It was a tough decision to make, and although Quinn had practically convinced himself it was the correct and the only option, thoughts started to flow through his mind. If he lost his Celestial status, what would become of Fex and the others and of the celestial items he had given them?
Would they disappear? Would they lose their abilities? He wanted to know the answer to this dilemma. It was because of this very thing that he was kicking himself in the foot because there was something that he could have done before. Quinn's shadow space allowed him to keep people inside.
He had kept two dhampirs in there for a while but had let them out after meeting Chris. The thought of getting rid of them had crossed his mind, but whatever Ray had put them through when they were in the shadow together had scared them out of doing anything bad.
However, there was another person in Quinn's shadow, Russ, the leader of the Chained and one with a Godslayer ability, according to Bliss. Due to the way his power worked, though, he was unable to escape the shadow space.
In a situation like this, maybe Russ could have helped them out of there. The problem was that Russ was no longer with Quinn because he was a god slayer.
———
The previous day, before the grand event was about to begin, Quinn was still enjoying his time with Layla. Unfortunately, he would have to leave early to meet with Logan and go through a few things. Logan had stated he wanted things to go perfectly, so he wanted a practice run of sorts.
Covering his face and body with a cloak, Quinn walked out of the castle and was now in the street between houses. While walking, he couldn't help but feel worried about Layla as he thought about her.
'Before I left...it might have just been in my head, but I could have sworn I saw another energy source that didn't belong to Layla inside her, but how could that be possible, and so quick as well?'
Whatever the case or reason, Quinn felt uneasy leaving her, even if it was just for a moment, so he had to do something. As he stepped into an alleyway, he transported himself into his own world of shadows.
Appearing inside it, Quinn came face to face with Russ.
"You have finally shown up. How long has it been outside?" Russ asked immediately. He looked a bit desperate, but then again, someone trapped in a place like this, with no one else to talk to, might end up going insane.
"Are you not going to say anything? Did you just come in here to toy with me!" Russ got frustrated upon hearing no response from Quinn.
The latter looked Russ up and down. Even though Russ was a strong individual, and his powers might be suitable for the future, he himself wasn't a good person. However, judging from his character from before, it was quite likely that he would still attempt to go after the Blades in one way or another.
Being good friends with Sil, there was no way Quinn could do that. Besides, he had other things in mind.
Walking forward, Quinn got within arm's distance of Russ, who hadn't attempted to do anything. The shadow space was strange, and Russ feared that Quinn might actually be stronger in an area like this.
"I will let you out of here, but there are a few conditions. First, you are not to harm people unless it is to protect your own life." Quinn stated.
Looking somewhat annoyed, Russ folded his arms.
"Okay." Right now, he would agree to anything just to get out of here, but he would see about keeping such a promise later.
Reading him like a book, Quinn could tell his thoughts, but it wouldn't matter what the former had planned.
"The second task is to look after the current leader of the Red vampires, Layla Munrow. You have to use all your strength to ensure her safety. Use everything at your disposal if you face life-threatening danger, but you must keep her safe."
From Quinn's words, it seemed like this Layla person was important to him. Russ felt like he had now found a weakness in Quinn and replied once again. "Okay, deal. I will do these two things for you."
In that instant, Quinn grabbed Russ's head and pushed him to the ground so his knees were on the floor, and he started to control his Qi, which then seeped into Russ' body. As for where the Qi was going, it was heading straight to his head and a large amount of it as well.
"What I'm doing right now is something called Qi command," Quinn stated. "Honestly, it was never something that I wanted to do to somebody, but since my Influence skill hasn't been as effective as I would want it to be, I thought something like this might come in handy to learn.
"I removed the Qi protecting your brain, and now it is enveloped by my Qi. Most importantly, I have given it a simple order. And that is, if you decide not to obey the two conditions I have set, you will instantly lose everything.
"This technique permanently depletes Qi from my body, but that's the least of my worries because I have a large amount of it. Oh, and I wouldn't bother trying to get someone else to remove it. I have placed quite a lot of my Qi in this Qi command. Right now, no single person in the world other than me can remove this. You might think I'm lying, and to that, I will say go ahead and try."
Russ knew he had been beaten. Whether it was true or not, he would never risk it. The easiest thing to do, at least for now, was to comply and stay low.
Quinn could judge Russ' thoughts and knew that he would try to find a way, and maybe he would be able to in the future, but by then, Quinn would stay by Layla's side forever.
With that, Quinn decided to let Russ out of the space and threw some cloaks and other clothes at him.
"Put these on, and keep a low profile."
——
"I guess I have no choice now," Quinn said with the gun pointed at the crystal. "Alex, absorb the crystal."
Strange blood-like tentacles appeared from the top of the gun, the bottom and from where the barrel of the weapon was. They shot out and instantly swirled around the crystal.
'Oh, these things are pretty cool. I can control each of them individually like my fingers.' Alex muttered.
In the next part, there wasn't much for Alex to do on his end. As the blood tentacles touched the crystal, they immediately started to absorb it. Right in front of Quinn's eyes, the crystal was getting smaller and smaller until it had completely disappeared.
[The God slayer crystal has been absorbed]
[A new permanent bullet has been created]
[A Dhampir Bullet can now be used]
[The Demon tier weapon, Altandermite Celestial Dual Blood Guns, have been upgraded to God Slayer tier]
[New effects to the weapons have been added]
So far, the first set of system prompts was good news. Usually, he would have checked the description of every gun effect and ability he had just received, but there were more messages and more important matters to see first.
[Quest completed - Create a God slayer Weapon]
[Reward - Ultimate Upgrading crystal. It has the ability to upgrade a piece of Demon tier equipment to God Slayer status.]
Quinn had forgotten about this Quest. When thinking about absorbing the crystal, this never crossed his mind, and the reward was a big one, but once again, he didn't have time to think about what to use the upgrading crystal on because the next step was what was most important.
[Path Quest Complete!]
[You have chosen the path of a Godslayer]
[You have decided your reward, and the System and Universe will now reward you.]
'The System and the Universe, wait, what does that even mean?'
[You are no longer a Celestial]
[You will no longer be able to reincarnate]
[Your condition has been removed]
[Celestial points have been removed]
[You no longer have access to the Celestial Space]
When the last message appeared, the area around him looked as if it was shifting or moving. As if something that was inside didn't belong. Quinn could feel his body shifting out of the area he was in, but the messages didn't stop there.
[Celestial weapons created by the celestial will remain as is.]
[Dedicated followers will keep current points. You will no longer be able to add or remove those points as the Ex-Celestial.]
'This…is good news, but it's calling me an Ex-Celestial already?' Quinn smiled.
[Dedicated followers will no longer die due to no current link with celestial.]
[Those with celestial energy but no follower may follow a new celestial]
Quinn didn't mind the last few messages. He had expected the worst, so the result was everything he had been hoping for.
[The System will now reward you]
[Reward: Your Godslayer ability 'Shadow' will now Evolve]
*****
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