Chapter 581 - 577: Taken Out

Ryder finally used a skill that he was prepared for. One of the strongest skills in the arsenal of Aluren that he could only use after going into his Semi-Godly form. 

As soon as Ryder's staff tapped the ground, a massive wave of flame came out of the ground, taking everything in its path, turning things to ashes. 

The trees, the plants, everything in its path was destroyed as the massive wave advanced towards the two young gods like a Tsunami that had come straight from hell. 

"Even his attack?" Itsuki exclaimed as Itsuki watched Ryder use Aluren's attack. There was no doubt in his head that Ryder was an enemy. 

The flame Tsunami came so fast that it burned all the Itsuki versions, destroying them all. 

As for Julien, he seemed to have stabbed his golden sword on the ground, making a Golden Barrier around him. 

Ryder didn't let this opportunity go to waste as he changed the staff back to a scythe before he swung it back without even looking. 

"Argh!" 

A pained noise came from behind him. Ryder calmly turned back to see a thread of blood floating in the air. 

"Did you really think it would work on me? I know how alert you are. The guy who kept his identity secret while letting others know a different version of him? The man who had his subordinates act like him and even used the Illusions to save that subordinate? You jumping in a battle so openly?" Ryder said grimly. 

'You would never jump in a fight openly. So it was obvious. All the avatars that were fighting Julien were fake. As for the real you, it couldn't be easier finding you. You know why?" Ryder said as he saw the invisible Itsuki becoming visible. 

Itsuki's throat seemed to have been cut, and he was struggling to breathe. His face had turned pale as well. A small knife was in his hand, which he couldn't even move as his entire body had frozen. 

There were many questions in his eyes, but he couldn't even speak as he took his last few breaths while going down. 

"In the fight when you were pretending to be asleep? I knew you were acting. But I also knew that was the real you. You know why and how I knew everything?"

"When you showed me your real self for the first time, I had placed a special scent in my hand. When I shook your hands, that was the moment I had taken the steps to make sure I always knew where the real you is."

"I knew from the start that you weren't actually fighting Julien but keeping yourself safe in the distance. It's only now when you came out to kill me," Ryder told Itsuki, who had fallen to the ground. 

Just to make sure, he changed the Scythe to a sword which he stabbed in the chest of Itsuki.

"There goes the second one," Ryder muttered as he kept Itsuki's body in his inventory. 

As for Julien, he seemed to still be facing the flame waves, trying to resist with his treasure sword.

....

"This battle... Have they all gone crazy? One moment a person is helping others, the next moment they are fighting amongst themselves? First, it was Ryder and Itsuki against Julien, and now it's Itsuki and Julien against Ryder? What the heck?"

Ion seemed like he was going crazy as he watched the battle. The moment he believed he had an idea about what was happening, something else happened entirely. And the moment he felt like something else was happening, things changed again. 

"Also, he can use Aluren's strength? Could it be that Ryder was actually Aluren and the Aluren I saw was fake? Just like Itsuki, for the world was different, but that woman was the real Itsuki? That should be it. He's Aluren! But then again, why was Aluren able to use the strength of Lord of Time?'

The more he thought about what was happening, the more things changed. In the end, he seemed like he had no choice but to wait to understand everything better.

"If only I didn't have to hide, I could have asked them myself," he said, frowning. 

"I'm any case, Itsuki is dead. Soon, either Julien or Aluren will be dead too. And maybe the others will die too. That's good for me. Less competition."

....

Ryder looked at Julien, who seemed to be stuck in the middle of the tsunami of fire, only at the mercy of his barrier. But fortunately, his barrier seemed to be of high quality at least. It was resisting the flames as he waited for the fire to die down. 

Ryder, however, didn't want the flames to die. 

Instead, he flew right into the waves of flames which couldn't hurt him. The Moon Sword again changed to Moon Scythe 

He stopped before Julien, who was standing with his golden sword buried into the ground, glaring at Ryder with his estranged eyes. 

"That barrier won't save you," Ryder declared as he gripped the Moon Scythe firmly before he raised it in the sky. 

"If you're really the Divine Weapon of an Actual God, are you really going to be defeated because of a Divine Weapon of a Semi-God?" Ryder declared as if he was talking to the Scythe. 

"I don't know if you can hear me or not! But if you want to keep the dignity of your old master and of yourself, you must not be stopped by that measly sword! It's nothing before you! Show me what I said is true!" 

As soon as Ryder said the words, he swung the sword as fast as he could. A mysterious black light started shining around the entire Moon Scythe as the strange characters that were carved in it started shining in a mysterious golden glow.

Smash!

As soon as the Scythe's blade hit the golden barrier, the barrier shattered like it was made entirely of glass. 

As the barrier broke, even Julien was shocked. He hadn't expected that his barrier could be broken. That's why he hadn't taken any precautions in case the barrier was broken. 

As he saw the Scythe coming towards him, he felt like it was death that was advancing towards him. He tried to raise his sword to protect himself, but it was too late. By the time he brought out the golden sword, the Scythe had already passed through. 

For a moment, silence spread everywhere as time seemed to have stopped as Ryder looked at Julien, who seemed to have understood what happened. 

There was still pride in his eyes even as his head rolled to the ground. 

"Finally!" Ryder muttered as he sighed in relief. Everything was over. Not only one, but he had also killed two of them at once. Now he could absorb them. After that, he could easily take care of the other god-sons. His strength was going to be too high after that. 

"Ah, Janus. How do I go back to my usual body now? Can you please return me to my usual physique now?" Ryder asked Janus as he looked around. He was done. The flames on the field had also stopped, but he was still made of fire.

As soon as he asked, his body strategy returned to normal as his flames also died down. His skin started returning to normal. His eyes and other features also returned to their normal form. His hair also turned black as he became his normal self. 

After returning to usual self, Ryder kept Julien's body in his inventory too. 

He glanced at the Scythe as he smirked. "You really are a great treasure. Much better than others."

The Scythe had also returned to normal, and it wasn't shining, but Ryder believed it could understand him. He didn't forget to praise the Scythe even more before he sent him back. 

He soon shifted to glancing at the golden sword of Julien and the knife of Itsuki. 

"Janus, how can I pick them up? Without getting electrocuted?" he asked Janus since he didn't want to leave such precious things behind. 

"Use your hands to pick them up," Janus answered.

"Do you think I picked them up with my nose last time?" Ryder asked, rolling his eyes.

"You can pick them up now. They are ownerless. As long as the owner of a Divine Weapon is alive, no one else touches them. But as long as their owner dies, others can touch them as long as they have even a tiny bit of Divinity in them," Janus explained in detail. 

"Can I learn that barrier trick of this sword then?" Ryder asked as he picked up the golden sword. 

"You should think about that later. Leave now," Janus told Ryder, changing the topic. 

"Alright. We caused a lot of commotion here. I really should leave before anyone actually shows up. But I'll get all the details from you. I'm not forgetting this!" Ryder declared as he ran to the knife of Itsuki that was lying in the distance.