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Chapter 1,257.
🕑 Added 2024-05-27 19:57:01 +0000 UTCFaith and determination strong enough to move mountains failed to make the rusty sword so much as stir. Joanna railed at her weakness, her failure to fulfill her duty. What good was finishing her seal if it didn't let her protect her Emperor and fend off his enemies? Was this the reward awaiting her companions after risking their lives to bring her here?
It wasn't right, but Joanna was all out of ideas. The [Orionis Blade] wasn't an enemy that the [Eight Hells Suppression] could overcome. Her unsealed gates were already wide open, and she was trading Longevity for strength. She'd even brought out her master's avatar in hopes her presence would subdue the reticent sword. If anything, it fought back with increased ferocity.
Trembling muscles tore from the blade's violent rejection, and her bones crackled like chestnuts roasting. Her physical suffering was nothing compared to the agony of ancient faith punishing her attempt to subvert its existence. The pain only made her dig deeper and push harder. She couldn't stop, not while her companions were still fighting to keep the hope alive.
It was futile. Joanna felt like she was back on those heavenly stairs, knowingly walking toward her death. Joanna didn't fear death any more after finding her path. She only felt regret as she fell to her knees. She wished she could have contributed more to the mission and Earth's safety. She wished she could have fought by his side a while longer.
He appeared in a cascade of starlight, no different than a divine revelation before a devout believer. A blinding light shook Joanna's muddled mind awake, and answered prayers filled her drained body with power. Nothing could withstand her Emperor's descent. The swarm of puppets collapsed when a wave of celestial might swept through their ranks.
A hand made from starlight appeared over hers, and Joanna felt born anew. The waning stream pouring into the [Orionis Blade] was reinvigorated with boundless energy and profound, steadfast faith. All rust and corruption were burnt away, and hostile beliefs guarding the battery submitted to the Emperor's will. It was ready.
The imperial apparition faded, leaving a burst of images and a short message. 'Good job. Save her.'
Joanna gripped the sword, her mind unprecedentedly clear. She didn't care about the fantastical transformation her accumulated faith was undergoing. She was the Emperor's spear, and she had her orders. She closed her eyes, becoming starlight and death.
The deadly streak emerging from a hidden chute arced, passing right by the misshapen creature banging against the gate. Its cruel aura filled Joanna with renewed hatred, yet she kept going with blinding speed. She only had a few seconds, even with the Emperor's assistance. The stellar sword entered the torn wall further down. Joanna could feel her target was close, but another enemy was in the way.
Ancient, boundless, Killing Intent emerged from the [Gate of Imperial Mandate], and the waxing starlight rallied while gaining a reddish hue. The shadows cast by the twisted metal suddenly looked like wretched figures locked in eternal suffering after going against the Empire.
The Foreign God didn't get the chance to react before the bloodthirsty [Orionis Blade] punched through its chest, leaving a hole dozens of miles across. An ocean of corruption poured out of the wound, triggering a fierce resistance by the lingering starlight. Joanna neither had the strength nor time to finish the job.
Only a thin sliver of her blade remained, and it had a designated target. The weapon passed through over a dozen layers of reinforced metal without slowing down. She was wielding the final judgment of the Centurion Base, and nothing would bar her path. Then, she was inside a vast empty space, faced with the same creature shown in the burst of images.
The [Orionis Blade] looked smaller than a mote of dust when it stabbed into the slumbering puppet's forehead. However, the final spurt of energy was the most refined. The purple scar was cauterized and closed, ending the corruption. Joanna felt her consciousness fade and used her last scraps of energy to impale a teeming mass of invasive energy further in.
Killing Intent, Faith, and starlight spread like wildfire, and the purple taint was helpless before their wrath. Joanna grinned as she toppled over, her connection severed. Mission accomplished.
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Zac exhaled as he withdrew from the [Orionis Platform]. Joanna had gone above and beyond, not only destroying the Qriz'Ul consciousness but leaving a nasty wound on a Foreign God. The hole was already closing, but the sudden strike gave the invaders pause.
Even the God trying to break through the octagon's defenses had stopped throwing itself against the wall of faith, warily looking around for more stellar swords. Zac could still feel its intense desire for destruction and knew it was a temporary reprieve. There was a deep-seated hatred driving the Foreign Gods, and Zac doubted any threat would make them back down.
