The place around me was rather unique, I hadn't seen a land like this in a long time. In fact, the last I had seen something this ruined was probably when I had met with Jack Clayton in a large gate break.
Everything around was in tatters, everything. The buildings around had turned into rubble, the roads into cracks, and the sky was littered with black smoke that kept spilling out from the fires that had broken out all over.
There also seemed to be many living things in this place, a whole troop of ants to be specific, and one dog of some kind.
I scratched my hair and stretched my hands as I walked around the place.
"Is this one of those ruined worlds Charlotte mentioned?"
—WHRRRR!
"What?"
—WHRR WHRIRR!
It could do so much more now after learning from Catene Senior but still couldn't speak. Well, at least I was able to understand what it meant.
"Why didn't I fight there? It wasn't the right time."
Catene lowered its chains and looked at me. As if unsatisfied with my answer.
"Well, it would be tricky to deal with the King of the Outer Gods right away. Eugene sent me there not to kill it, but to understand my next move."
—Whirrr?
"Is it strong?"
I waved my hand lightly and cleared the dust out of a large part of the ground, all the soot and dirt that had gathered blew away with a single flick.
Then I sat down and looked up at the skies darkened.
"The King of the Outer Gods was strong… very strong… probably the strongest I would ever see."
—Whirrr…
A smirk left me.
"Of course, whenever we fight. I'll win."
—WhirrRR!
"Shut up."
Damned Catene couldn't even use words. I stretched my hands above my head once more and plopped down on the ground.
—Whirr?
"I am going to sleep."
I hadn't slept for so many years. I don't even remember what sleep is like now.
I hoped there was an update and maybe Sleep 2 was released in the time I was gone.
"Don't wake me up, Catene. Don't you dare."
***
A giant axe spun through the air.
The fluttering apparition like Outer God was taken aback as the giant axe appeared right in front of its eyes. It stopped attacking the Nagas and instead turned toward the Axe.
But before it could activate its abilities again, the axe had disappeared.
The Outer God was caught off guard as the axe and the person who wielded it had both jumped behind it.
"Noa!" Na-Ri screamed from below.
"Take them all and run! Right now!"
Noa swung her axe down as the other team started running away without wasting a second.
The Outer God was smacked and its head tore open. Its body started reconstructing as its eyes and face formed at the back of its head, right in front of Noa.
She twisted her body in the air and launched another frontal attack.
"HIEHIH!"
The Outer God tried to reconstruct Noa, but she surrounded by an ocean of Ki, it would have had to clear all of that first before it could reach her. That would be too late.
It changed the air in front of it to form a dense, immense barrier before Noa could attack.
The Axe slammed against the shield of air.
And the back of the Outer God's head tore open once more.
"KIEE...?"
Unlike Eugene Hall, most people didn't hold affinities with multiple abilities. And even if they did, like the Temporal Sword, their talents were limited and especially trained to emphasize one over the other.
Just like the Over Gods lorded a single divinity.
Just like the Demon Lords possessed a sole authority.
Just like the top adventurers held sole mastery over their field.
As soon as she had entered the realm of Ki Emperor, Noa had learned a new way to manipulate her axe.
An ability that let her strike with it wherever she wanted.
Without losing the momentum, she haphazardly slammed the axe on the shield. Even though it crashed into the block of air, the enormous axe did not as much as push it back.
All the swings of her axe formed multiple deep gashes on the Outer God.
But it still wasn't enough. As if it had taken no damage, the Outer God of Reconstruction fixed itself while aiming at the ground.
Hundreds of pillars rose from below and aimed straight for Noa. She jumped off one of them and too the skies when the air above her formed another giant barrier.
Noa pulled her hand back and swung the axe ahead. The axe spun in the air, each of its cuts breaking the pillars from the ground up.
Her eyes went once more on the teal tablet in her hand. Even though an Outer God with such a strong concept was right in front of her, the device that detected unknown energies still pointed away.
Just what was it? What in the world was it pointing at?
Even though she didn't want to, she had no choice. Noa held no way to kill the Outer God without suffering major injuries, and even if she did, she couldn't guarantee the safety of the rest.
And by some miracle if she managed to kill the Outer God without any injuries and kept the others safe too, what about the thing over there?
There was one way to handle it, only one.
She had to pit these two against each other. Rathnaar, the Dragonewt with the most experience in fighting the Outer Gods, had told them before of how prideful the Outer Gods could be.
It would ensure both the beings will be busy, the safety of her crew, and if she could escape then her own too. Though, Noa was not that keen on the last bit.
And so, she ran.
Na-Ri and the rest had long since set out toward the portal, it would still take them a day. Before that…
She had to reach the place that the teal tablet pointed at.
Noa's Ki surged up as if announcing her presence to everything around. The occupied Outer God of Reconstruction stopped its tricks and followed after her as Noa ran through the rubble and out.
With each step, she covered distance that many could only dream about. Hundreds of the broken buildings passed her by as she ran around, exuding her Ki like a flash light, and much like a cat, the Outer God followed after her.
A chuckle left Noa as she covered great distances, the marker on the teal tablet finally changing to let her know that she was close.
"Guess I'll be the one sacrificing this time…"
"HIHIHIHI!"
The marker on the tablet grew its densest.
The thing she was looking for could pop up any moment now, but she sensed nothing by herself.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm "I would have preferred to go out in a spicier way, with a bang…" She muttered, biting her lips.
It was then, as she took another step.
Something lodged under her feet and she fell face-first on the ground.
It was sudden, shocking, she could sense everything around her was unable to even make out that she had caught her feet on something.
Noa fell on the ground and rolled on her back. The speed with which she was running forced her down at once.
As she opened her eyes again, there lay a man now turned over on the side.
A man in all blacks, with messy black hair and black sunglasses.
In the middle of a ruined world taken over by Outer Gods and their remnants. Like a baby in deep sleep.
"A… person?"
A person at whom the teal tablet pointed.
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