"I was born to pave the way for my master to devour the universe. It is something to be proud of, submit and you will share in this glory!"
"Hah! All I want is power to be free! I won't submit. You may occupy my soul today, but when you show signs of weakness is when I will take over! I shall simply bide my time, lowlife!"
"Hahaha! An insect calling an elephant a lowlife, how amusing! The Master's hold on your soul will never loosen! You shall be forever my vessel, I, Hiei of the Black Dragon shall forever possess your soul!"
Dylan Ross was in a constant state of fighting for his soul. He was stuffed full by the evil god's energy that had with it the will of this Hiei of the Black Dragon. Now, he was merely a resident in his own soul.
He gained power, certainly, but in exchange, he lost his freedom. Such is the way of the world. Power comes with great price. Sometimes the price is pleasing to give away and yet mostly it is at the cost of what you sought after.
Power for Freedom.
Power for Protection.
Power for Justice.
Power for Domination.
Power for the Greater Good.
These aspirations were all great in name and yet the price for it always remained costly. Those who seek freedom seek power first and so lose their freedom as they gained power. Those who wished to protect by having power, lose their way and kill for the sake of gaining power to protect. Irony at its finest. For justice to be served, power has to be gained. To dominate, power is needed and, in the end, power will also dominate you.
There was nothing free in this world. Nothing that costs nothing.
Even Gideon had to pay a price for the power he'd gained in the other world. His master and his friends' lives were taken as a price for his power. And when he did gain power, he was feared, lauded, and worshipped. Things he never sought for.
Gideon knew this much and yet, because of necessity, he forced himself to be embroiled yet again in a bid for protection. This time however, he knew he had to control himself. He must not lose sight of what his purpose is.
On the other hand, Dylan Ross sought power, and through any means wanted to obtain it. He killed countless innocents to sacrifice for the sake of power. He sold his soul to the devil known as 'selfishness' and acquired the power he sought. Only to be devoured and his freedom taken from him.
"Just you watch. I will never rest until I free myself from this trap."
"Just continue making that wish, hehehe." Answered Hiei of the Black Dragon.
Dylan Ross turned quiet but his eyes were fierce… if he had one.
…
Hiei of the Black Dragon continued to nestle in the dungeons with no regard for whoever came. After all, even if it was the S-Class heralds, the protectors, that Earth groomed came, it would not be threatened.
Its information came from Dylan Ross and it knew that There were few and far in between S-Class Fighters in this world. Even if all the S-Class Fighters combine their strengths to face it, it would be unharmed. That was the power that is known as Transcendent.
The Black Dragon was a creature that ruled a galaxy once upon a time. Upon its death, the evil god took its shadow and its corpse to refine and use as a champion. However, even with its shadow and corpse, the power of the Black Dragon was already lost so it could only retain the viciousness of the species without its actual power.
Hiei of the Black Dragon was merely a shadow of the Black Dragon it came from.
But even with just this, it was still Transcendent. One can imagine just how powerful the Black Dragon was.
With the dungeons in the world getting pushes to evolution, Atreus's time for cultivation was also affected. Since that was his secondary priority, he still tries to cultivate at least an hour before continuing his hunt for dungeons.
This greatly made it harder for him to breakthrough to Transcendence Realm.
Once he broke through, he'd have a chance to fight Gideon and spar with him using their full strength. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him to learn. Once Gideon widened the gap between them, he would have to work harder than ever just to catch up.
"Master, compared to the champion suspected to be behind the dungeon evolution spree, do I have a chance?"
"You have. In your current state, all you can do is fight to a stalemate. Even then, you would lose the war, since the champion can just run away from you.
"Even I would have to exhaust every skill I have just to keep it from escaping. Unless we can completely clear the evil god energy in the dungeon and contain the evil god energy it is emitting, then there's really no chance for us to kill it thoroughly.
"The problem with champions, 'real' champions would be the fact that as long as the evil god fragments inside their souls are not destroyed or sealed, it'll be impossible to kill permanently."
"And that's what is giving you a headache, Master?"
