Chapter 142 - 130: Illusion

He had never felt fear before, only hatred and the thrill of fighting. He hated his father, but developed a love for fighting after going through several life and death situations. Fear was irrelevant, he ignored that feeling whenever he wanted because fear is for weaklings only. Fear is something that will only make you weak and ignorant, just like how most beings in this world fear the unknown. That very same fear will turn them into irrational beings, but why now of all time he has to feel it?

Hikaru's eyes dangerously shined as he gripped the back of the boy's head tightly, almost crushing it in his hand. The boy had no idea why he felt so much fear towards this unknown man when he didn't even know him. He tried to struggle his way out, but only resulted in futility as no matter how many times he tried to hurt the man's hand so that he would let go of him, it was just like hitting a titanium vault with his bare hands. He wouldn't budge.

"You know," The man spoke, "nobody ever had the guts to ruin my meal except for my wife, and yet here you are, stomping on my ramen. So, let me ask you again, how would you like to die?"

"Tch, I don't even know you! Why would you even kill me!?" The boy asked, trying to buy time for his mentor to come. His mentor must be hovering around here, waiting for him to return after punching him, but his mentor will realize that he's taking too much time to return and would go down to help.

Or, he could just do this, "You old geezer! Come and save your apprentice for f.u.c.k sake! I'm getting killed here!" The silver haired boy yelled out of desperation.

Hikaru only snorted at the boy's futile attempts, and said, "Hmph, no matter who your master is, you won't be able to escape your fate. Now, die!"

*Splat!*

With a quick tightening of grip, he crushed the skull of the silver haired boy. The boy's body limply fell down on the now destroyed ground with blood spurting out of his neck. He then reversed time around the room, and within a few milliseconds, the ruined room from earlier became good as new!

But of course, the boy was still dead even though he regained his head. He put the soul of the boy in a jar and was about to put the body into his storage box to revive him later and torture him, when he felt someone teleport inside the room. They also put a barrier that covered the entire room.

"I don't know who you are, but killing my apprentice is the same as starting a war with me and my faction." A voice full of silent rage sounded behind him.

Hikaru turned around, and he saw a man standing in front of him with the door behind the man. He is a tall man appearing to be in his twenties with an average build, black hair, golden bangs and black goatee. He wore a sun flowered shirt and a pair of shorts. He looks like he is on a vacation, which is understandable because this hotel has an artificial beach built inside it.

[Name: Azazel]

[Power Level: 20,000]

Hikaru already figured who this guy was the moment his eyes landed on him, because he had stalked the entire fallen faction, devil faction, and angel faction before to obtain information about their power levels and how he should put a [Tier] in them, but he has to throw away that Power Level Tier List because he just recently discovered the existence of beings with billions of power levels. He'll remake his Tier List later, after he stalks the cosmic beings.

"Azazel, huh? Didn't know you trained a brat." Hikaru said, really uninterested whether a war would happen or not.

Azazel narrowed his eyes, and said, "You're acting so nonchalant about this. Are you so confident that you can take on an entire faction on your own?"

"Well, yeah."

"What faction are you from? Devils? Angels? Or from the Shinto Faction? No matter, I'll find out anyway." Azazel was angry, but he's not the type to just suddenly lash out. No, he takes this calmly and manipulatively. He isn't the leader of Grigori for no reason.

Hikaru actually didn't care. If he wanted to, he could just wipe out every fallen angel that exists on this planet within seconds. But since he is not a mindless murderer (Yeah, keep telling yourself that bud) he'll try to compromise by striking a deal.

He then said with his mouth having a slowly growing smile, "I know you don't want war, Azazel. Nobody, likes war, well, maybe except for some. But the thing is, you're tired. You're already so old. How old are you? A couple thousands? So, let me strike you a deal."

Azazel isn't new to this kind of game, but he honestly has no idea what this guy is striking a deal for. What is his goal? Is he afraid of starting a war?

