The bronzed skin God was taken aback. But he was even more shocked by Ryker’s speed.

Or was it speed at all?

In one moment, he had been a distance away. And in the next, he was right before him.

A chain slashed down from the skies carrying a deadly momentum.

That was when the bronzed God came to a shocking realization.

He actually had to dodge.

He moved, flash stepping to a side. He might have been injured from the backlash of his soul, but he hadn’t fallen so far just yet.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for his ship.

Ryker split it right down the middle.

Screams of horror and plumes of smoke and fire rushed into the skies.

Leopold had wanted to stop Ryker, but he had actually moved before he could react. Seeing the sudden result, he didn’t even know what to say.

Was it even possible for a Mythic to have this sort of strength?

No… how had he even become a Mythic so quickly in the first place? None of this made any sense whatsoever.

His expression changed soon, though. He didn’t have the time to waste on these thoughts. The only thing that mattered now was stalling until Ryker’s grandmother’s Tribulation was over. If Ryker could really hold out, and they gained an additional God, then things could truly be reversed.

He took a step and flashed, blocking the path of two Gods.

“You’re overestimating yourself, Leopold,” an old woman sneered.

Leopold didn’t immediately respond, clasping his hands behind his back and looking into the skies as though he was reminiscing about something.

“Pavao… Andrea… The day you made my Valorian Clan your enemy is the day you sealed your fates. It seems that I’ve been inactive for too long… not only does my own grandson dare to be so flippant with me…” Leopold looked down from the skies, meeting their gazes. “… You all seem to have forgotten the weight of my chains.”

…

Ryker’s chain danced through the skies. He didn’t have the luxury of just stalling like his grandfather might. He attacked with all his might, his chain lashing out again and again, relentlessly.

His skin was barely hanging from his bones, all the blood of his body having seemingly evaporated, but his Chaos Domain thrummed with death and destruction, churning through everything and sending the bronzed God dodging back again and again.

PA! FU! PA! PA! PA!

The wind whistled and exploded continuously.

The bronzed God found that he couldn’t even gather the Spirit Energy in the surroundings. Not only had it been practically sucked dry, but there was something odd about this Domain that Ryker was exuding.

It shredded apart any attempt to gather or control energy. It was like the bane of all Spirit Energies. No, it was even deeper than that. It was the bane of control itself.

To make matters worse, his soul was already injured thanks to Leopold and his control plummeted even further.

The bronzed God quickly realized that trying to skill his way around this wasn’t going to work. He was up against a mere Mythic, why did he need skill?

His temper flared up and a pair of gauntlets appeared on his arms. Suddenly, he pushed out, a roaring energy shooting out from him.

It shredded through everything, appearing before Ryker in the blink of an eye.

Ryker’s jaw set. He buried the pain his body deep, unleashing a bellow as he struck out.

[Chain Like Shield].

BOOM! BOOM!

The shield shattered and he was sent flying backward.

The bronzed God finally got some reprieve and he exhaled a breath and calmed down. Indeed, he was against such an ant. Why was he so worried?

“I’m the mighty Rail. I’ve been killing ants like you for hundreds of years. Who do you think you are?!”

He threw out another punch.

Ryker’s arm flared out and his elbow bent. His wrist twisted and he made a forceful circle motion, stirring the Dao of Chaos and [Chain Like Shield] again.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Several shields layered on top of one another before they barely managed to stop the oncoming punch, but even so, he had retreated another several kilometers through the air.

What blood was left in him leaked from his lips, his arm quaking.

‘Daos…’

Ryker took a breath. If not for his Dao of Chaos, he wouldn’t even have the right to be in this battle. The gap between Godhood and non-Godhood was actually so wide. The moment his Daos fell behind, he no longer had the right to face off against those above him in cultivation.

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If he was facing off against a God with actual Daos, he would already be dead.

He took a breath, then again.

Rail suddenly appeared before him.

Fast.

Prometheus suddenly wrapped around Ryker’s arm and he blocked.

BOOM!

Ryker felt every bone in his arm creak and crack. The impact to his chest felt almost worse without Prometheus’ protection. The energy flooded into him, shattering his ribs.

He coughed, mists of wispy blood flying out as he soared through the skies and crashed into a mountain in the distance.

Ryker pulled himself out, coughing heavily.

“You punch like a woman. Maybe you should have baked in the sun for longer, all you’re good for is sun tanning anyway.”

Rail was so infuriated he laughed. Appearing high above the mountain, he pressed down, his pressure seeking to crumble it all slowly.

Unfortunately for him, Ryker’s Chaos Domain wasn’t that useless. He was still unable to control the atmosphere very well. Ryker’s body might be in shambles, but his soul was still increasing in strength.

His Chaos Domain wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

“Stop worrying about me, old bag of bones. This oiled up bastard can’t kill me even if I just stood here and let him.”

Leopold’s gaze flickered. His attention was half on Ryker, which had caused him to suffer damage several times already. However, his grandson’s flippant words made him realize that things would only get worse if he was like this.

Until now, none of them had summoned their beasts. Gods fighting was one thing… God Beasts fighting would mean the destruction of a world, and the loss of even one would mean true death.

Even if they had Contracts, most Gods could only have one God Beast while the others would be Mythics. Reaching the God Realm was simply too difficult.

The loss of a God Beast would essentially make a God worthless. None of them were willing to take their best beast out so casually.