"Yes, I have methods to contain it, but to keep it contained is stupid, since the longer it is contained the greater its accumulation of evil energy. And the greater the accumulation, the faster it can evolve by reabsorbing the same energy.
"In a way, evil gods are perverts who release energy just so they can empower themselves with it."
"Isn't that too convenient for them, Master?"
"It is. But that's just hoe they are built. After all, the universe practically created these beings."
"Oh."
…
The next month, the dungeons of the world had evolved successfully. Even those that are destroyed by Gideon and his subordinates subtracted, it still gets replaced by new ones that are of the same stage as the destroyed dungeons. This simply means that the evil god flooding the Earth with dungeons wanting to devour it is stronger this time.
"Dammit!"
Gideon was feeling frustrated. He wasn't Saitama that could one punch everything to solve the problem. He had to worry about collateral, and also restoration, development and growth. He didn't want to prosper alone; he wanted the Earth to prosper with him so he can love and his loved ones in a world where everything is relatively peaceful.
Yes, there would probably wars, strife, and political criminals still on the loose but it would be safe for the general populace.
That was his vision. Not a vision of Earth, scorched and barren after a fight with champions and evil gods. It would be useless even if he could restore Earth to a pristine state when there are no other people beside him and his family to enjoy the world.
"Sigh. It was better when all I thought about was fighting and killing the evil gods. Then, I only had to account for their deaths, revenge was a fuel that pushed me harder. Now, I can't afford to even lose one family member. If I do, I think I'd lose my mind. All this power and still can't even protect my loved ones? What a joke."
A simple wish, yet a gargantuan task.
Slowly, the dungeons started boiling and monsters were crawling out of them. The world was slowly going towards and end, an apocalypse.
With Gideon and his people's efforts as well as the other gods' heralds, the progression of the apocalyptic dungeon breaks was slowed down.
However, they knew they couldn't keep this up forever. The only way was to expel the champion hiding inside the dungeons.
"Atreus, I'll leave the clean up drive to you. I need to cultivate further. If the champion arises, keep it company until I arrive, that is an order."
"Yes, Master."
"'Gideon', go and keep my family safe. Don't let them out of your sight!" 'Gideon' nodded and disappeared immediately.
"Shadowless, dispatch everything into maintaining the mortals' governments to keep them from spreading panic."
"Musashi Clan, put those affiliated to you in check! Don't let them run amok with designs for gaining benefits utilizing the chaos."
"Yes, sir!" Wilhelm Carter answered crisply.
"Becca. Take care of our little angel for now. Tell her I'm on a business trip. Can't go home for a while."
"Sigh. I will. Be careful."
"I will."
"Squirt! Do your best to contain any dungeon break, lead the heralds around you to prioritize citizens instead of environment."
"Yes, brother!"
"Good girl."
…
After giving out instructions again, after feeling that an inevitable confrontation was at hand, Gideon entered seclusion again.
This time, he was going to seriously cultivate his divinity.
As long as the Sacrosanctum Concillium Vasis Dei was open, cultivating divinity as a mortal was going to be welcomed. He had to take advantage of this.
…
And it did come to pass that Hiei of the Black Dragon emerged from one of the dungeons and wreaked havoc on Earth. A single breath wiped out an entire region. Transcendence Realm Experts like Atreus and Gideon were capable of this as well. And that's why it is hard for them since they aim to protect, not to destroy.
"Somehow, I can understand why Superman was created. And his predicament as well. He was too strong for the world and each time he moved, destruction was guaranteed and yet he learned how to control that to a minimum. How great his control over himself must have been!" Atreus, who was made a fan of Superman after reading, watching, and binging every single material he could find about the subject, said in admiration.
When Hiei of the Black Dragon emerged, he naturally appeared to fight it 1v1. Hiei of the Black Dragon scoffed at him at first. However, this scoff was turned to interest, and then that interest turned into seriousness.
"Are you surprised? It couldn't be that you didn't know about the existence of powerful beings present on Earth, right?"
