Chapter 1654 The Second Round! VI
1654 The Second Round! VI
Moments after Felix"s audacious teleportation maneuver, the battlefield that had been a stage for t.i.tanic clashes took a brief, eerie pause...
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+...
In that fleeting calm, the unigins appeared on the scene. They materialized in a majestic display of their divine presence, each bringing with them an aura of their law dominion.
"We were too late."
Athena knitted her eyebrows in displeasure after noticing that only Apollo and his eerie music were left behind.
Apollo remained where he had been, his fingers moving frenetically across the strings of his lyre.
He didn"t seem to have noticed the disappearance of Felix and Hephaestus, appearing like he had completely lost himself in his horrific score.
As the Unigins observed, a creeping darkness began to shroud Apollo"s form...The light that typically radiated from him was being slowly consumed by this encroaching darkness, painting a stark contrast to his usual resplendent appearance.
The Unigins exchanged glances, a mix of irritation and concern etched on their features.
"He is having one of his crazed episodes...Zeus, zap him off it." Artemis requested.
Zeus didn"t need to be told twice as he sent a bright golden electrical charge to Apollo, causing him to twitch involuntarily and interrupt his magnificent performance mid-way.
The moment the music stopped, the darkness seemed to withdraw back within Apollo. His pitch-black pupil returned to normal and his skin became luminous again.
At first sight of breaking out of his zone, Apollo scanned around with a muddled look for a moment before he realized what happened.
"Ahh, I am most appreciative of your a.s.sistance, but I am truly b.u.mmed out..." Apollo ruffled his hair akin to a frustrated artist as he said, "I was so close, so d.a.m.n close to finis.h.i.+ng it!"
His peers" eyelids twitched in vexation and decided to ignore his existence again, knowing that it wasn"t the time to deal with this bipolar psycho.
"I found them, they are near the Golden Gate." Athena shared with a solemn tone as she used her senses to spy on the ongoing confrontation.
The others tuned in as well and when they saw what Felix was doing to Hephaestus, words refused to come out of their lips...
They merely kept spectating in utter silence as they bore witness to a scene of brutal domination that would forever change the dynamics of their pantheon.
They watched as Felix relentlessly a.s.saulted Hephaestus with a ferocity that was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.
Felix, empowered by the might of both white and black celestial flames, was a whirlwind of unstoppable destructive force!
Each punch he delivered to Hephaestus was a maelstrom of searing pain and power, the flames intensifying the impact to levels beyond mortal comprehension!
His kicks, swift and merciless, were like comets streaking across the sky, each one landing with the force of a celestial body colliding with a planet!
Hephaestus, renowned for his strength and resilience, was reduced to a mere plaything in Felix"s hands!
BOOOM!! BOOOM!! THUD!!...
The once-mighty deity was thrown around like a ragdoll, unable to mount any defense against the onslaught.
With every blow Felix landed, Hephaestus"s body deteriorated further, his divine essence crumbling under the relentless barrage.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Zeus and the rest hadn"t experienced the white celestial flames for a very long time as only Asna and the three rulers could wield it. But, they could not forget the small taste all of them had been given by the three rulers to put them in their place.
This made them understand on a personal level that Hephaestus wasn"t allowing himself to be treated as a ragdoll...Without divinities to counter the celestial flames or weaken them, it was nothing else but a weapon of absolute ruination.
Each punch and kick were simple, straightforward, and had not an ounce of martial arts behind them...Yet, they landed on Hephaestus"s body like magnets.
"He is infusing celestial flames into his attacks, causing them to have a canceling effect, x100 enhancement plus the overwhelming strength increase..." Demeter said with a stern tone, "It"s like three potent versions of divinities merged at once...I don"t even know what that black flame is and the full extent of it."
"With the human"s previous enhancement from his symbols and now this..." Zeus sucked in a cold breath, "He could be said to have surpa.s.sed even our peak temporarily. Hephaestus has no chance against him in his current condition."
The sight of Hephaestus"s bashed body made them accept this fact no matter how ridiculous it sounded.
Thud!!! Thud!! Kaboom!!
Back into the battle, or more accurately, one-sided beatdown, brimstone cracked and fell from Hephaestus"s frame, magma oozed from his limbs, and lava flowed from his mouth, nose, and wounds like blood from a mortal!
The sight was both gruesome and mesmerizing...The celestial flames that engulfed his fists not only inflicted physical damage but also burned away at the very core of Hephaestus"s divine being.
"Arghgh!!!"
Hephaestus, despite his G.o.dly powers, found no respite, no opportunity to retaliate or escape. His bloodshot eyes kept wandering back and forth with each strike he ate, seemingly attempting to find a way out of his d.a.m.nation.
Alas, each attempt to fight back was effortlessly swatted away by Felix, who seemed to be in a state of transcendent rage, fueled by a purpose that went beyond mere victory.
His face was stoic, cold, and emotionless, but the rage within his eyes was so potent, that the wrathful aura of a dragon kept appearing and disappearing around him, signifying his closeness to activating the Rampage Symbol"s peak.
While the tenants" senses were too weak to spectate the beatdown as it was, they were satisfied by the mere delayed sounds of Felix"s punches and kicks resounding deeply within them.
