CHAPTER 72: | THE SKY ABOVE

  ---

  A smirk formed on my lips as I glanced at the hologram hovering in front of me.

  At last, I could now build my force.

  ---

  [You have successfully converted an existence more powerful than you are.]

  [You have appointed your first apostle.]

  [Solia] - [Thunder Titan] - [Sovereign] - [Stage: 2] - [Tier: 1] - [Level: 3]

  [You are now one step closer to establishing your force.]

  ---

  "I see... so this was the reason why she was pretty confident that I wouldn't abandon her."

  Indeed, Solia had now become a valuable asset to me.

  She was a Thunder Titan, a race so rare that even it was considered a pretty steep race to acquire.

  Sincr they could only be born from titans with pure thunder affinity, a lineage as rare as evolving into a dragonoid.

  "Quite the shock you've given me, Solia."

  She smiled creepily, wiping the blood smeared on her face.

  She pointed a hand at a titan who was begrudgingly swinging his hammer down at her.

  But before the hammer could hit her head, the sound of crackling thunder echoed crisply in the air.

  Then a massive hole appeared on the skull of the titan.

  As blood smeared on Solia's body as she closed her eyes dramatically.

  The titan's body went limp, its hammer hitting the ground before its body followed.

  She then muttered.

  "Why rebel against me, Lio?"

  But no answer came.

  Lio was already dead, and she was the one who had killed him in a matter of seconds.

  Solia was silently enduring the guilt that was eating at her own conscience.

  She had already killed more than ten of her fellow brothers and sisters, titans she had bonded with for what felt like eternities.

  But she couldn't back down.

  She was going to be the one to lead her race to the path of glory her predecessors had yearned for generations.

  She hovered into the air in her now smaller form, that was fourteen meters big.

  This was her new original form, due to her being the apostle of the Distorted One.

  "Titans! Listen to me, your former saintess, shaman, and the former apostle of our god Skaira! She has forsaken us! Abandoned us into this terrifying world where all of us will be killed, dishonored again and again without the privilege of death!"

  She shouted at the top of her lungs.

  The titans clenched their teeth.

  They knew all of this, but couldn't believe it due to their blind faith in their god.

  But hearing their saintess say it... all of them were boiling with anger and rejection at the thought that their goddess had truly abandoned them in this godforsaken place.

  It was impossible.

  In its very essence, it was insanity itself.

  Since why would their sane and merciful god abandon them?

  So Steven, one of the titans, shouted in rejection.

  "Sister Solia... no, traitor! What do you mean by that?! How could our god Skaira abandon us? It is impossible! You... you've just been corrupted! Yes, that's it! You're just corrupted by that evil god!"

  Steven was in disbelief, in rejection.

  He pointed at the man they had once called a god, worshipped as something divine, and labeled him as filthy as an evil god.

  His face twisted into a grotesque smile as he pointed at the man sitting on the throne.

  His finger trembled with confusion and insanity.

  "That evil god has corrupted our saintess! He is no god, but an evil god! A filthy animal that tainted our saintess! Crucify him! Kill him! Shred his body apart to offer to our god Skaira!"

  His shouts were laced with conviction as he charged forward and toward the throne.

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  Solia gripped the air, and lightning appeared on her fist, but before she could throw it, an authoritative voice echoed behind her.

  "Halt, Solia."

  Watching the titans charge at me, with Steven climbing the stairs with the insane, twisted belief that I was an evil god, I only smiled at his futile attempt.

  As I then activated my authority, [The Will of the Distorted].

  The air distorted and bent to my will as an immense authority seeped out from my small body.

  It pressed into the advancing titan who was foolish enough to condemn me as an evil god.

  I raised my hand and muttered internally.

  "The heavenly claw of the mad demon: Bull Gang."

  In an instant, I reappeared right at his stomach with my fist touching his skin.

  I closed my eyes, gently tapped his stomach with my fist, then passed through him.

  I walked down the stairs, descending to the ground as I muttered coldly.

  "Begone, foolish one."

  Splash!

  Blood exploded, splattering everywhere as intestines and red matter rained from the sky.

  Solia, on the other hand, bit her lips.

  Her childhood friend, Steven, was now dead due to his foolishness, and she couldn't do anything about it.

  She was powerless.

  The titans watching the scene stumbled back in a panic.

  The man who had killed their friend, their family, Steven, walked past them unhinged, as if he hadn't just committed the death of their beloved.

  It was bone-chilling.

  His voice echoed coldly.

  "Solia... deal with it as you see fit in a minute."

  Solia clenched her teeth until her gums bled as she gazed at the titans who had yet to accept the reality before them, that their god had abandoned them.

  So she shouted, with veins bulging on her neck.

  "Foolish! We titans believe in no god but honor and glory! Since when did we, a barbaric race, truly believe in a god? Our predecessors followed Skaira and worshipped her because she was strong! So why shouldn't we worship the strong and regain our prestige in the world that is real and not fake?!"

  Her voice turned hoarse from the screaming.

  She clenched her teeth then walked on the marbled floor, knowing her responsibilities as a saintess of their race.

  "Just surrender, you foolish idiots... then we... we titans will reclaim our prestige, our honor..."

