Silva and Second fought themselves into a stalemate, with both sides not making any definitive hits. Second suddenly pulled back, retreating a few meters.
“This isn’t going anywhere. It’s time I ended this,” Second said. His entire body suddenly erupted in black flames. The flames grew in size and then compressed at high speed, over and over and over, repeatedly in just a few seconds.
The heat generated from Second was insanely high as he continued compressing and increasing the heat.
Even Silva felt a sweater drop from the side of his face, and that shocked him.
“I have to stop him,” Silva said and shot toward Second, but as he approached, Second appeared a few meters away.
“That skill is a real issue,” Silva said. If Second continued using that movement skill, Silva would not be able to stop him.
Second continued charging up until he turned the whole area into a blazing hell. He was entirely covered with flames. Silva couldn’t even see Second anymore.
Suddenly, Second was right in front of Silva. He threw a punch too fast for Silva to react to. The fist connected with Silva’s abdomen, and an explosion followed.
Silva was shot through the air like a ragdoll. He flew backward at supersonic speed. After traveling several hundred meters, he forced himself to a stop, but Second was already there with another punch coming.
But this time Silva reacted and blocked with his sword. The explosion happened again and offset Silva farther, but Silva was not worried.
He was watching, trying to grasp the full extent of Second’s power.
Second pulled out his abyssal blade, and the flames around him transferred to his blade as well. He arrived in front of Silva and slashed down.
But Silva cracked a smile just before the sword hit. He moved out of the way at an amazing speed, dodging the attack.
“I think I’ve figured you out—your special movement skill,” Silva said. Second stopped immediately when he heard that.
“Huh? You figured it out? Then I’ll humor you. What is it?” Second asked.
“That’s simple. You are using something like a domain. You have spread your network of nodes out all over this place, and with the nodes, you are able to be everywhere and anywhere at all times,” Silva said.
“That’s pretty close. I have to applaud you, Eight,” Second said. “But knowing it won’t stop it—or me. I’ll still kill you,” he said.
“Oh, you are sorely mistaken, Second. This stopped being a fight you could win long ago. You know, when you showed up, I was a bit worried that all the variants of me would surely be a big issue, but I guess not.
Even all of you are no match for a demigod,” Silva said.
“Demigod? What rubbish are you saying?” Second asked.
“You see, Seventh already found out what happened, but sadly he died, and the word never got to you. I have already broken the fate that tied me. All that was left was to get rid of the things that could pose a threat to my new world.
And that was all of you. I wanted to hunt you all down as fast as possible, but you just had to come and offer yourselves—lambs to the sacrifice. That’s the best term for it,” Silva said.
“You’re speaking rubbish. I don’t know what you think you did, but none of us can refuse the fate that Ophelia had set for us. It is not possible. Only the First could be really free. The rest of us after that are all chained to this fate,” Second said.
“I’m sorry, but that doesn’t apply to me,” Silva said. Second frowned when he heard that. He attacked immediately, trying to use the same movement to reach Silva, but suddenly his network shattered, and the movement was destroyed.
He stared at Silva in shock. “What did you do?” he asked.
“I simply overrode your network. She destroyed its framework, simple as that. You don’t still understand it yet. I am not like you—I’m better, the best version of all of you,” Silva said, and stretched out his hand. A bright light ball started forming in his palm.
Pure divine energy. He channeled it into his palm. The ball swirled with so much energy, Second looked at the small ball, and he knew that if it touched him, he would die.
Immediately, he channeled all the flames on his body into the tip of his sword and fired it at Silva, but a shield of gold light appeared before Silva and blocked the attack, absorbing it entirely.
Second looked at Silva with fear in his eyes. Immediately, he turned, attempting to run away.
“Sorry, Second. It’s too late for that,” Silva said. The light on his palm moved to his finger. He pointed the finger at Second.
“Bang,” Silva said as he shot the ball of light. It hit Second in the back, and instantly a massive explosion happened. The bright light shined and pulled everyone’s attention.
When the clones saw that Silva had killed Second, they took it as a sign to get done with their own fights as well, so they got serious with the Variants, and in less than a minute, all the versions of Silva had died.
Silva didn’t move after he killed all of them. He sat down on the ground, not uttering a single word or thinking a single thought.
One of his clones walked up to him and placed his hand on Silva’s shoulder.
“You know it’s not over yet, right?” the clone asked.
“Yes. There are still people that have their eyes on me and Argon. I have to keep going, for the safety of those I hold dear, even if it means destroying order itself at the end,” Silva said.
“Good, because only then will we be truly free. Remember when you had that discussion with Fay’s father—when can a person be truly free? Until he becomes the most powerful,” the clone said.
The journey for Silva’s freedom had only just begun.