Late at night…
Yan lay on a soft mattress in a plain white nightgown, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling in deep thought.
"So how did things end up like this?"
There was a hint of confusion in her expression. She could feel the even, warm breathing of the man lying beside her, and she could also feel the heat coming from the arm wrapped around her.
Every bit of it made her heart race faster and faster, pounding in her ears.
"This is bad. My heart's a mess…"
"There's no way I'm getting any sleep like this."
Yan folded her pale hands over herself, her toes resting lightly against the mattress. She lay there flat on her back, not daring to move at all, because the man beside her had not just been talking big. He really had treated her like a body pillow.
Still, the man did not seem to have any intention of taking things further. According to him, he was not afraid of the all-powerful cosmic Censor 404. He was, apparently, a man who cared very deeply about feelings, so he planned to slowly build a relationship with Yan, starting with using her as a body pillow.
What was that phrase again? Sometimes when you sleep beside someone long enough, those damned feelings just show up on their own.
Yan thought he was talking straight out of his ass, total nonsense. But right now all her divine power was sealed, and she could not even send a signal to the other Angels, so she had no choice but to stay undercover at the man's side for now, waiting until she found an opening she could exploit.
At the same time, Yan had already made up her mind. If the man beside her really was invincible, so powerful that even Sacred Kayle could not suppress him, then she would bear his child and raise that child to deal with him properly.
Yan's way of thinking was simple, direct, and almost rustic in its straightforwardness. It was exactly the kind of mindset a so-called god, one who had fought across countless worlds for seven thousand years, ought to have.
When the next morning's sunlight slipped through the curtains and landed across Jovian's face, he slowly opened his eyes, feeling the warmth on his skin.
"Ah…"
Jovian sat up on the bed, stretched lazily, then glanced at Yan beside him.
"Whoa…"
Under his gaze was a woman with silky golden hair and a face as beautiful as an Angel's, lying there with her eyes open, silently staring at the ceiling.
"You sleep with your eyes open?"
Jovian could not help asking.
"Don't worry about me. Perfect lifeforms like us Angels wouldn't have any problems even if we never slept."
Yan smiled faintly when she saw the flicker of horror on Jovian's face.
"But you, as some unknown great god, do you actually need sleep?"
Still lying flat on the mattress, Yan tilted her head and looked at Jovian sitting beside her.
"My true body doesn't need it anymore, but I still keep the good habit of sleeping. Back then, when I wanted sleep, I didn't have time for it. Now that I've got plenty of time, of course I'm going to rest more."
Jovian looked at Yan quite naturally as he explained.
"Your true body?"
Yan narrowed her eyes slightly. She had no interest in most of what Jovian had just said, but the phrase true body definitely caught her attention.
"That's right. But you don't need to worry about it. My true body isn't interested in you people. It's only interested in your universe."
"To put it simply, this really doesn't have much to do with you. Even if my true body finishes conquering your universe, your lives will stay basically the same. The only difference is that everyone will have an all-powerful god over their heads, me."
"So you should hurry up and seduce me now. Once I get management authority over this universe from my true body, then you, the one closest to me, would become a god beneath one person and above billions."
Jovian said it all with a grin.
"Heh…"
Yan only laughed in disdain after hearing him. As far as she was concerned, he was full of crap.
"Then why don't you hurry up and bring your true body down here already?"
Yan answered in an openly teasing tone.
"There's no need for me to worry about that. Some genius out there is way more anxious about it than I am."
Jovian waved a hand, looking completely unconcerned.
"Who?"
Yan kept fishing for information.
"I think he calls himself Karthus or something…"
Jovian shrugged.
"Karthus?"
"You're working with Karthus?"
The moment she heard that name, Yan became serious. She had always considered Karthus an extremely dangerous man. In her eyes, Karthus and Morgana were the biggest evil-god ringleaders in the known universe.
"Quit imagining things. If I were working with Karthus, would I have gone after the Taotie?"
Jovian shook his head and flicked Yan lightly on the forehead.
"Ow…"
Yan covered her slightly reddened forehead, wincing.
"Then what's going on?"
Yan kept pressing. She might be at Jovian's side for the moment, but her loyalty still belonged with the Angels.
"Isn't your Karthus studying the Void?"
"Well, here's something interesting. I am the Void."
Jovian smiled. While he had been asleep, he had received a signal from his true body. The Void had already been kneaded into Jovian's shape by that true body.
But the universe Jovian currently occupied had been sealed shut by a very interesting force. Forcing it open could potentially collapse the whole universe, so his true body had disguised itself as the Void and was now making a deal with a minor figure called Karthus inside this universe. The moment that genius named Karthus finally pried open the universe's sealed gates, the entire Super Seminary universe would fall neatly into Jovian's true body's hands. And as the avatar within this universe, he would become the one and only god here.
