53 Illusions

"what is this?" Sora asked in a soft voice while looking at his body, he felt empowered, when the first king released the suppression on him, he didn't simply do that, he gave Sora a temporary power-up, his cultivation was currently within the lesser Saint realm,

"do you think a lesser Saint is enough?" the masked woman asked with a snort upon seeing Sora, she knew clearly what the first king was planning, but was Sora enough to stand in their way long enough for him to fall through with his plans

"normal lesser Saint wouldn't be enough... but he is different." Elder Fire said with an annoyed look, if he couldn't sense where the seed was, he would think Sora had gone against him, but he was clearly doing the thing he asked him to do along with the first king.

"..." everyone frowned at elder fire words, they looked at Sora who was only a body-tempering realm cultivator just a moment ago, what could he do? that power meant nothing if the understanding one needed of the Dao didn't match it.

"so this is power... anyways, my only job here is to stop you all. after which, my job is done." Sora said with a smile,

"snort, a small kid getting some power, and it all goes to his head." a demonic beast with the head of the bull but the body of the dragon said coldly, with a flash he shot towards Sora, but before everyone was shocked eyes, Sora blinked and the shock waves from that blink killed the demonic beast,

"sigh, now even blinking is hard for me. goodness, why must I be so powerful?" Sora said with a sigh, currently, he was so powerful that the system showed question marks, unable to comprehend his current strength, and with his senses, he already knew he was the strongest person around here,

"..." everyone felt chills running down their spine at this sight, what a freak did the first king find? that was a heavenly saint, who was a step away from reaching Emperor Saint. yet he blinked and died,

"this here is the only person this first has seen to be above me in talent, a freak of nature, most likely the reincarnation immortal..." the first king said with a smile. he sat down on a throne, and once he did, the space shook as energy began to rush into his body,

"he is trying to remain his former cultivation... disciple, whose side are you on?" Elder fire asked while looking at the first king, and back at Sora,

"none, I can't pick a side without knowing a single thing. whose here is the bad guy? what are you all fighting for? is it selfish or is it extremely important, these are questions I need to know before picking a side. for now, I'm only paying back a favor," Sora said with a shrug,

"..." Elder fire didn't say anything at this, but everyone's eyebrows raised hearing that elder fire was this guy's master. everyone looked at each other for some time, the barrier blocking them from the first king had been weakened greatly, they could break through if they tried.

but Sora's strength made them think twice, but there was another thing. the first king said it himself, Sora was most likely an immortal, they didn't think the first king's word lied, going off historical reports of him, this guy was extremely arrogant, so arrogant that the heavens themselves couldn't stand him.

"it been a billion years first king, the last time I saw you, I had to cut your head off." a booming voice came from the sky, followed by the clouds in the sky taking the form of an old man. with this person a powerful aura appeared, making all of the saints feel unease. this was a Demi-God. all of the saints although feeling unease threw cold looks toward Demi-God as if he was a common enemy to all of them

"you trash of the holy church, I didn't expect you to be alive for all of these years." the first king said with narrowed eyes,

"Haha, how could I die before the harvest? although you were a big pain in the ass back then, making us have to wait a billion years for the Qi to return back to normal so we can harvest it." the old man laughed before his eyes landed on Sora,

"brat, your talent indeed is outstanding, you want to pick a side? join the holy church, and become my disciple." the old man said with a smile,

"... naw, you give off the aura of a bad guy. and after giving a speech like that, I would join you? the least you could have done is made the first king look like a villain, confusing me. with the standing of the holy church, your words would have held more weight than anyone else. but to be so old yet so dumb" Sora asked with a shake of his head, the old man's face turned dark

{enraged The Holy Church Demi-God- gained 1 SP

you have been praised- gained 12 SP}

"snort, like I would bother to put so much thought. you only have two choices, death, or to join the holy church." the demi-god said as his aura pressured down upon Sora, but it shockingly had no effect on him. seeing this, the old man was annoyed, he reached out to grab Sora, but as he reached Sora, he found that the distance his hands were traveling was slowing down, and when he was an inch from touching Sora, he felt his hands closing, but to everyone, his hands were standing still.

everyone including the first king was stunned seeing this, the first king knew a Demi-God from the holy church would most likely come, after which he and Sora should have a grand battle, buying him time to regain a small piece of his former strength and awaken his army and push back this demi-god.

