Chapter 483: A Unique Way Of Using Creation Authority

Caelus barely had time to read his name before more creatures poured through the portal above the road. They climbed over the dead bodies and spread toward the nearby shops.

He caught the first row with Origin Lock and cut off their ability to multiply. Then he drove them into the ones behind them and crushed the whole group against the ground.

[Early Primordial Contribution Ranking.]

[Rank 1: Caelus Kross.]

First place?

Caelus grinned at the notice. It seemed the others were still having trouble making their kills stay dead.

Sylvia stepped past him as another creature came crawling down the auction house wall. This time she filled her sword with Death power before driving it through the creature’s chest.

[Authority Activated: Death.]

Black energy spread from the wound and reached every limb. The creature tried to pull itself apart, but its flesh dried out before the pieces could escape.

Sylvia twisted her blade and threw the body onto the road. Nothing rose from it.

[Sylvia Reign has entered the leaderboard.]

"There we go."

She smiled at Caelus while blood gathered around her free hand. Several spears formed and shot toward the creatures climbing over Himmel’s wall.

[Skill Activated: Sanguine Genesis.]

Death power flowed through the spears as they pierced the monsters. Their limbs went stiff against the stone and their bodies fell without producing any new ones.

Freya hurried toward the creatures circling the other end of the wall.

"Leave some for me!"

[Authority Activated: Life.]

Green light spread beneath her feet and caught the nearest monster. As she closed her hand its limbs withered and the mouths along its back stopped moving.

She pulled the life from the others before they could reach her. Their bodies collapsed into dry heaps while a notice appeared in front of her.

[Freya has entered the leaderboard.]

"I’m on it too!"

"Good, now watch the one above you."

Freya jumped aside as a creature dropped from the roof. She caught it in her green light before it could spring again and drained it until its legs broke beneath its weight.

"I saw it, Big Brother."

Caelus was about to answer when the ranking changed.

[Rank 1: Nico Adler.]

[Rank 2: Caelus Kross.]

"Nico?"

Sylvia glanced at her own panel and raised her eyebrows.

"The one we met near the fog?"

Himmel and Freya checked as well. Caelus hadn’t expected the friendly young man who had shown them his embryo to climb past him so quickly.

A guard sheltering behind the wall noticed the new name.

"Young Lord Nico has taken first place!"

Several people near him opened their rankings. Even with monsters still falling from the portals they couldn’t hide their surprise.

"He’s ahead of the Celestial Court’s people?"

"He’s an Adler. Don’t underestimate him."

Caelus sent a creature flying away from the guard with a sweep of his hand.

"Less talking unless you want your young lord to collect points off the thing eating you."

The guard hurried back to the people he was protecting.

Caelus checked the names beneath his own. They were changing quickly now that more fighters had found ways to kill the monsters.

Being first probably meant better rewards. He had no intention of giving that up without trying.

"Sylvia, let’s clear the road toward the fountain. There are more coming down over there."

"Already trying to take your place back, hubby?"

"Would you settle for second?"

"Of course not."

She laughed and ran beside him as they pushed farther into the plaza. Freya followed while Himmel waited for the last civilians to get behind the auction house doors.

The next portal hung low enough for its creatures to step straight onto the street. Caelus sealed their multiplication with Origin Lock while Sylvia drove blood spears through their chests.

Their names climbed with each group they cleared. Yet Nico remained above him and continued adding to his lead.

Behind them Himmel raised his empty hand toward a creature charging along the street.

[Authority Activated: Creation.]

Black metal formed between his palms and stretched into a long gun. Pale lines ran along its barrel as a bullet appeared inside it.

BANG!

The creature dropped with a hole through its chest. Its limbs jerked once and stopped.

Himmel walked down the steps as more bullets formed beside his hand and slid into the weapon.

He fired through the next creature’s open mouth. The bullet passed through its body and struck another monster behind it, killing both.

Neither divided.

Caelus had already raised his hand to stop the remains from growing. He lowered it when the bodies stayed on the ground.

"Wait, how are you doing that?"

Himmel fired again before answering.

"I made anti-cloning bullets. They stop the flesh from producing another body."

"You can just make those?"

"After watching them divide, yes."

A creature with three heads lunged from a broken doorway. Himmel put a bullet through its middle head and moved the barrel toward the next target as all three mouths fell open.

Caelus stared at the gun with open envy.

Creation Authority was useful enough when Himmel built walls. Watching him make ammunition for this specific enemy made Caelus want it even more.

His World Builder suddenly seemed far less impressive.

"I buy one building tool and you make that with your bare hands."

Himmel smiled as another bullet slid into place.

"Yours can build while you do something else."

That was true, though Caelus still wanted both.

Himmel had received Creation from the Axiom Origin. Perhaps Caelus could find a way to gain it through the construct now merged with him.

He had been trying to draw out more powers whenever he had the chance. So far his searches within the Axiom Origin hadn’t given him another authority he could actually wield.

Knowing it was the source of a power wasn’t the same as knowing how to use that power.

A fresh burst of gunfire pulled him out of his thoughts. Himmel cleared the creatures crawling beneath an overturned cart and stepped around it without slowing down.

Caelus would have to ask more when the battle ended.

For now he joined Sylvia near the fountain, where the broken bridges were crowded with monsters. He caught a mass of them in Origin Lock as they tried to jump across the water.

Golden portals opened over his shoulders.

[Skill Activated: Star King’s Sword Vault.]

Swords rained into the trapped bodies and drove them into the empty pool. The monsters could neither dodge nor multiply as another wave of blades followed.

Caelus was about to move on when golden lightning flashed across the fountain.

A dozen creatures were caught in the air as bolts struck their bodies. A young man wearing the Adler family’s eagle raised his hand and drew the lightning closer around them.

Their limbs burned away before they could tear themselves free. The lightning only faded when every piece had turned to ash.

Nico turned toward the sound of Caelus’s swords and recognized him.

"Caelus? That was you?"

He looked from the golden portals to the monsters piled in the fountain.

"I thought someone else had the same name. Since when were you this strong?"

Caelus smiled as another sword flew past him and pinned a creature against a broken pillar.

"You never asked."