Divine Path System

A long time ago, Neveah tribe attacked their counterpart, the tribe of Heaven. It wasn't merely an attack to injure. It was an attempt of massacre.

The historical records remain vague about the exact details but the outcome was crystal clear. It was a total victory for Neveah tribe.

Sera tribe attempted a similar attack on Ares tribe and failed miserably. Not only did they not get their counterpart's sliver, they lost their own sliver.

Ativ and Vita fought but never at a full scale. It's as if they had an unsaid understanding that any victory in such situation would be phyric. And even the winners of the war would be baits to the other tribes.

Against such a backdrop, the smooth victory of Neveah was particularly surprising.

The scriptures of that period maintain that all tribes were roughly of equal strength, especially two counter tribes. Why then, did the war between Neveah and Heaven turn so one-sided?

There were plenty of proposals, some considered by the academic community and others frowned upon.

The most famous argument was that the Neveah tribe had found a way to harness their sliver earlier than others.

Even if they're roughly of the same strength, one should be stronger than the other.

And mastering some particular capabilities of space sliver could've allowed Neveah tribe to mount a surprise attack on their counterpart, enabling a total victory.

It's also what allowed them to escape from the pursuit of the other four tribes after the massacre and take shelter in the then wilderness, Andromeda galaxy.

From that day, the wilderness—den of barbarian races as called by the six tribes—turned into a towering empire.

All empires would rise and fall. But the Jai Empire only rose and rose.

At the beginning, Neveah tribe had to struggle against the sporadic attacks by the other tribes.

There was a lot of distrust between the three tribes. Both Ativ and Vita distrusted Sera tribe which tried pushed Ares to extinction. Ativ and Vita, while never pushed each other to a full blown out war, were always on guard.

So for a good while, there was no unified front against the Neveah.

When these tribes finally put down their distrust, legends state the Neveah had already assimilated everything from Heaven tribe.

Their very origins seemed to change. Their racial profile which was heavily aligned with space until then now suddenly had an equal alignment with time, just like the tribe of Heaven.

It came as a shock to the three tribes. After the shock came realization that Neveah had done something extraordinary. With that realization came fear of the unknown.

So, they struck hard, trying to nip this danger in the bud.

Neveah, no, Jai as the new race called themselves, were unable to face the three tribes hell bent on destroying them.

Their only solace, despite consecutive defeats that pushed them to constant retreats, was that the alliance was still fragmented.

Even under those conditions, no tribe trusted the other enough to put their full focus on the war.

Those few millennia were lived with much difficulty by the Jai. But gradually, the tide turned around.

More and more powerhouses were born, with better and better affinities. And in this period, the tribe had also managed to get the hang of the time sliver.

From then, the Jai Empire managed to hold its fort against the offense of all the three tribes without having to retreat.

Eventually, it started to push back. Gradually at first, brutally next. At some point, the offensive alliance turned into a defensive pact.

Every Jai Emperor since then would be a high rank 2, strong enough to fight off the rulers of the alliance single handedly. The empire's own historians claimed the empire to be a peak rank 2 but that rank was never achieved by any emperor.

Other than the emperor, there would be enough rank 2 powerhouses in Jai who would hold back the alliance's rank 2s.

A new equilibrium was created.

This was how it had been for dozens of rulers. And this was how the historians thought it'd be for the next dozen.

But with the arrival of a man named Aur Deus, everything changed.

The first peak rank 2.

Before even the alliance could feel the heat, the rank 2s in the empire started dying or vanishing.

Yet, the decrease in power didn't make any difference. The alliance soon started weakening as the newly ascended Jai Emperor killed a few rank 2s to make a statement.

'This is a new era.'

Like all eras, this era seemed to last for an eternity.

The equilibrium whatsover existed until then was brutally crushed and a new reality was formed.

One under which the alliance faced a real threat of extinction.

The Jai Empire which had been ruling Andromeda since what felt like an eternity seemed to last forever.

The alliance, meanwhile, seemed like it could topple anyday.

That was the reality. That reality was only grew obvious after the God Emperor split the galaxy into two.

Everyone, from the most average of commoner and the brightest of genius, thought the Jai Empire would last forever.

Perhaps that's why, it felt unreal.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Giant skeletal ships surpassing entire planets in size moved across space, red fumes pouring out of their heads and fire ports.

A large blue barrier inscribed with ancient glyphs and runic characters emerged as the ships fired beams of death lights.

