Hearing an unexpected voice at close quarters, Varian's body stiffened and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
Varian's brain raced at its fastest and his mind sense already 'saw' the person appearing behind him and understood his current situation.
Right now, he and the Undead were facing each other and their fists were just a few feet away from one another. In a blink, their fists would clash.
The one who sneaked up was behind him! It was an Abyssal he had never seen before. But Varian instantly recognized the crimson armor on the assassin's body.
'Blood Heirs!'
Before Varian could even get a proper look at the Abyssal's face, his Plantae sense repulsed, just like how his nose would respond to a stinking smell.
The stench of death overwhelmed Varian's senses for a moment before his mind took over and realized his current situation.
There was no time to even teleport and Varian forcibly turned to the side while he stretched his left arm towards the Abyssal.
Time seemed to freeze as Varian faced the Undead on his right and the Abyssal on his left.
The world remained before the ground under the three sunk into a huge crater. As if experiencing an earthquake, the land cracked apart with Varian as the center.
Dust filled the air and formed a tornado before it was destroyed by a shockwave from Varian.
As the dust settled down, the condition of the Human, Undead, and Abyssal came into view.
Varian's fist and the Undead's much bigger fist were in contact with each other. The skin on Varian's fist had completely cracked apart, revealing his flesh as blood spilled out and drenched it.
The Undead's skin was also blown away and worse, his bones were strangely twisted.
Even though Varian had to forcibly change his position at the last moment, the Undead still lost in the exchange!
The Undead's mind went blank at this blatant display of disparity. A human who should be weaker than him actually grew so strong so fast!
The Undead glanced at Varian once before turning to the holy altar in the site where the World Tree used to exist.
Without a second thought, he kicked the ground and shot toward the location as if he didn't care about Varian.
On the other hand, Varian stood still as he gripped the neck of the Abyssal in crimson.
The Abyssal's hand, postured as a claw, stopped just before his chest. The Abyssal wanted to tear his chest, but Varian stopped him at the last moment.
It was only because the Abyssal was significantly weaker than him. If it was someone as strong as the Undead, Varian would've been helpless against the sneak attack.
But—
"Kukuku." The Abyssal's face paled due to the lack of air, but he cackled like a madman.
Varian didn't understand why until he felt a sharp sting in his chest.
The claw indeed stopped before his chest, but the nail from a single finger managed to pierce his chest.
The cold, black energy oozing out from the fingertips was in direct contact with Varian's warm red blood.
Varian felt an ominous premonition"What are—arghh!"
A sense of weakness enveloped Varian. As if a puppet that had its strings cut, Varian experienced himself losing control of his body.
Like an engine without fuel, he felt himself coming to a sharp slowdown. Varian felt his eyebrows grow heavy and had a strong urge to sleep.
'I…' As his body started shutting down, Varian forcibly opened his eyes.
"You!" Sanguik, the head of Blood Heirs, felt his scalp tingle.
Once hit by the original strand of death energy, Varian was supposed to faint and die! How could he still be conscious?
Varian resisted the weakening of his body and smiled at Sanguik. Then, he tightened the grip around the Abyssal's neck, crushed his throat, and threw him away.
Feeling the last bit of vitality leaving Sanguik's body, Varian shuddered. That was the same thing he was feeling now!
Loss of vitality!
Like a cracked dam, his body was losing vitality and with each second, this loss was only increasing!
'D-Death?' Varian was forced to come to terms with it.
He could feel it in his body. The cold, dark energy sapped away his vitality. Even though it was just a strand of energy, its quality was extremely high.
Forget level 9s, even Sovereigns wouldn't be able to save him.
The Plantae vitality he was so proud of could barely resist in the face of this terrifying death force.
"I…I am going to die?" Varian felt his throat grow heavy and a sense of despair filled his heart.
He looked to the left and saw Sarah and Enigma in the distance. Their faces were pale like a sheet of paper and they were already at their limit.
'Would he really close his eyes and never see them again?' Varian's eyes turned red.
He promised himself to keep Sia happy. She suffered too much. If he died, she'd be devastated.
He wanted to protect Sarah and give her a happy life. He wanted to thank her for helping him in his dark times.
He wanted to help his race. He wanted to see the wonders of the Universe.
This wasn't it! This wasn't how he wanted his life to go.
'System?! System, can you do something…I don't want to die.'
[…] The System didn't respond.
Even though he expected it, Varian's heart sank. But at the same time, he accepted his death. The sadness in his heart vanished and tranquility filled his being.
Varian turned to the right and saw the Undead who reached the holy altar. Varian's eyes shone with determination.
'If I'm going to die anyway and there's one last thing I could do, then—'
The Undead grabbed a shining tablet from the altar and sprinted away when Varian suddenly appeared in front of him.
"You!"
"Die!" Resisting the weakening of his body, Varian poured all his powers into a single punch.
The Undead was taken aback by the surprise attack and barely managed to raise his arms in defense before Varian's fist struck his chest.
"I…" The Undead tried to feel raise his right hand to feel the hollowness in his chest. But he couldn't lift his hand no matter what.
Looking down, the Undead realized that his fist was gone, blasted into pieces of meat and bones.
Not only that, there was a huge hole in the right of his chest. Almost half of his torso was gone, revealing the flesh and blood in full display.
As a sense of weakness filled his body, the Undead looked at Varian again with a touch of horror. "You…"
Varian's face paled as he realized he failed to kill the Undead. That punch should've been more than enough, but he was weakened too much!
"If you remain alive, you'll be a threat to their and everyone's lives." Varian endured the gnawing coldness in his body and raised his fist again.
The Undead knew he had no chance of surviving another attack. So, he quickly pressed the tablet in his hand.
The holy altar gave off a bright light and the space distorted.
The Undead fainted as the space around him twisted and teleported him away. His current injuries broke him on a fundamental level and he'd take months to just recuperate.
With the teleportation, he also exited the range of Enigma and Sarah's control range, causing the two women to focus back on the real world.
But what they saw made their hearts sink.
A huge space crack opened above Varian and started to pull him in. The weakness in his body didn't allow Varian to put up any resistance and bit by bit, he was being pulled into the space crack.
""Varian!"" With agonizing voices, Enigma and Sarah reached him.
Enigma used her gravity power to pull him out while Sarah slowed down the time of his body.
But instead of helping, the space crack turned more chaotic and started pulling him with greater force. Due to the interference of Enigma and Sarah, a deeper crack developed in the already chaotic space.
A Space-Time crack with highly chaotic gravity opened up and started sucking them in.
The holy altar, the one responsible for the space crack, couldn't bear this new change either and blew up.
With the stabilizing force gone, the crack turned more aggressive.
It became clear to Enigma and Sarah that they had no time and must take a decision now.
Varian can't be brought out. So, what should they do?
Enigma took a breath and applied her gravity power on Sarah to push her away. "You leave. I'll bring him bac—"
"I'm going." Sarah broke the gravity hold on her and held Varian's hand. Enigma sighed before she held Sarah's hand.
The next moment, the crack expanded and sucked them in before closing up.
Only the traces of space, time, and gravity were left to tell the tale.
