The Transcendent Godslayer

A woman crouched on a rooftop, her eyes cold and calculating as she watched the black-cloaked figure moved rapidly between her two companions, who were doing something profoundly idiotic: attacking thin air.

However, as though it was only natural they reacted that way, their actions elicited not the slightest ripple in her expression.

She was a beauty in all sense. Black hair that mended with the darkness, her dress that hugged every curve of her body under the rain, and her cold green eyes that matched her equally green skin.

She watched as the first dropped to a single slash, offering his neck as if volunteering for death.

The second lunged wildly, attacking with his scimitars as though he had already claimed victory, only for his head to be severed just as cleanly... then crushed underfoot by the cloaked figure without a word after a small pause.

Because he had refused to die, after he was beheaded.

After that, the cloaked figure stood completely still in silence, waiting for another attack.

For more than ten seconds, they remained motionless. One would mistake them for a statue under the dark night.

She too, did not move either. She could tell they were waiting... baiting her to strike, but she remained calm and still not taking the bait. After all, she didn't need to.

Eventually, the figure shifted, as though giving up the game. They turned and began to move again, sprinting off in the rain.

She followed silently, careful to stay just outside the limits of their perception.

But then her eyes flicked past her quarry, looking into the distance ahead

Two seconds later, she felt twelve auras, all Peak Second Ascension, surging together like a tightening noose towards the cloaked individual.

'It was a good chase, boy. You definitely made me put in the work... but playtime is over.'

A second later, the cloaked person lifted his gaze into the distance, finally noticing their presence, and instantly turned back, sprinting away from them.

---

Immediately Kallen sensed the twelve Peak Second Ascension ascendants racing toward his direction, he shifted the placement of his foot, sliding over the wet floor, and turned back.

At full speed, he sprinted in the direction from which he came.

A sudden ambush by an archer and two melees, the sudden disappearance of the archer, and now twelve Second Ascension ascendants on his heels...

No one would be foolish enough not to notice this was a coordinated ambush.

Kallen sidestepped, narrowly avoiding an arrow that tore toward his shoulder, as expected.

This time, however, the arrow did not explode, making things even more obvious.

'A coordinated ambush under the storm?'

A bright flash of lightning illuminated the darkness, followed by the loud blast of thunder.

Even sprinting at full speed, he could feel those chasing after him slowly gaining ground.

He reached the place where he had just fought, and passed it, his Will taking in everything in a small instant of time, all the while still moving, dodging one arrow after another.

The overload of information was almost too much, and he could feel his brain straining to process it quickly. If not for his high mental state, it would have been very difficult.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes turning even colder, as he began to piece everything together.

An intense feeling of danger suddenly overcame him, threatening to break his focus as an arrow he couldn't track it's speed with his Will nor senses, tore through the air toward him.

His reaction was even slower, as he was only able to move his body slightly before it tore into his shoulder blade, completely eviscerating his clavicle and shooting out through his back into the ground.

The force of the arrow rocked his body so violently that he twisted, crashing into the ground, his left arm becoming completely useless.

Pain tore through his mind and he gritted his teeth, rolling on the ground as a pill bottle appeared in his right hand from his storage ring.

Clenching his fist, he shattered the bottle, clutching its contents in his hand—along with the shards of glass piercing into his palm.

He quickly sprang to his feet, and did something completely suicidal... popping the pills into his mouth all at once!

Instantly, their energy exploded rampant in his body as he sprinted again, his wound closing at an accelerated pace like never before.

Blood dripped down the corner of his mouth as the pills ruptured his insides due to their potency, while simultaneously healing him and even temporarily empowering his regeneration trait.

Everything suddenly seemed to make sense.

Why had the first attack from the archer been an explosive arrow?

The archer's repertoire clearly included this incredibly fast and powerful arrow, along with the non-explosive ones, which were even faster.

The answer seemed so obvious... It was because they never wanted to kill him. He was meant to react to the explosive arrow. It was also the reason the two melee fighters hadn't attacked immediately until he found their location.

It was all meant to stall him. He felt so foolish for glazing over such obvious details earlier that his eyes turned dark.

The deductions flowed in even faster and faster. The first three were obviously scouts for the remaining twelve.

But there was a problem as something wasn't making sense. Why would there be scouts in this heavy storm?

Moving through these pelts of rain was like punishment. They lashed with ferocity against your body, with the fury of the wind.

The only logical thing would be that they were maybe protecting a settlement and were to alert the others when an intruder came close.

But after he killed the other two and ran forward, he didn't sense any settlement the whole distance he covered.

More importantly, they had tried to stall him, when the archer was fully capable of killing him. Why would someone who could kill him, bother to stall for backup in this storm?

The league of Second Ascension ascendants to his back, were meant to capture him. The fastest of them was already almost within the range of his Will.

'Zephyrus,' Kallen thought, with an icy calm. 'The only person that would be trying to capture me.'

As he sped forward, the concentration of dynamis in the air slowly but steadily began to increase. There was even subtle pulsesz carrying waves of dynamis, like ripples of water on a lake.

Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming power closing in from behind his league of pursuers. The speed of their movement, being incredibly fast.

'Third Ascension' he concluded calmly, his step pivoting as he dashed into a corner.

Ahead of him was a rift with a swirling black mass in its centre, and lying at its foot... A Peak Second Ascension beast!