"Infinity... it's all around us. but we are all too powerful to notice it. between one and two, there are an infinite amount of numbers between those two numbers, but we never notice. so I will bring it out into the open for you to notice and enjoy." Sora said with a smile, stunning everyone at such a weird concept of a technique,

"We are forever close, but the space between us is... Endless." Sora said as he stepped around the palm, and calmly walked towards the old man who went on to pull back his palm while looking at Sora in shock,

"Sadly, the temporary cultivation boost given to me isn't enough for me to use my full strength, I have to be careful with everything I do or I would lose the state I'm in," Sora said with a smile as he pointed at the old man,

"so, I would mind break your main body through this clone to save energy," Sora said confusing the old man, but the moment he looked at the finger, he saw the world around him change, stunned he looked around, only to find himself on a cross.

"Wellcome to Tsukuyomi. for the next 500 years, you will have a mental breakdown, your mind would be so fucked up, you would see your Dao's heart shatter." Sora appeared before him, with a sword in hand, the old man snorted as he moved to try and break the illusion, but found it was not so simple.

Sora stabbed forward, and the old man's eyes almost popped out from the pain he felt, his sense of pain had increased to an unamiable level, leaving him shaking just from a simple stab to the stomach. but he is someone who is billions of years old, his mind was extremely powerful, and after a moment he closed his eyes, and as the pain he felt doubled, although extremely painful, he soon managed to break the illusion,

"you little brat," he yelled in rage as he shot towards Sora, and punched him hard, Sora who was caught off guard was hit hard, and sent flying to the ground, while coughing up a mouthful of blood, he tried to stand up, but the power up he had disappeared, and Sora died on the spot.

"... and I expected more." He said with a snort, before turning his head towards the First King who had a stunned look at what he just saw. the first king wanted to stop what he was doing, but it was too late, soon the pyramid shook as a light shot into the sky, the passageway to the God realm reopened, and the doorway to the immortal realm reappeared.

"Haha, you trapped us here for a billion years, and for what?" the Demi-God laughed as he slapped forward, shattering the barrier, but the pyramid shook as soldiers in golden armor shot out, these soldiers have been asleep within the pyramid for the past billion of years, waiting for this moment.

of course, they were all in a weakened state, but they got into a formation, which formed an avatar of a soldier who attacked the Demi-God under the order of the first king, at the same time the first king's elites were also awakened, and fought against the demigod, but they just awakened, they were slaughtered like flies,

the other Saints moved to stop the Demi-God, but they too were killed, leaving the first king who was unable to move while sitting on the throne. with a dark face, he watched the Demi-god coming closer and closer,

"you were supposed to be a pawn, but look at the trouble you caused for us. the past pawns did their job of acting as kings, getting this garden of ours ready for our harvest. yet what did you do? try to cut the sky, ascend with this lower realm with you and take it out of our hands, but you failed and had to become a pain in our ass." he said coldly while grabbing the first king's neck, the first king's eyes shrank from the pain of being moved from his throne.

he was fusing and slowly regaining part of his former strength, so being moved at that moment brought forth great pain.

"to the immortal realm, a million or so years had passed but that would still be a long time, we would have to make contact with our forces, and have to report all of the BS you did," he said annoyed, just thinking of everything he would have to do in these upcoming few years, and it was all because of the person in front of him,

a billion years ago, the first king had broken free of the holy church and went on to try and act as the hero to save this world. this world was nothing more than a farm, the lifeforms here were harvested every time the energy of this world reaches a level, and they shall be refined into a pill.

of course, not everyone would be killed, just enough for the cultivation to start back to zero, the last time they did this, they chose the first king to become the person who shall restore cultivation, but he broke free of their control, tried to cut the sky open and not only ascend but to also take the whole realm with him.

luckily, those of the immortal realm attacked him, and those from this realm attacked, facing 3 attacks, the heavenly tribulations, the immortal realm expert, and those experts of the holy church, he failed.

but the First king knew he might fail, so before trying, he had everything planned, on his dying breath, he cut the connection between his realm and the immortal realm, and at the same time, he sealed away the path to the God realm, pretty much sealing away the immortal Qi of this world.

