Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 448: Lighting Souls on Fire

As the true overlord of this galaxy, the Hand of God liked to keep a discreet but solid grip on every major faction. Their outposts were placed on important locations.

Of course, the Hand of God was more than just a supervisor. Every galaxy branch had its own base, resources, disciples, and troops. They could be called a major faction of their own. Even back in Trial Planet, one of Jack’s main opponents had been a beast tamer called Minerva—a disciple of the Hand of God.

The Hand of God branch in the Milky Way galaxy possessed twenty-six cultivators at the B-Grade, either as full or guest members, and its leader was at the peak B-Grade. However, for the purposes of the Second Crusade, most of those people had been withdrawn. The strongest person remaining was Eva Solvig alongside an array of early B-Grade Branch Elders.

Those people were naturally spread across the galaxy. The branch headquarters of the Hand of God were nowhere near the Animal Kingdom constellation. They did, however, possess a few sizable outposts, one of which was the Crown Meteor Outpost.

In the darkness of space, a meteor traveled alone. It was not shaped as a boulder, but roughly as a crown—this was its natural shape, and also the reason it was chosen to hold an outpost. The crown possessed seven tips, each of which housed the personal quarters of a Branch Enforcer. As for the main tip, which was usually reserved for the Head Enforcer, it was presently occupied by an early B-Grade Branch Elder who’d been dispatched here specifically to keep an eye on the widespread rebellion.

While the Hand couldn’t spare the resources to help the Animal Kingdom, they wanted to be near the situation.

The Hand of God branch nurtured its own disciples, but even so, they weren’t at the level where they could produce a large number of B-Grades. Of the twenty-six they commanded, most were forcefully borrowed from other factions—the Hand demanded that each major faction send a fraction of its B-Grades to serve them as both a tribute and a sign of unity.

The Branch Elder who had been sent to watch over this rebellion was exactly one such case. His name was Edelstein Magnifold, a feshkur cultivator from the Wide Swirls faction. Unlike most of his species, who tended to be barbaric warriors, he was a refined gentleman often seen wearing a suit and a top hat. He was a man of progress—which wasn’t always a good thing.

On this particular day, Elder Edelstein leaned over a clean, white bench. He frowned at it, then rotated his monocle in thought. The only object on the bench was a bare human brain suspended in green fluid.

“Hmm,” the Elder muttered to himself. “Odd. It’s not reacting.” He then looked up towards an assistant. “Get me another, will you? I think this one came broken.”

“Yes, Elder,” the assistant replied obediently. She was a human at the peak D-Grade, one of Elder Edelstein’s most devoted disciples. She grabbed another jar of green liquid and was about to rush to the prisoner quarters when the ground below them shook. The disciple swayed for a moment, then caught herself. She flew outside the laboratory, finding that Elder Edelstein had teleported there before her. He was cupping his chin.

“Curious,” he said. “I could have sworn this meteor was whole.”

The assistant’s face paled. Of the Crown Meteor’s seven tips, two were missing, crushed into smithereens. A gap had been created in the perfect circle—it no longer resembled a crown but a thorny half-moon.

Even worse, one of those two tips had contained the outpost’s teleporter.

“Greetings,” Elder Edelstein said. The assistant looked up, glimpsing a tall, rough man floating above them. He wore only a set of brown shorts and a gray cloak which fluttered behind him, revealing a bare and thickly muscled chest. A natural air of savagery radiated from his body. His eyes shone like dark stars, and his fists… Just by standing there, he gave the feeling of an immovable object, an unstoppable force. Gravity itself bent around him.

The man did not return Elder Edelstein’s greetings. The Elder didn’t seem to mind. He continued, “You must be the infamous Jack Rust.”

The assistant gasped again. She saw the many C-Grades who’d risen from around the meteor shrink back, with only a few at the peak C-Grade still daring to stand straight.

“That’s right,” Jack Rust replied.

“And I suppose you are here to do battle?”

The man did not reply again, but this time, a heavy aura spread from his body. It felt almost physical. The assistant recoiled like she’d been submerged in a vat of mercury, and even the surrounding C-Grades hesitated. Elder Edelstein motioned at them. “All of you stand back for now. This is not an opponent you can beat.”

His voice was perfectly calm as always. However, the assistant had been with him for many years, and what she found hidden deep beneath that calmness was an emotion she never expected to see in her master—hesitation.

“You can’t beat me either,” Jack Rust replied. “How about you stretch your neck? I’ll make it quick.”

The Elder laughed. “There are no grievances between us, Jack Rust. I’m only a guest Elder from the Wide Swirls. If you have something to settle with the Hand of God, I can step aside as long as you don’t go too far.”

Jack’s face warped into a hard smile. “Too far? Well, I am going to completely destroy this place. Does that count as taking it too far for you?”

The Elder frowned. “That would make things difficult. I have no desire to clash with you, but if I just let you kill all these people and word gets out, that will mean a lot of trouble for me.”

“Too bad; that’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

The Elder thought for a while, remaining absolutely calm on the surface. Everyone around them was sitting on nails, but neither of the two speakers seemed to mind.

