Chapter 2617: Reap

Blood flew and splattered. Aina could feel her bone snap in two, just barely a few tendrils of muscle fiber and tendons holding it in place. But there was no doubt that for all intents and purposes, she had lost her leg. With just another wrench to the other side, the beast would be able to swallow it whole.

Even so, she didn't seem to notice at all, her fist suddenly smashing through the tiger beast's eye, grabbing and then pulling. Her other hand followed and drove the ax blade down, cutting into the other eye. By the time it retracted, a second fist was ready, driving even deeper into the crushed eye and pulling out more flesh and blood.

The skies were dyed red and Aina completely lost herself in the carnage.

The blade drove deeper into the first wound it created as her fist became a claw. She wrenched at the wound, using her ax as a lever and pulling them apart with all her might.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

The pain it was suffering seemed to finally get through to the beast, it ripped its head to the side, taking Aina's leg and sending her flying into the distance.

The White Spectral Tiger writhed wildly, not just due to the pain, but also because Aina's blood seemed to have gained a mind of its own, rooting into the tiger's body and eating it alive from the inside out.

Aina landed on the ground with her one remaining foot and pressed off again so hard that the entire arena collapsed.

She moved so fast that she seemed even faster than the tiger itself.

Blinded and roaring with pain, the tiger beast couldn't even react as a bloody ax was driven through its gaping wounds, slicing the top off its head and shredding it to pieces beneath a whirlwind of Battle Ax Force.

Aina stood there, her gaze a fiery shade of red. Her hair danced and flickers of crimson took hold of their black strands.

Blood dripped from her severed legs, the droplets of blood falling so heavily that they BOOMED against the arena floor.

A shimmering mirage appeared to her back as she was teleported out. It stood so tall that its head was obscured by the clouds, not that its visage would have been clear anyway. The image was akin to one reflected in water, nothing about it was clear and concise.... But the bloody aura that it radiated.

Aina's self-healing capabilities had been pushed much too far. She no longer had the capability of even sealing her wound, let alone growing back her leg.

And yet, as she stood there, no one dared to move.

The savage aura was so thick that it felt like they were swimming through a river of blood. This gorgeous woman looked no different from an Asura in their eyes, a bloodthirsty creature who would let you rip her throat out if it meant that she could take a bite out of your heart.

Aina raised her head and a banshee-like shriek shook the skies. Many who heard it completely lost consciousness, their irises vanishing, leaving nothing but white balls of fear-induced trauma in their wake. They fell, never to awaken again.

It had already been months, but their unwillingness to face Aina seemed to finally boil over.

Many might think these people to be stupid, but in their eyes, it was either die here for a chance, or die when they returned to their own worlds.

However, right this moment, they seemed to see a fate worse than death.

In the far off distance, Savahn and Yuri stood with tears in her eyes. On more than one occasion, Rowan was forced to restrain them, but the latter had an incredibly solemn look in his eyes.

'What a woman...' he thought. There was a jealousy welling up in his heart that he pressed down. He wasn't such a shameless man that he would pine for the wife of another... even if that was really what he wanted to do.

He looked into the skies as the mirage seemed to solidify.

He stared at it solemnly, not sure if he was seeing correctly.

'That can't be...'

It was so far outside the realm of possibility that he believed that he was the only one to have such an outrageous thought.

Part of becoming a God was having an idol to worship. The Gods of the Dimensional Verse had never needed to raise a finger to spread their religion because just the manner of their existence imposed their will onto the world, allowing those with particularly sensitive proclivities to sense them and become their Apostles, spreading their word to others.

In order to form an Idol, one had to first form a Dharma, an accumulating form of one's being, one's moral code, one's beliefs.

When manifested, a Dharma was something that stood above even Sovereignties, a true manifestation of suffocating superiority.

It shouldn't be possible for a human to form a Dharma, and certainly not possible before reaching the Creation State.

But why... did that manifestation feel so much like one?

He shivered as the world collapsed and the clouds above dispersed to reveal an Aina with blazing red hair and eyes formed of orbs of ruby.

The Aina on the ground was still very much with-one-leg. However, the Aina that stood as tall as the skies themselves was perfection incarnate... and when she swung her hand, the entire world fell to destruction.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A savage glint lit in Aina's eyes, her blood boiling to the point of evaporating. The droplets from her legs became heavy mists of crimson in the air and her skin reddened considerably.

She jumped up, twisting her torso and unleashing a screeching swing that shattered space.

It tore across the ground, leveling the fleeing warriors one after another. It seemed unstoppable, untouchable.

Streaks of crimson painted the skies red.

As though a Goddess among mortals, she reaped their lives.