Martial Arts Worlds-Chapter 842: Pinnacle Isn’t Enough

The sky was dark in Montrael.

It wasn’t late enough in the day that it would be night, but the darkness was caused by the rain clouds that had been looming overhead for hours.

It wasn’t raining just yet, but it was obvious that in just seconds, it could start pouring at any moment.

While the weather was still clear, the students of the Martial Redemption Dojo trained in the yard.

At that moment.

A person fell from the sky and landed softly on the ground.

"Master!"

"Master, you’ve returned!"

Everyone welcomed Kiernan with big smiles on their faces, and he returned the greeting with a nod.

He immediately headed indoors, went upstairs, and found Aoi sitting beside a futon in their daughter’s room.

In the futon, Ellie was lying down. A wet towel on her forehead. Her face looked flushed as if she were really sick.

"How is she?"

Kiernan asked.

Aoi’s eyes widened in surprise, and she turned around to see him standing in the doorway, and she looked immensely relieved.

Almost like an entire mountain’s worth of weight was lifted off her shoulders.

"You’re back... Has it been dealt with?"

She asked.

"Yes, it’s over for now."

Kiernan sat beside her and looked at Ellie, who was sleeping, but it looked like she was having a bad dream.

"She is sick. It started with a cough, then her fever spiked up, and I took her to the bed so she could sleep."

Aoi said.

Kiernan pressed the back of his hand to Ellie’s forehead and thought that it was indeed quite warm.

"I’ll just give her some of this."

He pulled out a bottle of healing liquid from his inventory and poured it gently into Ellie’s mouth.

While he had never used this healing liquid for fever before, he thought it should still do the trick.

Buzz~ Buzz~

In that moment, Kiernan’s phone started vibrating in his pocket, and when he pulled it out, he saw that the government was calling him.

He could tell it was the government because of the unnaturally short phone number.

"I’ll have to take this."

He stepped out of the room, answered the call, and walked to the backyard, where he could speak in private.

"...Kiernan Hunter?"

A voice asked for him.

"Yes, this is him."

Kiernan asked.

"...How’s the situation? Are you still dealing with it? And where are your current whereabouts?"

The voice asked.

"It’s been dealt with. I’ve returned to Montrael already."

Kiernan said.

"Oh... That’s good... The navy has responded to the incident and is currently enhancing the security of the Dead World border."

The voice said.

"Mmh."

Kiernan nodded.

"We’ve heard about this Mercedes fellow from you. How dangerous is she? Can you deal with it, or do you need help?"

The voice asked.

"Sigh... I don’t know. All I know is that she will be vastly stronger than Metsudo. I am not sure how I will do against her."

Kiernan said with a sigh.

’She is recovering from her injuries, so this could be a perfect opportunity to attack her, but since Metsudo came here, it looks like she doesn’t need guarding anymore.

’There was a reason why the Black Knights stayed at the Silver Castle. It was to protect Mercedes.’

"How much danger are we in?"

The voice asked.

"...I honestly don’t know, but... As it stands right now, I think we’re in a lot of trouble."

Kiernan said with a serious tone.

He’d like to keep his hopes up, but he simply couldn’t fathom Mercedes’ strength, but she had been alive for so long.

She was a living monster, and from what he knew, she was genuinely inching closer to the strength of the gods.

’I simply don’t know...’

...

A day passed, and with the fastest ship they got, Bella, Karma, and Baru came to Montrael to visit them.

"Welcome."

Kiernan hugged her father and mother.

With a shy look, Baru stayed at the back, as this man in front of him was his big brother but also the man that he idolized.

"Where’s Aoi?"

Bella asked.

"With Ellie. She is sick."

Kiernan said and scratched the back of his head.

He gave her some of the healing liquid, but for now, she still hadn’t recovered from her sickness.

She woke up a couple of times, and it looked like her condition hadn’t improved even slightly, which was a shame.

It looked like the healing liquid couldn’t cure fever.

"I’ll go see her."

Bella rushed indoors, and meanwhile, Karma and Kiernan went to sit at the table that was in the backyard.

