Chapter 496 - Leave No One Alive
After giving a proper presentation, the young man assumed his fighting stance, and started the match without notice by disappearing from where he was standing.
When he reappeared, he was already within Daniel's reach. His upper body was hanging low, held a few inches above the ground in a horizontal position by his legs, which were bent in order to dampen the speed of his dash, and bring his motion to a halt.
Convinced to have caught his opponent by surprise, the young man used both arms to slash at Daniel's legs, but just as the strength built in his arms, right before he could force his muscle to perform the action, Daniel stepped behind his arm and out of danger.
Seeing Daniel's foot land past his arm and beside his chest was surprising for the young man, but not enough to stun him. Instead, hundreds of motions that could bring him to an advantageous position came to his mind.. Unfortunately, he was already laying down on the ground before his mind and body could turn those images into reality.
"Using short swords instead of daggers might give you additional reach, but what is the point of a longer reach if you fight as an assassin?" Asked Daniel with a calm tone after gently tapping the bridge of the young man's foot, and causing him to fall flat on his face. His motion was fluid to a point where, instead of creating second-hand embarrassment for the spectators, it caused them to take him even more seriously.
The young man was not an exception. He quickly rose up to his feet, and after instinctively dusting his clothes clean of the inexistent dust, he turned to look at Daniel, and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Reactivity is for swordsmen, and speed is for assassins. You should either train your reactivity and keep your current weapons, or use two daggers instead." Responded Daniel before morphing the two shortswords he was carrying into two curved daggers.. then disappeared.
When he reappeared, he was underneath the young man. His body low on the ground, legs holding him parallel to the floor by just a few inches. His position was identical to that of the young man, but his movements were slightly slower. A sign that he wanted the young man to examine them.
Viktor, extremely talented in his own rights, immediately caught on to Daniel's intent, and just like Daniel had done with him, he stepped past his lowered arm and kicked the bridge of Daniel's foot in order to make him lose the only point of contact with the floor. However, after his foot connected with his opponent's, instead of falling, Daniel remained suspended in mid air. He had made use of the momentum caused by the kick of the young man to raise into a one arm handstand.
It was at this point that Viktor realized why Daniel had suggested daggers. Not only because they were more suited for quick and deadly attacks, but also because their smaller size would allow for the wielder to maintain enough dexterity in their hands to adjust to the quick changes of a battle.. A lesson that could only be learned in battle.
By the time he had realized this, Viktor was already on the floor, with Daniel kneeling above his chest and a knife pointed at his neck. Only the spectators had noticed how one of Daniel's legs had swiped Viktor's legs, followed by the gentle kick to the chest that brought him down on the floor. In their minds there was absolutely no doubt. This match hadn't been a contest at all, but a training lesson.
Daniel did not remain in that position for long, and got off of the young man's chest a few moments later, allowing him to get up. Viktor's dumbfounded expression directed at him, devoid of any form of embarrassment or defeat. Even he was aware that this attempt had been nothing but a joke, and that if there was a person capable of defeating Daniel, then that person had yet to make their existence known.. After all, Viktor was amongst the best students of his year, and his chances of winning were pretty much nonexistent.
Viktor maintained the surprised state of mind for a few seconds, when he was shaken awake by the noises made by his companions, who wished to have their go at the academy's champion. Once clear minded, the young man put his weapons back into his spatial ring, and bowed deeply towards Daniel. "Thank you for your teachings." he said before stepping out of the stage.
The Silver Alchemist looked at Daniel with satisfaction. In his mind appeared the memories of when he was nothing more than a teenager with an average cultivation, and an absurdly fast comprehension of the various aspects of mana. Now, on the other hand, his knowledge of both martial arts and spiritual essence had surpassed them as their teacher. Pride was nowhere near enough to describe the feeling that the Silver Alchemist, Master Kye, and Edmund felt towards him as his teachers whenever they would see the man he had become.
However, this was not the time for the Silver Alchemist to lose himself in melancholic thoughts, so he turned towards the line of young graduates, but before he could ask for the next in line to step forward, the young woman who had been waiting for her chance as the second in line stepped forward, and summoned a large polearm, which she brandished with no effort.
For the following three hours, one young cultivator after the other tried their luck against Daniel, but while they couldn't leave the stage with the title they had always aspired to take away from him, they would always leave with something to think about, as well as a new idol.
After the last of these young men, the Silver Alchemist declared the graduation ceremony concluded, allowing the students to go back to their families, who currently inhabited one of the five planets contained within Daniel's system.
-----
"Hello stranger." Said Alesia with a big smile after freeing herself from an unavoidable series of encounters with different families and former students. Finding Daniel was the first thing she had done. Daniel, however, did not respond to Alesia's words, and instead dashed in her direction.
Before she could notice it, her head was already resting on his chests, and while these sudden actions would have scared many, to Alesia, Daniel's familiar body, smell, and warmth were more comforting than anything else. "Hello beautiful." Said Daniel after finally loosening the hold he had of her body, giving her enough space to move back a little and look up to him, only to find him press his lips against hers.