A peak C-Grade burst into motion without any warning. His form blurred as he shot into deep space. Jack didn’t even turn to look. Space warped around the escaping C-Grade, who suddenly found himself running straight towards Jack. A hand easily grabbed his throat. Then, with a simple squeeze, the C-Grade had his neck broken and perished instantly.

Nobody had had the time to react. Even Elder Edelstein could only stare on. He, too, could easily kill a peak C-Grade, but would it be so effortless?

He hadn’t been certain about Jack Rust’s power before. His middle C-Grade cultivation made him easy to underestimate, but as a Branch Elder of the Hand of God, Edelstein was privy to more information than the common person. He knew that Jack Rust possessed the power to tussle with an early B-Grade like himself, at least for a bit. The reason he’d been avoiding battle was that he was a cautious individual by nature and saw no reason to risk his life here, even if that risk seemed small.

Now, however, he was forced to reevaluate. Could it be that Jack Rust was stronger than him?

That was impossible. He was an early B-Grade, while Jack Rust was only a six-fruit C-Grade. They were separated by several small realms and a large one. Moreover, Elder Edelstein wasn’t some weakling either. He had decent hopes of reaching the middle B-Grade in his lifetime.

The Elder thought hard. “I favor the young,” he finally said. “Let me make you an offer, Jack Rust. There is no need to fight, but I also can’t just let you kill my underlings. How about this: If you can withstand a single strike from me, then I will consider this issue as bygones. If you have a personal grudge with someone in this outpost, I will even let you handle it. What do you think?”

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In Elder Edelstein’s mind, he was being very smart. This offer ensured he didn’t have to fight while saving most of his face—if he lost this gamble, as he certainly would, he had an excuse to retreat without seeming like a coward. At the same time, Jack Rust would gain prestige and also conclude his business for coming here, whatever that was. It was a win-win situation.

He thought this was a great offer. Which was why he was shocked when Jack Rust only laughed.

“You want me to endure a single strike and you’ll forget about this? Are you stupid? I am here to kill all of you!”

Elder Edelstein finally frowned. His monocle fell. He thought this was just a fake declaration Jack made to seem brave, but why was he insisting so much? It couldn’t be that he really wanted to fight him here, right? Not when he had so many C-Grades to support him?

“You’re going too far,” he said. “I’ve made you an offer with consideration for both our faces, but don’t think I am truly afraid of you. Just accept my gamble. There is no enmity between us—no reason to shed blood.”

“No reason to shed blood?” Jack gave a hard smile. “How convenient for you. Just because you come from another faction, you think I will spare you? That you can distance yourself from the Hand of God’s wrongdoings? Tell me this, little Elder. If I wasn’t standing before you as an equal, but as the weaker party, would you spare me on account of having no previous enmities, or would you capture me and surrender me to the Hand of God?”

The Elder’s brows fell even lower. His calm manner of speech finally cracked. “You’re pushing it.”

“So what if I am? What are you going to do about it?”

Elder Edelstein remained silent. He was inwardly considering whether to attack immediately. The only reason he still held back was a sharp instinct inside him insisting that this was a terrible, terrible idea—that Jack was much stronger than he seemed.

“I will ask you one last time in the name of our neutral relationship,” he said. “Leave this place. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude!”

Jack only laughed. “Oh, Elder, you little Elder. You keep mentioning our lack of enmity like it’s something important. Let me tell you something: even if I hadn’t come here with the express purpose of killing you, even if I didn’t plan to use you to level up, even if you could somehow absolve yourself of the Hand of God’s crimes, I still wouldn’t spare you. Do you think I can’t sense the prisoners you keep in that crown tip over there? Those humans you’ve laid out on racks, some broken, some dead, with their organs exposed in jars? Just for that, you deserve to die. You’re a lunatic.”

“Cruelty is nothing in the face of progress,” the Elder replied, slowly releasing his aura. A storm of gray filled the world—an endless Cruelty. His eyes sharpened. The monocle swayed by his aura but the hat remained on his head as if glued to his flesh. “I don’t blame someone as young and naive as you for not seeing that…but you will. I will make sure of that. When you join them and are unable to either live or die, only existing to further my experiments, then you will realize how sweet your pain feels. When nothing else remains, my progress will become your inner purpose.”

Jack shook his head. “You sicken me. Go die.”

Purple and gray collided. The two auras ground against each other, pushing back and forth, but the stronger side was soon revealed. Jack’s aura was expanding, continuously pushing back the Elder’s. He paled, as did everyone around them. “C-Grades, assist me!” the Elder shouted, redoubling his efforts, but it was already too late.

Jack flickered. Nobody saw how he moved, but in the blink of an eye, the eleven C-Grades surrounding him were all dead. Some had their chests punched through, some had their heads shattered. None escaped. Only then did Elder Edelstein’s attack arrive—a cold gray light as if born from the depths of a glacier.

