Listen While Reading: The Battle Beginning-----

  Cudius and Caesar cshed, their powerful bdes overflowing with their Auras. The Golden Aura of Cudius was almost overwhelming his brother Caesar almost immediately. Caesar’s Bck Aura couldn’t pare to the powerful magical density within his brother’s Aura, to the point it felt like the Golden Aura could swallow his owirely.

  “Hahah, brother, oh dear brother!” Cudius ughed. “You’re still as weak as before, are you not?”

  “Cudius!” Caesar roared. “Wasn’t this visit a bit too abrupt?! I knew you would eventually e, but I thought you were biding your time, managing the world you had already quered.”

  “Oh brother, in the great climb to power that is our family, a moment of rest is also a terrifying weakness; to show that to you would be unfivable based on the doe I’ve grown up with!” Cudius said. “I’m surprised, however…!”

  CRAAASH!

  Cudius’ golden sword swung down, hitting Caesar’s bde with tremendous peing an explosion of golden light.

  As the Kings battled, their armies cshed amidst the skies, explosions and screams reverberating everywhere.

  “You were able to somehow know that I was ing for you,” Cudius said. “I’m fairly sure we didn’t give you enough time to prepare once we got here; it was barely a minute ago. What’s more, the traitor that became my new dog swore he never shared any informatioher.”

  “Traitor?” The King didn’t know about that. “Who are you talking about?”

  “So it seems you didn’t even know that Atticus betrayed you, giving me precious information about you, your territory, and your forces?” Cudius ughed, swinging his bde forward, unleashing a barrage of sshing attacks that resembled a storm of golden light.

  SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

  “Unnggh…!”

  Caesar held on barely, using his much rger and robust bde to intercept and defend from these blows, while relying on his heavy, tough armor to tank some of the blows.

  “Atticus…! He betrayed me?! But he…! He had been with me since I was a child! How could he…?!” Caesar was truly impacted by the ued news.

  “Hahahaha! Now that’s the face I wao see, my dear brother!” Cudius ughed, his golden aura dang around him, exuding vibrant divinity. “But I still wonder, how? How were you able to tell?! How were you able to prepare?! This doesn’t make any sense! Do you happen to have the power to see into the future?”

  “No,” said Caesar, his bd red aura growing stronger as third silver-colored energy began te with it, making his Aura grer over time, resembling a ferocious bck, red, and silver dragon looking into the skies. “I just happen to be very fortunate.”

  “What do you mean with that?!” Cudius grew a bit frustrated. “Fortunate? Don’t tell me you just predicted this? That makes no sense! You have used some power to see into my as! What is this trump card you’re hiding?!”

  “Why should I tell you anything else, brother?” Caesar said. “Aren’t we fighting to the death?!”

  FLASH!

  Caesar rushed towards his brother, swinging his bde against him once more. Cudius, however, remained calm and posed, smiling and swinging his sword down.

  “Hah, you truly believe you’ve got a ce?”

  Cudius Aura gathered into his golden sword, overflowing with pure Magid Divinity.

  The Divinity of Gods he had sin and stolen their power from.

  “I have sin Gods on my dest here; what have you done yourself other than sitting idly?!”

  SLAAASH!

  A gigantic sshing wave of golden light and sparkling stars materialized, desding towards Caesar at lightning speed.

  The King steeled his resolve, his Internal Energies rushing out, verging with his Mana and enhang his power.

  “Let’s see if all this training paid off…”

  He swung his sword upwards, gathering Focus and Strength and pointing it all into a single point.

  Caesar remembered Bing Xue’s words as he did.

  “Your power is not bad, and with your Cultivation, it should increase even more. The issue with yhting style is that it’s all over the pce. You tend to release all your power and charge like a beast at your enemy. You must focus on a certain point where you’ll attaot go and attack everywhere you see.”

  “Focus… Focus!”

  His eyes glowed bright red, resembling those ons.

  Bck scales grew over his ned a bit of his face as draic horns maed behind his back.

  “Focus!”

  His sword reached Cudius’ attack as darkness and light impacted one another.

  TRUUUM!

  The skies suddenly seemed to and distort, and while carrying the powerful attack’s weight into his bde, Caesar kept pushing up.

  Until eventually…

  “What?!”

  Cudius saw his own attaing ba, apanied by his brother’s teique.

