Son of the Hero King

A few moments before the decisive strike between Wukong and Lilith, in the mortal realm, the soldiers were fleeing for their lives as they finally understood why King ranked were forbidden from simply going crazy and ending all conflicts.

The sky was overcast, dark clouds all around buzzing with electricity, the rain was falling like a torrent, and the wind was so strong that some people were almost lifted up despite wearing armor.

In the midst of all this, Lupus was facing Sol and his team and the fight could only be said to be of catastrophic proportion as lightning strikes fell all around indiscriminately, rocks were lifted and hurled, ice chunks and mountains were formed then destroyed and dark flames filled the sky with steams in a corner.

Tch!

Sol clicked his tongue as he signaled Milia to not move while he swatted a lightning bolt away lazily. He knew that Lupus was simply playing with them at the moment but so was Sol.

We need to make him use his weapon on our terms.

Wratharis’ divine weapon. While they were not able to receive clear and direct intel about the effect of the weapon in itself, they did know from what the Supreme daughter of Wratahris told them that this weapon was filled with a curse. One of unknown origin but one that helped the past kings bring victory constantly when they used it.

But like all divine weapons, using the power of the spear would have a price. But in exchange for that price, it was possible to bring out an “absolute” effect. One that could break down even the law of causality.

As long as Sol could not be sure about what it was, he could not afford to gamble.

{Girls, we are going with the strategy. This is a raid. Everyone knows what they have to do.}

Sol spoke softly, this was not a whisper but a deeper skill as he was directly talking to his mind. At this moment, all their souls were linked to him. He was akin to a transmission tower and could receive their thoughts and bridge communications between the girls.

This kind of thing was quite heavy on the mind but for him it was nothing. He simply had to ignore the four women chattering in his head sometimes.

{Understood.} Spoke Setsuna.

{Let’s end this.} added Lilin;

{I can finally fight. Nefertiti is going to be so jealous haha.} Isis laughed giddily.

{I will keep my guard up, your highness.}

The main advantage of this discussion was that the speed was nearly instant and they could have near entire discussion in the span of a few seconds.

Wings and scales covered Sol’s body as he entered his war form, fighting in his giant dragon form against a King rank who would be asking for a beating.

Sonic bomb sounded as he flew at full speed toward him and punched at Lupus. The shockwave that followed the clash of their two fists was enough to cause the rain that was falling to pause for the space of a second.

“Hahaha! Lupus! Let’s see how strong you are!”

“It’s time for your elder to teach you a lesson.”

What followed was a display of martial prowess as the two entered into a fist fight and close combat. Since he was the one with the highest defense thanks to his Chaos body and Seven chakra opening as well as strongest insight thanks to the Eye of Akasha, Sol was able to keep up with Lupus despite the clear difference in speed. It was also obvious that he played the role of tank in this party.

Even if Lupus brought out the absolute effect of his spear, Sol was sure that he could survive it.

Even then, Lupus was not an easy enemy. For every two hits Sol managed to block or dodge, he would receive four more. Lupus was fast. Extremely so. If he did not count demigods, nor Nent, Lupus was undoubtedly the fastest person he knew.

Thankfully —- They were ready for this.

“<<Slow>>, <<Decay>>, <<Confusion>>, <<Life drain>>”

Far in the back, with her black robe billowing, Isis was covered in black flames as she threw curses at Lupus. Though she was unable to use most of her skills as a necromancer, this did not stop her from participating as a Debuffer. After all, the art of black magic did not just stop at resurrecting the dead.

Sol had learned about how Drei had sent a bunch of curses against Lilith during their fights and he vividly remembered the effect they had on himself back then. While Isis was not a King rank like that man. Her curses were still extremely powerful, and Lupus was slightly affected.

{Tch! Only Slow and Confusion really affected hm. His life force is weird. I cannot affect it. I think I only slowed him down by 10%. His accuracy should also be affected.}

{This is more than enough. Keep refreshing the debuff.}

10% might not seems a little but suddenly losing 1/10th of your speed would affect anyone even if only for an instant and this was why,

『 Zone –::– Eternal Memories 』

『 A Step into the Present :—: Fimbulvetr 』

For one moment. One instant — The world froze and though this time freeze lasted nothing more than an instant. This was more than enough for Lilith and Setsuna who were both the designed damaged dealer in this battle.

Crimson blood light shone close to a bluish one as the two swordswomen unleashed the strongest technique they knew.

『Re Immortal Slaying Sword: Ashura』

『Temporal Sword: Indra』

When Lilin and Setsuna fought together — Time and space became meaningless. This was their strongest strike, the result of the power born from years of training and frustration.

Two beautiful arc were created as they instantly reached the frozen Lupus, cleaving him in two…Or at least this should have been the case.

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“I see. The five of you are definitely powerful. Perhaps, you could even take down a weaker king with this combination. But — It seems like you underestimated me.”

His voice reached them as Lupus slowly but surely started moving in the frozen world.

“Sol Luxuria. You are the first target.”

『Drill! Gae Assail!』[1]

His spear gleaming with a crimson light was thrown at Sol, destroying the frozen entirely on its way.

For the first time in a long while —- Sol felt truly the shadow of death approaching.

***

Ever since Sol had obtained the Eye of Akasha, he had been enjoying the advantage of what was essentially the power to observe and alter fate. A power designed to be more of an incredible burden than anything else… ended up becoming a toy to enjoy and abuse as he wished in his hand.

At his moment though… Sol came to the realization of a very distinct and detestable feeling— the feeling of having Fate itself work against him.

