The beast god was holding a blood-stained sword in his hand. He is the beastkin's god of war. His burly body looked both dignified and noble, each muscle full of strength as though even a casual movement would be able to flatten the entire tribe.
The beastkin eagerly looked up at their war god. The god raised his sword and shouted: "For the beastkin!"
The beastkin roared: "For the war god!"
"For the beastkin!"
"For the war god!"
The beastkin's spirits were kindled as they howled, expressing the passion in their hearts. A red dot appeared on the beast god's sword and split into many streams of red that swept over the beastkin. This was the war god's blessing.
Xiu looked up the sky at the beastkin god. His eyes were a dark blue color, like deep pools that could swallow everything.
The god suddenly became aware of a threat and looked to the west, blazing with anger.
There was a chill in the western sky. Suddenly, a black-haired man in dark armor appeared. His body exuded terror and everyone present could feel the power surging from that person's body. Seeing the newcomer, the beastkin god was astonished and called out to him: "War God!"
"I finally found you, beastkin god of war." The human war god was hovering in mid-air with his arms folded. "It took too much time to find you barbarians."
The human god was staring at the beastkin god; the corners of his mouth curved up in a sneer: "You are the last."
"What have you done to the other beastkin gods?!" the beastkin war god roared, not liking the human god's sneer.
"You will soon be able to accompany them to see your Lord God." The human war god said disdainfully: "You offended the god of light, do you really think you can escape?"
Behind the human god of war, a large number of human soldiers poured out of the night. Many knights and priests of the temple of light were with them. Standing in the beastkin village, Du Ze was shocked to see Eric. The son of god stood in the forefront of the knights; he was obviously the leader of the army that had come here to fight the beastkin.
Xiu held on tightly to Du ze's hand, silently staring at Eric.
The beastkin god of war watched them arrive and said scornfully: "The god of light's lackeys!"
The human god's face was livid. He pulled out his weapon1 and pointed it at the beastkin: "Don't let any of these barbarians escape!"
"Kill them all!"
As the human army attacked, the beastkin god of war raised his sword and attacked the human war god: "For the glory of the beastkin, we must make our enemies pay with their own blood!"
"Make them pay with blood! Blood for blood!"
The beastkin roared in response the two armies clashed. The priests cast a spell to bless the soldiers. Although the average level of the humans was not as high as the beastkin, the humans have better, more sophisticated equipment compared to the beastkin's pitifully simple weapons and animal skins. At the altar, Nina began to sing loudly and the other shamans joined in the chorus. The song was forceful and filled with an intense killing intent, like a general leading his army to the killing fields.
The beastkin do not have magic, but they have a battle hymn that can bring out the beastkin's potential and make them enter a berserk state. A berserk beastkin warriors is tireless and inured to pain; his agility and strength improve and some can become an unstoppable killing machine.
Under the stimulus of the Battle Hymn, the beastkin began to go berserk. Sal was one of them. His face became beastly; his body became twice as large as normal and his legs transformed into those of a beast. He rushed towards the human army where the ordinary soldiers were utterly incapable of resisting him. He left a trail of slaughter in his wake.
The beastkin warriors howled and followed their chief's lead, tearing up the human army's frontline. However, the beastkin's battle superiority abruptly ended. The crowd was shocked as a golden dragon descended from the sky with Eric on his back.
"Dragon... Dragon Knight!"
The others couldn't tell which beastkin warrior screamed those words in fright. A Dragon Knight can turn the tide in a battle. Especially in a siege, the Dragon Knight is absolutely invincible A glimmer of despair spread through the beastkin ranks while the human soldier's morale rose exponentially.
"The son of god!"
The human war god was fighting with the beastkin god. They were deadlocked. When he saw that Eric had summoned the golden dragon, the human war god smiled in satisfaction. However, he didn't have enough time to taunt his enemy because a black dragon suddenly appeared and ruthlessly attacked the golden dragon.
The cheers of the human soldiers stopped short and the beastkin stared at the battle above them. The human god of war saw that on the black dragon's back was a golden-haired, blue-eyed human. The god was puzzled and angrily asked the Dragon Knight: "What are you doing?!"
When the Dragon Knight ignored his question, the god of war wanted to teach the ungrateful human a lesson, but he was blocked by the beastkin god.
"Our fight isn't over yet."
The war god scoffed: "Even without the Dragon Knight, I can still kill all of these barbarians!"
Sal looked at the black dragon and remembered that he had never thanked Nina for bringing back these friends. The beastkin warrior took a deep breath and roared: "Kill!"
"Kill!!!"
The war cries were shocking. Xiu ignored the two armies below him. He put Du Ze in a safe place; it is now time for him to pursue a personal grudge. Xiu watched Eric riding the golden dragon. From the first time he met this person, he wanted to kill him.
