The sky bled crimson.
Adam Twilight stood at the edge of oblivion, his black and gold robes whipping in winds that carried the screams of dying gods. Six years. Six goddamn years since he'd woken up in this body, clutching his chest as the God's Ember Pill burned through his veins like liquid starfire.
Six years since a stupid blue screen appeared and told him to rebuild a cult or die.
Now he ruled half the world.
WHOOOM.
His status interface materialized before him, translucent panels of light dancing with arcane script. Adam didn't need to read it anymore. He'd memorized every number, every skill, every impossible achievement that separated him from the desperate idiot who'd started with nothing.
[STATUS INTERFACE]
The numbers glowed. 69,993 in every attribute. Twenty-three million followers. Forty-seven nations under his banner. A constitution awakening at seventy percent that made reality itself bow to his will.
He dismissed the screen with a flick of his wrist.
"Not bad for a guy who used to binge isekai anime in his underwear," he muttered.
The battlefield stretched before him like a canvas painted in ash and blood. Mountains reduced to rubble. Rivers boiled dry. The remnants of his Twilight Reign Cult's eastern army lay scattered across fifty kilometers of scorched earth, their bodies already beginning to fade into motes of spiritual energy.
Three thousand elite cultivators. Gone in four hours.
All because of the figure standing two kilometers away.
Adam's eyes narrowed. Even from this distance, he could see him clearly. Golden armor that seemed woven from condensed sunlight. A sword that hummed with the frequency of divine righteousness. Hair like spun platinum catching the dying light.
Kael Brightforge. The Heaven's Champion. The prophesied hero blessed by the celestial courts themselves.
The man who'd been hunting Adam for the last three months.
"Funny how things work out," Adam said to the empty air. His voice carried across the distance, amplified by his cultivation base. "I never wanted to kill you, you know."
Kael's response came like thunder. "Then surrender! Disband your cult! Face judgment for your crimes!"
Adam laughed. The sound echoed across the wasteland, bitter and sharp. "Crimes? You mean surviving? Building something from nothing? Sorry, hero boy, but your timing's shit."
He pulled up his quest log with a thought.
[Epic Quest: Slay the Heaven's Champion]
Time Limit: 6 months
Current Duration: 5 months, 28 days, 17 hours
Two days. He had two days left or everything would collapse. Fifty percent of his followers lost. His rank regressed. His cult branded as heretics by every major sect in the mortal plane.
Death would be kinder.
"I tried running," Adam called out. "I tried negotiating. I even tried convincing you that maybe, just maybe, the heavens you serve are full of shit."
Kael's aura flared. Reality rippled around him like heat waves rising from sun baked stone. "The heavens are absolute! They maintain order! Balance! You and your cult are a cancer that threatens everything!"
"Yeah, yeah. Cancer, tyrant, abyssal threat. I've heard it all before." Adam cracked his neck. "You killed three hundred of my people last week. Good people. People who had families, dreams, reasons to live beyond being NPCs in your hero's journey."
"They chose to follow evil!"
"They chose to follow me because I gave them power! Purpose! A chance to be more than peasants grinding away in your precious 'balanced' world!" Adam's voice dropped to something cold and deadly. "But you wouldn't understand that, would you? You were born blessed. Handed everything on a golden platter by the heavens themselves."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Adam smiled. Not a kind smile. Not even a sane one.
"Well, champion. Let's see if your blessings are enough."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
The familiar blue text scrolled across his vision.
[Analysis Complete: Heaven's Champion – Kael Brightforge]
[Threat Level: Extreme]
[Victory Probability: 47.3%]
[Recommended Strategy: Overwhelming force followed by tactical skill rotation]
[Suggestion: Begin with Summon Tide to gauge combat capabilities and drain stamina]
Adam's grin widened. "Showtime."
He raised both hands toward the crimson sky. His Primordial Chaos Constitution flared to life, every affinity burning simultaneously. Fire and ice. Light and dark. Life and death. Eighteen fundamental forces of reality channeled through his Origin Genesis Core.
"Let's start with something simple," he whispered. "Summon Tide!"
KRAAAKOOOOOM.
The earth split open.
Fissures tore across the battlefield as portals erupted from the ground, each one vomiting forth nightmares given flesh. Skeletal warriors wreathed in ghostfire. Dire wolves the size of houses. Chimeras that defied classification. Stone golems that shook the earth with every step.
And then the dragons came.
ROOOOAAAAAR.
Three of them burst through reality itself. Ancient wyrms with scales like midnight, eyes burning with malevolent intelligence. Their wings blotted out the sun. Their roars shattered what remained of the surrounding mountains into powder.
