1394 A God-like Enemy

An unpleasant feeling rose from the bottom of his heart. It's a sticky, viscous anger that clung to the walls of his heart and blocked everything else.

For a brief moment, the colorful world in front of his eyes turned into black and white.

An invisible wave of familiar power swept the garden they were in, the private mansion, and the entire vacation planetoid.

There was a brittle sound as if two metal rods were pushed against each other with great force.

The planetoid remained still before it shook slightly but in that slight movement, the foundational structure of the planet, the space-time curve it was present in, and everything that encompassed that region distorted.

It wasn't a normal attack, physical or energy, by any means.

To give a rough analogy, it's the difference between destroying equipment in a game to deleting the game itself.

This was the precursor real-life version of 'Delete'.

"Var! Var!"

The anxious voice and the familiar touch on his cheeks snapped Varian out of his perplexing state.

"What was I…"

"You froze but your eyes were glowing black and white, there was a silent madness in them." Sarah patted her chest in relief as she explained.

Her face was really pale and she sounded weak, as if she had exhausted all strength to utter those words.

Thankfully, her face turned rosy in a few seconds. After an apology, Varian looked at her apologetically before turning to the trio.

Sia didn't seem much affected by the discovery. She was looking at him in concern. It was clear. She didn't care 'Why' she was born or rather, created. Even at this moment, she was worried about the abnormal state shown by him.

Enigma, on the other hand, had a complicated expression. There was a visible disappointment on her face. With shoulders drooping and looking powerless, she looked pitiful.

Seeing the usually calm and composed Enigma like that, Varian had an urge to hug and console her.

But he held himself and turned to the one who would be the most affected by this bombshell of a secret.

Isadora...had lowered her head. In her clenched fist, the nails dug into her palm, and like she was squeezing a tomato, the red liquid was dripping between her fingers.

The killing intent seeping out of her was so enormous that the garden they were in began to wilt. The little birds, even those of the Sovereign state, began to drop dead.

And the woman's shoulders trembled. She was like a dam that was about to burst, unleashing a violent force that could not be controlled once it was released.

The killing intent was so much that even Sia and Enigma were subconsciously backing away from her.

"Another divine ranker enemy, I guess."

In the tense silence, Varian's voice sounded out of place, and his choice of words haughty.

But it brought Isadora some sanity and she raised her head to look at him. The beautiful, silky hair that resembled a waterfall illuminated by the moonlight covered most of her face.

It could not, however, cover her bright red eyes that seemed to glow like stars in the night.

And those stared at him, partly sane but mostly insane, somehow seeking, hoping, and praying for something that would calm her raging self.

"I promised you I'd make the Martial Saint Kong my enemy for you. That guy is a peak rank 9. I'm just going to add a bunch of divine rankers as enemies now. It's not that much of a change."

"Huh." A derisive chuckle escaped the princess' mouth before she could even think. She wasn't even deciding the words rolling out of her tongue. They were flowing on their own, bringing out her true feelings and thoughts.

"Even a thousand, ten thousand peak rank 9s are nothing in front of a new divine ranker. And do you even know who Keeper Equilius is?" There was a hint of helplessness and despair in her voice.

It was the first time Varian and his wives had seen her like that. Even when she lost to him that day, she wasn't so crushed.

When the talk about Martial Saint came up, she didn't look dispirited at all. Even though Varian 'assured' that he would side with her in the inevitable clash, she didn't seem to think it was necessary.

But now, she behaved like a bird in a cage that was destined to be shackled forever.

"Nexus Empire is primarily ruled by the tribe of Order, Sera tribe. There are three heads to that tribe today, the three leaders who stand at the pinnacle of the Nexus Empire.

The ruling body calls itself the Sacred Order. These three are the heads of the Order.

Keeper Equilius is one of the three. Yes, he's a rank 2 divinity.

Since you don't know what that entails…

The strongest man alive is God Emperor. The next tier is the heads of Genesis and Mors Empires. And the ones immediately next are these three.

Do you understand now? The third strongest of the cosmos is targeting me."

Isadora's words caused a huge stir in the garden.

Even though none of them had ever fought against a divine ranker and could not even comprehend the sheer amount of power held by them, they have read about those beings.

Beings that were playing on a different field than everyone else.

Entire duchies would be reduced to dust under their might. Even kingdoms would fall with a single attack.

Heck, if the Divine Rankers on both sides weren't fighting with the mutual agreement of not causing too much collateral, their fights in the wars would've wiped out more than 99% of the population.

And this man, Keeper Equilus belonged to the third tier of the strongest. What would his strength be like?

Even if they tried, they couldn't imagine.

Varian too was disturbed by the uncomfortable reality of the situation.

But that's why, he didn't want to back down.

'System, that man is stronger than Keeper Equilius, right?'

[Not just strong. He could swat them away like they were bugs and they would die like bugs.]

Varian didn't know if he had to despair or rejoice.

But in front of the mountain he had to face, Isadora's difficulty now seemed much smaller.

Varian grabbed her hand and patted her back gently. "Whoever he is, I'll fight with you. Don't take this burden alone. You are never alone."