Hades was wary of Varian. But not to the point of paranoia.
So, while he correctly identified Varian as the biggest threat to his rule, he did not think the ’boy’ of a few thousand years would be capable of any ridiculous feats.
All of Varian’s specialties were attributed solely to the slivers he held, not the man himself.
This was the common opinion of all divine rankers across Eden, be it the Jai or the alliance.
But the slivers themselves had a different opinion. He didn’t become special because they chose him. When there were so many people, why did they have to pick this one delusional, depressed young man?
No. They picked him because he was special.
Logos was clear that anyone else who tried to wield the slivers would’ve been subject to intense upheavals. The question wasn’t if they’d die, but when.
Varian not only survived such twisted fate, but he thrived.
Unfortunately, Hades did not know.
"Here it comes."
Varian raised his hand.
The dark red sky and the merciless vortex which were sucking away the vitality of the whole land paused for a moment.
A fingernail sized crack appeared in the sky. And it wriggled briefly before it expanded to the size of a moon.
Varian clenched his fist and the formation disc jumped into his hand.
Hades raised a brow in contempt and mocked. "A formation? Against a high rank 2? Are you crazy? Ahahahahaa!"
The mad laughter echoed across the region. As it did, the red vortex in the sky shook and grew fiercer.
Varian kept moving to escape its influence but he was slowly turning grey. His tremendous vitality was slipping.
It began at the tip of his feet and now, his calves were also gray and dry.
Hades was confident he’d take down Varian in a few more minutes.
"The best formations of Eden are found in the God Emperor’s palace. Only they can suppress high rank 2s.
But they are built hundreds of millions of years ago, by the legendary leader of Neveah tribe who slaughtered the entire Heaven tribe.
Since then, no one, not even the God Emperor himself was able to create new formations.
The best anyone could do was repair and improvise them here and there.
And you—"
Hades scanned the formation disc in Varian’s hands with his acute perception.
"You built that abomination with precious divine materials. But it isn’t even working. You want to stop me with that failed product?
Building a high rank 2 formation? Doing something even the God Emperor couldn’t do?
You are mad.
Before destroying someone, the world indeed makes them mad."
Death was consuming more and more of Varian’s vitality. Now, his legs all the way till the knees were dried out. If someone touched the grey part, they’d just turn into dust and float away.
Yet, Varian remained steadfast, gazing defiantly at Hades.
"Something even the God Emperor can’t do?" An arrogant chuckle left his bleeding mouth. "This is the difference between us. I will kill him sooner or later. He is not some diety.
But you, you accepted your inferiority even as a high rank 2. Even if I give you the slivers and everything Eden has to offer, you’ll remain inferior.
Because you cannot even conceive going beyond him."
Hades froze at those words. It felt like someone slapped him in the most humiliating way.
It stung. It really, really stung.
His own inferiority was stripped naked and shown to him.
Indeed, even as a high rank 2, Hades never thought he could ever challenge or surpass the God Emperor.
"There is a difference between delusion and confidence." Hades brought his hands together and a burning red phoenix emerged.
But unlike the lively bird representing rebirth, this one was made entirely of bones.
With a world shattering screech, it took flight into the vortex. And absorbing some power from the vortex, it launched at Varian.
He couldn’t evade the attack by moving fast or teleporting. The dead spirit of the phoenix locked onto him.
’Fuck!’
Varian hurried with the formation disc.
This was a defense formation Eon showed Varian the night before the invasion.
It’s made of the exact materials and methods he requested. The engravings were only 20% correct.
Traditionally, the formation failed and wouldn’t work.
It should’ve been game over.
But Varian wasn’t gaming, he was being a hacker.
’Logos! I arranged the sequence, now do your magic!’
He channeled his power and asked the sliver for help.
The power of ’order’ first built a stable field around the formation, preventing full explosions and break downs.
It also created a new phantom ’order’.
Next came the power of ’chaos’. It moved in tandem with order. Chaos moved the existing engravings and marks to the new phantom order.
The failed formation was being modified to work!
This was a crazy thing to do. It’s only possible because of the slivers.
It’s like having to assemble a super luxurious car. All the parts were present and so was the blue print. But even a good car enthusiast wouldn’t be able to put one together.
However, with the power of Order and his own knowledge of the formation, Varian was pushing all the parts to assemble the way they’re supposed to be.
[That old fellow would’ve never thought the defense formation he used for bragging would be copied, studied and used by you.] Logos sighed.
Screech!
While the formation was being fixed, the phoenix closed the distance and opened its mouth, inches away from Varian.
Once it touched him, it’d suck away half of his remaining vitality. Even if the formation started working, he wouldn’t last long to use it and defeat Hades.
Samsara came to the rescue, using her own power.
(Muaaa~ This is a brilliant plan! My Var is the best! I couldn’t think of this at all!)
She cheered while releasing calculated attacks.
A powerful green beam exploded from Varian.
Hades was actually keeping an eye of Varian’s aura, but it showed no warnings before this attack as it came from Samsara herself. So, he couldn’t prepare the Phoenix for this attack.
Boom!
The bird was blasted back, crashing to the ground.
As a sliver, Samsara’s power was of high quality, but the quantity was restricted by Varian’s own rank.
So, the bird quickly flapped its wings and took off.
Hades gave the phoenix its autonomy and rushed forward.
By this point, death had eaten up all of Varian’s legs. Now, even his torso was turning grey.
Be it the phoenix or Hades, one more attack and he’d be dead.
Varian showed no panic. He threw the formation disc into the sky and clenched his fist.
"Ignite!"