Xion Ch39 or on patreon 51-55

We arrived, and I ran to the forge. Samael was still working on my sword, banging the handle with a heavy iron mallet. She had already used a grinder to sharpen the blade, and I honestly couldn't wait to try it out, but Hulu had taught her a strange way to test her weapons. Once the handle was finally on, she took the weapon out of the clamp and glared at me.

"You can't have this baby until it's finished. I don't care if you're in a hurry; I still have time to polish and work the handle." She said and held up the blade.

I whistled. "She is beautiful. Are you sure she isn't ready?" I asked.

"Not ready, don't make me give you a steel weapon and keep this one for myself. Or with the way you've wracked up SP, you could probably buy a premade weapon." Samael said.

"Darling wouldn't make you go through all that trouble just to buy a sword," Elorael said and tossed me a white mango from our orchard.

I took a bite of the fruit and sighed as the sweetness filled my mouth. "That is too good. I'm glad I delegated farming the orchards to you." I said.

"We needed something to do that wasn't fucking and fighting. You hunted more than enough for us and did plenty of dueling. If we didn't find something else to do, we would have gone insane. But, honestly, I'm surprised you didn't take our balls away. Weren't you scared we would impregnate each other?" Samael said.

"I'm not interested in maiming you. But I need that sword ready soon; the leader of the plains tribe is as strong as a god." I said.

"Darling, you have to be exaggerating."

Elorael met my eyes with her own, fell back against a wall, and sunk down. "That shouldn't be possible," Elorael said.

"This isn't a sword; it's nearly as long as a spear with a heavy handle. It took a lot of work to balance the weight. I made the blade thin because this metal is far stronger than steel." Samael said as she slowly wrapped leather around the handle and held it with an adhesive.

She walked over to a boar held upside down on a stand by some chains. She bisected the animal with a single slice, easily cutting through the backbone. Samael followed up with a piercing stab to the blade's T guard, pulled the blade out then sliced the hog from the groin down. The hog separated and hung from the hooks holding it up.

"It will kill," Samael said with too much cheer.

Her next test was something I honestly didn't want to put the sword through. She had set out her first anvil for the hardness test. "In this test, I don't care about what the sword does to the anvil, only what the anvil does to the sword," Samael said with a grin.

She stood back, hefted the massive blade over her head, and swung down with all her might. The blade sliced through the iron and dug into the hardwood floor. Samael sucked in a breath and let it out before holding the sword at an angle and cutting into the side of the anvil. This time the anvil stopped the blade halfway through. Samael withdrew the sword and chopped down again. A heavy chunk of the anvil fell away, leaving only 3 quarters of the anvil remaining. She checked the blade for any damage then looked the handle over.

"There are no chips or rolls on the edge. Now for the final test, let's see if it will cut." Samael said.

I stared at the anvil she cut to pieces and then at the hog hanging in two pieces by hooks. Finally, she walked up to my prized t-rex skin and raised her blade high. That was the last straw. I moved in behind her and took the blade before she could slice down and ruin the skin. My blade went into my inventory on my number 1 hotkey.

Samael smiled at me innocently like she didn't know what she was about to cut. "How will we know if it cuts right without the final test?"

"I will have to test it in battle. And not on my T-rex skin that should be at the furrier's." I said.

With that being said, I put on my silver ape skin overcoat and felt my ability to absorb light triple. It had a little protection to it, too; maybe if I had worn it against Dao Khan, I could have won. That thought was cast aside immediately. A fancy coat wouldn't have helped me in that fight. I was unprepared, and I wasn't fighting to win. My goal had been to figure out how Dao Khan fought and ensure she came our way next.

A boom rocked the world, and the air suddenly heated up. I looked out the window, and half of the village was on fire. "Get to safety. I'm going to visit Zosimael for some final preparations." I said.

I rushed out into chaos. Elves ran around on fire, sections of the great treehouse complex fell to the wayside, and people panicked. Even as the dolphin rose up from the ground and opened its mouth wide, I made my way through the fire. Hundreds of sword-like black teeth filled its mouth, and white worms poured out from its gums. It was just as infected as the horse god had been. I'm sure the horse god was biding its time for its chance to get rid of the Dao Khan.

Instead of blasting us with soot, the worms flew out, grabbed some elves, and yanked them back. For a moment, I was stunned as the worms worked to collect elves and fling them down the dolphin god's throat. Then, I shook myself back to sanity and moved. There was no reason to kill any of the gods under the pantheon's control until the forest god died or was taken under control.