Zac didn't continue igniting the beacon despite the pressing danger. He was already seeing double after activating the first four towers. Fury and anxiety could only take one so far, and helping Joanna activate the sword had worsened his condition. Any more, and his soul would break down before reaching the finish line.
He was only at the halfway line, with three outer towers and the central spire remaining. The Centurion Base's systems weren't designed to be controlled by a Hegemon, and its dilapidated state only made the process harder.
Boxes and vials appeared around Zac, who swallowed a mix of soul-nurturing pills and Natural Treasures. A chaotic yet nurturing torrent entered his mind, sweeping away exhaustion and replenishing his Mental Energy. It would take a while for the explosive concoction to kick in, and Zac used the downtime to focus on the other threat.
The Foreign Gods were temporarily subdued. The pope was not, and he'd almost made it through the barriers while Zac worked on the [Orionis Blade]. Zac wracked his mind in search of a similar solution to the cultist's activities, coming up short when rifling through the mountains of information.
Zac suddenly had an idea, and streaks of clarity protected by the Void pierced through the swirl of medicinal energy to enter his Soul Cores. The unapproachable mess of information transmitted from the solar flares was laid bare by Ultom's insight, and thousands of seemingly unrelated notations joined into a plan.
Pushing his mind into the outer tower, Zac rerouted a series of pathways while releasing bursts of stellar energy in empty chambers. The innocuous actions accumulated into a wave of change rippling through the region, and dozens of formations came alive. The faltering barrier was replaced by one much stronger, and miles of fleshy tendrils were torn apart by a flash of light. A feral roar bursting with fury shook the tower, and the pope wildly looked around.
Suddenly, it was as though he was looking straight into Zac's eyes. The solar flare transmitting information on the Ascension Chamber collapsed, and Zac stumbled when a wave of brutality and madness crashed against his mind, leaving cracks across his Soul Cores. He unsteadily back to his feet, thanking his lucky stars the array only transmitted a fraction of the force in the pope's aura.
The hastily devised plan worked. His series of alterations had managed to trick the chamber into thinking someone was already inside, which activated another set of barriers. Like the Foreign Gods, it was only a temporary solution. It wouldn't take long for the room to reset, and Zac didn't dare turn his attention in that direction again.
Shutting down the Ascension Chamber entirely was out of the question. There were countermeasures and redundancies installed to ensure smooth ascension, and most of its features were detached from the Centurion Beacon. The only way to guarantee success was to disable the whole tower, but that would also deactivate the beacon.
Zac still needed a while longer to absorb the medicine, so he extracted more epiphanies from [Purity of the Void]. The insight had allowed him to accomplish miracles with random data, and he hoped the other solar flares hid a way to lessen his strain.
One by one, the flares were disassembled and analyzed. It didn't take long to accrue a much deeper understanding of the Centurion project than the [Foreign Gods] tome ever did. Zac even managed to combine thousands of snippets into an account of the Centurion Base's final days. There was both good news and bad.
As expected, the Centurion Project was still in an experimental stage. It had still been in active development when the System awoke. Facing the Dark Age without warning, the leadership chose to seal the base and send it into the depths of the Void. They left only a skeleton crew and the research teams to continue the work while the rest set off toward the Limitless Empire's nearest capital, fearing they faced a powerful enemy.
The Heavens had gone dark, but the Lost Plane was unaffected by the System's awakening. The Centurion Base was already connected to the discarded fragment, and its corrosive influence grew worse by the day. The caretakers lasted less than a thousand years before they all succumbed. They'd tried to finish the project, but they'd ended up doing more harm than good.
The biggest issue of severing the puppets' dependence on the Lost Plane without losing their signature strength was already solved. The next step was to fully integrate them with the current Heavens and allow them to draw energy and sustenance from the environment like a cultivator. Currently, the puppets relied on the specific energy of the Centurion Star to function. Anything else clashed with their bodies' unique composition.
In other words, one dependency had replaced another, which wasn't what the Centurion Project envisioned. The Starfall Court was aiming much higher. Their goal was to use the Lost Plane to raise Foreign Gods like cattle and station their Eternal Guardians in every corner of the Empire. That wouldn't work if the puppets had to return to the remote star to recharge.