Du Ze and Ariel stayed together. Old John was guarding both of them. Occasionally, Old John knocked out a troublesome human or beastkin. Du Ze watched from below as Xiu confronted Eric. The two are Dragon Knights and they look very similar – blond and handsome. They were like mirror images, surprisingly alike in appearance except for a few subtle differences.
The two men were fated enemies.
Eric looked at the strange Dragon Knight. Even though he could not conceal his hostility, he still tried to communicate with the Black Dragon Knight.
"Why are you helping the beastkin?"
Xiu did not answer Eric's question. Instead, he asked him the same thing: "Why are you attacking the beastkin?"
"My god instructed me to." Eric said: "These beastkin have caused a lot of damage to the Moon Empire – have you forgotten the Battle of Fort Steel? The people of the city were slaughtered by the beastkin. So I will expel2 them even without my god's instructions."
"Expulsion?" Xiu glanced below him, his smile elusive. "Are you sure this isn't a massacre?"
Eric was silent. He looked at the beastkin's besieged women and children and pain flashed through his expression. The son of god took a deep breath and spoke as though he had decided something important: "If they vow to never step into the human's territory, I will ask the gods to let the beastkin live."
"Oh ..."
Xiu's soft voice echoed through the night. He really hates this man who is like his past self, stupid and hypocritical – an eyesore.
But Du Ze likes it. He knows that Du Ze has been hoping that he would turn back to his former self, but he will never be able to go back, nor would he want to be a fool who was too considerate of others.
It's good to live only for yourself, to strive with all your might to possess whatever you want, and the things that make you unhappy should all be destroyed.
"You needn't bother." The dragon spear appeared in Xiu hands. "I'll kill you."
Xiu aimed the dragon spear at the distant figure of Eric.
He will kill his former self and erase his past.
The golden dragon flew up, dodging the black dragon's attack. The black dragon deftly twisted his body around and his thick, long barbed tail struck the golden dragon's wings, scraping off some golden scales.
"Ah!"
Fire spewed forth from the golden dragon's mouth, the sacred flame was aimed at the black dragon. The black dragon flapped his wings and returned fire with dragon flame. The golden and black dragon flames met each other in mid-air. The light from the combined dragon fire turned the entire sky white. The black dragon furled its wings and started to dive down onto the golden dragon. This time the golden dragon did not veer away. Eric took his golden dragon spear and aimed it at the black dragon. The golden dragon flew up to attack.
"Crash-"
The silver blue dragon spear and the golden spear clashed together. Eric looked at the golden spear in his hands. Its golden luster had dulled. The spear began to rust and deteriorate until it turned into black dust and disappeared. Eric looked down at the Dragon Knight below him. The silver blue dragon spear in Xiu's hands still had a bright luster.
It is an artifact, one that makes things decay, or with a time-related power. Once that spear touched a person or dragon, the result is irreversible. Eric took a deep breath and told the golden dragon to allow him to dismount.
"What are you going to do, Eric?" asked the golden dragon asked. Then he heard Eric chanting a spell. "Eric! Don't! That's forbidden..."
"When tolerance is perceived as a weakness, use might to make the enemy tremble." Light elements started flowing into Eric's body. The son of god's figure became brighter and brighter until he looked like a person made of pure light. "God of light, give me the power to disperse the darkness."
On the back of the black dragon, Xiu watched as a light started shining behind the golden dragon. The light became brighter and brighter until his eyes were dazzled. Xiu squinted at that figure then jumped down to attack. The black dragon immediately moved to protect Xiu but the golden dragon blocked him.
Xiu used wind magic to stabilize his body as he fell to the ground. Opposite him, the bright light began to die down and Eric's body could be seen again. The son of god was covered with a golden light, as majestic as a god.
Through the forbidden magic, Eric temporarily possessed the power of a false god. He raised his hand and arrows made of light flashed towards Xiu. The speed of the light arrows was quite fast. Xiu dodged and raised an earth shield to block the attacks. However, when he used earth magic, he found that the light element in his surroundings were unusually dense and were suppressing the other elements.
The light arrow pierced his flesh and he was bound by a rope made of light. No matter what magic he used, he couldn't break free of the rope. Xiu raised his head and watched as Eric walked towards him.
The war god smiled maliciously at the beastkin god as their weapons clashed yet again: "Give up, without your leader, you are all doomed to fail."
The beastkin god looked down. Though his warriors fought valiantly, the army they fought were well prepared and the beastkin were clearly losing the battle.
"The beastkin will not retreat. Our honour shall never be stained, even if we have to fight to the last man."
The beastkin god raised his sword but this time he did not use it to attack the other god. He slit his wrist. Blood flowed down the sword and it emitted a red light that flowed down to the beastkin warriors. The beastkin god sang the Battle Hymn loudly. Compared to Nina's singing, his singing was rougher, less tender. Under the god's blessing and the Battle Hymn, most of the beastkin warriors entered a second berserk state and began to counterattack.
