Chapter 15

Illusory Demon Realm.

It was said that every forest has its distinctive personality, and one can never feel the same as the other, as if the collection of the consciousness of the trees and the beasts living inside. Gave birth to the forest's identity. Deep within the primal forest of the Illusory Demon Realm, where humans rarely tread, it was the same, it felt primal, untamed, and unwelcoming. In the past, chaos and conflict spread through the continent before the coming of the demon emperor who unified the races. The family bloodline allowed them to remain in power and check the balance between the races. Nowadays humans, demons, and elves live together, having forgotten the wars they waged against each other in the past.

BOOM!!

A giant lion beast was shot through the air crashing several trees along its way before hitting the ground, sliding for tens of meters, its fate unknown.

'' Pesky beast! '' a wild sort of a man walked close to the beast. When he stood in front of the fallen lion, he punched the stomach of the beast shaking it from its dazed state, his punch didn't stop and pierced through, making the lion roar in extreme pain, after feeling the inside of the beast with his hands, he extracted his hand exposing a shining profound beast core in his hand.

'' An overlord Beast core… Could be useful '' 

Radahn lifted his head, looking at the damage he had done to the surroundings. Beast corpses were thrown all over the forest floor, trees were crushed, and blood was flowing from the oversized beast leaving an unsettling metallic smell in the air.

He was bare-chested, exposing the sculpted muscles he usually hides. It had been almost a year and a half since he began his journey. He first had to cross the sea between the continents, he enjoyed the first part of his journey where he dived deep into the sea and found many ancient beasts on the verge of achieving the divine way, unfortunately, their thousand years of living peacefully ended with a punch to the head or in a flash of profound technique.

Radahn sat on the corpse of the lion feeling bored, nothing so far managed to challenge him he had to suppress his strength to enjoy the fights, but like usual no matter how much he tried the fight would end quickly. Which resulted in today's massacre, he revealed only an overlord's profound aura which attracted many beasts when they caught a whiff of his human scent. 

Radahn rested for a few minutes like this, thinking about his future actions

' I've already grown past the limits of this planet, it'll only take a thought for me to step into the divine way. According to the Rage God's knowledge, the level after this is the Divine origin realm, and at that level, my Vitaly energy will undergo a deification process... An interesting development… after it comes to the Divine Soul realm which I'll completely skip due to my soul qualities. '

Radahn stood up and began extracting profound cores from the beast, he dirtied his hands in blood and thought 

' I should return, I've wasted too much time with no huge discoveries to speak of… '

Lost in his thoughts he continued his work when all of a sudden a huge tremor shook the earth, he paused and lifted his head.

' What's happening now? ' The ground shaking increased in intensity as cracks started spreading from where he fought the beasts and kept expanding to the far distance, trees were uprooted and the ground split revealing their long veins. Radahn sensed something coming out beneath him, he jumped several tens of meters when all of a sudden a huge arm burst off the ground it kept expanding and reached Radahn in an instant and slapped toward him. 

Radahn became excited when he felt the force behind the slap, he reared his punch and struck against the palm.

BOOM!! 

When the punch and the huge punch collided a huge explosion followed it, the wind exploded from the epicenter of the collision for tens of kilometers uprooting the earth and everything along its way.

Radahn and the huge palm remained in stalemate for a few seconds before Radahn's eyes started shining gold, he roared as he pushed with his arm, sending the palm crashing to the ground

He remained in his position looking down expecting something to come out, and he wasn't disappointed when he saw the arm propel itself against the ground and push its buried figure with an explosion of dirt and dust.

Radahn's eyes widened in surprise as he lifted his head to look at the colossal creature in front of him, standing before him was a pale giant, its skin looked corroded as if it had been buried for a long time, and it had dark sunken eyes with dull strands of once dark-hair. It was wearing a torn leather armor covering only the belly and the lower body parts.

The Giant lifted his head to the sky and roared, its pained roar revealing the deep resentment it held within, whether it was roaring at something up there or at its current state, remained a mystery.

Radahn observed the giant and concluded that this wasn't a blue pole star native. When he collided against him he sensed no cultivation base, but the immense physical power within the giant… only those who had stepped into the Divine way and trodden on it for many years could be his rivals. 