Kael didn't flinch.
His sword blazed brighter. "Celestial Severance!"
SHIIIIING.
A wave of pure golden light erupted from his blade. It carved through the approaching horde like scissors through paper. Undead warriors disintegrated. Beasts howled as divine energy burned them to nothing. One of the dragons took the attack head on and its left wing exploded in a shower of obsidian scales.
But the tide kept coming.
"Not bad!" Adam called out. He was already moving, his Dimensional Step carrying him five hundred meters to the left in an eyeblink. "But quantity has a quality all its own!"
The remaining creatures surged forward. The wounded dragon crashed into the earth and began carving through space with its claws, creating localized spatial tears that sucked in everything nearby. The other two dragons split up, circling around Kael from opposite directions while unleashing torrents of void flame.
Kael moved like liquid light.
His sword became a blur, each strike perfectly placed. Divine energy cascaded from his form in waves, pushing back the void flames. When the dragons dove at him simultaneously, he leaped straight up, his cultivation propelling him three hundred meters into the air.
"Judgment of the Righteous!"
BOOOOOOM.
A pillar of golden light descended from the heavens themselves. It struck the battlefield with the force of a fallen star, vaporizing everything in a two hundred meter radius. Dragons screamed as divine fire consumed them. The earth melted into glass.
Adam felt the heat even from his new position. "Okay. That's genuinely impressive."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Heaven's Champion has revealed 23% of combat capability]
[Suggestion: Employ Genesis Territory to establish battlefield control]
[Warning: Prolonged combat favors Heaven's Champion due to celestial blessing regeneration]
"I know, I know. Stop backseat gaming." Adam's hands wove through the air, tracing patterns of impossible geometry. His Origin Genesis Core spun faster, each layer resonating with the fundamental laws of reality.
"Genesis Territory!"
VWOOOOM.
Space itself warped. A sphere of distorted reality expanded from Adam's position, swallowing five kilometers of battlefield in an instant. Within his territory, the laws of physics became suggestions. Gravity fluctuated wildly. Time flowed at different rates in different areas. The elemental affinities themselves responded to his will.
Kael landed at the edge of the territory. His eyes narrowed. "Parlor tricks won't save you, tyrant."
"Who said anything about saving?" Adam grinned. Inside his territory, he moved like a god. "I'm just getting started!"
He thrust his palm forward. "World Shattering Palm!"
KRAAAAAASH.
The air screamed. A handprint of pure force larger than a building hurtled toward Kael, compressing space itself into a weapon. The hero's sword came up in a perfect guard position.
"Heaven's Aegis!"
CLAAAANG.
The collision lit up the battlefield like a second sun. Shockwaves rippled outward, flattening what little terrain remained standing. Kael skidded backward, his boots carving hundred meter furrows through the glassed earth, but he held firm.
Adam was already moving again, his Accelerated Evolution skill letting him process combat data at superhuman speeds. Every exchange taught him more about Kael's patterns, his techniques, his weaknesses.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Combat Analysis Updated: 31% capability revealed]
[Suggestion: Combine Law Comprehension with Twilight Reign Ascension for phase advantage]
Adam's form began to blur. "Twilight Reign Ascension!"
His body merged with the dying light itself, becoming something between solid and shadow. In this state, physical attacks meant nothing. He was the transition between day and night given form.
Kael's eyes widened. "Impossible! That's a Transcendent level technique!"
"Yeah, well, I had good teachers." Adam's voice came from everywhere and nowhere. "Mainly trial, error, and existential terror!"
He reappeared behind Kael, both hands crackling with spatial energy. "Void Rend!"
SHRIIIIIP.
Space tore open like wet fabric. Kael spun, his sword moving impossibly fast, and slashed through the spatial tear itself. Divine energy sealed the wound in reality before it could swallow him whole.
"You're adapting," Adam noted, genuinely surprised. "That should've worked."
"The heavens guide my blade!" Kael's aura exploded outward. "Domain Manifestation: Hall of Eternal Light!"
WHOOOOOOSH.
Golden architecture erupted from nothing. Pillars of condensed divinity. Walls of holy fire. A cathedral of light that forced back Adam's Genesis Territory inch by inch. Within this domain, Kael's power doubled. Tripled.
