Chapter 222 - VERIFYING PATH

The world shakes and the sea was trembling, the seven oceans in turmoil and the Heavens cracking and breaking

Azief releases his fist fill with the power of the world as the space around his fist break and dark mist come out from the destroyed space, breaking the bonds of atoms near him

The Demons was destroyed by Tribulation lightning and the sea monster dissipated when Azief fist collided with the sea, creating a large deep blue hole where the waters pulsates with a speed akin of tornado.

'Like I thought!' Azief sneered as he look towards Hikigaya.

'It is merely an illusion.' Azief said his eyes squinted. Hikigaya coughed up blood and was pushed back around one kilometers away from his original position.

But his eyes shows an emotion rarely seen when anyone is fighting with the Death Monarch. Excitement and happiness.

When Azief saw it he felt strange.

Even after Azief dispels the illusion, Hikigaya didn't seems fearful. Instead he becomes even bolder.

Then he said, his face still smiling

'I met the Sage of Medicine once and seek his advice. He told me that I could not gain more strength until I either comprehend the Heaven or break the Heaven. I did not understand what he was saying. His culture and mine are different, the talks about Heaven and Dao is not something I understand. But I understand the Path. Sword Saint Miyamoto Musashi spoke of this in his Book of Five Rings. And so The Sage of Medicine explained to me. You….are the Heaven.' Hikigaya said as he pointed his finger at Azief.

'The Heaven is the strongest and is also the obstacle. As long one lives under another Heaven, one is weak. That was my definition and that was what he was trying to say me.'

Azief look at Hikigaya, but he did not attack. His eyes is trying to locate any signs of Sofia and Wang Jian.

Hikigaya continued to talk.

'I could follow your path and that is comprehending the Heaven. Or….I could try to defeat you and breaking the Heaven. Today, win or lose, I will verify my path!'

He said like declaring something to the world and thunder boomed in the distance, like it was affirming his determination

Azief on the other hand could not detect anything with his eyes or his Divine Sense. Are they trying to use them at the most critical moments? Azief thought to himself

His emotions affected the Heavens.

The Tribulation thunders on the sky become even more severe as clouds gathered and emits a heaven defying pressure upon the living beings of the world.

It was as if the Heaven was furious.

Every creature that could see this and feel the force of the sky would be filled with great trepidation.

But Hikigaya was calm.

His eyes shining with blue rings that seems to pierce through all illusion and pierce through the suffering of ten thousand lives, shines brightly like the brightest stars in the Universe, overflowing to the heavens and covered the Earth.

Transcending lives and death, his eyes pierces through past, present and the ephemeral concept of time.

That was his path of illusion.

Loki once bear witness of the Sovereign called the God of Illusion. Azief was called the God of Death and the other also reign upon one aspects of Laws.

But everyone also knows their other title which embodies the duality of their aspects.

Azief was called the God of Death but he was also called the God of Life and Death by some people and most of his worshippers called him that in their prayers.

Because where he see fit to reap souls and take lives, he also has the power to grant life and longevity to anyone who he desires.

And Loki while he is also called the God of Deceit and God of Lies among many other titles he held, he is also called the God of Truth and Lies.

Since he saw through any lies, that also means he also at the same time see the truth.

And Hikigaya?

He is called the God of Illusion but he is also called the God of Illusion and Reality. Since he saw through the illusion life and death in his comprehension is but an illusion and he made that illusion to become reality hence he become everlasting and immortal

All the other Sovereign saw their path and strive toward understanding it, perfecting it and wielding it.

And so they become eternal as the Laws that govern the Universe. As they stared at each other, separated by a distance, the world roars.

Rumbling sounds could be heard, a roaring echoes through the darkness of the corner of the world

Beyond the floating clouds afar, great dragons four times the sizes of the previous sea monsters and all manners of crawling, slithering creatures broke from the grounds and from the seabed as Hikigaya stand there his pupils rings rotating nonstop, emitting that blue light that seems to commands all creation..

Even Azief was startled to see such phenomena.

But the scene is not enough to startles him. It was the fact that none of the monsters is an illusion.

After he was baptized by fire, normal illusion did not work against him.

As he saw the monsters coming he realizes that the monster were not illusions but real beings with vital force and life force.

It was then Hikigaya shouted

'Illusion Reversal Art. Turning illusions into reality!'

Hikigaya by now was sure of his deduction.

Azief has form his Disk.

He had warned Hirate and Raymond and relay his suspicions before. Which is why he could not understand why the World Government insist in angering the Monarch.

Of course, how would Hikigaya knows that right now, Raymond and Hirate is imprisoned.

'You want to delay me! You are still underestimating me!' Azief said as he waved his fingers and runic characters was being written.

The most ancient characters is created, creating a resonance with the world and the stars beyond the skies of Earth.

As the thunder above Azief become even more severe, he look like an almighty ruler of Heaven and Earth.

The winds around Azief was absorbed into the character and the same could be said of the ocean sea waters, the fire, metals and all elements that exist on Earth

Around him these energies were all absorbed to create one character that is a part of a whole ancient runic character.

This is a heaven defying Act.