That was the problem the caretakers tried to solve. Only, they were already half-mad from spending too much time inside the Dead Dao, leading to addled ideas like the puppet Vilari kept in check. It was the researchers who'd implanted the breach into its forehead, hoping to use the Lost Plane as a mobile battery. A dozen more puppets were destroyed during similar experiments, including one of the two Elder God puppets.
The good news was that there were still more than enough puppets in working condition, and their unmatched constitutions held enough energy to keep going for decades on a single charge. That was more than enough time to deliver a devastating blow to the Kan'Tanu, especially if they could take out the pope before setting out.
Taking charge of the whole puppet army was unfortunately out of the question. Like Joanna, he could only bring out a fraction of the Centurion Beacon's power at his current level. Sending out multiple batches with rest in between was also impossible since the energy from the tracker had already been expended. Not to mention, Zac wasn't convinced the worn base would last much longer. It was already well past its expiration date, and the recent activity was adding insult to injury.
Zac finally recovered enough Mental Energy to continue his work. At that point, the tremors from the Foreign God's attacks had already resumed. Zac could even sense its aura through the protective web of sunlight. Half the solar flares were unfettered, leaving Zac blinded regarding much of the base. It didn't impact his work beyond acting like a countdown. So far, only non-critical sections were affected, but he was running low on those.
The understanding attained through [Purity of the Void] became Zac's saving grace. It allowed him to grasp the underlying points rather than blindly follow a plan that didn't quite work with the base in its current state. Thousands of energy channels were rerouted, drastically lessening the leakage and damage, and the process became as much a matter of skill as grit.
The measured approach made the ignition take a full minute instead of a few seconds. In exchange, Zac only expended a fifth as much Mental Energy, and he kept going without pause. The sixth tower was in slightly worse condition, but not to the point it made activation impossible. Uncaring of the long-term damage, Zac even flooded residential corridors with starlight, turning them into makeshift energy circuits.
A deafening clap of thunder shook the octagon just as the sixth bonfire ignited, and Zac almost blacked out when an overwhelming amount of information flooded his mind. The Ascension Chamber had already been breached and activated, and there was nothing Zac could do to stop the pope's actions. Vast clouds seething with fury gathered overhead.
It was only a matter of time before the first bolts descended. Seeing it was a Dao Confirmation wasn't enough to lift Zac's spirit. The pope's breakthrough caused even more instability than Zac had anticipated, with pieces of the outer ring completely collapsing from the pressure.
Heaven's descent also pushed the Foreign Gods into a frenzied state, and the faith barrier groaned under the assault. More and more corruption found its way past the defenses, and Zac's hair stood on end from its aura. It was refined Dead Dao released by the Foreign God himself, far more dangerous than the purple mist they'd dealt with before.
An urgent inquiry confirmed Joanna remained unconscious, and Carl still couldn't access any major weaponry. Zac could only rely on himself, and there was no more time to worry about finesse. Zac felt like his soul was being ripped apart from forcibly activating the final beacon, triggering a drastic change in the chamber.
The sun, which had remained locked atop the spire, looked like it was melting. Liquid gold dripped onto the spire and was absorbed, and thousands of previously hidden runes lit up. The seven bonfires surrounding them were next. One by one, they poured into the spire, adding further strength to the runes.
Zac's heart sank when one rune after another dimmed. He only somewhat calmed down when just over twenty runes remained, each emitting a stable light. All that work, and he only managed to rally one percent of the Centurion Beacon's true strength. It would have to be enough.
Direction and purpose poured into the spire, with Zac picturing the Foreign Gods and Kan'Tanu Pope. The runes fused one after another, turning into an unbreakable set of orders. A fifth of the runes were used up to brand the trio as targets to be eradicated, which was more than Zac had hoped for.
It meant he could send out five puppets at most, but only if he limited their orders to deal with the immediate threat. Zac duplicated the instructions after a brief deliberation. Two puppets would have to do.
From there, Zac infused the increasingly complex runes with his experiences in the Imperial Graveyard, warning of the dangers it posed. Finally, he imprinted the Zurbor Sector and the varying auras of the Kan'Tanu Chapters, marking their heretical path as enemies of the Empire. Zac grunted and was forced back a step right in the middle of the transfer, making him realize he'd run out of runes.
Zac had no way of telling how well the overly succinct orders would work. The only way to find out was by putting theory into practice. Taking a stabilizing breath, he pushed the tremendous amounts of energy held in the spire downward, where the Eternal Guardians waited.
