Guild Wars

From the portal, the Rank 5 Frederick looked on with horror as death approached him slowly but surely, seeming to feel his entire body disintegrating from the ground up. However, a red beam clashed with that black light, causing an explosion that negated both energies.

The portal slowly closed with the pale-faced Rank 5 Frederick regaining his senses and falling to his butt, and in the space where the portal used to be, the real War God Frederick was glaring at Draco with burning eyes. He took back his lance and scoffed coldly.

"Petty parlor tricks. It is interesting though, that this genuinely affects spacetime since I now possess memories altered from their original, showing that I was once on the brink of death," Frederick commented casually, as if the one who nearly died wasn't him.

"Hm? Weren't you screaming in fear earlier? Why are you now acting like the unruffled last boss?" Draco asked callously, not caring about his opponent's pride.

Frederick's face became sullen. "I was simply startled at best. Anyway, cease the prattling and simply choose how you want to die!"

He raised his lance and exploded with red energy that slowly formed an aura above him. The pressure he radiated spread for miles in all directions, causing those at the foot of the mountain, within Conquest City, to have their expressions change regardless of which side they were on.

Draco gave a thumbs up. "Nice aura bro, do they make it for men?"

Frederick snorted and struck out immediately, realizing that this fellow was a clown who took nothing seriously and would only reply to his words with meaningless snark. As his lords were watching from above the void, he couldn't afford to falter here as he would likely be punished already for the failed defense.

Frederick was the guardian of the War Maniac Pavilion within the realm, raised by the faction from within the realm itself. While this realm may be his home of origin, his loyalty lay solely with the pavilion that gave him the chance to soar. All his mates and peers from his era were now either ash and dust in the flow of time or had been stuck at Rank 7 without a way to climb.

Meanwhile, look at him, a True God at the peak of his power who was only supposed to fulfill his current task to be rewarded with a special chance to acquire an Origin Grade Source Origin if he guarded this realm for a hundred thousand years. He had already seen this through for nearly half of that, and if it wasn't for this wretched Draco fellow, he could have seen through the rest!

The more he thought about it, the more furious Frederick became, and he infused more power into his casual spear strike. Meanwhile, Draco, who was supposed to receive the blow, raised his swords and caught the lance in between his blades using a cross slash that caused their strength to be locked against each other.

While Frederick glowed in a red light, Draco perceptibly glowed in a black one, though his was slightly weaker. After all, his strongest Divine Law was the Law of True Destruction at the True Law Rank, three ranks below that of the Supreme Law.

Even if the Law of True Destruction was an EX+ Grade law that had the strongest offensive capability, it was still hard for it to cross realms to beat someone at the Supreme Law Rank, especially for a similar offensive law like the Red War Divine Law, which was S rank.

Despite this, Draco did not use anything else, not even his multitude of various laws either at the Basic or above rank to overlay their effects. He only maintained his earlier buff skills and fought with Frederick using only his True Destruction Law as the two broke off their earlier clash and began trading blows.

Two swords versus a lance in close range would signify a slight martial advantage for Draco, but Frederick's handling was one of the best Draco had seen in his entire two timelines of life. This guy wasn't all talk—in terms of raw combat skill, even Draco felt like he was in a league of his own.

The more they clashed, the more Draco began to like this guy somewhat because he realized that their battle methods were the same. Draco largely focused on his swordsmanship and generally used his other powers to bolster it, minus his bloodline.

Subjective magic, Control, his class skills and abilities—all of them were backdrops to his two blades and served to enhance them, meaning that his comprehension of using the blades was paramount. Frederick was the same side of the same coin, because his lance skills were his foundation, while his infusion of his Red War law was simply to enhance its killing power.

Gregario, who he just met, was the opposite. The fellow mostly focused on his Golden Valiance heritage and tried to evolve it into a law, using his lance as a means of casting the law out. This was probably the major reason why Gregario was stuck and Frederick succeeded—because the two followed different paths with different passions.

BOOM!

The two separated, with Draco smoking all over as his hands trembled while gripping the swords, and Frederick unscathed and looking fresh. The gap between laws was hard to break, even though the law Draco was using was truly exemplary.

His body radiated destruction energy in sufficient potency, making the air around him quiver as if the very foundational bonds that linked matter together were going to shatter. This was Destruction Energy purely tied to his law and was likely Draco's weakest yet most orthodox source of Destruction Energy.

His bloodline Destruction Energy was at 100% potency but was limited by his bloodline's current power. His Black Dragon's Destruction Energy was around 80% potency, and it had limited uses based on the Black Dragon's own skill base.

