Slaying the Corrupt One

Beneath the blood-red sky, the crimson palace stood in all its glory. Its crystalline surface was blackened as if it refused to accept any light. Rivers of blood flowed through the parched earth surrounding the palace, winding for thousands of kilometers. A bony claw emerged from one of the rivers, clutched the dry earth and a demon pulled itself out of the blood. It had the skull of a goat. Its body was very large and hairless. Its thick skin looked as if it could stop anything. When it roared into the gloomy sky, thousands followed its roar.

Tens of thousands of demons were splattered everywhere, as if they were looking for a target to relieve their bloodlust. Their red eyes roamed the land. This was one of the God Dimensions. It was the home of the mighty being sitting on his throne inside the crystal palace.

This being, clad in metal armor, had a cloak of pure blood billowing on his back. It moved on its own, independent of the wind. In his hand he held a chalice filled with blood. He opened the brim of his helmet to reveal pale skin and fangs. He lifted the goblet to his mouth, downed it in one gulp and closed the helmet again.

Before him stood a majestic demon. It looked like a girl. She was 5 meters tall. Her long white hair reached almost to the ground. She had two thick horns protruding from her forehead, and wings of bone on her back. Her wings were covered in blood. Despite all the blood on her pale skin, she seemed hollow inside. She turned her crimson eyes to the being on the throne and knelt. "They are coming, Corrupt One."

The Corrupt One did not answer her. He simply tossed the goblet in his hand to the side and continued to sit. He rested his elbow on his throne. The bone-winged demon spoke again.

"Will you not punish Ke Ko? He betrayed you. He is the reason the gods came here, he coveted your throne."

The Corrupt One stood up. The demon immediately fell silent. As the man in armor walked towards him, he finally spoke, "Ke Ko only prepared his own death, Mo'loth." His voice seemed to shake the entire crystal palace. It struck fear into the demon's heart. "They believed they could just kill me. Then let them come."

At that moment, hundreds of different portals opened in the red sky. When the demons looked up, they saw the attack on their lord's dimension. Hundreds of thousands of beings emerged from the portals. Some glowed with golden light, others shot lightning bolts... Some even came as clouds of blood. Armies of gods began to fill the dimension of the Corrupt One. They were all stationed in the sky.

Mo'loth looked out. Then she turned to her lord. She wondered what he would say, but the Corrupt One walked on, saying nothing. The aura emanating from him caused the crystal floor to crack with every step. The doors of the palace opened of their own accord and gave way to him. The winged demon followed her lord.

When they stepped outside together, they looked up at the sky. "These are just servants," Mo'loth said. "They must be afraid to come themselves."

"Of course they will be scared. This is my home." The Corrupt One stretched his right arm out to the side as hundreds of thousands of beings in the sky rushed towards him. A stream of blood started from my shoulder and, like a river finding its way, flowed over the armor and gathered in his hand. As the blood gradually took the shape of a sword, the weapon of a god was revealed. Goredrinker...

The metal sword was almost completely black with a rough surface. The hilt was longer than usual, and although it was not thick, it seemed heavy. When it appeared, the demons fled from it. They were all running away from the Corrupt One and Goredrinker. Mo'loth retreated too.

When the Corrupted One grabbed the sword with both hands and swung it upwards from below, a wave of blood began to move towards the sky, shaking the entire dimension. Goredrinker's swing left a hole in the ground hundreds of kilometers long. Some demons could not escape and fell into it.

Those in the sky moved in different directions to escape the onslaught, but when the wave reached the sky, Corrupted One turned Goredrinker like a key. The wave of blood exploded with tremendous force, destroying every single being stationed in the skies. Their bodies melted and rained down as the boiling blood reached them. Mo'loth marveled once more at the power of her lord.

"If you intend to kill me, you know that ants can't do the job." All the demons roared with rage and bloodlust as the Corrupt One spoke to the sky. From then on, one more person emerged from each of the portals.

The red sky shook as the gods entered the dimension. Hundreds of immense beings were in the same God Dimension at the same time. Each of them descended in the blink of an eye and stood before the Corrupt One. One of them extended a finger towards the demons attacking them. The lightning from his fingertip ricocheted from one demon to the next, and from one demon to the next, reducing them all to ashes in seconds. What was left of the demons was blown away by the wind.

Mo'loth stepped forward. The might radiating from the winged demon caused the gods to stop. Mo'loth looked at them all and gritted her teeth. "How dare you! You are beginning to think yourselves high enough to enter here! By the time you realize the value of your lives, it will be too late!"

