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Book 4: Chapter 83: Karma

King Belmont’s opponents knelt in the skies, bleeding profusely. Under the might of the king’s violet flames, the Horus, Geb and Kami God Clan leaders stood no chance. They had attempted to use their number to overwhelm King Belmont, but in the end, they had failed.

However, this victory wasn’t without a price. Although King Belmont’s three opponents were likely too injured to continue fighting, King Belmont’s stamina was just about gone as well. The problem with that was that there was a man he had yet to defeat… The King of the Aumen Royal God Clan: King Aumen.

“I must say, your flames are quite impressive.” King Aumen’s fiery golden hair stood in sharp contrast to the Elvin Ingram family. Whereas their hair glowed and gave off a comfortable feeling, the hair of Aumen’s was more like the mane of a lion – domineering and oppressive.

King Belmont’s rudimentary domain cracked before falling apart. He stood with his hands trembling by his side, hardly able to stop his eyes from flickering between purple, red and blue.

He was very aware of the side effect brought about by forcibly combining his flames, but he had no choice. If he hadn’t, victory would have been a pipe dream… Unfortunately, now even his red and blue flames would be nearly impossible to control.

King Aumen could sense this very clearly. Before, he hadn’t dared to approach King Belmont to pit their fires against each other, but now that he was fatigued, he had all the confidence in the world.

He wasn’t stupid. No matter how overly arrogant he was, he would never think that his flames could truly match up to phoenix flames… The kinds of flames that could would be as rare as finding a phoenix itself, and they were an extinct race.

The golden flames of the Aumen’s had a proud origin, but if King Aumen was honest with himself, even he as King did not know the truth from the falsehoods. All he knew for sure was that through the universes, golden flames were special, and should anyone ever find their true source, they would also find with it the sovereign path of flames… the doubtlessly most domineering path possible for the will.

King Aumen walked forward. Such a blazing heat and light wafted from him that he was almost like a second sun. The sharp contrast between him and the depleted King Belmont was striking…

Suddenly he paused, “You must be worried about many things, no? As a king myself, I can understand the weight on your shoulders.

“Your subjects, your family’s legacy, your wife, your sons, all of that must be causing a heavy toll on your mind.” King Aumen mused as though he was silently thinking all of this to himself.

King Belmont’s breathing continuously deepened as he tried to quickly gain his bearings. However, his most potent problem was lack of stamina, and there just wasn’t enough time to correct that.

“I don’t say this to belittle you, of course.” King Aumen continued, “I even feel a bit shameful sneak attacking a single planet with so many allies. I only say this so you can rest at ease in death. Although you won’t be able to carry out your family’s legacy, someone else will.” A knowing smile spread across the King’s lips.

Up until this point, King Belmont hadn’t been truly listening. In fact, he was hoping the King Aumen would continue to talk so that he could refine more celestial energy for himself in that time. But, those last words caused him to pause and look up.

Seeing that he had finally caught King Belmont’s attention, King Aumen’s smile widened, “Haven’t you wondered why you have gotten any reports from your Holy Land? Haven’t you wondered why your ancestors haven’t come to support you in your time of need? Haven’t you wondered just what our goal is in all this time?”

Each question was like a thunder bolt crashing through King Belmont’s mind.

He had lost communication with the Belmont Holy Land. His ancestors hadn’t awoken even in this time of strife. And the very thing he thought his enemies were working toward this entire time – the Epistemic Tower – isn’t a goal that this attack would help them with at all!

With the intelligence of a celestial being, and their ability to quickly process things, King Belmont immediately understood that the goal of this pointed attack wasn’t to find a reasonable excuse to gather all of their allies. No. The more logical goal was that there was something this tournament provided that nothing else could…

When you coupled that with the lack of communication with the Belmont Holy Land… The fact he couldn’t awaken his ancestors… The way it seemed like from the very beginning, he was the most unprepared and foolhardy King in history… It all pointed toward a betrayal that his heart couldn’t handle the thought of…

King Aumen’s laughter boomed through the dark space, vibrating to the twinkling of the stars that played their backdrop.

“I have to say, your son is quite intelligent. He still has cards to play that very few of us know about. After all, the reason you couldn’t call on your ancestors, is because they’re under his control. How could we dare to treat him so lightly when he holds the key to the tombs of a family as ancient as yours?”

King Belmont’s visage darkened. He couldn’t believe that thoughts swimming through his head, but the facts were laid bare to him… How could he not accept them?

His son… His very own son… Had betrayed their family…

He couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly to himself. This was the very son he had once arrogantly proclaimed Dyon would have to prove himself better than… The very son he had placed so much of his pride in… The very son whose sole actions were about to lead to the ruin of his own father…

An instant later, King Belmont’s vision was blinded by a ball of golden flames bearing down upon him…

On Earth, the situation was continuously getting worse. 

Just as feared, the red crystals will’s adaptative capabilities weren’t to be under estimated. In mere moments, the combined attack of the Ingram and Aedre family were rendered useless, immediately plunging the attacking forces into despair.

The Ragnor family continued to take advantage of the situation, attacking without sympathy and making full use of the red crystals – some even began to coat their weapons in the material, leading to the further spread of it.

