Avrin’s augmented body trembled as he slowly stood up within the rubble of the last boulder he had been smashed into.

It could be said that Wolven’s attack knocked some sense back into Avrin’s mind causing him to slowly recover his sanity as his hunger for dark matter lessened.

“-Who is this man?-” Avrin’s eyes narrowed as he sensed that the man before him was dangerous.

The High Deity that Avrin had almost killed felt a genuine sense of relief, as he stood up and rushed over to the Deity of the Consortium, and bowed before him.

“Sire. Thank you for the assist-” The Ancient Deity cut him off with a glare and scoffed before replying.

“You’re in my way.” After saying that, a terrifying surge of mana exploded outwards as he began taking steps forward towards Avrin.

Struck with the surge of mana, The High Deity trembled with fear as he was blasted away, leaving him feeling as if he were an ant in the eyes of a giant.

“Y-yes...” Without hesitation, he quickly fled with his life thankfully intact. Even though he was filled with hatred towards Avrin, he was now slightly curious about the Deity’s identity.

As Avrin’s augmented body slowly reverted to normal, he was just about to open the door to completing the final step of his advancement. As such, he didn't dare to hesitate.

“-Astaroth...-” Avrin called out. The God Essence weapon immediately appeared within Avrin's formerly augmented right hand.

The Ancient Deity eyed the weapon and even stopped for a moment upon feeling the weapon’s ominous aura, but he then resumed walking towards Avrin unreserved.

“Daring to attack and even steal from the Consortium? You have some nerve…” The Deity casually twirled his right hand’s index finger as several glowing brown runes appeared and started circling the tip of his finger before bursting into pulses of light.

With the Deity at the center, a large slab of earth, within a one-thousand-meter radius shook and cracked as a large pattern took shape around the Deity. With several runic circles appearing, the ground began to split along the edges of the magic circles that now encircled both Avrin and Wolven; then the newly formed landmass began to rise slowly. After a few moments, the landmass shot up into the sky like a bullet.

As this occurred, Avrin remained calm as he glanced at the unidentified Deity.

“-This will be tough...-” Avrin knew that the Deity before him was much stronger than the Elder Deity he had previously fought at the Consortium’s headquarters. Neither of them moved a muscle as time passed by until they flew into outer space stopping only when they reached the planet's orbit. It was here that they would begin their battle, with the stars at their backs and the great gem of a planet and its moons as their foreground.

“Now that we won't cause any danger to those down below let's begin!” The Deity was no fool. He had a reputation to uphold and had no desire to be blamed for destroying a planet.

Avrin did not intend to wait for the Deity to act first and shot forward while brandishing Astaroth tightly in his hands. The distance between them, a good fifty meters, quickly diminished. And when Avrin was within twenty meters of the Deity, he spun rapidly and slashed Astaroth towards Wolven who only stared at Astaroth with a grave expression. This slash was filled with dark matter, and although it wasn't a Stygian Slash, it was still quite powerful as Avrin wanted to test Wolven’s defense.

“-Zerina did not exaggerate, quite an impressive weapon. I wonder where he obtained it.-” As the Ancient Deity Wolven thought of this, he held his right hand forward, conjuring transparent runes in the air that then spun rapidly until they formed a small vortex.

“Let me show you the difference between those lower Deities and me. Do you think all mages to be weak and feeble lambs? Then let’s see how you fare against my Ancient Deity Level defense magic, Mirrored Faux.” The moment these words were spoken, the space in front of him twisted and distorted.

A mirror, spanning twenty meters in length, formed from twisting illusory space displaying a reflection of Avrin's Dark Matter Wave with its reflected image except it was colored gray. The moment the Dark Matter Wave collided with the reflection, the Ancient Deity snickered inwardly as the mirror absorbed Avrin’s Dark Matter Wave and then spun to reveal its other side that showed the image of the Dark Matter Wave, and with the image no longer gray, but now the same color as Avrin’s Attack

The image of the Dark Matter Wave in the mirror began to expand until it seemed like it would come out, Wolven then said, “Release.”

