465 The Dragon's Heist: Souls
Arad looked back at the injured A-ranks and Eris, "Leave the rest to me. Take those." With a wave of his hand, several stamina, healing, and mana potions flew at them.
Meimei barely opened her eyes, "You can't. Whoever was that woman talking now, she's gone. He's already ascending,"
"Ascending?" Arad stared back at Vars, "I can help you with a punch to the sky,"
Vars giggled, "The god of murder seeks kills in his name, so he grows stronger. What I'm doing is using his artifact to kill people, and instead of offering their souls to him, I'm taking them for myself. With enough, I will ascend into a demi-god." He waved his staff, "Far weaker than any god, but strong enough that mortals won't get in my way."
"Getting power from souls..." Arad sighed, "Do you know how slow is that? Would've been useless if it didn't help reduce thirty-five years of work into less than a year." He thought about his cultivation. Till this point, he knew nothing about its intricate rules or how to optimize it.
Arad then looked down, thinking, "Now that I thought about it, shrinking thirty-five years into less than a year is insane."
"What are you talking about..." Vars stared at Arad, "Ah! Your void cultivation, it's not strange that you aren't getting much, even from big kills. The quality always matters, not just the quantity." He looked at the vibrating cube where Gojo was sealed.
"He figured it by trial and error, killing, taking notes, and then killing again. Decreasing variables in each kill to learn its rules." Vars stared at Arad with a wicked smile, "Did you know you get more time by eating a young maiden alive than killing an adult dragon? There is a reason why dragons ask for sacrifice after all, even if they don't benefit from it. And did you know that people important to the world grant more time, that you can get more experience by eating a mere pigeon if that bird's fate was delivering a world-changing message between kingdoms?"
CRACK! Arad pulled a staff from his stomach, one that he had taken from one of the countless bandits he killed before. "You talk a lot, but I'm sure an evolving demi-god is worth a lot."
"That's where you're wrong. My soul won't be worth anything as I'm expanding it with the souls to gain power." Vars pointed his staff at Arad, "Time to end this,"
Arad took a step forward, teleporting to Vars's side in one move.
"Rot away," Vars pointed his staff at Arad's chest. [Death mist]
CLACK! With one powerful swing, Arad smacked Vars in the head with enough power that his staff exploded, sending the necromance flying like a tiny ball.
Arad looked at his chest, seeing his shirt rot and fall to the ground as did his skin, "Only a scratch,"
In the blink of an eye, blood gushed out of his skin as it healed rapidly, expelling all of Vars's mist in one go.
Arad then opened his mouth, sucking air as his chest expanded.
"Huh?!" Vars stared at Arad, surprised for a split second.
Flame cracked in Arad's mouth, ROAR! He shouted, unleashing a massive cone of crimson flames.
"Holy hell." Meimei created a crystal barrier and several ice spikes to protect herself and the other 18:44
adventures, "Where he was keeping all that?"
Vars lifted his hand, "Useless," [Bone Wall]
The flame shifted color from crimson to blue then to white as Arad refined his magic further, and soon the heat got out of control, and the A-rank party started dying by just standing there.
"Holy hell." Meimei created a crystal barrier and several ice spikes to protect herself and the other adventures, "Where he was keeping all that?"
Thud! Thud! Eris stood, walking forward in the heat unfazed, "I'm not done yet," She growled, plasma gushing from her skin. [Death butterfly]
Two massive plasma wings emerged from her back as she flew forth. Directly into Arad's flames.
SWOSH! Eris's hand extended from the flames, catching Vars by the face. "The only thing I know is that you must burn," In the blink of an eye, a stream of plasma that was even hotter than Arad's flames burned Vars's head, evaporating his skull.
Thud! Eris landed on her legs, watching Vars's body fall to the ground, "It's over, just like this."
"This isn't a stage you stand on!" A voice came from Vars's body as his arm moved, pointing his staff at her stomach. [Bone Spikes]
A large bone emerged from the ground, stabbing Eris from the back and out of her stomach, lifting her body up.
SWOSH! Green flames burned Vars's body as his bones moved, "The more people die outside, the stronger I get. You won't destroy me like this."
SWOSH! CRACK! Arad flashed across the vault, shattering the bone piercing Eris's body and swinging a fist at Vars's chest.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! One punch after the other, Arad cracked Vars's bones, but he could feel them getting harder and harder. First, they were crunchy, then like wood and now it felt like he was punching steel.
Vars's skull regenerated as his green eyes glared at Arad. [Power word: Kill]
Arad could feel a wave of dreadful magic wash over his body, but it quickly faded. "What's your game?" With a quick move, he grabbed Vars by one of his ribs and kicked him to the sky.
Vars stared down at Arad. ^Death magic isn't working, is that because of that witch, no it's something else.^ He tried to inspect Arad, ^Why is the spell not working,^ He then glared toward Eris. [Power word: Kill]
Eris fell on her knees, feeling a severe headache but it quickly faded. "You tried to kill me," She knew that feeling well, "You bastard!" She growled, releasing five plasma spears at him.
Vars dodged a punch from Arad and stared at the A-rankers ^Probably since they are vampires,^ [Power word: kill]
Meimei puked blood as she felt her guts turning inside out, but the pain quickly faded and Vars stared at her perplexed.
[You Fucking Traitor!] A voice rumbled in the air, a cruel and cold divine spark cracked from the blood on the ground.
Vars growled, "So it's you. Katal, the god of Murder."
What is Vars's real plan?
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