Lucius cradled the small body in his arms. Morning light fell soft across Aurelius's face. Around them, the whole city had gone still, no sound, no movement, nothing at all. Just that terrible quietness of a graveyard.
Then his hands moved slowly, not because he commanded them to, just muscle memory working in the absence of a command.
He pressed his palms flat against the boy's chest, over the spot where the divine core still pulsed its last, weak beats beneath his cooling skin.
'Absorb.'
[ Absorption Skill — Activated ]
[ Target: Divine Core — Sun God Aurelius ]
[ WARNING: Extreme divine essence detected ]
[ Integration may cause severe physical mutation ]
[ Proceed? Y / N ]
He didn't think about it much. He just responded to the moment.
'Yes.'
Nothing he absorbed before felt like this. Not the ice-cold rush of a lesser skill or the burning sting of absorbing divine mana. This was everything at once, heat and cold crashing together. Light and shadow pouring in from all directions. Power so enormous, it felt like trying to swallow the sun whole.
Golden light tore free from Aurelius's chest. The divine core, a sphere of concentrated brilliance, bright as a second sun, lifted from the boy's body and came apart into pure energy, flowing straight into Lucius's hands.
He screamed as his fingers came in contact with it.
It burned through his veins like liquid fire. Gold traced every vessel beneath his skin, glowing through him like a Lantern torch. His eyes blazed white, his whole body seized, convulsing as divine mana flooded in, rewriting him, restructuring him from inside out.
[ Divine Core Absorption — In Progress ]
[ WARNING: Host body undergoing forced evolution ]
[ Pain suppression: DISABLED ]
[ Integration rate: 23%... 45%... 67%... ]
It felt like being unmade and rebuilt at the same time. Bones aching, muscles spasming, heat radiating off his skin in shimmering waves. Below on the street, the guards stumbled back, shielding their eyes from the light pouring off him.
[ Integration rate: 89%... 98%... 100% ]
[ Absorption Complete ]
[ Divine Core Successfully Integrated ]
Lucius pitched forward, gasping for air as the light went out. Smoke curled from his scorched clothes, but when he lifted his hands, they were steady and strong.
Notifications flooded his vision all at once.
[ CONGRATULATIONS! You have slain your first god. ]
[ Title Acquired: GODSLAYER ]
> +20% damage when battling divine beings
> Divine energy detection range increased
[ Title Acquired: FLAME CHAMPION ]
> Fire immunity granted
> Solar energy manipulation unlocked
[ Divine Skills Acquired: ]
• Blazing Sun (Active) — Summon a sphere of solar fire. Devastating AOE.
• Solar Flare (Active) — Blind and burn all enemies in visual range.
• Radiant Burst (Active) — Release stored solar energy as an explosive wave.
• Divine Resistance (Passive) Lv.5 — Reduce divine damage by 50%.
[ Stats Updated: ]
STR: 78 → 128 (+50)
AGI: 52 → 95 (+43)
VIT: 85 → 140 (+55)
INT: 61 → 98 (+37)
[ Physical Mutations Detected: ]
> Eyes now emit a faint golden glow
> Base body temperature elevated to 38.5°C
> Passive solar energy generation active (MP regen increased)
> Hair tips bleaching — golden highlights forming
[ WARNING: Divine signature now detectable by Heaven ]
[ Heaven's response: IMMINENT ]
Lucius stared at his hands. Solar energy flickered between his fingers, clear as day. He caught his reflection in a nearby shard of glass and saw his eyes glowing. Soft, ember gold, like coals that wouldn't go out.
He had actually done it. He had actually killed a god and absorbed his core.
'Wonder what Cophey would say when she finds out about this.'
Valeria landed beside Aurelius's body in a blur of motion. She knelt and gathered the small corpse into her arms, carefully, like she was lifting something that mattered more than anything.
The boy looked peaceful, like he was only just sleeping.
Lucius climbed slowly to his feet and stepped back toward the roofs edge. For a brief second, their eyes met.
Valeria's amber gaze was wet, tears cut tracks through the grime and old bloodstains on her face. But her expression stayed hard and controlled like a soldier's face.
She held his stare for a long moment. Then her voice rang out, cold, and commanding, carrying to every ear in the square below.
"GUARDS! PALADINS! ALL UNITS!"
Fifty armoured bodies snapped straight.
"The Prince has been murdered. The godslayer flees east. HUNT HIM DOWN!."
Her eyes never left his as she spoke those words. But there seemed to be no rage in them. No hatred, just acknowledgement and underneath it, something else.
Lucius turned and jumped.
