Divine Path System

Isadora's once silky silver hair was matted with blood, each drop tracing down a crimson line down her forehead, coursing along her heavy eyelids before pooling at the corner of eyes. It looked as if she was shedding tears of blood.

That was the appearance Varian saw when he rushed out of the cave right after breakthrough.

Rudolph was stepping towards them. He hadn't tried to kill them but they weren't far off.

Especially Sarah, who just fainted. She lay in a pool of blood, like a sleeping princess at the heart of a tragedy.

Rudolph's aura was destroying her body, bit by bit. Without timely treatment, she'd die. And any treatment wasn't possible until the Prince was still alive.

"Hahahaha!" With a roaring laughter, the Prince reached his hands towards them.

Isadora couldn't get up any longer. She found it hard to even more her fingers. But the she stared at Rudolph and let out a weak, but mocking chuckle. "Y-You're so…dea—"

Shuaa!

Before Rudolph could understand why the woman laughed despite facing death, his hands, sliced clean at wrists, dropped to the ground. His forearms sprayed out blood like pipes spraying water, painting the snow scarlet.

The Prince first felt fear before he felt pain. His feet moved on instinct and he jumped back, staggering and almost tripping.

A man appeared in front of him. Black hair, black eyes. He glanced at the two women and his gaze softened.

"We have some grudges," When he turned around, there was no kindness in his eyes.

Rudolph's aura soared out, enveloping his body and preparing for a battle. He had seen those eyes.

Ruthless. Unforgiving. Cold.

There was no talking with these types. They couldn't be cajoled or threatened. If they stand in front of you, it meant only one thing: kill or be killed.

Rudolph's severed hands regenerated and he clenched his fists. "I don't even know—" 

The Prince swallowed his words as Varian's disguise disappeared, revealing a young, handsome face.

The chieftan of this backward tribe! The bastard who dared to refuse his order!

"Y-You! How could you?!" Rudolph's mind went blank and his world view seemed to crash.

"How could I, the ruler of a backward place, be even comparable to you, the noble prince, the favorite of orthodoxy?" Varian's lips curled into a cold smile.

A thought suddenly flashed in his mind and a ridiculous possibility formed in the Prince's mind.

Everything so far—from Baldur coming here, to the envoys finding space cracks, the Zions knowing their presence—it was all the plan of this man.

"You guessed it right," Varian swung arm outward. A brilliant red and green glowed in his palm before materializing into a sword—Requiem.

Requiem's aura surged and enveloped Rudolph before he could realize what was going on.

<Paragon Body's> extreme healing was immediately pegged down a notch as a suffocating power of death pressed down on him.

Rudolph's eyes bulged. "How could you have such a sword? Even if you're strong somehow, there's no way a sword of that gra—"

"Enough talk," Varian's body disappeared.

Rudolph's instincts screamed and his senses worked at their sharpest, preparing for a life and death battle.

Sensing something, he punched to the left with all his strength.

The space compressed before exploding.

Boom!

The mountain ranges in the way of his punch levelled. It didn't stop there. The power continued to flattened everything in its wave and circled the entire planet before returning to the Prince.

If anyone observed the frozen star from space, they would find a visible line along the surface, forming a full circle.

But Rudolph's eyes widened as he realized he hadn't hit anything.

His instincts weren't wrong. Varian had been in that location. But a moment before they actually detected him.

Varian's time power seamlessly blended with his soul power and decieved Rudolph's instincts. The dangerous shot that could've seriously injured was missed, just like that.

As the Prince panicked at his failure, a thin red thread cut through the space in front of him.

Rudolph raised his defense but as it appeared right after his attack, there was a delay.

The red thread expanded into a threatening crimson light as it struck the prince. A flood of powers struck him at the same time and place.

Rudolph's hands that were just regenerated exploded as the power of matter and energy worked together.

But that was actually a feint.

Boom! 

Rudolph's chest split open and a hande appeared, pushing through his bones and flesh. Held in that hand was a beating heart.

The hand clenched.

Pa! Ta! 

The heart exploded and Varian's assimilator power devoured all the vitality in the organ.

Rudolph felt his body grow heavy. "You fuck—"

When Rudolph turned around in a blink, Varian's arm grabbed his shoulder from behind.

Click!

"No—arghhh!"

Like breaking off a branch, Varian ripped apart the Prince's arm.

"I'll kill you!"

Rudolph's fist reached Varian's face in a blink.

As it tried to touch him, the space and time around it began to distort, severely slowing down the fist.

It was still incredibly fast, but for a rank 7, it was too easy to dodge.

Varian slipped to the side and lashed out a kick.

Kacha!

It landed right between the Prince's legs and a chilling silence ensued.

"Wh-Wha…" Rudolph's face turned red and purple, his eyelids twitching before tears spilled out of his eyes.

It shouldn't hurt this much! He's a Paragon Body for fuck's sake!

But Varian's soul powers were messing with his senses, making him feel the pain that an ordinary man, no a very sensitive man would feel.

"Arghhh!" Clutching his bloodied pants, the Prince cried out.

Varian showed no sympathy and drove his sword down the prince's throat.

As if his current pain wasn't enough, new, worse pain exploded in Rudolph's body.

The sword tore his throat, severd his lungs and pierced his organs. And then it shot out different powers right inside him.

Rudolph screamed in agony.

Varian watched the prince split into two pieces along his length and raised his sword again. There was no sympathy in his eyes. Only anger.

"If you even dare as much as touching my women,"

White and black flames enveloped the sword. With a graceful arc, Requiem swung down, splitting the Prince horizontally.

And it slashed down, again and again.

"You'll wish you could kill yourself."

"Arghhhh!"

…Until what once was the prince disintegrated and assimilated.