章 684: Chapter 684
Not wanting to reveal the full extent of my abilities, after draining the Divine threads from Elara and her familiar, I still only let out the exact strength that I peaked at during our short exchange.
I sent a ripple of perception at the two remaining teams in the room.
The Demon's status is still blocked entirely, filled with purple question marks and unreadable characters.
However, the last remaining member of the big three has a status that shines bright in my mind's eye.
Beckman's level reads [Lv. 23,985], and his single skill is [Foresight][Divine Grade]. His three buffs include [Mental Fortitude], [Perfect Calculation], and [Divine Clairvoyance], making it clear his abilities are very mental strength focused.
The horse he rides on has an identical level but somehow has no skills. It just has one buff called [Mind Devourer].
The eerie feeling I got before when looking at the duo actually came from this horse, as its strength alone is not the most frightening thing about it. Its True Core has combined with its singular buff, and this aura it gives off makes me both excited and hesitant to move forward.
My instincts are immediately confirmed by a private telepathy message from Ember.
"You'll be fine if you keep your guard up; just don't stare that horse in the eyes for too long."
I nod, grinning and stepping forward while yelling out loud at Beckman.
"Kill me? That's a little extreme, don't you think? I thought you were the sensible one. Swear your loyalty to me, and you won't have to die a meaningless death."
My blade flickers red as it senses me walking closer to another potential enemy.
The man on horseback, at the back of his sector, continues sifting through data, taking in the consistent readings of my greater form and power output of my sword.
"No... It's impossible. I cannot take the gamble; the odds are not in my favor... Given your current strength, I can defeat you 71.88% of the time, while even if we worked together to challenge this demon, we would not be able to breach a 9% probability of victory. It is simply not logical—"
I cut him off.
"Maybe you don't have the full picture. Is this all the world is to you? Numbers, probability, a winnable game of chance to preserve yourself above all else?"
Beckman looks up from his screen and tightens his gaze.
"You would be a fool to believe this world is anything but that. To make it this far, you must understand there is always a time and place for battles to be fought and other times to retreat with what you can carry. We only have one chance at life; through our own eyes, we are the most important thing. Hundreds of millions of lives are worth the trade-off for my own, even the whole world if it was necessary. What would be the point of all of this if I gave up now?"
I continue to walk forward, increasing my speed, then respond.
"So this was your plan from the start? Ever since you made contact with the Demons? Stage a Great War, lie to your people in Central, and sacrifice the rest of the world just so you can live on?"
Beckman responds while motioning for his horse to move forward, the rhythmic echoing footsteps coinciding with his response.
"It wasn't my plan before the system linked to this world. I was rather content overseeing humans as the centuries went by. However, the system gave me new insight on the rules of reality. I am meant to live forever; I have the ability to choose the right path every time. You are far too young and lacking sight to understand my choice is the correct one. If you put your sword down now, there is a certainty you will live like royalty in a kingdom surrounded by flames. The humans left behind have no idea the world around them has moved on, and when the demons use the humans we've sacrificed to farm this world dry of mana and leave, we can be the saviors that put out the flames and open the walls to show the desolate world to the humans we've saved. It is a win-win."
His face remains serious, unmoving, and calm while his horse begins to gallop faster.
I reply with a simple answer.
"I disagree. This is not why I challenged the throne."
Links of loyalty surge faster and faster in my mind, as the reality of the situation in Central is being exposed by their last remaining leader in real time.
Many cities around the world that were contacted by long range transmissions from hunters, friends, and family members from the 8 Great Regions and Dark Continent see this too, and word that their nations are being used as bargaining tools between humans and demons right now spreads even faster.
It is all linked to the surges that were felt when the throne awakened. The Flame Emperor's name begins to grow in popularity in nations I've never even traveled to before.
My links surpass 40 million as I speak again.
"I made a promise that I wouldn't let a single innocent human die in this war. It is a burden I will carry alone with the army that follows me."
Unknown to everyone in the room, I open my rising emperor's interface and link the visual feeds of the 4 Generals outside the tower, all battling Demons of their own right now, so the world can sift through feeds and see the full story playing out. Then I continue to speak while raising my blade.
"I made another promise that I wouldn't leave humans behind. One last chance, if you swear your loyalty to me, I can still save us all. However, if you insist on sacrificing hundreds of millions of lives just to save your own, then you are an enemy equal, if not worse, than the Demons in my eyes."
The gallops become faster, and a dense grey and yellow aura erupts out from the duo, increasing their size by about 50% with a pseudo energy form.