Instantly, the mirror shattered into fragments of glass made from mana; and from the shattered remains, a Dark Matter Wave flew out aiming at Avrin who was shocked with the result. Even while he was fighting Wolven, his body was slowly reverting and stabilizing.

Knowing that this scuffle was simply a test, Avrin casually ducked down avoiding the reflected Dark Matter Wave.

“This is why I don’t like you mages. You all have such nasty tricks.” Avrin couldn't help but speak, this time in his normal voice, as he rose back up. He wanted to provoke his enemy into action, to manipulate his actions with simple words, but listening to Wolven's reply; it seemed to have had no effect.

“Us mages of the Fifth Universe are deemed first when it comes to destructive power, but that doesn't mean we don't have the spells that focus on utility that complement our power. If we failed to take such precautions, worms like you would sneak up on us, which is why…”

Wolven casually waved his hand, leaving a trail of blue vibrating light, and within moments, the trail shot out thin laser-like lines of mana zig-zagging as they shot forward in Avrin's direction. At first, ten shot out, but then came another fifty, then hundreds, then thousands appeared, barraging Avrin with many streams of mana.

Avrin dashed back the moment the first wave of this spell was fired. Not wanting to takes risks, he immediately willed Nebula Mist to form into a Stygian Bacillus, but to his surprise, they pierced through the Stygian Bacillus almost effortlessly and continued forward. The strange thin lasers were from an Ancient Deity and contained incredible penetrative power.

Avrin frowned and then decided to simply dodge the laser-like streams while expanding his Phantom Pulse around himself to slow them down enough so that he could easily avoid them. Dodging them as if they were bullets traveling at the speed of snails.

Not planning to give Avrin time to rest, Wolven closed his eyes for a moment and began to chant another spell.

“Fifth magic of the Third Heaven Zargith Naroun'is. Let the searing tears of this great universe burn your existence away, Telkoth Mythruna Judgement of Wrath!” His voice mysteriously echoed out within space, and moments afterward, the surroundings distorted uncontrollably as mana began to thicken chaotically around them. As the mana particles clumped together and then merged with one another, they formed blue hues of light that continued to grow at an incredible speed before their hue’s color changed to orange.

Several hundreds of the orange hues, no larger than an inch, then rushed over towards Avrin. However, Avrin merely looked at them after dodging the remaining zig-zagging lasers and frowned. He quickly Divine Stepped one-thousand meters away while thinking nothing of the attack.

The moment these orange hues impacted Avrin’s former location, a tyrannical and fiery explosion pulsed out with the shockwave so powerful it even forced Avrin back several more meters. He glanced at the place where he had Divine Stepped from with a look of astonishment.

“-A few simple words gave such a powerful result? Interesting!-” He glanced at Wolven carefully.

Wolven, of course, was also a little stunned. “-Teleportation without any mana residue or incantation? An item or an ability? Can he possess such formidable talent and magical expertise?-” Wolven gave a subtle laugh before he finally decided to stop playing around.

Both his hands extended out to his side. The space around him trembled as runic circles of all sorts and colors began to form. First, a large sphere of mana formed around him for protection. Secondly, a white stream of lightning shot towards the sphere, seemingly fusing with it while causing the sphere to emit a white static light. Then another blue runic circle cracked apart, almost like an egg, as a drop of blue light dripped down. This single centimeter drop looked as if it hit the solid ground and began to expand rapidly. It was both mysteriously potent despite its extremely small volume and cold to the point of creating a platform of ice around Wolven at the center and began to expand fifty more meters, emitting a chilling mist.

Several other runic formations then activated as a brown runic formation exploded with light, and several thousands of Metallic Spears glistening in a starlit radiance as they rushed towards Avrin, like a swarm of locusts.

Next, a white rune imploded on itself forming a white bubble of light that also fired towards Avrin. Then, a black rune began to spin almost like a coin.

