Death

Helio thought Zoran finally gave up. Did Zoran think he could block the bloodred ax with just his hand? Preposterous!

He could finally show everyone that he could kill a measly maggot like Zoran.

His ax aimed straight for Zoran's hand. He was going to relish the moment Zoran's face split into two as he regretted ever thinking that he could win against the genius of the Primordial Sun Dynasty.

But something inexplicable happened.

Helio's bloodred ax stopped just mere inches away from Zoran's palm as if an invisible force prevented the Adamantium weapon from advancing further.

"No…no…this isn't possible!!!" Helio screamed.

His arms bulged, squeezing every power he could muster to push through and finally cleave the demon in half.

Yet no matter how strong he pressed, the harder the resistance became.

How could Zoran do this, Helio thought. He was just a mere mortal, yet his hand was somehow able to push against his strength.

This was beyond logic and reasoning; this was spooky.

Helio looked at Zoran, and all he saw was an apathetic indifference.

Here he was, struggling with all his might and willpower, muscles aching with overexertion, sweat pouring down his face, yet Zoran stared at him with nothing but his clear black eyes.

He didn't have to exert himself. There was no worry in his face, as if he didn't have to.

"Zoran you bastard!!!"

Helio's golden hair burst forth with a fiery red explosion, his eyes glowed a yellow tint, and the ripples of distortion in reality grew even stronger as he exerted all of his Yi energy.

He was overexerting himself, using even his life force to exert more explosive power.

He finally made progress. The blade of the ax crawled slowly towards Zoran's palms.

Strands of hair fell to the floor as Helio consumed 10 years of life power to finally reach Zoran's palm and cut his skin.

Blood dripped to Zoran's hands.

"Hahaha!" Helio maniacally laughed.

He was going to sacrifice ten, twenty, fifty years of his life as long as he could kill Zoran. He didn't care if it killed him right this second.

But that didn't happen.

KLINK KLUNK DRIK

Impossible, was the only word Helio could think of. His muscles deflated, his strength gave way, and the fire in his body snuffed out.

He fell back, looking up at wonder and fear. A little chuckle came out of his mouth seeing this impossible feat.

He no longer held the bloodred ax in his hands. It stood still where he left it, in Zoran's palm.

But the ax was no longer the treasure it once was. The Adamantium weapon was bent like scrap metal.

Adamantium. The world's most durable and strongest element was crumpling right before his very eyes.

Zoran slowly closed his hand, and the adamantium weapon folded upon itself without much problem. It bent to his will.

"Ha..ha..ha..I must be dreaming."

Zoran threw the broken weapon to the side.

Helio caught the bloodred ax in his hands. The treasure he was given for advancing to the third stage was now nothing more than metal meant for recycling.

He stood up and stared at Zoran. He no longer had any strength, both physically and mentally. He had lost the fight.

"I followed the Alpha God because I believed I could achieve greatness."

Helio took a stance, he no longer had the conceited look in his eyes. Zoran was no longer the weak person he thought he was. Zoran was strong.

"I still do now. Take my ultimate power, the artskill bestowed upon me by the great Alpha God."

Helio lowered his stance and grabbed something out of thin air.

The ripples of reality grew stronger and stronger until a spear made out of blazing hot fire manifested in his hands.

The flame in the spear grew more intense, but the fire seemed to become more tame. Zoran was willing to admit that it was a good execution of the technique.

"Take this. FIRE SPEAR!"

The spear flashed towards Zoran at dizzyingly fast speeds. But it could not compare to the Alpha God's world-breaking spear.

Zoran closed his eyes and took a stance, like he had done millions of times before. He dodged the tip of the spear and let it graze his cheek.

With graceful fluidity, he took a hold of the spear's handle and used the momentum to spin it around back to its sender.

The fire spear traveled back at unreasonable speeds even faster than it was originally.

It landed directly at Helio's chest, striking him with such force that pinned him to the wall.

The flame grew stronger and stronger, using its target's body as its fuel to burn at higher temperatures.