Adam felt the pressure like a mountain settling on his shoulders. "Oh. Oh, you can do domains too. Great. Wonderful. Love that for me."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Warning: Enemy domain countering Genesis Territory]
[Territory effectiveness reduced to 34%]
[Suggestion: Disengage and employ ranged bombardment with elemental fusion techniques]
"Stop. Suggesting. Things!" Adam snarled. But the system was right. Fighting Kael in his own domain was suicide.
He disengaged with a Dimensional Step, putting three kilometers between them in an instant. His hands came together, channeling multiple affinities simultaneously.
"Let's see you adapt to this! Chaotic Elemental Requiem!"
Fire and ice merged into something that screamed against the laws of thermodynamics. Lightning and water became a storm given malevolent will. Light and darkness twisted into beams that erased whatever they touched from existence.
The attacks converged on Kael's position from eighteen different angles.
BOOOOM CRASH SHRIIIIING WHOOOOSH.
The Hall of Eternal Light shook. Pillars cracked. Walls buckled. But Kael stood at the center, his sword raised high, and divine energy poured from him like an infinite well.
"Celestial Judgment Array!"
SHIIIIIING SHIIIIIING SHIIIIIING.
A thousand phantom swords materialized in the air around him. Each one blazed with the same divine light as his real blade. They shot forward, intercepting Adam's elemental chaos, and the resulting explosions turned the sky into a kaleidoscope of destruction.
Adam dodged, weaved, teleported. His Prophetic Vision showed him death coming from a hundred angles and he twisted through reality to avoid each one. A phantom sword grazed his shoulder and he felt the divine energy trying to purge his cultivation. He crushed it with raw willpower.
"Absolute Judgment!"
The skill activated before he fully intended it to. Soul level energy lanced from his eyes, bypassing the physical entirely. It struck Kael's chest and the hero staggered, coughing blood.
But he didn't fall.
"Is that... all?" Kael's voice was strained but defiant. "The great Twilight Sovereign? The man who conquered continents? I expected more!"
Adam wiped blood from his own mouth. When had Kael hit him? The hero was faster than the system predicted.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Warning: Heaven's Champion combat capability exceeds initial analysis]
[Revised estimate: 67% capability revealed]
[Threat Level: Extreme Plus]
[Victory Probability: 41.8%]
"Oh, fuck off with the percentages." Adam's Primordial Chaos Constitution flared brighter. Seventy percent awakening. Enough to make him a continental threat. But Kael had the backing of literal heavens.
This was going to hurt.
"Round two," Adam growled. "Sovereign's Dominating Gaze!"
His eyes became abyssal voids. Reality itself bent under the weight of his will. The technique was designed to paralyze enemies five ranks below him, but Kael was only three ranks lower. Instead of freezing him, it just slowed his movements to half speed.
But half speed was enough.
Adam blurred forward, covering three kilometers in seconds. His fist, wrapped in spatial distortions and temporal acceleration, slammed into Kael's guard.
BOOOOOM.
The shockwave carved a crater fifty meters deep. Kael's armor cracked. His divine shield shattered. He flew backward, bounced off the ground three times, and crashed through the remnants of his own domain.
Adam didn't give him time to recover. He activated skills in rapid succession, burning through his spiritual energy like water.
"Gravity Crush! Time Dilation! Death's Embrace!"
The battlefield warped. Gravity increased a thousandfold in Kael's location. Time slowed to a crawl around him. Death energy, anathema to his holy cultivation, wrapped around his body like serpents.
Kael roared. His cultivation exploded outward in a wave of pure defiance.
"HEAVEN'S WRATH!"
KRAAAAAAKOOOOOOOM.
Divine lightning fell from the sky. Not one bolt. Not ten. Thousands. They struck the ground like artillery, each one carrying enough power to level a city. The death energy burned away. The time dilation shattered. Gravity normalized with a sound like reality screaming.
And Kael stood at the center, his body blazing with celestial fire, his sword raised toward the heavens themselves.
"You want to see what the champion of heaven can do?" His voice echoed with divine resonance. "True Form: Herald of the Eternal Dawn!"
SHIIIIIIIIING.
His body transformed. Wings of pure light erupted from his back. His armor became living radiance. The sword in his hand grew to twice its size, each inch carved with scripture that hurt to look at.
Adam felt his cultivation being suppressed. Not by much. Maybe five percent. But that five percent meant everything at this level.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Warning: Heaven's Champion has entered Empowered State]
[Threat Level: Critical]
[All enemy stats increased by 200%]
[Victory Probability: 23.4%]
[Suggestion: Employ Celestial Rebirth preemptively to—]
"NO!" Adam shouted. "That's my last resort! Give me something I can actually use!"
[Scanning alternative strategies...]