  But the remaining titans, no, all of the titans, and even those who had surrendered earlier, shook their heads.

  They smiled foolishly as one titan stood out and chuckled.

  "That's not the Solia I know of... if your the real Solia then please, let us die with you as our saintess, not a betrayer of Skaira, but our saintess."

  Then another titan, a macho one with a deserted bald head, smiled foolishly.

  "Yes, our saintess, Solia... please finish us, the foolish ones who can't accept the truth that is laid bare in front of us!"

  Solia knew that speaking of mercy right now was nothing but disrespect to her resolute tribesmen.

  She closed her eyes, forced a smile, then pointed her finger at them.

  Her body flickered away, following her master behind her as she muttered.

  "Thunder Burial."

  Tears welled in her eyes, then flooded her cheeks as the titans who were hit by a massive thunder pike that spread everywhere with ferocity, only smiled in happiness that they would be reunited with their god.

  "Sob... sob... dammit! Sob... dammit! Just why do they foolishly... sob... foolishly walk to their death... sob... sob... hiek..."

  Solia's sobbing could be heard as she cursed in her coarse voice.

  She wanted to be comforted, to be hugged, but her master gave her a cold shoulder as he muttered coldly.

  "What a disappointment..."

  Yes, Alister was disappointed that Solia, their saintess, couldn't even keep a single one of them alive to work for him as a slave.

  He was disappointed in Solia for being so incapable, but he sighed.

  "Haaaaa... good job, Solia, but that was quite a disappointment. For a leader such as you, to be unable to lead them to the right path..."

  Solia clenched her teeth.

  She felt humiliated, like nothing but a disposable tool.

  She felt like a disappointment, and she shouted for the first time at her master.

  "Then why did you order me?! When you could do it with your overwhelming leadership?! You damned stinky man, just why do you want me to suffer?! Just why are you so cruel to me...?"

  But the only thing she heard was her master's chuckle.

  "That just means that you're incompetent... so incompetent that you couldn't even save a single person, not even a mere titan... Your only redeeming quality is that you've reached Stage 2, so tell me, why shouldn't I have the privilege to mock you?"

  A pulse pounded in Solia's temples.

  She was frustrated, about to strangle her master, no, the man before her.

  She shouted yet again, her voice raw.

  "What could you expect from me, a mere uneducated titan?! Did you expect me to convince this foolish family of mine?! No you didn't! since you're just a scum that takes joy in others' suffering! So please, forgive this apostle's intrusion, but please, just die! Die alone! Suffer from the loss of your love, of their death!!!"

  I chuckled at her words.

  How ridiculous could it be that I, the greatest villain, would be trampled by something as weak as love?

  "Ridiculous... my dear apostle, me feeling the loss of love? Don't be ridiculous! They are nothing but mere tools for me! So stop spouting nonsense and know your place."

  Solia chuckled as she walked past me and opened the gigantic door.

  She bowed then muttered.

  "Then we'll see about it..."

  ---

  Time passed, and a day skipped by.

  We flew across the enchanted forest of the Great Ancient Forest.

  Solia reported to me on the new rising power of these segments after calming down her emotions.

  Interesting.

  So those clowns, earlier parading about defeating me, were the powerhouses that controlled this vast forest for the past decades.

  The remnants of the three sovereign forces were eradicated by them, and that's probably the reason why I couldn't see any griffins or wyverns flying across the sky, or any silver wolves or white tigers crawling in the forest.

  Solia gazed at me with conflicting emotions.

  She sighed, then flew towards me as she muttered.

  "I apologize for my tantrums a few days ago master... I was quite immature, for me to vent my emotions that recklessly..."

  Then she proceeded to fly behind me as she closed her eyes and felt the relaxing embrace of the wind, humming softly.

  I then soared to the sky and to the floating island above the summit where I laid my castle.

  I shouted.

  "Solia, assist me in this fight."

  Solia nodded as she soared past me at lightning speed.

  Her six wings that she had inherited from me were crackling with thunder as she hovered thousands of meters above the [Sky Burial], oblivious to the griffins diving toward her.

  The griffins dived like the wind, cutting through the air with ease.

  But Solia herself, having become like lightning after her evolution, pointed her finger at them as she muttered.

  "Thunder Root."

  Just as she said it, thunder exploded in the air, forming into a complicated network of tree roots.

  It ricocheted through the griffins, killing them in an instant.

  I smiled.

  "Impressive. To be able to develop your spells to the next level in a matter of a few years... I couldn't expect more from you, Solia."

  Solia, having lost her playfulness after the traumatic event, gazed at the island floating in the sky with coldness.

  She only nodded her head, then pointed her hand at the dragon sleeping at the center of the island as she muttered coldly.

  "Heaven's Cry."

  Dark clouds gathered in the sky.

  Then water began to drop from the sky and onto the floating island.

  As thunder cried in fury, crackling with ferocity as it struck the ground with madness.

  The ground broke as sand turned into molten glass in a split second.

  Just a few meters below, at the center of the dark clouds, a ball of thunder could be seen coagulating.

  Solia then pointed her index finger down as she muttered.

  "Cry..."

  Maybe give it a try? ??