Book 10: Chapter 54: The Gladiator’s Shackles

After closing the distance, Qin Lun realized that these three-eyed beings before him stood only about three hundred meters tall. This paled in comparison to the thousand-meter-tall giant he had seen in the projection. That one was likely the most powerful individual among them. Nevertheless, even prone on the ground, these giants were nearly as tall as Qin Lun stood.

The three-eyed beings’ unusual reaction didn’t faze Qin Lun. With a flap of his wings, he shot straight towards them, intending to slip between their massive bodies.

Paranto was the capital of the Angel Race. Yet the three-eyed beings displayed only primitive civilization. Clearly, ten thousand years ago, they likely possessed no civilization at all, their intelligence perhaps near that of apes.

This raised a question. At the end of their civilization, the Angel Race had been exceedingly benevolent, offering free aid to any Sapient Race in the Gith Star System to promote their evolution. Their goal was to give these races a future chance to inherit the “Final Gospel”.

Why then, had they ignored the birth of rudimentary intelligence in the three-eyed tribe within Paranto? Had the Angels deemed them without evolutionary potential? And why permit them to flourish near their own capital?

After all, Paranto was a vital Inheritance Ground left by the Angels for their future heirs. The destructive potential of the three-eyed giants made this neglect suspicious.

The moment Qin Lun saw that tool-using giant in the projection, doubt had struck him. He’d formed a logical conclusion: these giants were likely once domesticated creatures of the Angel Race, akin to humans and dogs.

Humankind might aid intelligent aliens, yet instinctively ignore potential intelligence among animals on their own world. Even cherished companion species were denied the chance to develop their own civilization.

Planetary life bore this instinct in its genes. Every era on a life-bearing planet had only one dominant race. Only upon its extinction could another ascend to dominance.

Thus guided, Qin Lun deliberately headed towards a three-eyed village. In his Angel Body, he’d gambled that mere ten thousand years hadn’t erased the giants’ ingrained obedience to the Angel Race. They were natural allies against Gan Luo.

Qin Lun’s reckless charge stirred the kneeling giants. They lifted their heads, watching him with puzzled eyes, but didn’t reach for their nearby weapons.

Sweeping past them, Qin Lun swooped low and seized a primitive spear — to him stout as a stone pillar. Twisting mid-air, he hurled it back towards the pursuing Gan Luo.

Qin Lun was a master gunner and archer, but the javelin was an art he hadn’t mastered. The oversized weapon felt unwieldy.

Despite his current strength, wielding it strained him. The spear flew a wobbling, crooked arc, missing Gan Luo entirely before sinking into a giant tree beside him.

Qin Lun hoped for no damage; his aim was to declare Gan Luo as the foe. Mission done, he flew on, wings beating hard, soaring over the crude village gate directly into the three-eyed settlement.

A scene unfolded just as Qin Lun expected. The giants’ confusion vanished instantly. A strong individual kneeling at the fore leapt to its feet with a furious skyward roar. Snatching up its wooden club, it charged Gan Luo. All the giants followed, thundering towards him.

“Damn it, I still hate this kind of crap!” Gan Luo cursed aloud as a dozen burly giants surged towards him.

Black had long warned Gan Luo about Qin Lun’s schemes. Late team contact in the Gospel World had masked Qin Lun’s cunning, but from the pyramid ambush onwards, Qin Lun’s slippery maneuvers left Gan Luo constantly frustrated.

Weaker, cornered, and close as prey, Qin Lun kept wriggling free like a slippery eel, escaping Gan Luo’s grasp time and again. Once, twice… Gan Luo’s patience frayed, his fury blazing hotter than ever, a desperate urge to snap Qin Lun’s neck.

When Chaos and Divine Light renegotiated their alliance, Wolf had revealed Qin Lun’s identity — the very Apostle he’d battled on the Cosmic Octopus. The vice-leader held nothing back, praising Qin Lun generously. He even indicated that if Qin Lun weren’t the Chaos Team’s target, he would pursue him personally, with Robin as secondary.