At this point, Thor had ceased attacking. He stood amidst ‘protectors’, staring at the situation with a deadpan expression, but within his eyes, the flicker of disgust was clearly evident.

In the martial world, there were few things looked down on more than using poison. Ironically, the same was true even in the weak mortal world Dyon used to call world. And yet, a supposed Emperor God Clan was making use of exactly that to take care of a universe so decrepit and useless that even its adjacent universe hardly tried to conquer it? This was nothing more than a shameful act dressed up as something it wasn’t. 

However, how had Thor not become accustomed to these things from the Ragnor family?

He watched from the sidelines as Vidar’s 20-meter-tall frame laughed uproariously, not hesitating to use the corpses of fallen comrades to push forward. He pretended as though it was his own merit keeping him alive on the battle field, when the truth was that he had already lost half of his original protectors to death, it was just that they were replaced as soon as they fell… An endless cycle of Ragnor clan puppetry.

In this same way, he had watched the personalities of his supposed Storm family twist. He had willingly left with his father and their faction upon realizing he had Thor’s faith seed because he thought things might change for the better, but the very same culture permeated through their culture as well…

Those siblings of his were now dead, long since having succumb to Loki’s experimentation. The fact that he was alive was only a testament to the fact that even Loki himself was much too scared to do anything involving a faith seed as powerful as his.

Thor couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly and silently. He remembered when the Ragnor family claimed that they would only punish the older generation, promising to protect the younger since they couldn’t control the actions of their parents and elders. He had remembered feeling surprised. Maybe, just maybe, the Ragnors would finally do something sensible…

But, that hope didn’t last for long. The moment the former Storm family stepped foot into Ragnor clan territory, all but Tammy and Thor were shipped off to be slaves. Thor could still remember the endless screams he would hear whenever Loki purposefully took him for a walk outside his experimental labs. Ironically, Baal might have gotten the swiftest and more humane death, despite the atrocities that he committed.

In the end, Loki even turned on Thor’s little sister… The very same little sister than put her life on the line the get the information the Ragnors needed… The very same little sister that continuously put her needs aside for the good of her useless elder brother… The very same little sister Thor still couldn’t protect with his own hands…

The red in Thor’s eyes seemed to reflect the sea of crystals and the screams of agony that filled the battle field. At this point, everyone wanted to do whatever they could to escape the situation. It was getting out of hand.

Ire’s retreat order continuously sounded through everyone’s ears, but the shamelessness of the Ragnors was on full display as the ruthlessly attacked the retreating backs of their enemies.

“Should we not pursue them?” One of Thor’s protectors asked. In truth, he was anxious, as they all were. Although Thor could get away with doing next to nothing, they couldn’t, even if they tried to use the excuse of being his protectors. Such was the harsh reality that each Ragnor faced…

While a universe only tracked their citizens during gate campaigns in hopes of rewarding them, Ragnors were branded from birth. Their every move was monitored and calculated, and the more valuable you were, the sturdier the chains that bound you were.

The Storm family was only able to escape because their chains were fairly loose to begin with. They were able to use treasures left behind by the celestial deer sect to remove their brands, which was exactly why the joined Focus Academy. This was why it took the Ragnors so long to find them…

Had Loki known that Thor had awakened in the Storm family previously, they wouldn’t have lasted even a day. The reason why was something etched in the history of the Ragnors… A perfect match for their malevolent history…

Every faith seed was bound by karma to the clan it originates from. This was how clans knew when faith seeds were reincarnated, and it was also how they knew when faith seeds left their stream of control. This was why stealing faith seeds was taboo, because the victim’s clan would immediately know what had happened. Losing something as important as a faith seed would not be tolerated and would almost always lead to all out wars even more severe than gate campaigns.

However, the Ragnors took this even further… They touched upon absolute taboo and sowed the seeds of karma so deeply with every faith seed formed that the tie to the Ragnor clan became so strong that even the life and death of the seed’s wielder could be decided on a whim by a clan…

Their methods were sickening to an extreme, a clan without morals or boundaries…

In order to sow karma this deeply, the Ragnors had required the purest and cleanest karma possible…

Every Ragnor faith seed in existence was nothing more than a representation of millions of slaughtered newborns… 

Thor would never escape, nor could Dyon help him to… The seeds of Karma were sown too deeply…

Outside the Belmont Holy Land, the battle of the demon generals and the Daiyu was reaching a climax.

Under the teamwork of Madeleine and Ri, the Daiyu were thrown into complete chaos.

The truth was that the weapon’s hell formations they used could hardly damage most of the Daiyu, but the simple disruption is provided was more than enough to be useful. And, in some rare instances, would also heavily injure some of the weaker Daiyu, allowing for a much easier time for the demon generals.

River and Ronica seemed to never tire. It was to the point where the demon generals who were waiting to switch in with them pouted, accusing them of stealing away all of the fun. However, with River’s domineering personality, she simply harrumphed and ignored them, causing Ronica to giggle as she usually did.