Logically there was no reason for me to attack the dolphin god. My sword was in hand, and my muddy feet had already planted themselves on the dolphin god's massive tongue. I was like a goldfish in an actual dolphin's mouth. I moved to the side of the god's mouth and stabbed through its neck. Before the monster knew what was happening, I roared and tore through the dolphin's flesh. Blood poured down as I cut, searching for the dolphin god's veins.

Soot filled the dolphin god's mouth, and it spat me out like a geyser of blood and smog spewed from its mouth. Green aura gathered and exploded around me, stopping the pressurized soot stream long enough for me to step out of its path. The dolphin god opened its mouth wide as dozens of pantheon parasites emerged from its mouth like the heads of a hydra.

I used my god light technique multiple times already, and I could feel it taking a toll on my stamina. I had two maybe three god light techniques left, and they wouldn't work on the parasites anyway. So I put some salt on my hotkey.

The dolphin lunged, and I threw a barrel of salt at it. It bit into the barrel, and salt poured into its mouth. All the worms that moved to its mouth immediately started dissolving. I moved at my full speed while it was distracted and jumped the distance, landing on the dolphin's head. Then, I pierced the god's skull with a single thrust and twisted my blade. The god froze, not dead but stunned.

I let myself fall down its body, stabbed my sword into its abdomen, and sliced. I saw the worm after slicing open the god's womb. Another barrel of salt smashed into the worm and began melting them on the spot. If the dolphin was anything like the horse god, then when the worms were free from its womb, it could begin countermeasures against the worms. I cut a piece of the dolphin's flesh free and stored it in my inventory.

With a few leaps up the dolphin's body, I backtracked through the village, running for Zosimael's house.

…

The house was on the other side of the village and avoided most of the initial damage. In the distance, the horse god blasted the forest with another fire blast. Golden flames spewed forth from its halo, covering the forest and spreading forest fire. Avatars rushed through the forest, and crushed horse archers were found until the riders of avatars appeared on the scene. Small scale flame halos made short work of the fire vulnerable forest avatars.

I entered Zosimael's home and closed the door behind me. She faced me with a caldron prepared.

"Are you sure you want to take more potions? They are hard on your body." Zosimael said.

"I haven't noticed. Hurry up and mix the potions; we don't have much time." I pulled the flesh from the dolphin, skull, pantheon, and horse god. She quickly added them to four different cauldrons. "This won't be the same as eating the flesh of gods; potions concentrate the power within their flesh."

She worked on the potion for another hour until the flames crept near the house. Then, finally, the house shook, and a giant lizard ripped the roof off like opening a refrigerator. "Done, the potions are done," Zosimael said as the giant lizard's eyes fell upon us.

I moved to the potions and chugged them down one at a time, even as the boiling potions seared my throat. My head spun for a second as my regeneration took its time healing the damage to my body. Zosimael met her death with dignity as the monster opened its mouth, and its sticky tongue shot out and snatched up the elf. I could only hold my head as the world spun around.

The lizard closed its mouth, and I could hear a terrible crunching sound even from afar. Zosimael's qi signature vanished like a snuffed-out candle. But the whole time, all I could do was hold my head as the potions flooded my body. I heard the roar of the forest god in the distance as it finally got off its lazy ass. It went through a similar process to fully absorb the power of a sea god.

I glared up at the monster, the god that killed my mentor. My head pounded, and my power rose as I felt myself adapt to my new strength.

Once again, the lizard's tongue fired, and instead of dodging or slicing it off, my green aura rushed out and repulsed the appendage. My head began to throb, and all I wanted to do was hit something. I moved, and the lizard god seemed to be caught in a pool of molasses. When it moved its head and started searching for me, I closed the distance. I punched the lizard in the chest, and its flesh exploded. Streams of green qi moved through the lizard's body and shone through with its own light.

The massive wound opened in the lizard's body, and it collapsed. I engaged my visor to see my PL had increased to 120 at rest. A second later, I reread it at 122. My power was slowly rising after taking those potions, and there was no telling where it would settle. I held up a piece of the lizard's flesh and cooked it with a concentrated burst of green aura. Once the meat was good and charred, I took a bite. I walked past the lizard's body to wear its head started moving. I punched it again; its head erupted in a green light, and its flesh disintegrated.

A large crack opened on its head, and I punched it again. The crack on its skull traveled quickly, shedding pieces before exploding. Then, at the tip of my finger, a green ball formed. I lifted my thumb like I was making a finger gun and fired. Light exploded from the lizard's skull, and its brain boiled before evaporating.

I rechecked my PL and read it at 134. While it continued to rise, I definitely had a chance. More techniques would have made things easier, but power was helpful too. Tonight would be the end of my challenge and time in this world. I put off asking messages if they could come with me mainly because I thought this part would never come. My habit of procrastination took over. I had too much fun training like a Dragonball character and banging my elf girls.

