NOVGO.NET Chapter 1673: Show You The Great Filter (3)
Chapter 1673: Show You The Great Filter (3)
Rex already knew that the path he walked on would lead him to become a God.
He already swore that he’d destroy the pantheon of Lunirich Gods, and doing so would lead him to be the replacement for them. It doesn’t come as a surprise to him when there is another Scion out there, who has the sole drive to become a God like Arthur did.
Looking at Arthur, who reached for the sky, Rex’s expression tensed.
Back then, when I begged to survive and the System never appeared, I wonder what I would feel?
Just seeing Arthur’s broken expression alone made it clear that the feeling must be devastating.
Being ignored like this must be the worst feeling someone could experience.
“Arthur awakened the Light and Divine elements, and climbed the rank of power rapidly like you did,” Kei Xun continued, swiping her hand as the surroundings blurred—and changed again. “He beat all his enemies, saved his village, and founded the Last Forsaken Sect.”
Light and Divine elements… Rine and Arthur must come from the ancient era of my realm.
Nobody from the Spirit Realm would know about how things work in the Mortal Realm.
Of course, with the exception of those who had actually been there.
But this made Rex think about something.
Kei Xun, though, was living within the Spirit Realm, might also come from the Mortal Realm since she knew about the powers there. Or perhaps, when she saw into his past, she learned about the lower realm, but Rex doubted it.
He hadn’t seen any of the Scions who came from the Spirit Realm.
Perhaps, one who could be a Scion can only start from the very bottom of the power rank.
As Rex thought of that, the surroundings settled into what seemed to be a cave.
“Until one day, the test to become a Blank came, and his trusted archbishop betrayed him.”
Before him was a divine cave that looked like the hollowed heart of an ancient god. Jagged stone pillars rose into a vault of shadowed arches, their surfaces glimmering faintly with veins of crystal that caught the pale, ethereal light spilling from the circular pool at the chamber’s center.
Water trickled quietly along the carved steps.
Its gentle sound was swallowed by the sheer enormity of the space.
Inside the pool and also across the wide, tiered platform, countless elemental stones emanating intense mana of every grade and element pulsed faintly, scattered like stars torn from the heavens. Red rubicund burned beside shards of azure frost, while emerald fragments shimmered with the whisper of wind and dark bronze cores radiated the weight of earth.
Rex could tell that this was some sort of hideout or a meeting place for the Last Forsaken Sect.
One that Arthur founded.
Beyond the first chamber, perfectly aligned in a straight line, stretched a series of spherical rooms carved into the rock; five in total. Each was a sanctum unto itself, echoing the same divine architecture. But the largest of these lay at the far end, a monumental sphere whose ceiling disappeared into shadow, and at its center stood an altar, raised and solemn.
However, before Rex could inspect the place further, a figure walked from behind.
A dark priest with an unsettling blend of reverence and malice.
His robe, black as midnight and stitched with crimson sigils, shimmered faintly where blood-red light caught the embroidered runes. Rex’s eyes narrowed at these runes, these symbols, and he realized that they were similar to the ones he saw the Vampires had.
But then again, from his deathly pale skin, almost luminous against the deep darkness of his garb, Rex was sure that this person was a Vampire, or turned into a Vampire. From his size and the folded wings behind, it tells Rex that this happened during Flunra’s time.
He’s not as big as the Vampires from the third generation, so it must be earlier than that.
From how Arthur talked, this might actually happen when the Origin came to be—the Radical Era.
“This archbishop succumbed to the Vampire’s control and turned traitor,” Kei Xun said, her voice edged with contempt. “He stole an Ultimate Spell Arthur worked, bled and fought for, and plundered all of the resources of the expedition. Armed with both, he struck the heart of the Last Forsaken Sect. It’s his trial from the Highseat of Invincibility.”
Rex sweated a little as he watched about a hundred people screaming in agony.
A sphere above the archbishop sucked their blood until their bodies were withered and dry.
Most of the people here wore respectable garments, showing that they were high-ranking members of the Last Forsaken Sect, but they were all slaughtered like pigs. Some tried to resist, but their mana could not face the archbishops’ ultimate spell.
His Ultimate Spell is emanating more pressure than even my Moon Ability. It’s strong.
Rex couldn’t help but admit that the Ultimate Spell was incredibly strong.
If he fought against this archbishop in the Mortal Realm with his current strength, he might not be able to come out on top—as his mana reserve was completely outclassed. And the grade of element between him and the archbishop was about equal.
Clearly, if this person were alive today, he would be a powerhouse for the Vampires.
“Divine One! Help us!!”
“Raaagghkk!!”
“Help us, Divine One! I… I don’t want to die!!”
All of the people clasped their hands and prayed to Arthur across the chambers, cradled near the altar.
He seemed to be hurt; it was evident from the blood coming out of his mouth and his pale skin.
As the archbishop approached, the screams and pleas grew louder.
Arthur watched in horror as his people were cut down one after another mercilessly, their vitality taken away as if they were nothing more than livestock. His pupils quivered, but as their God, he forced his body to stand upright—willed himself to move, to fight, to be the strength they needed.
He knew how it felt to have his prayers unanswered, so he must act.