Avrin was stunned. It was his first time fighting a mage with so many spells at his disposal; He found this situation to be even more peculiar as these spells were incredibly strong despite their feeble appearances. Especially the Metallic Spears which all emitted a powerful mana aura.

Brandishing Astaroth, Avrin cross-slashed it, firing two Stygian Slashes towards the swarm of Metallic Spears. As the spells collided with each other, the Stygian Slashes were forced back for a moment before slowly regaining ground, cleaving through the Metallic Spears. Of course, the spears that slipped past Avrin’s attack continued towards Avrin with incredible speed.

Avrin chose to Divine Step a few more hundred meters away due to the expanding bubble of white light heading towards him. However, to his surprise, he noticed the Metallic Spears turned and followed him, tracking his position, but regardless, he soon recovered his composure. He felt that it wasn't too surprising after all when considering his opponent’s level. He just needs to make sure that none of the spells hit him, because as small as they were, he still felt that even one of those Metallic Spears can impale a High Deity with ease.

Although him getting hit by one would be fine, being hit by tens, dozens and more would be troublesome and perhaps life-threatening. While backing away, he used his free hand to continuously conjure highly potent Void Bolts and rapidly fired them in a barrage of attacks.

The Void Bolts collided against the Metallic Spears; and while he succeeded in repelling and reducing some of them to ashes, his Void Bolts were also destroyed, resulting in explosions of brown and purple light.

Avrin had frowned before he glanced at Wolven, carefully analyzing the course of events.

“-No doubt that’s protective magic.-” Avrin suddenly vanished as he Divine Stepped near the Ancient Deity, as said Deity glanced at Avrin, with a hint of surprise in his otherwise composed eyes.

Avrin didn't dare get too close as he wasn't too sure what would happen if he entered that Frozen Area, but he pulled his left hand back extending all five of his fingers. A purple static began to gather into a glob of dark matter, twisting and turning as it was repeatedly forming a sphere, then a square, and then a triangle which even then appeared to be incredibly unstable.

The Ancient Deity quickly sensed something was awry with Avrin’s action. He opened his right hand, and within moments, a very strange staff appeared in a flicker of light. His staff’s shaft was a meter long, but the top parts were split into a meter wide semi-circle with two crystal lines leading to the center of this semi circle, connecting to a sphere that looked like a fist-sized eye.

“To make me bring my staff out, impressive!” Wolven spoke up and quickly began to act. “Praise Thou who is of the Fairest! Praise Thou who is of the Purest! Praise Thou who is the Wisest! Gather, joys of the light! I Hold the Power of the Divine for the Light Shall Stand! Lost Scripture: Veil of the King!”

After finishing his chant, mana gushed out of him in the form of a bright light, engulfing him almost like a second layer of skin. His staff shone brightly as it activated; the skin-like layer suddenly grew brighter and further morphed as it surged and thickened. It looked as if it were a coat of armor now.

“Let me see just how powerful one who dares go against the Consortium is!” Wolven taunted Avrin, waiting for his attack.

Avrin's hand suddenly became transparent, phasing out like a ghost, as he thrusted it downwards. The instant his hand clashed against empty air, Avrin tore through a layer of space itself.

“Phantom Thorns.” He called out. An abnormal ripple effect engulfed the entire area. Small cracks began to appear in space, filling Wolven with feelings of dread and gloom to the point where he began preparing another defensive spell.

“Celestial Light Wall!” Mana again surged from his body, morphing into a full, seemingly immovable barrier of light radiating a Divine-like atmosphere. The layer of space Avrin had struck suddenly trembled almost as if a massive arctic ice shelf had suddenly snapped violently. Avrin surged more dark matter within it, causing it to explode outwards in a violent flurry. Using his understanding of space and the ability to shift to the Spectral Domain, Avrin managed to incorporate several of his unique properties into his attack.

The cracks surged around space, almost like glass ready to shatter. Suddenly they began to twist and turn as small, thorn-like spikes seemed to be piercing through from the cracks, happening so fast that only Deities can track the course of events.

