The Transcendent Godslayer

Kallen watched the two Second Ascension ascendents battle, noting that Yula was gradually losing ground.

Although he could follow their movements with his Will, it was a little difficult to do so. However, that was only if he wasn't focused entirely on them... It was a different matter when he concentrated.

At the start, it had seemed like Menelaus was struggling with his sudden power surge, barely able to control the flood of strength running through him. As a result, he had been steadily losing to Yula.

After all, a sudden burst of power was more of a curse than a blessing when one couldn't adapt to it. Power without control was a liability.

But Menelaus was adapting fast. It was like watching someone go from barely average Second Ascension ascendent to a mediocre ascendent blessed with godlike power… and now, rapidly sharpening into an expert.

However, Kallen could tell that Yula was holding back. It was subtle, very subtle but to Kallen who lived and breathed combat, it was glaringly obvious.

He could tell she was stalling until Zephyrus arrived. It was the only plausible solution. He knew with her current strength, she couldn't kill Menelaus, so she was doing only enough to pressure Menelaus, putting all his focus on her to protect him, at the same time reserving enough energy till Zephyrus arrived.

But what she didn't realize… was that Zephyrus wouldn't be coming anytime soon.

Kallen smirked faintly to himself. Zephyrus was too intelligent, and like many over-thinkers, that brilliance came with a flaw, that even he himself, was not exempt from most of the times.

And that was the fact that they over thought things through, causing them to take time in making decisive decisions, or acting on them.

They would never rush into a situation without exhausting all the angles, every variable every outcome. There was something else, and that was the fact that Zephyrus was greedy.

From the very beginning, he'd shown an obsessive interest in Kallen for a reason even Kallen himself didn't understand with the situation now, that interest would only skyrocket.

He understood him well enough to know that the orc wouldn't risk someone else getting their hands on his "treasure." That meant he'd take his time, covering things up with people, and preparing contingencies, before ever stepping in. Just so he wouldn't be followed.

After all Kallen wasn't running anywhere... right?

In essence, Yula's entire strategy was flawed from the beginning. Even in her movements, it was clear she wasn't fully utilizing her Will.

With Kallen's Will now at a third evolution... something utterly unheard of for an unawakened in Ares, he could read her second-evolution Will, and even suppress it somewhat.

And yet… he felt like he hadn't fully glimpsed the depth of who she really was.

However, even knowing he had time on his hands, he couldn't afford to stand around and muse, ironically after he'd just called out Zephyrus for doing the same.

If anyone could hear his thoughts right now, they'd probably choke to death laughing.

He was about to go against Second Ascension ascendents... monsters with attributes ranging from 300 — 500+ at the very least.

While his highest stat danced in the high hundreds, it wasn't combat applicable... At least not yet.

But none of that mattered.

'Status.'

[Existential Compendium]

[Name: Kallen Koa Luiz Crimson]

[Age: 9]

[Race: Aresian]

[Species: Aresian Mixed Blood (Human, Elf, Valgorian, Ethereal)]

[Roots: Crimson Family, Dominator's Bloodline]

[Class: (-) Unascended]

[Level: 0 (Unawakened)]

[Will: Awakened — A Sapling of Defiance]

[Titles: Pathfinder, Slaving Smith, Defiant Worm]

[Traits: Regeneration, Illusion, Essence Plunder]

[Comprehension: (-)]

[Laws: (-)]

[Attributes:]

[Strength — 83 > 99]

[Speed — 80 > 99]

[Constitution — 98 > 130]

[Agility — 90 > 100]

[Mental — 180 > 290 (580)

[Dynamis — (-)]

[Dynisis — 300 > 900]

[Active Effects: {Pathfinder ???}]

[Bound Equipment:]

[Pressure Suit (Physique-bound gear)

[Thieving Blades (Soul-bound CURSED Artifact)

[Skills:]

[(Passive): Blood Will

[(Active): (-)]

Skimming the display in a breath, Kallen exhaled slowly. His eyes hardened.

His Will bloomed, blanketing the entire forged. Using the Will technique he'd developed, this time not to suppress, but to visualize the entire sorrounding. A full 360° spatial map was rendered directly into his mind.

From his seated position, he crouched low and waited, timing his next move.

He moved when like he had expected, Yula stepped in close for a combo.

Blitzing through the forge, he darted across the chamber, reached the far wall, and leapt, his feet tapping twice against the surface like he was running up it.

He grabbed the ordinary spear lined with cracks and affixed into a natural crack in the wall, then yanked it free with a flip, landing fluidly.

He moved without hesitation as a spike tore out of the ground beside him. He didn't even need to look, like he had eyes everywhere... Which he did.

He accelerated forward, closing the gap between him and Menelaus in a breath, spear angled and pushing his whole weight behind it, for a full-force thrust.

Instinctively, he coated the spear in his Will, creating yet another technique on the fly.

Menelaus's gaze twitched toward him, just as Yula's bladed chain sliced toward his neck.

Menelaus slipped backwards from the range of the blade end of the chain, arriving perfectly in Kallen's attack trajectory.

It was as if he had perfectly just delivered himself up for the strike.

He used his Skill, his Will pulsing like a the breath of a god, attempting to alter the spear, just like he had with the hammer before. It was the same force that had corroded dozens of Yula's seemingly unending blades, laying on the floor.

But this time, it met a resistance, that refused to budge.

Menelaus's pressure hit like a piston slamming down, and blood trickled down Kallen's nose. However, his grip never loosened. His eyes were locked on one point: the grotesque socket in Menelaus's face.

He could hear Yula shouting behind him, panic in her voice, but Kallen didn't waver.

Just before Menelaus's massive fist swept toward his ribs, Kallen slid, dodging by a hair's breadth.

"Hand of the Forge!" Kallen roared out Menelaus' skill... the night where he had drugged Menelaus into spilling all his secrets, flashing in his mind.

Menelaus froze for just for a second.

Chi!

The spear plunged into his eye socket with a sickening sound, piercing deep into his brain.

Menelaus twitched once, twice... then seized.

Kallen shoved the spear deeper, his hand trembling slightly under the weight as he drove the spear deeper and deeper.

Finally, Menelaus's entire weight slumped onto him and he let go, the orc falling head first to the floor.