The Transcendent Godslayer

Zephyrus raced past the ruins of Andreía, his twisted expression slowly settling into a cold, unreadable look.

It was odd, considering that from every angle, he had lost.

But he had only his own greed to blame for that.

Hearing the rapid footsteps behind him and sensing his brother's presence in close pursuit, he was forced to suppress a murderous intent, from leaking off him.

It was precisely because of fear of something like this happening, that things escalated to this extent at all.

He could pick up the auras of several powerful ascendants... obviously those of their level, steadily converging on him, or more specifically, on the duo of himself and his brother. They were being followed.

And more were still coming, the greedy ones among them already contacting their allies for support.

It was for this very reason he had held off rushing off immediately after Yula's call... And even more because of the bastard running behind him, that he had entered that rift, in order to bore and throw him off.

As a result, the time gap between when his parasite died and now, was completely lost to him. It could have happened hours ago, or he could be lucky to have left the rift, just after it happened.

With the continent now devastated, any movement from someone at their level would naturally stir curiosity... And considering the urgency of his current pace, their imaginations were already running wild.

Now that Kallen could very well have been taken, he no longer had the luxury of restraint. It annoyed him to no end as he very much preferred to move meticulously.

But since he could no longer afford the luxury of caution, he would deal with them all the same. First, though, he needed to know who had sniffed out his playground... and what they were scheming against him.

The fact that Saints had fought directly above the underground settlement, and yet the inhabitants still lived, lingered in the back of his mind.

Judging from that, every arrow pointed to this being the work of a Saint—and Kallen was at the center of it all. What made that boy so special, he was yet to uncover, but no one would steal his toys from right under his nose.

That Saint was likely someone as dangerous as he was, or even more.

It was an arrogant thought to entertain—comparing himself to a Saint, as a mere Fourth Ascension ascendant, but he believed he had the power to back his arrogance.

He hadn't possessed enough information beforehand, but now that he did… well, it might just be time Ares learned what it truly meant to be the "Soul Emperor."

It was time for him to make his debut.

And if someone else really had been scheming against him, and the appearance of the Saints was a coincidence, which was very unlikely... then that person would pay dearly, for getting him all worked up.

A chilling light flashed in his eyes, his tusks protruding slightly longer.

His brother, who was chasing after him, suddenly felt a cold chill race down his spine, and his grin vanished.

---

The legion of Fourth Ascension ascendants arrived at the forge, beholding the only erect structure in a wasteland of dust and fissures.

The moment they confirmed this was their destination as Zephyrus halted, they attacked, forcing those at the front to block, thereby halting their advance and preventing anyone from entering.

Though dilapidated, the structure still stood amid a sea of chasms, dust, and cracked earth.

Something that had survived the storm of Saint-level attacks that had turned Andreía into an apocalypse-themed wasteland... They couldn't wait to scavenge its secrets.

Zephyrus blocked an attack from behind, the impact pushing him back slightly. Among other Fourth Ascension orcs, he might have seemed lacking in physical stats, despite his rotund body, which pulsed with refined muscle, saying otherwise.

His Ascension path wasn't one that relied on brute strength. But that only made him more dangerous, because...

His eyes immediately took on a murky glow, and from the eighteen Fourth Ascension ascendants gathered, four suddenly rushed to his side, launching into violent attacks against the others and shielding Zephyrus as well as the structure behind them, as if their lives depended on it.

Without wasting a second, not caring for his brother, nor the escalation of chaos that ensued as the allies of the four and other orcs present were thrown into shock and confusion, he pushed open the door to the cellar leading underground, his guard rising to its highest limits.

With a cold expression he moved down the flight of stairs, quickly but cautiously, his Will spreading forth and tightening over a ten-meter radius around him.

He arrived at the forge a second later, his eyes finally taking in the sight of the massacre before him.

There was no change to his expression as he took in the dead bodies, as though it was only natural. If anything, the feeling that it was someone scheming against him, only growing stronger as he walked toward Yula's corpse.

He crouched beside her and picked up her head, which lay a few feet away from the headless body, and stared at it for a few seconds, the things running through his mind known only to him.

Placing his hand on her forehead, his eyes took on the same murky glow.

A few seconds later, his expression twisted, then shifted into surprise, and finally, fascination.

As he had feared, the events had occurred a long time ago, possibly two hours or more, and so he was only able to read fragments of what had transpired from her memories.

Reading the memories of the dead... something even the Saints couldn't do, but was natural as breathing to him.

However, he was surprised by something else entirely. Nobody had come to save Kallen. The human boy had actually done everything himself.

Looking at Yula's corpse as well as Menelaus', it felt stupid to even think about, due to how outrageous it was.

All his worries and speculations had turned out to be for nothing... at the very least for now. But he was far more focused on what he had glimpsed, and then pieced together, than anything else.

Suddenly, he began to chuckle, then burst into full-blown laughter, tears even staining the sides of his eyes.

"Interesting," he muttered a few seconds later.