"Good. Very good. Boy, I'd like to see how you can break my blade,"
Donovan huffed, pissed off by Austin's arrogant words.
He was very confident in the power of his blade, knowing that it was quite invincible.
After all, it was one of his most powerful weapons which he used frequently back when he was in his
prime. No one in history had so much as scratched it.
"Admittedly, your blade is indeed very powerful. There is no question about that anymore.
But you, on the other hand, are much too weak.
You are just an incomplete spiritual soul mark. That's also the reason why you can't control your own
blade anymore.
I can see that your blade is not responding to you. You are merely hiding in it to save your own skin.
If you could unleash its power, I would have already run far away from you,
and I wouldn't have provoked you like this.
It's really such a shame that a god of chaos like you has ended up being bullied by a young man like
me. You must feel very upset and embarrassed, right?"
Austin said with a menacing smile, taunting the old man.
"Go to hell!
How dare you..."
Donovan was too angry to say another word. He could only tremble and stare back furiously.
Everything that Austin said was true to the core that he couldn't even retort even though he wanted to.
It seemed that Austin had done his investigation on him thoroughly.
He had no more secrets to keep from the young man.
"There is one thing I don't understand, though.
You are supposed to be amazing at blade skills.
But why are you better at arrays? How did that happen?
Did you give up blade skills altogether and focused on studying arrays instead?"
Austin asked, genuinely curious.
"Humph! That's none of your business!
While it's true that I can't do anything to you now,
you can't do anything to me either.
It is best that you leave as soon as possible. There is no reason to waste your time here... or mine!"
Donovan snorted, still defiant.
That was expected, considering that he held such a highly feared and respected position in the cosmos
for the longest time.
"Oh, is that so? But I doubt it. I can still give it a shot and try to bring you down,"
Austin snapped back with a sneer.
"Well bring it on! Let's see if you can harm me one tiny bit!"
Donovan flared up.
Back when he was a god of chaos, he lived a life of prestige and was showered with respect. All other
creatures were as insignificant as ants to him.
But now, a young man had come around, claiming to take his life,
and he could do nothing about it.
"Just wait and see,"
Austin said with a confident chuckle.
Donovan didn't say anything more.
Austin unleashed his spiritual sense to check the blade carefully.
It truly was a weapon of a god of chaos, so he didn't dare to take it lightly.
As Austin's spiritual sense was about to touch the blade, a tremendous energy burst out from the
blade.
The energy blast transformed into a blade-shaped radiance that instantly came at Austin.
"Shit! This is horrible!" Austin remarked with fear.
He immediately activated his bodily movement skill, and a path instantly appeared beneath his feet. He
ran as fast as he could along the path, away from the angry blade.
The blade radiance flew past Austin, failing to hit him.
But the energy it carried had such a powerful aura that it caused him some pain.
When he was sure that he was at safe distance, Austin stopped running and steadied himself.
'That was close. If I had been a little slower, I would have been crushed to powder by that blade
radiance,' he thought to himself, wiping the cold sweat off his forehead.
"Ha-ha! So now, you know the power of my blade, right?
You should feel lucky that I can't fully control this blade.
Otherwise, I would have finished you off in one blow and you would already have been some dust
blowing in the wind right now."
Donovan's wild laughter came from inside the blade.
"Humph! Don't celebrate just yet. This game has just begun,"
Austin snorted as he cracked his knuckles.
Once more, he began releasing his spiritual sense to perceive the blade.
But every time his spiritual sense came close to it, the blade would emit a beam of radiance and attack
him.
Since the blade could only react and respond out of instinct, the blade radiance it emitted only carried a
tiny part of its actual energy.
This was the main reason that Austin could manage to avoid it every time.
"Damn it! A god of chaos' weapon is indeed amazing!"
Austin felt powerless and didn't know what else to do.
However, he was not someone who would give up easily.
Austin knew that he had to get to know the blade if he wanted to get rid of Donovan.
With a battle that was left with no conclusion, time passed slowly.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed.
Austin had been standing in the depths of the void, fully concentrated on studying the same blade.
"Master, we have occupied ninety percent of the Blade Cosmos' territory.
Despite such an overwhelming defeat, the army of the Blade Cosmos is still unwilling to surrender.
They now guard the small remaining part of their territory and are fighting back bravely,"
Warner reported to Austin through his spiritual sense.
"We are currently rearranging the territory that we have taken,"
Warner continued.
"I'm cool with that. You can make the call as you see fit,"
Austin responded.
The blade had a complete hold of his attention. He didn't care much about the situation of the Blade
Cosmos anymore.
"By the way, master, there are many blade shrines in the Blade Cosmos. Those shrines contain the
terrifying blade energy and blade laws.
We initially planned to take them down. But none of our governing gods could damage them even a
bit,"
Warner added.
"Oh!
Are these blade shrines that difficult to deal with?
Who were those blade shrines built for?"
Austin asked in surprise, briefly pausing from his perception.
"I heard from the creatures of the Blade Cosmos they were built to worship Donovan.
His shrines are all over the Blade Cosmos.
They are considered the most sacred places for the creatures of the Blade Cosmos,"
Warner replied.
"I see."
Austin nodded.
"Well, thank you. I will go check on it,"
Austin said after giving it some thought.
'Damn it!
That brat now knows about my blade shrines and he is going to destroy them!'
Donovan became anxious.
'Shit! This is not good.
Every single one of those blade shrines mean a lot to me.
If they are destroyed, I would be doomed!'
Donovan began to panic.
That was the secret that he had held for so long.
This incomplete spiritual soul mark of his had been hiding in the blade.
It was on his orders that those blade shrines were built.
Over the years, he had been healing himself using the power of faith that he had gathered through the
blade shrines.
It could be said that those blade shrines were his last and only hope to recover.
The main reason that he ordered the troops of the Blade Cosmos to invade other places was to occupy
more territories. That way, he could have more blade shrines erected, which helped him collect more
power of faith.
As long as blade cultivators worshiped him in the blade shrines, Donovan could use their energies,
laws and original energy essence to help himself recover.
But if Austin destroyed the blade shrines, Donovan would lose those channels that gathered such
energies, hampering and possibly ending his hopes of complete healing.
'What the hell should I do now?
I shouldn't have provoked this powerful young man!'
Donovan's chest was about to burst with regret.
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