The Giant lowered his head, and once more roared as he struck with his fist toward Radahn. The strike was lightning-quick, the wind howled on its path, and the fabric of space started tearing due to the immense power behind it.

Radahn flashed in violet light and appeared several tens of meters above the palm, leaving it to hit the ground in a huge explosion that resulted in a several-kilometer-wide hole.

' It had lost its mind, just what happened to it ' Radahn looked at the giant who lost his balance due to the tremors. And remember where he once stood witness, to his fall… It stirred something hiding deep within, the crazed giant and the beast of the wailing dunes.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then a frightening presence started emanating from him, the giant instantly froze in its place. It kept spreading from one continent to the other as everyone stopped what they were doing and trembled with deep fear.

Then under the watchful eyes of the illusory demon realm inhabitants and every god soul hiding on the planet. A gigantic tree materialized. It started expanding quickly from tens of meters tall, to to hundreds, of meters, and it kept growing until it reached the boundaries of outer space. It shone on the continent in a soothing golden light, but none of them felt comfortable looking at it for when they looked at the branches swinging lightly, they felt a deep terror inside, not the kind they felt when they faced the strong, but the terror felt when faced with the extinction of life.

' A God soul… ' The Azure Dragon, the phoenix, and the Golden Crow, all reached the same conclusion as they tried their best to hide their presence.

Radahn brought his hands together and formed a seal, then muttered '' You once were mighty, and now here you are. I grieve for you, we once shared the same fate… let me send you to rest… ''

'' Soul Extinction '' Then he for the first time unleashed the soul arts he created. His eyes turned extremely violet, He raised his hand a large branch followed his actions then he brought it down.

Everyone who was seeing the battle from afar felt horrified when they saw the gigantic branch hundreds of kilometers long swinging down toward the continent. The Demon Imperial city immediately raised its Profound barrier and the Other cities followed suit, hoping to survive what was about to happen.

In the blink of an eye, the branch reached deep within the primal forest... But strangely no impact happened, but in the next moment, they heard a loud roar that shook the continent.

Radahn watched silently as the branch pierced the giant's chest without leaving any wound, and once it reached his corroded soul the branch lightly tapped it, and the soul disappeared without causing any disturbance as if that touch erased it from existence, leaving but violet light that merged with the world.

He sighed, watching the giant fall to the ground, stirring a huge cloud of dust. 

'' Rest, You've fought enough '' He raised his hand and opened a huge spatial dimension no one could reach and sent the corpse inside to rest for eternity.

He floated down to where the giant originally burst from, he felt a spatial disturbance in the area, so he followed it and reached an area where he found a hole in space or a spatial node.

' This must be the place that the giant came from … ' He reached with his sense a felt world exists behind this spatial node. He reached for it with his hand, and in the next second, he was swallowed inside.

Radahn opened his eyes to a wonderful sight before him, He was standing in the middle of a plaza, and surrounding him were gigantic stone houses easily reaching hundreds of meters tall, the ground shook as giants passed above him, seemingly living an ordinary life. Intertwined against the buildings were veins of giant trees that cast a shade over the streets with their giant leaves.

He moved forward and watched, the giants were laughing and conversing with each other, some were carrying giant pieces of rock, some were playing with their kids. The world looked vast and beautiful and its citizens reflected this with their smiles as they carried on. But Radahn didn't smile at all.

He continued walking until he reached a pillar that extended far beyond the clouds and sighed.

He released a bit of soul power, and suddenly everything behind him started to vanish one by one leaving nothing but a desert under a scorching sun. Sitting before him was a skeleton hundreds of meters tall, it lay against the pillar which was the only real thing in this world.

'' My Dream… it ended '' A feeble voice suddenly came from the skeleton, as a blue fire ignited inside its chest

Radahn remained silent and then opened his mouth 

'' Was that what your home looks like? '' 

'' Yes, Rage God inheritor that was my world or at least what it used to look like before the disaster struck. I often long for it in my slumber. ''

Radahn felt surprised when the giant discerned his identity so he asked 

'' How did you know that I'm The Rage God Inheritor? '' 

'' I can tell… because I once used to serve him. I followed him in battle when the war began, but alas look where it got me... His fate was no worse than mine as he was poisoned by the myriad tribulation, I didn't know what happened after, but with you here it means only one thing… as for how I can tell who you are, I know his bloodline and his unique physique. ''

'' What was the cause of the war? "Radhan asked, feeling curious about the matter.