While Baru was looking at the students training, he eventually also joined them in the training with a thrilled expression.

The air was still moist. It rained last night. And there were some puddles in the grounds, but the sun was already beginning to dry them up.

"There is a lot of fear spreading across the world right about now. Metsudo showed the strength that Dead World has.

"And I don’t know from where, but they’ve also started to hear about this Mercedes Rosburg person, who is apparently very strong.

"And that she hates us."

Karma said with a serious look.

"..."

Kiernan tapped his finger against the table, and at that moment, Julian walked over from the indoors.

"A serious conversation, I reckon?"

Julian sat down with them.

"I am afraid so."

Karma said with a sigh.

"...If you want the honest truth from me. Once Mercedes comes here, this entire world will burn to the ground. Nobody can stop her.

"I can’t stop her."

Kiernan said, his eyes glazed over.

He had already thought about just taking his loved ones and trying to escape to another realm, but he didn’t want to do that.

While he didn’t think of himself as some kind of hero or savior, he loved this realm and didn’t want to abandon it.

"What do you mean you can’t stop her? You’re True God? Isn’t that the literal pinnacle of strength of Martial Arts Pathway?"

Karma asked.

"...No, there is a stage above True God. Transcendence Stage. It’s Transcendent, Primordial and Absolute.

"Mercedes has reached Primordial Stage.

"I don’t know how much stronger that is compared to True God, but I don’t feel good about my odds."

Kiernan said.

"M-Maybe you can somehow advance to Transcendent? Before she comes? It could be enough for you to make up the rest of the gap with your martial arts."

Julian said.

"...I don’t know how, though. I know that you need divinity for Transcendence Stage, and mortals cannot achieve divinity with normal means."

Kiernan said.

He’d been stuck at 99% of the True God Stage for a while now, and he knew that it wouldn’t budge even the slightest anymore.

He needed divinity.

And the only way he could get that was to steal it from someone, but he just couldn’t go to the Heavens and try to steal it from someone.

Every god and goddess treasured their divinity.

If he went and tried to steal it from someone, he would make himself into an enemy of all the gods.

Mercedes didn’t care if she was doing that because she planned to rebel against the Heavens either way.

"Everyone!"

In that moment, Bella rushed over to the backyard, and she looked really disheveled, as if she was panicking about something.

"What is it, dear?"

Karma asked with a frown.

"I-It’s Ellie. It’s really bad. Her fever is spiking up, and she is having trouble breathing. I-I think she is in danger of dying!"

Bella was on the verge of tears as she explained the situation.

Swoosh!

In just a split second, Kiernan ran upstairs, and everyone quickly followed behind him in a hurry.

...

Dead World, Silver Castle, Mercedes’ Bedroom.

"Ah... At last... Finally..."

With moans of satisfaction, Mercedes sat up on the bed, and for the first time in two thousand years, she stepped out of the bed.

She was standing back on her two feet.

The beautiful silver hair cascaded down her back, and her pure, fair skin looked untouched as if she had never aged a day.

The nearly transparent silver dress clung to her slender form, and she looked like a vision from a fairy tale.

It was hard to think of someone as pure as her. Someone as beautiful. Someone as ethereal. Would actually be the most evil being in existence.

"You’ve recovered. Congratulations."

In that moment, a person—an old man—appeared on the corner of the room and slowly stepped out of the shadows.

He was the Starfather, the former God of the Paradise World, but now he was only a shell of his former self.

"Haha~ You came to personally congratulate me? Or have you come to donate the rest of your divinity for me? How kind of you."

Mercedes smirked.

"I came to ask you to stop this. You don’t have to do this."

Starfather said.

Mercedes suddenly appeared in front of him. Starfather didn’t flinch. She then gently tapped his cheek.

"I will do this. Just wait and be patient until I’ve finished my preparations. When I’ve sacrificed the Martial World, I’ll come to take the last of your divinity.

"And then I’ll be Absolute."

Starfather closed his eyes and knew there was no use to talk to her anymore, as she was a completely lost cause.

Slowly, he vanished from the room.