Pragmatism overcame greed. Zac reluctantly ignored the enormous Elder God placed at the bottom of the tower, knowing his crude command runes were utterly insufficient to awaken that behemoth. Instead, he picked two puppets just slightly larger than the Foreign Gods, balancing power with control.
The runes sank into the depths of the slumbering giants until they reached the center of their extraordinary network of linked arrays. They seamlessly merged with the core like the final piece of a puzzle, and a surge of primordial force rose through the tower. The puppets lived up to their name. There was not a mark of time on their ancient bodies. They were ready to serve long after their masters had passed on.
Zac drew a ragged breath as two links were erected. He felt as though a primordial fire from the dawn of time replaced his ichor, and he saw the world through new eyes. His body held the power to shatter mountains and overturn seas. Not even the churning clouds above were safe from his might. They actually froze when coming in contact with the majestic aura pouring out of the tower.
The Eternal Guardians had awakened for one final mission.
Comments
Chloe
Love this idea
Chloe
Love this idea
Chloe
Tyftc
Porter
Yeah it's not all good news. In some way the story telling has become more direct, which means fewer of the little quirky things I've come to love. But his implication was that once he builds up a personal reserve of chapters again, he can focus on other things. Hopefully he means the word count will go up a bit, and we will see more of these characters. I have started to feel disconnected from some characters like Rhuger, Vilari, Catheya, even though they have got to be up to a lot on the ship, in the base, etc. We get glimpses but seemingly they are designed to show us how devoted they are. Obviously that isn't their entire identity, just being devoted to Zac.
Henry Wartemberg
I fail to understand what was so complicated. If anything I’m kind of surprised at how relatively simple it was to complete his quest. Kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop really
Jon
Thanks man
Lex Luther S
I guess I can see where you're coming from but I can't relate. But I'll give you a quick run down; and keep the comment up, it's an understandable complaint Ch 247: The kan'tanu pope and a black heart sect fellow have set up some sacrificial array using 1000 hegemons and around 27 seals and having then slaughter each other to power the array. The pope, Sorothom, is actually using the anchors not to search for more seal but send out a beacon to the base zac and Co are at. He then kills what's left of the participants while crippling the black heart hall master guy. Then he let's in Yselios people to collect the seals while getting some write of passage. Ch 1248-1250 is basically them just going through the base, searching and finding the half step monarch Qriz'Uls' and then fighting and reaching a teleporter where zac finally felt fates pull but then getting through zac sees they've been separated, ti where we see bubbar, Carl and rhughers POV and Carl's speech of getting a ship. Then back ti zac and Co looking at the vault and making their way to it. Ch 1251: sees zac and Co making their way into the vault, looting the treasures while attaining the starfall scripture. They loot some more goodies but then the base starts shaking, like they base is under attack. Ch 1252: sees us with a Catheya and kruta POV in a jungle with plants that have mutated to not only eat the dead dao but survive and not be corrupted, even making natural treasures filled with enlightenment. They were headed to a mountain which Catheya thought some power generator would be in. Then we see a Vilari POV with her using her embers of the seven sensations technique to bring the Qriz'Ul gods budding conscious to the extremes of joy being crushed by Despair, this way she kills off sections of the mind making it's awakening far slower then if she did nothing. Then we see a POV change back to Zac and Co where they agree to jump into thr breache. Ch 1253-1255 sees zac and Co fighting to survive the lost plane while zac heads towards a breach he feels the greatest pull of fate from, they don't make it but then zac runs into a stellar wanderers corpse, sees a vision of the wanderers, their cage, then the Eternal. Then zac returns, Wal'Zo appears saying she went by many names but most called her the Eternal. Then Wal'Zo talks with zac, explaining why he's disappointed in him as a flamebearer, threatens him with disqualification and explains some things and history and why zac fighting for ultom isn't a bad thing. Then the system starts to enter and Wal'Zo retreats, telling zac that 8 others have left an indelible mark on the slopes of the void mountain and that Ultom is his best chance to uncovering the full potential of his bloodline. Zac returns to the main dimension, enters the shrine and talks with esmeralda, even bargaining for one of the treasures she nabbed when leaving the vault. It was some stalk of hay filled with some energy, very rare and even had hints of the laws in it. Then more shaking happens, kator and zac get up and book it. Across the platform they found themselves on. Ch 1256-1257 sees zac activating the beacon and waking the base up to awaken the gods. Just give the 2 chs another read.
