The group had been bracing themselves for an explosion that never came.

Instead, when they peeked behind their shields and barriers, they saw a tall, dark figure standing near the lifeless, slumped over body of the superior.

Not being exploded to bits was quite shocking. But seeing a dark figure definitely wasn’t. If anything, it was surprising that he hadn’t come out much sooner.

“Well, thank you for saving us. Garantep, I presume.” James said sarcastically.

“Oh, it was my pleasure. I’d never let him blow you up. Then I wouldn’t be able to drain every ounce of mana out of your bodies and souls as I torture you for eternity.” Garantep answered with a sly smile.

“That’s so cliché I’m about to vomit from second-hand embarrassment.” James rolled his eyes. “You even look cliché. Are all of you agents just tall bastards covered in Darkness? I mean, I know I’m no Greek god, but have some individuality for Christ’s sake.”

James had genuinely been expecting more. He could feel that Garantep was definitely a very strong foe, but the fact that he walked and talked like a cliché actually bothered him for some reason.

“How can a being be so diabolical? You used all your allies merely to wear us out, you watched as they died, just so you can have a better chance at beating us?” As she looked into his cold, dark eyes, Lunaris gasped. She could see that despite how cartoonish it sounded, the evil within him was all too real.

“If you were smarter, you would’ve let one of those chumps kills you.” Garantep continued, licking his lips as he spoke. “Because now, I’ll be the one to own your souls for eternity. You especially, of course.” He pointed at James. “You’re the perfect battery, and now that you’ve level up by killing all this trash, you’ll be an even better battery.”

The group gasped.

James checked his status. He had indeed gained a lot of levels. He was now level 231 after killing so many agents and even the superiors.

He even felt a lot stronger than when they had arrived to the city, but that just made the whole situation weirder.

“Seriously, you waited for them all your allies to die just so I could gain some levels?” James asked, not entirely sure if he properly understood what happened. It didn’t sound right.

“No, of course not. That would be asinine.” Garantep answered and laughed. “The trash should’ve killed you long ago, the fact that they died instead is their fault.” He spat on the superior’s corpse.

“No, the reason I didn’t step in earlier is this.” Garantep raised his hands.

And suddenly, the world seemed to have turned dark.

The Stygian city was already as dark as a place could get, even though it was technically daytime. But now, it seemed like the light itself was being snuffed out.

“I’ve seen this trick before.” James mocked him.

“Oh, I don’t think you did.” Garantep smiled.

Suddenly, mana, souls and Darkness from all the corpses of the dead agents and superiors started gathering towards Garantep.

“You thought your cute little Pox could absorb all the energy from this trash? You haven’t even scratched the surface!” He shouted, and the energy began rotating around him. The vortex was spiraling violently around him, the ground itself being absorbed into it.

Wind, lightning, fire, earth. Every conceivable element was thrown into disarray. Even space itself looked like it was being torn apart.

The gargantuan amount of energy covered the entire sky. The ground was rumbling, thunders were echoing, lightning was striking thousands of times per second.

James could even feel some very familiar energies swirling around the vortex. “The Pox?”

“You didn’t think you could just use such a convenient little spell without any consequences?” Garantep mocked James.

James pounded the ground in anger. He had a feeling it was a bit too good to be true. He had killed hundreds of agents with it, and even most of the superiors had fallen prey to the Pox.

He thought that the cloud that was the Pox simply evaporated after losing to the first superior. But now it looked like the reason it vanished was Garantep himself.

His self-developed skills had proven to be very useful time and time again. And the Pox itself had been just as useful as the rest of James’s self-made skills. He or his friends definitely would have succumbed to the superiors if not for the Pox killing them first.

But it looked like this time, his get out of jail free card wasn’t quite so free.

James could feel a gargantuan amount of energy swelling within the vortex. Chaos energy, dark energy. Everything the Pox had absorbed was now going into Garantep, along with any other ounce of energy within the city that James didn’t even know was possible to absorb.

Even the first superior was being absorbed. Now James was wishing that he had managed to detonate himself.

“And this is another reason why I waited so long to face you. Now watch how a real man absorbs energy.” Garantep mocked.

Within seconds, the energy that covered the entire sky, coalesced into a single, small pellet within his palms. Despite being tiny, it was so dense, containing so much energy that even Garantep looked like he was having trouble holding onto it.

Loud screams echoed from the pellet. Dozens of faces seemed to be forming and disappearing every second on the surface of the pellet, violently morphing it, as if they were trying to break out.

With a swift movement, Garantep threw it into his mouth. The world turned dark again. James couldn’t see anything no matter how much mana he was pumping into his eyes.

When he regained his eyesight seconds later, the storm and vortex had disappeared.

He was expecting Garantep to attack them before he could even see again, but what he noticed was much stranger.

Garantep looked entirely different. His dark body had turned red hot, his skin cracking from the heat alone.

Seconds later, in a bizarre and grotesque turn of events, Garantep’s body exploded. But where there was one Garantep before, now there were two identical Garanteps in his place. However, the bizarre display didn’t end there. The two Garanteps turned red hot again, and their bodies exploded once more. And then there were four. And then eight. And sixteen. Before long, the group found themselves with 32 Garanteps standing in front of them.