  “{Abyssal Dark Dragon Fang}!”

  It resembled a massive dragon’s head, opening its jaws to reveal its fangs and biting through his brolden aura, breaking it and making their internal magical energies dissipate.

  “Impossible…! What in the world is this power?! ARGH!”

  Cudius was uo keep up his calm demeanor and his pleased smile as he screamed in surprise while being pushed back, a huge explosion engulfing him.

  BOOOMM!!

  Caesar gnced into the distahe smoke dissipated to reveal a furious Cudius, his body enpassed by a bright golden armor made out of his own Aura…

  And Domain?!

  “{Divine Golden Domain}: {Theseus’ Holy Armor}”

  The reason why Cudius didn’t wear any Armor at all was because he felt it wasn’t needed. His Aura and his Domain were already at a level beyond most of his siblings anyway.

  With the power of his ever-growing Divinity, he had bee something beyond Gods themselves and was aiming for the highest position.

  An Emperor of Worlds, to surpass even his own father too!

  “That surprised me…” Cudius said. “I tell you’ve been growing stronger in your own ways, brother. You’ve already reached Max Level, right? Yet without a Divinity you ever surpass that wall you’ve been trapped… This power you unleashed was… iing, to say the least. But not enough.”

  “I’ve just begun, brother.”

  Caesar reached Cudius in a sed, his aura transf into draigs that propelled him towards his brother.

  The golden-haired king’s face distorted in disbelief as he quickly waved his golden aura down, expanding his Divine Domain as pure light engulfed his brother.

  “Fool! If you get any closer, you’ll simply make things easier for me!”

  As he ughed, he swung his golden sword down and then horizontally in a single sed, geing a giant ade out of the holy light of his Divine Domain.

  “{Divine Golden Domain}: {Cross Of Holy Judgement}”

  FLAAASH!

  The cross instantly reached Caesar, impag him with tremendous force, releasing sparks of lightning and apanied by burning light that charred the skin of his hands.

  Bck scales quickly covered his hands as he resisted the cross-shaped attad its burning light aricity, his bde beginning to grow longer, harb his own Aura as well.

  “Uuuggh…!” Caesar grit his teeth. “I won’t lose, Cudius! I have too much to lose!”

  His Bck, Red, and Silver Aura ged, being rger, resembling a three-headed dragon, their jaws bzing with dark fmes.

  “{Three-Headed Dragon of Camity}!”

  “ROOAAAARRR!”

  He unleashed his teique, something new he had created thanks to Bing Xue’s teags, fog his attato three points at the same time.

  TRUUUM! TRUUUM! TRUUUM!

  And then, with a single swing of his bde, three massive bzing breaths emerged from his aura, the maion of his swordsmanship reag a pletely insane level.

  “{Divine Golden Domain}: {Holy Aegis Shield}!”

  Cudius panicked; within the sed the attack from his brother was about to hit him, he maed a giant golden shield!

  CRAAASH!

  The three beams impacted it as the shield held on.

  “Hahah!” The golden-haired King ughed. “It’s not enough, Caesar! It will never be enough! The gap betweewo of us is simply too big! You ’t possibly—”

  Crack, crack…!

  “Huh?!”

  CRAAASH!

  Before he could speak any more words, Cudius’ shield was shattered into pieces, exploding into tless fragments as two of the three attacks Caesar released hit him directly.

  “Uggh…! AARGH!”

  BOOOMM!! BOOOMM!!

  Two secutive explosions engulfed his entire body; his armor protected him from the damage, but his Aura began growing smaller as the more damage he took, the more he ed it.

  “Haaah…! Bastard!”

  Cudius grew furious; he quickly maed several copies of his own golden sword, which was actually also a maion of his own Divine Aura.

  “{Divine Golden Domain}: {Holy Durandal Rain}!”

  He pointed his sword towards Caesar as hundreds of Holy Swords made out of his own Divine Aura, Divine Relics of their own, rained upon his brother.

  “I’ll show you my true strength, Caesar! Learn your p the family, you unruly bastard!”

  “Looks like I made you mad.”

  Caesar remained calm, and as he saw the sword rain ing towards him, he focused once more. He let go of his anger and other frustrations, recalling more of Bing Xue’s teags.