Those sounds stirred a tumult of emotions rooted in their past traumas and struggles.
As they watched Felix overpower the G.o.d of the forge, each tenant felt a surge of vicarious satisfaction.
"That"s it, my boy...That"s it..." Thor closed his eyes and drank wine from his jar with his head lowered, listening to the noises, and seemingly imagining himself being the one delivering them.
J?rmungandr, Elder s.h.i.+va, and many others enjoyed the noises that were akin to the most pleasing symphony of their lives.
This was more than just a fight; it was a symbolic act of retribution, a way of confronting the celestial beings that had manipulated and controlled their destinies from the very start.
Among them, the reaction of the Ancestral Dragon was particularly poignant.
"Are you watching this? My sons, daughters...Sob, I have wronged you, my pride has wronged you...But, justice is being served at last...Sob, our justice is served at last.."
As he watched Felix pummel Hephaestus, his eyes brimmed with tears, not just of sorrow but also of deep, heartfelt relief.
Ancestral Imyr"s mind was cast back to the harrowing curse that had befallen his race, a curse that had turned them against one another, driving them to the brink of extinction.
The memories of that dark time were vivid and painful.
He recalled the skies filled with the roars and cries of dragons, the fire and blood that had rained down as they fought and slaughtered each other.
It had been a time of despair and hopelessness, a period when the proud and n.o.ble race of dragons had been reduced to mere p.a.w.ns in a cruel game played by the celestial beings...
Even though Lilith was the one who performed the order to take them down, it was still under the orders of the three rulers to punish Imyr"s insolence.
He didn"t take it upon Lilith as he understood that as the paragon of sins, it was her nature to be the most evil and sinister in her actions...What he blamed the most was himself and the three rulers, especially because they cursed his race"s cultivation system and ruined their future forever.
While Hephaestus could or couldn"t have a part in the destruction of his race, he didn"t care at the moment.
He felt a sense of vindication as if, through Felix, the dragons were finally having their say, reclaiming a piece of their dignity that had been stripped away by the capricious whims of the G.o.ds.
The tenants, united in their shared history of suffering and manipulation, found a common voice in Felix"s rebellion.
His victory was their victory, a moment of triumph over the forces that had long dictated their fates.
In Felix"s defiance, they saw a glimmer of hope, a chance for a future where they were no longer mere tools of the celestial beings but masters of their destinies!
THUUUUUD!!!
With a surge of force, Felix delivered a powerful kick to Hephaestus, sending the G.o.d of the forge hurtling toward the ma.s.sive gate!
Hephaestus"s body, already battered and weakened from the unyielding onslaught, crashed into the gate with a resounding impact!
The collision was so intense that it echoed across the wasteland!
Hephaestus"s back shattered upon contact, a mirror image of the injury he had inflicted on Felix in their earlier encounter.
The G.o.d of the forge slumped against the gate, his divine form marred by the violence of the blow.
"I...can"t...I can"t...fall...here...not...like this...not...to...him."
Before Hephaestus could even begin to recover, Felix appeared before him, his presence dominating and his expression one of cold determination.
Standing over the fallen deity, Felix leaned in, his eyes locking with Hephaestus"s...The air crackled with the tension of the moment, the power dynamics between them now starkly reversed.
"Don"t go limp now," Felix taunted, his voice laced with a menacing calm. "We still have a couple of seconds until your core gets devoured."
The words, spoken with a chilling resolve, hung in the air between them.
Hephaestus, grappling with the pain and shock of his situation, stared up at Felix, a mix of defiance and a hint of fear in his eyes.
He could see the predatory look on Felix that made him understand deep down that unless someone came to his rescue, he would eat him whole!
The spectating unigins understood this very well too and they shared knowing glances between them.
"The human is too intelligent to risk all of this for the sake of devouring his core if it"s not going to prove to be useful for him later on." Athena, the strategist, a.n.a.lyzed calmly, "He has a purpose for the core, and after witnessing his current peak, I don"t want to find out."
None of them gave a c.r.a.p about Hephaestus" life or losing his core. In their eyes, all of their peers might disappear and it wouldn"t affect them negatively, knowing that far down in the future, the universe would bring them back on again.
But, if this would result in Felix getting much stronger somehow? None of them dared to sit by and wait for that future to arrive as they were already struggling to capture him.
"Am I the only one curious about the origin of his current ma.s.sive quant.i.ty of celestial energy?" Aeolus interrupted suddenly.
When this matter appeared brought in again, all of them couldn"t help but knit their eyebrows in puzzlement.
"I thin..."
"Hmm?"
"???"
Before Athena might finish her sentence, all unigins suddenly perked up their pears akin to bats picking on some signals of a peculiarity ongoing.
When they followed their senses, it led them to none other than the Celestial Capital City.
To be more specific, they landed on a human floating thousands of kilometers above the city"s sky, who appeared seen sitting in a meditation position while a ma.s.sive amount of celestial energy rushed through his body akin to a flood...
It appeared resembling no one was there and suddenly, he resurfaced akin to a ghost.
When they zoomed in on his face and observed that it belonged to none other than Felix, and to be more precise, Felix"s other clone!!!
They held received their answer in the most shocking way!