R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 5 (in editing)

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 5 (in editing)

‘Calm down.’ The first thing Micheal did was clamp down on his emotions.

‘You are in front of the Lord Protector of the Farian race. Steady, Micheal.’ The news he had received was shocking, but it was no excuse to show weakness. The Lord Protector was a Farian that admired the strong and Micheal intended on leaving the strongest first impression he could.

“I killed the Nirvana Saint? While I was resting here unconscious? Nonsense.” Micheal immediately latched on to the obvious hole in the story.

The Lord Protector shrugged.

“Perhaps it’s someone with the same name as you.”

Micheal inwardly frowned as his mind raced.

‘It makes no sense unless someone is intentionally targeting me. In the first place, I would never try to kill the Nirvana Saint. So… a propaganda effort, to isolate me?’ His eyes flashed.

‘The Vile King.’ It seemed Micheal had annoyed the mass murderer enough to get him to act, and on a massive scale at that. 2 weeks of time was more than enough for Constantine to set something like this up.

‘If this is the Vile King’s doing, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Nirvana Saint is dead.’ The closest thing the Vile King had to a ‘rival,’ in the original timeline, would have to be the Nirvana Saint.

The two foes shouldn’t have started clashing with each other for 1 and a half more years, but Micheal’s intervention had sped that timeline up.

Just because the Vile King claimed he was dead didn’t mean he actually was dead. The Nirvana Saint was incredibly adept at noticing patterns and unbelievably good at staying alive, especially in situations where survival seemed impossible, to the point where he earned the nickname ‘Holy Roach’ by some of his naysayers.

Despite telling himself that, Micheal couldn’t help but feel a little sick. If the Nirvana Saint died early on… it would force him to adjust almost all of his plans. Humanity’s survival would grow even more difficult.

“Regardless, you are a hero to our kind. After you finish recovering, the Tribe Leaders will convene a council to decide how to reward you.” The Lord Protector gently smiled as he continued.

"You have my sincere gratitude as well. If there’s ever anything I can do in return, just let me know.” The Lord Protector’s opinion of Micheal was extraordinarily high. He did, after all, stop what would have been the worst massacre in Farian history during their sacred Life Festival.

Before Micheal could give a reply, the air around him abruptly twisted with energy.

“Huh? Ah.” Micheal stuttered as he felt the Ki within his body begin to swarm and condense.

He was starting to breakthrough to the Sky Tier of Ki Cultivation.

‘Damn it.’ He frowned. After he woke up and realized he was just half a step away from Sky Tier, he had purposefully suppressed his Ki to avoid making a breakthrough. Clarifying his situation and leaving a good first impression on the Lord Protector had been his immediate priorities.

The shock of hearing about the Nirvana Saint being dead had thrown off his concentration, enough to allow the Ki that was raging to breakthrough a foothold.

“Oh? The energy within you is… evolving?” Gregor’s keen senses missed nothing as he stared down at Micheal with interest.

“It feels quite similar to Bloodline Evolution. How interesting. This is the first time I’ve seen a human breakthrough.” Farians grew stronger by evolving their Bloodlines in a similar way to Ki evolving from one Tier to another.

“My apologies for the surprise, Lord Protector. I didn’t think it would happen while we were still talking.” Micheal sighed as he began clearing his mind. There was no going back now; he would just have to make the best of the situation.

“Just call me Gregor, and it’s fine. The energy in you tried to evolve several times while you were unconscious. It’s why I called on an ally to help speed up your recovery process. I couldn’t just leave the hero of the hour injured without treatment.” The normally dour Lord Protector shared a mischievous grin as he added,

“I also wanted to witness a ‘Ki Breakthrough’ that I’ve heard so much about.”

Despite Micheal’s worries and the rather-pressing Sky Tier Heart Trial that was about to begin, he couldn’t help but to smile back.

“In that case… can I rely on you to guard me until I finish breaking through?” Micheal didn’t think he’d be in any danger here, regardless, but it never hurt to be certain. Losing concentration during a Heart Trial could have serious consequences.

The Lord Protector gave Micheal a look as if to say ‘who do you think I am.’

“In that case… I’ll be in your care.” Micheal closed his eyes as he crossed his legs and assumed a meditative pose, putting his trust in the Lord Protector.

It took only a few short moments for his Ki to spread and then condense to the absolute maximum level it could maintain within his body, reaching his physical limit. At this point, even the slightest lapse in concentration could severely injure or even cripple him. While he could use a Life Orb to instantly recover from any injuries he sustained, there was no reason to waste one if he didn’t need to.

Immediately following this, Micheal felt the eerie sensation that was his Soul fluctuating as it resonated with the energy in his body. It felt like being embraced in a warm blanket while drinking ice cold water, growing hot and cold at the same time.

Light flashed in his eyes. His ears seemed to buzz. He could smell a harsh, arid scent.

Micheal blinked.

He found himself standing on a large, cracked stone plateau. Two suns glared down on the world overhead, lighting up a series of distant mountains and broken plateaus that surrounded him.

‘I’m back here.’ Micheal’s heart pounded as he looked around.

It was the 7th Layer.

His Heart Trial vision was, for the first time in a decade, taking place at a new location.

“You humans are a lot like bugs, ya know? All that squirming and struggle for what? A meaningless death.” A jovial voice echoed in the air from behind Micheal.

Micheal’s mind grew eerily calm as he slowly turned around. The world around him seemed to slow down as he focused, staring at the speaker.

Behind Micheal was an Angel.

