HAND OF GOD

There was a brief moment of silence before array of spells erupted around the riverside. Primal Beast bent its hind legs slightly as he pounced towards Lady Fen’er, while Lynne swung his Chakrams in sideways arcs, aiming at Lymor and the Prince. The Chakrams fumed with green flames, increasing their speed exponentially, causing the Prince and Lymor to be slightly stunned; however, they were experts as well, and had managed to react rather quickly.

Lymor threw one of his daggers as it was coated in black shadows, deflecting the Chakram’s trajectory slightly, causing it to miss, while the Prince merely conditioned wind around him to push him sideways, dodging the strike. Lynne immediately cast Fiery Sweeps, drawing up in an arc as he flew towards the Prince. Mid-flight, he summoned Aqua Blade, shifting it shape to that of a ten meters tall hammer.

In addition, he summoned forty Elemental Blades – all coated in golden flames – and sent them towards Lymor as a distraction. With him tied up, Lynne reigned attacks freely upon the floating Prince. The latter clasped his hands together, causing invisible wind blades to swipe outwardly. They deflected Chakrams slightly, but couldn’t do anything to the hammer. However, just as Lynne was a few meters away from the Prince, the latter smirked, turning Lynne’s heart cold.

“Got you.” the Prince spoke faintly.

Brilliant light flashed under his feet and space around him distorted. Just a mere moment later, he appeared behind Lynne with a single, shortsword smashing down at the latter. Alarmed, Lynne immediately cast second Aqua Blade, changing its shape to that of a towering shield, covering his back. The shield held for a mere second before being blasted apart. Although Lynne evaded the direct attack, he was still hit by a shockwave, causing him to plummet down to the ground.

As he smashed against, creating a relatively large crater, he was forced to spit out a mouthful of blood. He felt inner organs dance in place, creating an extremely uncomfortable feeling. He grit his teeth as his face turned solemn; they were much more troublesome than he expected.

“Chains, release.” Lynne spoke softly.

Suddenly, the chains which bound the Chakrams disappeared, leaving behind two levitating weapons. The green surrounding them disappeared and was instead replaced by blue flames, exuding barely any warmth. He dispersed both Aqua Blades he had active and stood up firmly, looking at the two in front who were charging. Both were experts in close-quarters combat, something Lynne was relatively weak at, and he realized he’d have a hard time keeping them away for too long. If he needed to just outlast them and survive, he could, but he needed to either defeat them or even kill them and escape. He definitely couldn’t get entangled with them, mainly because Primal Beast wasn’t indefinite.

After brief contemplation, he immediately cast Starcarrier directly onto the Chakrams, infusing the power of stars into each strike. Even Lynne felt the weight of the two weapons grow almost hundredfold. The two weapons floated around him, clockwise, for a brief moment before being explosively sent outwards. They left behind a trail of blue flames, creating a rather surreal sight.

The nature of blue flames was their unpredictability – almost akin to that of water. They weren’t as fast as green flames nor were they as explosive as golden ones, but as the two flame-coated Chakrams flew through the air, they seemingly tore through the space, causing their trajectory to plummet downward, and just before hitting the ground to spike upwards, attacking the duo from crafty angles.

Believing the Chakrams to just be simple weapons, Lymor and the Prince decided to charge forward and deflect with their weapons. However, the moment their weapons clashed, they regretted their decision. Not only were Chakrams Soul Weapons – making them many times more durable than any other kind – they were also imbued with the power and weight of the stars. The shortsword in the Prince’s hand immediately snapped in two, but it managed to somewhat change the Chakram’s trajectory, causing it to hit the Prince with the flat side of the blade.

His lungs quickly caved in and he spat out a mouthful of blood before being blown backwards like a cannonball, with expression of utter disbelief covering every inch of his face. He felt as if the mountain had directly hit his chest, and he couldn’t understand just where that strength came from.

On the other side, Lymor’s daggers were blown to smithereens, but he wasn’t as lucky as the first Prince; the Chakram directly sliced against the shoulder of his left arm, cutting it off immediately. Blood stirred like a fountain as he screamed out in pain. However, he managed to send out a well hidden blade light through the air, aiming directly at Lynne’s heart before he was, also, blown backwards.

Two Chakrams circled briefly in the air before moving back towards Lynne like boomerangs. They were his Soul Weapons, after all, and he could control them nigh indefinitely with his mind alone, without wasting any Mana. Just at that moment, he felt a slight spacial tear a few meters away from him. Almost instinctively he shifted sideways, causing the blade light to impale left side of his abdomen, piercing right through. Lynne looked down and spotted finger-sized hole running through his entire body.

Pain burst through, but it was quite manageable; it was far from the likes of injecting Origin Symbols into his mind. He immediately stirred the blood inside of him, clogging the wound and temporarily closing it. He also circulated Mana through his veins, sending it to cover the outer layer of the wound before he has a breather to fix it completely.

As he gained the opportunity due to the enemy’s negligence, Lynne definitely wouldn’t be kind enough to let them recover; he immediately cast Fiery Sweeps, bolting forward through the air. Both Lymor and the Prince were still on the ground, coughing up blood and holding onto their wounds as they stared murder at the incoming Lynne.

