Chapter 1168: Lesson |
The Zorvan general's lifeless eyes stared at the scene in silence.
All around him was devastation. Shattered buildings, flaming debris from fallen warships. Dead, lifeless remains of Zorvans he had once called comrades.
His eyes stopped at a section of the camp, far, far away from where he stood. There lay severed remains, Zorvans smaller than all the others in the area.
New recruits. Children. All dead.
The general clenched his three fingered fists so hard the air around him trembled. He turned towards the human whose presence dwarfed anything he had ever faced.
"Why?" he muttered under his breath.
There was no answer.
Atticus wasn't even looking at him. His gaze was scanning the area, as though searching for something.
The Zorvan's expression shifted and his anger flared.
Atticus paused. He finally turned, raising a brow.
Had he heard that correctly?
The silence only seemed to fuel the general's rage. His voice rose again, booming.
"You have the power! You could've spared some! Taken prisoners! You didn't have to kill everyone! They were youths, only training to serve their world! How can you be so ruthless!?"
Atticus stared at the general like he was the most hypocritical creature in existence. With his spiritual eyes, he could see the truth, this Zorvan meant every word.
He truly believed it.
Atticus… laughed.
It was absurd. The most ridiculous thing he'd heard all decade.
The general's fury peaked at the sound of that laughter, but before he could speak, Atticus beat him to it.
"On my way here," Atticus began with a steady voice, "I passed through the domains of three Eldoralth races. Billions of people, women, children, massacred by your kind."
It was a first for Atticus. He had never witnessed hypocrisy on this scale.
He had to respond.
"And you're telling me I'm taking things too far?"
The general gritted his teeth. "It's not the same," he spat. "We Zorvan have a just cause. We're trying to help your kind. Eldoralth has been at war for centuries. Millions are dead. Our takeover will unify all under one banner and bring peace!"
Atticus tilted his head slightly. "So… you sought peace by killing people. Hmm. Okay. I understand you now."
But the look in Atticus's eyes said otherwise.
The temperature dropped. The air grew still.
"Yes," Atticus said coldly. "Then I'd like to help the Zorvan world too."
Shhnk.
That was the only sound the general heard.
He hadn't seen any movement. Nothing had changed, but he felt it.
He was dead.
Still, his fading form turned slightly, locking eyes with Atticus. "You have no idea what you're up against… You'll have no choice but to submit…"
His voice echoed faintly through the air, but Atticus had already turned away.
A second later, the general's form split into two. The force split the ground beneath him for kilometers.
Even in death, his trembling eyes remained on Atticus… until they faded into nothingness.
Atticus didn't seem affected. In fact, he gazed across the devastated camp, spanning thousands of kilometers, as if he hadn't been the one responsible for the carnage.
'There.'
His eyes glinted.
He blurred, traversing hundreds of kilometers in an instant. He landed calmly in front of his target.
'So this is it.'
Atticus gazed at the swirling portal in front of him, silent. He had only heard of this portal in history books.
"I didn't think I'd see it so soon."
Things had spiraled far beyond his control. Where he stood now was a far cry from where he had thought he'd be just a few years ago.
The plan had been simple: finish the academy, train, join the military, and eventually battle the Zorvans.
Instead, he had fought one of their powerhouses before even graduating from military camp. And now… he was heading into their world, on a mission.
"Well, there's no helping it. It's just you and me, Katara."
It had been a while since Atticus had directly addressed the katana. With Ozeroth in his thoughts, the man had always been his go-to when he needed to speak to someone. And now with Noctis in the picture, it would only get worse.
But neither of them were present right now. Only Katara.
"I should have chosen a better name," he muttered.
The katana trembled lightly at his waist.
Atticus chuckled… and stepped into the portal.
A flash of blue overtook his vision, and a moment later, an entirely new world unfolded before him.
The Zorvan world.
"They really like blue."
Atticus began walking, slow step after slow step.
He was in the middle of a blue grassland that stretched endlessly in all directions. Far in the distance, tall, blue skyscraper like structures pierced the sky. Cities. Civilization. Zorvan people.
He could feel everything.
The rich, abundant mana in the air.
The people roaming the streets, completely unaware.
Unaware of the world ending battle taking place between their god and another.
Unaware of the carnage that was about to come.
Before the Zorvans had broken through the Aegis Shield, he and Whisker had spent many hours discussing the future, how they planned to survive the coming crisis.
Aside from the twins of Bloom and Blight, they still had the Zorvan god to contend with.
And during one of those conversations, Whisker had taught him an invaluable lesson.
He had called it: How to Kill a God.
The man had been far too cheerful for the topic, and Atticus's bafflement only grew when Whisker finished explaining it.
There were two ways to kill a god.
The first, and most common, was to challenge one in the Arena of the Gods and defeat them with sheer force.
But the second…
The second was far more brutal. Far more complicated.
To do it, one had to understand the true source of a god's power.
The World's Will.
It was the culmination of the wills of every single living being on that planet or array of planets.
The more powerful the people, the more powerful the god.
When Atticus had heard that, one question instantly began gnawing at him. And he asked Whisker without hesitation:
"What if… there were no people?"
Whisker had smiled. Wide. Proud.
And simply said,
"Then there is no World's Will."
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