Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System
Chapter 168: The Thunder God's Secret

In that moment, the God of Heroes kicked off the air with a crack of thunder, bolting right for Polaris, though the martial artist responded merely with a wave of his hand–

["Spatial Axis"]

–Once again, Sirius found his fist unable to connect as he was moved in the complete opposite direction. Instead, Sirius found himself warped against his will directly in the path of a massive shadow that closed in: the growing polearm consumed his entire vision as it slammed directly into him.

"Ngh!--"

Sirius struggled, pushing his hands in front of him in an attempt to catch the mile-long staff. As he used his strength to push against the staff that surpassed the weight of mountains, it dragged him back through the air before he glanced back at a change in the wind–

Behind him, Polaris' hands clapped together before pushing out. It was then that Sirius felt a distinct "wall" in the air; an unseen, but immovable barrier of space brought by the Xianxia System user.

'I see…you seek to crush me–' Sirius realized.

Sirius drew in a breath amidst replaceing himself overpowered by the momentum of the colossal weapon. In the sky above, the magenta orb cracked further, and with it, the pressure of Sirius' soul exuded like a foul storm.

A burst of electricity brought the silver scale armor to elevate to a purple glow before the God of Heroes repelled the staff with a kick, flicking across the sky in an instant.

"Nn–?!" Jotham reacted, still holding the staff as he found that flicker of lightning rapidly approaching.

Faster, stronger, more aggressive–once again, the God of Heroes showed that his well of power was not over yet. Jotham attempted to defend himself, quickly turning the staff from leagues in length back to merely a couple feet to use it to shield his body, though Sirius' fist arrived much before that.

The impact sounded as though the sky had cracked, flinging the one who embodied the Monkey King away.

Just as Jotham was dealt a crushing blow, Polaris warped himself around Sirius, flickering from spot-to-spot continuously. Coming from the front, he found the God of Heroes rapidly approaching, bringing him to thrust his fist forward–

["Planet Crust Crushing Might"]

From his knuckles, an imprint of his hand extended through the sky as a partially visible manipulation in the air. Though as his fist had knocked around the wind, it failed to touch Sirius as Polaris failed to replace the figure anywhere near where his attack had been sent to.

'Where?--' He questioned.

Amidst his confusion, an emergence of magenta light from above, almost blindingly abundant, brought him to look up. A mass of lightning took the shape of a dragon's head, spanning miles in the sky as its colossal jaws parted with thunder that boomed with the world's final moments.

In that moment caught between moments, time seemed to grind to a halt as the entirety of Polaris' brain worked to survive against the befalling cataclysm of lightning.

He raised his hand, contorting the space above him, spinning it as the elemental catastrophe plummeted upon him. Immediately as the sky-shaking production of electricity met the space he weaved, he could feel his arms aching beneath the sheer weight of it.

Beneath the Xianxia System user, the unruly sea rippled beneath the flash of the divine element.

'My arms…It feels like they're going to be torn off–so, you were still holding out, O' Mighty God?!' Polaris questioned with his unfading smile.

Through the contortion of space, forced into a spiral shape, the draconic head of lightning pierced, crashing upon the man. The arrival of the godly invocation upon the ocean brought the entirety of the vast sea to ripple, burrowing a hole straight into the transient world.

A crater was left a mile into the sea, turning it into a perfect, rim-shaped waterwall where the sea slowly trickled in as remnants of electricity still sparked.

At the very bottom of the new hole burned into the planet, the man who received the terrific gift of lightning laid on his back, slowly exhaling.

"I'm alive–that's great," Polaris quietly said, pushing out a wheezy breath.

Even though that was the case, as he picked himself up, it felt as though his body had been run over by a parade of elephants. Every bit was left sore and aching, from his flesh down to the marrow of his bones.

'We're not close to done yet, though,' Polaris thought, spitting the blood from his mouth.

