Arthur was unresigned. He didn't die in glorious battle, but in a sneak attack when he was at his most vulnerable.
In usual times, there would be no need to worry. Even if he showed his back, there were hardly any existences that could actually injure him while he was in that state.
How Damien did so? He didn't know. But he was rational enough to understand that if the power of the two men before him was combined, he didn't stand a chance.
'I can no longer run.'
Arthur was already weakened twice over. Running from Galantis was out of the question.
'Is death my only option…?'
To test the waters, he whipped out a teleportation device and tried to activate it, but as expected, it directly imploded in his hand.
It was laughable to try and teleport away from a spatial master.
Arthur's eyes hardened solemnly.
'Even if I die, I will go down fi—!'
Bang!
A fist slammed into the side of Arthur's face, cracking his skull and sending him flying.
Only then did he realize that his perception was currently covered in a hazy fog.
'Dammit! I will survive!'
Arthur widened his eyes and pushed his mana to its limit, forcefully raising his perceptive ability and burning his mana to enhance his bodily processes, an easy feat with Blood Laws.
Whoosh!
Haaa…!
Arthur let out a determined shout as he pushed his body away, narrowly avoiding another attack.
Shik!
A sword pierced through his back, shattering several ribs as it crashed out the other side of his body.
"Keuk…!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three punches, one to the chin that made his head spin and two to the body, crushing him into paste and forcing him to waste even more mana on regeneration.
Arthur moved.
He moved and moved.
He did everything he could, letting go of his pride as a Supreme and using every trick he could possibly think of to escape.
He turned into a blood sea.
He was burned and weakened.
He tried to target Damien, the weaker enemy, with Demigod Artifacts to distract Galantis.
A golden palace appeared in the void, protecting Damien from harm.
Whether it was escape or battle, neither option was presented to the current Arthur Bloodlock.
"FUCK!" He roared, unable to contain his frustration.
Arthur was always an emotional person. It was a quality he'd passed to his descendants and a quality that somewhat aided him in his rise to power.
But his willingness to sacrifice anything for his desires, the same willingness that caused others to rise to the peak…
Why was it bringing him only misfortune?
In these final moments, Arthur didn't experience any sort of flashbacks, nor did he see the face of his wives or sons.
He saw the face of his father, vividly reflected in his mind.
He saw the scornful expression of Immortal Blood Asura as he looked at his son's corpse.
Suddenly, something snapped within him.
'Hahahaha, what was ever the point?!' He roared inwardly.
If he was slaughtered here, he would only ever be known as a shame to the clan!
Even if he lived, falling out of favor with his father was worse than death!
And like that, Arthur came to a decision.
'If I'm going to die, I will make sure our Bloodlock Clan does not lose face because of it!'
A glorious death, the dream of every warrior.
It was nothing more than a pipe dream.
Arthur grinned madly and stabbed his own arm through his chest, grabbing his still-beating heart and crushing it.
"Die with me!" He yelled, cackling like a lunatic.
Damien's eyes widened in surprise.
Surviving a Supreme's death knell was impossible.
But…
He almost felt bad for humiliating Arthur even in his last moments.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Arthur's body exploded in the void, transforming it into a bloody hell that would kill any and everyone nearby. The explosive force spread for millions upon millions of kilometers, assaulting the chaotic void, the starry sky, and many nearby worlds, including Beast Emperor Star.
However, in lieu of this outcome, Damien and Galantis disappeared entirely, taking refuge in the Sanctuary until the force died down.
It seemed like an easy resolution to a difficult problem, but it was anything but that.
This time, Damien's victory was dependent on a great deal of luck, or was it rather…fate?
If Arthur had just known that Damien separated his vitals from his body, would he have been able to choose a more fitting strategy to deal with Damien, therefore killing him before Galantis arrived?
If Damien wasn't a monster, was there any hope for him at all?
The importance of strength was once again reflected, and though Damien had just been promoted, his mind was forced to remain grounded by reality.
With the passing of a minute, Damien returned to the broken starry sky after thanking Galantis for his help and promising him a hefty reward.
The battle just now, Damien internalized it and took it as a lesson, but he didn't attach too much weight to it.
Being blunt, Arthur's purpose was to be his whetstone, and as the battle with Arthur truly did allow him to raise himself to a new level, the man himself no longer had any value.
What was important was Beast Emperor Star, almost naked with the dispersal of Fate Clouds in its atmosphere.
'If the situation is that dire, I might not be able to execute the plan I had for Astoria. I'll have to investigate as soon as possible.'
Damien began to move, but he didn't even make it a few hundred kilometers before the atmosphere suddenly changed.
VOOM!
Space solidified. It was a strange solidification that wasn't done through Spatial Laws, a solidification that Damien couldn't break.
'This…!'
Damien's eyes widened in shock. Without another thought, he tried to return to the Sanctuary to save himself, however…!
"So this is the little rat that has been nibbling away at my Bloodlock Clan."
An ancient voice resounded through space. Just listening to it made Damien's eardrums quake on the verge of explosion.
"Khh…!" Damien gritted his teeth as he rapidly healed himself.
He made a vital error.
It wasn't that he'd forgotten, he just didn't understand enough to prepare for this situation.
Winds swirled through space, and before Damien's eyes, a massive projection formed. It was an old man with a bald head and a long beard, almost like an old monk. However, his bloody eyes told of countless slaughters and a love for mania that remained deeply concealed.
This projection…
"Immortal Blood Asura."
Immortal Blood Asura gazed down at Damien's puny body and peered through his existence, trying to unearth all of his secrets.
"As a young genius, you are passable. You even managed to kill Arthur using some dirty means. For this, I will acknowledge you. However…"
"For your affronts against the Bloodlock Clan, today you will die."
Reavus was just a grandson. Immortal Blood Asura had more grandsons than he bothered to care about. Until one of them showed satisfactory results on the Dimensional Leaderboard, he wouldn't even acknowledge them.
While Reavus used to be top 10 on Heaven's List, he was only in the 50s of the Dimensional Leaderboard, similar to Atticus. Unless he reached the 20s, Immortal Blood Asura had no reason to care for him.
Arthur was different. Arthur reached not only the top 20 in his youth, but even the top 10. His achievements were so great that he earned himself a spot on the Legacy Tome, a separate part of the Dimensional Leaderboard that immortalized the names of its greatest geniuses.
Arthur was someone Immortal Blood Asura put a great deal of effort into raising. While he wasn't a son who had a chance to inherit the throne, countless resources were expended to raise him as a loyal and unstoppable general who served the throne.
Now that he was dead…
Immortal Blood Asura was more than just a little angry.
