Chapter Five: Victory and the Apotheosis System

Chapter Five: Victory and the Godhood System

“Shust! You bastard, die!” Nero shouted at the unmoving Shust, then dashed forward with a sudden burst of speed. For the first time in this battle, the Crimson Queen unleashed her true power. Nero pulled down the trigger on the sword’s hilt, pouring his magic into the blade, and the Crimson Queen, wreathed in flames, swept toward the Black Knight. At that moment, the Black Knight was caught in a transition, the force of his previous attack fading and the new one yet to rise, and he could only watch in helpless horror as he was struck in an instant.

As for Shust, after being struck by that massive sword, a deep wound tore open across his abdomen. For a paladin, an ordinary wound would be a trivial matter, easily suppressed with magic. But earlier, the greatsword had flashed with a subtle black glow—the black light was a curse, a bleeding curse that prevented wounds from healing. Shust had to use ninety percent of his remaining magic just to barely suppress the bleeding and keep the last ten percent of the curse at bay.

Back on the battlefield, Nero fought the Black Knight to a standstill, the Crimson Queen evenly matched against his tireless opponent. Though Nero held a slight advantage, the Black Knight was a hollow shell, his stamina seemingly limitless, and our protagonist Shust was gravely wounded. Thus, the balance still tipped against Nero.

“Damn it.” Dodging a thrust, Nero seized the opportunity—another quick step to evade an upward slash, then, as he leapt, he channeled magic into the Crimson Queen and the Azure Rose, preparing his most powerful strike. In midair, propelled by magic, he unleashed a double slash, then landed swiftly, the Azure Rose fully charged. He fired at precisely the right moment. The Black Knight, neither airborne nor yet landed, seemed to float before Nero. The Crimson Queen’s blade glowed red-hot, trembling violently, on the verge of exploding from the excess magic—Nero knew this blow would mean the sword required a full repair.

“Finale: Endless Blade.” In that instant, time itself seemed to freeze. In the blink of an eye, it was as if one sword stroke became ten thousand—no, a million—no one could say how many. Then time resumed, and the sword was embedded in the Black Knight’s chest, pinning him against the tower. With a thunderous boom, the Black Knight was blown to pieces. If another white-haired demon had witnessed this, he might have sighed that his time had passed.

Where the Black Knight had exploded, two blue lights flashed forth—one shot straight for Nero’s exhausted right hand, the other toward our protagonist, Shust.

Instantly, Nero felt a searing pain in his right hand. He slammed it against the ground—once, twice, three times… The agony was unbearable, and at last, he fainted from the pain. What sort of suffering could make the strongest paladin lose consciousness?

As the orb of light entered Shust’s body, his mind exploded with agony. “Aaaah!” The pain was boundless, wrenching a scream from him, but his heavily wounded body could do nothing. If only he could faint—but this pain was not physical, it was as if it were tearing at his very soul, and all he could do was endure it in silence.

After a while, an electronic voice resounded in his mind: “Ding! Objective achieved! Godhood System activated. Host authority level: 1.”

Shust was stunned. He had never imagined he would receive the sort of benefits usually reserved for protagonists in fantasy novels, those with transmigration systems. He had only ever wanted to reach the peak through his own hard work, yet now he found such a boon within himself. Clearly, he had already forgotten the pain he’d just endured.

“System, what functions do you have?” Shust asked in his mind—from now on, all communication with the system would be mental.

“Ding! With current host authority at level one, you can view personal information, access infinite storage, and unlock item exchange in various categories. Time and space travel, mission rewards, and monster leveling are available.”

“Whoa! So many perks!” Even our normally reserved protagonist could not help but curse in surprise.

He took a deep breath. “System, show my personal information.”

A screen appeared in his mind:

Name: Shust Redona

Age: 17 (system-fixed)

Height: 171 cm

Bloodline: Perfect second-generation Demon Son of Sparta, direct lineage

Power: Tier 5 Intermediate (Godfall Continent standard)

Equipment: Tachi (damaged), Paradise Spark (Tier 3 Intermediate magical weapon), Magically Manifested Leather Armor (growth type, currently Tier 5 Intermediate)

Skills: Thunder God’s Strangle—empties a magazine in one burst, causing lacerations, paralysis; Thunder Blade; Thunder Slash; Round Table Dancer (not yet unlocked, will be useful later); Thunder Wings; Thunder Dragon’s Roar; Finale: Wrath of the Thunder God

Innate Skills: Demonization (current duration: 10 minutes; followed by 10 minutes of weakness), Ghost Hand, Mastery of Thunder Magic, High-Speed Chanting (spells below level 7 can be cast instantly; for level 7 and above, including level 7, full chanting increases power by 50%).

Shust was speechless. He hadn’t expected this to be the secret origin of Nero’s Devil Bringer that was never revealed in Devil May Cry 4—and now he, too, had gained a share of that power.

“System, exchange weapons.”

“Ding! Host is not currently in the main plane. Exchange system and mission system are unavailable.”

“Damn it! System, what is the main plane?”

“Ding! Host may enter the main plane upon reaching Tier 5 Peak. Current plane is Devil May Cry 4.”

“What functions can I use now?”

“Ding! Currently available functions: personal information, infinite storage, mission system, monster leveling, and new user benefits—free creation of two Law Weapons.”

“Not bad, not bad. System, what are Law Weapons?”

“Ding! Law Weapons are bound to the host’s soul. They grow as the host grows and cannot be damaged.”

“In that case, system, upgrade Paradise Spark into a Law Weapon.”

“Ding! Please choose two growth paths: power increase per level-up, magic power increase (greater magic injection), rate of fire increase. Please choose two skills: life drain, paralysis, burn, poison, curse, freeze.”

“Ugh, this is too complicated! System, I choose magic power increase and power increase. For skills, curse and freeze.”

“Ding! Please select two types of curse: dispel, weaken, reduce physical resistance, reduce magic resistance, reduce abnormal status resistance (such as poison, freeze, burn), increased damage, rending.”

“Damn, that’s overpowered! System, I choose reduce abnormal status resistance and increased damage.”

“Ding. Generating now.” A flash of white light, and the reborn Paradise Spark appeared in Shust’s hand. Its upper half had transformed—the previous five-pointed star with eerie purple wings had become a golden five-pointed star adorned with a black and blood-red skull, while the lower half was now blue. As he gazed at it, a sense of blood-bond connection surged through him. He aimed at a pillar nearby—“Bang!”—a muzzle flash of blue surrounded a purple-black core, and the pillar was blasted straight through.

“System, show weapon attributes.”

Law Weapon: Paradise Spark, Tier 5 Intermediate Law Weapon. Laws: Power increase per advancement, magic power increase, freeze. Law Skills: Reduce abnormal status resistance, increased damage.

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PS: With enough soul power, the system is finally awakened. What kind of world will it lead our protagonist into? Look forward to finding out! One more chapter will be posted tonight!