1047 Final Moments

As the golden fist approached Varian's face, time seemed to slow down.

The sheer momentum behind the punch twisted the air and cut Varian's skin. His skull started to shake and creak under the pressure and he began to bleed from his eyes, nose, and ears.

Yet Varian kept his eyes open as he stared at the incoming fist.

Haedon stared at the fearlessness in Varian's eyes and felt greatly insulted. If he killed his biggest enemy just like this, then what's the point? It wouldn't even be proper revenge.

Varian should scream, cry, and beg. His eyes should be filled with fear and despair, with helplessness as he suffers unimaginable mental pain.

'This is too easy death for him,' Haedon's eyes fluctuated and his punch slowed down. 'Too easy.'

A scarlet light suddenly flashed and caught Haedon off guard.

"Huh?" The sudden ache jolted Varan's muddled mind into thinking even as his already broken body curled up to protect itself. 'I was saved?!'

Only after a second did he realize that he was on some scarlet light and the space was receding at a ridiculous speed.

Before he could even think more, something threw him off to another asteroid. Powerless and too injured to even respond, Varian crashed once again, his bones popping upon impact. Like a squeezed-out ketchup bottle, the little blood left in his body started to leak out.

'Son of a bitch, just kill me.' Varian cursed as the severe pain engulfed his mind and body.

"I hope you can do what I couldn't." A voice he knew but couldn't bother to identify in his current situation sounded from near but also from afar.

Following a man's painful groan, he heard an explosion and the man shot into the distance at the same high speed, causing the asteroid to nearly flip.

Varian opened his mouth to curse but ended up coughing another mouthful of blood. His consciousness began to sink and his body began to shut down. He's dying. There's nothing he could do now.

Many thoughts flashed in his mind. But even the thoughts began to fleet away. His mind slowly grew blank and his heart began to slow down.

As this happened, the six artifacts Julius left behind hovered around Varian and absorbed his blood, recognizing him as their new master.

The Blood Gauntlets of Mercury fixed onto his bruised, broken, and bleeding hands. Varian's arms spasmed and then the twisted bones began to fix themselves into place. The red flesh was quickly covered by the new skin and the cracks on the white bones disappeared.

A ring placed itself on his right index finger and Varian's healing accelerated.

Then a pendant put itself around his neck and Varian's mind, which was on the verge of sinking into darkness, burst into light.

'What the…' With the clear consciousness came tremendous pain.

A small crystal seed shining and glowing with multiple colors placed itself over his heart. Varian's plantae power suddenly soared and his regeneration skyrocketed.

Then a crystal armor enveloped him and turned into a plain but elegant white shirt and pants. The regeneration improved further.

Finally, the Demon Sword placed itself in Varian's palm and his body shook with a surge of power.

"Haaa!" Varian gasped and sat up, taking short, rushed breaths as if he just came out of water. "Haa! Huff! Ha-fuuu!"

Varian stood up and stretched his body with utter surprise. The injuries were mostly healed.

And the new strength…

Varian clenched his fist and felt the surge of strength. He's significantly stronger than before.

'But I don't know if I'm strong enough.' His vision turned to a dimming scarlet light that was being swallowed by the dazzling golden starlight.

"Julius," Varian stared at the dying man with a complicated expression.

Far away, Haedon lifted Julius by the neck and stared him in the eye. Pointing to Varian on the distant asteroid, he sneered. "Do you think your actions made any difference, Julius? He'll die all the same."

Julius' squirmed instinctively as his neck slowly got crushed. But he still answered with a hopeful smile. "M-Maybe…"

"You damn it!" Haedon clenched his fist and Julius' neck exploded into chunks of flesh and bone.

His head rolled in the space while his body collapsed. The greatest powerhouse of the human race died a pathetic death.

But Haedon wasn't happy.

He stared at the hopeful smile that still remained on that face and growled. It almost physically hurt him to see hope in his enemy.

When he didn't have any hope for the future, how dare these people, the cause of his race's ruin, dream of hope?

Haedon turned to Varian and snarled. "What will it take to break you?"

His voice reverberated across the space and shook Varian's heart.

Death wasn't the first thing Varian feared. But he wasn't going to tell Haedon his worst fears. And he hoped his enemy would never find out.

Varian took a deep breath and leaned forward.

Haedon snorted in disdain. After Julius saved Varian by surprise, he fought him desperately and gave Varian the much-needed time.

Yet, Julius failed to see that in the big picture, his help was useless and only accelerated his death.

In fact, his actions only aggravated Haedon more. Now with Julius gone, Varian was the sole bearer of all the hatred Haedon carried.

Varian's silhouette flashed and he crossed the space between them in a blink, greeting him with a powerful punch.

His power exceeded the peak of a sovereign. But it remained in the gap between a sovereign and a celestial. After all the struggle, it still wasn't enough.

"Petty tricks." Haedon slashed down at Varian's shoulder with his hand knife.

It cut through his flesh like a knife cutting through butter and crushed his bones like a sledgehammer smashing a brick.

Varian instantly lost his balance and toppled to the side. Haedon moved faster and incapacitated his second arm.

Haedon saw the shock in Varian's eyes but he didn't see any despair. This young man wasn't fearing death and defeat. It irked Haedon to no end.

"I ask you again," Haedon grabbed Varian's leg and smashed him into an asteroid. It exploded into a million fragments of dust, stone, pebble, and debris.

"What will break you?" He smashed him into another asteroid, breaking it as well.

"I'm asking you politely." Haedon continued to break the asteroids with him even as Varian struggled to fight back.

Soon, the battle was over.

Close to death once more, Varian felt his eyes grow heavy. But he kept his vision fixed on Haedon staring at him. The abyssal was now smiling.

Varian's heart twitched as a sense of unease filled his mind.

"I should've known." Haedon walked to him slowly, "For people like you who don't fear death the most, there should be something…or someone in their lives more precious than life itself."

Haedon suddenly grabbed to his left and the invisible ghostship that was sneaking up to Varian suddenly exposed itself.

Varian's eyes widened and his heart nearly stopped.

"W-Wait!" He yelled, panic and fear filling his being.

"Yes. That's exactly what I want." Haedon's smile grew brighter even as his eyes grew vicious.

"I…I beg you…" Varian said through gritted teeth.

"Yes. Fear, despair. I see it in your eyes now." Haedon said, slowly clenching his fist.

The ghost ship struggled to escape but to no avail. Cracks began to quickly spread on its surface.

"Don't…" Varian pleaded.

"Yes!" Haedon's palm radiated a golden light that instantly enveloped the ghostship!

"NO!" Varian drew upon the strength he didn't even know he had and ran towards the ghostship.

But when he was just a foot away, it exploded.