historical

Haden pointed the symbol at his enemy, and a pillar of light came down on Wain.

Wain was unable to dodge this attack as he made a critical error. Haden's previous attack had forced him to jump high, and the elf took advantage of Wain's unfortunate position.

Haden also took Wain by surprise, as he had not had any ranged attacks before. Because of a combination of these factors, Haden's scheme succeeded, and now Wain was burning under the searing light.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Thought Wain and put his arms out in front of him.

He quickly created two massive black spheres and exploded them. The explosion pushed Wain away, and he could get out from under the oppression.

But in the few seconds Wain was under the beam of light, he sustained serious wounds.

There were severe burns on his arms and back. The ghostly threads tried to heal it, but it wasn't easy and would take quite some time.

"I don't want to kill you. I'm offering you a deal. If you surrender right now, reveal your identity, and tell me why the arena awarded you the black pillar, I won't kill you."

"Do you really think I'm going to give up?" Gritting his teeth, Wain said.

"Why not? Sure, you'll lose your treasures and souls, you'll have to tell your secrets and maybe become a slave, but you'll live. Isn't life the most precious thing we have?"

"Huh, life is certainly a valuable thing, but it depends on its quality. If we're talking about the life of a slave without freedom, a stale loaf of bread would be much more valuable to me."

"You have a rather strange logic. It doesn't matter, though, it's your decision. If you want to die, I, as your adversary, will graciously help you do so." Haden said, and beams began to appear again in the distance at that moment.

The remaining elves also decided to show their faith in Haden, and after a few seconds, the number of rays increased from one hundred to three hundred. It was more than half and gave Haden great power.

His hair shone brightly, and two sun-shaped seals appeared on his feet. Haden did not deceive Wain when he spoke of faith.

Each time the number of creatures believing in him increased, he became stronger. That was how faith and the gods worked in this world.

"I see they truly think you are a god." Wain said in amazement.

"Not really." Haden shook his head. "God is an ultimative form of faith, and for someone to become a god, you have to do something really outstanding. I only took the first step."

"Hmm, you are their leader, and they entrust their destinies to you, but doesn't that make faith just a tool? There could be another elf in your place, and your mates would give power to him."

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." Haden suddenly laughed, "Of course not, I told you earlier. They don't use a skill or some artifact. It's faith. Do you think you can force even one person to believe in someone?"

Haden looked at his mates in the distance and said, "Faith is one of the sincerest feelings, where there is no place for lies and deceit. It is the truth. Each of them believes in me for different reasons. No one forced them to do so.

Some have been helped or saved by me a long time ago. Some praise me as a leader, others are in awe of my power. Some people think I am the best leader they can follow to the ends of the earth. They like me as a person, my temperament, character, and spirit. The reasons are many.

Honestly, I never set out to be an object of someone's faith. It was an accident. But, I accept their feelings, and I am grateful for the strength they give me. My task is to live up to their hopes and desires."

"Hmm, I must admit it was quite an interesting story. Now I understand that it's different from teamwork, but somehow or other has one drawback. Without allies, there is no team, and there is no faith without followers. They are cogs in a massive machine that makes you stronger." Said Wain.

He hadn't expected faith to have such power in this world. It was something tangible, something anyone could see with their eyes as well as feel the power of faith.

'Right now, three hundred elves believe in him, and he has gained enormous power, but then what power do beings have that thousands, tens of thousands, or millions believe in?' Wain pondered.

"Your wording is rather crude. Haven't you ever wanted to believe in something or someone?"

"No." Wain shook his head, "If we're talking about faith, I'm an atheist. The only thing I can believe in is myself!"

Whooooooosh.

The next moment Wain turned into blue lightning and headed for the elves in the distance. He had to kill them, or at the very least, destroy their formation.

Otherwise, Haden would grow stronger by the minute, and Wain's chances of winning would drop precipitously.

"Do you think I'm going to let you hurt my followers?" Haden muttered, and the seals on his legs glowed brightly.

He turned into a yellow flash and caught up with Wain within seconds. However, Wain realized that Haden was now much faster than he was and took appropriate action.

Wain decided to create a large dark sphere every hundred meters, and half a second ago, he had covered that distance.

When Haden was ready to attack Wain, there was a numbing explosion a few meters away, and everything around him was engulfed in black flame. A light barrier appeared around Haden, absorbing some of the flames.

Haden was not hurt, but he fell behind Wain.

'Damn, if he gets to them, I'll be in trouble.' Haden thought and jumped high. He wanted to swoop down on Wain like a meteor and end their battle with one mighty blow.

However, Haden did not know that Wain had guessed that he would decide to act that way.

When Haden was high in the air, Wain suddenly turned around, and a platinum sword appeared in his left hand and a massive sniper rifle in his right.

Wain threw the sword at Haden like a spear with all his might.

It flew with great speed and should have pierced Haden, but he flung the sword aside with a wave of his hand. Wain didn't care, he knew it couldn't hurt Haden. It was a distraction.

Whoooooosh.

A white bullet appeared before him, and he quickly charged a Whisper. Wain aimed and was ready to fire, but suddenly it felt as if time had slowed down. It wasn't a hallucination. The Whisper had one peculiarity.