Suddenly, one of the larger cracks in front of Avrin exploded outwards as large sets of thorn spikes comprised of profound amount of spatial imbued dark matter surged forth towards Wolven.

“-To manipulate space, impossible!-” Wolven was stunned. Spatial abilities were as rare as rare can be, and even then, those that had such abilities could not perform feats as bizarre as this, instilling him with great worry.

It was only when the cluster of thorn-like spikes approached near Wolven's barrier that the spikes suddenly grew larger. The biggest and most ominous spike was so sharp that it pierced into a layer of space upon collision with Wolven's barrier causing a ripple of energy outwards in all directions.

This energy was from both Wolven’s and Avrin's clash of defense and attack, an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. All inhabitants of the planet below felt these aftereffects as earthquakes, mana shockwaves, storms, and various forms of disasters occurred. The whole world was experiencing an event equivalent to the Day of Reckoning with the Sarlez Kingdom bearing most of the effects as the epicenter. The conflict between deities such as this usually dragged the planet into chaos whether they wanted to or not due to their massive power.

The ground began to crack and split as earthquakes rumbled. The clouds were blown away, and the sky seemed to change as aurora-like lights began to shine.

People within cities and villages were panicking as they began to hide within their homes. The city walls were crumbling, and even some towers were turning to debris. Even the faithful started praying in fear of the end.

This catastrophe had cost many lives, but it was an inevitable outcome. Many deities and powerful mortals that were unaware of the conflict took notice as they used their types of magics to observe the fight.

When they finally managed to see a clear enough picture of what was going on, they were truly stunned. Before them was a storm of lights with bolts of purple and white flashing going back and forth.

“Y...you!...Just what sort of magic do you use!!” Wolven roared. He and Avrin were in a desperate deadlock, both of them channeling their energies into their attack and defense .

“So now you want to be social?! How pretentious!” Avrin called out as well. He was also in a desperate situation, just a step away from entering a new stage.

“You damned...” Wolven was stunned. Being a Deity with a great background and high status, many individuals respected him. Of course, it would affect his pride if one was so disobedient in his presence.

“Very well!” Wolven roared out. His mana exploded forth, creating a large rune-covered sphere of magic that covered several hundred meters around him before dispersing not only Avrin's attack but also itself as well.

“Don’t dare take me lightly!! I will show you just how powerful we High Sorcerers truly are!!” A surge of mana exploded as a multilayered runic array appeared before him. Glowing brightly it also created a distortion in the space around it; Wolven slightly lifted his staff forward.

“Divine Mirror Prison!” Suddenly, the runic array in front of Wolven flashed and disappeared; then a mysterious runic circle appeared beneath Avrin’s feet on the ground as it expanded and encircled him. The magic then extended upwards with multiple magic circles appearing and then fading out of sight. However, Avrin could still sense the floating circles that now encompassed him, and he felt the increase in restrictive force as well as some strange anomaly in space.

He could only assume that it was some barrier to stop him from dodging or attacking, and it seemed hard to deal with as well. Nonetheless, it didn’t appear to affect him much other than weighing him down a little, and his body also appeared to be absorbing the magic’s rich mana. His guard was still up though as he felt many similarities with that Mirror Faux spell from earlier.

“@[email protected]$#@%$ %#5$%@^ *$&$^&$*&*!” Wolven’s words echoed outwards. Avrin was surprised to hear this unrecognized string of words, but even weirder is that he was feeling a sense of intimidation without any explanation. He could only stare in caution as he contemplated as his guard was raised with more vigilance.

Mana started siphoning into Wolven’s staff as his voice seemed to stir the mana of the Fifth universe within this region of space, imbuing the staff with extensive power. As if to not let up, his mana then started pouring into his staff at a more rapid rate, further increasing its power. A magic circle then suddenly appeared beneath the staff.

The observing Deities were stunned from witnessing the spell at work, recognizing the spell’s origins and affiliation.

