Meeting with death

Endora’s armies were unleashed upon the southern side of the continent, and Seth had also begun his journey toward the Kingdom of Hope.

Using the system, he was already aware of the King of Death’s plans, so Seth knew that he had to stop him, so he was moving as fast as possible, using his energy to its limit before taking a small break and starting to move again.

‘What are the chances of saving Hope?’

<100% if the guardian approves.>

He knew threatening Noth and killing so many people would have some ramifications, but he didn’t expect everything to come so soon.

By the time he had reached the City of New Hope, he was already tired of the notifications appearing on his interface.

<Ronald has been killed by ascended from The Death Kingdom.>

<The Kingdom of Death has declared war on the Kingdom of Hope, reason - Death of the second strongest ascended in death at Hope’s hands.>

<Death armies are marching onto Hope.>

<The first forts had fallen on the first day of the attack.>

<Death armies marching on the capital of Hope>

<The hope capital has been captured, and the people surrendered.>

<The Royal family was assassinated on the same night, leaving no royal lineage alive.>

Just as he entered the city of New Hope, it painted a clear picture of the fate that had befallen the entire kingdom. The place was almost in ruin, with people scrambling to leave before Death’s armies would also reach there.

Seth ignored the chaos as he made his way toward Alice’s tavern. The tavern looked just as abandoned as the rest of the city, but Seth didn’t care as he teleported into a room deep under the tavern.

As soon as he appeared, Alice was already charging toward him, wielding a spear made of destruction. Seeing who it was, she stopped in her charge but didn’t lower her spear.

“It’s you.” She said, a mixed look in her eyes.

Seth nodded and looked at the people gathered there. “What are you waiting for? This place is already as good as conquered. Why are you not leaving?”

Alice shook her head: “We can’t. Father probably already knows about me. If I were to leave, he’d chase me wherever I go. I plan on waiting for him here and surrendering when he comes.”

Seth looked once more at the people around the room. “You plan on surrendering in the hopes he’ll allow your people to leave? Haha, you think your father will allow that? Also, I know his reach has grown after the war, but you will still be safe in the south.”

Alice sighed and nodded: “He will if I threaten to kill myself. I also can’t escape him now that he has started moving.”

Seth sighed and shook his head: “Why don’t you travel to Endora as I told you to? That’s why I gave you the academy token in the first place. Even if he sends all his armies, he won’t make a dent in the force I gathered there.”

“Because you can’t stop him either. You don’t know how he is. If he finds out where we are, he’ll come to find us even if he has to flatten your kingdom.”

Seth smiled and shook his head: “You don’t know? Your father is bound to the Death Kingdom. He can only move south now because of me, but it’s not that far. Take your people and run south. Once you reach Endora, show that token to everyone you might meet, and you’ll be allowed passage.”

“You can’t be sure of that, Seth. He’s - “

“It’s you who doesn’t get it, Alice. He will seal your source and kill everyone here either way. Go now. You still have about two days until he reaches here. I can guarantee that you’ll be safe. “

Alice lowered her head before looking back up and shaking her head: “I can’t. Enough people had already died because of me.”

“He’s not after you this time. I’ll also delay him as much as possible, but I can’t stop him. If you leave now, you will make it past the border. He won’t enter Endora. I promise you. Just go.”

“If you’re staying, I’m fighting too. My people can go, and we’ll fight him off together.”

“Are you an idiot? I’m not fighting to win. I’m fighting to buy time.”

“No.”

Seth’s eyebrow twitched, and he teleported next to Alice, his hand grabbing onto her forehead as his destruction energy started circling her source.

Blood flew down the corner of her mouth, and she fell to her knees, looking at Seth in confusion. The other people in the room all charged at him, but Seth just used his time energy to freeze them.

“Sorry, Alice, but I don’t have time to keep arguing with you.” He muttered as his eyes turned black and gold, and perception flooded her system.

Alice kept staring at him with tears flowing down her cheeks until the mark finally took form on her forehead, and she blanked out. Seth’s body wobbled slightly, but he managed to stabilize himself as Alice fell to the floor.

Removing his destruction energy from her source, Seth turned to the other people and released his time lock.

The others noticed Alice lying on the ground, and their eyes turned red as they continued the charge.

Seth placed a foot on her head and looked at a middle-aged man who the system told him was the leader of all of them.

“Stop and listen to me. Do you think you fools can do anything to me when I stopped Alice instantly?”

Seeing Alice’s head was under his foot, they all stopped, staring daggers at Seth.

“She’ll be fine, but I need you to carry her stupid ass out of this place and rush south towards the former Blood Kingdom named Endora now.”

“Why would you listen to you?” asked the man Seth was looking at, deep anger evident in his voice.

“Because if you don’t, your princess will die, as will all of you. I can save you all, but you need to listen to me. She’ll wake up on her own in a while, but until then, you’ll have to listen to me and carry her.”

“Did I make myself clear?” asked Seth, moving his foot away from Alice’s head.

