Chapter 433: Stopped The Ascension To Godhood to Kill Gods

The Divine Lightning had kept falling while he was trapped in the vision. Now his body was falling apart beneath it.

Caelus clenched his teeth as another bolt gathered above him. His left arm barely moved, and the lightning already inside his chest was tearing through him.

There was no time to think about the paradise or the voice.

Caelus immediately released his full dragon transformation.

Blue scales spread across his torn skin as his arms became claws. Then his wings unfolded beneath the storm while his growing body pushed through the lightning.

BOOM!

The bolt struck his back and drove him downward, but he caught himself with a powerful wingbeat. Immediately after that, he rose into the attack and tore through it.

The lightning gathered into a giant spear and shot toward his throat. Caelus turned past the point before catching the shaft between his claws.

CRACK!

He crushed the spear, only for its broken pieces to become hundreds of smaller bolts. They turned toward him together, giving him no room to pass between them.

Caelus folded one wing across his chest and drove straight through.

Several scales broke beneath the strikes, but he reached the storm before it could form another weapon. Right then, a beast made of lightning lunged from the light and caught his shoulder in its jaws.

Its claws scraped across his neck as it tried to pull him down.

Caelus caught the beast’s head and forced it away from his body. Then he opened his jaws and bit through its neck.

BOOOOM!

Lightning burst between his teeth as the beast broke apart. Before the scattered light could return to the storm, a ring of blades formed around him and began closing.

Caelus swept his wings outward and struck them before they reached his body.

The broken blades scattered through space, leaving streams of golden power behind them. That power flowed into his scales as the wounds across his chest began closing.

Above him, the storm gathered everything it had left.

A huge hand reached down and closed around his head. Caelus drove upward before its fingers could lock together, piercing the palm with his horns.

Then he caught the edges with his claws and pulled.

CRAAACK!

The hand split apart as he forced his body through it. He kept rising until he broke through the storm itself, scattering its remaining lightning across the void.

But just then, he saw an extraction option from the lightning. Seeing this, Caelus wasted no time to extract it.

[Ding! You’ve extracted the Divine Lightning Of Axiom Origin]

[Unexpected results will appear during Ascension To Godhood.]

Immediately after that, multicolored power poured down from above.

It entered his scales and spread through every part of him. The pain faded as his dragon body began changing beneath the light.

[Divine Lightning Trial Complete.]

[Full Dragon Transformation Calibrating.]

Caelus lowered his wings as the first layers of a cocoon formed around him. Through the light, he could still sense Sylvia inside her own cocoon nearby.

He was about to close his eyes when space cracked beside them.

CRAAACK!

An enormous Space Worm pushed through the opening and turned toward the power flowing around their bodies. Its mouth opened as more cracks appeared behind it.

Caelus spread his senses and felt several creatures approaching from beyond those tears.

Every one of them was a Lesser God.

The ascension had drawn them here, and more kept appearing while the first rushed toward Sylvia’s cocoon. Farther away, John ordered the watching ships to retreat.

Caelus pressed against the light surrounding him.

[Divine Body Fusion In Progress.]

He ignored the notice and drove his claw through the cocoon. Right then, another message appeared.

[Full Dragon Transformation Calibration Complete.]

[Rank: Lesser God.]

[Power Index: 100.]

That was right. Power Index, not combat score. Gods had a different measurement system.

Caelus burst free and moved between Sylvia and the approaching worm.

The creature was as large as he was, with thick armor covering its twisting body. It lunged at him instead, opening its jaws wide enough to bite into his neck.

Caelus caught its upper jaw and drove his other claw into its mouth.

Its teeth scraped across his scales as he forced the jaws apart. Before the worm could wrap around him, he pulled harder and tore through its head.

CRACK!

The creature thrashed once before going limp.

Caelus threw its body into two worms coming from the side. He was about to follow when a strange pull spread from his claws.

[Talent Activated: Endless Extraction.]

He was surprised seeing this. His talent activated on its own?!

The dead worm broke into streams of light and flowed into him before the other creatures could push it aside. A reward appeared while its remains were still disappearing.

[Ding! Talent Obtained: Spatial Carapace.]

[Rank: Lower A-Rank.]

[Effect: Reinforces the body against spatial attacks and tears in space.]

Blades of torn space swept toward Caelus from the right. He activated the new talent as he turned to meet them.

[Talent Activated: Spatial Carapace.]

A faint layer covered his scales and caught the blades. They slid across his body, leaving shallow cuts instead of digging into him.

Caelus immediately caught the attacking worm behind its head.

It curled around his arm and tried to drag him away from Sylvia. He pulled it closer instead, then bit through its armored neck.

Before the corpse could drift away, Endless Extraction activated again.

[Talent Activated: Endless Extraction.]

[Ding! Talent Obtained: Space Passage.]

[Rank: Upper A-Rank.]

[Effect: Allows short passages through nearby space.]

Another worm fired a blast into Caelus’s wing and turned toward Sylvia. Caelus used the talent he had just gained before it reached her.

[Talent Activated: Space Passage.]

A tear opened before him, allowing him to cross directly into the worm’s path. His shoulder struck its head and knocked it away from the cocoon.

Then he drove his claw through its chest.

More worms closed around him while the corpse dissolved into light. Caelus caught one by its tail and swung it into the others before they could surround Sylvia.

BANG!

Their armor broke as their bodies collided.

Caelus drove into them and tore through the nearest worm. Immediately after that, he caught another in his jaws while its dead companion vanished into his body.

[Ding! Talent Obtained: Feast Recovery.]

[Rank: Middle A-Rank.]

[Effect: Restores energy from consumed remains.]

His strength recovered as the next corpse disappeared.

The worms had come to feed on the ascension, but each one he killed now helped him fight the rest. Caelus kept pushing them away from Sylvia until the surviving creatures finally tried to flee.

He caught one before it entered a tear in space and dragged it into another. Then his jaws closed around both as he turned toward the last worm.

[Talent Activated: Space Passage.]

Caelus emerged ahead of it and crushed its head between his claws.

Once the final corpse disappeared, he searched the area for more approaching creatures. Only after finding none did he turn toward the distant ships.

John’s voice came through the communication channel.

"Lord Caelus, are you still undergoing the ascension?"

"Yes. I had to deal with these things first."

There was a brief silence before Gorn spoke from behind him.

"He stopped becoming a God so he could kill a group of Gods?"

They all knew how absurd that sounded but that was what just happened.

Caelus almost laughed, but the cocoon’s power began pulling at him again. Sylvia’s transformation had continued safely, so there was no reason to remain outside.

[Ding! You are going to become a God.]

He released his dragon form and allowed his body to shrink. As his wings and scales disappeared, his strength returned to the level he still needed to rise beyond.

[Combat Score: 10,000.]

The transformation had let him fight with a Lesser God’s power. Now he needed to complete that change in his own body.

The Ascension Cocoon formed around him again as Divine Power poured inward. Caelus closed his eyes and let the fusion continue.

[Ding! Your shackles of mortality are breaking.]