By now, the force of their previous clash has already broke all barrier on the entrance gate and the soldiers on top of the ramparts is preparing many types of cannon to fire at Azief.

The character is giving everyone a strong sense of threat.

Anyone that is not Seed Formation has turned pale because of the disturbance in energy causing them to feel their energy to be in chaos.

As the world is bearing the pressure of such gargantuan force, a large character appeared at the sky.

All the hearts of the people fighting seemed like they had been caught and they could not shift their gazes from the sky and that character.

It emitted a very powerful ancient energy and this stunned some people who felt that they could understand something from the character.

The character is not simple to write and it also contained profound vital force and could open new vistas of truth.

Once a person looked at it, he would endlessly think about it and one might even fall into an obsession about it.

Hikigaya only smiles bitterly looking at that giant character filling the sky with its massive size

'The Sage of Medicine was right in calling you to be the Heavens. Fighting you is like fighting the Way of Heavens.'

But Hikigaya smile right now turns into a confident smile.

'But, there lies the trap. Since I could not defeat the heaven, I will seal the Heaven!' Hikigaya thought to himself.

Hikigaya might not be able to defeat Azief. He knows this since the first time he clash as he tries his illusion against Azief.

He recognizes that Azief is a Disk Formation experts like him and might even possess even more disk than him.

But Hikigaya Disk is only one type of energy. It is the Disk of Illusion. While Azief possess many Disk he possess Disk of different energy.

While that make him multi-talented it robs him to be the ultimate masters of that energy.

Of course when they reach other levels they could perfected their Disk. But for now, Azief is jack of all trades while Hikigaya is a master in illusions.

He look at Azief and look at the state of the world and he sighed.

When the Heavens become angry, heaven and Earth would shakes and calamity would descend.

This thoughts came to his mind.

Azief on the other hand has finished writing the character. With one swish of his finger, the character has finally been finished

'Aergliso!' he said and like an Edict from heavenly abode the word echoes around the world.

Everyone heard it and everyone was shaken by it. But they do not heard the runes pronunciation but heard the meaning

'Be destroyed!'

This is one of the new runes Azief discovered he had. When he check his ring after forming the All Source Seed, he discovered all of his rings have new abilities.

When he checked the Rings of Runic Creation he saw these rune that seems to be able to destroy all realities and illusions when it used with corresponding runic energy.

While Azief did not have many runic energy before, he now possess the All Source seed so he could converts the worldly energy into runic energy.

The result is this character that covered the world.

The horde of monsters that was from an illusion turns real that could bring calamity to the world collided with the character on the sky.

The Seven Oceans roar and many people fainted on the battlefield regardless of their affiliations whether they are from the Death Monarch faction or the World Government faction.

When the dust settles, the character is gone and so is the army of monsters. Azief on the other hand, felt something was wrong.

How could he not detected Sofia and Wang Jian even after he uses his Divine Sense to the utmost?

Something very bizarre is happening right now. He didn't know what it is but his instinct is telling something very wrong is happening.

The place where the monster horde and the character collided created a large gash of empty space, the airstreams around it was extremely chaotic and dangerous.

Azief did not have to repel the airstreams since his body deflected the airstreams almost effortlessly

Hikigaya on the other hand had to depend on his art to turns the airstream into illusion to protect himself.

Azief has felt something was wrong.

His mind seems to be thinking of something even as the airstream deflected on his body. He look at the skies and look at the sea.

And then he look at his own self.

And his face frown.

Could he be…..if it's true…when did it start? He thought about himself as he look at Hikigaya and he realizes something

'It seems I've ben underestimating you too much.' Azief said calmly but his eyes turns even colder than before

Hikigaya said calmly

'I am merely boasting of my skills in front of an expert.'

Azief reply

'I dare not accept such praise. Because it seems I am still too blind.'

Both of them did not lose their composures even after such a large explosion that rocked the world

No wonder they are both experts recognized by the world, their calmness is not someone could imitate.

Hikigaya also knew Azief is slowly suspicious of what is happening to him. After all Hikigaya plans was not perfect.

But it also allows Hikigaya to determine that Azief has more Disk than him. He is sure of it right now.

If not Azief would not even be suspicious right now.

If Hikigaya has more Disk than Azief, Azief probably would ended up putting himself into the trap without him ever needing to risk more battle that would only reveal more and more about his plan.

Azief also saw it after that clash.

So, he no longer hesitated because he could think of another possibility what is happening to him right now.

He cut through the airstreams and headed straight for Hikigaya. He threw a punch

That punch broke the airstreams and crack the space, reaching a supersonic speed as booming sound could be heard.

Azief punch had seemed effortless but it crack the air and quake the seabed. The punch was too fast and Hikigaya smiles bitterly.

He had no other choice but to clash directly and risk his plan to be seen through.

He still had to obey the Laws after all. He thought to himself as he sighed

Hikigaya also throw his punch and their punch collided. Ripples of shockwaves condense the sea into gas as the oceans boils and a hole was opened up on the sky.

Hikigaya was pushed back almost fifteen kilometers away with broken bones and blood dripping from his nose, ears and mouth,

But Azief was not happy. His eyes turns severe

'As I expected' and this time an angry expression appeared in his face.

