Divine Path System

Akrylis, the foundational realm of Krystal Arts, had just gotten a second chance.

Moments ago, the vast domain extending billions of miles was surrounded by three thousand devil ships headed by three bone dragons and a death lord himself.

If the early rank 1 bone dragons were not troublesome enough, a mid rank 1 death lord crushed any hopes of their escape.

The most depressed being was of course Adsher. Most of the people here would die and get converted into Undead. As the leader of the Kyrstal Arts, if he could flee from this region and meet up with the genesis army, he could use his riches to secure himself a proper citizenship.

His escape couldn't be hidden from the death lord. What he could do was push all the living beings of Akrylis in another direction and hope these leaders think he's not worth the chase.

The rate of survival through the brutal tactic was still less than 10%. And Adsher did not wish to gamble on his life.

Pushing onto his desk, he stood up and waved away all the holograms displaying the devil ships approaching the realm.

"Lady Cyris, come with me."'

The abyssal woman nodded, her gray eyes dull and lifeless. Her outfit was elegant, noble even and she was seated in a chair as luxurious as the leader of Krystal Arts.

Not too long ago, she was Adsher's slave. Now, she was someone he couldn't help but respect.

After Varian's confrontation with Adsher that day, the slave mark on her was erased inexplicably. But Adsher, who was supposed to report it to the military and have her enslaved or executed kept silent.

He was already thankful for remaining alive after offending the divine ranker who sneaked in as an appraiser.

The competition of the princes was a disaster thanks to the culprit who appeared out of nowhere.

Adsher was certain that Hand'sum, no, Varian sneaked in through his company. Since the chaos there killed so many people, including the appraisers, Adsher covered up the disappearence of Hand'sum with a fake death.

To this day, no one knew that Varian sneaked in as an appraiser. And since she brought him into the company, Adsher believed Cyris to have some sort of acquintance with Varian and treated her with equal amounts of fear and respect.

Cyris herself learned a lot of things after that day with the help of Adsher.

Each finding was more depressing than the one before.

The culprit race of Abyssal extinction other than fairies and zions was a new race called humans.

Even though they entered genesis just a few decades ago, they had quite a few rank 9s. Despite being persecuted these days, rumors speak of the presence of a pseudo divine powerhouse among them.

Some say that while most humans could be killed by genesis, the surivors were sure to return one day and enact revenge. That time, they wouldn't just be celestials the empire could suppress but divine rankers.

Cyris, with all her talent, couldn't even hope to win against some strong rank 9s of humans. And they had more than a couple rank 9s.

If the culprit race was depressing enough, the killer of Haedon gave her suicidal thoughts.

Varian.

Varian Konstant.

Lord of mythical Hortus, Heir of old rulers, Master of logos, Slayer of immortal, Destroyer of Jai princes…

The titles just only grew more and more outrageous. And they were still not enough to justify the myths surrounding the man.

Some say he's an ancient creature wielding enormous power.

The most outrageous myths proclaim he was born just a thousand years ago and reached the divine ranks within a millenia.

A relatively reasonable myth puts him over twenty thousand years old.

The tales of Varian slaying a foreign race called abyssals was delegated to his childhood adventures.

A common myth was him slaying the emperor of abyssals at the age of one, after awakening at birth.

Cyris termed it ridiculous. Some advanced races were born mature and would start living off right months after their birth.

So, Varian fighting Haedon within a year of birth itself wasn't very surprising. But reaching celestial rank in a year? In a barren world the myths mention?

Perhaps that's why it's a myth.

"-ing?"

"Huh?" Cyris blinked. Did he just say something?

Adsher's face looked terribly pale. "We'll flee to the genesis outpost. As long as we can show them the riches, I'm confident they'll give us a citizenship. Even a basic citizenship would do. Maybe if you can contact Lord Varian then, our condition can…"

He trailed off but she knew what he implied.

Stories of Varian crushing Asherah reached even the Jai Empire. He turned the forces of genesis against him. Yet, someone with such power held enormous influence.

If he could give them some grace, their situation would improve drastically. After living as a boss of an influential company, Adsher wouldn't be satisfied with just being a genesis citizen.

"Contact him…" Cyris' eyes darkened and her body trembled. Restraining her emotions, she nodded. "I will try."

"I trust you." Adsher said.