He hit the alley in a crouch and flash stepped immediately. Behind him, armoured boots clicked loudly on stone, dozens of them, thundering in pursuit.
"THERE! EASTERN DISTRICT!"
"CUT HIM OFF!"
The divine essence coursing through him made the chase almost laughable. He was faster than he had ever been, faster than he thought was possible. The streets blurred past him as he moved in short steps.
A figure stepped out of a shadow directly ahead.
A hood pulled low, dark cloak wrapped tight around her. It was Seraphine. She grabbed his arm without a word and yanked him sideways, into a passage so narrow he would have missed it on his own.
They ran together, her knowledge of the city's hidden arteries saving them seconds they didn't have.
Behind them, paladins rounded the corner.
"STOP IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN!"
Seraphine's hand went to her cloak. She hurled a glass vial backwards without breaking stride. It shattered on impact, and black smoke erupted, swallowing the alley whole, leaving no place for sight.
They burst into a crowded market street. Merchants dove out of the way, and citizens screamed.
"Keep moving!," Seraphine hissed.
Three blessed guards appeared ahead, their swords already drawn.
Lucius didn't slow down for a bit. He simply raised his palm and commanded.
"Solar Flare"
Golden light detonated outward. The warriors screamed and clutched their eyes, blinded by the light, crashing into each other. Lucius and Seraphine shoved through the gap, ducking down another alley, then another.
"How far?" Lucius panted.
"Two blocks from here. We're moving to the Hollow Lantern. The owner said she has a way out prepared for us."
"Can we actually trust her?"
Seraphine didn't respond, she just kept running.
They sky changed within the next minute. Cracks split the blue morning air, jagged fractures that spread like broken glass, trailing golden light through every gap.
Divine mana poured from them, thick enough to pressed down on the lungs. And through the cracks, figures descended below.
Pure, white figures with wings like living flames. In normal sense, they were angels. Dozens of them, dropping through heaven's breach like they owned the sky.
[ Divine Sense (Passive) — WARNING ]
[ Massive divine presence detected ]
[ Heaven's forces manifesting — multiple signatures ]
A voice came down from the fractures, menacing, bone-deep, shaking the stones of solara under their foot.
"THE SUN GOD HAS FALLEN. THE GODSLAYER MUST ANSWER FOR THIS SACRILEGE."
Citizens collapsed to their knees. Even the blessed warriors stopped mid pursuit, staring upward in naked awe.
Seraphine's jaw tightened. "They're here!. They came way too early!."
"Can we outrun angels?"
"We don't have a choice."
The Hollow Lantern appeared ahead, a faded sign swinging in the wind that had no natural source. The door flew open before they reached it. The old woman stood in the frame, eyes sharp as a thief.
"Inside, now!"
They tumbled through. She threw three locks through the bolts and turned them without hesitation.
"Head to the basement, through the kitchen. Don't stop for anything."
"What about you?" Seraphine asked.
The old woman smiled, cold and knowing, entirely unbothered. "I've handled heaven and their angels before. Now go"
They ran through the kitchen and down stone steps into darkness that smelled of spoilt wine and damp earth. Seraphine crossed straight to the back wall and pulled a false panel aside, revealing a tunnel cut into the rock.
"Exits three kilometres outside the walls, we go through the old sewer line."
They crawled in. Water dripped from the caved stone above them. Rats scattered in the dark and behind, above them, they could hear the angelic hymns seeping through the earth like a flood.
Lucius glanced back. "What about the old woman….?"
"She knew what she was doing when she stayed back," Seraphine said. "Now move, we need to get out of here before they locate us."
They ran until the sound of hymns faded behind them. Ran until their lungs burned the air down to nothing. Ran until the tunnel ended at a rusted iron gate.
Seraphine kicked it open, daylight hit them like a slap on the face.
They stumbled out into a drainage ditch outside Solara's walls. The city rose behind them, crawling with golden light. Angels circled above it in lazy, patient arcs like vultures.
"We keep moving," Seraphine panted. "They'll search every road, and every village within a hundred kilometers in every direction."
Lucius looked at his hands. Still faintly glowing, still radiating heat he couldn't suppress.
He had just killed a god, absorbed his core and became something that Heaven itself had decided needed to die.
"Where do we go?" he asked quietly.
Seraphine pulled her hood down low. "Anywhere but here. We run, we hide, and we survive." She met his eyes, clear and steady.
"And when we're strong enough, we kill the next one."
Lucius nodded.
They turned away from Solara, away from the angels and the paladins and the golden plague descending on the city, and they ran.