[Suggestion: Combine Twilight Empowerment with Mass Enhancement]
[Draw upon collective cultivation of all twenty three million followers]
[Warning: Doing so will kill approximately 340,000 followers from cultivation drain]
Adam's blood ran cold. Three hundred thousand people. Dead. Just to give him a fighting chance.
He looked at Kael, hovering in the sky like an avenging angel.
He thought about the two days left on his quest timer.
He thought about the fifty million followers he'd lose if he failed. The regression. The branding as heretics. The collapse of everything he'd built.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Then louder, channeling his Continental Resonance skill: "Twilight Empowerment! Mass Enhancement!"
VWOOOOOOOOOOM.
Twenty three million points of light flared across three continents. Adam felt their power flood into him. Felt their cultivation bases drain like opened veins. Felt three hundred and forty thousand of them wink out of existence as their bodies couldn't handle the strain.
His attributes skyrocketed. His Origin Genesis Core spun so fast it became a singularity. The Primordial Chaos Constitution awakened further, pushing past seventy one percent.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Power beyond mortal comprehension filled every cell of his being. He shot toward Kael like a meteor, his fist trailing spatial tears and temporal distortions.
Kael met him halfway.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
The collision was apocalyptic. Mountains for a hundred kilometers in every direction crumbled to dust. The sky split open. The ground turned to plasma.
They traded blows at speeds that transcended comprehension. Adam's World Shattering Palm met Kael's Celestial Severance. Absolute Judgment clashed with Divine Retribution. Skills collided with skills, each one capable of reshaping continents.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Warning: Spatial integrity failing]
[Warning: Temporal anomalies detected]
[Warning: Reality matrix destabilizing]
Adam didn't care. He couldn't afford to care. Every second cost him more followers. More power. More of the life he'd built.
He caught Kael's sword between his palms. Divine energy burned his hands to the bone. He didn't let go.
"Law Comprehension: Severance!"
He forced his understanding of the separation between all things into the blade itself. The divine weapon screamed. Cracks appeared along its length.
Kael's eyes widened in horror. "Impossible!"
"Nothing's impossible!" Adam roared. "That's what six years of fighting for my life taught me!"
He pulled. The sword shattered.
Kael staggered backward, shock written across his perfect features. Adam pressed forward, both hands glowing with every affinity he possessed merged into something that defied categorization.
"Primordial Chaos: World's End!"
SHRIIIIIIIIIIING.
A beam of pure entropy launched from his palms. It erased everything it touched. Not destroyed. Not killed. Erased. Removed from existence entirely.
Kael raised his hands. "Heaven's Final Barrier!"
The two forces met.
Reality couldn't handle it.
CRAAAAAAAAACK.
Space shattered like glass. Time splintered into fragments. The battlefield became a nightmare of overlapping dimensions and paradoxical causality.
Adam and Kael stood at the center, locked in a deadlock that was tearing the world apart.
Blood poured from Adam's eyes, nose, mouth. His constitution was awakening further, pushed past its limits. Seventy three percent. Seventy four. Every percentage point felt like his soul being ripped apart and reforged.
Kael wasn't faring better. His divine transformation was cracking, pieces of light breaking off like shattered porcelain. His cultivation was burning itself out to maintain the barrier.
"Just... die..." Kael gasped.
"After... you..." Adam wheezed.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Critical Warning: Constitution awakening approaching dangerous threshold]
[Current: 75%]
[Catastrophic cascade failure predicted at 78%]
Adam ignored it. He poured more power into his attack. More followers died. More cultivation drained. He felt himself becoming something beyond human. Beyond mortal. Beyond what should be possible.
Kael's barrier began to crack.
"NO!" The hero's scream carried divine wrath. "I am the champion! The chosen! The heavens themselves—"
"The heavens can go fuck themselves!" Adam roared.
His attack broke through.
Everything went white.
When the light faded, both men stood on opposite sides of a crater that stretched to the horizon. Their bodies were ruined. Their cultivation bases were a mess of tangled energy. Their techniques were spent.
But they were still standing.
Adam raised his hand. Spatial energy gathered, unstable and wild.
Kael's body blazed one final time. Divine light coalesced into a spear of pure judgment.
They moved simultaneously.
Adam's spatial blade formed.
Kael's divine spear manifested.
Both techniques aimed for the head.
Both warriors committed everything.
Both attacks launched ...
STOP.
---
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[Quest Update: Slay the Heaven's Champion]
[Time Remaining: 47 hours, 23 minutes]
[Status: IN PROGRESS]
The world held its breath.