On the same hand, the fusion of Ri and Madeleine’s souls seemed to have a stacking effect on their stamina, allowing them both to last much longer than usual. This was also, of course, in part to Kaeda’s added support.

It all seemed like it would only be a matter of time before the demon generals overwhelmed their enemies and won.

In the back, Evelyn had long since lost her calm and collected smirk. She had thought that with her reveal, the situation would be too unexpected for anyone to recover from. And yet, that was exactly what Ri and Madeleine were doing now!

She had given up too much for this plan to work. Her dignity as a first in line genius. The woman she looked up to like a grandmother. And even her own chastity. All so that she could forge a brighter future for herself, a future where this universe’s ceiling wasn’t her own.

But, it felt like everything was crumbling down now.

“Do something.” Evelyn looked at Lionel who had barely a flicker of emotion on his face. If it wasn’t for her self-control, she would have shrieked this at the top of her lungs. It was taking everything in her not to lash out at Lionel.

The truth was that Lionel was in this hot water just as much as she was, which was why Evelyn couldn’t blame him too much – if she was being rational, that is. It was no secret anymore that if Lionel lost, it was quite possible that even his own father would want him dead.

As much as Lionel wanted to ignore Evelyn, he knew that she wasn’t stupid. She didn’t trust him with something as important as her virginity of an empty promise. If she had, Lionel would have long since ignored her after she outlived her usefulness.

No. Unfortunately, Lionel had signed a soul contract with Evelyn, much like the one Jade used to coerce the Daiyu clan. Except this one, tied their lives to one another. Lionel had to always keep Evelyn’s best interest in mind, or he would die. He simply couldn’t afford to ignore her.

Their ‘marriage’ was a thinly veiled cover for the truth of their relationship.

In reality, a contract that only asked for Lionel to treat Evelyn well was a small price to pay for the reward Lionel received. But, in retrospect, it would become troublesome.

The demon general watching the two of them was a calm and stoic man named Thatch. He could hear their conversation clearly, but he couldn’t bother to care. As long as he was here, he doubted that there was anything the two of them could do to escape.

Lionel could instantly tell that their ‘guard’ wasn’t someone who they could easily trick. He seemed to have no emotions, and his eyes were constantly trained on them despite the vast disparity in cultivation.

‘Using that could backfire…’ Lionel’s mind raced as he thought of possibilities. But, as minutes turned to hours, and the Daiyu forces just seemed to continuously get whittled down, he realized that he no longer had much of a choice.

Thatch’s eyes narrowed as he noticed the slight shift in Lionel’s features. His nerves stood on end. With his years of battle experience, sensing danger was something very few did better than him. But, never did he think he would be sensing such a thing from an essence gathering expert.

Something was telling Thatch that even if he alerted the allies to his back, there would hardly be a difference made. Even worse, it would distract them from the task at hand.

Much to Lionel’s surprise, Thatch didn’t hesitate to pull out a saber. But, he quickly relaxed himself, looking up at the demon general.

“Since you know the danger, you also know there’s nothing you can do to stop it.” Lionel said calmly.

His eyes flashed, causing the Belmont Holy Land to begin to rumble and resonate, humming along with his blood line.

Many didn’t know the purpose behind the spatial energy that coated the Belmont Holy Land. And those who claimed to, often thought that it was simply a safety measure for protecting the treasures within.

The truth of the matter is that the spatial fluctuations are simply a result of the copious amounts of legacy worlds that were attracted to this location by the flow of Gama energy.

However, it served a secondary purpose in a system cleverly employed by the Belmonts…

In a land they needed to protect at all costs, it was important to be able to call reinforcements to any location with the Belmont Holy Land in an instant. To do this, they utilized the spatial fluctuations as a fuel to connect to their most sacred place… The Belmont family tombs!

Thatch’s grip on his saber tightened as the air between him and Lionel began to distort, coming with it a calm purple-haired man adorned in pristine white robes.

In the face of this man, even Thatch couldn’t help but to tremble slightly… Because he was without a doubt…

A celestial.

**

Within the depths of Belmont Holy Land, Loki’s laughter still rang through the once lush greenery that was now filled with endless craters and the smell of thick and slightly burnt blood.

The arcs of lightning continued to bombard Dyon ceaselessly, only pausing when Loki went too far and accidentally stopped his plaything’s heart.

Dyon had lost count of how long this torture had gone on for. In fact, he was fairly certain that he had shredded his own throat apart to the point where he could hardly whisper a word because of all of the screaming he had done.

All Loki wanted him to do was give up… To wave a white flag… But the arrogance in Dyon’s bones seemed to seep further and further in…

The entity had accused Dyon of choosing a path built on something fake… But with each passing moment, that path only became more and more real… There was hope… Until that road abruptly ended…

Loki stopped, his brow raising. He unexpectedly realized that he could no longer feel Dyon’s life force…

“Well, well… I was wondering if your soul could truly withstand being burned like that, but it seems like even yours has its limits.” Loki chuckled lightly to himself as he shook his head. To him, it was only a shame that he had lost another toy…

After hours of holding on, Dyon’s soul cousld no longer withstand the strain of being burned away…

That very moment, Dyon’s soul had disappeared from the world…