"Message, can I bring my companions back to my world with me?" I asked the system.

"Oh, baby bird, you have learned to soar, but you're still asking momma for permission. You can use SP to purchase companion cards but can only use 60 at any time. So, think carefully about who you choose. For example, gigantic beings require Kaiju class cards. In contrast, human-sized beings only require the starter set of humanoid class cards." Message said.

"Thank you, that clears everything up. Why did you give me a challenge to defeat the gods?" I asked.

"I am the challenge system, and what would a challenge system be if not challenging. Besides, you didn't like any of those gods or gods in general." Message said.

"Well, thank you for that." So I said and downloaded a card app and quickly purchased a kaiju body storage card, two humanoid cards, and one kaiju card.

I didn't have to buy a card for Lotus because she was considered my familiar. So she could be stored in my inventory. This was excellent because kaiju class cards started at 10k and went up depending on the qi or mana of the target.

After using the body storage card to snag the lizard god's corpse, I made my way to Elorael and Samael's qi signatures. They looked surprised when I took out the capture cards and stored them away. While the pantheon battled the forest god, I packed up what smithing equipment survived the initial attack. Grinders and auto hammers were expensive if bought with SP or actual money. Once the equipment was put away, I moved the orchard and picked everything up.

Uriel crashed near me while I collected the orchard's mangos, peaches, and pineapples. "Why aren't you fighting?" Uriel asked.

"Would you believe I'm waiting for an opportunity to jump in?" I asked.

The avatar growled and stood to its full imposing height of 6m. I raised an eyebrow and scanned his PL at 100. Avatars could sense the qi of others, and it must know I'm much stronger than it, so why would it risk annoying me. Was it trying to die gracefully?

I considered that for a moment and realized that in this ancient world, honor was paramount. "Do you want me to do this bare-handed, or would you rather die by my sword?" I asked.

Uriel glowed with the same golden power the forest god displayed. It buffed itself and moved in a blur to human eyes. I turned my head and followed it as it made several feints designed to leave after images and fool my monkey brain. I punched forward with the intent to kill. My blow hit the massive avatar and shattered its body. Greenlight erupted from its body even as it tried to absorb my power.

"You are powerful," I said and punched with my dominant hand. His body exploded into pieces, and I shook my head. "Now, you won't have to see the death of your father and the end of the forest tribe as you know it," I said.

I walked at a sedate pace towards the battle, where the horse god ensured the forest god would be in the clearing I made. Laser beams of qi flashed across the battlefield, cutting one of the insect gods in two but were too slow to catch the agile horse god. Smoke from the forest fire filled the air and made the stars and moons vanish. There wasn't much light for the forest god to draw upon. One of the lizard gods drew in close but died from a blow equal to the island obliterating fist.

Another halo appeared around the horse god as it prepared to unleash a might fire blast. Except for this time, the forest god reacted and life its hands. Water from the sea rose until, even from the ground, I could see the tidal wave peaking over the land. A warning from me brought Lotus down to me just in time. Just as I climbed on her back, the wave fell.

A tidal wave swept through the burning forest dousing the flames and claiming many more lives. Finally, the seawater reached the forest god and rose to meet the halo of flames just in time. When the flames vanished, the waves swept forward and swept away three of the opposing gods. That left only the weakened dolphin god and the horse god. I realized then that I wouldn't get a better chance. Sometimes, it was more beneficial to be fast and opportunistic on a battlefield. I had a set plan, but I was scrapping some of it now.

Lotus banked, and I leaped from her back and landed on the forest god's head. At that moment, I felt like Mario was about to stomp bowser. The forest god was a mix of fish scales and rippling bark of wood and flesh to form a new, more terrifying entity. It was terrifyingly powerful. I checked with my visor, and it read 1000. That was the highest PL I ever read. My PL I was just 150.

It was also tired from using energy and will to summon and control the sea. I reared my hand and punched down on the god's head with all my might. A boom echoed across the forest as the god took the blow and its head ruptured. Vines shot out all around its skull, and I equipped my sword and sliced them all apart, reared back, and punched again.

The god collapsed to its knees and barely caught itself with its forward-facing hands. The god looked like a mix between a bearded old man and Godzilla. Unfortunately, the monster stepped out of the oven a little too early. Its head was soft, and with the right amount of cracking, even I could break it open. I punched its skull a third time, and its head slammed into the ground, and I stepped off it and turned around.