“You dare!!” the first Prince raged; it was clear that Lynne was relatively weaker than both him and Lymor, but because they underestimated his weapon, they paid the price. Because Lynne’s Soul Force was many times stronger than even Lady Fen’er’s, they had no way of knowing that his Chakrams were actually Soul Weapons.

“Heh, arrogant bastard.” Lynne smirked complecantly.

However, just as he was about to reach the two, he felt his heart grow cold and shivers run through his spine; he forcibly halted moving forward, and a massive arc of red light flashed past him, mere few inches away. He glanced sideways, realizing that Lady Fen’er sacrificed some of her own security to stop him in his tracks. Dammit, this won’t do! He thought as he noticed both Lymor and the Prince creating some distance between them. They’ll be careful from now on, and I definitely won’t get another chance to hurt them… and even I can feel Primal Beast growing ever so weaker. What to do? What to freaking do?!

Lynne racked his brain continuously, but nothing came to mind; if he wanted to run, he couldn’t outrun them. If he wanted to fight, he couldn’t outfight them. He doubted Eternal Spirit would help him again, as there wouldn’t have been any point then in waiting for a relatively talented someone to take away the Seven Worlds. Suddenly, from the corners of his eyes, he spotted a lizard-like creature swimming stealthily through the river. Seven Evolutions!! Lynne exclaimed happily, nearly tearing up. Is this what they call a Hand of God?

Ignoring the Prince and Lymor, he swept sideways towards the lizard, mentally connecting with his pouch and taking out a scroll-shaped item. The moment the lizard saw the item, the creature screeched as if it had been pierced by a spear, rising on two legs and trying to scurry away. However, Lynne was faster; the lizard felt his body freeze and warm current surge through his veins before a seed was born inside both his heart and mind.

“HELP ME LITTLE BEAST!!” was the first thing he heard. His expression immediately sank; Shit! That’s what I get for trying to reap the benefits of something that had nothing to do with me! Where the hell did this brat get the Writ anyway? Shit!

“Heaven’s Writ!!” both Lymor and the Prince exclaimed at the same time, their faces growing with worry. They also recognized that it was Seven Evolutions beast – which was akin to Lady Fen’er in power. In addition to the Primal Beast already battling her, Lynne now had two Dominus-equivalent beasts on his side. What the fuck??! Neither of the two could believe it, yet it was nonetheless true.

“Haha, you damned bastards!!” Lynne immediately began laughing as the lizard stood next to him. The creature was over two meters tall, and had green, scaled skin, with extruded head. Its eyes had cold, green glimmer to them. Lengthy, tip-shaped tail was sweeping gently behind the creature, ready to strike at any moment. “You wanna fight? Sure! Let’s fight! Let’s fight ‘till dawn bursts out from my ass!” Blegh! “Hai, you sure can drive a man to his last wits; do you really think I have enough Writs to throw them at this ugly-incarnate crap?” he said, pointing at the lizard. The creature had the expression of utter sadness, and was almost driven to tears. “Bleh, doggy, come back!” the Primal Beast roared lowly at Lady Fen’er one last time before jumping back and standing next to Lynne.

Lizard on one and tiger-like creature on the other side, Lynne appeared like a wild beast himself, laughing maniacally as he stared at the trio in front of him. Lady Fen’er actually had some slight cuts across her body, dyeing her armor slightly red. It was clear she was at a disadvantage battling the two-headed tiger. However, it wasn’t by much, as none of her wounds were serious.

“Can you only rely on beasts to fight? Damned brat!” the Prince shouted.

“Fuck you, little bitch!” Lynne immediately retorted. “There’s three of you, and one of me! One of you is Dominus bitch, the other is Pius brat, and the lowly Dao Archmage dog. I may be stupid, but I’m not insane enough to fight you three on my own. Besides, you two fought against me; look at you. One lost his arm, the other will need a new pair of lungs to breathe properly. He he, you truly are a pair of utter weaklings.”

“You!!!” the eyes of the trio were completely bloodshot red; standing in front of someone who was clearly much, much weaker than them and being unable to do anything was one of the most excruciating experiences they ever had.

“Heh,” Lynne snickered coldly. “I thought so. Stop chasing me, I’ve got things to take care of. I can’t be babysitting kids every day. So shoo, go back to your cradle and suck your thumbs for a while before daring to stand in front of me again. Doggy, let’s hop. Liz-boy, take the rear and watch them as if you were watching your… I don’t know, what are you into? Eh, who cares. We’ll get to know each other later.”

“…” thought the ‘doggy’.

“…” felt the ‘Liz-boy’.

“…” cried the other three.

As Lynne hoped onto the two-headed tiger and bolted into the distance, he left behind three heartbroken people. Even if they wanted to chase, it was now impossible. They could only reluctantly follow the direction Lynne took, and hope they’ll come across him later. They had no doubts that he’d change the aura the moment he was in the clear, so the only way they’ll catch him anytime soon was through sheer, unadulterated luck.

Lynne, on the other hand, was happily riding the tiger. At least outwardly. Inside? He was thanking every little thing he could remember for lizard’s greed. Somebody truly wants me to live… it’s as if nothing else would be possible without me… I wonder who… ah, thank you kind sir. Thank you beautiful Liz-boy. And than you muscle-fiend tiger. Let’s not fight any time soon…