Divine Path System

The assassin squirmed, its shadow-ish body reforming at a visible rate.

The head which was blown away by Varian's punch turned into an amputed leg and the leg turned into the head that should've ended.

"Interesting."

Varian grinned.

A powerful wave of oscillating light waves jumped onto him, distorting the flow of time as they approached him at a speed that went beyond all common sense.

The assasin felt his soul shudder in fear as he watched the target face that attack with perfect composure.

< Time Waves > wasn't known for its gentleness. If it hit even partially, different parts of his body would be trapped in different time zones.

To attempt anything in that state—even exist—could very well end his life. If nothing else, the aura backlash itself would explode a quarter of his body.

"These are like waves of a sea; huge, angry and hell bent on drowning me. But—"

A ring appeared on the target's finger and his aura skyrocketed.

"The waves on earth never touched the moon." Varian loosened his clenched fist and something somewhere seemed to change.

The waves kept moving…and moving. But they never seemed to reach him.

The assassin's mind blanked for a moment before he realized the horror of what just happened.

The space between Varian and the waves doub—no, it increased by more than ten times and it seemed to keep increasing!

"Madness!" The assassin, who was deemed the finest for this mission, blurted out in utter shock. "You're crazy!"

"Hahahaha!"

An arrogant laughter left Varian. It resounded in the space and rang in every direction around hi—wait!

The assasin channeled his aura to leave but all six directions around him began to waver, as if what stood in front of him wasn't the pitch black space but mirages built of liquid.

The space 'doors' of the space 'prison' inched closer, intending to lock him down for good.

The assassin's body which looked more or less like a shadow began to quiver. If the shadow itself was a painting, it was as if a child grabbed a brush and began to mess with the borders of the picture.

Varian watched on with an amused expression. At some point, he had already come out of the attack.

'Yes. Watch me, you arrogant bastard!' The assassin's body blurred but he didn't have any panic inside.

His original mission was to capture Varian. In unavoidable circumstances, he was given a go to kill, provided he'd bring back the target's body.

But the mission was given by the Princess herself. It's only natural for some extra measures to be taken in cases of emergency.

'Don't use it unless you must.'

Zahara Onyx's rang in his ears, even though the conversation occured hours ago, right before he departed.

She left him a plain prism.

'This contains a tenth of my power. Except for high and peak rank 9s, no one can take a blow.

I'm not supposed to give something as precious against a target like him. But. Rank 4 or not, he's a target that must not be missed.

If you end up using it, then you are only sub-par, disappointing my expectations.

But if you don't use it and fail, then I'll personally slaughter half of your race, drag you from the depths of hell and torture your soul.'

Her words were uttered in a low voice without any particular emotions. But there wasn't a shred of doubt in her conviction.

'If I use it, I'll succeed miserably. But if I don't…'

The six space doors reached and touched the assassin's body. Instead of being confined, his body blurred and he passed right through a door.

A small wave of light went off him and he disappeared.

By flashing forward in time, he moved from the fighting location to a distant place.It happened instantly. So, Varian had no time to react.

And he'd have no time to respond to what's going to happen now.

The assassin took out the plain prism.

'Arrogant bastard! Even though you were strong, you are d—'

His mind froze as an invisible force struck his soul, nearly tearing it apart. A searing pain drowned his entire being.

It was as if he was being burnt on a stake but there was no pain anywhere on his body. Yet, it hurt everywhere.

Not giving him any chance, waves after waves of spiritual waves attacked his soul. The assassin's soul began to disintegrate.

With the last of his will, he urged his aura to try activate the prism. Just a single thought, a proper thought would be enough.

But even one coherent thought became too much of a luxury.

An index finger touched his forehead.

'H-Huh?'

The spiritual attack which was deadly even though it was significantly affected by space between the attacker and the attacked now didn't have to worry about the loss due to distance.

With the biggest obstacle gone, the full-fledged power of the spirit power, a flame invisible to the naked eye left from Varian's finger tip and enveloped the assassin.

As a very special flame, it didn't flare anymore than necessary. It burned the soul of its prey concisely and with great efficiency.

A second later, the assassin collapsed in front of Varian. His soul was still kept 'alive' — a very small part of it.

Varian carefully used a few more powers on the bastard and sealed away his powers.

The reason he didn't act carelessly was of course in anticipation of table-flipping 'treasures' this guy might've brought.

He was right in guarding against it.

The assassin thought Varian was arrogant enough to leave an unknown assassin perform whatever he wanted. In reality, that's an illusion he created to lure out the enemy's trump card.

Glittering white and black powers intertwined and enveloped the prism.

'Can I hack it for my own use?'

[From here to end of Centaurus, everything will turn to dust]

With a depressed sigh, Varian rubbed his thumb with index finger. The sliver threads tightened before they began to grind down aura out of the prism.

It'd take a while but it'd be emptied out.

Varian didn't want to leave that ticking time bomb. Not like he had anywhere that could survive the aftermath if he did.