Chapter 124: Power of an Expert

Back in the Ancient Era, when the gods and fallen dwelled openly among men and waged wars against each other, both sides began to harness their specific codes and granted them to the races.

The Code of the Gods and the Code of the Fallen were both gifted to creation so that creation could grow strong and aid them in their conquest.

Those bestowed with the Codes and received several blessings soon understood what it meant to be gods. As Gods and Fallen were not limited by time, space, and energy, they could perform things and see things vastly different from what humans could.

Just as a dog will only have the instinct of a dog and bark, bite, chase, and sniff, so were creation limited to their biological constraints. In fact, no race in all creation had true freedom. They were limited in their thinking, craving, and their cultivation.

But the Codes offered these races a chance to see beyond what they could see. By granting them a new set of eyes to see, a new set of senses to feel, many cultivated to the point that they surpassed their mortal being.

And so the first Saint was born. Belonging to the Dragonic Races, the Dragon Sovereign became the first mortal to be like gods.

But just as that happened, the dark Codes of the Fallen gave birth to the first devil level Okto-Khefali. Thus, the Okto-Khefali Bob became a name that brought terror to all those who sided with the Gods.

Dragon Sovereign Kaiser Prime soon reached godhood as the gods bestowed more of their Codes on him. And in a show of power, Kaiser Prime slew the Celestial Fallen. But just as the Code of the Celestial Fallen was captured, Bob appeared and devoured half of it.

Kaiser managed to wrestle it back but failed to slay Bob, becoming the first mortal to reach the power levels that equal the Fallen.

The remnant Code from the Celestial Fallen would be granted to a human mortal who reached sainthood and became known as Greater God Daradiel.

But during that era, granting numerous Codes, be it Fallen or from Gods, led to strange events.

A mortal had found a means to create a different Code. It was different than the Codes that the gods and fallen left on the mortal planes. It was unlike the Codes that defined the power of the Gods and Fallen. And both sides feared it. They called the power a 'Path' for it opened up a Path to a new power.

Both sides labeled the woman a heretic, but as she grew in power, the gods were forced to bring her to their side as the Fallen would devour and share her.

Soon, the age of Heretics came. More and more Greater Gods and Fallen emerged, each with their Path, until the great war between the gods and fallen reached its conclusion with the gods winning.

The Codes that they have left behind were too many, and the original gods and fallen knew that they would face immense backlash from the saints, devils, gods, and fallen. To do that, they caused a massive curse to affect the entire universe that limited the power of the Codes to limit the potential of mortal beings.

From then on, the number of people that reached sainthood dramatically decreased. And the number of times when a Path would open in the hundreds of billions of years that passed could only be counted in one hand.

And now, a Path was born.

A Path of unimaginable possibilities exited within the Planes world.

The Saint King in the Heavenly Planes and the Devil King in the Netherlands both used their power to hide the surging energy that erupted from that Path.

They knew that a Greater God was nearby searching for a certain being, and both stopped it. This was the chance for a God or Fallen of such great power to rise from the Planes World.

Kyros held his sword and felt as if he understood it.

---

De-Might curse weakened.

Force Lock curse weakened.

---

A bright light covered Kyros.

Kyros cursed and summoned up the armor he marked before getting here.

He was wearing a set of armor that hid his features. He had the complete set. Kyros wore a shield, a pair of gauntlets, a helmet covering his face, and greaves concealing his shins. These were some of the basic armor he found in his many raids. The Vermillion armor increased Kyros's bulkiness and allowed him to fit the steel armor, and the Cloak of Darkness was released a bit of darkness to fill in the space. To the eyes of anyone, Kyros would look like a man in his late twenties with his tall build. But in reality, the darkness from the Cloak and his Core was the only one making him look big.

But even though the enemy could now see Kyros, the orcs did not move.

They watched in amazement.

Kyros held the sword.

"I see... Hyperion Steel's Code is Force itself. If not for the powerful curses, I would have reached sainthood almost instantly in terms of skill." Kyros closed his eyes and immersed himself in the brand new power.

The orcs watched and unconsciously retreated.

"Ca-Captain! That human! What power is this?"

"I don't know. I've served in the front line and fought Paladins and other General level warriors. Yet nothing can compare to that power!" 

"Kyros. The power you have is..."

"I know. I'm minimizing it. If I do a single slash with my current form, it will kill me as my body would be depleted of Force energy. What kind of blessing did that Ancient God give me? This is too much trouble! That awakening ruined my plan! I was supposed to be a shadow fighting here, but now, with this bright light, everyone could see me!" Kyros cursed.

"I know, right? I told him to give you less than a drop! Now all of Planes World will be headed here to kill you!"

Kyros then commanded the dark beings to move and attack.

The black ball of Shadow Ghouls exploded out, and the Shadow Ghouls raced towards the front lines.

The shadow familiars also dove down.

The attacks drew the attention of the orcs, and they began to bombard the strange beings with attacks.

