On his travels, Lex met a young boy. The scrawny young boy was covered in dust and dirt, but still had bright eyes that saw the world in a mirrored light. Walking and talking to the boy, he took a liking to him.

  He tried teaching the boy things that surpassed the normal. And the boy did not let him down, showcasing his talent to the fullest. Slowly, the bond between the two grew, and he eventually adopted the boy as his son. Teaching the boy was a joy for him, and he took pleasure in the boy’s accomplishments.

  But after his ascension, the talent that the boy had previously exhibited seemed to have been completely exhausted. Lex also had other things to do. The attacks from their enemies and rivals did not let him have enough time to spend with his son.

  One day, he came back and discovered his son was getting married. He was happy that his son had found his own happiness. But he had to go out again for other work and had little time to spend with his family.

  Then one day, he got the news that he had a granddaughter. He was over the clouds at that time. When he came back, he always tried to play with her, but for some reason she always avoided him; he just thought that she was shy around him.

  A few years passed just like that, and he received the news that his daughter-in-law was poisoned to death. Rushing back, he only found his granddaughter crying, holding the dead body of her mother. In his bid for revenge, he searched and searched and finally found the one who sold that poison. But the answer from the seller shocked him.

  What did he mean that his son was the one who bought the poison? Why would he even kill his loving wife? To get these answers, he rushed back to the Church. But what met him at that place was a mountain of corpses—the corpses of his fellow believers. Those that used to talk and smile with him just yesterday were just lifeless husks now. He didn’t have time to process what was happening when he was suddenly ambushed by other Ascenders.

  Barely escaping with his life, he spent several decades recuperating. After coming out of his hiding, he began to search for answers. On his travels, he met a few fellow survivors and got to know that his god was dead. Taking advantage of this, all their enemies banded together to attack them. There were also internal traitors, and his son was one of them. His sharp mind connected the dots and understood that the death of his daughter-in-law was just a ploy to get him separated and kill him.

  When had the boy who smiled brightly at him changed? When he was married? Or when he became an Ascender? Or when he was neglected by his foster father? Or maybe he was the same from the beginning, tricking every single person around him. Lex did not know the answer, and he was also not keen on getting it now. The only thing that mattered was to deal with the disaster of his own making with his own hands.

  Liam defended against one more spear thrown by Lex. Their fight had been going on for some time. Being Ascenders, their own reserves of elemental energy were vast, and the Void Realm already had abundant elemental particles, which helped them keep the fight going without exhaustion.

  Lex took hold of a broken space string which appeared in front of him and was directly transported in front of Liam. This time, Liam was not able to defend quickly and was punched in his stomach and thrown back.

  After getting accustomed to the environment, talented Ascenders were able to use the broken strings of laws in the surrounding to their own advantage. Travelling through the Void Realm to places which would take a long time inside a world was a common occurrence.

  Lex tried to follow up, but several ice dragons appeared in front of him and blocked his way. By the time he destroyed everything and went ahead, Liam was already standing steadily on his feet. The large, gaping hole in his stomach was also regenerating with rapid speed.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Slightly twisting his neck, Liam muttered, “It is getting boring now. Let’s start the real thing. Ascension Spell: Direct Hit. Ascension Spell: Luminous Descend.”

  Lex felt that something intangible had locked onto him, and the next instant, an attack came at him from behind. Just as he formed a wall behind him, the attack disappeared and appeared directly in front of his heart. The attack pierced and destroyed his heart. He coughed a small amount of blood from his mouth. His old face became more aged.

  Although destroying his heart could not kill him, a different yet familiar kind of energy was eating away at him from the inside. He had to focus half of his attention to contain that thing from spreading. Looking ahead, he saw a silhouette similar to him beside Liam. That silhouette was raising its hand and clenching its fist.

  The last time he had met Liam was when he was still a Rank Three Ascender. Now, after a century, since he had become a Rank Two, he must have mastered one more Ascension Spell. It most likely copied the enemy and used them to attack themselves.

  “Originally, I wanted to make a complete clone, but realized that someone already had that Ascension Spell, so I had to change mine a bit,” Liam said while walking towards him. “And with my Direct Hit, I had a very good idea of what to make.” Not giving him a chance to recover, Liam rushed forward and kicked him in the chest. With his clone continuing to attack him with his own Ascension Spell, Lex could only take the hit without much defense.

  He was flung back without much resistance, like a rag doll. Liam continued the barrage, with Lex taking it all head-on. Sometimes he defended; sometimes he was not able to.

  After balancing the situation around his heart, Lex quickly distanced himself from Liam. Since the clone was not able to stay far away from its caster, Liam did not follow behind. Tightly clutching his chest, which still had a gaping hole, Lex looked at Liam, who had a smirk on his face.

  In a small voice, Lex asked, “Why did you have your daughter kill your own wife? There were a lot of other methods to get me out of there. Why get her killed?” This was the question which had puzzled him for quite some time.

  Liam’s smile faltered, and he said in a grudging manner, “I told her to join me, but she refused. She was avoiding me and going to tell the others about me. Since she still trusted our daughter, I found a method to get rid of both threats at once.”

  Lex just nodded his head at this. He already had his hunch, but hearing it from Liam himself confirmed his suspicions. The news that their god would die was already known to their enemies. Now it just remained to see which gods were involved.

  Bringing his attention back to Liam, Lex said, “Do you know why, even though it grants such immense power, the other Ascenders did not merge with it, even in that crucial situation?”

  Liam just scoffed at this. “They were just afraid of not being able to control its power. But I am different. After all these years, I have been attuned to some parts of it and can use it however I wish.”

  Lex just shook his head at his words. “Foolish child. Let me show you the real reason.” Saying so, Lex used his Ascension Spell Resonance Amplification. This spell amplified the energy of anything connected to him. Since Liam did not have any direct connection with him, he used the doppelganger standing before him as a medium to get to Liam, and started to amplify his power.

  Liam suddenly felt a massive energy flooding into his body. His power was increasing exponentially. He gave Lex a confused gaze. But it did not last for long. The shard, which had merged with his body, began to hungrily absorb the energy. And after its power had increased, it started to devour Liam himself.

  Scared at what was happening, Liam tried to stop the shard, but it was no use. It continued to devour him until he lost most of his body. Angrily looking at Lex, he shouted, “Lex Frost! Even if you kill me, they will come for you. You will not meet a good end!” And he was completely erased by the shard. A small tear dropped from Lex’s eyes.

  The shard lay there, glimmering like a sparkling jewel. Lex’s doppelganger had also disappeared along with Liam, but the attack it had initiated was still causing trouble for him. Soon, two more presences appeared beside him.

  Looking at Neva, he gave her a brief nod. Turning his gaze to Ulrich, he asked, “Renus?”

  “He’s dead,” Ulrich replied with a blank face.

  Lex just nodded his head at this. For some people, life was more painful than death. For them, death was just a release.

  While healing himself, Lex used the other half of his energy to tightly wrap the shard in a binding field. Neva wanted to try touching it, but a glare from her teacher was enough to shut her up.

  “Let’s go,” Lex said, his voice weary but resolute. “We must go to the meeting place” His back seemed heavy.

  Ulrich lightly muttered from behind “Both master and student like to play around too much”