"No, I'm not afraid of starting a war. I just don't like killing millions just to do something. I already have so much weighing on my conscience." Hikaru said.

What the? Can he read—

"Yes, I can read the minds of everybody, no matter how powerful they are."

Well, this is embarrassing.

The atmosphere in the room went from "Super intense shit" to "Shit, this is too awkward!"

"Ahem, so what's the deal you're gonna make?" Azazel just ignored the awkward atmosphere and just asked him.

"In return for reviving this boy and giving him back to you, you'll have to join my peerage." Hikaru said, simply smiling because he couldn't contain his excitement.

Azazel looked surprised when he heard that, then said, "So you are a devil!"

Hikaru shook his head and had an expression of disgust as if he just heard the most revolting sentence ever, "No, I am not a devil. I'm not that weak. I am a God, and these chess pieces are just evil pieces that I took from a high-class devil and modified it into my own. These things work differently than their pieces, but yet, the same."

"Oh…" Azazel muttered, taking a mental note that this guy is definitely more prideful than the original Sin of Pride himself. He decided to weigh the pros and cons of becoming a member of his peerage, when he suddenly realized that he doesn't have enough information about what will happen to him once he becomes one of his peerage members.

"Hmm, there are many pros and cons of becoming a member of my peerage," Hikaru said, gaining Azazel's attention, "firstly, you will grow ten times stronger than before. Your strength, agility, endurance, and the amount of mana you have will also be multiplied. And then, you will gain the ability to partially control darkness. And, by becoming a member of my peerage, you will gain access to thousands upon thousands of my weapons that could destroy an entire world or my armors that can block an attack from an asteroid ten times the size of this planet."

Wow, he's drooling just thinking about being in his peerage. Especially those equipment, he could collect some of them and do research to create more of them. But there's still one question lingering in his head; is this deal legit?

"Oh, don't worry about that," Hikaru said after hearing his thoughts, "you'll surely receive those things if you become a member of my peerage. And not only that, you will also take back your apprentice! Don't you want that? Power within your finger tip, capable of ruling ALL three factions, and possibly becoming even more powerful than the one who created the current you! Think about it!"

Azazel was already thinking to accept the offer, when he noticed something very odd, "Don't try enticing me with sweet words, I am thousands of years old! I know this game of sweet words because I played it with Lucifer many years ago!" He was angry, not at Hikaru but to himself for almost falling into this guy's sweet trap.

Hikaru looked at him strangely, and said, "Are you mental? I am just stating facts of what will happen once you become a member of my peerage. I don't use 'sweet words', I'm too lazy to even bother doing that. But hey, if you don't like being in my peerage, you know you could just die, right?"

Suddenly, the surrounding changed. Everything became chaotic. It was bright, the brightest he has ever been. He felt the extreme heat hotter than Amaterasu's fire and he felt his body being burned alive. He was dying but slowly.

"What's happening!?" He panicked, because he has never been this close to dying. Even in the war between the three factions, he has never been this close to dying, ever!

"This is the sun of another solar system." A voice above him said.

Azazel looked up and saw the same guy, Hikaru, who offered him to be a member of his peerage.

"What have you done!?" He yelled.

Hikaru replied with an answer, "I took away all your powers, strength, and even your wings." As a proof of that, he took out a small glass container, containing a dark light, orange ball, and a small twelve set of wings, "I am absolute, that's why I took away everything that made you 'Azazel'. The biblical god should've chosen his people well, for I am disappointed that no one from the supernatural world has realized that all of you are being controlled by higher beings, I.e the Gods that I know."

Azazel knew he really has no way out of this. He felt no strength to even lift his arms, and his body is slowly being burned alive by the fire of the sun. He thought he would have escaped this sun if he had all of his powers, but he realized that he would've died as well because this guy exists.

But, before his last moments, he wanted to ask him something, "Why are you doing this?"