"Stand back, demon. We are not here to quarrel with lowly minions." Mo'loth looked at the person speaking. It was Xie Chen. A Divine God... He looked at the demon with disdain in his bright blue eyes. Lightning bolts of lightning were constantly circling over his body. This was the god who had just killed the demons with a single attack.

At that moment another one stepped forward. He looked like a demon without a lower body. It had a huge mouth, dagger-like teeth, greedy eyes and thick horns. His body was very large, but he had no lower body from the waist down. He floated in the air. When Mo'loth saw him, her face filled with disgust. "Ke Ko," she said. "Though you are a Blood God, you have betrayed the Corrupted One. The worst will be your end."

Ke Ko let out a snort of laughter. "Mo'loth," he said when he had finished laughing. "I will throw you among my slaves and watch with pleasure as they gnaw your flesh."

The Corrupted One began to walk towards them, dragging the tip of his sword across the ground. They all forgot Mo'loth and watched him. "You are a jealous crowd, dizzy with envy. You covet powers you cannot have. Where is Lai Gang? Or was he the only sane one among you?"

The other gods did not answer. The Corrupt One looked at Ke Ko. The great creature was looking greedily even at him. "And you, Ke Ko. You will beg me to kill you."

From that moment on, the talking stopped. Under the red sky, in front of the crystal palace, hundreds of gods gathered against the one god, the Corrupt One. The gaze lasted for a few seconds, making the ground tremble from the pressure of their aura.

Xie Chen was the first to attack. When he raised his hand and brought it down towards the Corrupt One, a golden bolt of lightning fell from the sky. When the armored god raised Goredrinker and cut the lightning, everyone turned against him.

The Corrupt One swung away with his sword a spear of light that would have struck him. This spear, the attack of a god, caused a huge explosion where it landed, leaving a huge crater thousands of meters in diameter.

The Corrupt One's body sank into a puddle of blood that appeared at his feet. Soon after, he reappeared somewhere in the midst of the gods. When he swung his sword, he cut several gods. Goredrinker began to draw the blood from their wounds onto himself. The weapon of the Corrupt One made its power felt once more. In an instant, the bodies of the wounded gods turned to blood and were absorbed by the sword.

Blocking a sword attack from another direction with his own sword, he dodged the water that gushed like a geyser beneath his feet by diving aside. He blocked a laser of pure light with his sword. He was dragged back a few steps but did not topple over.

"Divine Judgment!" Xie Chen spread his arms out to the sides. The lightning bolts emanating from his body caused the other gods to turn away from him. As he extended his arms toward the Corrupt One, a bolt of lightning tore through the ground and met the Corrupt One's sword.

"Blood of Darkness: Typhoon!"

A blood typhoon appeared around the Corrupt One, engulfing and destroying the nearby gods. Xie Chen managed to escape, but this typhoon of black blood did not forgive anyone it caught. Even Mo'loth was forced to keep her distance. The remaining gods escaped by taking to the sky.

The Corrupt One sent a wave of blood towards them with his sword. Knowing that the wave would explode, the gods moved away with their own abilities to move. Hundreds of different god techniques suddenly appeared. Some cracks had appeared in the crimson dimension. The very existence could not withstand so much power and was breaking.

The Corrupt One also destroyed his sword and placed his hands on the ground. "Blood of Fire: Dark Explosion."

A red and black dome of flame exploded violently above him, tearing the ground and the typhoon apart. The earth-shaking explosion spread over thousands of meters. The cracks in the dimension were widening. At the same time, other gods sent their own attacks. The hundreds of attacks that met the explosion caused immense destruction. The red dimension shattered. The armor of the Corrupt One broke and fell to the ground in pieces. There was no more red sky. It was replaced by a firmament of many colors. The crystal palace and the dry land were also gone. The rivers of blood were no more. The God Dimension of the Corrupt One could not withstand such an onslaught.

All the gods had descended to the main dimension. This was the place that belonged to no god, but at the same time to all the gods. The body of the Corrupt One was now in the middle. Blood flowed from his eyes. His skin was rotten. His fangs had torn into his own cheeks. His mouth, up to his ears, was full of teeth. His dried white hair was down to his waist. His body looked puny outside the armor, but they all knew it wasn't. He was now more dangerous than ever. They had broken through his armor and released the demon it was holding inside.