However, if an opportunity came…

…

Ryker pulled himself out of yet another pile of rubble, his mouth still running despite the fact his body seemed like it might shut down at any moment.

Inwardly, though, he was trying to think of a solution.

His grandfather was probably waiting for his grandmother. By then, they hoped that another God would make the deterrence successful.

However, Ryker highly doubted that things would end like this.

For one, they’d never let him live. Second, they were probably still waiting for the penultimate moment in his grandmother’s tribulation before they tried interfering with her directly. And third, this matter was far more complex than it seemed. Those in the hidden worlds with Daos might even interfere in the absolute worst case scenario.

No matter what, he had to find a way to kill Rail. Otherwise, the odds of survival would be even worse than this.

But how?

He hadn’t even managed to harm the man yet.

The Silver Mirror had finally run into someone its cultivation was too low to affect, his Dao of Time was too weak to impact him directly as well. Phoenix and Queen would certainly be out of commission for several days, and this damned Eldertree might as well be dead weight.

The only solution seemed to be to raise his Dao as quickly as possible, but he knew that those thoughts were useless as well.

Where would he find the time to meditate here? He didn’t just need to raise it by one or two levels, he would need a perfect, 33 Path Dao of at least the fourth level before he could fight against Rail evenly. He would probably need it to be nearing the fifth before he could defeat him easily.

Right now, his best had only just entered the third. He was simply too far away.

He dismissed the idea as he took another blow.

‘Fucking hell, don’t let me find a solution you damned bastard. I’m going to make your life worse than death, I promise you that.’

He coughed up another mouthful of blood as he landed, but by this point, Rail was getting antsy as well.

The bronzed God wasn’t just trying to torture Ryker, he was trying to kill him. But despite how hard he was trying, it wasn’t working.

He was too experienced to play with his food, especially when the target was a genius like Ryker.

“Dammit.”

Rail’s body flashed again and a pair of metallic wings appeared. It was his second Mythic Grade Mystery Type Contract. He had actually been forced to summon two against a mere Mythic. He would never live this down.

He suddenly cut through the air, his speed even faster than before. Wind blades cut through the skies before metallic feathers separated, cutting at Ryker from all angles.

Ryker sighed inwardly. He was really fucked this time.

He grit his teeth, ready to go all out to find a sliver of a chance to survive. But at that moment…

BANG!

The wind blades shattered in the air, falling

like glass. At the same time, the metallic feathers were sent flying in all directions as though they had met an impenetrable barrier.

A beauty in a flowing white dress appeared before Ryker, blocking Rail’s path toward him.

Ryker’s eyes opened wide. How could he not recognize his own mother’s back?

“M—!”

He didn’t even have a chance to say the words before Rail appeared in front of her, punching out with destructive might.

Joanna’s hair fluttered in the air as she struck out with a palm.

Ryker could feel the effects of Temporal Weave warping the air. Joanna overdrew on her future potential, slapping out with all the strength she could muster.

In the distance, Ryker’s father was rushing over. But without a Spiritual Resonance as broken as Temporal Weave, he simply wasn’t as fast as his wife was.

BOOM!

Palm and fist collided and Joanna coughed up a mouthful of blood, taking several steps back in the air.

Ryker’s eyes reddened. He hadn’t cared regardless of how much pain he suffered, but seeing his mother in such a state just to take a blow for him filled him with fury.

The howls of beasts cut through the air as his father summoned all of his at once.

‘Fuck!’

Ryker could practically see the future. It didn’t take a genius to know what would happen. His parents didn’t have Daos; even if they worked together, there was simply no way they could even begin to match up to a God.

He needed a solution. He needed one now.

Otherwise, even if his parents didn’t end up dead, they would end up crippled. His father would lose all of his beasts, and his mother would assuredly be in the same position if she dared to summon hers.

Ryker activated Temporal Weave again, trying to speed through his thoughts. But he had been thinking for so long without coming up with a solution, he felt that it would be useless even if he had several more hours to think.

‘Dammit!’

He hadn’t gone through all of this just to lose everything. He pushed Temporal Weave so hard that he could feel that his rapidly progressing soul had actually begun to slowly dry up.

His eyes darted around, his thoughts before his gaze solidified.

His eyes snapped in a certain direction. He had been hit flying so far and so continuously that the Treasure City was just over the horizon. He couldn’t even see the Valorian Clan Corps anymore.

‘How did that pathetic worm control the Eldertree?’

It had been confusing Ryker for a long while. Although he hadn’t controlled it to do much, Cyrus still had controlled it to some extent, using it to reshape his lost leg.

Ryker didn’t understand it at all. He couldn’t even really communicate with the thing. So how had Cyrus of all people done so?

He had been trying this whole time, but nothing worked. Even with the Dao, it wasn’t working. He had even begun thinking that maybe he needed to give it 36 Circles after all.

That was when he remembered that tidbit he read… Treasure Cities were based on the Eldertree?

He felt like he was grasping at something but he didn’t have enough time. It was on the tip of his tongue…

‘Spirit… Spirit… Spirit… Roots…’

Usually, you directed Spirit Beasts with your soul, but what if this was different?

How did Treasure City work? Wasn’t it through Spiritual Patterns? Runes… Laws of the World… representations of…

It wasn’t a beast, which meant…

‘Directing it through the Dao?’

Ryker’s eyes suddenly blazed with understanding.

He didn’t communicate with his soul any longer. Instead, he used his soul to control the Dao, and his Dao to direct the tree.

Suddenly, the Eldertree swayed.

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