Will Mill
I don’t think convoluted is a good explication. It is “epic” and so monumentally developed that it needs to be vast and almost overbearing. Honestly, I think it is necessary for this storyline and its development. However, being limited by time or word count doesn’t excuse the lack of real interpersonal interactions this arc is experiancing. Colossal story development and progress, little character development (faith development no withstanding).
Amani
I find myself reading less and less since the release dates were changed. But! good chapter, glad the end is approaching.
Jon
I want to enjoy the story, but between fighting a giant eyeball and these ship battles I’m totally lost as to what’s happening. If anyone is willing to provide a quick synopsis of these last 10 chapters I’ll withdraw my comment
Jon
Listen man, things have gotten way too complicated. I shouldn’t have to take notes in order to follow the story
Lex Luther S
Man ohhh man I can't wait for today's chapter. Here's hoping we get a POV of the pope all excited he's breaking through only to be interrupted and wasted by the puppets and his tribulation.
Lex Luther S
What?? How is this convoluted nonsense? We're literally reading a story about beings that can only be described as gods. You signed off on nonsense acceptance when you started reading a stroy about an axe wielding hobo. And smhh man, this is Defiance of the falls best arc yet.
John
You can’t follow along? Or are you mad every chapter isn’t the exact type of bombastic you like?
Chris
I hear you, I reckon that's why it's worth getting the audiobooks/full books too. I swear there are some little nuggets/scenes I race past, and get them on the second read. I got kicked from the Primal Hunter page because of a comment about drawing things out overly, and currently reading the C.Mantis - Path of Ascension, and find it more frustrating than rewarding when there is 5 chapters of filler. Shirtaloon did pretty nicely with the recent arc with the time dilation too I thought, just quietly.
Jon
I seriously cannot wait for this arc to be over. This story has become so convoluted with nonsense it’s incredibly disappointing.
Matthew Hay
Just wait for the anime adaptation when they had 8 episodes of filler mid-arc and a random abyssal hot springs episode that they came across in the Imperial Graveyard
Jeff McCulley
Someone on Primal’s board asked how soon the next chapter was. Someone replied, laughing, that it was ten hours away.
DrSubterfuge
iirc the way we were introduced to Faith cultivation, it both empowers the faithful person and the subject of the faith, but it's limited by the power of who or what the faith is focused on and vulnerable to something happening to the focus of the faith. Imperial Faith seems way more powerful than just that though. It seems to be viable as whole parallel cultivation system, considering how many ways we have seen LE stuff using Imperial Faith.
Mike Naka
F*ck it's Tuesday! I had a brain fart and forgot TFD's new schedule. I wonder if Primal Hunter and HWFWM fans are this addicted? LOL
Mike Naka
Yeah butt, I wish there was a director's cut where TFD included more scenes. Got the superior 1984 Dune movie on the brain.
M💬
So I got a question on how faith works I thought only the supreme one is able to harness faith … like Zac harnessing the faith of his believers. I think that part of it not the whole picture
Jeff McCulley
I think the real game changer for her will be when Zac crushes Yselio…and there’s no one around to pick up his Flamebearer seals. “Leyara! You had ONE JOB!”
Jeff McCulley
Oh yeah. Eternal Guardians. Eternal Servants. No way the two programs aren’t connected in some way. None at all. Only question is, which Court is associated? Has to be the Anima Court, right? Or is “Soultaker” too obvious? Because I’m not sure how the “Reignender” title ties to the Eternal Guardians. But it might explain why Jaol and Ibtep weren’t allowed in? Rivalry?
Jeff McCulley
I’d really rather that someone nasty didn’t decide to grab it first, though. Not like we haven’t had foreshadowing.
Jeff McCulley
Only way to make if better is if either Ra’Klid or Rhuger manage to do something to finish him off themselves. Shoot, as far as I know, Rhuger still needs his third seal, right? A quest! A quest!
Jeff McCulley
I was wandering through some old notes, and something struck me. I started laughing. This facility is part of the Starfall Court, right? Well, Ra’Klid and Rhuger are the members of the Starfall Court. And their titles are Reignenders of Ultom. And right here in this Starfall Court facility, Zac & Co are about to end the Pope’s reign.