“Magic of the Third Heaven? He’s a follower of Aether Emperor Adrinius!” A High Deity exclaimed. Many whispers among them continued, while they watched the mana gather like a vortex while small amounts of aether particles began forming at its center. The strength of the mana gathered within that vortex caused the region on the planet underneath to tremble. Despite being so far up in space, the effects of the magic on the surrounding area were still visible to those on the world’s surface.

“To use such a powerful spell… Is he trying to devastate Tya’shara? Does he not fear the Planet Lord's fury?” When a Deity spoke these words, a voice replied.

“This is business of the Artificer Consortium, part of the Third Heaven’s Alliance. No Planet Lord would dare involve themselves in such matters, and surely a Planet Lord, who hasn't appeared for so long after being assigned to this world, wouldn't appear now. Once this is over, our alliance will reimburse those who have lost their belongings or followers in this event.”

The one who spoke was the Arch Thero’lizer Zerina, who was accompanied by Elorin and several others. Although secretly bluffing as she has lacked interactions with any Planet Lords, she was still confident in her words. They watched with excitement hoping to see an Ancient Deity on their side destroy their enemy.

“This is judgment, swift and simple!. Attacking an establishment belonging to the alliance of the Third Heaven, such gall!” Elorin roared out with pride and resentment.

The other Deities couldn't help but be taken back. Of course, they weren't the only individuals who appeared to be in an alliance. The others had simply decided to remain quiet and watch.

A change seemed to have suddenly occurred drawing all the Deities attention towards the two battling far ahead. Wolven's staff now appeared to be completely encased in a bright light that looked as if it were a weapon of heaven.

“Such a concentrated mass of mana…” Avrin was surprised as he glanced over at the weapon, unable to stop himself from feeling a tinge of fear as he acknowledged the weapon’s power.

“Little animal, watch as I burn away your very existence!” Wolven extended both his hands outwards as the staff suddenly hovered in front of him and began to spin rapidly, causing white static to form around it.

Avrin snickered. His mind was now much more stable than it was before, now clear enough to comprehend the situation before him.

“Heavenly Star Warrior Spear!” Wolven cried. His staff seemed to turn into a mass of misty energy that seemed very strange. This energy rapidly formed into a robed individual possessing a featureless face. This individual radiated no mana, but as he pulled his right hand back into a throwing position, everything seemed to shake.

A large amount of mana had suddenly revealed itself and surged forth within this featureless individual’s phantasmic grasp. The mana in his grasp formed into a golden spear of light, with the spear’s tip emitting a dazzling star-like radiance feeling as if it can destroy anything in its way.

“-Good!! The more, the better. Let me test your limits then.-” Avrin extended his left hand forward passively, without any hostility or action.

“H-he is going to try and guard the attack with only one hand?! How could such a delusional fool become a Deity?! This is truly a sin of life!” Elorin was flabbergasted by Avrin's action.

The other Deities also felt this was a foolish choice but weren't so outspoken as Elorin.

“Hahahaha! A single hand? Very well!!” Wolven roared out, willing the phantom-like individual to attack. The moment the order was given, the individual's hand flickered forward, launching the spear from his hand.

The golden spear was so compelling and extraordinary that it appeared almost as if it were skidding across space itself while radiating rings of sparks around it and leaving a trail of light as it shot forward towards Avrin.

“A magic spell developed by the Aether Emperor himself… I can't use it to its full extent, but it's more than enough for a worm like you!” Wolven laughed out loud. Though, his laughter died out quickly moments after. In fact, the shock and awe of all the Deities watching were soon replaced with profound fear.

“Limos,” Avrin spoke. When Limos appeared, it already understood the situation, and when its single eye glanced at the spear made of such power, Limos seemed to have taken it as an insult as its single eye grew veiny and red with anger as it shook.

The Vajra then exploded with vigorous energy, conjuring a tyrannical vortex in front of it and cracking the fabric of space once again, and even though space was quickly repairing itself, there were still remnants of the dark matter thorns Avrin had used and some bits of fractured dimensional pieces. Because of all this, Limos’ power quickly rose to its current limits.

