Varian jolted out of his sleep and looked around in vigilance. The back of his shirt was wet with sweat and his breath was ragged.
Another bad dream. Ever since Julius reached the celestial rank, Varian couldn't find peace.
In the nightmare just now, Julius found their location and brutally tortured them before killing them in front of the crowd.
Varian tried his best but he felt helpless.
It felt just like his birthday when he remained helpless as the fire wolf reached out to kill his mother. And just as powerless as Enigma killed them both in trying to save him.
"No. It won't happen again." Varian covered his eyes with his palm and took a deep breath. "I'd rather die."
The sounds of uneven breathing came from his left and right. The girls woke up while giving him a complaining look. Varian moved abruptly and broke their sleep.
"Sorry," Varian said and walked out of the room. He wanted to meditate a bit at least and try to clear his mind.
"Bad dream?" Sia looked at Sarah after he left.
"All the three of us are having them." Sarah drew her knees together and rested her chin on them. "I just dreamed of us dying in Hortus."
Sia smiled wryly. "And I saw Varian dying to that Undead."
Sarah noticed the dried tear marks on Sia's face and sighed. She could feel the same on her own face.
No matter how functional they were in the war, their minds were being slowly crushed by the unending conflicts.
"I want a break. A looong break, at least one year." Sia sprawled on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Just a mundane year with a normal life."
Sarah got up from the bed and stretched her arms. She changed from her negligee into a combat uniform and walked into the training room inside the ghostship. "Peace isn't given, it's grabbed."
Evander vomited blood as he crashed into an asteroid and broke it into pieces. Half of his hair turned white and his fine skin was now filled with wrinkles.
The middle-aged man who looked like he was in his early 30s now seemed like someone in his 60s.
"A very fine technique to grant celestial power to mortals." Haedon raised his hand and a golden light filled the space. "But it's not yours, after all."
Evander gritted his teeth and retreated back.
Just a moment later, a hundred miles of space shook as shockwave after shockwave wrecked everything.
'I can't hold on for long.' Evander glanced at the fainted Julius and hoped that bastard to wake up.
But he didn't know that Julius did wake up already. But he gave up fighting and didn't even make any effort to recover. Julius was broken from the inside.
"You're an unexpected surprise, but that's it." Haedon charged forward, carrying with him a tsunami of golden starlight aura.
Evander retreated and sent a message to Boo.
'Take them and go away! Abyss Emperor cannot be defeated. Don't fight him! It's useless! I repeat, don't fight!'
Even with him giving his best, Evander only managed to give small injuries.
On the other hand, Evander was dancing close to death.
"What the fuck is going on?" Varian asked after seeing the messages on hold on his comm as well as the strange messages from the news outlets.
"Master, there's no time. We must leave!" Boo waved its hand in panic and said.
Varian's eyebrows knitted together and ignoring Boo's frantic pleas, his mind sense swept into the top messages and learned of the situation.
A cold sweat broke out from Varian's forehead and his heart nearly stopped beating.
"A-Abyss Emperor is here?"
"Yes, and Julius lost to him!" Boo said in a crying voice. "Master, we must evacuate when we have the time. You can take revenge later! Don't risk your life."
While Boo was talking, Sia and Sarah rushed into the room with anxious faces. "Did you hear, Abyss Emper--"
"Please evacuate. It's impossible to win against him." Boo yelled at them in tears.
Varian glanced at Boo with a serious gaze and then turned to the database. The final message of warning came from...Evander.
He's supposed to go to Mercury to pay homage to his father. Why the fuck was he fighting Haedon?
Varian recalled the moment when Evander revealed he could temporarily increase his strength to a celestial rank.
"Shit!" Varian slammed his forehead with his palm. "Fuck! Fuck! Boo, go there!"
"But master, it's danger--"
"Get moving! Now!" Varian said sharply.
Sarah and Sia went through all the data they had and slumped on the couch with pale faces.
Especially Sarah. After learning Evander was fighting, her face went ghostly pale. Thankfully, she didn't cry or faint. After everything she went through, she's mentally very strong now.
Varian wanted to assure them that things were going to be fine. But he couldn't bring himself to say those words. He had no idea what'd happen.