Jeff McCulley
Nah, not Arcaz and Kator vs Yselio. Arcaz, Kator, Ogras, Emily and Galau vs Yselio. And Galau may already be fiddling with the controls of the booth he’s in—maybe all three.
Jeff McCulley
Having Kator as an actual ally would be WAY more useful though. I don’t think that Death’s Duality’s armor is going to be bones going forward. And not just because it’s going to have to work for both of his bodies. Some of that C grade metal around here, however…
Jeff McCulley
I’m thinking maybe her faith transformation is about to become one that the Imperial Faith finds acceptable…one way or another.
Jeff McCulley
It would be nice if the Atwood Empire had these facilities. There has to be a self repair mode, right? Including reconstruction? And any self respecting engineer would have a self repair mode for the self repair mode, right?
Jeff McCulley
Two. Guessing that one will go for the one attacking the octagon he’s in, and the other will start on the one Joanna injured, then go after the Pope Either that, or they both team up on the damaged one on the way out the door? Then split up?
Dro
Calling it now - that Elder God is gonna get a call back 800 chapters from now when Zac's just a peak monarch but needs to pull something out of his ass to stop a crazy Supremacy that's attacking Zecia. Zac definitely needs to find a way to keep it lol.
Ryan Ulrich
So how many gods did Zac release?
Titan
I hope we get Perala's POV when she finds out that Zac offed the pope
DrSubterfuge
I could totally see Kator's warbones being good materials for Alea to absorb. Who knows, maybe it would influence her final appearance. His miracle bones also probably count as extremely valuable D-ranked natural treasures. Thinking about Yltron (he's only mostly Yselio and has pieces of all all the brothers' cultivation, so he's the Voltron of Y brothers), I go back and forth on whether I think he'll show up now. On the one hand, he already got his whole cycle from the Pope and was working on something else in the Pope's POV. On the other hand, there's at least one flamebearer piece here ripe for the picking.
Dols1618
So Zac used the dead dao to understand the base better. I did not see that coming. I wonder if he's gonna be able to make use of that in the future. Would be sweet if the Atwood empire could have its own version of these facilities.
Borbino the great
This would be so nice to see imagine a bunch of lil e grades witnessing that like holy fuck what have they been through😭
liquid_helix
Made it, phew.
Tyler S.
Kator would make a great addition to deaths duality armor, adding his warbones to scare off the reavers
Chris
Also, fucken props to actually continuing the activation in a timely manner TFD. You could have mucked around with more chapters of Carl or whatever but you didn't. You know what we want, and you are bloody giving it. Bring on Ultom, Iz, and the mf loooot
GMO pineapple
Supreme cooking like always and I still hunger
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Stylemys
If the Elder God puppets “die” from lack of food, so they remain as corpses? Because that’s probably the highest quality corpse the Undead could ask for.
Stylemys
Well how different is a flesh puppet from a corpse? Because the Atwood Empire always has use for good corpses.
DrSubterfuge
I don't think the cracked soul they both had to have experienced is trivial for Kator to fix, but even if it is, that's just free healing for Zac. What's amazing about this encounter is Kator was basically reduced to (potentially crucial) ablative armor so that Zac could work the array not meant for Hegemons and stop the pope, and it was all because the System put that linking treasure on the exchange, surely knowing he would pick it up and use it on Zac. So far Kator has hardly benefited at all from the stunt he pulled and mostly been a bag for Zac to pull resources from. And Zac is still probably going to kill him for it. The System set Kator up, and I love it. Couldn't have happened to a better guy. Edit: Presumably Kator did get a massive windfall of contribution merit for being part of this, but he has to turn it in first...
Lex Luther S
Bro you know the fucker is fuming🤣🤣🤣 zac has interfered again and again.