They boarded a spaceship hidden inside a stealth formation and patiently waited for a while.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

They took off the same moment the Undead launched an attack on Akrylis.

The dark space lit up with horrifying red glow, like the space itself was catching fire. Tongues of fire wriggled before turning into flames of skulls, bones and hearts which danced around the region, scorching the very void.

The sounds of bone grinding against bone, bloodless flesh flapping and eerie laughters of ghosts composed a cacophony of death.

A small vessel passed through this sea of red, far away from the fleet of ships at its full stealth mode.

Akrylis waged its final wave of resistance, sending out every single denizen to fight. When death seemed inevitable, they exploded themsleves, leaving behind nothing for the Undead.

Even their souls were extinguished with the bombs, so even ghosts couldn't be extracted.

Akrylis became a sore spot for the Undead army despite weak resistance as the battle left them with no profits.

"Yes, yes. Die. All those treasures are worth it." Adsher muttered and noticed a few ships turning in their direction.

Slamming the controls with a distorted face, he growled. "Fuck! What happened to the cutting edge stealth?"

The ship would get into inner space with a jump and dive through a space tunnel straight to the nearby genesis outpost.

But it couldn't happen with those devil ships chasing after him. Even four ships were enough to sabotage his escape and he's got ten on his back.

"I can solidify the space and slow them down." Cyris offered, gaze fixed on the live map.

"Please." Adsher pleaded.

Pouring out all her powers, Cyris manipulated the space outside. She would be able to hold them off her a few seconds. That would double their chances of escaping.

Still, they could di—

The world blanked out for a moment and Cyris found herself in the outside space.

"You!" The abyssal woman's eyes widened as the devil ships raced toward her.

Adsher's voice rang through the communicator. "I gave you fifty years to see if you could contact Varian and get me some benefits. Tch, fifty years of wasted efforts. Now die for me and repay my grace."

The spaceship glowed brilliantly before it dived into inner space. If Cyris wasn't left out in the open, the devil ships would've followed it without hesitation.

But with a fresh prey at hand, they would be delayed long enough for Adsher to escape.

"At least if I die…" Cyris surprisingly didn't feel any sadness.

The revenge she swore to life for was simply impossible. The revival of her race, while easier than revenge, was also beyond her capabilities.

"Maybe dying isn't do bad."

The devil ships surrounded her and charged powerful beams of red soul fire. Harvested from dying souls, these were great short range weapons.

Once hit by these devil beams, her soul would be infused with waves of shocks rendering her aura chaotic and mind clouded. Enough shocks and she'd be knocked out.

"Two."

Some voice seemed to be ringing across the region. It must be her hallucination.

Cyris' eyes reflected the blazing red as she raised her arms and welcomed death.

"One."

The nail-sized red spheres grew larger and larger until they reached the size of a house. Then, they fired at her.

Or they were supposed to.

"Zero."

A golden light suddenly lit up the entire region, blinding Cyris for a moment.

When she opened her eyes, everything seemed to be the same as before.

Yet somehow, in the back of her mind, something changed.

The devil ships also seemed confused as they remained still without firing at her.

"Huh?"

Cyris blinked, wondering if they decided to toy with her.

A few more seconds passed, each second feeling longer than a year.

Finally, Cyris moved closer and peeked through the translucent openings of the ship.

The Undead inside were…

"Where did they go?"

She turned in bewilderment, checking the other ships. The Undead vanished.

'No way!'

A thought flashed in her mind and she teleported back to the command quarters of Akrylis.

The devil ships that were advancing aggressively were deadly still, like insects that were suddenly deprived of life.

The warriors of Akrylis who were putting up their final resistance looked around and at each other in shock.

It had been a full minute but no one was able to digest what really happened.

"Arghhh! Nooo! King! Damn yo—Damn you!"

The screams of a powerful being echoed and a man in regal clothes—Death King—who somehow managed to resist so far scattered into golden light and vanished.

Witnessing that scene, the warriors gasped and collapsed to the floor.

The silence continued for a minute before before a young man stood up and raised his fist.

All of a sudden, the crowd erupted in defeaning cheers.

Cyris watched this scene, eyes wet and heart in turmoil.

'If Abyssals had a miracle like this, they too would've survived…'

A gust of wind blew out of nowhere and Cyris looked up to see a familiar man in front of her. He appeared without sound and looked at her without saying a word.