The Transcendent Godslayer

A light of satisfaction flashed past Kallen's eye, his brimming with so much power, like he had never felt before.

He felt... No, he knew if he had this kind of power, he wouldn't have had to scheme, to obliterate Yula and Menelaus from the very beginning, because it wouldn't have been necessary at all.

'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: 99 > 230 > 408]

[Speed: 99 > 204 > 460]

[Constitution:130 > 300 > 600]

[Agility: 100 > 224 > 448]

[Mental: 290 > 350 > 700 (1,400)]

[Dynamis: (-)]

[Dynisis: 900 > 1800]

[Active Effects: {Pathfinder ???}]

[Bound Equipment:]

[Pressure Suit (Physique-bound gear)

[Thieving Blades (Soul-bound CURSED Artifact)]

[Skills:]

[(Passive): Blood Will]

[(Active): (-)]

Kallen stood up from the ground, closing the status window as if it were only natural.

"It was all worth it" he mused. But there were still more rewards.

Right now, his trait was in its element, there were bodies everywhere. He crouched by Aeneas next and used the trait.

He had the same feeling of energy crawling up and into his body, and then... nothing.

Kallen frowned. 'Does it have a cooldown? No, that's not right, it wouldn't have activated at all if that were the case.'

His expression darkened slightly as he came to a certain conclusion.

He crouched by another body and used it again. Again, he felt the energy crawl into his body, but the difference he was looking for did not come.

'I see... I may have just shot myself in the foot. What a missed opportunity.'

He moved and crouched beside Menelaus, placing his hand on him.

As Kallen plundered his Essence, he felt the rush of energy again, pushing his body to change.

He felt a rush to his brain as well, and for a split second, it felt like something had tried to burrow into his head.

Blood trickled down his nose a second later, and something black slid out with it.

It stood out even among the black goo on his body, radiating a faint energy.

Holding it up in his hand, it appeared to be a dead myriapod.

Kallen's eyes turned cold. With how it had tried to burrow into his mind, it could only be one thing... a mind parasite.

Kallen knew of creatures like this but had never seen one.

He realized he might not have as much time as he thought, the insidiousness of Zephyrus' methods seemingly unraveling itself before him in all its splendor.

He couldn't even be sure now if it had been this insect acting in place of the main host, which was Menelaus.

However, what he was quite sure of was that Zephyrus would definitely have a failsafe… a method of knowing when this parasite died... maybe in case Menelaus fought it off, or something else happened like now.

Looking at Menelaus' corpse lying before him, however, he wasn't even sure the man had known about it.

There were a myriad of things these parasites could be used for, some for sensory information, some for puppeteering, even down to torture.

Ironically, the one that posed the most danger to him now, was the harmless one... those that fed information.

He had to leave immediately. It was possible Zephyrus could view it all in real time, and might very well be on his way right now.

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 408 > 489]

[Speed: 460 > 516]

[Constitution: 600 > 700]

[Agility: 448 > 520]

[Mental: 700 > 750 (1500)]

[Dynamis: (-)]

[Dynisis: 1800]

Kallen glanced through the changes in his attributes with a slight shake of his head.

The stat points he had gotten from Menelaus could only be described as a drop in the bucket compared to what he had received from Yula.

And that wasn't because Menelaus was weaker. In fact, it was quite the contrary. He was stronger, and that was precisely why Kallen had even gotten this much.

His body had now grown so proportionally powerful that the energy from Menelaus was not enough to push him into becoming significantly stronger... which was the reason why he felt he had missed out on a huge opportunity, by directly going after the big fish.

It did, however, do well to satiate his hunger.

Thinking about how it satisfied his hunger, he couldn't help but wonder if this could be considered cannibalism. However, he pushed the thought out of his head quickly.

Whether it was or not, he didn't care, nor would it make him stop. If not even the fear of accumulating TABOO... even though he still didn't know what the full consequences of doing so was, could stop him, then what were mere fickle or spiritual chains of morality?

*Crack.!*

The sound of something cracking... as though chipped by something heavy or sharp, resounded within him. Then came the sound of shattering glass, resonating through his mind, spirit, and soul.

[You have learned a Passive Skill: Bladeful Soul (Third Ascension)]

Paying no mind to the notification that suddenly flashed through his mindscape... a Third Ascension Passive!, he headed into the tunnels to the living quarters.

Although he didn't want Zephyrus to meet him here, he still needed to clean up and be able to disguise his appearance on the surface.

But those weren't the important things. There was something else he was determined to find and walk away with, even if it meant battling Zephyrus, whose power level he frankly didn't know.

Something that was in Menelaus' living quarters, and was the nexus for this huge power up… the old grimoire.

---

True to what Kallen feared, the moment Zephyrus stepped out of the rift, with the lookalike orc and the squad of knights in tow... the portal collapsing behind them, his expression contorted.

He closed his eyes, listening to something no one else could see or hear.

"Hmmm? Spying on your playthings again?" the other orc smirked.

Zephyrus, however, did not reply. His face growing uglier by the second. He hurriedly brought out an orb and channeled his dynamis through it.

The orb blinked rapidly for a few seconds before stopping, and instantly, he shot off, heading straight for the forge.

The other orc raised a brow and chased after him, wondering what could have gotten his usually calm brother so worked up.

A wide grin stretched across his face... two Fourth Ascension ascendants racing through the ruined land that Andreía had become.