His body is Undying Physique baptized by the Fire of Purification. There would be almost no match of him in terms of physical prowess but instead of being blown away, Hikigaya only suffers this much of injury.

This is impossible unless Hikigaya also train his body which he did not.

'So that was your plan! Very smart. Very vicious. But let see whether that plans of yours could work!'

Azief said with gritted teeth

The space was split as Azief darted towards Hikigaya, countless killing intent gathering at the tip of his fist.

Hikigaya bitterly smiles as he once again matched his strength to the Death Monarch as they collided and the world, the entire Earth rocked when the two collided, showing some signs of instability on earth, the sound travelling the world for six times

The first round ended in a draw. This only increase Azief suspicion and he could already understand Hikigaya plans.

No wonder he couldn't even sense Sofia and Wang Jian. You cannot create what you don't know

'I would like to see whether your vitality or mine is the strongest!' He shouted in a deep voice. They are many ways to break Hikigaya plans but Azief chose the simplest one.

To exhaust him.

Why?

Because he could afford to. He could choose other ways to break Hikigaya plan but all the other ways would be to slow.

This is the most brutish way but it is also the fastest way. And Azief did not have much time to waste.

He already wasted much time trying to understand why Hikigaya remain alive after exchanging so many blows with him.

Now that he ha known, for what reason would he delay.

Once again countless killing intent gather on his face and once again they struck each other but this time it is no longer one blow.

This time they traded hundreds of blows as the distortions around their exchanging of blows distorted the air and space making them break and disintegrated.

Space was in turmoil and time fluctuates differently as the consequences of the space disintegration.

Each of their blows sends the nearby space into turbulence.

Azief and Hikigaya dodges and exchange blows.

The more they exchange blows, the more Hikigaya becomes faster and more adept in his dodging and Azief also adapt to it by him becoming even more proficient in his attack.

Azief rarely fight in a long battle and using his body movement since most of his battle is ended by one punch or one strike of concentrated energy

This time he not only traded hundreds of blows, he could also honed his attack movement.

They fight each other like a dance of Celestials Gods, they strikes like Demons from hell and when they execute their deadly moves they look no different from Devils

Their speed and swiftness causes the weather to change and went crazy as hails of storms fire and rains of black water drenched the world

When Azief nearly punch Hikigaya face, Hikigaya push Azief fist outwards, the movement was gentle yet it deflects Azief fast and strong fist, cracking and breaking the space area where his fist landed.

Azief adapted then by mixing strength and smoothens his attack achieving a balance and once again the dance continues as the world was in chaos.

By now they were far away from the Island.

But both of them doesn't seem to care. Azief did not even uses his divine sense to search for Wang Jian and Sofia.

And Hikigaya was not surprised. Because both of them knows they were not on the Island.

But did Azief not care about his other comrades and soldiers, the people who followed him in his crusade?

No, he did not.

And Hikigaya understand why he did not. Because Azief has seen through it. But just by seeing through it does not mean, the plan ended.

Instead it just means the plan just started.

All around the site where they battled each other, mountains and island was reduced to dust and ashes.

They trade blows, dodging, deflecting, maneuvering, as these Gods battles as the Heavens and Earth was destroyed as the pillars of the world shakes and the energy around the world was slowly drained.

Even as Azief fought he did not stop absorbing the world energy, powering his energy.

He uses the runic power and the element of the world.

Lightning strike down the world unscrupulously, fire rages on entire continents, water swallowed kingdoms and nations, and the Earth is breaking on their seams

The world was expecting calamity. Hikigaya face turns solemn and his body even seem pale and slowly seems translucent.

Azief on the other hand smiles evilly

He did not summon his saber because he would not waste his vitality to use his saber. That is trump card if the World Government continue to be stubborn.

He would not hesitate to break apart their island once again.

As Hikigaya become paler, Azief attack intensified. He quickly retreated and disappeared without a trace and attack Hikigaya at some blind spot of his.

It was then like announcing the battle is over, the Heaven crack and the world breaks.

Like a hammer being thrown into a glass, the world exploded and the energy of the world dissipated.

At the moment of explosions Azief smiles while Hikigaya declare.

His voice is calm as he declared

'Today, I verify my path! I reject comprehending the Heavens and I could not break the Heavens. So, I will create my own path outside of Heaven eyes and one day I will prove my Path!'

Azief was shocked. He didn't think that even as the world is exploding and Hikigaya defeat has been confirmed, he could still verify his Path.

Azief smiles…..this time it was not a smile of condescension but of proudness. Any heroes is only as good as its villain.

To the world government their villains is Azief. To the people who is on his side, the World Government is the villain.

It is funny how the definition of good and evil sometimes solely depends on where you are standing.

As the world breaks and the Universe was rolled back Azief opens his eyes and he look in front of him as hundred, no, thousands of gamma energy and ethelion cannon rays were coming towards him and then hit him.

BOOOM!

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Leaving you with another cliif. Hahahaa. This will be my last release until I get my feet stuck on the ground at my new job.

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