"I'm your daddy."
Ares's casual declaration left Mike utterly speechless.
Did that really just happen?
At that ti, Maxen was still young.
And Ares? Even younger.
With just one strike, Ares had shattered the sword in Maxen's hand.
Mike watched closely, not wanting to miss a single detail.
After being insulted, Maxen's expression froze for a second.
As Morpheus's godson, when had he ever been treated like this?!
Who the hell are you to call yourself my daddy?
Are you a Supre Being too?
Before Maxen could even respond, Ares stepped forward and unleashed several more strikes.
To Mike, it seed as though the world had slowed down, as if ti itself had shifted.
He saw it—a flash of sword light!
No, not just one-many sword lights!
In the blink of an eye, Ares had slashed countless tis!
[FIFTEEN MILLION, SIX HUNDRED FORTY-TWO THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED TWENTY- SIX Sword Strikes]
Mike: ???
Why format it like that? Just to make the number look longer?
Regardless, for the first ti in his life, Mike had seen Ares's swordsmanship clearly!
In other words, if they were of the sa age and power level, Mike was confident he could survive against Ares!
As Mike processed the sight of the sword lights, he realized they had all landed around Maxen, forming... a sword prison?
Inside the sword prison, Maxen looked utterly bewildered, completely unaware of what had just happened.
He had only one thought in his head:
Who is this swordsman? What's with these random sword strikes? And why the hell is he calling himself my daddy?!
Outside the sword prison, the black-clad swordsman remained calm and spoke.
"Learn three sword techniques, and you'll survive. Learn seven, and you can break out of this sword prison."
He paused for a mont, then added with a hint of pride,
"Out of the 15,642,326 sword strikes, I used 97 different sword techniques. If you can learn them all, I'll take you as my godson."
Maxen: ???
Are you insane? I never said I wanted to be your son!
Maxen, defiant as ever, shouted from inside the sword prison, "I don't need another godfather!"
Maxen already had a biological father and a Supre Being godfather. He didn't need to add another one to the mix!
Outside the sword prison, Ares sneered.
"If you can't learn them, and you want to give up, just call 'Daddy,' and I'll let you out."
Maxen: ...
What the hell is this?!
Learn all 97 sword techniques, and Ares would take Maxen as his godson.
Fail to learn them, and Maxen would have to call Ares "Daddy."
Is there even a difference?!
After saying his piece, Ares turned and walked away.
From inside the sword prison, Maxen's anguished cry echoed out.
"At least give a sword if you want to learn swordsmanship!"
Maxen's sword had been shattered by Ares earlier.
"You think you're worthy of using a sword with your skills?" Ares scoffed, pulling out a flail and tossing it into the sword prison. "Here, use this flail instead."
...
Mike watched the black-clad swordsman walk away, then glanced back at Maxen, who was
left behind.
Now, he had to make a choice.
Should he stay and watch Maxen learn swordsmanship, or follow Ares?
Is that even a question?
Mike imdiately chose to follow Ares!
Not long after Mike caught up, the black-clad swordsman suddenly stopped, turned toward
Mike's direction, and snorted.
"Who are you? Sneaking around like that!"
Mike: ???
Ares can see ?
Wait, sothing wasn't right!
Mike responded naturally, "Brother, I'm your long-lost, unrelated-by-blood brother!"
"What nonsense," the black-clad swordsman rolled his eyes, scanning the surroundings with
a knowing look.
"You're watching a recording of the past, aren't you?"
Of course, it's Ares-he figured it out instantly!
Mike nodded, not bothering to hide the truth. He even offered more information.
"It's 172 years later. I'm the fourth potential Supre Being, Thor."
"No need to tell all that. I won't rember it," Ares said, his tone casual, as if he had dealt with this kind of situation many tis before.
Seeing Mike's confusion, Ares explained, "My talent allows to sense changes in ti and space. When you watch from the future, I can feel it and even communicate with you, like we're doing now. But as a consequence, I won't retain any mory of this afterward."
No mory?
Mike's expression grew strange.
Ares, are you sure that's a side effect of your talent and not because Shadow Nine sealed your
mories?
If Mike rembered correctly, at this stage, Shadow Nine was still by Ares's side.
If every ti Ares interacted with the future or the past, Shadow Nine found out and altered
his mories...
Before Mike could voice his theory, Ares seed to read his mind and smiled.
"Don't worry, it's not Shadow Nine's doing. I have the Supre Mark."
Mike realized that 18-year-old Ares was quite talkative.
Unlike the current Ares, who carried the weight of an idol's image, spoke sparingly, and
exuded an air of mystery, this younger version was much more approachable.
Everyone has their youthful days.
"Alright, let's not waste ti. Co, spar with ," 18-year-old Ares said, raising his sword
and eyeing Mike's Thunderclap Hamr with interest.
Ares's hands itched for a fight.
He's really itching for a brawl.
Faced with Ares's challenge, Mike picked up his Thunderclap Hamr and, in a sincere tone,
said,
"Maybe it's better if I don't use the hamr."
"Oh?" Ares raised an eyebrow, his tone dripping with disdain. "Your weapon is a sword?"
"No."
Mike shook his head again, and a two-ter-tall Thorn Shield appeared in his hand, covering
his entire body.
From behind the shield, Mike's steady voice ca through.
"My weapon is a shield."
...
The battle was about to begin!
