Divine Path System Chapter 1766 1766: Against God & God Emperor

With a single stride, Varian traversed the immense cosmic void.

For a being of his stature, the concept of 'distance' had become entirely meaningless. All space bowed to his authority, folding and bending at his whim to place him exactly where he desired.

"Sup, you two?" he greeted with a smirk, his eyes radiating a chilling, deadly composure.

The God Emperor stared at Varian in complete disbelief.

Varian took immense pleasure in witnessing his 'student's' bewilderment.

It was impossible. There was absolutely no way this could be happening.

I personally crushed those fragments, fully aware of the irreparable damage it would inflict upon his origin.

How could he possibly have survived that? Even the Heaven tribe lacked the ability to perform such a feat.

The Architect let out a cynical laugh. "Origin-birthing slivers… what a crude display of insight. I am genuinely stunned that a pathetic creation such as you managed to pull this off."

Though the God Emperor remained outwardly composed, his mind was spiraling into chaos.

I dedicated billions of years to this plan, laboring in the shadows and making countless sacrifices, all to overcome that bottleneck and ascend to the pinnacle of power.

Yet Varian—no, my teacher—required no such intricate preparations. While I constrained myself to work within existing systems, he effortlessly forged his own.

This, perhaps, was the insurmountable disparity between us.

I was merely an expert at replicating, adapting, and expanding. I never truly created anything new. Varian, contrastingly, was forever an architect of his own path.

Deep down, I am a fraud. Even the ideal I cling to was a gift from him.

No, put those thoughts aside. My mission is noble! Stability is the only righteous path!

"You appear even more wretched than I imagined," Varian commented, his voice dripping with unmistakable contempt. "You hold no claim to the origin. You hold no dominion over this universe. Yet you swagger about like some omnipotent master.

Someone as pathetic as you couldn't possibly possess something as transcendent as the origin. You looted it, didn't you, you miserable thief?"

A surge of killing intent radiated from the Architect, causing the very foundations of the universe to tremble. Those words had struck a raw nerve.

Varian offered an arrogant, mocking grin to his infuriated adversary.

Sensing how easily Varian manipulated the Architect's temper, the God Emperor felt a bitter, unfamiliar resentment.

Even after exhausting every ounce of my effort, I fall short. Why must I toil so relentlessly, while he seemingly succeeds without lifting a finger?

"You plundered the origin, got soundly thrashed like a stray dog, and slunk away here to rot. You entered a deep slumber, waiting to recuperate. But recovery proved to be a drawn-out affair. Thus, you birthed the scheme with God's Eye and the slivers—not to mention that ban on rank 3 progress."

The Architect quivered with rage, the veins on his forehead bulging. If he were a vessel, he would have shattered into pieces by now.

Varian’s tongue showed no signs of stopping. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You are so consumed by the fear of death that you shackled your own... pathetic creations. Tell me, who is the real coward here?

So terrified, are you? Why not abandon this power struggle to real men and go find some children to play with?"

"Silence!" the Architect screamed, launching his assault.

The materialized laws of the cosmos surged, pushing his strength from a high rank 3 to the absolute peak of rank 3.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a flick of his wrist, Varian manifested three blades representing the three avenues, fusing them into a singular weapon.

The colossal blade shimmered with a blinding brilliance; a mere fragment of its light would be sufficient to grant enlightenment to a celestial ranker.

A infinitesimal fraction of that force would suffice to eradicate every divine ranker within the cosmos.

The majestic weapon struck the balance scale forged by the Architect.

Varian’s onslaught embraced the chaos concept, dissolving all laws in its path and demanding total destruction.

Time and space warped like melting jelly. Life and death blurred into a single, indistinguishable state, as all order crumbled.

If the blow landed on the scale, the balance would shed the very concept of order. How could stability exist within total pandemonium?

The balance did not resist. Instead, it drew the raw power of chaos into its own structure.

Equilibrium cannot survive within chaos. However, a measured dose of chaos is acceptable within a system, provided that the chaos itself remains balanced.

Consequently, it utilized Varian's chaos sword to reinforce itself before lashing back at Varian.

Varian countered instantly.

The sword of space shivered the fabric of reality, unleashing a massive void upon the balance.

The balance bypassed the void, slowing the flow of time until the aperture could no longer reach.

"Sword of Time!"

The blade embodied 'eternity' at its point, thrusting toward the scale.

Should it strike, the balance would be severed from the present and exiled into 'eternity' forever.

Again, the balance refused to engage directly. It summoned the river of time and cast itself into the ultimate abyss, plunging directly into eternity!

The sword was forced to navigate the temporal currents to track the balance. Yet, in attempting to do so, it reached toward the end of all time—a journey that would span an eternity.

The sword vanished into the void!

The balance reassembled.

"Sword of Dead Space!"

This blade suffused the surrounding area with the chill of death. Nothing could survive—not even manifestations of power like the balance.

The scale pivoted, utilizing the power of time and life as a counter.

