R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 45 (Patreon)

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 45 (Next chapter release on Mar 11)

Who is the most powerful being alive?

Some people might find answering such a question incredibly difficult. One might say there is no right answer, that power and strength can change from a difference of perspective. Nobody was truly invincible, just because one was strong against one thing wouldn’t mean you were strong against another thing.

Most people would agree such a question was impossibly complex and therefore unanswerable.

But not Micheal.

‘Navir.’ There wasn’t even a hint of doubt in his mind.

‘The strongest being, at least the reality that I know of, is unquestionably the Titled Deity Navir.’

Titled Deities were beings of illogical, reality-warping powers. They were existences that ruled like Gods among their people, and any race they encountered.

To kill a Titled Deity was the hardest thing in existence to do...

And Navir had done that 5 times.

All by himself, while his own people were hunting him down, on the 6th Layer alone.

Micheal’s thoughts raced as his eyes took in his surroundings like a hawk, his pulse spiking with anticipation.

He found himself in a large, gray stone hall. The ceiling stood far and high above him, supported by enormous stone pillars piercing up from the ground. Several large red banners hung from each pillar, depicting a picture of the Sun, the Moon, and the Ancient World all rotating around each other.

At the end of this hall, opposite of Micheal, was a large door. This door was covered in glowing glyphs, with a symbol of a treasure chest carved into its center.

‘Humanity has not encountered a being more powerful than Navir.’ Micheal thought as he walked forward, towards the door.

‘So, it’s a funny quirk of fate that humanity found this Artifact here on the Second Layer.’ Micheal’s mind returned to the main reason he had put so much effort into reaching the Soul King’s Inheritance.

‘How it ended up on the Second Layer is still a mystery… but all that matters is that it's here.’

Micheal reached the door at the end of the room and pushed upon it. The massive door itself was a huge slab of stone that looked like it would weigh thousands of pounds, but actually slid open as if it weighed nothing.

Beyond the doorway stood a second large hall, this one filled with hundreds of small, gray pillars that rose to about the height of Micheal’s chest. Resting on each of these small pillars stood an assortment of Artifacts, sorted about haphazardly throughout the large room.

Micheal took the room in with a single glance, counting more than 300 individual Artifacts, lit by several green-glowing crystals hanging from ceiling on silver chains. This was the ‘Greater Hall’ of the Soul King’s Treasury, where the most powerful rewards were stored. The ‘Lesser Hall’ of the Treasury could only be accessed by those who failed to achieve a high enough result in the Fourth Gate.

“Where is it… where is it…” Blood pounded in Micheal’s ears as he walked forward, muttering out loud despite himself. He scanned each aisle of the evenly placed pillars, jumping from Artifact to Artifact as he looked for one in particular.

Finally, after several seconds, his entire body froze as he tensed up, zeroing in on a pillar three rows to his left.

Upon that pillar rested a pitch black crown. It appeared to be made from some sort of unknown metal, with several small black gems decorating along its edges. Faint shadowy particles oozed off of the sleek circlet, giving it an ominous appearance.

“It’s still here.” Micheal’s eyes lit up as he stepped forward, forcing himself to calm down.

“The Crown of the Angel King.”

Navir was from a race of Deities known as Angels. They were creatures that looked much like the mythology of Earth described them as, essentially supernaturally powerful humans with large white wings.

And, much like humans, the Angels had their own factions and groups that divided them.

Had.

All of that changed once Navir appeared, many centuries ago.

Ever since then, the Angels had united as one in their mission to kill Navir. Any nations, factions, groups that had once existed all merged together in an effort to kill the Titled Deity that had broken the Cardinal Rule of all Deities, travelling backwards in time.

Their efforts proved unsuccessful, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

“Finally.” Micheal breathed out as he reached forward and carefully picked the crown up off the pillar.

As he did so, he noticed for the first time three glowing orange lines that had appeared on the back of his right hand. As soon as he touched the crown, one of those glowing lines vanished, leaving him with two lines remaining.

The highest reward, for conquering the entirety of the Fourth Gate, was to pick 3 separate Artifacts from the Greater Hall of the Soul King’s Treasury.

Micheal held the Artifact in his hand, a smile appearing on his face. The muscles in his arms and back relaxed as he stared at it, feeling as if a weight had lifted off of his shoulders.

‘The Crown of the Angel King.’ As soon as he picked up the Artifact, its name appeared in his head, one that he already knew too well.

‘An Artifact made to kill a God.’

Humanity didn’t find this out until many years later in the first timeline, but the Artifact in Micheal’s hand was one created with a very specific purpose:

‘To kill Navir.’

The Crown of the Angel King was a powerful weapon forged hundreds or thousands of years ago. It was a tool of immense potential crafted from materials that humanity never identified, enchanted in ways that even Dark Void could not replicate.

The Artifact was one the Ruler of the Angels had worn when the strongest Angels of their time had gathered together to ambush Navir.

Of course, the fact that Micheal was finding it here made it obvious what the outcome of that battle was.

Naturally, the Angel King failed, and was instead slaughtered by Navir, as were likely the rest of the Angels that had attacked him.

But that wasn’t because this Legendary Artifact was weak. Rather, Navir was simply too strong.

“In the original timeline, the Nirvana Saint should be the one to receive this Artifact.” Micheal spoke aloud as he held the crown.

“But now I’ve changed that.” 

Baron Fortuna was the man who first obtained this Artifact in the original timeline. However, Fortuna was killed by the Lord Justiciar during the Great War, and the Artifact taken by the Purgatory Church.  

The Nirvana Saint had used this Artifact to great effect, holding onto it until he was killed by Navir on the 6th Layer. 

“This, more than anything, proves I can still change the future.” Micheal muttered as he stared at the dark crown.

‘The Purgatory Church tested this Artifact intensely.’

The Crown of the Angel King wasn’t an Artifact that could be purchased in the Shop. As a result, humans couldn’t pull up a screen containing information about it, and thus had to investigate its powers manually.

‘When activated, the Artifact is said to imbue its user with the power of both an Angel and a Shadow Dragon.’

The power of a Dragon and a Deity was nothing to scoff at. Dragons were the most powerful non-Humanoid beings in existence, and Deities were the most powerful beings to live. This Artifact could enhance its user with the powers of both.

That fact alone was what made it rank 6th on the List of Legends, a comprehensive Artifact ranking list created by Dark Void.

It was no exaggeration to say that Micheal was holding the 6th strongest Artifact in existence.

He resisted the urge to place the Artifact on his head, however, instead making the conscious decision to place it in his Spatial Ring.

‘Testing it now would not be a wise decision.’ He shook his head as he stared down at his palm, noting that he had two more Artifact choices to make.

His decision to not test the Crown of the Angel King was not purely motivated by his desire to be efficient, but rather, because of the downsides associated with the Artifact.

Gaining such immense power came with a steep cost.

The Crown of the Angel King was an Artifact designed to kill a Titled Deity. Its very identity when it was being created was focused on maximizing power output. When the Angels crafted this tool, little-to-no consideration was given to the side-effects or damage it might do to its user.

‘The Nirvana Saint found workarounds to combat its downsides, but even he was never able to completely show off its power.’ Micheal thought with a small nod,

‘But who could blame him? After all…’

‘The cost for fully activating it is death.’

It was an Artifact designed to be used by Angels, and not just a regular Deity, but one of the strongest of the strong, the literal Angel King. The Nirvana Saint was one of the most powerful humans to live, but even he couldn’t use this Artifact freely.

“But…” Micheal said with a small smile.

As he spoke, two glowing blue Life Orbs floated into the air before him.

“For me, death is no cost at all.”

.