If a person uses this sniper rifle at a certain concentration level, a special effect is activated.

At that point, time for the weapon owner would slow down considerably, the bullet would be three times faster, and it would have two phantom copies.

Snap.

Wain pulled the trigger, and three bullets flew out of the muzzle at lightning speed. Maybe in a normal situation, Haden would have been able to dodge this attack, but not now. All he managed to do was shift to the left to keep the bullets from piercing his head.

Crackle.

Three bullets hit his shoulder in one spot and instantly ripped it off. Haden lost his right arm and was thrown to the side by the force of the shot.

The ring on Wain's finger glowed brightly, and Whisper disappeared. Wain continued to run toward the elves.

'Faith... Shouldn't it weaken when they see their leader lose?' Wain pondered.

Whooooooooosh.

There was an explosion behind him. Despite the loss of his arm, Haden wasn't going to give up. His gaze was the same as before, strong and unwavering.

In fact, it was Haden's aura and gazed that made many elves believe in him. Even when it was deadly, he did not go out of his way. Many elves respected him for this.

That is why, instead of the elves' faith becoming weaker, it instead grew stronger.

"What's going on?" Mumbled Wain, "Why the fuck do they keep supporting him?!

In the distance, Wain saw the remaining two hundred elves put their palms together. Now all five hundred elves had joined together, and Haden's power had reached its maximum.

Whooooooosh.

His severed arm glowed brightly and flew to him. He put his palms and hand to the wound, and the sun-shaped seal glowed brightly. Haden was healed, but the seal on his hand was half erased.

Haden looked at Wain running and sprinted in his direction. He had to catch up with him and stop him. Wain made no further attempt to stop Haden from chasing him, for he was already close enough to execute his plan.

He stretched his arm forward, and high in the sky, a small black sphere appeared above the elves.

Wain's idea was simple, he was going to use all the energy he had and destroy the elves. Even if some of them survived, it would seriously weaken Haden, and victory would be his.

Haden wasn't worried, he was sure that Wain couldn't kill the elves with one attack, but when he saw that the sphere began to grow rapidly, he began to panic. Haden sped up, realizing that every moment now counted.

Wain continued to enlarge the sphere and pour more energy into it. At first, the sphere was the size of a grain, then a fist, a ball, a person, and now it was comparable to a three-story house.

He found it hard to breathe, and everything in front of his eyes began to blur. Wain decided that he would only leave one percent of the energy he needed for the second step of his plan. He would use the other 99% to create this sphere.

When the sphere became the size of a rock, Haden was behind Wain, but it was too late.

Wain clenched his fist, and the giant sphere exploded. It was an explosion of unprecedented proportions. Everyone in the arena took notice.

Those very far away saw the massive pillar of darkness piercing the clouds and the heavens.

Those who were fighting in the center of the arena stopped. They were mesmerized by the scene, watching the ground and trees turn to ash. Black flames spread out in all directions like waves. It was like the beginning of hell.

"If I'm not mistaken, the base of Holy Tale is that way. Right? Have the elves and demons finally decided to fight?" Said one of the fighters.

"No." The demon with the white skin shook his head. "I think I know what's going on out there. The black pillar and the dark flames... It's quite symbolic."

Orin, the demon Wain had met at the beginning, didn't see his abilities. But, he felt that only someone who escaped the arena could do something like that.

...

The fate of the elves under the orb was sealed. Each of them disappeared from this world without a trace, and all that was left of them were their souls and the souls of the creatures they had once killed.

As the flames dissipated, hundreds of souls flew to Wain. In total, Wain received about one and a half thousand souls. That was a huge number, and some of those souls were Rare or Epic Rated.

Wain's attack was so devastating that none of the elves could survive. He turned the base of Holy Tale into burnt ruins.

"You bastard!" Haden shouted in rage and hit Wain with all his might.

Wain had almost no strength left and could not dodge. Haden's fist sank into his face and threw him back several meters.

Wain weakened, but so did Haden. He no longer had the strength from the elves and was now back to the state he had after using Beyond.

"Huh, and that was your faith?" Mumbled Wain, spitting up blood, "They died because of you, they believed in you, but you didn't live up to their hopes. You were the one who killed them."

"Shut up. Now I will rip out your filthy tongue and crush your heart. I will avenge my friends and mates!" Haden said menacingly and lunged toward Wain.

Wain was exhausted. He decided to cancel the fourth form, and the red cloak and gloves quickly disappeared. However, Wain was not worried. He knew what he was doing and was prepared for such an outcome.

He still had one more trump card he would use to end this battle.

Whooooosh.

Gray energy appeared around Wain, his palms opened, and a black crown with a closed eye appeared on his head. Wain left some energy just to be able to use Beyond. He only needed a few seconds.

Then the Ring of Damned glowed, and in Wain's hands appeared a bright, white pearl. In it lurked an enormous amount of pure energy.

When Haden saw it, his eyes widened in shock, and his face turned pale. There was no way he could have expected that Wain would have such a thing and risk using it. No one could have predicted such a thing.

"Their faith was weak, and you as their supposed god, I will devour, right here and now!" Shouted Wain and crushed a Soul Pearl.