On Earth, the situation was continuously getting worse.Just as feared, the red crystals will"s adaptative capabilities weren"t to be under estimated. In mere moments, the combined attack of the Ingram and Aedre family were rendered useless, immediately plunging the attacking forces into despair.
The Ragnor family continued to take advantage of the situation, attacking without sympathy and making full use of the red crystals – some even began to coat their weapons in the material, leading to the further spread of it.
At this point, Thor had ceased attacking. He stood amidst "protectors", staring at the situation with a deadpan expression, but within his eyes, the flicker of disgust was clearly evident.
In the martial world, there were few things looked down on more than using poison. Ironically, the same was true even in the weak mortal world Dyon used to call world. And yet, a supposed Emperor G.o.d Clan was making use of exactly that to take care of a universe so decrepit and useless that even its adjacent universe hardly tried to conquer it? This was nothing more than a shameful act dressed up as something it wasn"t.
However, how had Thor not become accustomed to these things from the Ragnor family?
He watched from the sidelines as Vidar"s 20-meter-tall frame laughed uproariously, not hesitating to use the corpses of fallen comrades to push forward. He pretended as though it was his own merit keeping him alive on the battle field, when the truth was that he had already lost half of his original protectors to death, it was just that they were replaced as soon as they fell… An endless cycle of Ragnor clan puppetry.
In this same way, he had watched the personalities of his supposed Storm family twist. He had willingly left with his father and their faction upon realizing he had Thor"s faith seed because he thought things might change for the better, but the very same culture permeated through their culture as well…
Those siblings of his were now dead, long since having succ.u.mb to Loki"s experimentation. The fact that he was alive was only a testament to the fact that even Loki himself was much too scared to do anything involving a faith seed as powerful as his.
Thor couldn"t help but chuckle bitterly and silently. He remembered when the Ragnor family claimed that they would only punish the older generation, promising to protect the younger since they couldn"t control the actions of their parents and elders. He had remembered feeling surprised. Maybe, just maybe, the Ragnors would finally do something sensible…
But, that hope didn"t last for long. The moment the former Storm family stepped foot into Ragnor clan territory, all but Tammy and Thor were shipped off to be slaves. Thor could still remember the endless screams he would hear whenever Loki purposefully took him for a walk outside his experimental labs. Ironically, Baal might have gotten the swiftest and more humane death, despite the atrocities that he committed.
In the end, Loki even turned on Thor"s little sister… The very same little sister than put her life on the line the get the information the Ragnors needed… The very same little sister that continuously put her needs aside for the good of her useless elder brother… The very same little sister Thor still couldn"t protect with his own hands…
The red in Thor"s eyes seemed to reflect the sea of crystals and the screams of agony that filled the battle field. At this point, everyone wanted to do whatever they could to escape the situation. It was getting out of hand.
Ire"s retreat order continuously sounded through everyone"s ears, but the shamelessness of the Ragnors was on full display as the ruthlessly attacked the retreating backs of their enemies.
"Should we not pursue them?" One of Thor"s protectors asked. In truth, he was anxious, as they all were. Although Thor could get away with doing next to nothing, they couldn"t, even if they tried to use the excuse of being his protectors. Such was the harsh reality that each Ragnor faced…
While a universe only tracked their citizens during gate campaigns in hopes of rewarding them, Ragnors were branded from birth. Their every move was monitored and calculated, and the more valuable you were, the st.u.r.dier the chains that bound you were.
The Storm family was only able to escape because their chains were fairly loose to begin with. They were able to use treasures left behind by the celestial deer sect to remove their brands, which was exactly why the joined Focus Academy. This was why it took the Ragnors so long to find them…
Had Loki known that Thor had awakened in the Storm family previously, they wouldn"t have lasted even a day. The reason why was something etched in the history of the Ragnors… A perfect match for their malevolent history…
Every faith seed was bound by karma to the clan it originates from. This was how clans knew when faith seeds were reincarnated, and it was also how they knew when faith seeds left their stream of control. This was why stealing faith seeds was taboo, because the victim"s clan would immediately know what had happened. Losing something as important as a faith seed would not be tolerated and would almost always lead to all out wars even more severe than gate campaigns.
However, the Ragnors took this even further… They touched upon absolute taboo and sowed the seeds of karma so deeply with every faith seed formed that the tie to the Ragnor clan became so strong that even the life and death of the seed"s wielder could be decided on a whim by a clan…
Their methods were sickening to an extreme, a clan without morals or boundaries…
In order to sow karma this deeply, the Ragnors had required the purest and cleanest karma possible…
Every Ragnor faith seed in existence was nothing more than a representation of millions of slaughtered newborns…
Thor would never escape, nor could Dyon help him to… The seeds of Karma were sown too deeply…