Once again, Arthur found himself floating in an endless universe, his body regenerated and his pain completely erased.
'Does it really have to end like this?' Arthur thought before he closed his eyes.
'How pathetic...' He gritted his teeth as all the memories he had in this world flooded his mind.
He thought he would be a great warrior who would change the history of this world, he thought that with this new opportunity, with the power of his bloodline, he could dominate everything and everyone.
But the reality is often disappointing.
He was young, inexperienced, and unskilled, his talent meant little if he died before it blossomed. In the end, the two weeks he spent training with Safira could not compare to the years Gabriel had spent on the way of the sword.
'hahaha' Arthur laughed at his own stupidity in thinking he really had a chance, but just as he was about to give up, just as he was about to die once and for all and abandon all his foolish fantasies, Safira's voice sounded in his head and her plea for him to survive pierced his heart.
He couldn't give up; he couldn't die like this!
Then, once again, Arthur felt his body overcome by an infernal heat as a flood of messages from the system dominated his mind.
[You have come in contact with the blood of a divine lineage!]
[An ancient energy awakens in your body and reshapes it to accept its true power.
Blood Rose Lineage (lvl 1) 0.1% awakened in 0.4%]
Arthur's bloodline reached 0.5% and he felt an insane amount of power flow through his body, accompanied by terrible pain as each of his organs were slowly destroyed and regenerated in a cycle that seemed to have no end.
[Kiss of the Blood Rose Queen skill leveled up 4x].
[Skill: Blood Rose Queen's Kiss.
Description: Blessed by the Blood Rose Queen, you are a special being even among those who share your bloodline. Inside you, the power of your ancestors screams for the blood of your enemies.
Type: Lineage Skill
Level 5 (Increases with the purity of your bloodline)
Grade: SSS
Effect: You can absorb the blood of your enemies and use it to regenerate your HP. Base Strength +10, Base Vitality +15, Base HP +100, Base MP +20].
[Your bloodline reacts to divine power and cries out for its blood.
All stats are temporarily doubled.
Resistance to pain and all negative conditions temporarily reduced by 90%].
Suddenly, Gabriel's footsteps stopped, and his body shivered as he turned around.
His eyes widened as he saw Arthur's body rise, his flesh regenerating almost instantly and his hair growing back to its original length in seconds.
Their eyes met and Gabriel barely had time to yell, "Demon!" before Arthur was in front of him, spinning his body in a powerful, vicious kick.
Gabriel raised his arms and felt as if he had been hit by a bull, the bones in his arms trembling and cracking before breaking in half under Arthur's colossal strength. His legs crumbled and his body sank to the ground, opening a crack that stretched for more than 5 meters before it finally stopped.
"Now it's my turn!" Arthur appeared just above Gabriel's fallen body and struck down, his fist leaving a destructive crimson trail through the air that seemed to completely absorb the mana around him, turning it into power.
But again, Gabriel's body exploded in the same burst of light as before, and the city was once again painted golden as Arthur was dismembered and burned alive by the infernal heat of that power.
"Now it all makes sense!" Gabriel stood up as the golden aura flowing through his body gained more and more power.
"You, that damned masked man, those red eyes..." Gabriel gritted his teeth and a second bang echoed from his body as a sword of golden light appeared in his hands, made entirely of energy.
"This is all your fault!" Snow-white wings emerged from Gabriel's back and flapped powerfully, carrying him into the sky.
"All the dead, Conrad, Greg, you brought this upon us! You brought this damn masked man to us!!!" Gabriel roared, and the energy sword he wielded grew uncontrollably, to the point where it seemed capable of slicing through the world itself.
"I will purge you from this world, demon! In the name of Aelius and his holiness, I, Gabriel, 100th holy son, condemn you to death!!!" Gabriel roared once more as he raised his sword above his head, a powerful beam of light rising toward him, breaking through the mighty earthen ceiling as if it didn't even exist.
[Your bloodline reacts to divine power and cries out for its blood.
All stats are temporarily doubled.
Resistance to pain and all negative conditions is temporarily reduced by 100%.
All your regenerations have been temporarily increased by 1000%].
Arthur's body once again regenerated at an absurd rate, and his mind was consumed by excruciating pain as his muscles, skin, bones, and tendons were rebuilt.
His body was blessed with an even more overwhelming strength, and his mind was overwhelmed by the power as a crimson aura flowed through his body.
Extending his right arm, dozens of tears appeared from his skin and a stream of blood flowed toward his hands, forming a blood sword that emanated a red, destructive mana.
His thoughts were clouded and destructive, any good memories he had of Gabriel were completely erased as his own mind seemed to be rebuilt by that vicious ancestral energy.
Something that seemed to be true for Gabriel as well.
"DIE!!!" Gabriel roared before flapping his wings in the air and hurling himself at Arthur, breaking through the air in a burst of speed.
Arthur threw himself at Gabriel, the ground beneath his feet collapsing as he launched himself upward. His blood sword left a trail that consumed all the mana around it as it advanced toward Gabriel.
The world split between the golden that fell from the sky like the power of a celestial god punishing the mortal filth, and the crimson that flowed from the earth like a demon rising from the depths of hell to face that god.
The moment they met, the world fell silent, the mighty rumble of their powers ceased, and even the mighty pressure ceased.
Gabriel's pupils dilated and he coughed up huge gulps of blood. The gold that permeated his body disappeared, and the sword he wielded split in two as it slowly fragmented into thousands of tiny pieces of light.
He then looked at Arthur with wide eyes and trembling lips. His gaze met Arthur's eyes, where he saw anger, resentment, and most of all, deep pain.
In his final act, he looked down and saw Arthur's sword piercing his chest and destroying his heart.
"I'm sorry... it shouldn't have been like this..." Arthur came to his senses as the influence of the energy on his mind faded.
"It didn't have to be like this..." He let his body fall alongside Gabriel's as the wings on the Holy Son's back dissolved into the air.
Their bodies fell, and Arthur held Gabriel before setting him down.
He took one last look into Gabriel's now lifeless eyes, reached up to his face and closed his eyes...
The battle was over, but Arthur was neither happy nor fulfilled. Only a deep bitterness ruled his face and his heart.
***
In a distant region, inside a colossal cathedral that seemed to be some kind of fortress, two men sat around a small table in one of the cathedral's many luxurious rooms, playing chess.
They wore white robes adorned with dozens of gold crucifixes, had blond hair, blue eyes, and a cold, penetrating aura.
One of the men grabbed one of his pawns and moved it toward the enemy king, ready to end the game right there, but he hesitated, his body trembled, and the pawn fell from his hands.
"Merinor? Are you all right?" The other man asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
"Gabriel is dead." Merinor stood and grabbed a glass of wine from beside him with shaking hands.
"That's impossible! The space ring he was wearing had one of the most advanced escape mechanisms in the world!" The man stood up and grabbed the table with both hands, his voice full of surprise and disbelief. "It's impossible that any being below 5th stage with a deep knowledge of arcane magic could have stopped it from getting Gabriel out of there!"
"It doesn't matter if it's possible or not." Merinor nodded as a hint of anger crept into his voice.
"It happened, and someone will pay for it." Merinor's voice echoed through the room as he disappeared in a flash of light.