Eshala was badly beaten despite trying her best. After all, even with a favorable landscape, using up all her treasures, her weakened self ultimately couldn't match up to Victor.
'I-I can survive for a few more seconds at best.' The Princess gritted her teeth as she tried her best.
She was trying to live for a dreamy goal until now. But today, she wanted to survive for what's already there.
'Primula! I'm sorry I couldn't look after you! But now, I can't wait to see you!'
"Sister, please don't struggle any longer. I can't bear to see you in pain." Victor said in a gentle tone as he punched out. The space-time curvature shook as gravity twisted it violently. The world seemed to end as everything, including light itself was pulled towards Eshala, to end her once and for all. "H-Hypocrite!" A lot of moves Eshala used to survive his attacks were useless against the convergence attack. The only move she could use her was very costly. But she had no other choice. The world split into multiple frames, each framing showing an instance.
A thread of time power linked Eshala and a previous frame. With a flash of light, the world returned to a previous state. But Eshala's aura reserves were falling to a dangerous level. What's worse was that even with aura, she could barely use that move anymore. The toll it took was too much to bear.
'Primula, I'm sorry. I don't think I can see you in this lif—'
"Huh?" Victor's eyebrows suddenly jumped. The 7th prince's aura turned infinitely weak. It didn't disappear yet but his divine powers completely vanished. "What the he—euk!" The formation which had been targeting Samael so far turned on him and the 2nd Prince who mocked Samael as weak for struggling against a mere Varian for so long realized what his brother had been facing.
Eshala hurriedly created distance, intending to recuperate as much as possible. She didn't dare to hope for a miracle but here she was, witnessing one. Varian defeated the 7th Prince!
A newbie divine ranker who couldn't even kill Tegya or even Samus just a few hours ago defeated Samael Astreas!
"Well, well, well. What's going on here?" A confident voice rang in the space and Victor's expression turned solemn.
Varian, brimming with tremendous power, entered the region. "You…" Victor's eyes were filled with disbelief, realization and then rage. "You hid your power! You were playing us from the start!" "Ah?" Varian rubbed his chin and asked himself with a contemplative expression. "Did I?" "You did!" "No, you idiot. I just grew stronger." Varian raised his arms and the world began to shake. The heavy grip Victor had on the space-time curvature thanks to his gravity began to waver. Like a strong hand came and unfolded his tightly clenched fist, Victor struggled to keep the status quo. And failed. The strength he was facing went beyond his expectations.
If only he knew that Eshala was even more surprised than he was, perhaps he would have given up fighting.
'Status'.
[Dragon: 91/100 (+21)
Titan: 91/100 (+21)
Phoenix: 91/100 (+21)
Order: 91/100 (+21)
Chaos: 91/100 (+21)
Space: 95/100 (+14)
Time: 95/100 (+14)]
Varian's potential exploded in a life and death battle, pushing him into a range that would've taken him months if he only practiced by himself.
The method of his fighting which included all the paths played a key role in ensuring every path progressed.
And unlike others, Varian had literally no bottleneck for rank 2. If it's Samael, for instance, to reach rank 2, he'd have to get 100/100 in space as well as 1/1 in time. He could achieve 100/100 almost at any time but reaching 1/1 in time—a path he's completely polar to was excruciatingly difficult. Even at the peak of their battle, the 7th Prince only displayed equivalent of 0.5/1.0 of time. After everything he had done over millions of years, he had just come half way. And the other half would likely take longer as it got harder and harder towards the end.
He didn't even have such a bottleneck. Once he reached 100/100, he'd step into rank 2. As simple as that. 'One seclusion will do it. The shards can boost me even in rank 2!'
Varian coughed lightly and said in a solemn voice. "Victor, I'm really sorry for you."
"What do you mean?" Victor quietly activated the treasure in his storage space and asked in a fierce tone.
Unlike Samael, this guy was more insidious, more decisive and more shameless. He decided he couldn't win and was going to run away. "I can understand how you feel." Varian said with a compassionate expression. "Trust me, I really do."
Victor sensed the treasure starting. It'd open up a path to the outside. With proper twisting of gravity, he could throw himself out of this formation. Once that happened, he'd just have to ask for help from the rank 2s. Of course, he'd explain how both Eshala and Samael betrayed the empire due to the sliver holder. He still managed to escape and bring them the truth.
"All of my enemies, from froggy murlocs to an arrogant young master to heirs of a kingdom felt the same thing at some point. That if they could just escape now, they could come up and kill me in the future."
A grin surfaced on Varian's face. The power of soul began to rise like a tide that's about to sweep everything. The power of death turned into the sky. The power of life into earth.
The three integrated to form a blade with three wings. "But you have to understand. Once you're surpassed by me, it's over." Victor activated the power of gravity to escape but the treasure that was supposed to open up a path right then suddenly malfunctioned.
The power of Order and Chaos manipulated the artifact at the last moment.
"Fuck!"
Victor was pulled into an illusion even as he tried his best to resist and his divine body broke down in the face of relentless assaults by life and death.
When Eshala came to her senses, everything turned normal.
Only a speck of light remained in place of victor. It's his soul after collapse and just before the verge of dissipation.
Come to think of it, why didn't he destroy 7th Prince's soul but kept it alive until now?
"W-What are you doing?" Eshala asked without even realizing that her voice trembled.
"Snatching the shards." He answered as he probed the soul with a serious expression.
"It won't work." "Huh?" Varian looked at her in confusion.
"The faction leaders are bestowed 15,000 of the total 30,000 shards. There's a huge risk of losing it all if they die. So, there's a mechanism to transfer them to safety if they die."
"But Samael gave me the shards…"
"He gave you the shards?" Eshala was dumbfounded. "How? Why?" Varian decided to honor the dead man and didn't explain.
"If you really like them so much, take mine." Eshala flicked her fingers and the familiar glowing strands fell on Varian's palm. "Damn!"
[Shards: 12000]
"How did you…were you really hiding your strength?" Eshala didn't even know wha to say. "Let me kill this guy first! He didn't even give me the shards!" Varian tapped into the space and Victor's soul exploded. "So, were you really hid—"
Boom! Boom! Boom!