The war god looked at this new development with amazement. The beastkin god had sacrificed his divinity to strengthen the warrior's fighting power.
"Even if I fall." The beastkin god held his sword; his blood still flowed: "My faith will never disappear."
Eric walked towards Xiu but before he could speak, a red light suddenly lit up the sky. The red rays fell down and were attracted to Xiu's body. Xiu panted as that feeling came over him again. His body seemed to burn. Now he could understand the Battle Hymn of the beastkin. A wild, reckless power told him:
You should not be bound.
You have a pair of claws that can tear all enemies apart.
Eric stepped back back just as sharp claws cut the blond hair on his forehead. In front of him, a beastkin with red-gold eyes broke free of his bondage and attacked him with his claws. Eric was shocked. Just now the other person was clearly a human but he suddenly transformed into a beastkin warrior. This type of transformation, it was like that person who was with God's Messenger ...?
Then Eric really did see God's Messenger. When Du Ze saw that Xiu was in trouble, he immediately hurried towards Xiu with Old John. When he arrived at the scene, Du Ze was stunned. In addition to the rival who was clothed in light, there was a person wearing beastkin clothing. The person had bright red hair and a pair of animal ears which were rounder than a cat's ear, and he had a long furry tail which showed that he was the most powerful type of beastkin, a lion.
WTF! The Moe Lord suddenly awakened his beastkin bloodline. Some silly, cute person stared at the animal ears and tail. Unexpectedly, this kind of Moe attribute in the mighty, domineering hero's body made Du Ze shamefully excited.
"God's Messenger..."
Eric looked at Du Ze and Xiu, suspicion in his heart
The god of light said that this man was a heretic who must be eradicated.
The light elements gathered together. This time it didn't form a light arrow but a sword made of light. Eric will no longer stay his hand, he will eradicate this heretic and then take back God's Messenger.
Seeing Eric wielding a sword of light, Xiu's tail rose and he pounced on Eric. This new form was surprisingly agile. After awakening 7 of his bloodlines, Xiu finally became a false god. To the beastkin's fast reflexes and keen senses, Eric seemed to move in slow motion. Xiu calmly dodged all his attacks. He feinted with his right claw. Eric covered his body with a shield of light. Xiu smashed the shield but could not advance further.
Xiu leaped back, dodging Eric's sword. The golden beast's eyes were staring at Eric, trying to find his weakness. The battle of the humans and beastkin has reached a climax. Because of the god's sacrifice, the human soldiers that had gradually forced their way forward were at a disadvantage. The god's blessing on the beastkin had made them more powerful. More and more of the red light fell down from the sky. Xiu's body was also affected and he entered a berserk state. He obeyed the wildness in his heart, roaring together with the other beastkin.
"Roar-"
His red hair was like a burning flame in the night. The lion's golden eyes flashed as he ruthlessly knocked down the son of god.
Eric fell to the ground. Xiu put his foot on Eric's right wrist. Even though the light shield blocked his attacks, it also stopped Eric from lifting his hands. As the son of god stared in astonishment, Xiu leaned over and tore hole in the light shield with his bare hands. Xiu's skin cracked and his blood gushed out but the smile on his face just widened and became more cruel.
"Crack-"
There should have been no sound but Eric somehow heard the light shield breaking under Xiu's claws. Fragments of the light shield fell down on him along with Xiu's blood. With the shield broken, Xiu used his foot to crush Eric's right wrist. The sound of bone being broken was quite loud. Eric's face became pale, not because of the pain of his right wrist but because the efficacy of the forbidden spell was slowly fading. The aftereffects of using forbidden magic began to affect Eric and he was frozen, unable to lift his hands.
Xiu looked down at Eric underneath his feet and raised his claws high.
—— He doesn't want to be weak like his past self.
The golden dragon above issued a frightened roar. Du Ze wanted to call out to Xiu but found that he didn't know what to say. For a moment he seemed to see an illusion of Xiu killing himself.
However, just as Xiu's claws were about to strike, a strong light from the sky fell. If Xiu had not dodged in time, he definitely would have been badly hurt by the light.
A mighty power appeared in the sky, instantly forcing the humans and beastkin to stop fighting. Every person whose power level is below that of a false god were directly crushed by the pressure from the god. The human and beastkin gods panted and ceased their battle. They looked up at the sky, frightened.
A six-winged god walked slowly while descending from a cloud. His hand held a scepter and light emanating from his body. The power was similar to Eric's power before, but incomparably stronger. The entire night sky was turned as bright as day. That power was indescribable. People who looked at the god directly would burn their eyes out as if they were staring at the sun.
"The god of light..."
The beastkin god of war muttered the words. The fire in his heart has turned to ashes.