[This "Battle of the Strongest Potential Supre Beings" is brought to you by the most
powerful SSS-grade talent, the Eye of Truth, providing live comntary!]
[The first to attack is Ares (18-year-old limited edition)!]
Ares moved! Though he stood still, countless sword energies flew out from behind him, crashing into
Mike's Thorn Shield with a series of dull thuds.
[It's flying swords! Ares is using flying swords!]
The battle was intense.
Countless flying swords struck the Thorn Shield, but none of them could penetrate it. Ares's
expression grew more serious, his interest in Thor deepening.
"Oh?"
All the sword energies landed on the Thorn Shield, but none of them caused any real damage!
Mike grinned.
Such a simple trick, and you dare show it off in front of ?
You've underestimated my strength!
Standing beside Mike, the battered and bruised Dracula silently watched the scene unfold.
He didn't even know what to say anymore.
All those ranged attacks? He had been the one blocking them.
Tired. Numb.
After the first wave of attacks, Ares began to notice sothing.
"Interesting soul body..." Ares retracted all his sword energies and looked at the shield,
asking seriously,
"Can it be slashed to death?"
Dracula: ???
What the hell?! This isn't sothing money can fix!
You're a potential Supre Being, and you want to kill , a vampire, in your duel? What kind
of logic is that?!
Dracula was on the verge of panic!
Ares's idea of "slashing to death" clearly wasn't the kind of death you could co back from
-it was real, permanent death.
This was the closest Dracula had ever co to death in his entire life!
Fortunately, Mike had a strong sense of property protection and politely declined Ares's
suggestion.
"It's better... not to slash him to death."
To convince Ares, Mike added, "He's useful. He's killed millions of demon creatures."
That argunt was quite persuasive.
A soul body willing to help the human race kill enemies was definitely valuable.
Dracula, ever the stickler for accuracy, whispered, "It's actually 11.62 million..."
If I had known killing demon creatures could save my life, I would've killed even more!
Clearly, Mike had convinced Ares. He nodded slightly.
"Alright, I won't slash him to death."
Ares drew his sword again, once more unleashing sword energy!
Countless sword energies rained down on the Thorn Shield!
As Mike blocked the attacks with his shield, he couldn't shake the feeling that their battle
styles didn't match.
Damn it, Thor, why are you always on the defensive? Go on the offensive! Motivated by his own self-encouragent, Mike had already charged up his Charge Up
ability. As Ares's sword fell, Mike was constantly searching for an opening.
[Search result: Flawless!]
Ares's attack rhythm was as tight as a drum, leaving no gaps for Mike to exploit.
After unleashing enough sword strikes, Ares shouted,
"Seal!"
Sword energies appeared on Dracula's palms, feet, and throughout his body, resonating with
each other to form a sword formation.
In the end, Dracula was pinned to the Thorn Shield, forming a blazing sun pattern.
Dracula had been sealed.
That's right—a vampire nearing level 990 had been sealed by a level 599 potential Supre
Being!
With Dracula no longer assisting, Mike found it much harder to fend off the sword energies.
He was starting to struggle.
Several sword energies grazed him, nearly causing him to take damage.
However, Mike's adaptability exceeded Ares's expectations!
As the battle progressed, Ares's attack frequency increased, but Thor's defense remained
impenetrable!
The strongest sword versus the strongest shield!
The sound of sword energy clashing against the shield was like a grand symphony!
While controlling the sword energies, Ares slowly walked toward Thor.
The distance between them, which had been over a hundred paces at the start of the battle,
gradually shrank.
Payday pace... sixty paces... thirty paces...
Ten paces.
Ares stopped.
Beyond ten paces, the flying swords were fast. Within ten paces, the flying swords were both fast and accurate!
At this distance, Ares's attack frequency had reached its limit!
But even so, he still couldn't break through Thor's defense!
Mike had long since abandoned his playful attitude and was now fully imrsed in the battle.
He and his shield had beco one, inseparable!
As Mike found his rhythm, the pressure shifted to Ares!
This was the most oppressive shield Ares had ever faced!
Ares was willing to call it the strongest shield!
After the battle had raged on for so ti, Ares finally picked up his sword.
Gripping the hilt, he looked at the Thorn Shield and said seriously,
"Now, you're worthy of fighting ."
...
In the First Abyss,
Ares and Cedric were still playing chess. This ti, they had finally switched to Go.
"Huh?"
Ares made a sound of surprise, as if sensing sothing.
Cedric casually placed ten black stones on the board and asked calmly,
"What is it?"
"There was sothing I didn't understand before," Ares mused, speaking as if to himself.
"I've always wondered how I created the technique Breaking Thorns."
Hearing the na of the technique, Cedric recalled sothing. "Breaking Thorns..."
He thought back.
"That was the technique you used to slay the Seventeenth Demon God, wasn't it?"
A single sword strike (technique) to kill a demon god.
At his peak, Ares had been invincible.
The man who had personally ended the Blood War could only be described with three words:
Terrifying beyond belief!
"A small matter, I don't rember it too well," Ares said humbly, placing 361 stones on the
board, filling it with black.
"I win."
Staring at the board, Cedric fell into deep thought.
After a mont, he added,
"By the way, I was playing black."
Ares: ...
Ever the perfectionist, Ares's expression didn't change as he calmly replied,
"No, you're mistaken."
Reviews
All reviews (0)