Julius lost! Abyss Emperor won! Now, even Evander was losing! If these two celestial rankers lost, then who else could fight Haedon?
'Arghhh! Damn it! Fucking dammit!' Varian clenched his fists as his heart raced with fear and anxiety.
What should he do now?
Fight? But that'd mean death.
Abandon Evander, the solar system, and all humans?
Could he do that? Even if he's selfish, he really couldn't find it in himself to escape while Abyss Emperor slaughters fifty billion humans.
The ghostship quickly rushed through the teleportation formations and raced to the asteroid belt beyond Pluto.
As they drew closer, Varian could feel the terrible fluctuations in aura even from inside the ghostship.
The space flashed gold and silver. But mostly gold. It's like they're in the oceans of aura that could drown and destroy them anytime.
Soon, Varian saw the two figures clashing. It was almost like two stars were colliding.
Evander once again crashed into the asteroids and got another heavy injury. But unlike all other times before, he didn't get up this time.
He couldn't.
Haedon landed on the asteroid and walked to him in slow, relaxed steps.
Evander's hair was completely white and his skin was saggy. His bright eyes were now cloudy and his back was hunched. The powerful man now looked weak, vulnerable, and on the verge of death.
Evander burned up all the vitality he could. The only reason he's even alive was his body instinctively refused to let him burn the final reserves--the reserves that kept him alive. But they wouldn't last. He'd die soon. Maybe a day? A week?
But it didn't matter.
His whole body was riddled with wounds. Even with his healing powers, the injuries would take him down in an hour.
"Was it worth it? You chose to burn your life up while you could've escaped." Haedon said with resentment.
In Evander, he saw himself. No, he saw the opposite of his own reflection. Unlike him who ran away, Evander was courageous enough to sacrifice himself.
Haedon hated him for it. And he wanted to prove him wrong.
"Your efforts are futile, human. You are wrong. I am not." Haedon knelt in front of the old man and said. But there was no conviction in his words, only guilt.
"Eh, Ehe," Evander laughed weakly, his glassy eyes filled with mist. The powerful voice was now weak and old but it carried with its conviction that Haedon didn't have. "H...He will make it right."
Haedon's eyes suddenly flashed and he shot in the direction of the spaceships where the final abyssal survivors were staying at.
An explosive was dropped at them and it's going to blast them in a second.
"Stop!" Haedon reached them in a snap and grabbed the explosive in his hand. It exploded but didn't even shake his palm. Not even his skin was bruised.
But to protect the last members of his race, Haedon was fully focused on stopping the explosive that he got hit by a black beam of light that appeared from behind.
The black beam drilled into his body like a wriggling shadow and began sucking his vitality.
Haedon curled up as black fumes spread out from his back, stomach, and other parts like tendrils before they pierced back into him.
Blood leaked out of his eyes, nose, and lips as a black aura spread out from him.
The abyssal survivors nearby screamed and tried to run away. But the aura touched them and they dropped dead with blank eyes.
Varian watched his biggest enemy lose vitality with a solemn gaze. The death strand wouldn't have worked at any other time.
But the extremely weakened, injured, exhausted state of Haedon was the only reason he got ambushed and got affected by it.
Varian hoped it'd end him.
But.
"Arghhh!"
Haedon's aura fluctuated violently and his skin began to break down. His muscles went taut and broke.
But Abyss Emperor stood straight and stared at the ghostship. "Did you really think a strand of that energy can kill me?"
Varian teleported in front of the ghost ship and faced Haedon.
Sia and Sarah wanted to teleport right away but he asked them to wait for an opportunity. Boo took the opportunity to silently save Evander.
"I did hope it'd kill you." Varian stared at the heavily injured and exhausted Abyss Emperor with a solemn gaze.
Haedon was severely injured right from the start. Still, he fought Julius, and defeated him. Then he fought Evander, and got further exhausted. Even then, he took the attack of the death strand and was still standing.
If he wasn't injured in the first place...
Varian's aura fluctuated slightly and he locked onto the Abyss Emperor.
The death strand weakened his greatly and this was the best chance he had at defeating him.
"Come." Haedon smiled.
The space flashed gold.
