The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Klaus took in a deep breath and sighed, staring at the three dragon statues.

His body was healed before his consciousness returned to it.

“Are you alright?” Kilian asked. Klaus wipes the blood from his eyes and smiles before responding, “I am fine.”

“Let’s go,” Klaus began, leading him away.

Their next destination is a place called the Blood Temple. It was the inheritance shrine of the Butcher King, someone Klaus knew all too well.

He might not recall yet, but during the Primordial Era, he and the Butcher King were rivals, at least for a while. After Klaus surpassed him, they became friends and started adventuring across the universe together.

It was through their many adventures that they came to meet the Blood Emperor. Naturally, the Blood Emperor was the strongest of them, so he became something akin to their big brother.

Of course, Klaus was much more powerful than he let on back then. However, to maintain their bond, he chose to remain the second strongest, sharp-minded Rune Master with a smile on his face always.

It was because of this relationship that when the Blood Emperor died, he made sure his sword didn’t fall into the hands of just anyone.

Now, Kilian wields that sword, and he is friends with Klaus, who was once friends with the Butcher King, whose inheritance Kilian is on his way to inherit.

None of them is aware of this yet. However, as they draw closer to the red temple in the distance, Klaus starts to sense a growing familiarity with the red, imposing statue standing before the temple.

’This feeling,’ Klaus extended his senses miles ahead, and when he saw the statue, he froze in his step.

“Is everything alright?” Kilian asked, looking at Klaus’s back.

Klaus didn’t immediately respond. He took a few breaths before turning to Kilian.

He looked at him calmly, yet one could see the hesitant look in his eyes. Kilian saw it, and he was about to ask a question, but Klaus raised his hand to stop him.

“Listen very carefully, Kilian, because this is the only chance I will get to say this.” Kilian nodded and began paying attention to Klaus.

He doesn’t know why, but seeing the look on Klaus’s face made him sense that something wasn’t right.

Klaus sighs, “The inheritance you are going after is dangerous. Very dangerous, in fact. However, it is something you need at the moment.

The sword you wield is a relic that once belonged to a very powerful and terrifying warrior. His legend was one that once shook this very universe.

When he fell, he left everything inside the sword. However, while that sword can cause galaxies to go to war against each other, the inheritance you are about to receive is one that will cause the universe to turn upside down.

Be ready, for even I don’t know what will happen.” Kilian broke into a cold sweat hearing these ominous words.

Klaus didn’t know how, but somehow, he was getting memories of his first life, or at least, the parts that are related to the Butcher King and the Blood Emperor.

It was through this that he had just realised, among him, the Blood Emperor, and the Butcher King, the most dangerous wasn’t exactly the Blood Emperor but actually the Butcher King.

His technique, the Nine Lives Nine Deaths Butcher Realm, was something that only showed its true form when he became a god.

’Among the three of us, Butcher was the most dangerous, for when he reached the god realm and achieved Nine Lives and Nine Deaths, his true power awakened, something Blood Emperor and I had to fight the universe against just for him to fully comprehend it.

After 20 years of battle, Blood Emperor fell, and I lost 99% of my life force, so I had to reincarnate.’

Klaus took a deep breath, analyzing the memories that had never been there, slowly filling his mind.

’However, if Butcher was that terrifying, then how come he is inside this cave like everyone else?’

Klaus took Kilian’s hands, and they vanished, appearing 20 meters away from the statue. The moment they appeared, Klaus felt something move from the statue and enter his forehead, sending his consciousness away.

“Incoming.”

Right when Klaus appeared on blood-soaked ground, a voice boomed behind him, causing him to jump away, just as a large saber landed where he had stood.

“The heck.”

Klaus didn’t even have time to see who attacked him when the next strike came. He felt a threatening slash coming for his neck, so he activated the third form of his Movement technique, Void Step, and vanished.

Only for the same threatening feeling to appear before him again. In fact, Klaus reappeared before a mountain of a bare-chested man whose aura radiated the metallic stench of blood. The body clearly wasn’t human, not even in the slightest.

“Damn it.”

Klaus backed away and used Illusion Me to make his body intangible, causing the attack to pass through him. Then a sword appeared in Klaus’s hands, and his eyes turned red.

He sensed the saber coming again.

This time, the saber stopped in its tracks when it was caught by a flaming thread fashioned from Flame Law. The saber glowed red and moved, severing all the strings holding it in place.

However, Klaus didn’t allow it to attack again. He waved his hand, and the void cracked. From within, a large hand came out, seized the saber, and pulled it in.

Klaus used the sword in his hand to draw some red runic symbols and sent them flying into the air.

“Merge.”

Right when he said that, the void trembled and cracked. However, the red runes pulsed, and the void was pulled back together, sealing everything within a 200-meter radius.

“Stop playing around, Butcher,” Klaus’s voice boomed, filling the space he was in.

“Impressive, Paragon, you actually managed to defend against my sword four times. Impressive.” Suddenly, space warped, and a man appeared, draped in a red cloak.

His red hair flowed down his back. His cloak looked neat and perfectly tailored, woven with ropes fashioned from the Law of Slaughter.

Klaus’s eyes narrowed when he saw this handsome redhead.

“Why the sour look, Paragon. Are you not happy seeing an old friend?” the redhead said, causing the frown on Klaus’s face to deepen.

“Since when did you start dressing like a normal person?” Klaus asked, his face brightening up a bit. The frown came from the fact that the Butcher he knew was always bare-chested and hair disheveled.

This Butcher was the opposite of the one he knew.

Butcher looked at Klaus for a few seconds before he vanished and reappeared before him. The two old friends smiled and hugged each other.

“It is good to see you again, Butcher…”

“Good to see you too, Paragon. If I didn’t know better, I would even say I missed you.”

The two friends laughed and sat down on two boulders.

“How…?” That was the first question Klaus asked. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that an old friend he knew too well, once undisputed in the realm of gods, was here now.

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Butcher smiled weakly, but Klaus could see the guilt in that smile.

“It is a long story,” Butcher said, and Klaus furrowed his brow before responding.

“I want the short version.”