“Ward technology was created during the height of the war,” Yaleth said. “It was necessary to fight the leader of Forgotten Suns, since he was the Loved One of Space.
“These days every God worth their dime has Wards for Space, Time, and Fate for themselves and their planet.
“The only problem is that these mass-produced Wards can only stop up to Stage-5 Gods.
“As for Wards that can affect Stage-6 Gods, they are called military-grade Wards. It’s not easy to get your hands on them.”
Yaleth and Neo reached a city.
They entered a castle, and walked into the giant room at the top floor.
Yaleth began operating the Rune Lock’s panel on the wall behind the photo that hung over the bed.
“So there is a Ward for every element?”
“Yes,” Yaleth replied. “This is one of the reasons why Gods now focus on creating Divinities.
“Each Divinity is unique so a Ward for them hasn’t been created. However, if it’s a Divinity of a famous God, then that’s a different story.”
“Is that why Divinities are preferred over Elements?”
“That’s part of the reason, but there is a bigger reason.”
Yaleth explained as he worked on the Rune Lock.
“Do you know Pseudo-Element Resistance everyone gets from their planet? Even the youngest Stage-4 planet is normally a hundred thousand years old.
“They have sky-high element resistance. It makes it impossible to affect them using an element, which is why Divinities are preferred.”
Neo frowned when he heard the explanation.
He could see the hole in Yaleth’s logic.
However, just as he was about to question Yaleth, the Outer God opened the Space Lock successfully.
The door opened with a swish.
Inside, there were several black gemstones, and several rectangular slabs.
Yaleth took out all gemstones, and six slabs. He took three slabs for himself and gave three to Neo.
“These are Wards for Space, Time, and Fate. They are better than the mass-produced ones but they still can’t stop Stage-6 Gods.
“Still, they should be enough to hide your identity as a Heavenbreaker as long as you don’t make a breakthrough.”
Fate Ward to hide his Fate threads, which made sure no one knew he was a Heavenbreaker.
Space and Time Ward for safety in case they got in a fight.
Neo was looking at the Wards.
From what he heard, it was a fascinating technology.
‘Their ability to resist all elements sounds a bit similar to Eternal, though it seems to work differently,’ he thought.
“How are we going to get the military-grade Wards?” Neo questioned.
“I have some connections within the Alliance’s army. We can buy from there.”
Yaleth kept the black gemstones, which Neo thought of as money, inside his pocket.
“Let’s go. We will use my planet’s teleporter.”
The two of them moved to another section of the castle.
It was a giant room with a Space-Teleportation Rune on the ground.
As Yaleth activated it, he spoke to Neo,
“I will say it now, but do not – I repeat, do not – under any circumstances let anyone know that you are a Heavenbreaker. It won’t end well for both of us.”
“What about my dual Traits? Should I hide them too?”
“You have dual Traits!? How the… Never mind. I’m the stupid one to expect something normal from you.”
Yaleth sighed, then shook his head.
“Don’t reveal if you can, but it’s fine if you want to. Dual, or even multiple Traits isn’t exactly unheard of. For one, all Apostles have them.”
The Runes on the teleporter began to shine. Energy in the surroundings rose exponentially.
“By the way…”
“Yes?”
“What’s your awakener rank, and what is your God rank?”
“Grade 1 Paragon in both Traits, and I’m not a God yet.”
Awakener Path of Ascension, and Elemental Path of Ascension were both different.
Awakener Path of Ascension was easier to walk on, and more diverse in abilities, but it was weaker than the Elemental Path of Ascension.
This was why awakeners could not kill Gods.
“Paragon…? And not a God…?”
A day with Neo overturned the entire common sense Yaleth learned through his long life.
How the hell was he able to fight multiple Peak Stage-3 and win easily!?
It made no sense!
‘And if he is only Paragon…’
Yaleth shuddered when he understood the consequences.
Each breakthrough increased the multiplier.
To explain, when moving from Grade 5 Awakened to Grade 4 Awakener, your overall strength might increase by 1.1 times.
From Grade 4 to Grade 3 Awakened, and similarly up to Grade 1 Awakened, each subrank would make you 1.1 times stronger.
This number ‘1.1’ was the multiplier for Awakened rank.
In Mythic rank, this multiplier would be 1.4.
In Empyrean rank, it would be 1.8.
In Paragon rank, it would be 5.
In Exalted rank, it would be 9.
These numbers were not accurate, but they were good enough to give a rough idea.
In other words, Neo’s strength would roughly increase by 80 times upon becoming an Exalted.
‘When he becomes Exalted in both Traits, wouldn’t he be able to fight Stage-4 Gods?’
Yaleth’s words would make anyone think he had gone senile.
Even he thought the same.
But the truth was in front of his eyes.
‘Insane.’
‘These brothers are insane.’
‘I thought The One Above All was a monster, but this guy is more dangerous than him!’
“What are you waiting for?” Neo questioned, interrupting Yaleth’s thoughts. “Hurry up, and activate the teleporter.”
“O-okay.”
The brightness engulfed Neo and Yaleth.
They felt a shift and they appeared on a glass platform hanging high in the sky.
Below them stretched a planet so vast that Neo couldn’t even see where it ended.
It was as if someone had merged countless worlds into one.
Dozens of gigantic metallic rods, each thicker than mountains, pierced into the surface and stretched into the clouds, humming faintly with unknown energy.
Hundreds of portals, swirling with different colors and shapes, hovered in the air like organized chaos.
People moved about everywhere.
Some were as small as ants, scurrying in groups.
Others were titanic—larger than cities—walking carefully among the landscape. They treaded through different roads to make sure they didn’t step on anyone.
And then there were the moon-sized ones, floating above all with slow, graceful movements like living planets.
Above Neo, several planets slowly revolved in a massive ring, orbiting the colossal planet they stood upon.
Even this one world, where they stood, was packed.
Billions—maybe trillions—of people, each one unique, were scattered across every mountain, plain, and city tower.
Yaleth’s eyes widened.
“The crowd is… much bigger than I remember…”
Then they both noticed it.
Everyone—every being—was looking up at something in the sky.
Gigantic holograms hovered above them, projected across the atmosphere like divine announcements.
The holograms showed a dimly lit and circular stage.
On it knelt an alien figure, bound by radiant chains.
His skin was dark blue, his veins glowed silver, and his hair was long, white, and braided into dozens of tiny threads that floated behind him.
Four curved horns extended backward from his temples, pulsing with weak starlight.
His hands were tied tightly behind him, and multiple silver rods were stabbed into his skull, anchoring him to the ground.
Despite the rods there was no blood running down his face.
“H-How is he here…?”
“You know him?” Neo questioned.
“Yes. He is the Loved One of Space I told you about… the leader of the Forgotten Suns – the hostile army that the Alliance has been at war with for a million years.”
Then he muttered in disbelief,
“So… the Alliance won the war while I was on Earth…”