Divine Path System

Varian disappeared from his place. But because of how fast he moved, for everyone except Tiger Chief Typhon and the two deputy directors, saw his afterimage and thought he was still standing there.

The space touching him dissolved. All friction disappeared. Instead, the forces of space pushed him forward. When he took a step forward, the space itself shrunk and he crossed the distance of two steps.

Varian's fist overflowed with the power of a mystic—the master of body and famine—the devourer of all.

But invisible to others, his fist grew heavier through the use of water power—which enabled him to gain just a bit of control over matter. At the same time, his punch grew much faster thanks to the sudden burst of energy from the little control of energy his lightning power provided.

The system shielded others from spying into Varian's body and Varian himself made an extra effort not to show any other powers outwardly.

So, even the deputy directors thought Varian had only one power and was a rank 2 Mystic. What's even more certain was that this Mystic was much stronger than the Tiger Chief he was about to punch.

"Stop!"

"Don't do it!"

Ignoring the thunderous voices, Varian proceeded to connect his fist with Typhon's chest even as the Tiger Chief was belatedly raising his arms in defense.

A shockwave swept everyone off their feet in the parking space and a heavy silence ensued.

Typhon stared at Varian with bulging eyes and opened his mouth to speak. But what came out wasn't sound but blood.

Kacha! Puff!

Typhon's armor shattered into pieces both on the front and back. A fist-sized hole appeared in his back and a pillar of bloodshot exploded out with such force that it broke through the ceiling.

Tiger Chief collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut.

He's still alive, by the virtue of being a Mystic. But he's essentially out of play for the upcoming conflict.

"You think you can get away from this scot-free after doing that to him?" A middle-aged woman in a purple robe appeared in the parking space at some point. Instead of one, each of her eyes had many little pupils. She looked honestly scary.

Varian recognized her from the short conversation he had with Typhon earlier during the waiting time. 'Helga, a sadistic bitch. She likes to dig out eyes and play with them. If she likes them, she'll pick the pupils for herself.'

"You could've just gotten a painless death but now you'll wish for it." A lean middle-aged man appeared beside her. He munched something in his mouth and spat out some small bones.

'Hagen, her twin brother. He likes to buy slave boys and girls, especially toddlers and…' Varian's expression worsened.

He didn't want to get involved in any conflict. He wasn't here to fight. He's here to buy some stuff and then go find that creature to secure the situation of the human race.

But seeing these absolute pieces of shit, he first wanted to smack their faces to death and then, he wanted to vomit for having to come across this kind of stuff.

"Killing intent? Did I read that right?" Helga giggled even as she rubbed the tears from the corner of her eyes.

"So, that's how you want this to go, huh?" Hagen smacked his lips.

Their aura filled the cellar and the sheer pressure caused the bits of metal to float into the air and twist and twirl.

'They're strong. Very strong.' The corner of Varian's lips went up.

The heart of their conflict came from his refusal to reveal his identity. It's the only thing both parties couldn't compromise their stance on. There's no chance of reconciliation.

Then—

BOOM!

Varian's fist connected with the female deputy director's bony fist.

A shockwave swept the cellar and the ceiling, built from a very standard cosmic alloy, was blown away.

The remnant shockwave continued outwards and blew away all the high awakeners it came across.

She staggered back three steps but otherwise remained perfectly fine.

"Tch."

Helga clicked her tongue and threw something out of her robe. A silver barrier enveloped them and seemed to be a stopgap measure to prevent any further damage to the spaceport.

Thankfully, everyone, including Captain and Ash already evacuated once they were hit by the initial shockwaves.

Varian's other arm moved at a breathtaking pace to launch the next punch but a moon-shattering kick reached his back before he could even clench his fist.

Kicking the ground, Varian jumped away and appeared in the distance but was instantly forced to defend as Helga's fingers aimed for his neck.

Her fingers tore through his fist, pierced through his palm, and stopped just three inches away from his neck.

"F-Fuck!"

Without caring for the pain exacerbated by some poison in her nails, Varian clenched that bloodied hand and yanked Helga against Hagen who appeared behind him and was about to strike his neck.

But Hagen displayed incredible agility. He nimbly ducked and avoided clashing with Helga. Using the gap, he punched Varian right in the back, knocking the air out of his lungs and breaking his bones.

Helga used the opportunity to reverse the dynamic and used her full strength to pull her hand held by Varian, which he tried to resist. But the result in the contest of pure force was a bloodied human hand rolling on the ground.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Helga licked the blood on her fingers and grinned.

"He needs a few more bones broken to get into shape." Hagen glanced at Varian's back which was deformed to his punch. Some bones were broken and a few were literally pulverized to powder.

But even Hagen had to admit this person's regenerative powers were over the top. Over half of the damage he inflicted was already healed.

Even then, it's a miracle this person was still standing.

"Eh…Hehehehe…Hahaha…Ahahahaha!"

The young man didn't beg Helga to spare his life nor did he curse Hagen for the pain inflicted.

Instead, he laughed. And laughed like a madman. "Hahahaha!"

Almost instinctively, Helga and Hagen took a step back.

Varian's eyes seemed to burn with flames that came from the depth of his soul. "I want fights like this. Where I can't easily win. Where I have to struggle for every move…because after every such fight, I come out stronger."

With a flick of his hand, the severed palm on the ground flew back and reattached to Varian's arm.

With a smile bordering at the intersection of perfect madness and perfect sanity, he said. "Let's fight."