A muscular man with bronzed skin, dressed in a white robe. Long, beautiful white feathered wings rose out of his back, fluttering gracefully in the breeze. A glowing white Halo floated above the man’s head as he lounged atop a large boulder and looked down at Micheal with a friendly smile.

Murderous rage.

Unending hatred.

Extreme anger.

A torrent of terrifying emotions swept through Micheal in an instant as he recognized the speaker.

Navir.

A Titled Deity from the 6th Layer, the Realm of Chaos.

The strongest Deity from the Angelic Tribe of Deities.

The Master of Nirvana.

“You.” Micheal spat out. He knew he was in a Heart Trial right now. He knew Navir was not actually in front of him. He knew this was all an illusion drawn from his memories and emotions that he needed to control. 

Nevertheless, he could barely restrain himself as saw one of humanity’s worst enemies.

The Deity that destroyed the Purgatory Church and killed the Nirvana Saint. The Deity that annihilated the fractured Knights of the Round Table. The Deity that wiped out the Moorim Association and the Alliance of Saints.

Navir singlehandedly crippled Humanity’s Last Army before it could even begin preparing for the 7th Layer.

“Why hold yourself back? Come, try and kill me- ah right, you can’t, even if you could.” Navir smiled benevolently as he snapped his fingers.

12 black and white orbs appeared, each one enshrouded in black and white flames, floating in the air around Navir.

Micheal inhaled sharply when he saw them.

They were what made Navir truly seem invincible.

Nirvana Orbs.

Micheal’s Life Orbs could bring him back to his life after he died.

Navir had a similar ability. He created his own ‘Nirvana Orbs.’ Just like a Life Orb, a Nirvana Orb would shatter upon its user’s death.

Instead of simply reviving the user, however… Nirvana Orbs rewound time by 12 hours.

Each Nirvana Orb took 12 days to create, unlike the 24 hour limit on a Life Orb. Navir could control up to 12 Nirvana Orbs at once.

At any point, he could jump back 12 hours, 24 hours, 3 days, etc, as long as he had enough Nirvana Orbs. Killing Navir would merely send him back to the past.

That meant the only way to truly kill Navir was to kill him 13 times in a row, over a period of 6 to 12 days, all in which Navir had advanced knowledge on how he was going to be attacked and the general future for at least the next 12 hours before each fight. This was also assuming that he didn’t just kill himself several times to jump back days prior.

Micheal took a deep breath. And then another. And another.

In the background, he could feel energy flutter in his Soul, rapidly building upwards as it grew and resonated with his body.

“Aww, don’t take it so seriously, little guy. Life is absurd. Don’t you know that already?” Navir fluttered his wings as he leaned forward to stare at Micheal.

“I only rewind time by a day here or two days there. You twisted causality by more than 10 years, you die a hundred times but still live all the same. If that doesn’t prove the meaningless of life, I don’t know what does.” The Deity laughed quietly as he lightly tapped on the floating white Halo above his head.

Micheal took yet another deep breath as he managed to calm down, a cool sense of rationality mixing his bloodlust as he gazed straight into Navir’s eyes.

“I will definitely kill you this time around.” Micheal’s words rumbled out as a vow.

“You won’t get even the slightest chance to survive.”

In the first timeline, humanity never killed Navir. No one did. 

The Deity left the 6th Layer of his own volition after getting bored slaughtering hundreds of thousands of powerful warriors not only from humanity, but from a plethora of other races that were all climbing towards the 7th Layer.

“Will you now?” The Angel tilted his head slightly to the side as he smiled benignly.

“The Great Traitor of humanity is going to unite an army to defeat me? Do you really think that will work?”

Micheal blinked. Even as he tried to ignore Navir’s words, he couldn’t help but acknowledge them.

The Vile King was not one to shy away from destroying his enemies. Micheal’s reputation was no doubt irrevocably shattered by this point. The fact that Micheal actually did kill the beloved Godfather of the First Layer meant there was a tangible foundation Constantine could draw on. After all, Micheal had no way of proving that Cameron had been infected with a Seed. From an outside viewpoint, he was simply a murderer.

“So what?” Micheal abruptly donned a rather crooked smile.

Navir stared at Micheal bemusedly, perfectly matching the attitude of the real Navir, a Deity that didn’t take even the strongest of humanity seriously.

“I don’t have to be the one leading the army.” Micheal’s eyes cindered as he glared daggers at the Deity.

“I just have to point it in your direction.”

Navir took one look at Micheal’s face and burst into laughter.

“Ahahahahahaha. How utterly amusing! An army of bugs lead by- no, guided by, a broken failure of a man are going to kill me? ME?!” Tears streamed down the Angel’s face as he laughed in genuine amusement.

“Keep laughing, Navir. Go ahead. I won’t stop you.” Micheal’s cold smile never wavered as he regained perfect control of his emotions,

“I hope you die with a smile on your face.”

Micheal’s words were answered with another round of gentle laughter, one he promptly shut out as the fluctuations of energy in Micheal’s Soul started to rapidly increase.

A feeling of numbness swept over his body, his mind starting to grow fuzzy.

The Heart Trial was ending, unusually faster than his first Trial, perhaps because of his solid foundation and growth. 

Light flashed around him one last time as he vanished, the vision dissipating. The waves of energy in his body shook mightily, and then folded together abruptly. A warm comfortable feeling settled into Micheal's body and soul as he blinked. Cool, blue light flooded his eyes.

Micheal successfully broke into the Sky Tier.

.