But this source of Destruction Energy was created through his will and nurtured by his Divine Energy. Its current potency was the same as the rules of the potency of Divine Laws. True Law Rank meant that the law possessed 50% of its rule power, which meant that the Destruction Energy was merely at 50% potency, Draco's lowest so far.

However, its advantage was that it was not suppressed by anything, nor was it limited by the game system. If he could raise the law to the Supreme Rank and even upgrade it further into an Origin Law, that would also be ideal, but the work involved with that was more than he could handle, especially since the AI soft-locked his method of advancement for now.

"You cannot defeat me with such meager power," Frederick stated the obvious as he pointed his lance arrogantly towards Draco.

Draco smiled and stretched his body, creaking his bones as he felt the slight injuries he had taken begin to heal rapidly under the power of his healing ability. He decided that he was going to fight Frederick like a player, so he took out a Goddess' Kiss Potion and drank it, instantly reinvigorating himself and doubling regeneration for the next day.

Frederick's brow twitched with annoyance. "Cur, do you not hear me? Surrender now for a lenient end!"

Draco tossed the empty bottle aside and flourished his blades. "You are quite ignorant, dude. Your bosses up there literally wank to the thought of me dying, there is no 'lenient' end. It's either you or me."

Frederick's face changed as he glanced above, as if seeking confirmation. After all, he did not come from the void, but had been stationed in the spatial pocket within the temple at the top of the mountain, only coming out when Draco destroyed said temple.

To him, this was a siege of the War Maniac Pavilion in the realm that had alerted his superiors to come and spectate as this realm was one of the most important farming grounds for talented warriors like himself. He had no idea of the previous grievances between Draco and the War Maniac Pavilion, or even who the heck Draco was.

"Hey, keep your eyes where it counts, my dude." An insidious voice sounded right in front of Frederick as he whipped his head downwards to see that, to his horror, Draco had appeared before him with his blade swinging straight for his neck, the blade inches away from making contact.

The edge of the blade was coated with potent Destruction Energy, and Frederick could even feel a growing numbness near his throat, meaning that the cells there were being annihilated by the sheer proximity of the blade.

If Draco's attack connected, it didn't matter whatever gap in Divine Law existed between them—Frederick's head would be lopped off as nothing organic could withstand the power of Destruction Energy.

Frederick could not move in time to defend himself, so all he could do was expend his Divine Energy crazily towards his neck to hold off the blade from ending his life while he bought time for himself to react. This was a fine strategy as the destruction-coated blade met with the Divine Energy, clashing with it crazily as it consumed the white light endlessly.

Frederick's plan succeeded, and he was about to channel his Supreme Law to rebuff the blade when he saw Draco grin to his ears, causing fear to surge through him due to the maliciousness.

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Frederick paused and looked down to see that Draco's other sword, which he had forgotten about, had pierced his chest. It easily broke through his divine armor since it was also coated with the invincible Destruction Energy, sending the horrifying energy charging right into his body and rapidly destroying his organs.

Frederick couldn't even spit out blood because his blood was rapidly being destroyed and recreated within his body as he sent the Divine Energy downwards to stabilize his wounds. This was only a stopgap measure though, as his consumption almost tripled on the spot, whereas Draco only maintained light usage due to the special nature of his attack.

"Any last words?" Draco asked playfully as he didn't push harder, allowing the fellow to fight in futility for the last few seconds of life.

Frederick, realizing he was dead but not willing to die, raised his bloodshot eyes to glance at Draco and remained silent. Draco raised an eyebrow but didn't mind the silent treatment, simply exploding with power at the neck area, easily breaching Frederick's flimsy defense and severing the head in one motion, causing it to fly up.

Before it even spun twice, it turned into ash that went with the wind, the body slowly disintegrating in the same manner. The origin gods in the void closed their eyes in pain, knowing that their attempt had failed, and watched as the void portal they used began to close slowly without the power of Frederick to hold it up.

The endless warriors coming from above were not only cut off, but they were actively rejected by the realm, expelled back into the void where they returned to their ships in shame and defeat. Many were pale, wounded, or severely shocked, having participated in many realm wars but never performing as poorly as this.

Meanwhile, Draco stood victorious atop Mount Conquest as the remaining members of Umbra, along with Gremory, cheered his name out loud, the multitude of their voices causing the land to shake. Having survived this ordeal, the members of Umbra would never be the same, and regardless of those who died or lived, their futures were even brighter than before.

Draco sighed and sheathed his blades in the void, smoothing his hair out and looking to the sky as the void teleporter closed at last, cutting off his enemies from continuing to pester him for now.

"All too easy," Draco remarked with a cold smile.

He took a single step and appeared at the bottom of the mountain, readying the members of Umbra to collect their mountainous spoils and return home while also checking the game system's rewards for completing the first stage of the quest.