Alex bent his knees and launched himself into the air, streaking away from the mountain.
"Where did he go?" Willard asked, puzzled.
"He seemed angry," Evan said. "I'm afraid he might mean to kill someone."
Frowning, he turned and chased after Alex.
**
When Alex arrived at the Rimmer family residence, he silently cast out his senses, trying to gather information. Then he raised his hand and struck the door with his staff. He hit it so hard that he split the door frame and caused half of the courtyard wall to collapse.
Most members of the Rimmer family had gone to Marauders Mountain to watch the fight, but there were still some guards and servants left in the house. They hadn't expected anyone to come knocking on their door, and now they rushed out, shouting. When they realized it was Alex at the door, they were so scared that they scattered in all directions. After all, Alex had now earned the nickname the God of Slaughter, and nobody wanted to be his next victim.
"Run!" they cried. "The God of Slaughter is back! All is lost!"
"He must have defeated Mr. Rimmer," an older servant said. "Why else would he be here now? Where is Willard? He couldn't have been killed, right?"
"Don't worry about that now!" said a guard. "Run!"
Alex rushed over, furiously waving his celestial staff. With one big swing, a courtyard wall collapsed with a loud bang. With another swing, another wall crumbled.
Then, with another two strokes of the staff, two long corridors collapsed in on themselves.
"How dare you lie to me and humiliate me?" Alex demanded. "For such an insult, I'll remove all the Rimmers from this world!"
He raised his staff toward the sky and struck again. No matter if it was the door beam, the fountain, the pond, or the walls of the house, they all collapsed in piles of dust and rubble.
Countless antiques and valuables were smashed into pieces, and no one knew how many people were buried in the destruction.
Evan arrived to find a pile of ruins. He wanted to stop Alex, but it was too late, and he could only watch as the huge manor was destroyed right in front of him.
When Alex arrived at the main hall, he struck out with his staff, stirring up a strong airflow and twisting the very fabric of space. Then he released it with a bang.
The Rimmers' main hall was completely wiped out by the energy attack, turning it into a pile of debris.
Alex continued to move forward and soon arrived outside Zoe's room. Casting out his senses, he found a secret room hidden below it, where Flora had been locked away.
He used his staff to rip the secret room door off its hinges, and then he stalked inside with a murderous look in his eyes.
When he looked around the room, his eyes fell on some jade tablets fixed to the wall. One of them was shining with a bright white light that immediately attracted him to it.
It was a spirit tablet, which allowed family members to know whether someone was dead or alive.
That kind of spirit tablet could only be found in the most powerful families or organizations, and a family like the Rimmers was nowhere near important enough.
And yet, they had a secret chamber with these jade tablets in it.
Only one of the tablets glowed with the bright white light, which meant that the person who had put the tablet there wasn't only alive, but also in good health.
It was someone called Paula, and there seemed to be some kind of connection between her and Zoe.
Alex thought about what that connection might be, but then he pushed the matter aside. There would be time for that later.
He continued to follow his powerful senses, looking for Flora, and moments later, he found the secret underground room.
He pushed open the door and saw Flora sitting inside, trembling with fear.
"Son!" she said, as she looked up and saw him. She threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly, and then she burst into tears.
Behind Alex, Evan came to the doorway and looked at everything, shaking his head in disbelief.
He couldn't understand why Zoe would risk kidnapping Flora at such a critical moment. It was like signing her own death warrant.
**
On Marauders Mountain, after Alex and Evan had disappeared, a few members of the larger families came forward to congratulate Willard and wish him success.
Although many of them didn't understand how powerful Willard was, the conversation between Willard and Alex had been so intense that everyone had understood its significance. So they knew, no matter what, that it would be in their best interests to stay on his good side.
Willard didn't have time to deal with sycophants. He had just broken through to the divine level, and he hadn't yet stabilized his power. He had to do so before he could do anything else.
He also had no idea where Evan and Alex had gone, and he was worried that something was wrong.
Therefore, after greeting everyone, he gathered up the other members of his family and rushed back to their home.
But the closer they got to the house, the more shocked they became. When they saw the building had been almost completely destroyed, they were all stunned.
Willard had been worried about the consequences of offending Alex, but at most, he had thought Alex would simply take all their property.
Compared to becoming a god, losing the house was nothing. Willard had been confident that it would be easy for him to regain his family home in the future.
But he had never thought that the outcome would be so miserable. The entire house had been destroyed, and people were buried underneath it.
Clearly, this was an act of revenge, as it left no room for negotiation or any way to save themselves.
The Rimmers got out of their cars and stood in front of the rubble. Some of them were sobbing, while others were clenching their fists tightly.
The mansion had been their home. Now it had been flattened, and they found themselves homeless. Hundreds of years of history had been destroyed. It was unacceptable, and they couldn't let this matter go.
"Who did this?" one man cried. "Show yourself!"
The Rimmers had still been immersed in the joy of Willard becoming a god. And now, in the blink of an eye, they had been pulled into the endless abyss of the destruction in front of them.
"I did it," Alex called from within the ruins.
Then they heard the sound of someone stepping on broken tiles.
Moments later, Alex walked out, his expression furious. Every step he took matched the Rimmer family's pounding heartbeats.
He carried Flora, who had fainted, and his eyes were filled with hatred as he looked around.
A staff flew forward, heading straight toward Zoe, as everyone watched in horror.
"Alex! Stop!" Willard cried, stepping in front of Zoe and using his body to block the celestial staff.
"Do you really think you can stop me?" Alex asked, staring at him.
Willard was so scared that he trembled. Everyone was staring at him, which only served to make him even more nervous, and he didn't know what to do.
He hesitated for a moment.
"Step aside!" Alex roared.
"Alex, you can't kill her!" Willard yelled.
"Why not?" Alex demanded, angry at being denied his revenge.
"She has a secret!" Willard called. "It's something dangerous!"
Evan raised his hand to stop Alex. "Alex, wait!" he said.
"You want to stop me too?" Alex asked, frowning as he turned around to look at Evan. At the same time, he struck out his palm, and their power clashed briefly, but they were so evenly matched that neither could gain the upper hand.
"Stop!" Another shout came from the sky, and then Antoine appeared, looking down at Alex.
Alex glanced up at him. He hadn't expected there to be so many powerful warriors in the city, but it didn't really matter.
He didn't wait for Antoine to come any closer and simply threw the celestial staff, hitting Willard in the chest and sending him flying backward. Zoe, who had been standing behind him, was also knocked down.
"Stop!" Antoine said again. "You can't kill her!"
Although Antoine hadn't yet reached the ground, he sent out a wave of power which arrived in front of Alex.
And although Alex had yet to attain Antoine's level of power, he had already been strengthened by the lightning tribulation. That made him as strong as Antoine, and he could still face him head on, so he had no reason to be afraid.
Alex's senses were stronger, and he was becoming more powerful all the time.
There was another loud explosion.