Wolf’s logic was simple: Forget impressions left with Little Lian and Hu Fei. If a “Serial Killer” found acceptance in the Lost Team, shouldn’t a fellow Order faction — the Holy Light Team — welcome him too?

Naturally, Gan Luo refused Wolf’s suggestion. Robin was excellent, but not Chaos material. And Qin Lun? However he now aided Lost, Gan Luo believed the Chaos Alliance was his true home — and also possessed the power to secure him.

Gan Luo remembered Black’s words: Qin Lun hadn’t matched him during the Metropolis Domination War. Now both were Second Order, yet Black couldn’t rival a High-Rank Apostle like Qilang, not even temporarily wounding Wolf to fight free.

Chaos overflowed with talent, the supreme Apostle Alliance in Devil’s Horn. Unlike Order Front or Apostle Monument, it wasn’t built around large teams with affiliates. Chaos had no giants like Lost or Holy Light itself; instead, it was a colossal, looser-knit super-team formed from a dozen core medium-sized groups.

The alliance was mainly one mega-team. Other minor teams weren’t strictly affiliates; they were more autonomous. Due to the brutal jungle law the alliance embraced, these smaller units proved unstable. Exceptional individuals were pulled into the core, or — rarely — a minor squad might devour one core branch entirely and absorb its spot.

Apart from large wars against external foes, Chaos welcomed fierce internal competition. Prestige derived only from power; even core positions weren’t eternally secure.

Precisely this savagery forged Chaos into the strongest alliance. Were it not for constant infighting, even combined forces of Order Front and Apostle Monument might falter against them.

And this very conflict drove Chaos’ intense thirst for schemers like Qin Lun.

As Gan Luo pondered, the giants closed in. Massive clubs and stone axes blotted the sky as they struck down….

“This place is vast!”

Qin Lun’s Angel Body equalled a combat machine, yet in this village, he felt diminutive. The crude thatched huts dwarfed him; mere gaps between buildings looked like elongated plazas.

The settlement blanketed the slopes of a hilly ridge. The terrain proved gentle, surrounded by a river — fertile land indeed.

It was high noon, and few villagers remained. Most adults hunted outside. Beyond the initial dozen guarding the gate, Qin Lun spotted only elderly giants, females, and very young ones peering from windows.

Foreseeing danger, anxiety filled their eyes. Only a few fearless three-eyed children pressed their sparkling trio of eyes against windows, intrigued by this “outsider.”

Qin Lun smiled faintly at them, wings already propelling him towards the far end of the village. Though reverence for the Angel Race might align them temporarily, their own weakness meant they wouldn’t sacrifice themselves once Gan Luo overwhelmed them.

He wasn’t wrong. Barely ten minutes into the village, angry roars behind him faded. The defenders at the gate had likely fallen.

Qin Lun showed no disappointment. A ten-minute head start meant great distance gained. Gan Luo needed much time to close in again. And Qin Lun knew other Paranto natives existed who could shield him… this village was just the first.

…

“Shit!” Gan Luo dashed through the village entrance, finding no Qin Lun. His gut dropped. A grim thought hit: if Qin Lun found one or two more shields like this, he risked running out of time.

“Just let him go?” Fury scorched Gan Luo. Murderous intent flashed as he surged skyward. Far on the horizon, a fleeing speck appeared.

“No! Absolutely not!” Gan Luo’s saw-edged limbs trembled. His palms clutched an invisible rope, yanking it savagely backwards.

Suddenly, the distant Qin Lun stumbled inexplicably. Simultaneously, Gan Luo rocketed forward. An unseen chain seemed to bind them, pulling them drastically closer.

Enraged, Chaos’s vice-leader finally unveiled power paralleling Wolf, the “Spatial Commander” — Death Gladiator’s Shackles!