1464 A Treasure

Varian and Enigma joined hands against Xeola.

Shortly after, Sarah, who went into hiding once the old soul showed signs of waking up also joined them.

As he suspected from his unconscious ramblings, the old man had a morbid obesssion over Varian.

So, he didn't care about anyone else.

He opened his eyes after reaching peak rank 9 and focused on using the Fortune Anvil to take that step.

Xeola wanted to kill Sarah but didn't want to piss the man off. So, she kept her mouth shut and waited for him to finish his ascension.

But before he could take that step, Varian and Enigma appeared, leading him astray.

"He's been using the Fortune Anvil. The laws of life, death and soul are embedded in the treasure by All Mother Asherah. And since it's a treasure, there are also secrets of Order and Chaos." Sarah explained as they exchanged blows with the princess.

"How dare you release the spirit? Do you know what's going to happen to the Palarian race and the kingdom because of your mischief?" Xeola, on the other hand, continued attacking while cursing them in a righteous tone.

"Haaah~" Varian exhaled as a powerful aura struck him on the chest, breaking his ribcage cleanly and puncturing his lungs. He staggered backward and barely remained on his feet.

A moment later, Sarah bent down, clutching her injured abdomen and Enigma grabbed her nearly ripped shoulder to prevent the arm from falling away.

"You want to stop the Lord? Weaklings! You can't even win me!" Xeola's body was overflowing with aura and vitality.

"T-The old bastard gave her some things as a reward." Sarah winced at the pain coursing through her abdomen as she explained. "She's very much the peak of rank 8. Might reach rank 9 in a few months."

Varian narrowed his eyes and looked at the princess with a solemn gaze. Then, without any hesitation, he started running back, toward the Anvil.

"Ah! Ahahahah! He's running away! Your cowardly husband is fleeing!" Xeola chuckled in delight and chased after him.

Her speed was faster and she caught up to him halfway.

With a swift spin, she threw a spear at him. The weapon hit him like a missile and following the sound of flesh tearing, his right arm flew into the sky.

The power of order-chaos worked on the severed arm and an explosion filled the space between Varian and Xeola.

Using that small gap, Varian sprinted to the Fortune Anvil.

Rumble! Rumble!

The entire sky was filled with dark clouds and every second, dozens of flashes would light it up.

The two powerhouses were fighting in the sky and that left him with a chance to approach the Anvil.

The silvery treasure was shining with a soft white light, giving off a feeling that it's something so transcendental that a mortal like him should not approach, much less touch it.

Varian didn't care.

"Here goes!"

His hands touched the cold metal.

The power pulsing through the treasure entered his body and Varian's body turned spasmed violently, like he was a mortal being electrocuted.

His missing right arm was quickly regenerated before it exploded and then it regenerated again before exploding again. His skin cracked and disapepared before new skin grew almost instantly.

Again and again, like he was struck in an infinite loop, Varian's body was destroyed and regenerated.

While this happened, he glimpsed into the divine power of life, soul and death that's flowing from the Anvil.

'Ah, so this is Asherah's divine power. Creating a race all by herself, she's almost a goddess, isn't she?'

But there was also another divine power. Not overflowing from the treasure but in the treasure itself.

'The master who crafted this divine weapon, a powerful divine ranker of Nexus Empire. He has a great understanding of order and chaos. Wow.'

Like a curious kid who stumbled into a science exhibition, Varian was exposed to numerous insights of powerhouses standing far above him in the Sage and Ruler avenues.

And like a sponge, he absorbed the insights as much as he could, as quickly as he could.

While this happened, his powers began to surge.

Not just the power of Paragon Body but even Ignis and Death Giant.

Because creating race wasn't just about building a biological structure but also deciding how their souls fit into the physical form. And it didn't end there either, every race had its own unique relationship with death.

Some would decompose physically first while others would turn into metals and such.

Each race dealt with death differently. Some had more affinity with death and would only begin their real life after one death.

For example, Vampires, Zombies and such, were races that were created to die. They had an extremely short lifespan as a living form and would quickly die, but once they did, they'd start their new life and live the life they were originally meant to be.

Palarians were created to be on the side of life, of course. Still, there was a lot of valuable insight about 'death' from their racial makeup.

And of course, the treasure called Fortune Anvil itself.

It's unimaginable for most people to even think that a treasure could affect an entirerace, whether they're in the kingdom's capital or in the corner of the Empire.

But by employing specific laws of order, the treasure managed just that. The laws of chaos were used to prevent the race from growing stagnated.

Boom! Bang! Klang!

Xeola's attacks were blocked by the desperate duo of Sarah and Enigma. They couldn't match up to her but they literally gave their arms and legs to stop her from reaching their husband.

Their fierce resistance caused even the powerful enemy to garner several injuries.

But eventually, they couldn't fight anymore and dropped powerlessly on the battlefield.

And almost right then, Varian opened his eyes and walked from the Anvil.

Xeola frowned instinctively.

Something had changed in just a few minutes.

Something…

Varian's lips moved.

'Status.'