Chapter 136: Relentlessness - II

"Hm, hm~"

In the silence wrought by the eye of the storm, Aventine hid from the approaching Empire’s Guards. From his lips, he hummed a tune completely detached from the destruction around him.

His eyes glistened with the sapphire gleam of mana, further dyeing his black hair a neon blue.

[Absolute Awareness] blanketed the surroundings, observing the changes in <Fate> and comprehending the underlying <Law of Fate> behind it.

With every death, Aventine pried a bit more information from its complexities, utilizing the Gaea System’s recycling to sift through every concept and idea.

His <Act of Blasphemy> was far from complete.

’I cannot kill the Empire’s Guards, as that would attract their higher-ups.’

A Dragon would surely tear him down the moment he slaughtered the Dragonkin representing the Empire’s prestige.

’At the very least, I must provide sufficient compensation. Previously, the damage I’d caused was still within the realm of <Archmagus> Daimyuon’s capabilities to repair. He had a few useful spells for reconstruction.’

Aventine’s eyes drifted to the ruins of the central skyscraper beneath his feet. All that was left of the White Roar Clan’s headquarters was a pile of obsidian and metal, having cooled after the previous superheating.

The rest of the tower had evaporated, turning into dust particles polluting the atmosphere.

’Now, however, the damage is simply too great.’

<Archamgus> Daimyuon’s repertoire of reconstruction magic could not manufacture a tower out of a pile of raw materials alone.

The limits of a Destruction Mage were laid out before Aventine just then.

Thus.

[Absolute Awareness] expanded outward, locating his next target.

[Warp] was swiftly cast, and Aventine vanished from where he floated in the midst of a storm. The <Power of the Sky> and the <Power of the Sea> no longer fuelled the raging storm, allowing it to dissipate in the next few moments after his departure.

The Empire’s Guards arrived shortly after, their expressions surprisingly calm.

After all...

There was a pile of precious materials gathered and processed by the White Roar Clan and the 16 Claws, gleaming with a beautiful golden haze, as if it were the most tantalizing of dishes.

"The human understands his sins. This wealth should be enough to reconstruct what had been destroyed."

An emotionless voice, acting purely on the rules dictated by the Empire, resounded.

"Call back the others. There is no need to engage in a meaningless pursuit. That human seeks only a bloodbath. Who dies and who lives is not of our concern."

** *

Elsewhere, Aventine shook his head. ’What a stark difference in treatment compared to Bliekon when she infiltrated the Soulless City of Grakkis.’

The combination of the unique rules in the City of Arenas and sufficient compensation made it so that he could kill as much as he wanted without having to suffer the usual repercussions of such bloodlust.

’Every citizen of a region is no civilian.’

All individuals are competitors, and by mere existence within the City of Arenas, one is subject to the rule that the greatest fighters govern.

In a way, this also soothed whatever morality lingered like a gray haze in Aventine’s heart. He continued to perceive himself as a normal human being.

Hoping and striving that he would not fall to become an indescribable monster.

After all, he had once again pierced the barrier of Enchantments of another faction within the City of Arenas.

This particular faction was not as big as the Beast Humans or the intelligent pure beasts. In fact, their strongest was only at B-Rank, and their territory was situated within the province of another larger faction.

However, there were a few individuals with a dense entanglement of <Fate> within. Despite only being C-Rank, this group of friends had more of <Fate’s> threads than Jijue did earlier.

’This should help with my comprehension...’

Aventine’s eyes flashed as he appeared silently behind this group of friends. In his hand, an unadorned sword suddenly erupted with light that was resplendent to the extreme.

What was supposedly a busy tavern, filled with jolly laughter and discussions, was suddenly drowned in tangible blindness.

"Ah!"

"My eyes!"

"What’s happening?!"

"F***!"

Swears, exclamations, and clear expressions of surprise and pain rang out. But no one could do anything, stunned by their sudden blindness.

After a while, the radiant white light faded, and the tavern-goers felt their eyesight return. Those of the myriad races with superior regeneration regained their vision first.

But the scent of blood had already wafted over.

A silence pervaded the tavern when they noticed six headless corpses surrounding a table filled with half-eaten food and booze. All of them had slumped forward in death, spilling their crimson lifeblood upon the table.

"...Shit,"

** *

Aventine reappeared elsewhere in the City of Arenas, flicking off the blood on his sword.

He began to reassess his current state.

"Killing those six had given me the greatest returns despite the effortlessness of it all. However..."

[Absolute Awareness].

"Only a few others in the entire City of Arenas have as many of <Fate’s> threads entangling them."

Although killing that group of friends was a windfall, Aventine still found that it was better to go for stronger individuals. Their fates, although entangled with fewer threads, tended to be connected to more influential figures.

This caused greater snowball effects—similar to how Jijue had suddenly gained a large number of <Fate’s> threads after he’d killed her parents.

’Perhaps I can refine my massacre a bit better.’

The storm he created in the province ruled by the White Roar Clan had been the most inefficient, but it also had the most short-term gains.

In a way, his eradication of the 16 Claws was the best template to follow. A gradual, bloody killing that slowly but surely erased every member of their organization.

’Perhaps I can target important individuals first, allow <Fate> to prepare a backlash for me by influencing the fates of those connected to these important individuals first, and then kill them too.’

That way, Aventine could maximize the value of everyone he killed.

’There’s only a limited number of living beings, after all...’

The City of Arenas was finite, and so were its citizens. Especially due to the unique rules here, it had a much smaller population compared to the Soulless City of Grakkis.

Aventine swiftly surmised with clarity that his current situation was not sustainable.