The golden spear of light shuddered violently as it continued surging forth. It then collided with the black vortex of Limos’s mouth for a moment; Then a massive shockwave rose, trembling space for a few moments. Limos started trembling and struggling as the spear was indeed worthy of a spell created by a Primordial Entity.

However, disregarding the risks and pushing both himself and Limos to their limits, Avrin channeled more and more energy into Limos as he released all of its restraints, and bit by bit, the spear’s energy was absorbed into the maw of Limos before it was converted and redirected into Avrin’s body. Both weapon and master were taking significant damage as they continuously suffered strain from the impact of the force.

“Haaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” Repeating the cycle of regeneration and destruction, Avrin exerted, even more, power as he slowly started losing his sanity and began transforming once again. His voice warped into a distorted melody again, and with the spreading of dark matter lightning, the vortex started expanding at an uncontrollable rate. The spear continued pushing forward and seemed to push Limos back for a few moments before it finally cracked and broke apart, completely devoured with no speck of it remaining.

Limos, of course, was still hungering for even more energy. It next turned its sight towards Wolven and exploded forth towards him, while the vortex was still active.

“Hey!” Avrin called out, forcing Limos to immediately stop and disperse the vortex before hovering back within Avrin's left hand. With Limos in one hand emitting a dangerous presence, Astaroth in Avrin's right hand felt insulted by the weapon as it also began to tremble as its presence surged out.

This made all the nearby and observing deities feel a sense of impending doom. Many backed away subconsciously, and some even felt like fleeing without knowing the reason why.

“-He has another one of those weapons?!!!-” Zerina was at a loss for words, she never expected Avrin to have another which seemed more dangerous than the last.

“You…” Wolven’s expression flickered and paled. This attack was his powerful trump card, expecting it to truly finish Avrin off, but in doing so, he wasted 50% of his full mana capacity despite fueling the spell with 20% of the surrounding mana. Not to mention, with the earlier skirmish causing him to lose almost 10%, he has no doubt that he could no longer beat Avrin who seemingly appears to be unfatigued despite the conflict.

Soon, Limos began to glow as it consumed the last drop of energy, converting into dark matter, enough to replenish what Avrin had lost and even fuel that the last step he needed as well as much more. His body started trembling for a moment as his grip on both Astaroth and Limos loosened. Both weapons were absorbed quickly into his inner workings.

His body distorted and twisted before exploding outwards with a tremendously large amount of heat and mysterious force. Wave after wave of much weakened but farther reaching Dimension Quakes were released as all of his particles suddenly woke up, thus completing the last step entering Type 15 Particles.

Avrin's physical form at this moment was discarded as these new particles all starting metamorphosing and stabilizing together. Synchronizing with one another, each particle-assisted the others and caused the amplification of the strange energies’ creation and release. Not only that, but the containment fields were also strengthening before producing more and more additional layers which started spreading across each particle.

Currently, in the place where Avrin had previously stood was a massive black rift of darkness that if gazed into, it can make one feel as if they’ll lose their soul. The Deities were confused and weren't sure what to think. They had seen strange things in their lives but nothing like this. A powerful magic spell quickly absorbed was one thing, two weapons that made them feel a sense of dread to the point of wanting to flee was another, and now this strange occurrence.

The rift that had formed was, in fact, Avrin. His consciousness remained, and the rift was formed from all his particles, including his control particles, after ultimately converting them and finishing this final step. He was now within range of Type 15 particles as his strength increased immensely.

‘What is this dangerous feeling?!’ This was the feeling Wolven felt as he clenched his teeth and turned around to flee downwards from space towards the planet's surface and the Consortium’s headquarters with the intent of using the Teleportation Rune. This Teleportation Rune could be used several times before it needed to be replaced, so it is still viable for his use.

He shot downwards ignoring everyone else.

“High Sorcerer…” Zerina called out with worry and astonishment, aware of the direction he was heading to.

“Shut your mouth! You never told me he was this dangerous! We will see how I deal with you when I return!” His voice thundered out with anger as he stepped into the teleportation rune, vanishing into thin air upon activation in brief flash of blinding light.