1042 Kill Me!

Julius smashed through hundreds of asteroids, breaking them apart as he barely defended himself against the Abyss Emperor's assault.

While his own irrational exertion caused him fatigue and put him in a weaker position relative to Haedon, he still shouldn't be this weak.

"What happened?" Abyss Emperor smirked as he yanked Julius by his arm and elbowed him in the chest.

Julius' chest bones cracked apart and his back arched as he vomited blood.

"People like you can't win. Can never win." Haedon continued to mess with Julius' brain as he continued his attacks.

It's working.

Something inside Julius, perhaps his newly found conscience after many years, was being shaken by Haedon's words.

Julius was so overwhelmed with the sudden emotions he regained as well as the attack on his conscience that he failed to think clearly.

It all led to him not exerting his full strength and being further suppressed by Haedon.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Julius' instinctively worked to defend himself and stopped attacking altogether.

The space flashed with red and golden lights as the two men moved at alarming speeds, one trying to kill and another trying to defend.

They weren't tiny specks of red and gold. They were huge swaths of light, almost like a mini-sun. And every time they clashed, their lights fluctuated and grew brighter or dimmer.

It was as if a million fireworks were set off in the asteroid belt. It lit up brighter than any morning on earth and was stunningly beautiful.

Julius continued to dodge but his mind remained in the memories that kept flashing by.

Once upon a time, not too long ago before he got the slate, Julius risked his life to save a mother and child on a planetoid.

Rationally, it was a stupid risk. Everyone else on the spaceship that crashed onto the planetoid was saved. Even if the single woman and child died, it wouldn't be a big deal.

Moreover, the abyssals almost reached the spaceship. Sending anyone to rescue would result in far more deaths. Everyone abandoned the mother and child for 'rational' reasons.

But Julius dived into the crowd of abyssals and saved the two lives. He nearly died there. Never once did he regret it.

That's the kind of man he was. Not the monster who'd kill a billion for an artifact.

He would've convinced everyone to give Albert their artifacts to make a celestial ranker. He would've helped Varian as much as he could and would be happy for a new warrior for humanity. He would've never even dreamed to harm his fellow sovereigns.

'My sins are beyond what should be even allowed…'

Julius' mind was torn apart as he felt himself breaking apart from the inside.

"Pay for your wrongs with your death." Haedon punched out.

Julius raised his arm to block the punch but at the last moment, he lowered his hand and let the punch strike him.

Staggering backward, Julius' vision grew dizzy. His injuries piled up while he continued to bleed profusely.

There's just no way he could…

Staring at the Abyss Emperor, Julius felt for a moment, that perhaps this was the retribution for everything he had done.

'I can't win against him. I'll lose. So will everyone.' Julius' heart accepted defeat and Haedon sensed it immediately.

Their figures flashed a few times and the fight stopped.

Julius knelt on a large asteroid, his kneecaps broken and his arms twisted in strange angles. Too many of his bones were cracked and too much of his body was damaged. There was a pool of blood forming under him.

Yet there was no pain on his face. He stared down with relief.

'This is my end. A proper end.'

Even if he wanted to, Julius could no longer fight. He only wanted to die and end everything.

Haedon clutched his hair and raised his head. Julius looked up at him with dead eyes.

"No, I'll not grant you death."

Julius' eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak but Haedon smashed his head from both sides.

The world buzzed as Julius felt his hearing slowly disappear. He couldn't hear anything.

"W-Why don't you kill me?" Julius asked as his head spun.

"Even if I speak now, you can't listen," Haedon said.

As expected, Julius just stared at him in confusion. But seeing the sinister smile on the abyssal's face, he understood his intentions.

"No. Kill me! Please! Kill me!" Julius tried to stand up but his knees were no longer supportive and he collapsed to the ground.

Haedon stepped on his head and pressed down. The asteroid cracked and Julius' scalp began to bleed.

"You disgust me, Julius," Haedon raised his foot and stomped down with greater force.

Blood spilled out of the crack and splashed on the abyssal's face. Haedon raised his foot again and continued to trample, with greater force each time.

"I lost everything and was forced to come here. But what for? To defeat a pathetic weakling like you?" Haedon's face contorted as his eyes blazed with rage. "If you're going to lose anyway if you're going to beg for death, why didn't you just do it earlier? It could've…saved them all."

All Julius managed was a whimper as his heavily injured head continued to push his consciousness to blank out. But somehow, his hearing was beginning to return.

Julius wished it didn't. Because he heard the cruelest words ever said.

"I will not kill you. It's too easy of an end for you. I will destroy you, make you incapable of exerting any power and I'll display you in a museum, letting everyone and everything see the traitor. Your great deeds will be revealed and you'll be exposed."

"Mff, arghh, No…" Julius wriggled and with great effort, raised his head out of the crack against the foot pressing down on it.

His eyes were filled with tears and he pleaded. "K…ill me, I beg yo—"

Boom!

Haedon stomped him back into the ground and twisted his foot. "No. I can't be the only one living with regret for the rest of my life."

Saying so, he kicked Julius' neck with another leg and knocked him out.

"With him gone, the legacy is finally mine." Haedon turned in the direction of Pluto and his face relaxed a little.

"No. It's not." A middle-aged man jumped out onto the asteroid and walked toward Haedon fearlessly.

"Not even a sovereign and you dared to stand in front of me." Haedon's lips curled up in contempt. "What gives you the courage?"

Evander's black hair began to turn white as a strange aura enveloped him. His strength forcibly climbed from the peak of level 9 to sovereign and then it went a step further and reached the celestial rank.

Though he was indeed a celestial ranker, he's significantly weaker than Julius.

A silver light began to emanate out of Evander and the asteroid began to crack apart.

"Even if I'm injured and exhausted, defeating me is something you shouldn't even dream of, your fake power is nothing." Haedon snorted and kicked Julius away.

"For a man who won since his opponent had no spirit to fight, you have a lot to preach." Evander's words pricked Haedon like a cold needle laced with poison.

"Die!"

The two shot forward like comets and clashed.