Jack turned to look at it. Then, he reached out and directly crushed it with his hand. The Elder gasped. “How?!” he shrieked. “That’s impossible! That attack could cut through everything—how can you block it!?”

He was shocked. He thought he might be weaker, but he never imagined the difference to be this great. Facing his question, Jack only smiled—a smile which brought terror to the heart of every onlooker.

“Simple. It’s because I am strong, and you are weak.”

The Elder no longer spoke. He tried to run away, but suddenly, his surroundings transformed. The crown meteor transformed into a colosseum, the panicking cultivators turned into a screaming crowd. Sand was below his feet, and the cold breeze smelled of blood.

He did not consider this too much. He tried to escape, certain it was just an illusion, but found himself crashing against the unbreakable walls of the arena. Spatial barriers! he realized in horror. The arena may have been an illusion, but the walls were real, formed of the Dao of Space. He could not break them—not in time. He could not escape.

He turned around, finding Jack approaching one step at a time. “Goodbye, little Elder,” he said. “I hope you’re less of an asshole in your next life.”

Elder Edelstein screamed. “Don’t come any closer! I will detonate my—”

He didn’t have time to finish his words. Jack’s body flickered with lightning. The energy was done gathering in his fist, an incredibly dense point which erupted right in the Elder’s face. The explosion was titanic. In despair, the Elder channeled all of his bitterness into his inner world, exploding it and his body in the greatest strike he could reveal. He was full of hatred—he knew he was going to die, so he hoped to at least take Jack with him. His last thoughts were bitter.

However, all that energy achieved was to clash evenly against Jack’s Supernova. The shockwave ruptured the spatial barriers and the vision of the arena, as well as the entire Crown Meteor around them, blasting the entire outpost into smithereens. Only a tiny part remained—the prison where Edelstein kept his prisoners. Jack had protected them and would release them later, saving as many as he could.

As for Jack himself, though he was a little battered, the majority of the explosion had spread outward—his Supernova had successfully matched it in a frontal clash.

Level up! You have reached Level 329.

Level up! You have reached Level 330.

…

Level up! You have reached Level 340. Further levels locked until the development of your next Dao Fruit.

Jack smiled. He was so far ahead of the power curve that getting levels was trivial. The only difficult part was finding suitable opponents.

“Not bad,” he muttered to himself, watching his bleeding fist. “My all-out strike can defeat an early B-Grade. Maybe it wouldn’t kill him if he didn’t explode himself, but he would be left unable to fight. At this rate, it won’t be long before I can fight late B-Grades.”

The gap between the different minor realms of the B-Grade was significant. Jack could one-shot most early B-Grades and defeat most middle B-Grades, but that didn’t mean he could win against late B-Grades. At most, he could fight them for a while.

However, with a few more fruits…

He shook his head, not allowing himself to fall into thought just yet. This Elder also didn’t possess a space ring, just like Mure Emberheart, and every other cultivator here had already died, but Jack still had some work to do.

The prisoners weren’t the only thing he’d protected. He stretched out a hand and a large projection stone flew to him through the rubble. This was an advanced model capable of constellation-wide broadcasting. Of course, any broadcast was useless if no one tuned in to the right frequency, but Jack had planned ahead of time and had Brock notify the rebellion bros.

He activated the stone and set it to the agreed-upon frequency. The projection stone blinked red.

“Hello, everyone,” he said. “This is Jack Rust speaking.” He couldn’t see himself, but he imagined that he cut a pretty heroic image with his dusted face and the sea of debris behind him. “I understand news of my death has been spread, but it is false. I am very much alive. In fact, I am standing in the remains of Crown Meteor, a former outpost of the Hand of God. I just killed the early B-Grade cultivator commanding this place, along with every other enemy, and I have a message I would like you to spread across the galaxy: The Hand of God and the Animal Kingdom took something very important from me, so I will take everything from them. I will destroy them completely. Every single disciple they possess, I will kill; every base they have, I will annihilate. Their Elders will crumble before my fist.”

His eyes flashed with dark light. He hoped he was making the right impression. “I don’t need assistance in this. I will do it alone. I have the power. So, act for yourselves; if you are currently fighting for freedom, keep doing it. Don’t depend on me, but only on yourselves. That is the way to grow strong. And, if you are a disciple of the Animal Kingdom or Hand of God listening to this… Then I advise you to leave your faction and start running. Because I am after you, and I will find you. I will slaughter you to the last man. Too long you have made us suffer; now is your time to be destroyed. Your leaders made the wrong enemy, and you will all pay.

“As for you, leaders of the enemy… Just sit tight. Keeping turtling up in that Animal Planet of yours and wait for me patiently. I will come. There is no need to search for me. I will kill all of your underlings, all those criminals you abandoned, until my strength is enough. Only then will I show up at your doorstep to kill you all, and there is nothing you can do about it. You will die. Count your days.”

He raised a fist. “For freedom. For Eric. For the Fist.”

And then he shut the projection stone, shattering it. He didn’t need it anymore. The message had been given. The flame was lit.

And the Animal Kingdom was aflame.

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