"Nothing can change my mind. I must choose the predestined path. No other outcomes are suitable."
I sigh, then compress half of my greater form into my lower body to kick off the floor with immense speed and enlarge the top half of my body to create a monstrous sword strike.
"Very well. You've made your choice."
We both fly into the center of Elara's old sector, and I swing my blade to release a red slash of energy toward the approaching duo.
Beckman changes his direction the instant he sees my attack, but this was expected, so I send two more identical slashes his way.
Each of these slashes is just as strong as the ones that easily killed Elara, but the expression on the man's face doesn't change.
He shifts his direction multiple times a second, staring forward, and somehow avoiding each of the flying attacks by millimeters.
It looks like a natural fluid motion, his directions shifting to counteract my flying attacks even before I've thrown them.
As the red slashes collide with the floor and back wall, they turn into thousands of droplets of pure divine soul fire, then disperse in beautiful displays while pulling back toward me to reconnect with my Soul Sword.
In the center of the massive collection of returning fiery particles, the ominous horse rider stares me down, and its horse's eyes pulse with dark grey and yellow light.
I look away and concentrate all of my greater form's energy into my legs to jump out of the enemy's path, but before I even move, it's turned to follow in the same direction.
My mind flashes back to Beckman's one and only skill, Divine Grade Foresight.
It makes me momentarily question if he can truly see the future, but I'm simultaneously reminded of the fact that he couldn't tell Elara to dodge until I released my full power.
To predict my moves, it must be a similar ability as my swordsmanship skill's perfect thread, just to an absurd degree, and with far more possibilities. Taking in his surroundings and understanding the best possible move to carry through with.
I whisper under my breath while changing my flight path again, upward, "I guess I'll just have to force your hand..."
His movements mimic mine, seemingly before I even do them, moving upward at the same time to close our gap even further.
All of the fragments of my sword return to my blade now that we're so close, but this has other issues that come with it.
The armored horse's eyes shine brighter, and the ominous aura coming out of it gets so close that it's impossible not to feel its presence.
It feels like I've been caught in a web of intimidation, with a cold sensation washing over me, seeping straight into my mind.
It makes me momentarily feel as though the last few seconds are all a blur, like the fight hasn't even started yet, and there is no reason to attack again because we're so far away.
However, as Beckman pulls a single black blade from an inside pocket of his suit, the familiar warm sensation of Divine Ether floods into my mind, negating all foreign buffs instantly; and my memories come rushing back, allowing me to swing my flaming sword again in the direction I'm meant to.
This prompts Beckman to move out of the way, but his speed isn't great enough, and he has to block with the knife he's pulled out to deflect the incoming strike.
My upward momentum continues once we collide, and Beckman on his armored steed goes rocketing downward.
However, the black originator blade he pulled out is shattered upon collision, and his full right arm is melted off from the intensity of the flaming strike he failed to predict.
There's a loud thud as they hit the floor and a horse's cry, while I hover above them with my sword pointed straight down.
"That was your one lucky shot, and you blew it. I'm not taking any more chances."
I release my True Core's full aura, and it shines over 3 times brighter and denser than the man below me, giving off all of the radiation from Elara and Redgrave's cores combined.
I let go of my blade and put both of my hands to their sides, releasing bright shimmering white divine light that makes the temperature in the room drop by a large amount.
"Seeing the future can't help you much if all paths of escape are physically impossible!"
The attack I create is far too fast to outrun, and far too deadly to touch.
Both the white serpent and Elara had ice attribute True Core abilities, and with the new perk of my Divine Absorption skill, receiving a supreme-grade ice summoning skill has granted me a far superior combination of all of these ice abilities combined.
In a flash, before Beckman can even predict my movements, a dome of ice is created, spanning over a kilometer wide.
The only hole that is left remaining is right at the top where I look down into it, and this is the optimal path for Beckman to leave through.
He moves upward toward me, expanding his horse's aura with a calm expression still on his face.
"Hiding your true strength again? If this is it, it's still not enough... It is probable that you will kill me, but you have doomed yourself and the entire human race—"
His words cease as I stop using my True Core's Ice and grab my sword again to fully activate the Divine Flames I stole from Redgrave's True Core; then point my blade forward to push out a red and yellow pillar of monstrous fire into the only small hole in the dome.
The man on the horse stops moving upward even before the flames collide with his body, as he sees the future and knows that there is no escaping this fatal blow...
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