Unholy Player Chapter 549: The Descent of Gods (Part 2)

BOOM!

A ferocious blast erupted, blood gushing out this time as the flesh along both sides of Arvyn’s neck ripped and burst apart.

Rhys at last sprang backward from the force, his daggers pulling loose along with the momentum, though his stare stayed glued to her.

He observed for the tiniest movement, the merest pause, since for a figure like Arvyn, the divide between 'injured' and 'fine' might span no more than an instant.

The entirety of Arvyn’s neck appeared utterly mangled on both flanks, her windpipe laid bare.

Yet it proved futile. Within the following moment, her tissue reformed, closing the inconceivable gash in a mere flash.

'2 is gone. 8 left,' Arvyn uttered as she gradually swiveled her head toward him, that identical grin locked on her features.

Not even such a laceration had compelled her to evade or shield herself. She simply withstood it thanks to her superior attributes.

Rhys cast a swift look at the onlookers and spotted Selina. He noted the scowl creasing her brow.

Their foe was clearly an invincible beast.

There existed just one method they thought could end her. They needed to annihilate her utterly prior to her recovery kicking in.

However, even employing enhanced arms supported by their tech, success remained uncertain.

Arvyn possessed her own abilities too. She wouldn't remain passive as they unleashed their full arsenal upon her.

She also showed strong resistance to psychic restraints. In earlier clashes, Throgar couldn't contain her for extended periods, as her rapid healing let her shatter the bindings.

Considering all this, Rhys concluded the most secure approach to managing her involved fulfilling her via the duel and sparking her curiosity about the AXION Path.

'What are you waiting for? Don’t tell me that was all?' Arvyn’s eyebrows knitted, tedium creeping into her tone.

'Of course it’s not.' Rhys let out a steady chuckle while spinning the daggers in his grip. 'I was pondering which technique to employ next.'

He phrased it as if he held more in reserve, yet truthfully, that had been his entire arsenal.

He might still unveil his Grace bloodline power to awe her, but it served only for mending. It didn't even rival her restorative prowess.

For a female of her caliber, ultimately only devastation would capture her attention.

The notion flickered briefly, then he cast it aside at once.

To merely dazzle her, wrecking their metropolis wouldn't prove wise.

Fortuitously, they didn't require deploying their freshly enhanced atomic warheads, for something far more potent started manifesting in the vicinity.

An overwhelming aura descended upon every Practitioner, originating from an untraceable source, as if the heavens themselves had descended.

'What is this feeling...?' Arvyn had grinned just prior, but her face crumpled upon sensing her form quivering uncontrollably.

This wasn't dread, but a feeling that rendered her tiny and irrelevant in a manner utterly alien to her.

It resembled a concept, a mirage, gripping her thoughts. She sensed herself as a mere insect, like a colossal beast poised to crush her and erase her forever.

Believing some assault via psychic means targeted her, she scanned about, yet others responded similarly.

Kaelor mirrored her condition, also sweeping the surroundings in hunt of the assailant. The rest appeared rattled as well. Some stood paralyzed in horror, while others had already knelt, vigor ebbing from their frames as breathing grew labored.

Merely the Humans appeared to endure the strain more resiliently, gazing about with dazed expressions.

Then Arvyn grasped the origin, or nature, of this sensation.

She glanced at Rhys and traced his line of sight to the mountain's summit.

The instant her crimson orbs caught what drew him, they flared wide, her tremors intensifying. Her limbs buckled at last, sending her crashing to her knees.

'Oh dear God...' The phrase escaped her quaking mouth.

Aloft the peak, a pair of enormous portals swung open, aligned opposite one another, their frames looming vast against the far-off firmament.

Next, a duo of entities commenced emerging.

They shone with splendor. They lay beyond her perception and comprehension.

As they entered their realm, Arvyn ultimately surrendered all defiance and slumped into oblivion.

