Zieg was blown away by Ryzel’s breakthrough, sent crashing into the edges of the crater resulting in another pit forming.

The damage the crash caused created a moment of opportunity for Zieg, there was a slight lapse with the fragment of the demon god’s soul’s connection with his body and he fought back for control over his body. His renewed resolve amplified his willpower by many times and this time he was the one that was absorbing the soul of the god fragment. It was slight, almost miniscule, but Zieg could sense fear coming from the god fragment. Its existence was slowly being erased and assimilated into Zieg’s soul.

(You WILL regret this!) the fragment shouted into his mind, conceding control over his body and retreating back into his realm of consciousness.

Zieg successfully regained back control over his body, albeit somewhat tainted by absorbing a portion of the god fragment’s power. He was overflowing with a red-colored mana, much more destructive and uncontrolled than what his body was capable of handling. His skin turned red and his veins bulged, as if his body would burst due to its sheer power at a moment’s notice. He intuitively knew that this power was extremely dangerous and unstable, and that he couldn’t yet utilize it to its fullest potential.

Across from him near the center of the crater Ryzel wasn’t faring much better. Ryzel was bleeding from his seven orifices, looking up into the sky and screaming in agony with veins bulging as well. It also looked like the limits of his body couldn’t handle the power of his breakthrough into the transcendent realm.

Although the power of a demigod was much higher than that of a being in the transcendent realm, it was unknown whether a small absorbed fraction of a demigod’s power was enough to contend with them.

The two took off into the air at the same time, and collided with each other in an instant. Red mana mixed with blue, forming a purple aurora over the horizon.

The force behind the pair’s blows were so destructive that the resultant air force blew apart buildings, reducing them to rubble. All the other participants in the war felt like they were ants, feeling like they were caught within a hurricane and were helplessly propelled back miles away. Even ordinary immortals would be helpless to change the outcome in a battle of this scale.

Their exchange of blows in midair shattered and broke one another’s bones, destroyed one another’s organs, only to be regenerated and repaired and broken repeatedly in a vicious cycle.

Their bodies were on the precipice of bursting open completely, causing an explosion of mana that would decimate the entire continent.

Zieg and Ryzel were utterly relentless, neither yielding an advantage to the other.

At this point Galvane was nearly entirely destroyed, save for the one building that held the headmaster’s office.

To go so far as to burn away his own life force, Ryzel’s resolve was clearly conveyed to Zieg. This was because he thought he was strangely relatable to Ryzel. It was like he was looking back at his past self, only now his goals had changed. Zieg had also done the same and unhesitantly burnt away his life force in his previous life in his efforts to completely massacre humans, but this is also where Ryzel held the disadvantage. Ryzel was continuously using up his life force to maintain his temporary breakthrough into the transcendent realm whereas Zieg wasn’t using up his life force whatsoever, and was instead drawing upon the power of the demon god’s fragment he had absorbed.

Although Ryzel held a disadvantage in constantly trying to maintain his form, his movements weren’t affected in the slightest and he held his ground against Zieg, always inflicting back the damage he took.

A kick dislocated a neck, only to be found back in its original position. A punch shattered a jaw, only to be healed within an instant. Their trade of blows ravaged Galvane in its entirety.

Corpses and rubble littered the ground and surrounded the two within a ring.

After an indeterminate amount of time passed by, the two separated from one another and slowly floated back onto the demolished ground while panting heavily.

Zieg and Ryzel’s bodies looked undamaged, completely pristine from the constant healing, but the actual toll on their bodies were tremendous.

Zieg’s body staggered, he could no longer remain standing and collapsed directly onto the ground, barely conscious. Despite that, his body was still continuously absorbing the mana from the atmosphere and was on the verge of exploding from being unable to contain it all.

Ryzel was still bleeding from his seven orifices. He vomited mouthfuls of blood, staining the ground around him in it. Yet he still stood tall.

Ryzel’s lips curved upwards into a smile while staring at the collapsed Zieg. Zieg strained his neck to stare him back in the eye while lying motionless on the ground.

Somehow, this smile of Ryzel’s differed from his previous devious and arrogant smirks. It held no hatred or disdain within it. This smile contained a hint of respect and various other emotions.

Inexplicable emotions.