As Kyros was already within the walls, he was not in a position where the mages could immediately attack. But Kyros made the group attack the mages first to distract them.

Kyros kept on concentrating.

"My main concern is those archers. All that's left is the archers. Calaminus. Prepare to use Splash to any archers that will fire. With your current force, you should be able to redirect their shots. You know what to do, right?." Kyros ordered.

"Of course! I'm still a god, you know?" Calaminus shook his head as he moved out.

Calaminus immediately flew. With his level increased, he could now stay within two hundred meters of where Kyros was.

"Who are you?! Put down your sword, human!" One of the orc captains nearest to where Kyos was shouted. The power that Kyros released made everyone wary. But the power was so pure that many of the stronger orcs knew that this was a soldier of the light.

"I am here to kill Cracky Batcheeks!" Kyros declared.

[Oration activated.]

The group was startled. 

"How did a human enter this place?"

"I came from the scent of blood. I met an orc who was escaping from this place. He found a secret path leading to a tunnel that moved out of Airom Logat. His family had been killed, and I am a vampire hunter from the Midlands chasing Cracky Batcheeks. I am not your enemy!" Kyros explained. While he kept talking, his Soul Console was working as hard as it could to compress the energy.

Kyros willed it, and one of the Shadow Familiars zoomed down to attack him.

Kyros was very careful and controlled his movements. However, in his current form, the vast power that his body was releasing was creating a conflict in his body. A surge of Force Energy was trying to break free from the curse, but the curse contained it. But still, his body was currently full of Force energy, and the slightest stimulation would cause his body to explode.

As the dark creature approached, Kyros slowly raised his fist as if he was doing something so casual. Then, the power of Skotos Eis Phos was activated.

FLASH!

A powerful bright light emerged, and the Shadow Familiar disappeared.

"SCREEEE!" The Shadow familiar and the various ghouls suddenly retreated at a distance to reform and glared and hiss at Kyros.

"He made the darkness retreat!" One of the orcs was amazed.

"An expert!" The orc captain was amazed. That simple movement was time so precisely that the attack immediately killed the dark creature.

"Where is the path that you speak of?" A certain orc magi asked.

"I believe it is to my benefit that I don't say exactly where. But I can describe it to you if your purpose is to ascertain its existence. It is a long winding passage in a cave. The rocks inside the path are full of coarse stones, and curiously, it has stairs on certain dangerous parts of it." Kyros described.

"Lies!" An orc exclaimed.

"He speaks the truth." Another orc sighed.

"What?"

"I've been to such a path. Then Midland warrior. If you can kill Cracky Batcheeks, we will pay you!" One of the Orc captains offered.

"I just want passage of this place. My job is to exact vengeance for my family that Cracky killed in the Midlands. I need not your money." Kyros answered.

"Why did you kill our orcs?!" One of the orcs suddenly challenged as it noticed two orcs killed.

"Take a closer look. The darkness was infecting him! If I had not acted quickly, these orcs would become vampires! Their bites will infect you! You either die from the poison or become a vampire to aid them!" Kyros rebuked.

The orcs were startled.

"If you do not believe me, find. But allow me to challenge that creature alone! Do not interfere!" Kyros shouted.

"Then go! See if you can kill that monster." One of the orcs answered.

"Chazrak! We cannot trust him!" Another orc captain howled.

"To what disadvantage if he kills that monster? Since he demands no payment, we can all take credit for killing it!"

"I have no concern as to who gets the glory for killing Cracky." Kyros answered.

The orc captain continued to contemplate.

"Fine. Go and fight that monster, expert. Show us the strength of the Midlands!" The orc finally agreed.

At that moment, Kyros had already managed to contain the power in him. There was still a huge amount of Force energy that was bursting out of him.

"Then allow me to face that monster." Kyros began his slow march.

Every step of Kyros released a faint pulse of Force energy that made the orcs amazed.

"This is the power of an expert." An orc praised.

"Die!" Kyros charged towards the bundle of darkness that was his summons, and his sword slashed at it.

BOOM!

A powerful light exploded out as Kyros channeled the excess Force energy in his body and stabbed on the floor.

"Is it over?" An orc asked.

And then they heard it.

"AHHHHH! I'm dying! Ugh! I'm dead! No! Curse you, Cracky Batcheeks! The Naked Offender!"

The light disappeared, and a terrifying dark creature stood with raging darkness that replaced the light.

"WHAT?!" The orcs were shocked and cursed.

"That was still too forced! What kind of lousy acting skills do you possess? You were dying, and you still had the time to say, 'the Naked Offender? And what is even more idiotic is that you said that right after you said you are dead." Calaminus was unimpressed.

"Oh, shut up! I have never been in such a conflicting state before! Even my Soul Console was having a hard time maintaining the energy! So forgive me if my acting skills are not up to par! At least I fixeåd the problems that idiot Sword God gave me!"