Capital city, Royal Palace.
Dario was sitting in the throne room staring at the throne he once sat upon.
“Truly pathetic.”
He suddenly heard a disdainful voice in his ear.
He turned around and saw a blonde haired handsome youth with blue eyes, that gave off a wild aura.
“Kouta.”
“Tell me, Dario. What is your grandfather thinking, pitting you against a child for the throne? Isn't that just rubbing your face in shit?”
Kouta’s voice was filled with ridicule.
“He's the clan leader, he can do as he pleases.”
Dario spoke with indifference.
“Then are you saying that you're not angry? Your opponent is a child you know?”
“That child was able to use Vastator and slaughter thousands of enemies. Including several elders of Primus branch. I would be an idiot to underestimate him.”
Dario looked at him.
“What does it matter to you anyway?”
“Nothing really. It just feels like the Primus branch are taking us for fools. If they had sent out Momo or Aeon I wouldn't have any problems. But they actually sent out a 12 year old brat. Because of that, the battle for the throne was tone down to a pathetic level.”
“Ah, I see. You wanted to fight the young talents of the Primus branch. And now you can't, so you blame it on their representative weakness.”
“I won't deny it. If it had been someone stronger as the representative then I could've join the fun.”
Dario frowned.
“Did you forget that if that was the case, then I wouldn't be able to compete as our representative? In order words, I wouldn't be a king candidate.”
“Oh? I forgot.”
Kouta said with a smug face.
Dario long knew that a lot of people in his branch never like the idea of him being king.
They always wanted his brother, Karim to become king instead.
In their eyes, only a heavenly talent like Karim was worth of inheriting Marcel’s throne.
But their hopes were shattered when Karim fell into a coma over a decade ago. This cause a lot of people to feel grief.
Soon grief turned into anger directed at Dario.
A lot of people would've preferred if it had been Dario who fell in a coma, instead of Karim.
Some even said that he should've died.
The difference between Karim and Dario was simply too great. So a lot of people felt like they got cheated when Dario took the throne.
“I'll be straight with you. You don't have right to represent the Secundus Branch. Just like that kid don't have the right to represent the Primus branch.”
“And you have the right?”
“Of course. But even more than me, my brother does.”
Dario eyes narrowed.
“Christian wants the throne?”
“Of course not. Everyone knows that my brother don't have any form of ambition. However, when it comes to talent he's the number of last 100 years in the branch. He's a natural born king, just a bit lazy.”
Kouta’s voice was energetic when he spoke of his brother.
“I am not lazy.”
A figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.
“I’m just nocturnal. That's why I sleep all day.”
The figure spoke with a lazy voice.
He was pretty tall, had a normal build, a handsome face but had bags under his blue eyes. He also had silver hair.
This was Christian Dragna.
“Kouta, mother is calling for you.”
Christian didn't wait for Kouta to respond. He waved his hand and sent Kouta away.
He then looked at Dario.
“Good luck.”
And disappeared.
“Truly a strange guy.”
Saying so, Dario got up and left the throne room.
Around the same time, 2,000ft underwater.
*Boom!*
A small hill exploded after it came in contact with a small fist.
This fist belong to Miko.
He was currently wrapped with both Demonic Qi and Ruler’s Qi thus creating a beautiful contrast of aura around him.
“Hmm….Not bad. It only took 5 punches now. At first the pressure down here was so heavy that you couldn't even lift your arms. So this is great improvement.”
Said Momo.
She had a bubble surrounding her body.
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Unlike Miko who was a sea dragon, Momo couldn't breath underwater. She can hold her breath for nearly a hour but that's it. That was the reason she needed this bubble.
She waved her hand and the formerly destroyed small hill was put back together.
“Okay, this time I want you to cut the hill with a sword.”
As she said that, a sword floated in front of Miko.
“I don't want you to just use strength. Every slash must have a high level of skill and precision.”
Miko grabbed the sword and rushed towards the hill and slashed it.
*Boom!*
The sword only cut a few inches in the hill.