"Sure…"
Yan waved a hand and rolled her eyes at him. Clearly, she did not believe a word of it.
"Haha, and you still don't believe me. Man…"
Jovian sighed. That was just how things were these days. Tell the truth, and nobody believed you.
"All right, forget that nonsense. Tell me something useful."
Yan kept probing. She wanted to squeeze at least some useful information out of him.
"Sure, then let's talk about something useful."
Jovian seemed to enjoy Yan asking him question after question. He did not care in the slightest whether she was a spy or not. The gap between them was far too big. From his perspective, none of it mattered. What mattered was that he was having fun.
"What?"
Yan's eyes lit up, waiting for him to say something she could actually use.
"Come on. I'll show you something useful."
Jovian wrapped an arm around Yan's slender waist, and in a flash, the two of them vanished from the room.
Aboard the Juxia…
"Report, sir. The target appears to have left the villa. The target seems to possess extremely advanced subspace-jump technology. It far surpasses Earth's tech level. We're completely unable to track or locate the target's position."
The moment one of the staff members noticed that the energy signatures of Jovian and Yan had vanished from the satellite feed, he immediately stood up and reported it.
"No need to track him. A being like that will get annoyed if we monitor him too closely. As long as he doesn't start causing chaos, and as long as his activity remains within this area, we do nothing."
General Du Couteau pulled out a world map, then took a black marker and drew an enormous circle around it.
The staff member looked at the absurdly large circle in confusion and could not help asking, "General Du Couteau, why did you draw such a huge circle? That covers the whole world and even extends beyond Earth."
"Exactly. That's the point. Whether he's on Earth or somewhere off-world, we do not interfere. We don't have the ability to interfere anyway. If he comes back into our territory, we keep a light eye on things so nobody accidentally offends him. That's all."
Du Couteau nodded. What he really meant was simple, no matter where Jovian was or what he was doing, they were not going to interfere, because they simply could not. But he was a general, and a general had to save face. So he had to dress it up in nicer words.
"Understood."
The staff member nodded. Now he finally got it.
No sense of tact at all, Du Couteau thought to himself. Wouldn't give me even a little face. Makes me spell every damn thing out. At this rate I'm going to have to replace him.
In truth, he felt frustrated too. But what good did that do? A god with no civilization behind him, and thus no vulnerabilities or baggage, was basically a walking doomsday bomb. Handle him wrong, and billions could die with him.
Egypt…
"Why did you bring me here?"
Nestled in Jovian's arms, her own arms looped around his neck, Yan looked down at the endless golden desert below them with clear confusion in her eyes.
"To find a pet."
Jovian ran a hand through Yan's golden hair as he answered.
"A pet?"
Yan raised a brow. She had a bad feeling that anything Jovian called a pet would be dangerous.
"That's right. A pet you people killed once. But I figure it's about to get brought back."
After saying that, Jovian said no more. A faint glow shone in his eyes as his X-ray vision pierced through every obstruction and looked into the pyramid below.
At that moment, inside the massive pyramid, several Taotie were speaking quietly with one of Karthus's trusted subordinates.
"Can our god Karthus really grant us the power to destroy that damned Earth god?"
"That filthy Earth god destroyed our outpost, slaughtered tens of thousands of our soldiers. He's a monster!"
"If we don't get enough power to destroy that Earth god, our plan will be delayed indefinitely."
The Taotie bowed their heads respectfully as they explained their needs to Karthus's emissary.
"And that is exactly why I'm here!"
"Relax. Sleeping here is Renekton, an early third-generation beast-form super soldier created by our god Karthus. He may be somewhat lacking when it comes to dealing with chief gods from the great god-making civilizations, but for a backwater planet with no information on its local little god, he's more than enough!"
The emissary explained just how powerful the strength he was about to give them would be.
"Can Renekton really help us kill that Earth god?"
The Taotie looked at the emissary with doubt. They had already seen the footage from the fortress. They had seen the carnage with their own eyes. Their invincible army had been as fragile before that Earth god as ants with their fangs ripped out and their venom sacs removed. They had not even been able to mount a final counterattack.
"Are you questioning our god Karthus?"
The emissary's face darkened with displeasure.
"No, no, no…"
"We would never doubt our god. It's just that Earth god is far too powerful, and we're afraid…"
The Taotie soldiers waved their hands frantically. They had truly been terrified by the sight of Jovian slaughtering everything in his path.
"Hmph. That only proves how weak you are! Any fully equipped second-generation super soldier could carve right through you, let alone some local god from a primitive planet. The invincible being you're so terrified of is nothing but a fart in our god Karthus's eyes!"
The emissary's expression revealed his utter contempt for the Taotie. In his eyes, these ordinary Taotie soldiers were worthless trash.
"Uh…"
The Taotie soldiers' faces all changed. They felt like their hearts had taken a hit.