As everything decayed, new life bloomed in its place, accelerated by the passage of time.

In effect, the net result was as though nothing had occurred.

"Sword of Life and Chaos!"

The forces of life and chaos collided with the scale.

The scale was flooded with 'life', directed by the hand of chaos, causing it to rebel against its own nature.

The balance tapped into the concept of death, rapidly extinguishing this new life.

"Sword of the End!"

All six forces coalesced at the sword’s tip, aimed solely at total destruction.

"Scale of Creation."

The balance fused the same six paths, but manifested them as creative forces.

Destruction and creation clashed with equal intensity, and the scale found itself emboldened by the equilibrium.

Fueled by this empowerment, it struck back with devastating force.

"Die, you worm!" the Architect roared in triumph.

Varian was forced to confront the full, concentrated fury of a peak rank 3 attacker. He lacked any defenses.

'How foolish, provoking an opponent of such power.' The God Emperor shook his head, seizing the moment to strike at the Architect.

The six materialized laws of the universe cracked, an echoing sound reverberating across the cosmos.

The Architect went ghostly pale, yet his eyes remained locked on Varian. He had to extinguish this parasite at any cost!

As the lethal strike approached, Varian let out a calm chuckle.

"I prefer to let hope reach its peak before I deliver the despair." He called out to Hortus.

The three fused forbidden regions roared, unleashing their dormant potential. The essence of Hortus shifted, manifesting as a shimmering golden shield.

Varian successfully absorbed the blow.

Boom!

The collision rocked Hortus to its foundation, sending Varian spiraling backward. He looked haggard and pale.

But he was still breathing!

Boom!

Without warning, a massive cosmic fist hurtled toward Varian. The God Emperor capitalized on the distraction to launch a sneak attack!

Unfazed, Varian deflected the strike.

Boom!

Varian’s complexion grew even paler, but his eyes glittered with manic excitement. "It seems even you lot cannot finish me! As long as I can still draw breath, I haven't lost!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The God Emperor and the Architect continued their duel, each scrambling to strike Varian down. While his own attacks could barely dent them, he served as a persistent thorn in the Architect's side, constantly creating windows for the God Emperor to act.

Although he could not match the raw output of a peak rank 3 entity, the power of Hortus allowed him to narrowly survive each exchange.

Consequently, the tide of battle shifted in the God Emperor's favor, causing severe damage to the Architect's laws and stripping him of his advantage.

Yet, before Thoren could savor his success, Varian turned his barbed words toward him.

"My dear apprentice, why are you so simple-minded? You've had billions of years and yet you cannot even crush this cowardly, wounded thief.

Do you understand the implication? If you cannot best this idiot after such meticulous planning, what does that make of you?

I truly believe you’ve lost your mind to those ideals of yours.

Stability? To hell with stability!

When I took the throne of my race, I made it plain: eternal stability is a myth. Stability is simply the interval between conflicts, and war is the only path that leads to true order."

The God Emperor glared, unleashing a thunderous slap.

Boom!

The void erupted in blinding light; Varian was thrown back again, his physical form beginning to fracture. Having endured so many blows, his injuries were grave.

Yet even facing death, his sharp tongue remained unrestrained.

"Truly, you are dense. Consider it. You strive for eternal peace, yes? A perfect, stagnant universe.

But the Architect is the architect of our reality. It implies he is an outsider.

There is something beyond this. A multiverse? A void? Whatever label you prefer.

And there are others out there. Other entities.

Even if you forge a perfect reality, what occurs when someone stumbles upon your little precious realm?

There will be conflict, my simple-minded student! Eternal peace is an illusion!"

"Then I shall conquer the entire multiverse as well!" the God Emperor screamed, his eyes bloodshot.

Despite his resolve to remain unmoved by his teacher’s taunts—which he was usually so adept at handling—Thoren felt his composure shattering.

Varian possessed an uncanny ability to push every psychological button. He held nothing back.

Boom!

Deflecting yet another strike, Varian’s body shattered further. He was nearing his breaking point.

Yet, he laughed—a hollow, mocking sound. "Conquer the multiverse? Thoren, let us be frank.

The only reason you stand here today is because I had a measly millennium of growth. A hundred more years—no, ten—and you would already be corpses.

This is your objective state. All your talent, strategy, and utter narcissism barely puts you a head above me.

If we were even remotely peers in starting point, the sheer shame would drive you to end your own life.

You believe you can conquer the multiverse? Wake up! Face reality, you fool!

You couldn't conquer anything! You can't even eliminate this cowardly vermin right in front of you!"

"Aghhhh!" The God Emperor reached his absolute limit, pouring every shred of his power into an assault on the Architect.

'What have I done?'

The Architect scrambled to reinforce his defenses, barely holding back the tide.

Click!

The materialized laws were reaching their breaking point.

He had paid the price for obsessing over Varian, allowing the God Emperor to gain the upper hand.

He had to pivot, or he would be undone!