No matter what, he has to answer their prayers.
But the moment he did, a vicious blood energy struck him hard and slammed him against the wall.
Even the altar was shattered in the process.
“Answer their prayers, Divine One. Fight me. Defeat me. Show them that you are unlike the other,” the archbishop taunted as the sphere of blood above him grew more massive by the second. “Aren’t you the one who blamed God for not doing their job? Aren’t you the only one who understands these poor souls? Then show it.”
Upon saying that, multiple limbs made entirely of blood grew on the archbishop’s back.
All of them flared and moved like spider legs.
And with these blood limbs, the archbishop struck Arthur mercilessly.
Bam!
Crack!
Bam!
Each blow forced blood to spill out of Arthur’s mouth.
He was given no time to retaliate; all he could do was listen to his people crying and screaming for help.
“From the very start, I already knew…” The archbishop landed a devastating blow that forced Arthur to kneel, blood flowing freely out of his mouth. Then, the archbishop approached and stood before Arthur, looking down on him. “You were never a God.”
“At that moment, Arthur should’ve allowed the Invincible Apparition to take over and worked together to defeat the traitor before him.” Kei Xun opened her mouth again, watching the scene unfold—with a pitying gaze. “Had he done that, and bear the truth that he wasn’t a God, at least not yet, this would’ve been his awakening to become a Blank. But he didn’t.”
Kei Xun sighed.
She found it wasteful that someone as promising as Arthur would succumb to the trial.
“Instead, he plunged into the pit of despair—straight into his Invincible Apparition’s snare. Its words… its venomous words that kept saying that he would never fill the void won. That, like every God before him, he will just be another silence. And the moment his Invincible Apparition claimed his mind, it was already over.”
As soon as Kei Xun said that, Rex saw Arthur’s eyes turn dark blue, nearing black.
It was a sign that the Invincible Apparition had already won.
Kaboom!
Out of nowhere, Arthur’s body detonated with a force that could shake multiple mountains.
Rex watched in shock as the surroundings evaporated, including the archbishop.
And once the situation receded, what remained behind was Arthur.
Still on his spot, Arthur stood.
His body was still intact despite the explosion, but Rex noticed something different about him.
I don’t sense anything from him.
Almost as if she could read what Rex was thinking, Kei Xun nodded.
“Yes,” she affirmed, her gaze fixed on Arthur as he wandered aimlessly, laughing bitterly and muttering, again and again, that he was different—that he was the true God—like a broken record. “His powers are gone… and so is his sanity. Now he’s nothing more than a madman—an insignificant ant.”
Once again, the world dissolved into nothing as the two of them were transported to the last one.
To the Anger stratum.
“I’m sure by now, you already noticed the pattern of what would happen to those who failed the test to become a Blank,” Kei Xun said, glancing over to Rex, who seemed to be deep in thought. “You’re not stupid, I know you’re not.”
“Yes, I know…” Rex’s jaw tightened, his expression hardening. “Rine and Arthur faced the same trial—a test of their resolve, and they faltered beneath the weight of their own anguish. They failed… and the Invincible Apparitions claimed their minds.”
“And…?”
“And the only thing that differs between them is their ending; the result of their failure.”
“Though you’re a dear baby, you’re smart. I like talking to a smart man like you; it saved me the trouble of explaining much.”
Rex took no offense at Kei Xun’s words.
In fact, he took the praise welcomingly as Kei Xun is someone stronger than him, for certain.
Someone like her has the right to talk to him this way.
As for the snippets of the failed Scions, he could easily ascertain the difference between Rine and Arthur almost instantly. Rine, who was a Scion from the Happiness stratum, turned destructive, killing anything and anyone that got in her way until she was taken down.
For Arthur, the moment he lost, his body exploded, and his powers were drained completely.
He returned to a normal human, and also lost his mind.
Clearly, the end result of a loss differs from one stratum to another.
“I’m sure you can already guess what the consequences of losing for your stratum would be,” Kei Xun said, smirking, amused at the concerned expression Rex was wearing right now. “Perhaps, you already tried to do it before.”
Rex’s brows dipped into a frown.
For my stratum, the Anger stratum, the end result of a loss would be… It would be that, won’t it?
Even though the thought of the consequences didn’t scare him, what came after did.
He can’t fail this trial.
“You can already tell what it would be, but we’re going to go through the last one.” Kei Xun said.
“Why…?” Rex turned towards her. “I don’t need to see it since I already know.”
“Because I want you to see it…” She replied, smirking.
As soon as she said that, the surroundings shifted once more as Rex was forced to watch the last one.
A Scion from the anger stratum.
Rex silently watched as the surroundings shifted to what seemed to be a prosperous kingdom, and the Scion that he was going to watch goes by the name Draven Locke, a noble from a kingdom of Ancient Humans.
It spiked his interest when he realized that what he was seeing was a kingdom of Ancient Humans.
He had always been curious as to what the Ancient Humans looked like, and how they compared to the modern Humans. But, as he learned about Draven Locke’s upbringing that brought him to the path of invincibility, his expression turned ashen.
Now he understood why Kei Xun insisted on watching this particular Scion.
As it turns out, he was another Rex, but from the ancient era.