“Your swordsmanship isn't that bad, but it's isn't satisfactory.”
Said Momo.
“Okay, forget the hill for now.”
She snapped her fingers and the hill turned into a pile of rocks.
“I'm going to fire these rocks at you and I want to cut them. They will be slow at first, but their speed will double every five minutes.”
As she said so a few rocks started floating.
“Okay, start!”
Dozens of rocks shot towards Miko.
He followed the rocks with his eyes and swung his swords.
His sword cut cleanly through three rocks before the others hit him.
“Start over.”
Even though Momo said that the rocks would be slow, they were still moving as fast as a butterfly.
With the immense pressure that weighed down his body down here, Miko's sword slashes greatly decreased in speed.
It was incredibly hard for him to keep up with the rocks.
Momo waved her hands and the rocks shot towards him again.
He slashed his sword while tracking them with his eyes.
This time he was able to cut 6 rocks before any could hit him.
“Oh? To actually double your results so quickly, that's pretty amazing.”
The rocks floated again.
“However, you still lasted only a few seconds. Before I can be satisfied I need you to last at least 5 mins in a month's time. Otherwise, you won't be able to cut that hill with perfect precision, and I wont be able to teach you the sword techniques that I learned from Gramps.”
“Is the old man a sword genius too?”
Momo shook her head.
“He isn't a sword genius, however his skills are top class. You've never seen his Qi Artifact before, right?”
Miko shook his head.
“His Qi Artifact is a God Rank sword called Night Blade. It's a sword as black as the darkest night. A sinister sword made out of the most concentrated Demonic Qi. It has many evil attributes. One of them is the ability to cut the soul directly without harming the body. Once you're cut your soul will erode and disintegrate. Once that happens your soul is gone forever, without any chance of reincarnation or resurrection. This sword along with his mastery of demon magic is the reason he's called the Demon Dragon God as well as the Overlord Of Death.”
“….And you want to teach me some of the abilities of this sword?”
Momo shook her head.
“No, what I want to teach you is some of his self created Devil Arts.”
“Self-created Devil Arts? But isn't the old man human? How did he create demon techniques?”
Momo had a surprised look on her face. And then a look of realization.
“I forgot to teach you about the effects of mastering a certain type of power.”
She lowered her hand and the rocks fell to the earth. Miko also lowered his sword.
“Miko, do you remember what a Qigong God is?”
“Of course. A person who mastered Qigong to the utmost limit.”
“Then have you've ever wondered what would you call someone who mastered the other forms of power in this world?”
“….I've never really thought about it before.”
“Well, there are several counterparts to a Qigong God. These are Magic Gods, Demon Gods, and Beast Gods.”
She said.
“First is Magic God. A Magic God is a person who mastered a single form of magic to the utmost limit. There are the same amount of Magic Gods Types as there are magic types. For example, a person who mastered thunder magic to the utmost limit is called a Thunder Magic God or Thunder God for short. Of course a person can master more than magic to the point of godhood. So someone can be a Flame God and a Void God at the same time. This is because they mastered flame magic and void magic.”
She then thought about it some more.
“There's a subcategory in magic godhood for spells masters. Those people are called Witches. I'm one of those people.”
Momo's title was the Midnight Witch because she mastered over a thousand spells.
“However, witches are far inferior to Magic Gods. Meaning, we can't compete with Higher Beings like them.”
“What about the other two?”
Miko asked.
“For Demon God, this is a person who mastered demon magic or devil arts to point of godhood. This is mostly restricted to demons and humans who practiced demon magic and devil arts. Once one becomes a Demon God you can create your own devil arts.”
There's a difference between demon magic and devil arts.
Demon magic is basically evil magic that even humans can learn. However, for Devil Arts you need a demon soul. For a human to learn devil arts they must first demonize themselves. To do that they need to bathe in the blood of thousands or even millions. They must corrupt their souls to the point they no longer possess a human heart.