He then ignored the angry looks of everyone there and knelt next to Alice. “I hope you can hear me. Head to Endora and follow Maya’s orders until I return. That’s an order.”

He then stood back up and looked at that man. “It might not look like it, but I’m her friend, and I want to save her just as much as you want. I’ll count on you to rush south as fast as possible.”

Seth then didn’t say anything else and teleported away, arriving deep under the New Hope city in a large cavern. There, he sat down and heaved a pained sigh. The use of his perception was slowly sapping away at his consciousness.

“Walk away, seat of destruction. You are not welcome here.” A cold voice resounded from ahead of him, and Seth’ looked at the small stream of water with a wry smile.

“I would like to chat, but things are quite bothersome right now. You won’t be able to protect it, and we can’t allow him to corrupt it as well. Let me take it away before he comes. There’s no hope left for this place.”

A small fish flew out of the water and turned into a blue-haired woman. Her body was covered in a blue dress made out of her scales.

“That is not for you to decide. There’s always hope.”

“I didn’t say there’s no hope.” Said Seth, slowly sitting up. “I said there’s no hope here. Please listen to me.”

The woman shook her head. “It’s too weak to move anymore. If you take him away… he will disappear.”

Seth lowered his head and said: “If it stays here, it will get corrupted. Better gone than corrupted.”

“I still believe.” Said the woman, starting to walk away as a wave of water pushed Seth out of the cave. He didn’t even fight back as the current pushed him out of the ground through a small geyser.

“You dumb stubborn woman.” Muttered Seth, slowly rightening himself in mid-air and teleporting back to the ground.

Looking far into the distance, he muttered: “What now… Both solutions involve fighting someone strong and annoying.”

<Host needs to run. He’s coming.>

Seth bit his lip and looked down at the geyser. ‘What chances do I have to protect this place?’

<0 if you don’t use your divinity. 100% if you use your divinity, but the fight will take too long, and your source will crumble. Kronos will also probably find you.>

“God damn it, Cana.” Muttered Seth, teleporting back to the city of New Hope, right atop the northern wall.

< Host’s course of action is not advised. You can’t fight it yet.>

“We can’t allow the remaining ones to get corrupted. Life is already in their hands, and you know what the entire world has become… I can’t let him take hope as well. I’ll try to delay him, and if I can’t, I’ll destroy the treasure.”

<But this is a meaningless death. You can still fight him at a later date as long as you live, but your chances of survival are not 100% if you engage him.>

Seth chuckled and shook his head. “I can’t… If I fight Cana, he’ll come and attack us, so the best option is to fight him.”

“Also, if we let hope in his hands, we might win in the end, but the entire human race will die once more… if I lose the human race, I lose my chance to ever reach the peak in perception and lust.”

<You can travel to other worlds.>

‘How? The council doesn’t have the strength, and if I advance only in space, my other sources will crumble. My will would also get polluted again….’

<You can have Henrietta - >

‘No. I can’t let them breakthrough past the sixth shell yet. Not until I make sure my lust source can protect them.’

<A sacrifice is - >

‘Enough. I’m not sacrificing Henrietta. I’m not sacrificing anyone. There’s still a way, but it’s a gamble….’

The system fell silent, and Seth closed his eyes, waiting patiently on the city wall. People kept running south, heading as far away from the Hope Kingdom as possible.

“So you’re the one.” A calm voice resounded in Seth’s ears, making him open his eyes and look forward, locking eyes with a tall, middle-aged man with sharp eyes and amethyst-colored hair.

Seth sighed and jumped down from the wall, teleporting a few feet away from the man.

“Thanatos.”

The man smiled and bent his head to the side. “Noth has been cursing your name without stopping. You did a number on him.”

“I needed him to step back a few steps.” Replied Seth, smiling back toward Thanatos.

Thanatos nodded and looked down. “It’s already mine, you know? I suppose you’re here in a feeble attempt to protect it?”

Seth nodded with a sigh. “Do I have a choice?”

“It’s pointless, feeble God of Destruction. There’s nothing that can stop us. Noth already told me everything about you. You’re weak and incomplete. Your little tricks might work on Noth but not on me.”

Seth shrugged and nodded: “I know, but I’ll still take a piece of you with me as I go down. Cana will be able to fight you off after that.”

“Haha. Can she? In the end, I’m still going to win. You might have gotten a chance if you ran and waited, but with the strength you have now....”

Seth lowered his head. “I have too much to lose now. Something you’ll never understand. So, Thanatos, will we keep talking, or should we get to fighting?”

“Haha, fighting? This will be as easy as swatting a fly.”

“Maybe, but I’m quite the persistent fly.” Seth raised his head again, his eyes slowly turning dark red. “And I’m also quite eager for a real fight.”

Thanatos smiled, and the cape covering his shoulders fell to the ground as destruction energy started covering him from the feet up.

“Alright. I always wanted to kill a god.”