Lex Luther S
I doubt that's how it'd go do with kator V yselio. It's important to note that yselio basically became whole after absorbing his 2 brothers. It seems yselio was the dao, yrin was the body and the last guy the soul. With all 3 coming together, even kator would be hard pressed to come out on top, and that's assuming kator would be willing to fight him to the death. Even if kator was willing to fight yselio to the death, kator isn't in his top condition after barely surviving the lost plane and there's no telling that damage he's received while zac awoke the beacon. If the rematch really happens here, then it'll be arcaz and kator vs. Yselio. But I don't see it happening here as if ogras, Emily and Galau wale up, then even yselio will have to escape because that's too strong a lineup. As for the merit, christ, his personal merit alone will be in the 10 or so million for clapping the pope's ass. For sicking the 2 gods on the rest of the sector? By the wars end between 20-30 million personal merit sounds about right. As for faction merit? I'd ask if he would get any, but given he's doing his flamebearer quest, he should get faction merit, and I'm willing to bet it'll be in the 1-2 billions range by the wars end. Upgrading his 2 core planets to peak C grade is all but a matter of time. And man the plethora of other benefits😤🤤🤤😤 Even I'm drooling thinking about what our bois gonna be cooking. Last time zac did such a play the system enabled the graded faction rankings. I'm betting this time it'll do some overall faction ratings for all of zecias factions, regardless of grade, with a sleuth of benefits and rewards for those in first place which the Atwood empire will handedly take. Imagine unique titles and mystic reals to purchase for being a middle D grade faction coming jn first over late C grade factions? Man utloms aftermath PAILs in comparison to the excitement I feel for seeing the wars end and the rewards.
Hartmann
That would require the Base to survive Zac's further attention.
austin kutz
Yselio can only watch with his limp dick in his hand
Palmer Evans
Could her experience here be a Dao vision for future cultivators following a Faith based path in Zac’s Empire?
K S
I hope we can get the popes POV next…… how dare that brat interrupt my ascension 😡
Lex Luther S
I wish. TFD just keeps on delivering and it leaves me more and more hungry.
Jeff McCulley
Oh yeah. Since Zac essentially just programmed the two Foreign Gods by himself, I’m guessing his Merit starts with them taking down the Pope. The one thing concerning is the Elder God still sitting there. Either it’s a problem in the short term…or an asset in the farther future.
Omiso
This has to be the only time Zac was able to curb down his greed and take a more "measured" approach. No doubt the Elder God puppet still has a role to play before all of this is over.
Jeff McCulley
On your latter point, I’d be okay with Zac walking out of the control booth to come face to face with Yselio…dangling limply in Kator’s grasp.
Jeff McCulley
Did he take damage, or just exhaust his resources? Because it seems likely Yselio is sneaking around here somewhere.
Jeff McCulley
Well. THAT was eventful. Er…is it Wednesday yet?
Lex Luther S
Ohhh joanna is more than a Templar. She's the emperors spear and the one that will found the church of Zachary Atwood. Eventually her experiences will become like actual scripture. 🤣🤣 So I was facing Despair but then our emperor LITERALLY appeared as a god of starlight giving me the strength to succeed my mission.
TorHKU
Zac saying "I'm not going to blow it up, alright?" about to be proven wrong, let's go!
Palmer Evans
Haha Joanna has got to literally view Zac as a god at this point. She has complete faith in him and has seen how his fate makes the world bend around him. Now he appears as a celestial being of starlight which empowers her right at her moment of need… love her recent character development from an insecure (about her own strength) but determined side character into the most confident Templar within Zac’s empire. Real, earned character development is one of the biggest reasons I love TFD’s exhaustive storytelling
Tyler S.
Such a good start to the week, thanks TFD
Andrew
Thank you!
Han Pol
let's hope they all okay or benefitted :D
DrSubterfuge
The System really set Kator up. All that strain Zac was under to barely do what needed to be done was basically just half of the total damage. Kator sucked up everything else
Lex Luther S
Fucking A++++ bro. Joanna and the sword, severely damaging one god while killing the conscience of the newborn god vilari was stalling. getting in the way of that FUCKIN pope again🤣🤣🤣 . To zac bringing it all to a head. The 2 puppets might not seem like much but these things literally can't die unless it's an autarch or higher. With enough energy to run for decades, Killing the kan'tanu pope, sending these other gods conscience to their death and cleaning up the chapters is all but done. May take a few years but every bit these 2 foreign gods clean out is another day the zecia sector can forcibly turn things around. As for the zecia sector, first theyll need to clean out all the ones in their sector and once it's secure, target the Zubor sector and aid the gods in bringing them down. A side note, seems joanna is undergoing another evolution and I'm worried for Zac. He's had the push his soul and soul cores to the limit and Yselio is still out there. Unless zacs given a few days to recover, this rematch is gonna be lopsided in Yselios favor. Man ihhh man can't wait till Wednesdays chapter.
Bryce H.
Thanks!
Themo Grulld
whatever number guy insert here .
Aris T.
Yay
Brian High
First