for the past billion years, the seal got weaker, and the first king planned his rebirth for the right moment when he could try. everyone wanted to cut the sky, this is because doing so would give them the blessing of heaven and earth, making them far stronger, and they would be able to choose where in the immortal realm they could go.

the woman with the red dress wanted to cut the sky to arrive in the spiritual race, a place in the immortal realm where her people could live amongst each other. the beast race wanted to cut the sky to arrive in the beast realm, where the beast ruled. and of course, the humans wanted to be amongst other humans,

So, the Demi-God left with the first king, who he lash his rage for years until he died for good. no reincarnations or rebirths, while these years passed, the other demi-Gods of the holy church went on to regain connection with their backing within the immortal realm, and a few years later, 99% of the cultivators were harvest

due to his good work, he returned to the immortal realm, where he could cultivate and break through into the god realm, he regained his youth and started his own family once he found the woman of his dreams, he soon stumbled upon an inheritance of some powerful expert, sadly he was not talented enough, but his son was. with a smile, he passed it on to his son, who went on to far surpass him, but still took good care of his parents.

under his son, he became a powerful expert, but sadly one day he suffered an unforeseen event, an enemy of his son captured him and his wife.

"where is he?" a human with 3 eyes said coldly while looking at the two of them, but the wife and husband both looked at each other, before they both killed themselves, they would not betray their beloved son.

he blinked and found himself on the cross before Sora, he froze, unable to comprehend for a moment what happened, until memories of Sora filled his mind. his eyes shrank, all of that was an illusion? that was 1 billion years, yet it was all a dream?

"you thought you can escape? it was all an illusion." Sora said with a smile, and he went on to continue with the stabbing. the Demi-God endured the pain once more and broke out of the illusion, but this time he made sure he was out of the illusion, and after making sure this it reality, he made sure to capture Sora, but Sora got away just in time

after killing the first King, he went after Sora, and so after 5 million years, he finally captured Sora, but Sora killed himself. although annoyed, he was now within the immortal realm, he was sure this was not an illusion, unlike the first time when everything was smooth, this life of his was not so smooth,

and so, 10 billion years went by, and he was now a powerful expert facing tribulations to reach the next realm, only to be hit and killed he opened his eyes once again, and found himself on the cross once more, his eyes shrank, that was 10 billion years,

he broke out of the illusion once more, this time he went 100 billion years before he died, only to appear back on the cross. he was losing his mind, but this time he didn't try and break the illusion, be lived if he did it once more, he would lose his mind,

so, 500 years within that illusion passed, and his mind was in the blink of breaking down, but he was out of the illusion. in rage, he attacked Sora, and made him pay billion times over, Sora had used up a huge amount of energy within that illusion, so he couldn't resist,

after taking care of the first king, he needed to heal, and his mind was damaged, which his backing in the immortal realm helped him recover from. after his mind recovered, he found out that he got smarter, and all that he had to endure strengthened his mind. and with the power to better comprehend things, he went on to become a powerful expert,

1 billion years... nothing happened, 10 billion years... nothing happened. 100 billion years and nothing happened. 1 trillion years, nothing happened. by then, he had thrown Sora out of his mind, and he was relaxed.

but while closing his eyes to cultivate, he opened them when he felt a sharp pain. his eyes shrank when he found he was on the cross once more.

"no, this can't be," he yelled almost going mad from this, how would he still be in the illusion, it has been a trillion years, he waited for 500 years until he broke free, but each time he was within an illusion. he was losing it, if he lived this time, would it be real or would be an illusion?

"you want me to release the illusion? promise me that you would become my pet." Sora said with a smile,

"go to hell," he yelled angrily, Sora shrugged as he went on with the torture, this time the illusion shattered as Sora ran out of energy. seeing this, the old man quickly killed Sora, and so, 1 trillion years passed of him not being sure if this was an illusion or reality,

he saw a pattern, this time he wanted to reach the 10 trillion-year mark, if he could reach it and go past it, that would mean he was not in the illusion right? and so 11 trillion years came, seeing as it wasn't an illusion, he fell to the ground in tears, relief overwhelmed him, but he opened his eyes to find himself on the cross.

"Just swear upon the heavens, you shall become my loyal follower, and never even think of going against me," Sora said with an evil smile,

"y-you a demon," he yelled with horror-filled eyes,

"you have no idea how on the nose you were with that." Sora let out an evil laugh, which only deepens the old man's sense of despair.