Chest deep in seawater, I clapped my hands and activated the ritual circle. I activated the body collection card with a flick of my hand and dumped the dead lizard god on the ground. The ritual took over and made use of the lizard's bones. Massive, sharpened bones erupted through the lizard's flesh pointed at the forest god. They fired like giant rockets and pin cushioned the forest god before pumping its body full of rot.

It failed to pull the massive god bones turned necromantic artillery spears from its body, only for its fingers to rot away. I summoned the three banshees I summoned originally for the final battle. Lotus grabbed my shoulders with her talons and yanked me out of the water before her aura could give me hypothermia. Of course, her aura on the ride up to the horse god did an excellent job.

Lotus dropped me down just as a barrage of arrows slammed into me. The silver ape couldn't handle steel arrowheads, but its fur did fine, even soaked, against stone-tipped arrows. So I equipped my sword and dashed forward and sliced through armor, limbs, and weapons without care. Qi really was something unique without it, I would undoubtedly have hypothermia.

"These poor fools never stood a chance." One of the banshees said.

"Why did you summon us if you didn't need us? You didn't want me to sing another song, did you?" Banshee 1 said.

"No, there is an enemy I have who likes to buff. I would like you three to disrupt her plans." I said.

This time, I made my way up the horse god's back, sans the fire, and stepped up to the saddle-like palisade. There a furious Dao Khan stared at me with her beautiful blue eyes. She moved fast and pushed her hand against her weapon. "Now," I called, and banshee 1 screamed.

Dao Khan gripped her ears and failed to buff her weapon. Even though the scream shouldn't affect qi, elves had extremely sensitive ears. I closed the distance and swung down with my sword. She raised her whip, and the pantheon parasite managed to block my attack. No, my blade sunk into its flesh, but something hard within stopped my blade from cutting through. My fist struck out under her guard and punched her hard in the stomach.

She didn't break into a gory stain, but she did dry heave as I moved closer. "No, it's my destiny to unite the world under one rule. It was foreseen I'm to be the new god."

I returned my sword to my inventory. "Give up; you aren't even worth my blade, and you think you can call yourself a god, pathetic." A smile played across my face. This was getting good. I could really feel the final boss vibes rolling off her. What crazy shit was she going to do next?

She gripped her whip and pulled it off her handle, revealing a crimson-colored needle. Blood dripped from the massive needle, and I realized the parasites weren't pantheon. Instead, they were infected with Pantheon and used as a medium to control the other gods. Or that was my running theory.

"This is the symbol of my godhood." She raised the spear up to stab herself. I moved instantly, equipped my sword, and sliced her arm off or tried to. The same hardness that kept me from cutting open the needle was in her bones. "You won't stop me." She cried as I lifted my blade and chopped at her neck. Dao Khan screamed as my blade stopped again, and she plunged her spear down. I caught her wrist with my blade and kept her from piercing her chest.

I pointed my fingers at her eye and charged a green qi beam. "Stopped you," I said and blasted her in the eye. Greenlight blasted out from her eyes, and she seized. I continued to power the beam until her skull melted away and cracked appeared in it. Only when her skull shattered did I let the beam die down. "World, say what you want about me, but I am thorough." I stumbled backward and fell on my ass.

My eyes closed, and I waited for a sign that my challenge was complete, but none came. I turned my head to look at the corpse only to see the hand moving. "No, I did everything right. I didn't just sit here and let you power up." I yelled, then blinked as a plan came together. I searched through my inventory and found a pair of smithing plyers. Then I rushed over the corpse, grabbed its leg, twisted once, and threw the body off of the horse god's body and back into the clearing.

"What's the plan now, summoner?" Banshee 1 asked.

"I'm going down there to fight it with a home-field advantage." I pulled some fruit from my inventory and consumed it quickly. My qi barely recovered at all, but it was better than nothing, and the sugar from the fruit gave me some energy. Then, I felt a sudden spike of qi from the forest below and ran for the edge and jumped.

Lotus read my thoughts and caught me just in time. We flew down to meet our enemy, and just as a glowing crimson being of qi and power appeared, Lotus's upper jaw opened. A laser of negative energy struck the pantheon godling and knocked it on its ass. I was banking on the blow, at least making a crack in its body but no dice.

It turned towards the forest god's corpse. I saw it merging with the body to gain its sweet 1k PL on top of its already ridiculous current 500 and rising and wasn't having it. I activated the ritual circle again; the forest god's corpse began dissolving rapidly. The monster made a run for the corpse, and I threw a knife catching the monster in the knee. It stumbled for a few precious blinks giving me the time needed to close the distance and the ritual circle time to dissolve the corpse. Energy suffused the circle with potential energy to do several necromantic things. But, mainly moving the energy from one place to another, there wasn't anything in place for another summoning.