Helio smiled as his own technique consumed him. The fire spread and burned to every part of his body—melting his skin, burning his muscles, and charring his bones.

By the end, all that's left of the genius were ashes.

Zoran fell down, relieved of his survival. His mortal body was at the edge of his limit. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him awake.

He triumphed despite the odds. It was dangerous. If he didn't have the Law of Attraction and Law of Power, he didn't know if he would have survived.

The Adamantium ax was his biggest concern. Fortunately, his two Laws worked together to overcome it.

He realized at the middle of the fight that he saw a dim light in the head of the ax. It wasn't there previously.

It was only after he was damaged by the ax that he saw the Law of Power activate on the Adamantium.

This discovery led him to experiment, letting the ax hit him more and more. With every hit, the light became brighter.

Then, the critical point finally showed itself.

He used the Law of Attraction and concentrated the air at the critical point to break the structural integrity of the weapon.

He won using the Laws, and he was exhausted because of it.

It was finally time to head back and recuperate. Only then could he sell the Bleeding Diamond and buy an A-class cultivation core.

But just as Zoran stood up, his hairs stood on end. His instincts warned him of danger comparable to the threat of Supreme Beings.

DUGSH DUGSH

A ginormous scaled creature walked inside the room. Its color was the same as darkness, black in hue.

The four-legged creature crawled towards Zoran, with its golden wings retracted on its back. The spikes on its head scraped against the cave ceiling, sending rocks and debris raining down on Zoran.

Zoran was stupefied. He knew every beast and every monster in the world. But never once had he seen a creature like this.

He thought they were just a myth, a product of the mortal's imagination. Even cultivators at the apex denied their existence.

This was a dragon.

Zoran coughed blood just by being in the presence of this monster. He couldn't even look at it properly as the distortions of reality were enough to blind him.

This creature was at least an SSS-class monster or even higher.

How could such a mythical creature appear at this exact place at this exact time?

The dragons sniffed the air for a second, taking in the scenery.

But then it turned to Zoran as if it found its prey. It ignored the carnage of flesh and blood and stared right through the frail and feeble body of Zoran.

He frowned; he saw this glare before. It was the same look the Supreme Beings had when they finally caught Zoran in a trap.

It was going to kill him. He glared back at the mythical dragon. He didn't come back to life just for another mythical being to kill him.

There was no way out. The dragon could let Zoran take an hour head start, and it would still catch him. Zoran had to fight despite his muscles screaming in pain and his blood draining at dangerous limits.

He picked up his pickaxe and pointed it at the dragon. The mythical monster, in turn, let out a small exhale.

It scoffed at him. What could a mortal do to a mythical being like it?

Zoran didn't care. He raised his pickaxe and used all his strength to hit the tail of the dragon.

Amused, the dragon simply moved its tail away. An iron pickaxe wielded by a mortal would not even leave a scratch on its scales, but still moved it away from Zoran.

The ground exploded as Zoran missed the tail. But that didn't stop him. He kept aiming for the dragon's tail, even as far as chasing it.

The dragon kept itself entertained as it played a game of cat and mouse against the mortal. He couldn't catch the tail.

Finally, when it had enough, it whipped Zoran using its gigantic tail.

Every bone in Zoran's body broke, his organs were in critical condition, his internal body was a mushy mess, but his eyes were still clear.

He smiled at the dragon.

"You should have killed me."

He looked down at the ground and saw a bright shining light. It was a critical point.

Zoran was purposefully missing the dragon's tail and aimed for the critical points in the floor. He was finally finished and every crack in the ground intersected at this very point.

"Even a mythical creature wouldn't survive the Miasma."

Zoran struck the ground and a huge explosion covered him. The dragon didn't understand what was happening.

The whole ground caved in. Everything fell to the Miasma pit.

The dragon tried to fly away, but the tendrils of Miasma took a hold of its limbs and dragged it down to the bottom of the underworld.

The only thing left in the cave were echoes of fading words spoken repeatedly.

In voluntate mea ad verum aquilonem intellectus procedet.