  “Yer might be what makes you s now, but it’s also the weakhat is not letting you surpass your limits. It is yreatest obstacle to climbing the wall you’re currently on. Caesar, you must let go of your fury, of your frustrations… Of your past.”

  The anger he felt against his father. The frustration he felt for being so powerless he couldn’t help those he wao save.

  The fury he always felt when he g his wife and his dear daughter, knowing full well their home world had now been ensved by his tyrannical father.

  All of these emotions were getting in the way, despite being his greatest motivation to bee stronger…

  It was rather tradictory to even ask him tet about them...

  But right now, anger wouldn’t let him win.

  To win, he had to let go of it.

  To calm down.

  To meditate.

  “To bee oh my sword.”

  His Soul emerged from his body, bining with his Sword and his Aura.

  Suddenly, his Sword ged faining draic scales, wings, and even a dragohrough its long, gigantic bde.

  “I will defeat my father… And I will help my wife recim the world he stole from her and her family.”

  His eyes bzed with fiery fmes.

  “And I shall protect this world, which weled me and has bey home until now!”

  FLUOOOSH!

  His Soul verged with his Bde, as he followed Bing Xue’s teags.

  Her words fshed through his mind as he opened his eyes.

  “You’re perhaps the only ohat has learhis teique so quickly; no other disciple, not even my family members, have reached such a quick level of mastery. Caesar, you’re strong. Defend this world for me.”

  “{Abyssal Dragon Soul Bde}: {Heaven-Splitting Dark Cws}”

  RUMBLE!

  A massive pair of draic cws maed before his sword as he swung it upwards, an asding attack that aimed to split the heavens themselves.

  TRUUUM!

  The skies ed as two massive bck cws sshed aroyed the raining golden bdes and reached Cudius, crushing his body with tremendous strength.

  CRAAASH!

  “Uaagh?! W-What the…?!”

  He couldn’t believe it—an attack that reached him from so far away; it simply wasn’t possible!

  Crack, crack…!

  CRASH!

  His armor shattered into pieces as his eyes widehe sshing attack sliced right through his left shoulder, all the way to his chest!

  “UUUAAAGGGH!”

  Cudius screamed in utter agony; his entire army gasped in disbelief, uo prehend what was happening.

  “Lord Cudius?!”

  “No!”

  “Your majesty!”

  As they panicked, Cecil, her father’s army, took the opportunity to kill as many as possible.

  “Kill them now! They’re affected by their king’s agony somehow!” The half-elf girl said, using her bd golden sword to slice through her foes.

  “You’re just a damn child!”

  “A little girl won’t get past us!”

  “Damn you! How dare you ambush us in such a nasty way! Does your family have any honor?!”

  Three soldiers cshed against her the moment they saw her killing those that entered on a brief state of panic, g against her and killing the soldiers proteg her with their swords, spears, and polearms.

  “A mere child? Me?” Cecil smiled, her eyes glowing bright red and emerald, eae of a different color. “I am more than that, you know? Much more!”

  Above her head, a star-shaped mass of darkness maed, stantly glowing with an aura of the pure abyss, expanding into several pointy halos.

  And as it maed, her prew stronger; shadows, darkness, and the abyss itself moved across her entire body.

  FLASH!

  And then she disappeared, evading their bitacks, telep across the abyss and then appearing above them.

  “S-She teleported?!”

  “So she’s a magi- ACK!”

  SLAAASH!

  Before they could react, Cecil furiously swung her bde down, cutting through the arms of all three soldiers, their ons instantly falling to the grouh.

  “T-This is impossible! She’s not even Level 1000! How is she this strong?!”

  “It doesn’t make any sense! Her stats shouldn’t even be close to what we have!”

  “J-Just who are you, Princess Cecil?!”

  Cecil gred at them, suddenly smiling viciously, lig the blood off her sword.

  “Me? I’m the Protagonist. And you’re just some Extras.”

  She charged forward, her sword mercilessly cutting them all into pieces as she celled the buff Cudius was giving to them.

  SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

  Their Souls flew towards the Bck Star above her head as her Abyssal Prew even further, her monoatic eyes gng at the castle where her mother was.

  It was rapidly being overwhelmed by hundreds of magis firing magic at her; several parts of the castle were colpsing already.

  “Mom! Wait for me!”

  -----

  Pach