The monster ran with all its might, and Lotus blasted the ground just in front of it with ice breath. I watched the monster's body suddenly heat up and knew the ice wouldn't slow it much. As I ran, I cursed myself for going with the traditional massive sword instead of something practical in this situation, like a war hammer. Then, I remembered a weapon I had almost forgotten about in the inventory. I swapped my spiked logs over to my hotkey and threw them at the monster. One hit it square in the back, slammed hard into the ground. Another massive log appeared in my hand, and I slammed it down, sandwiching the godling between the two.

I heard a crack and didn't know if it was from the godling or my logs. More of the forest god vanished into the ritual circle just as the godling erupted out of the logs. A crimson aura radiated from the being even as cracks spread across its body. Tiny needles glowing with crimson qi covered the monster's body, and I stumbled back a step.

My hand moved to my phone, where I quickly booted up a farming app and bought a 20lbs sledgehammer. The hammer appeared in my hand, and I swung with all my might. The hammer smashed into the godling's head and knocked it back into the log. It roared, and the needles covering its body blasted out. I closed my eyes and tried to cover my face. The needles hit hard, cutting through me in several places. Blood poured out of my wounds from my arms to my chest and even my thighs and groin.

I opened my eyes to see the monster running for the forest god. It was too damn close. More than 50% of the forest god remained, and even that was more than I liked. 500 added to the godling's already high number would be ridiculous. So I activated the ritual circle and turned the bones in the forest god into artillery spears. They fired out to random parts of the forest, leaving only the flesh behind.

The godling dove into the remaining flesh of the forest god. All of the remaining flesh turned crimson and flowed into the godling. I could feel its power rise even higher than the amount of flesh should allow. It was closer to 2000 instead of 1000 or 1100. It seemed there was a component to this that caused an exponential increase.

Lotus landed beside me and helped me stand. Blood continued to pour out of me from the many hollow needles the godling fired into me. Really at this point, there was only one thing to do. I active the ritual circle and pushed all of the power collected from the forest god and the lizard god into Lotus. In the form of necromantic energy.

Her body spasmed, and blue lightning bolts danced across her glacier-white scales. The ground froze, and even the few trees around us froze solid and shattered. Lotus managed to keep her power from freezing me solid as well. The second the godling transformed into its new form, Lotus's upper mouth opened and unleashed a massive blast of negative energy.

The godling's body cracked as Lotus opened her main maw. A powerful beam of blue and negative energy gathered before blasting forth. The wave hit the crimson godling bathing its body in cerulean blue before the cracks in its body widened until it nearly shattered. I worked to remove the needles in the meantime.

After taking them out, my wounds finally began to heal. Once the breath attack ended, the godling fell to its knees; its body cracked. I stepped forward on stumbling feet and raised my hammer high. The godling looked up at me with vacant eyes. I slammed my hammer down, and it shattered into pieces.

I stumbled and fell into the ice all around me and began shivering. "Ya know, if I could use fire, I could warm you up." So I swapped my silver ape coat out with another one and still nearly froze.

Challenge 4 Slay the Gods Complete

Rewards:

Forest God Slain: 10 Red Pills

Skull God Slain: 10 Blue Pills

Plains Pantheon Slain: 15 Green Pills

When I recovered enough, I made my way to the horse god. "Are you yourself," I asked the giant horse god.

"Who else would I be." She said as she grazed on the remaining trees eating monkeys and squirrels with the leaves, nuts, and fruit.

"You're going to eat the entire forest down to stumps if you keep this up," I said and looked around. Most of the forest was basically gone at this point. Not even 10% of the once lush forest remained.

"That would be a problem if it was my land. I'm sure another god will come by and make this place their own. The plains are where I belong, with rolling fields and endless prairie to roam." The horse god said.

"I thought you might come with me as my companion. Why do you sound normal like I'm talking to another mortal." I asked.

She snorted. "Um, your closer to a god than a mortal or an avatar by far. And why would you want me to be your companion? I'm much too large. I might step on you or any children you have without meaning." She said.

"You need a name. I can't just call you horse God, and I don't think that will be a problem. I have an awesome way to transport you." I said.

"Very well, show me how you plan to transport me, and we will think of a name for me later." The horse god said with a sigh.

I held up the kaiju class card, and I felt her body digitize for lack of a better word and flow into the card. When the process ended, the horse goddess was gone, and I had a card with her as the art in my hand. I tucked her away in my inventory and stretched my back.

I unlocked my phone and looked at the transportation tab. Return to earth was open again, and I clicked it immediately. My body vanished from the world of Xion back to earth.