Immortal was surprised at the team of five that faced him with a vigilant expression.
"What's the matter?" His lips curled up into a generous smile but his eyes narrowed, scanning the holy squad with a suspicious gaze.
The team of his kingdom wouldn't allow killing others, so he let them die even though they could've brought them into the barrier. Then he killed the naive princess who was also sent as a part of the sealing team.
All that was left was to subdue Isadora and then, reseal the devil and achieve a new ending. Once that's over, he could leave this world with Isadora and get out of
Paradise.
To be honest, the perfect hybrid couldn't have come at a better time. He's suppressing himself from hitting the divine ranks.
By design, Immortal was created to be an entity that's perfectly aligned with the paths of life and death. That included the path of soul too.
If he hit the divine ranks in his current state, he'd be a great divine ranker—one who could easily march through rank 1 and breakthrough to rank 2 since he had access to all three paths.
He could even reach high rank 2 not too long from now and stand shoulder to shoulder with Life Master Kemin Aurik and Lady Death Yami.
But what would that achieve?
These two people—the figures that could be considered closest to be his father and mother—have abandoned him since his great potential was useless.
A high rank 2 was useless in front of the God Emperor.
Even if he tried to reach the peak of rank 2—the state that the Emperor was currently believed to be in—it would take a long time despite his potential.
But what's really worse was that the God Emperor had been in that state for tens of millions of years or maybe even hundreds of millions of years.
Immortal wasn't even qualified to know such information. So in the end, even reaching peak rank 2 might be futile.
'You, You alone are not enough. To win against the man closest to a god, a defective piece is not enough.'
It was what they told him long ago.
He hated those words in the beginning. But now, he was glad he didn't try to race to the divine ranks.
Once he 'absorbed' the perfect hybrid, he could use his powers—that were imbued into him by the slivers themselves—to take over Isadora's body.
Like hundreds of bodies he could create through overwhelming vitality and death essence, the hybrid would also be another body.
But different from them, it would be the main body.
The body with three origins.
Even though Isadora only had one path for each avenue, Immortal didn't mind. He would be entering the divine ranks in three paths.
It would take longer than normal, but he could reach rank 2 in all three avenues!
Life and Death!
Space and Time!
Order and Chaos!
He'd get the slivers of Life and Death for the project. And after taking over Isadora, he was confident in finding the slivers of Order and Chaos.
There's a high chance his progress in Creator Avenue would be extremely slow. But he had confidence in reaching rank 2 in both Ruler and Sage paths.
Immortal believed a high rank 2 in these two avenues would have a chance in beating the God Emperor.
In the worst case that he's still not able to beat that man, what about a peak rank 2?
He would defeat the false god and attain those two slivers.
And then, with all the slivers, he would break the limit and step into a realm that even the Primordial Gods hadn't touched.
After all, who could fight a being who rules over space-time, life-death and order-chaos?
Perhaps he might become the 'God', omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.
Suppressing the grandeur filling his mind, Immortal asked with a gentle smile. "Where is the 9th princess?"
"Huh?" Varian and team were surprised by his behavior.
The holy squad looked at Isadora with a look of 'We told you so' while Isadora herself was confused by the friendly atmosphere.
"I was searching for a while and couldn't find her traces. But it's not like we can wait forever. The devil has to be re-sealed."
Immortal said in urgent tone, pointing to the black cyclone that continued to grow in the distance.
The holy squad grimaced.
Even though they were far away, looking at it gave a sensation as if an invisible hand was hovering over their necks, ready to dug its fingers into their skin and rip their heads off.
"Thankfully, your group is not injured. I think we still have a chance without the help of the princess. Let's hurry." Immortal urged and started off to the tornado without showing any vigilance toward them.
Isadora briefly glanced at Varian and ordered everyone to follow him to the center.
'I know his face is different but it's him.' Isadora said through their link. 'He must be trying to use the devil as a distraction since the squad is uninjured.'
Varian nodded, agreeing with her words. But he saw no need to tear off the masks yet.
'Who says he's using us? We're using him to deal with the devil. Say we fight him and win. Then what? We'll most likely lose to the devil. It'd still be a loss.'
'Playing them off against each other, huh.'
'A tactic as old as civilization. But works well.'
They showed no suspicious behavior toward Immortal to indicate that they were on guard against him.
But Isadora and Varian had prepared themselves to backstab him at the opportune moment without any hesitation.
"Devil of the outer sky, we have come to seal you, just like our ancestors have done a thousand years ago and our descendants will do, a thousand years from now."
Immortal shouted in a passionate voice and pointed his spear at the violent black tornado.
The spinning tornado, the beam of black light in the middle of it, the spinning dust surrounding the structure all paused for a moment before a humanoid figure materialized in front of them.
"What game are you playing?"
An aura at the very peak of rank 9, even surpassing that of Immortal's immense power, pressed on them.