'' Sit Young One, I'll tell you if you want to know. ''

Radahn did as he said and began listening, He talked about the ancestral god, The four Great Devil Emperors, and The four Creation Gods, how they lived in the early eras, the humans, the giants, and the various races, the seven profound treasures and the war that followed.

'' … And after Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations released its poison, our era came to an end, and I met my death alongside my clansman here." '' 

Radahn had a hard time absorbing this revelation, the extinction of the god and the devil race reminded him once again, of what was important, Power… enough power to be left untouched no matter what came his way.

He sighed '' and why are you still lingering here? I met one of your clansmen outside this world, he had lost his mind. But at least i gave him peace. ''

The skeleton's soul light dimmed a little as he said '' That was my brother, he had gone mad due to the poison… Thank you…''

After pausing for a second he continued '' As for why i didn't pass on, i have still some lingering attachment in this world. I left some young members of my clan on a distant planet, and I can't help but worry if they survived they are our last hope We left to continue our legacy '' 

"You and I have connections beyond eras, can you do me a favor and check on them for me? I won't let your effort go to waste. You practice the Great way of the Buddha.. I can help you reach the next level as long as you promise me to do this. ''

Radahn listened carefully and asked, "But how will I find them?" ''

'' I'll give you a dimensional profound stone that will lead you toward where I left them… '' the skeleton replied.

'' I agree, but I must first make a breakthrough to the divine origin realm. ''

'' You can do it here, I'll watch over you. ''

Radahn closed his eyes and began his transformation, he didn't let his guard down and spread his senses around him to react to any action.

The progress was smooth as he had already reached the limits of the mortal realm. The deification of his Vital energy took about twenty-four hours to complete after which Radahn opened his eyes, and they shone with golden light.

'' Now let's begin, if it were anyone else cultivating the seventh stage of the technique they would die, but you as the inheritor can surely do it ''

The skeleton finished its word, conjured a drop of blood, and sent it floating to Radahn

'' This is a condensation of the blood essence that I managed to salvage before my death, absorb it, and circulate your technique. ''

Radahn let the drop of blood touch his forehead and disappear inside his body, He closed his eyes and started circulating the technique, at first the drop of blood just flowed inside his body, but when started practicing it began dissolving and he felt like a volcano erupted inside his body, as golden light shone inside of him and greedily absorbed the blood essence, He felt his body starting to undergo a transformation when certain runes started spreading on his bones, muscles and the surface of his skin. 

He remained seated for a whole month without moving, and in the evening when the sun was setting he opened his eyes, His body flashed with golden light and the runes on his skiing withdrew inside his body. He felt the change within, the difference between the sixth level and the seventh level was like the difference between heaven and earth not only did his physical strength reach a terrifying level incomprehensible to many, but his Divine Body of rage finally showed its qualities. He peered inside his body and found four kinds of burning flames circling around his heart. Mainly Golden, Crimson, White, and black.

Radahn triggered the first golden flame and felt his body burning in fire, his eyes turned golden and runes spread from his neck to his arms, and to his legs. 

He delivered a punch to the air and watched space fabric crumble and crack.

' Five times physical empowerment, not bad, but for now I can only ignite the first flame '

'' Congratulations on your advancement… it had been too long since I saw this color… you are truly his complete inheritor… now I'll pass to you something, please give it to my clan when you find them ''

The Skeleton shuddered when a large portion of the soul flames inside his chest separated and compressed into a dark blue orb, while the pillar behind him shrank down to a 3-meter height.

'' Please, give them to my clan… here's a Dimensional profound stone and a few spare ones for you to use.. '' the minuscule soul flame shook and said feebly

'' Goodbye, and Thank you '' and with those last few words, the skeleton crumbled into dust as the soul flame faded.

Radahn stood for a few seconds under the unknown constellations in the sky, and then he waved his hand and collected everything in his storage space.

''Goodbye, I'll make sure to fulfill my promise '' 

The wind blew against the remains carrying them to join the world.