Revenge: A Path of Destruction
Chapter 102: Final Clash (1)

Chapter 102: Final Clash (1)

Standing before the five Earth giants, Alex felt something unfamiliar coil inside him—not fear, but a rare, unnatural stillness.

Dread.

The kind that settled in your marrow when you realized the thing in front of you was an existence you can’t comprehend—and it wants to kill you.

Each of the towering warriors loomed like ancient titans carved from mountains, their forms hunched yet regal, their bodies heaving with a density that bent gravity itself. Their eyes, glowing a deep, earthen brown, pulsed in unison—slow, deliberate, like the heartbeat of a slumbering world now stirred awake.

It wasn’t just intimidation. It was presence. The kind that made the hair on the back of Alex’s neck rise and his instincts scream.

Watched by something aware, intelligent,hostile.... and alive

Alex’s eyes narrowed.

They’re not like the others...

The brittle constructs that had shattered beneath his katana minutes ago were like sandcastles compared to what now stood before him. These five bled mana so dense it choked the battlefield like syrup—thick, suffocating. The air around them warped, humming with static as though nature was folding inward to accommodate their existence. Stones floated. The cracked ground beneath their feet refused to settle, constantly shifting as if restless.

And he could feel it—five distinct pulses.

Heartbeats.

No. Core pulses. Resonating. Rhythmic. Echoing with the cadence of the earth’s breath. Each beat seemed to help them absorb mana from the air and distribute it to the rest their body.

A voice rolled across the battlefield like an avalanche.

"To be honest," Khepri said, standing high on the shoulder of the rearmost archer-giant, his tattered cloak whipping violently in the mana-rich wind, "I never thought you would push me to this extent."

His arms, bloodied and limp from overuse, were crossed behind his back. Yet there was calm in his posture—an unnerving serenity that made it clear: he wasn’t afraid.

"Your talent truly is... something else," Khepri continued, his voice cool, almost reverent. "We were right. The world isn’t ready for someone like you. You are not a blessing... you’re a catalyst."

Alex didn’t respond. Electricity crackled softly around his form, tiny arcs licking the air as the golden current began to wind tighter.

"Only doom will follow if you are left alive."

Khepri extended a single hand outward, and the five giants began to move—slowly, deliberately. Each step shook the world like falling meteors, their sheer weight cracking the ruined battlefield beneath them.

"You see, I never truly faced you with the full force of my Law," Khepri said, but on his face was no pride, as a grandmaster forced him to use his actual law. "All you’ve encountered were extensions—fleshless puppets animated by the extension of my domain. But this..."

He spread his arms wide, as if to embrace the very world.

"This is my true Law—the one I’ve spent decades refining."

Then his voice lowered, like a priest whispering a sacred truth.

"From Earth, life is born. When my Domain fully merges with the world, I will create thousands—millions—of these beings. Not just warriors..."

He paused.

"I will give life. And take it... from anyone who defies the Will of Earth."

The battlefield trembled. Pebbles danced across the surface. The sky seemed darker now, heavy with silence.

"So, boy—come and die."

The moment the words fell, the five giants flared with radiant mana—brighter than anything Alex had seen yet. Gold, bronze, obsidian—all glowed from the cracks in their forms like magma pulsing through tectonic veins.

Then they moved.

As Khepri’s voice echoed from above, it faded into the background of Alex’s mind.

He wasn’t listening anymore.

His gaze was locked onto the giants. Each of them radiated power that should not have belonged to anything created. They moved with purpose, posture upright like creatures born of reason and instinct, not command. The air bent around them. Particles of dirt and mana swirled at their joints, constantly repairing fractures as if the planet itself refused to let them fall apart.

Alex’s breathing slowed. His fingers curled tighter around the katana hilt. His heart didn’t pound—it thrummed with voltage.

Then, Nova’s voice cut in, calm and focused.

"It seems like Khepri was holding back his power, sir."

Her voice rang sharp, slicing through the tension like steel.

"The first wave... they were only domain projections. These... these are the embodiment of his Law. Not its surface—its foundation."

Alex’s brow furrowed slightly, muscles tensing.

"Our theory was partially right—his Law does revolve around creation. But not just constructs..."

"It’s not Earth as a matter. It’s Earth as life. A breathing, living force. That’s why they feel... alive."

Alive.

Each giant wasn’t just shaped from the soil—they were born from it. Their movements were too smooth, too self-directed. They didn’t fight like puppets. They moved like living beings. Warriors.

"His Law’s Concept... is Life itself. Not in the way of flora or flesh—but as potential. Evolution."

Alex’s thoughts raced.

Concept.

The root idea behind every Law. It’s a metaphysical anchor. It was the essence that made the Law stable, complete. Without a Concept, the Law was nothing more than scattered rules.

So this... this wasn’t just about power.

This was about breaking the idea that Earth could give life.

He didn’t speak.

Didn’t need to.

The air around him had already begun to distort, thick with pressure. Golden lightning, once wild and sporadic, now circled him like a celestial hurricane. It coiled around his limbs and waist, flashing across his eyes in bright arcs, responding not just to his will, but to his defiance.

The giants advanced. The axe-wielder thundered forward, dragging a blade carved from compressed obsidian and molten crystal. The spear-bearer shifted to his right. The archer behind, with mechanical calm, drew back a bowstring woven of metallic roots and petrified tendons. Light condensed into a singularity at the arrow’s tip.

Alex dropped into a lower stance.

His shadow stretched unnaturally beneath him, twisted by the lightning storm erupting around his body.

His lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile.

"To be honest I don’t care what his concept is," he muttered, barely audible above the static hum. "I’ll break it anyway."

And then the lightning exploded.

A deafening boom split the sky as Alex vanished in a burst of golden light, reappearing mid-air—above the charging axe giant—his blade drawn, a streak of pure force tearing across the battlefield like a god’s wrath.