The Corrupt One looked at them and roared with rage. The gods attacked again as the might emanating from his aura grew more intense. Cracks were appearing even in the main dimension. The demon in front of them suddenly disappeared and appeared among them. In the blink of an eye, Goredrinker had cycled several more gods. Flames covered the Corrupt One's body and he continued to attack, burning. He also drew power from the red flames. Soon the flames were corrupted by darkness and their color turned black. The demon's power increased once more.

A huge wave of water swept him off his feet. Drifting with the wave, he was once again the target of hundreds of attacks. The resulting explosion covered thousands of kilometers. Even the gods had to defend themselves from their own attacks. They had all heard the cry of the Corrupt One. This time it worked. As the wave disappeared, the wounded god appeared.

"Finish him! Quickly!"

The gods pulled out their own amulets. Each god used the power of his followers to add to his own power. All the power gathered was stored in the god's amulet. It was a god's most precious treasure.

They all took out their amulets and held them out towards the Corrupt One. Their powers were different. Some were strong enough to crush the others, but there was one amulet that was stronger than all of them.

The Amulet of the Corrupt One appeared in the wounded god's hand. It was a palm-sized circle of red crystal. On it was a symbol of the demon. Just by its appearance it had widened the cracks in the entire dimension. It overwhelmed the power of all the other gods. He responded to hundreds of attacks from the amulets with his own amulet. The red energy from it struck the gods, destroying all other energies. The power of the bloody explosion destroyed almost half of them.

The Corrupt One suddenly appeared in the sky and unleashed Goredrinker's wrath once more. Even if they took only one cut, the god's weapon would consumed them. The demon god's power was beyond them all. Until another portal opened.

Out of the portal, a light-elemental dragon, hundreds of meters tall, charged straight at the Corrupt One. In the dragon's mouth was another god, thrusting his spear forward. When its weapon collided with Goredrinker, it dragged the demon back hundreds of meters. The dragon, in turn, engulfed the Corrupt One, penetrating every part of him. As the ground shattered once more, the dimensional cracks widened. It was too much even for the main dimension. The Dimension of the Gods was about to crumble.

"Lai Gang!"

" The Bright One!"

Seeing him, the gods rejoiced. Lai Gang, or the Bright One, was the most powerful of the Divine Gods. It was fitting that he should take on the most powerful of the Blood Gods.

Lai Gang's dragon of light exploded with divine power and inflicted grievous wounds on the Corrupt One's body. His weapon, the Dawnbreaker, was perhaps the only weapon that could take on Goredrinker.

He moved away from the Corrupt One. The demon god stood up, despite all his wounds, and looked at the person who had come. "You were expecting this," he said as blood poured out of him.

Lai Gang kept his serious expression. He did not underestimate his opponent. "You started the war. I warned you."

As he extended his spear toward him, a bolt of lightning struck the demon. The Corrupted One was thrown back tens of meters, and as he recovered, another amulet appeared, bringing the dimension to the point of collapse. The Amulet of the Bright One...

When Lai Gang extended his amulet toward him, the energy released opened a massive dimensional rift in the floor of the main dimension. At the same moment, the Corrupt One responded with his own amulet. The clash of two opposing forces forced all other gods to leave the battlefield. This place was now beyond them. The Bright One had to take care of the rest. There was nothing they could do. They could only watch from afar.

The explosion threw them both back. The Corrupt One had stopped himself by stabbing Goredrinker into the ground. When they were back on their feet, in the blink of an eye they appeared at each other's feet. Their weapons clashed over and over again in the blink of an eye. Each collision produced an echo that could be heard across the entire dimension. The sparks from each collision caused huge explosions where they landed.

"Blood of Darkness: Corruption!"

"The Will of Radiance: Blessing!"

The clash of forces, one side shining with a bright light, the other darkened by a bottomless shadow, unleashed a force that fell both gods into a dimensional rift. They were no longer in the Gods Dimension. They floated in a blue nothingness of pure energy.

The Corrupt One attacked once more, but his attack was blocked by the spear. He likewise blocked his opponent's moves.

"Give up," said Lai Gang. "Your reign is over."

"Do you think it will be that simple?"

The Corrupt One's back split open, revealing two rotten wings, five meters long each. Instead of falling into eternity, it began to fly towards the Dimension of Gods.

"You can't escape!" Lai Gang reassumed the form of a light elemental dragon and went after him. When they entered the Dimension of the Gods again, they saw that the entire dimension was on the verge of collapse. The other gods were doing everything in their power to keep the dimension intact. The Corrupted One smiled.