Time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl as he witnessed the spear streaking with crimson arcs of malevolent light break all restraint and lunge at him in full force. From his perspective, employing his Eye, Sol could observe and even vaguely feel thousands upon thousands of strands, all colored in the same Fate, tying him down on the spot as the spear shot through the air, aiming for his life.

There was no escape, that was the only conclusion he could reach. He had a hunch that even fleeing in his dimension or creating infinite distance between him and the spear would ultimately be meaningless. The spear would bend reality, alter fate, jump through time, and ignore all causality to reach him and reap his life. No matter how he tried to alter its course or destroy its advance, nothing changed.

The outcome was already decided from the very moment Lupus threw the spear at him. Cause and effect had been completely inverted to serve an irrevocable purpose. An absolution that may have surpassed even Fate itself, or maybe it was just the machinations of Fate all along, he didn’t know for sure. As annoying as it was, he shouldn’t have been surprised by this outcome. The spear was a Divine Weapon that was on the same level as his Eye of Akasha after all.

In this very instant, Sol found out one of the abilities of the spear— Absolute Accuracy. The spear would always reach its target no matter the scenario.

Realizing that escape was an impossibility, a frigid light flashed in Sol’s eyes and he decided to change his frame of mind, trying to observe the scenario from a different perspective.

He stopped trying to change the Fate of getting struck in the heart by the spear. to the Fate of getting struck slightly below the heart.

It was a minuscule difference, all things considered. A change that could only offer him a few inches off the total trajectory. However, those few inches also represented the difference between life and death, and Fate seemed to have responded to those changes. The bastard hadn’t abandoned him after all, it seemed.

———

While the world moved at a slow pace from Sol’s perspective, thanks to his enhanced senses, for the rest it was but an instant.

They all watched with bated breath how the King of Wratharis went from seemingly being cornered to throwing a devastating attack at the Prince of Lustburg. A spear with deadly accuracy and heavenly might flew straight at him, so fast that there was next to no chance for anyone to even react.

The key word being next to.

『 Ultimate Technique -:- Black Hole 』

From Sol’s back, an enormous inky-black snake made out of smoke and mana zapped forward with its maw opened wide. All the mana in a ten-meter radius was immediately sucked dry with the advent of the snake’s strike, resulting in the spear – destined to strike Sol’s heart – deviating ever so marginally from its absolute trajectory.

An impossible outcome, that was the thought of the observers.

It should have been impossible for a Duke to react to the attack of a bonafide King-realm being.

It should have been impossible for her to mount a somewhat effective defense at such short notice.

— And it definitely should have been impossible for her to nudge the weapon away, even if marginally, as she did.

However, as if ordered by the whims of Fate itself, all those impossibilities became reality and the spear that should have pierced Sol’s heart— landed slightly below its intended destination.

The impact created a shockwave and Sol was shoved downward until he hit the ground below them, causing a cloud of dust to rise.

{Sol!}

Belatedly reacting to the horrific phenomenon, Setsuna and Lilin shouted out loud while Isis moved to rush towards him but,

{Do not break formation!}

A stern reminder was immediately relayed to them by Milia, even as the snake was utterly destroyed in its attempt to destroy the spear, but had still succeeded in modifying the trajectory of the spear.

{His Highness is not dead. Now focus! We know the second effect of this spear. Magic nullification. It’s not an absolute effect, it seems. But with the difference in power, it might as well be one. Isis, send a new wave of curses. Setsuna, transform, now! Lilin, cover the flank and I will be providing support from the back. We have to hold out until His Highness recovers and rejoins us in battle.}

Milia was positively going crazy with uncountable worries threatening to rip her head apart. She was fighting every fiber of her being to not just break down the formation right here and now and rush over like a crazed madwoman to see how Sol was doing. However, she knew it was not the time to falter.

If they broke down the formation right now, they would be picked apart and destroyed with no hope of even fighting back properly.

Her words seemed to have done their due as Setsuna immediately transformed into a gigantic golden-furred wolf with a ravenous expression of rage and lunacy. While taking on their full form was something most warriors avoided as it simply meant painting oneself as a giant target to take down to the enemy, in this case, the added durability that came with the form was too much to pass on. Indeed, Milia’s judgement had been right as not even a full second later, Setsuna received a sucker punch packed with pure lightning of destruction on her snoot that dizzied out her whole world for a split instant.

“Haha! Dear niece, it seems like your prince is not able to protect you any longer.”

Lupus laughed while he took a step back and lazily avoided the downward slash aimed at his collar by Lilin, while a wall of viscous, nearly solidified, water appeared on his left and blocked a ball of fire thrown in haste by Isis.

A new wave of curses followed soon after, and he grunted as he felt his strength lower yet again, while his speed was cut down drastically.

Despite his appearance, Lupus was definitely not in a good condition right now. Gae Assail was definitely a top-tier divine weapon, even amongst the other similar weapons of its rank. It had many powerful effects alongside the absolute effect of Always reaching his target as long as the target was within his line of sight.

However, as befitting something with such a powerful effect, the price to pay was equally substantial and… painful, in a word.

He had been feeding it his blood and divinity for weeks now, terribly weakening himself before the fight had even started and despite the terrible price, he could only use the weapon a few more times before he had to recharge it once more with his lifeblood and divine powers.

This was the only reason he was minimizing his movement and was not just blitzing those worthless bastards at a moment’s notice.

I planned to use it on Camelia or one of the witches if they appeared on the battlefield.

It was a shame to waste one of its use on a mere Duke. But it was almost worth it since it was to take down a troublesome Blessed like Sol.

With his greatest threat taken down, he could slowly put those girls down at his leisure.

“It’s time for you to learn that a Duke can never win against a King. Recall.”

Lupus stretched his hand forward, intending to recall his spear but—

Huh?

He could not feel it any longer.