"Your worries are completely unnecessary!"
"Renekton is fully capable of fighting gods, even killing them!"
Sensing their dissatisfaction, the emissary quickly adjusted his tone. He knew the great Karthus still had use for these pieces of trash, so he softened his voice and continued more gently.
"That said, there is something I need to warn you about first. Because Renekton fought Angels before he died, there's a chance the Angels tampered with him and stuffed some crooked ideas into his head. In other words, I can't guarantee his loyalty to our god. If he has completely changed sides, then you'll have to deal with him yourselves. Our god will assist you in other ways."
As if remembering something else, Karthus's emissary offered them that extra warning.
"We understand…"
The two Taotie exchanged a glance, then nodded, making it clear they understood and that the emissary need not worry.
"Good."
The emissary nodded, then began tapping wildly at the air with both hands. Immediately, an arcane sigil flared into existence.
"Renekton, answer the summons of our god Karthus, come forth!"
The emissary shouted, and with a pillar of golden light blasting upward, Renekton, the terror who had once ravaged the rivers, was revived.
"All right, the crocodile god has been revived. The rest is up to you."
"My task here is complete."
"As for subduing Renekton and killing that Earth god, that part is your problem."
"Remember, you must act while Renekton has just been revived and is still weak. Once he returns to full strength, your entire civilization together won't be able to do a damn thing to him."
With his hands behind his back, the emissary delivered his speech in the most self-important tone possible.
The response he got was silence.
"Didn't you hear what I said?"
The emissary turned around in annoyance.
What he saw was a tall man calmly snapping the neck of the last remaining Taotie right in front of him.
"So I hear you people are planning to kill me?"
The man pulled out a tissue, wiped his hand, casually tossed it aside, and watched it burn away in midair. Then he walked up to Karthus's emissary and asked the question.
"So, you're that Earth god. Good. I was actually thinking of advising you. Oppose our god Karthus, and you won't have a good end…"
The emissary looked the man up and down with open disdain, as though being Karthus's dog were some kind of glorious honor.
"And you are?"
The man did not attack right away. He simply frowned and asked the emissary's identity.
"I am the emissary of my god Karthus, servant of the great god of death. Like you, I am also a god. You may address me as the god of the Styx. I more than deserve that title."
The emissary looked unbearably arrogant. As one of the great Karthus's subordinates, he considered himself above the masses, even above taking Angels seriously.
"Oh, so you're just some mongrel raised by a pathetic little punk."
The man wore a look of sudden understanding, as though he had finally figured out the emissary's true status.
"You…"
"Insulting me is one thing, but you dare insult our god Karthus? You'll be punished for that!"
The emissary flew into a rage and spread his hands, preparing to attack.
"Ultron, shut down his bio-engine."
The man remained completely calm, his face composed.
"Analyzing…"
"Analysis complete. Bio-engine and secondary bio-engine shut down."
At the man's command, an electronic voice echoed through the cramped chamber.
In an instant, the emissary who had called himself a god of the Styx felt his own bio-engine and the secondary bio-engine Karthus had installed both go dead.
"What?!"
"That's impossible! Nobody in this universe can shut down an engine made by our god Karthus!"
The emissary's face changed drastically. He could feel the severed connection between himself and his bio-engine, and disbelief filled his eyes.
"If Karthus made the engine, I can shut it down. If Karthus didn't make the engine, I can still shut it down. In your next life, tell Karthus that this is the power of the great Jovian."
The tall man, Jovian, waved one hand, and an invisible force slammed into the emissary.
"Ahhh!"
The emissary was instantly lifted into the air.
A streak of crimson light flashed.
His neck was severed in an instant, and another handsome headless horseman was born.
"Hmph."
But Jovian was not done.
After slicing the emissary apart, he tightened the hand still aimed at him ever so slightly.
In that instant, endless pressure crushed down on the emissary's body.
Boom!
With a thunderous blast, Karthus's emissary was pulverized into countless particles. Not even a single hair remained.
"What a weak excuse for a god…"
"And this clown thought he could compare himself to me. Ridiculous."
After disposing of Karthus's emissary, Jovian lightly rolled his shoulders, preparing to go collect Yan and his pet crocodile, the third-generation super soldier Renekton personally created by Karthus.
"Oh, right."
Just as Jovian was about to leave, he seemed to remember something.
"I already warned you people. You still came anyway, so now you die."
Jovian looked at the Taotie corpses scattered across the floor and shook his head.
In an instant, a streak of crimson-gold light blazed out, completely igniting the Taotie bodies.
"You ugly things are disgusting just by existing. Half-beast freaks that are neither man nor animal don't even qualify for a zoo. Garbage mongrels like you are better off disappearing from this universe."
Only then did Jovian nod in satisfaction. With a sonic boom, his figure vanished completely from the pyramid…
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