Against The True Gods-Chapter 144: Luck(III)

The rune Uriel had cast was one that fully explained the intricacies, details, and rules of this coming challenge.

After facing the echoes of the past, a reflection of the present, and a vision of the future, he now had to face the consequences of his actions across the three axes of time.

The entities around him were none other than the souls of all those he’d ever killed across his lives—but not only him.

They represented all whom he’d personally killed but included Oldest, Mirror, and Failure’s kills as well, all brought here together, regardless of the fact that there would surely be overlapping and repeating souls.

Every single person and entity he had ever killed.

Every single one.

Regardless of gender, age, race, or type—they were all here.

And Caine would have to slay them all once more. But in doing so, he’d have to pay the price and face the consequences of such actions.

Every single sentient life form had a Heart Demon, but inversely, they also had a Holy Incarnation, the true incarnation of their hopes, dreams, virtues, and all that was good about a being.

For every person that Caine would have to kill here once again, he’d have to bear the weight of not only their Heart Demons—which had grown and thickened over the times of their deaths—but also the weight of their Pure Incarnations.

He’d have to bear the weight of their sins, their regrets, their losses, their hopes, their dreams, their ever-so-distant aspirations, their resentment, and so much more that had been brewing in the core of their hearts.

But beyond that, Caine would also have to bear the weight of their very souls. He’d have to carry them with him, forever.

It was all a perfect path to simply break one’s heart and will. A recipe for failure and disaster.

And there came the twisted comedy of it all.

Caine’s Dao Hearts were so perfectly suited for such a test, as if made for this moment, that Caine himself couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Not because he was glad the moment was occurring, but because of how ridiculous it all was.

While many, if not all, would see this as yet another gift and blessing from Fate and Luck, a blessing from the Heavens above, Caine saw through the layers of it all. Caine saw it as yet another attempt to crush him, to crush his pride, and a pathetic attempt to strip him of all he’d ever done.

A sort of emasculation on the scale of his existence and its core.

To show him a failed and broken version of himself, a version that had become a slave of Fate itself, yet still a version he couldn’t hope to compare to without the aid of a great entity like Lady Gaia—but to then also give Caine the perfect trial to temper his mind, as if telling him his mind was still lacking, so much so that he still needed help to temper it—what was it, if not a slap in the face?

What was it, if not a blatant attempt to put him in his place?

He’d been shown a past version of himself, to whom he’d pathetically lost, then been confronted with a perfect version of himself he could only hope to defeat by relying on his gifts and affinities, but then also shown a future him he could only look in the eye and defeat via the help of Lady Gaia.

Defeat, after defeat, after defeat.

Lucky moment after lucky moment, endlessly stacked.

It was hilarious, truly.

These were the sorts of inconspicuous and hidden schemes and attacks that only those as sharp as Caine would notice and pick up on. But they also were attacks only those as prideful and unstable as Caine would fall to.

He didn’t understand what Fate’s purpose and goal was, why it sought to stoke his bubbling and stirring wrath so much, or why it so greedily desired to test his bottom line.

But, evidently enough, it was working. The more Caine laughed, the more he felt his heart tremble, the more he felt the fabric of his True Will fissure and crack.

He laughed.

He would accept it. He had no choice, once again. It was a poison he had no choice but to swallow.

He would use all these entities to temper his True Will and endlessly refine his Dao Hearts.

He’d devour all their Heart Demons and Pure Incarnations.

He’d collect their souls.

He’d play along with Fate’s twisted game.

WHOOOSH!

Caine’s laugh died down, and an exhale escaped his lips. Closing his eyes, he sat cross-legged in a meditative position. Experience more tales on novelbuddy

Without uttering a word to Uriel, he began.

***

Far, far away from Caine, the world kept moving, and its endlessly intertwining threads began to bear fruit.

The Brilliant Five Sky World indeed had five continents.

The central continent, led by the Void Trading Alliance.

The northern continent, led by the Timeless Alliance.

The southern continent, led by the Red Sky Heavenly Temple.

The eastern continent, led by the Alchemy Haven Hall.

And finally, the western continent, led by the Chaos Heaven’s Pagoda.

But, unbeknownst to most, the world had a sixth hidden continent.

The Forbidden Continent.

***

[Forbidden Continent—Bloody Rivers of Hate]

The skies were dark and filled with chaotic arcs of tribulation lightning that slammed onto the black and charred lands below with demonic wrath and scowl.

Towering trees soared into the air, blood covering their trunks and their branches adorned with rotten mounds of flesh that oozed toxic fumes carried by the harsh winds.

Snaking through this ominous forest was a grand, long, and wide river of resplendent crimson blood, glowing faintly under the brilliant light of the lightning above.

This river snaked through the entire forest, and from it, a conglomeration of extremely potent killing intents jetted out, casting a net of demonic force over the surrounding space.

Somewhere along the river, a man could be seen sitting at the foot of a tree, calmly looking at the flowing waters before him.

He had long flaming red hair, perfectly complementing his golden eyes, which contained a primal and reptilian slit. Upon his tan skin, illusory red scales could be seen as his fingers stretched into sharp metal claws and his feet into long rune-covered talons.

He wore bloodstained black robes, contrasted by the golden jewels adorning his muscular and lean frame.

As he smirked, his long fangs poked out of his mouth, dripping with terrifying poison.

Suddenly, his gaze panned upwards toward the skies, and his grin widened.

"…finally."

With a groan, he pushed himself up and began to stretch.

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

The skies above tore apart as a gigantic dragon of rotten flesh and black bones appeared, its entire body covered in countless eyes of gold and black.

It roared out, and the air shook, the atmospheric qi twisting and breaking down into… atmospheric abomination qi.

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The skies darkened even more as more and more dragons appeared, akin to a fleet of them.

They stared down at the man below with unbridled hate and fury.

"…Scarlet Venom Dragon…" the first abomination dragon whispered in a runic tongue, its voice strained and hoarse. "…hand your heart over…"

The man below didn’t bother answering and immediately shot into the skies, fiery wings erupting from his back as his mad laughter echoed.