The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

Han Wu advanced through the base smoothly, killing anyone who crossed his path. His heightened senses let him avoid dead ends and navigate directly toward the facility’s core areas.

He rounded a corner and came face to face with Fawkings, who stood menacingly in the middle of the passage, clad in a black leather jacket and gripping his longsword.

“Invader, you aren’t half bad.” Fawkings complimented him as they locked eyes.

Han Wu didn’t bother to respond and sent his Flying Arrow hurtling toward Fawkings. This time, the sharp weapon met its match. It stopped just ten centimeters from Fawkings and couldn’t move any further no matter how hard Han Wu tried.

That immediately alarmed Han Wu. After all, his Flying Arrow was a 4-Star God weapon; if it couldn’t pierce the force field, then Fawkings was someone formidable.

Fawkings gave an approving nod. “Not bad. To think that your weapon actually pierced my force field to within ten centimeters of me. You’re only the fourth person I’ve ever met who could pull that off.”

Realizing the Flying Arrow was useless, Han Wu recalled it and opened his list. He spent 50,000 Energy Points to summon a 4-Star God greatsword.

Fawkings’ eyes widened as a greatsword suddenly materialized in Han Wu’s hands. “You have a special ability related to space? It seems that I’ve underestimated you.”

Envy flickered across his face. He had always considered himself gifted, but even he didn’t have a spatial ability.

“Stop wasting my time,” Han Wu muttered, lunging forward.

Fawkings raised his longsword to meet the charge. The longsword was forged from an unknown material that could absorb the impact of Han Wu’s 4-Star God weapon without a single crack.

They exchanged blow after blow, each surprised by the other’s strength. Han Wu realized that he had met a worthy opponent today.

Meanwhile, Fawkings was exhilarated. “At last, an enemy who can withstand my full power. Try to survive this!”

Fawkings spread his hands, and the iron studs embedded in his leather jacket shot outward. With a gesture, he directed them toward Han Wu like a storm of bullets. They struck Han Wu’s force field and stopped just fifteen centimeters from his body. To his surprise, they were stronger than bullets.

Fawkings showed no surprise when his iron studs failed to pierce Han Wu’s force field. He channeled more power into his magnetic ability and hurled his longsword straight at Han Wu.

Fueled by magnetism, the sword flew faster and hit harder than the iron studs, stopping just five centimeters away from Han Wu. Fawkings pushed his power further, and the longsword edged forward, driving deeper with steady force.

Han Wu swung his greatsword and knocked the longsword aside, but Fawkings redirected it midair. The longsword curved around and lunged at Han Wu from another angle.

Each strike stripped away a layer of protection from the 4-Star God armor he was wearing. Han Wu could feel the armor weakening. It would break apart if it sustained a few more blows.

To prevent it from breaking, Han Wu went on the offensive. The greatsword felt weightless in his grip as he swung it effortlessly, deflecting the longsword and counterattacking in one motion.

Fawkings wasn’t a pushover. He blocked his attacks using a magnetic force field, but Han Wu soon noticed that it weakened each time he struck it. Thus, the fight turned into a test of endurance to see who would wear out first.

As expected, Fawkings lacked Han Wu’s combat experience. The latter dodged most of Fawkings attacks until he sensed the exact moment the magnetic force field had weakened enough to break.

Han Wu channeled his strength for one powerful attack. “Mighty Cleave!”

The strike carried twice the power of his usual slashes. Fawkings’ magnetic force field could barely withstand ordinary slashes, and this time it shattered under the force. Han Wu’s Mighty Slash tore through it and severed Fawkings’ arm.

This was the first grievous injury Fawkings had ever suffered. He cried out in anger, and his severed arm began to regenerate, the flesh knitting together with astonishing speed. Within five seconds, a new arm had fully formed, though the effort drained much of his energy.

Realizing he couldn’t continue, Fawkings decided to retreat. He launched a barrage of iron studs to distract Han Wu, then turned and ran. As he retreated, he also used his magnetism to wrench metal gates from the walls and hurl them toward Han Wu in a desperate bid to slow him down.

Han Wu cleaved the flying gates apart with ease and advanced step by step.

“Don’t get any closer! Professor Zweisteine, save me!” Fawkings shouted.

Zweisteine didn’t want to lose a valuable ability user like Fawkings, so he slammed several switches to seal the remaining base gates and block Han Wu’s advance.

Han Wu ignored the metal gates completely. With a single sweep of his greatsword, he sliced through the metal gates as if they were paper. The ten-centimeter-thick steel split cleanly in two, doing nothing to slow him down as he closed in on his opponent.

For the first time, Fawkings felt death breathing down his neck. Desperation drove him to summon every ounce of his magnetic power, compressing the shattered gates into a massive sphere of twisted metal before hurling it at Han Wu.

Han Wu met it head-on, cleaving the metal ball apart with one stroke. Nothing could stop Han Wu’s advance. He continued forward, his gaze fixed on Fawkings.

Realizing the vast gap in strength, Fawkings dropped any thought of resistance and muttered repeatedly, “Please let me go... Please let me go...”

Han Wu seized Fawkings by the neck but stopped short of killing him. Instead, he activated Replicate to copy Fawkings’ abilities. The process granted him three new abilities: Magnetic Force Field, Magnetic Control, and Hyper-Regeneration. Combined with his God equipment, his combat capabilities doubled.

“Your abilities belong to me now,” Han Wu whispered and manipulated the surrounding iron nails with magnetism before shooting them at Fawkings.

At first, Fawkings managed to deflect the projectiles with his own magnetic force field, but exhaustion soon broke his concentration. The force field flickered, then collapsed. The iron nails pierced his body and impaled him onto a metal door. Even his Hyper-Regeneration failed to heal his wounds this time.

Han Wu had no intention of giving him another chance. He stepped forward and brought his greatsword down, ending Fawkings’ life. Han Wu then summoned several locusts to consume Fawkings’ corpse and moved deeper into the base.