Alesia, now in the red-headed physical embodiment of her being flushed red in embarrassment, as while the two were alone on stage, many thousands of people had yet to leave the stadium, including many of their friends.
Daniel enjoyed Alesia's flustered expression for a few moments before saying with a smirk, "Sorry, I don't get to see you embarrassed often."
Slightly annoyed by Daniel's teasing, Alesia looked back at him with narrowed eyes, but before she could say anything, she noticed the playful expression disappear from his face, and be replaced by a serious one. "Again?" She asked, already aware of what was happening.
"It won't take long.." Responded Daniel before letting go of his wife.
The moment his hands parted from hers, Sewah appeared next to him. On his face an expression that matched Daniel's in seriousness. "It's time. We have already regrouped. Nova said that they will be here in a few minutes."
Daniel responded to these words with a nod of his head before grabbing Alesia's wrist, and bringing it up to his face. He then kissed her palm before saying with a warm smile, "I'll be right back."
"Be careful.." Said Alesia only moments before the two disappeared.
-----
When Daniel and Sewah reappeared, they were standing in outer space, surrounded by many other cultivators.
By their left was the figure of Xargy who, currently in his human form, was accompanied by his grandfather, the former king of the draconic kingdom, and various other legendary beasts whom him and Daniel had freed from the Tamer years back, and that had decided to live under the peaceful rule of Daniel's power.
Naturally, this assimilation wasn't smooth in the beginning. Many of these legendary beasts had left right after being freed to find their own clans, but had come back soon after with the few survivors they had found after discovering that the universe was not the place they knew in the past, and that in the eyes of the multidimensional warriors that constantly invaded it, they were nothing but walking ingredients and materials.
Amongst them were humanoids with large antlers and scaled skin, some with yellow eyes and white fur that covered most of their bodies, some with serpentine skin and forked tongues and many more. These people were the rulers of their own legendary beast clans, which had been on par with the Draconic Clan since memory could recount. All of these clans inhabited the rocky planet under Xargy's rule, and by extension, followed Daniel's leadership.
Occupying the space to Daniel's right, were numerous teams composed by two different entities. These small groups were formed by the pairing of adult elementals with matching elemental demon wolves, which after leaving Hell along with the other demons, had found a perfect home on the planet reserved for the elementals and low tier beasts. In these planets they would find perfect companions in the elementals, with whom they would form a fearsome pair which possessed the perfect comprehension of a perfect elemental, and the perfect control of an elemental demonic wolf.
Past the teams of elementals and demonic wolves, were the surviving leaders of Hell's demonic clan who, just like the already powerful legendary beasts, the strongest human cultivators that had joined Daniel's side, and some his friends, thanks to Daniel's virtually infinite resources and the effects of the group system, had been able to advance to the early godhood stage at some point during the last few years. That included those who stood behind him, a small group of human cultivators led by the person formerly known as the War God, but that now ruled the human planet while going by his first name, Inos.
At a closer distance, standing right next to Daniel and Sewah, were the figures of Jerigh, Aeron, and Edmund.
This formation of cultivators had regrouped a few million miles away from the system, which was still visible in the distance behind them, and were all facing the depths of space that extended on the opposite side. No matter if humans, demons, beasts, or elementals, they were all focused on what was coming.
For the following few minutes not a single noise was heard, only a deafening silence which turned the people present into a part of the quiet and dark outer space.
To symbolize the imminent conclusion of these moments of this silence, were the thousands of lights that appeared in the distance like a blanked of additional stars. These lights kept becoming bigger and brighter by the second, until finally, those who stood by the edge of Daniel's group started to see the trail that some of these lights were leaving behind.
The moment the first of these lights disappeared, a person took its place.. A shirtless muscular man with venous blood-red hair and tattered black pants. In his right hand, this man brandished a massive scythe with a blade that seemed to have been recently coated in blood.
The man was slightly surprised about seeing so many cultivators at the godhood stage, but this surprise only lasted a few moments, after which, his eyes landed on Daniel, never to move again. "Now I see how you have managed to keep your puny life for so long.. But I came prepared." He said right as each of the other lights turned into a blood cultivator ready to fight to the death. "I will take the legacy from your corpse, and become the next Murderous God."
Daniel observed in silence as hundreds upon hundreds of cultivators joined the side of their leader. This army of blood cultivators was uniquely composed by cultivators at the godhood stage, and their number was more than fifty times that of Daniel's side.. But, alas, there was no trace of fear or nervousness on Daniel's face.
Almost as if uninterested in the arrival of a group of enemies, Daniel turned to look towards an oddly dark point in space, and nodded. In response to this action, a nearly invisible shadow flashed towards, and past the group of enemies.
The blood cultivators looked at one another with confusion, they couldn't understand what this agglomeration of darkness could possibly be, but in the middle of their confusion, one of them finally noticed that their leader had disappeared, taken by the very shadow that had rushed in his direction, swallowed him, and disappeared before they could discern its nature.
Before the group of enemies could reorganize or call a retreat, Daniel muttered, "Leave no one alive."