Among which were respect, defeat, resignation, acceptance, and many other emotions.

Ryzel could no longer maintain his stay in the transcendent realm. He had nearly exhausted all of his life force. The four pairs of wings formed of mana on his back began to slowly fade away.

As his wings were fading away, Ryzel spoke loudly in a stern and haunting voice,

“Zieg, I’ll hold you to the path you chose for peace… If you let us down again, I will never forgive you…”

Ryzel’s eyes slowly closed while staring directly into Zieg’s eyes, and…

He collapsed.

Strange emotions welled up within Zieg as he gazed upon Ryzel’s downed body. His gaze too contained respect, and regret. Regret for having lost such a determined man that held onto his beliefs unwaveringly until the end.

Zieg felt like the demon god’s power within him was growing out of control. Soon he would no longer able to keep it restrained from engulfing the continent.

…

Inside the headmaster’s office in Galvane’s only remaining building, and elderly man was sipping tea from a teacup with his pinky-finger raised. He sighed exaggeratedly, “Looks like I’ll have to overexert myself for the first time in ninety years,” and teleported out.

…

Chase appeared in front of the collapsed Zieg.

“Look at the mess you made, who do you think has to clean this shit up?” Chase chastised the barely conscious Zieg.

Zieg strained his neck to look up at Chase, and his face contorted into a weird expression. It was as if the expression said, ‘What the fuck is this imbecile saying?’

“Oh well, I can’t have you exploding. Although I usually wouldn’t get involved, consider it a favor to another possessor of a demon god’s fragment. I don’t want this continent destroyed yet,” Chase sighed once more. Then, he activated Sloth’s ability.

What happens when one reaches their maximum mana capacity? They could either overdraw and suffer from backlash later, or the mana that their body automatically absorbs from their surroundings gets cycled back and diffused into the atmosphere. So what of Chase who had never overdrawn or released mana back into the atmosphere for ninety years?

This was the special ability he had gained after being consumed by Sloth. Chase had no limitations. His soul contained an endless space, and he was constantly accumulating mana like a generator. The more he did nothing and lazed about, the more powerful he became. For ninety years he had never gotten into a serious battle or seriously utilized his mana.

So how powerful was the Legendary Astral Mage Chase who was partially a demigod?

Five thousand times. The current him had five thousand times the aggregate mana available at his disposal than an ordinary immortal.

“I’ll put this favor on your tab,” Chase said, while bringing both his hands up into the air, channeling absurd amounts of mana into them, and ripping apart space itself.

He had created a rift in dimensions with his bare hands.

He walked over to the prone Zieg, picked him up, and threw him directly into the rift in space.

“I’ll come pick you up when you’ve stabilized~” Chase shouted after him while skipping away merrily.

…

A year passed by within the blink of an eye.

Galvane was easily rebuilt, this time even more grandly by Chase.

After spending some time stabilizing his body within the dimensional rift, Zieg discussed the affairs of the continent with Chase.

Through various talks and the backing of Chase, Zieg had managed to draw the nations and powers of the continent into an armistice agreement and peace treaty. Hostilities were ceased between various races, and demons were allowed to return to other parts of the continent.

Some demons have even ended up enrolling into Galvane.

Although discrimination between races was still prominent and could occasionally be seen, the overall situation was much better than the years before it. Tensions eased, and the situation only grew better with time. Demons were successfully assimilating back into other parts of the continent.

People were exhausted. They had grown tired of all the years of constant warring. There were times when other races questioned why they were even fighting in the first place. This made the process proceed much more smoothly.

Over the span of the year, Zieg was slowly absorbing and consolidating a part of the demon god’s soul. The larger portion of which remained hiding within his realm of consciousness. He was able to faintly perceive the other possessors of the awakened fragments, and learned information from the bits of the fragment’s memories, including information about Raphael and the Heaven Arena.

Through these pieces of information, Zieg was beginning to suspect a few things.

(Nine years from now the next Heaven Arena governed by the god Raphael will open, nine years from now is also the appointed time Julius made to invite me into Paragon, this connection… Is Paragon participating in the Heaven Arena?) he thought while walking aimlessly across the school. He had almost gotten used to the girl who was stalking and peering at him from afar.

Zieg’s thoughts were disrupted by loud voices and laughter in front of him.

