "What happened?"

"I fought them because I lost three priests and got angry," she replied with an annoyed voice, closing her eyes, involuntarily shielding her private parts in the water, talking with Skoorn like this.

"Pathetic."

"If you called to insult me, then just go back and start wanking with your favorite eel, you bald fuck!" she blurted out suddenly before catching herself, biting into her own lips.

"Your time with the Mad God has twisted you."

"..." Nilier was not in the mood to answer as she indeed responded by reflex and in a style that was reminiscent of how Athos usually acted with Skoorn.

"His madness is infectious; this is why he has to die. Again. Did the three find him?"

"No. Then I would have called you three!" she said with a sigh.

"Logical," Skoorn replied after a bit of a pause, then terminated their connection, leaving Nilier alone. She just tilted her head backward, watching the white clouds above her, letting out another long sigh.

"What the hell am I doing…?" She moaned, feeling confused and, in all honesty… afraid.