Garantep had already been a tall, imposing figure. He was covered in Darkness from head to toe, to the point that even in this city drenched in Darkness, he seemed to be sucking the light out of his surroundings.

And yet, he now seemed even darker. His 32 bodies looked downright unreal, more like a monster out of a dream than a real, existing physical entity. One could barely make out his limbs from the Darkness that enveloped him, distorting space around him with his mere presence. Out of all his features, only his creepy, mocking, ever-shifting smile could be seen with clarity, along with the unblinking eyeballs that seemed to peer into your very soul.

“I must thank you, really.” Garantep roared. “That trash was just taking up space.” Garantep gestured towards the battlefield, where hundreds of his agents had died. “An entire city, all of them useless. But look who I’m telling it to, the person who killed them. Now most of their power belongs to me, all thanks to you.”

“You sacrificed all your comrades just so you could absorb their power? I heard you lot were heartless, but this is just stupid. Surely there are better ways to gain power, while also keeping all your subordinates alive and well?” James asked incredulously.

“I don’t expect you to get it.” Garantep answered, all 32 of him spitting towards James. “You humans have such limited minds. You can’t get it through your thick skulls that only the strongest matters, and the strongest deserves to gain power by any means necessary. Those fools weakened you, while they empowered me. What other possible need could I have for them? I found the perfect use for them. And now I’ll find the perfect use for you.” Garantep licked his lips again.

“Sorry, that still makes little sense to me.” James answered as he looked around in confusion. He then looked at his friends. “Does this make any sense to you? All those agents were basically an army, surely he could’ve used them to find many sources of energy. They could’ve brought him thousands of victims. And yet he just let us kill them so he could absorb their energy after they’ve weakened us? Seems far-fetched.”

“I think he’s just that egocentric. Not like he has a reason to lie, he thinks he’s gonna kill us soon.” Lunaris answered while shaking her head.

“Wrong on both accounts, sweetheart.” Garantep smiled. “I’m not egocentric at all. It’s all for the greater good, don’t you see? All our side does is for the greater good. We’re even taking over your planet and killing you all for the greater good. You’re the egocentric ones for not seeing it, otherwise you’d just let us kill you for the greater good. Oh well, it’s no big deal, it’s not like we need your permission.” All 32 of him licked his teeth ominously.

“How could this possible be for the greater good? Even with the nimblest of mental gymnastics, I don’t see how you could possibly claim your side is doing this all for the greater good?” Helios shouted as his eyes turned into fire, infuriated at the ridiculous statement.

“Again, I don’t expect your limited minds to understand.” Garantep shook his head. “This world, this universe is flawed. All of them are. But when you give your lives to us, we get stronger. And we’ll get stronger and stronger, to the point we even reach godhood. And when we take over millions of planets and universes, allowing us to reach power countless realms above even godhood, that’s when we can create true paradise. A perfect world, a perfect universe. Free of any possible problems. A true utopia.” Garantep said while actually shedding a tear.

“I can’t tell, is he mocking us?” Lunaris asked. “He can’t be serious, can he? That plan is asinine. Killing untold trillions. No, quadrillions, quintillions, or even more. And then still claiming it’s for the greater good? I have no words, how do you even respond to that? And what’s with that tear, is that sarcastic?”

“Honestly, I’m way beyond confused. At this point I’d prefer to just fight already.” Helios replied.

“Wait, I must hear this. You don’t often hear a plan this stupid.” James continued. “So you really believe that you’re killing so many innocents, taking over the planet, and just genuinely being murderous psychopaths, all for the greater good?”

“Yes, and I don’t see what’s so hard to believe. You humans are the egocentric ones, thinking your lives are so important that you can’t be killed for the greater good. Is your puny little life really worth more than creating heaven? No matter. Want it or not you’ll all be sacrificed, and you’ll serve the cause either way.”

“Ok, I’ve heard enough. Clearly the agents are much more deranged than we thought.” James rolled his eyes. “The worst part is that I think he’s serious, as ridiculous as their plan sounded.”

“He is serious.” Lunaris shook her head. “I’ve heard about this plan before. But there are so many competing rumors and disinformation that I didn’t realize it was actually true. It’s all the more reason why we must wipe him out.” The group raised their guard and prepared for battle.

“We’ll actually use the Phalanx and wrecking ball this time around, guys.” Helios shouted. “There’s only one of him! Well, there’s 32 of him, but that’s still much better than hundreds of enemies. We can do this, all of us together, we can win!”

“What a crazy worldview.” James shook his head while preparing a Javelin. “I can’t believe your side can actually think like this. And you’re not even a hivemind or anything, you’re even eating each other just to gain power. Makes no sense to me.”

“It makes no sense to you because you’re just that egocentric and limited in your worldview, obsessed with life. What’s life compared to divinity and beyond?” Garantep asked with genuine tears in his eyes as he imagined the beauty of his plan.

“It’s not even the evilness of it all that makes me want to vomit, it’s how cartoonish you are that’s really making me sick.” James sighed while conjuring Javelins.