“I can’t believe you used to be number 1, you won’t even fight back! Hahaha!” a large male laughed while kicking a figure lying on the ground. A crowd surrounded the scene in a ring.

“It’s no fun when he won’t even react, whatever, let’s go,” the large man said while leaving, bringing the crowd of students along with him.

The surviving students from the invasion from a year ago were much more powerful compared to before, a few even managing to reach immortality during the year. The assault on Galvane was akin to a trial by fire.

After the crowd dispersed, Zieg saw the figure that was being kicked.

The boy was lying flat on his back, staring at the sky with lifeless eyes. He had white windswept hair with cold features, and Zieg recognized this person as someone who used to possess an exceedingly arrogant disposition. This was the boy Zieg called Frosty.

A girl with blonde hair and pointed ears came running towards the unmoving on the ground boy.

“Cain, are you okay?!” Daria kneeled on the floor next to him and asked worriedly.

Cain barely acknowledged the girl, only briefly moving his line of sight to meet her before bringing it back towards the sky. This was how he behaved ever since the demon invasion.

Looking at the pitiful scene, Zieg shook his head in disappointment. It was clear to him that Cain had lost his motivation and drive after suffering a shocking defeat from him and Ryzel.

The more people view themselves a genius, the more of an impact they suffer when proven they aren’t, or when experiencing their first defeat.

(This is something that he needs to come to terms with himself. He needs to understand that most of the times, in a battle, victory or defeat holds little meaning. What’s most important is that you survive, having another opportunity to return to take back your losses and have the last laugh in the end) Zieg thought to himself.

In his past life wandering the wilderness, there were many times when he had been forced to flee and suffered defeats in battle, but he had always survived them to return stronger than before until his encounter with Volheilm.

Zieg brushed his thoughts aside, thinking it was too much of a pity, and approached Cain.

“What happened to you, Frosty?” Zieg asked while looking down on him, casting a shadow over his face.

Cain just lifelessly directed his eyes towards Zieg, not speaking at all.

Zieg shook his head and said, “You used to be someone who was capable of giving me a challenge, but now look at you. You’re pathetic. The you right now isn’t even worthy of being my opponent. Is that all you’re worth? You’re wasting away.”

Cain smiled bitterly. He knew that this was Zieg’s way of trying to change his attitude. He was being consoled by someone he had considered an enemy. Cain thought to himself, (Hope’s right. I’m pathetic. What am I doing? I’m strong. I even managed to acquire a legendary artifact that my clan was incapable of acquiring with their resources. My clan! The clan gathering!)

Cain was shocked back into awareness when he recalled his clan gathering. It was arriving soon. Too soon. And what was he doing? Gazing at the sky lifelessly. He picked himself up off the ground and stood tall, dusting off his clothes and stretching his muscles.

“Shut up, I don’t need pity from you,” Cain replied coldly while staring straight at Zieg.

Daria was shocked, this was the first time he reacted that much to anything ever since his battle with Zieg and Ryzel, (He’s back) she thought happily.

“That’s the Frosty I knew,” Zieg nodded.

Cain felt a spontaneous urge, and chose to act on it.

“My name is Cain Weiss, not Frosty, Hope. My Weiss clan gathering is coming up soon in the Weiss Highlands of the immortal continent. Do you three want to come along?” Cain said with a frown. He looked at the shadow of a building, which hid Alcantis, turned his head to coldly stare at Zieg, then finally turned to look at Daria. Daria was one of the few that managed to become an immortal after the invasion.

When Cain’s sight landed on her, his face filled with warmth, and he made a gentle smile. Perhaps the first genuine smile he had ever made in his life. After his defeat and despair, the ones who followed and praised him as a genius all left him, some even among the ones from before mocking him. She was the only one who stuck with him up until now, and only now had he realized this.

Looking at Cain’s smile, Daria felt her face heat up, and she fidgeted on the spot.

(This is an opportunity for me) Zieg thought. Ever since his battle with Ryzel, he felt like he hadn’t made any progress in his cultivation. He was… stagnating. He knew that although he may be one of the strongest few on the Grandiel continent, he was an insignificant existence compared to some of the peak experts in other parts of the world, especially in a place dubbed an, ‘immortal continent.’

“Then, shall we go?” Zieg asked.