Most of it was deflected but a little managed to seep in.

The unlucky armed soldiers of Jai who happened to be hit by the scattered beams turned into Undead in a blink and started attacking their comrades.

In the stretch of dark space that extended in all directions, the blue barrier stood out like an impentrable wall against the millions and millions of red dots.

Shots were fired every moment and were deflected with impeccable grace by the great barrier.

"Captain, we need to take a break for charging our ship." A zombie without torso, latched onto a lever, spoke after checking the meters.

"Damn it! Why are our men so useless?" The captain, a vampire with green eyes, slammed the door.

"T-They're not useless." A ghost in the form of a rotting bat spoke from behind, its eerie voice echoing in the room. "The rank 1s of Jai…are too strong."

The captain opened his mouth to refute but a brilliant flash of silver in the window shut him up.

In a distance not too far from here, dozens upon dozens of divine powerhouses were fighting.

There were thirty rank 1s from the Jai. But only ten of them really fought. And those ten were pushing back against fifty rank 1s from the Mors Empire.

While sub-rank difference as one factor, the major reason was the sheer power of a Jai prince even within the same sub-rank.

Not just one, a Jai prince was able to beat three Mors counterparts at the same sub-rank.

The three faction leaders who should've coordinated for a proper defense were all dead. No one replaced them. No one was allowed to step into those roles.

The command structure of the Jai Empire for this defense was completely splintered.

There was no strategizing, no tactical information gathering, no war games.

And yet, the Jai princes stood undefeated against the Mors.

After beating down a high rank 1, a Jai Prince turned to the undead ships in the distance. "No one ever dared to invade us since we started calling ourselves the Empire. Congratulations, you've written yourself a death sentence, a proper death this time, not the incomplete death you face now."

The Undead froze at those words and then turned to him with rage. But they could't beat him.

King Hades was going to mount an attack from another region all by himself. In fact, the only reason they had so many divine rankers assigned was that Nexus

was launching an attack from nearby.

Nexus…

A sharp white light glowed in the darkness, overshadowing the blue and red.

"Since you dared to call yourself the Empire? Well, the days of your empire are over. From today, the Jai Empire ceases to exist."

A silhouette appeared in the void.

A man clad in white garments. He looked young, as if he just hit the 20th year. Beneath him was a sea of glowing, boiling, bubbling white—as if the milkyway itself fell under his feet.

"Rakz!"

A hiss sounded from a man who remained at the back of the Jai princes.

"Guan?" The man in white smirked, a playful smile at the corner of his lips. "Heard you were going to thrash Eshala but the whole competition got thrashed. Did they give you a consolation prize for playing in the circus, perhaps. Sorry, all your circus leaders died."

"A coward doesn't have the right to mock those who tried." The man in black appeared, the power of a peak rank 1 eminating out of him as he moved.

Guan, the prince most likely to defeat Eshala, made a public appearance after a long seclusion. Even in this chaotic situation, his personal strength gathered many princes under his command.

"You were a peak rank 1 before me but couldn't beat me even once. And what did you do? Hide, hide and hide. It's been 10,000 years, Rakz. And you finally showed up."

"I did." The man in white smiled, an undisturbed smile at the mockery. With a flick of his finger, the sea of white under him expanded rapidly, approaching the princes. "I wasn't hiding. I was doing something more important than this petty rivalry."

"Important?"

An hourglass emerged behind Guan and the power that surpassed the strength of every peak rank 1 Rakz ever seen, including himself.

Rakz smiled at the display of the power and muttered in a murderous tone. "Yes. My teacher was killed due to a man who should've never been sheltered. My homeland should've regained its glory with the slivers. But for him…because of him…we had to sacrifice it all. I'll take it all back."

"Varian?" Guan's voice also had an edge to it as he muttered that hateful name.

"He's my prey." Rakz clenched his fist and the sea of white under him exploded.

Guan's eyes widened as he tried to speed up his time to try for an escape. He didn't even have the luxury to think of saving others.

But the white light was too fast, too powerful. It swallowed him before he could even start running.

"R-Rank 2!"

The blue barrier shattered suddenly and a silence filled the space.

The Undead looked at the powerhouse of Nexus who lent them a hand in confusion and the Jai forces behind the shattered barrier paled at his presence.

Rakz smiled.

"The glory of Nexus will be written in the blood of Jai!"