Selina, Rhys, and several additional Players noticed the surrounding Practitioners toppling sequentially, slipping into unconsciousness, yet they couldn't wrench their eyes from those entities.

A profound draw stirred within them, a sense of scrutiny, of bygone transgressions rising, and concurrently, of purification, with odd joy and optimism inundating their spirits.

Subsequently, they beheld ebony and ivory surging forth via the portals, blanketing the whole summit and charging toward them unrelentingly. Shortly after, it swallowed every upright Human, denying them even the opportunity to flee.

They hadn't considered fleeing in any case.

As the dual clashing luminosities enveloped them, one individual had already cast off the astonishment and restored composure, recalling the event's nature.

'Don’t be afraid. It’s harmless,' Rhys shouted to the group.

He recalled this occurrence from his own awakening, and aware of Adyr's presence atop that height, he comprehended the unfolding.

Thus, whatever transpired had to stem from Adyr.

But upon witnessing the final upright Humans start collapsing too, fading into blackout one after another, with Selina tumbling over as well, his countenance shifted.

'I guess...' Then his thoughts emptied, and he toppled to the earth.

—

'Haa... haa... haa...'

Arvyn abruptly awoke and shoved herself upward from the dirt, gulping air deeply. Her bosom heaved violently, like she'd been choking.

'I... W-what happened?' She hauled herself erect, striving to regulate her respiration as she surveyed the area.

Merely upon spotting all sprawled insensate around did the recollections of the twin portals and the figures stepping forth return, striking her like icy water.

'Are you okay?'

At the abrupt query, she flinched and leaped up, whirling rapidly, only to find Kaelor positioned there.

Assurance flooded her as she replied, 'Yeah...' She fixed her eyes on the soil for a stretch, too timid to elevate her gaze toward the ridge once more, lacking the bravery.

'It’s alright now. They are gone,' Kaelor’s words arrived, granting her sufficient resolve to lift her head.

She peered there, and though nothing remained visible, the imprint lingered deep in her frame. Her tone quavered. 'What were those?'

For the first instance, she'd encountered such fright. She'd never encountered or learned of aught that could render her so helpless.

'You didn’t realize yet?' Kaelor intoned with wonder and residual alarm in his voice.

'Realized what?' she inquired, uncertain of the oversight.

'Check your status.'

She failed to grasp his reason, but summoned her status display nonetheless to discern his intent.

And in that instant, she endured the second jolt of her existence.

'This... H-How can it be possible?'

Kaelor remained mute briefly, his stare pinned to the mountain's crest. Then he declared with assurance and veneration. 'There is no impossibility in the presence of a God... let alone 2.'

Arvyn lacked words to convey her emotions. She merely gaped at the hovering status panel before her, her attention riveted to one lone entry.

[Path]:

This wasn't a mere Path alteration. She'd managed that previously, transitioning from her prior Path to Blood.

That occasion had demanded a prolonged, savage ordeal, directed incrementally by their sect leader. Even so, it hadn't been a pristine substitution. It was tainting. The Path she'd adhered to formerly had gradually twisted into the Blood Path across time, molded by the sway and dominion of the Blood God.

What transpired this time differed wholly.

Now, her Path had been transformed by an unassailable might. Every phase of conviction, endorsement, and inner harmony got bypassed. The Blood Path wasn't supplanted inside her essence. It was excised.

The Blood God’s dominion got wrenched from her utterly, severed from her being as though it had never existed, and a fresh Path got imprinted without affording her opportunity to oppose or select.

'So this is the power of a real God.'

The phrase departed her lips softly, yet its import sliced like a sword. She acknowledged the sight, alongside the dreadful reality it concealed. Through one mere choice, a God could reshape an individual's destiny to match its desire.

It was horrifying.

And it was also magnificent.

Because this was the sort of might that grasped the threads of the regulations themselves, the principles sustaining their cosmos, alongside every entity ensnared within it.