"I suspected as much after learning of the destruction of several hundred dungeons in the few months I've been expanding them. So, it was you. Vermin."
"Vermin? Is that the best insults your tiny brain can come up with? You're but a lizard's skin and bones and you think vermin of me?"
"Humph! You are nothing in my eyes! Enough buying time! Fight!"
Hiei of the Black Dragon was certainly surprised but he composed himself as he scolded Dylan Ross who the information was from.
Although he knew about the existence of Gideon, undisputedly the strongest herald, he did not think it was to the point of fighting Hiei of the Black Dragon on equal grounds. Besides, he turned quiet when he saw Atreus…
"This guy isn't Gideon Johnsons." Dylan Ross put an invisible smirk in his face… if only he had one.
"This black dragon wannabe is in for a ton of trouble."
Atreus did not delay the fight any longer. After all, the region was already devastated no civilians were left. It was a heart wrenching thought, be to fight the lizard, Atreus knew to keep his cool.
Then, as if on cue, media helicopters, flew a few kilometers away from the fighting. They recorded a young man fighting the just emerged Black Dragon which destroyed the region of the dungeon it came out of.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The fight is underway and the fate of millions rest upon the young man facing the black dragon!"
After a pause and holding onto an earpiece, most probably getting information, the media reporter started speaking again.
"From our reliable sources, it seems that the young man is the guild leader of the Guild under Johnsons Enterprise, Atreus! He has been going around the world these past months to destroy dungeons according to our sources! He is a real-life saint, I say!"
The comments online and at home were all positive. However, the word saint was what stuck the most.
The media station had been warned beforehand to exclude the words 'selfless', 'hero', and such things by Johnsons Enterprise. This was to avoid being made into a scape goat when things don't go according to their expectations. If this happened, even Atreus would abandon this world… or at least that was what Rebecca said to them. It was Gideon's order however, so they had to follow it.
Atreus attacked the Black Dragon. Its size was more than 50 meters fifty times his size, but the force his little body carried wasn't to be trifled with as well.
He punched the arrogant dragon in its face and it reeled back a few hundred meters before recovering. While that was ongoing, its tail was swung from the back and also hit Atreus after he crossed his arms to block it. This threw him off into the distance as well.
The impact was greater for him who was smaller. However, he was also faster in recovery and landed on his feet while the black dragon struggled to maintain balance.
This was merely an exchange and yet the damages caused by their clash couldn't be estimated.
"For a mere human, you sure are strong. What, has a transcendent technique find its way to Earth as well?"
"Transcendent Technique? What's that?"
"Whatever method you used to achieve Transcendence. It doesn't matter what method as long as it reaults in the same transcendence. Whether its spiritual, mental, physical, or even conceptual, any method used to achieve transcendence is a Transcendent Technique.
"Don't tell me, you achieved that by accident? Are you some sort of genius?"
"I don't know if it's a transcendent technique or what, but if there's any geniuses, then my Master must be the true genius!"
"…is that so?" A light flickered inside the Black Dragon's eyes as if this answer cleared the fogs of confusion.
"Your master, must be quite a genius then?"
"Of course, he is! He is a god among men!" Atreus was innocently giving away information because of the pride he had in having Gideon as his master. As they fought and clashed against each other, fist for fist and words for words, the gods were monitoring this momentous fight.
Bia was one of the goddesses who watched intently. This young lad Atreus was Gideon's disciple. As a former contractor of Gideon, Bia felt a slight bit of connection towards Atreus. She watched in awe of his display.
"This disciple of his is quite capable." Bia couldn't help but mutter. These words of hers quietened the room immediately.
The Bia who wouldn't talk so much actually uttered a sentence! This was a miracle!
Even Zeus was surprised by this.
Hiei and Atreus began to intensify their fight. Involving techniques that if executed would devastate quite a large area. Seeing this wind up, Atreus also prepared a simple technique execution taught by Gideon to him. A technique belonging to the secret arts of their lineage. As a spear user, this technique had so strong a penetrative force that it ignores defenses and straight out goes for the soul.