998 Traitor

"What?!" Varian jumped up from his seat and stared at the big screen flashing the news.

Sia arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms but Sarah covered her mouth and stared at the image of the stern old man on the screen.

Even though their grandfather-granddaughter bond was practically absent, after going through life and death in Hortus, Sarah cherished her close ones and her family. She even hoped that after this war, she could improve her relationship with the old man.

Because even though he never pampered her like a normal grandfather, Sarah did remember him covertly helping her out whenever she fell into danger. He never smiled at her, not once. But when she did ask him for help a few times, like when she wanted to search Varian after he disappeared in the dungeon during his first mission, he didn't hesitate.

So, from the bottom of her heart, Sarah wished to cherish whatever family she had left.

But the news...

Hearing the suppressed whimper, Sia turned to her best friend and a look of pity appeared on her indifferent face.

"I'm sorry." Sia hugged Sarah gently and patted her back. Sarah buried her head in her friend's shoulder and shed silent tears.

Varian, on the other hand, wasn't even aware that Sarah was crying. His mind was occupied with the implications of Albert's death.

Perhaps in the subconscious, he did hear Sarah's cries, but he filtered them out just like that and focused on the important thing.

Varian might've not noticed it, but he was changing.

"Can you confirm his death?" Varian asked Boo.

"Yes," Boo replied right away and showed the footage from a drone.

Two figures were fighting at speeds that caused them to appear as mere blurs. Every time they clashed, the shockwaves would shake the space and destroy the drones even five hundred miles nearby.

Varian narrowed his eyes.

He could clearly see the figures of Albert and Sin King. An old but tough man in a military uniform fighting against what could only be described as a mixed beast.

His arms and legs were almost two meters in length and shimmering black scales while his torso was a blue jelly--like jellyfish and his back had a hard red shell. Only his face, tiny for his body frame, was abyssal.

'Hybrid morpher.' Varian recalled the path of the abyss ruler and stared at his body sharply.

He's a hybrid of a dragon-like creature, a turtle, and a jellyfish or a slime.

Whatever it was, Varian noticed the Sin King display incredible strength, defense, and vitality as the fight with Albert progressed.

What's surprising was Albert's own strength. The old man specialized in speed and was the fastest person Varian had ever seen.

For every blow of Sin King, Albert could land two. He could also evade the majority of Sin King's attacks. And his high speed gave him the high momentum to strike hard.

But these abilities by themselves weren't enough for Sovereign Albert to stalemate a stronger, more resilient, and faster regenerative Sin King.

The final piece of the puzzle was the pair of scarlet gauntlets. Every time they struck Sin King and injured him, the Sin King would be a little disoriented for the next few seconds.

But Sin King regenerated fast enough that he wasn't disadvantaged beyond a bit. This dynamic created a situation where neither of them could defeat the other, as had been the case for the past few decades.

However, something changed.

When Albert was holding Sin King's army forcefully and punching him in his chest, the space beside them twisted.

Two very powerful fists shot out at them in a blink. The space crumbled like a piece of paper and the shockwaves from the fists, even before they hit their targets, destroyed the drones in the surrounding thousand miles, and even nearly scarped the current drone.

As a result, the display on the screen blurred and Varian was able to only see vague figures.

Thanks to his mind power though, he's still able to understand what's going on.

The old general wasn't expecting an ambush at all, much less one that powerful and fast. Neither was the Sin King.

Albert saw the face of the attacker and a look of realization dawned on his face before a sigh of resignation followed.

He could've backed away and dodged. But he didn't. Instead, he pulled the Sin King closer and attacked him with all his strength.

The Sin King realized his archenemy's suicidal plan. He forcibly pulled his army away and tried to dodge.

But it's too late.

The two fists struck them right in the chests.

An invisible shockwave passed behind them but the two men froze.

Then, the uniform on Albert shattered before his body exploded into pieces of flesh and bones.

Sin King was better. But his turtle shell shattered while his right arm and right leg disintegrated into pieces. But he wasn't far from death either. Like a balloon out of gas, he collapsed.

The silhouette of the attacker blurred for a moment before it grabbed the scarlet gauntlets. It ignored the Sin King who wasn't dead yet and turned to the right, right in the direction of the drone.

And it smiled.

Looking at Julius' smiling face, Varian gasped as his brain nearly came to a freezing halt.

"What the..."

Julius knew he'd watch this footage. And that's exactly why he didn't hide. He wanted Varian to know it was him.

"You son of a bitch!" Varian spat the curse he rarely used. "Traitorous dog! You need to be hanged in public!"

Then, Julius used the artifact of Earth's ruins--blink ring--and quickly teleported back to Earth.

There were six artifacts and with the gauntlets, he collected all of them. If the scriptures were right, then Julius would soon be promoted into the 'guardian' of the Devas and be promoted into a Celestial Rank.

Varian had no fantasies about what'd happen once this guy reached that strength. He and his loved ones would be hunted down like dogs and crushed to death.

But before he had any more thoughts about that horrible future, the footage on the screen froze him.

The dying Sin King fiddled with his space ring and a shining crystal bottle appeared above him. There was just a single drop of a green liquid in it. But the moment it dropped on Sin King, a green shockwave swept the space.

Then, under Varian's horrified gaze, Sin King began to heal. It was far from instant regeneration.

But Sin King who's clearly supposed to die even if he drank a dozen healing potions was pulled back from the clutches of death.

His shattered shell slowly began to grow back. And his destroyed right arm and leg were also sprouting.

It's not fast enough to be finished in minutes, but give it two or three hours, and he'd be back to normal.

And once he healed back, what'd he do?

Since Julius was much stronger than him, Sin King wouldn't touch him for now. But he'd not withhold the anger. The target of that anger would certainly be the planet he couldn't conquer for decades--Mercury.