He dived towards the ground and appeared in a puddle of blood among the gods. On his left hand was a mark. It looked like a demon with its mouth closed, but when he smiled, it opened its mouth. Some of the gods, seeing the Corrupt One coming, stopped what they were doing and turned toward him, but he grabbed one of them in the face with his left hand. The muffled screams of the grabbed god caused them all to retreat. His soul was absorbed by the Corrupt Seal and passed to the demon god.

At the same time, Lai Gang had stopped his attack. Thanks to the second soul he received, the Corrupt One's strength multiplied. His scrawny body grew a little bigger. His claws grew longer and red power surrounded him. He turned to Lai Gang. "Die!" he shouted as he appeared in front of him and thrust his sword forward. The Bright One's spear was knocked back by this power. Yet he managed to save his body from the attack.

"You're going to die, don't bother!" Lai Gang squeezed his own amulet and channeled all its power into his body. Those two were too fast for the other gods to follow with their eyes. There was the sound of weapons clashing simultaneously from different directions, but none of them could see them. The explosions were happening at the same time. The rifts were growing in size. It took all their strength to hold the dimension together.

The Corrupt One stopped and looked at his own sword. "Do you see, Lai Gang? My sword is so dry."

"The blood on it was never enough for you."

"After you, it will be their turn. I will destroy you all. You don't deserve to be gods."

As their weapons clashed once more, the energy of the two opposing forces did irreversible damage to the home dimension. They attacked each other one after the other. Lai Gang's Will of the Radiance technique and the Corrupt One's Blood of Darkness and Fire technique fought to the death. In the end, something the Corrupt One did not expect happened.

The Blood Gods stopped holding the dimension and attacked him. As the Corrupted One threw Goredrinker back and defended himself, the Dawnbreak that entered his back and exited his chest destroyed the second soul within him. The demon's power fell and he fell on a piece of ground that still existed. The gods no longer cared about size. They all attacked to destroy him. He took his amulet in his hand and channeled all the remaining power into his body. He understood the end, but he was not going to let it end like this. He raised the Goredrinker to stab himself in the stomach.

When Lai Gang saw this, he knew what was coming. The Corrupted One was trying to enter the cycle of reincarnation so that they would not succeed in imprisoning his soul. This could not be allowed to happen. He should never have been reborn. They had to imprison his soul.

In a refraction of light, he appeared at the demon's feet and stabbed Dawnbreaker into it. He saw the Corrupt One's smile as his weapon sliced through the wind. At the same moment, the demon leapt aside, parried the spear and slashed at Lai Gang's torso.

With a last ditch effort, the Bright One, his body turning to blood and being absorbed by the Goredrinker, managed to stab the Dawnbreaker into the demon's neck. His body was completely destroyed. The Corrupt One, on the other hand, could feel the Dawnbreaker penetrating his soul. He raised his hand and grabbed the spear as his soul began to shatter into pieces. His fingers were melting as they touched it. "I am not a god. I am more than that! You cannot imprison me!" he said as he pulled the spear out. Then he plunged Goredrinker into his own heart.

The weapon did not consume its lord. Instead, the body of the Corrupt One rose from the ground. Spinning through the air, spewing blood, fire and darkness. The death of one of the most powerful gods shook the main dimension. The Corrupt One's body turned to blood and exploded violently, destroying another large region. At that moment the dimensional cracks began to expand spontaneously. All the gods began to use all the power left in their amulets. They had to stop the dimension from collapsing.

Only one didn't think like them. Ke Ko, a Blood God, came to the place where the two gods had died. He immediately reached out his hand to Goredrinker and Dawnbreaker, but he could not pull both weapons from the ground where they were stuck.

"Ke Ko, what the hell are you doing!?" Xie Chen shouted angrily, but Ke Ko ignored him. "Stop him!"

Unable to get the weapons, Ke Ko reached out his hand and picked up both the Bright One's and the Corrupt One's amulets. There was great satisfaction on the Blood God's face. As the other gods came towards him, he smiled at them and disappeared in a cloud of blood. He had taken the amulets. Goredrkiner and Dawnbreaker fell into a rift when the ground disappeared. Maybe no one would ever pick them up again. Not Goredrinker, who consumes who it cuts, nor Dawnbreaker, who shatters souls. Perhaps the original owners would return one day and take them. Who knows?