“Gramps demonized himself a long time ago. He then learnt and mastered Devil Arts and became a Demon God. However, he didn't possess demon blood so his children were still mostly human.”
“So you can be a Demon God and Qigong God?”
Momo nodded.
“You can be all four if you possess the right bloodlines.”
“Then Beast God is?”
“A Beast God is someone who mastered their Beast abilities to godhood. This is different from the other three. You must possess a large amount of Beast blood to become a Beast God. Someone who is 100% human, God, or demon cannot achieve this.”
“But we can.”
Momo nodded.
“We are descendants of Tiamat. That means that not only do we possess god blood but dragon blood as well. In order words, every descendant of Tiamat and Augustus are capable of become a Beast God, Magic God, Qigong God, and if they're cruel enough a Demon God. However, just like its hard for those of us with azure hair to become a Qigong God because of Tiamat's blood, it's equally if not harder for those with purple hair to become a Beast God because of Augustus' blood.”
Miko pondered for a while before asking-
“Are there any other beings that can kill a Higher Being outside those four?”
“Well….These beings don't exist anymore but….There were those known as Alchemic Gods.”
“Alchemic? Do you mean that alchemy can be used to fight?”
“Yeah, but the methods to do so were supposedly lost over the millennia. They say that if you master alchemy and create the Philosopher’s Stone as well as the Ultimate Elixir you'll reach godhood.”
“Philosopher’s Stone?”
Miko couldn't help but think of seven homunculi fight against a boy with a metal limbs and his armored suit brother.
“Hm? Homunculi? Tattoo of Ouroboros?”
A look of realization appeared on his face.
‘Oi, Tiamat. If I remember correctly Ouroboros is the base of all of alchemy right?’
(That's right. Boros is basically a god to alchemist.)
‘Then he knows everything about alchemy?’
(That's right. But he'll only share his knowledge with his proxies. Even then, he won't tell them everything until they reach [XXX Class]. So give up on him tell you how to use alchemy and fight.)
Miko ignored her advice. He decided that he would learn alchemy in the future.
“By the way, how many people in the clan have reached different types of Godhood?”
He asked.
“Lets see. Ms.Kimiko is a Death Magic Goddess, an Ice Goddess, and a Dark Goddess. As brothers Raven(Demon Dragon) and Kroc(Demon Lion) are both Demon Gods and Beast Gods because of their bloodlines. Uncle Rihan is a Demon God. Uncle Gian and Gamion are both Magic Gods but Uncle Gamion is also a Beast God, While Gian is a Qigong God. Uncle Nova is Qigong God and a Magic God. Sherry is a Beast God. Neo is Qigong God as well as a Flame God.”
“That's a lot. And the old man?”
“Gramps is all four. Rouge too.”
“Rouge? He really is on Nero's level then.”
Momo nodded.
“Rouge could've been a [Tyrant] a long time ago. He just doesn't want to.”
Miko ponder it for a while before asking-
“Augustus. What about him? I heard that Nero is weaker than him?”
(…….)
“That I don't know.”
Momo shook her head.
“Gramps once said that he was only half as strong as Augustus. And that's when he's exaggerating his own strength. So I don't know how strong Augustus was, but I heard that even Higher Beings feared him. Not only him, his 5 generals too.”
“….I see.”
Miko didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to reach Augustus’ level of strength before he could even think about invading the Summit Of The Gods.
‘Well, I gotta find it first.’
“Okay, now that's out of the way. Let's continue your training.”
Before Miko could react dozens of stones shot towards him.
“Wait!”
“On the battlefield hesitation leads to death!”
The speed of the rocks suddenly increased.
Miko desperately slashed his swords as he was assaulted by the rocks.
“Aren't they moving too fast?!”
As he said that he was hit by rocks in the chest.
“And they're a lot harder than before!”
“You want to reach godhood right? Then this is nothing!”
The stones doubled in size.
“Damn you, woman! I'll get even one day!”
As he complained a stone hit in the head and knocked him over.
“Hmph. You still need training.”
Miko mumbling some curses as he laid on the ground.