Armipotent

Chapter 1053: Gamble - Part 1Saint Marisha called up a meeting with the Alliance, the Federation of the Allurion, and the Giteron Dynasty. Since she could not ask the main church to help her with her current predicament, she still had the alliance to help her. She wanted the alliance to side with her to war against the Tang Empire rather than throwing all her resources to kill the Legend Rank.         

The Saintess was confident that the other two factions would help her. After all, it was a Legend Rank. Getting rid of the Legend Rank would reduce the competition. The Giteron Dynasty and the Federation of Allurion would be interested in doing that together.     

Augusto Thamsen of the Giteron Dynasty and the Prime Minister of the federationʼs sixth world attended the meeting due to respect for the Divine Church. However, things didnʼt go as the Saintess predicted.     

”I will be blunt; our alliance is not a military alliance, so the federation will not help the Divine Church to fight the Tang Empire.” Augusto Thamsen was the first one to give her a response. ”The alliance means to solve the competition between us so we will not suffer casualty in case the other starter cities attack us. Your proposal contradicts the main purpose of our alliance.”     

”Itʼs unfortunate that the federation also canʼt help the Divine Church to fight the Tang Empire. We are still in the early phase, and I donʼt want to use my army to fight the faction from the same city.” Prime Minister Redvers shot a glance at the Saintess. ”Also, you never consulted the alliance to initiate the war against the Tang Empire, and now you want to involve us in the war you started?”     

ʼI am being too naive to think these old geezers will agree with me. Of course, they will not want to help me. They want us to fight at each other, weakening our force so they can take advantage of it in the future.ʼ     

*** ***     

Everything was black as soon as he got his consciousness back. He could not feel, see, or even sense anything. He felt like he was just a blob of consciousness. No hands, no body, no eyes, nothing.     

ʼWhere am I?ʼ Tang Shaoyang asked himself.     

[Void!]     

Simultaneous answers rang in his head. He could still communicate with his spirits despite his condition. All the spirits gave him the same answer, convincing him he was inside the void.     

ʼIs it the same Void Energy that I used early?ʼ The void he knew was the Void of Energy he had just learned by integrating with Zara.     

[Itʼs different. You are now in the realm of the dead, where the dead spirit resides. It has nothing to do with my Void Energy.] Zara answered.     

ʼDoes that mean I am dead, dead? Now I have to wait for someone to summon me as a spirit like you guys?ʼ Tang Shaoyang paused for a moment before realizing something fishy. ʼWait a minute. If I am dead, dead. How am I still able to communicate with you guys?ʼ     

ʼIf I can still communicate with my spirits, then I am still alive? Does that mean [Seven Souls] work?ʼ     

[Seven Souls] was a skill that gave him seven lives. At least, that was his understanding because he had no way to confirm the skill. Once he died, he would be resurrected and come back stronger, ten percent stronger. It was an overpowered skill if that was the case, but he had never had a chance to test it out until now.     

That was right; the reason he decided to fight to the death against the three God Ranks was a gamble. Instead of running away from the God Ranks, he fought them until death. That was the only way to avoid these God Ranks from hunting him continuously. Eventually, the Divine Church would turn toward his empire if they failed to ʼkillʼ him. So he risked everything with [Seven Souls] and fought the three God Ranks; he fought with everything he had for once.     

Tang Shaoyang was surprised that he managed to hold his ground when he used [True Dragon] and the double integration. He thought of killing the God Rank with that, but it still failed. It was not because he did not have the power but because his body failed to contain the power. He lost the fight to himself. His body was not strong enough for the double integration, and also because of the integration with Avyn. As a result, his body disintegrated, and he died.     

[Do you want to activate [Seven Souls]?]     

Not long after Tang Shaoyang gathered his thoughts, a system notification popped out in front of him. That confirmed his guess that [Seven Souls] worked perfectly. Despite the notification, Tang Shaoyang chose to ignore the message. He did not want to come back right away.     

ʼI have to wait longer. I am afraid they are still there to get my corpse or something. Letʼs wait to be safe.ʼ     

[You have gone crazy trying that!] Rosalie indignantly said in Tang Shaoyangʼs head. She was quite angry that her master was so reckless to make such a decision.      

  ʼI donʼt have any choices, Rosalie. If somehow I manage to escape from them. If you were in my position, I bet you would make the same decision, no? You were once a ruler too.ʼ     

Tang Shaoyang hit right at Rosalie. The former could not refute Tang Shaoyang for that. If she was in the same situation, she would do the same thing. Especially when she had a chance to return alive. She would take the chance and fight the three God Ranks.     

[But why donʼt you return immediately, Master? I am afraid the Divine Church will still target the empire.] Yu, the Ancient Alchemist, who was forcefully returned to the Spirit World, voiced his concern. [Without you, the empire might fall into chaos. People will fight to replace you.]     

ʼObviously, I canʼt return to the empire. Even if I want to return, I have to return with a new identity, not as Tang Shaoyang. If the Divine Church finds out that I am still alive, they will send more God Ranks to hunt me down. And I donʼt know if Gungnir will stay longer or immediately returns, so I canʼt return now. I am going to wait at least another three hours or even a day before activating [Seven Souls].ʼ         

Tang Shaoyang was concerned that Gungnir or the other God Ranks were staying to check if he was still alive or dead.     

ʼBut how am I supposed to know how long I have been staying here? It seems thereʼs no concept of time here?ʼ