Sam could see the clash of titans on the horizon a hundred miles before he reached the swathe of ruin that the D Rankers’ battles had made of the world. The vast starship above listed badly, smoke drifting from its side. Beneath it, Granthar and another man fought, and a dozen miles away, the dark-scaled titan battled within a field of black and crimson, its claws streaking through the skies in search of its elusive quarry.
Nothing living could be seen within a radius of about fifty miles from the fight, with the edges filled with milling figures, who looked like ants as they raced away from certain death. Just the shockwaves alone from the clash shattered glass and pulverized stone. Had it been on the ground, rather than in the sky, the devastation would have been immense, far more so than it was currently.
Sam delved fearlessly into the unknown, a cone of force forming around him as he built up speed with regular teleports. His quest revolved around the death of Granthar, and he would help the man fighting him, as much as a mere E Ranker could. From what he could tell, just a small amount of help could tip the balance.
A few seconds later, Sam appeared beside the beleaguered king, his hammer already swiping out. The other man turned, a look of surprise on his face, one that was quickly turned to pain as his D Rank opponent took the opportunity to drive his fist into his cheek, a spear of incandescence impaling Granthar’s head.
“So you’re the one Miranda told me about,” the rebel D Ranker said as Granthar reeled. “Sam Atlas. Your level might be low, but I can sense immense potential in you. Make sure you don’t die here.”
Sam nodded once, and drove his Dao Heritage into himself, triggering Dao Juggernaut. The light of the Cosmos itself impaled him a dozen times over, injecting its might into his very being. His hammer swung towards Granthar, a full charge of Rage of a World Unbound stored within it. The king laughed bitterly, and slapped the strike away, sending a beam of destruction down to the ground, drilling a deep crater into the surface of the planet. The devastation was hardly as high as Sam expected, given the high Rank of the planet, but it was notable. As an expanding wave of red and blue swept across the city below, Sam swung again, this time in sync with his ally.
Both strikes hit home, but Granthar prioritized blocking the much more powerful punch from the D Rank rebel, his fist covered in a layer of dark energy. The charge of light that had surrounded the punch was sucked into the depths of Granthar’s bulwark, and expelled a moment later as a lance of pure force, slamming into Sam from behind. His armor shattered beneath the power of a true D Ranker, and the projectile sank deep into his flesh, nearly coming out the other side.
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Rather than falter, Sam channeled his deep rage against Granthar and the pain the man had caused into his Domain, a suit of ethereal armor coming into being around him. The death of Dyvan, the crippling of the Marns, all of the evil Granthar had wrought was condensed within the heart of Sam’s Dao, turning into pure power.
The only reason Sam’s expression of the Dao remained uncontested was because Granthar still thought of him as nothing more than an annoying pest, a minor inconvenience in the true fight. Sam intended to take full advantage of that, in the only way that he could against a D Ranker.
As Granthar swung a sword of Dao energy towards his foe, Sam teleported into its path, condensing his armor down into a single patch, as thick and dense as metal. Even the languid, for a D Ranker, strike was almost too fast for Sam to track, but his teleportation was more or less instant.
His shield cracked in half instantly, but it achieved its purpose, bleeding off half of the incoming force. The sword crashed into his chest a moment later, cutting through the metal, which might as well have been paper before the sword. By the time it reached his flesh, it was at a fraction of its previous might, and even as it kissed Sam’s flesh, leaving a bloody wound, he was already moving, disengaging to allow his ally to strike.
A fist appeared where Sam’s head had been, hammering into Granthar’s face. The D Rank king was hardly a warrior, having relied on his brute strength to overpower those far weaker than himself, without ever preparing for a true fight. Sure, his titanic guardian was always there, but when that monster was otherwise occupied, as it currently was, the king’s lack of skill was revealed. The fact that he was struggling against a freshly ascended D Ranker and a mere low E Ranker was telling.
Sam couldn’t help but laugh, even as a wave of force shook his body to its very core. It was more of a way of dealing with the pain than anything else. “You really are pathetic, Granthar. I can see why your family was abandoned here. You may have an empire, but it is an empire of bastards.”
Instead of answering, Granthar summoned a portal, redirecting the pugilist’s fist towards his own head. The man stopped it with ease, withdrawing it like a serpent, and striking again. Dao energy warped the world around him, and Sam could feel an undercurrent of a concept quite familiar to him, underneath all of the glittering bluster of the pugilist’s Dao. Revenge. “Upon my name as Arnus Darkan!” The man roared, catalyzing his Dao within himself. “I will have my revenge for your sins!”
Granthar chuckled bitterly in response. “You repeat that name as if it means something, filth. All you achieve is emphasizing your connection to a worm, a speck of insignificance who died long ago.”
“If she is insignificant,” Arnus replied, “why did you kill her? It was because you saw her as a threat to your tenuous rule, to your delusions of grandeur. A true king would know that he had the right to rule, and that knowledge would ensure everyone else did too.”