Above the crater burrowed into the sea, the God of Heroes illuminated the sky, standing above it as he looked down at the results of his own strength. Still, the air around Sirius was not one that was happy to bring such destruction, even if necessary.

Continue your adventure at m|v-l'e -NovelFire.net

However–

An orange glow filled the air, bringing the God of Heroes to turn his attention to the east. What was found as a parade of fireballs, ranging from the size of boulders to that of castles, soaring through the great blue.

Riding in the middle of the incoming shower of fire, Jotham placed himself atop the fireball that shined the brightest as his fur gifted by the Monkey King glistened.

Jotham exhaled, fixing the crook of his nose as blood was pushed out of his nostrils from the blow taken earlier by Sirius' fist, setting his eyes on that lightning-clad figure.

'I can't wield the authority of the Monkey King for much longer–I'll have to make this count,' Jotham decided.

As Sirius readied himself, the pack of massive fireballs collided with the ocean, erupting into explosions of steam upon impact. As the volley of flaming projectiles arrived, Jotham flipped off of the one he rode, letting it befall the lightning figure in one more, colossal explosion of heat.

With his feet landing on the surface of the vapor-clouded sea, left boiling, Jotham grabbed a handful of fur before tossing it into the air round him–POOF.

["Mischief of The Victorious Buddha"]

Dozens of clones emerged of the monkey-shifted man, all rushing towards the deity of lightning. The vapor was pushed away by a surge of lightning, pushing outward with roaring thunder as Sirius faced down the army of Monkey Kings.

Each wielded a shifting staff, extending in length as many were swung from every side of the God of Heroes. Sirius moved quickly, sprinting across the surface of water as he swept blades of lightning with both hands.

"Clones—? A party trick," Sirius remarked.

Though the lightning wielder claimed as such, the elemental edges were stopped short of cutting through the doppelgängers of the monkey man. The many, changing staffs decorated with golden rings were solid and sturdy, even if the clones themselves were not.

Sirius discovered this as his electric swords were stopped short by the polearms, having to flip back as the gang of divine monkey men slammed their poles into the sea.

"Tch–"

Even for the God of Heroes, the sheer quantity of attacks, with their shifting speeds and increasing sizes, left him open to being hit. No, it wasn't quite just overcoming his own agility–he found that the jingle of the rings attached to the staffs incurred an unusual reaction to his body.

'That chime…It's disorienting my senses. I guess I didn't register it when it was just the one, but with this many of those rings—it's an orchestra,' Sirius realized.

The sluggishness bestowed to the God of Heroes brought a dozen of the massive staffs slamming down atop him.

Sirius held his arms up as the heavy weapons collided against him, pushing him down as the surface of water bent and rippled, though it didn't break.

"Nnnrgh!—"

Sirius' living armor hummed, radiating to a blinding glow of magenta before he pushed outward. A shock wave of electrical light rippled, pushing back the monkey men and their staffs.

Immediately, the parade of Monkey Kings shifted from swinging their weapons to each inhaling until their chests puffed.

Sirius felt a change in the air—an increase in heat. All at once, the fur-clad warriors expelled their lofty breaths in the form of bright-red flames.

["Breath of Scorching Lands"]

As the fire collided with the sea into a glorious explosion, a lightning bolt ascended through the plume of the blaze. A scatter of electricity was sent down, hunting each of the doppelgangers. Though the clones of the Monkey King tried to evade, the veracious bolts of Sirius struck them with impunity, returning them to nothing more than puffs of smoke.

Jotham himself used his staff to block an incoming strike, being left alone once again as he looked towards the god in the sky. All of the burns left on Sirius' armor faded, with some spots hardly accumulating any damage.

This fact was noted by the Mythos System user as the God of Heroes once more seemed unfazed by each attack.

'That confirms it. I noticed it when slashing him with lightning earlier–that armor started to not even register my attacks the more I did so. It's likely that it adapts to the attack that it receives, building an immunity until becoming impervious to it. That's problematic,' Jotham analyzed.