Hikaru thought about it, and said, "Hmm, no reason, really. I guess it's because you offended me somehow? Heh, it doesn't matter what my reasons are because I am powerful. Listen well, as long as I am this strong, I can do anything I f.u.c.k.i.n.g want to. Only a select few can harm me, and only one race in this universe can kill me! I stay in that world that you call Earth because I want to rule it, for them to obey me, and for them to become stronger! I want to raise my own army of super beings that could annihilate any galactic empire! And why am I doing this? Because… it's fun."

Even his brother, Lucifer, wasn't like this bad. It's like he thinks of other beings other than himself as lowly, worthless, and pathetic. This god, this guy, is insane. Even "crazy" isn't enough of a word to explain just how insane he is.

"Don't get me wrong, Azazel. I don't look down at other creatures, I only hate their weakness. But that weakness is what made them cunning and master strategies. They could survive for millions of years even without any super strength or magic, because they are weak. I was weak once, so I know how they feel. That's why, even after dying for countless times, I continue to persevere because I no longer want to be weak. Even now, when I'm this strong, I am still weaker than other beings that could create a multiverse with a snap of their fingers. I am weak, but I'm not that strong either. In the end, it's just because they're stronger than me and I'm weaker than them." Hikaru clarified.

Azazel could no longer hear his words, because he had sunk deep into the ocean of flame that is the sun.

A disappointed sigh came out of Hikaru's mouth, and then, with a snap of his fingers, everything became normal and he returned to the restaurant of the hotel with Azazel having no visible injury in sight. But he was lying on the floor with his eyes widely open but he was unconscious due to the shock he felt when he "died" in that sun.

"He couldn't even survive an illusion of that level, really now, how absolutely pathetic." Hikaru sighed, then grabbed the white haired boy's corpse, and healed his body back to perfect shape, then put his soul back.

The boy woke up half-an-hour later in a hotel bedroom with a headache. He suddenly felt something missing within him, and then he noticed that the divine dividing was gone. His sacred gear was gone! He couldn't hear the dragon's voice anymore! What happened to him!?

He felt a little dizzy in the head, maybe it has something to do with his sacred gear disappearing?

"Oh, so you're awake." He heard a familiar voice, he looked around and saw the familiar face of his master coming out of the bathroom, freshly bathed. But there was something strange about him. For example, he no longer has blonde bangs and now has pitch black hair. He doesn't have his goatee anymore and seems to have gotten younger. His amber eyes changed into eyes as black as his wings.

"Geezer, I—"

"I know, your sacred gear is gone, right?" Azazel said.

"Do you know something about it?" Vali asked.

Azazel scratched the back of his head, and said, "Well, we have joined someone's peerage."

That took a few seconds for his words to sink into Vali's head, then the boy shouted, "What!? What do you mean WE!? You know I don't like serving anyone, especially a devil!"

"Relax, he's not a devil. He's more of an evil incarnate who can play with anyone's life easily." Azazel casually said.

Then, a can of a soda hit the back of his head and a loud shockwave occurred that shook some of the items in the room. Azazel was completely fine, except for the small bump that was created after the can hit his head.

"Who said you can call me an 'evil incarnate'. I'm the kindest person you would ever see in your lifetime."

"Ouch! That hurt, you know!" He yelled at someone from his left, and Vali turned his head to his left to see someone coming in from the balcony.

"Not my problem." It was a guy who seems to be in his twenties with long black hair with some strands of white hair around his head, red eyes, pale skin, and around 5 '11 in height. He wore a white top and black pants with a black overcoat.

The guy looked at him, and said, "You're awake, good. Your master over here decided to join my peerage after he saw how powerful and awesome I am. And since you are his apprentice, it is only your duty to follow your master's steps. That's why you're currently one of my pawns, so be happy. I don't waste my pieces on ungrateful people. Anyway, you're gonna train with War tomorrow."