"!!!" Sun Gongming raised his eyebrows and activated his array, preventing Alex from moving. If he could restrain Alex here, any attacks would cease for the time being as he could escape from this situation.

However, he also knew that going back wasn't possible anymore. With all their Rank 2 Gods dead, there was no way they could return. After all, they would just get pincered from two directions. In the end, they might need to wander around and take territory by force to escape from their chase.

But… That would depend on whether he could capture Alex or not. Despite being a Rank 5 God, Alex could go against him, a Rank 4 God.

"Lightning Spiral Array."

"…" Alex furrowed his eyebrow, watching this torrential Lightning Energy. Unlike the previous ones, this Array didn't carry a powerful energy, so he must be planning something, or that was what he thought.

Because the spiral wasn't that big, he summoned his dragon and had it swallow the torrential energy. The Lightning Element was quickly reduced to nothing due to the Pure Fire.

As he expected, Sun Gongming finally launched the real attack.

He looked up and saw four arrays appearing at the same time. The first two were formed by himself while the other two were carried by the lightning earlier.

'To think that he can use an attack to carry another Array. I wonder if I can release my Sword Wave and activate the array later. It's worth learning to be honest, albeit I already have the Holy Emblem to the point I don't need this. Besides, my Activation Speed is eight seconds, three seconds above him. Alicia probably can fight him in terms of speed.' Alex pondered before raising his sword.

"One Sword Kill, Blade of Extinction."

This Sword Wave was faster than any of his strikes, so he thought he could destroy this with his Sword Wave.

Surprisingly, the Array was one step ahead, releasing a powerful light from the very top one, reinforced by the lower ones.

Even the Blade of Extinction was halted for a second despite being covered in Pure Weapon Qi.

Looking at Sun Gongming, who seemed to plan to do another thing while he was occupied with this attack, Alex raised his spear and thrust it.

"One-Inch Spear."

"!!!" Sun Gongming launched himself to the side to avoid that attack, never expecting that Alex still had something like that in his repertoire.

The Array broke, so he couldn't interrupt Alex when he tried to destroy the arrays above his head.

At the same time, Alex waved his hand. He hadn't used this technique for a long time, but it was perfect this time.

"Fire Phoenix Art, First Stage. Phoenix Summon."

The Phoenix flew around and struck the original array, which let out that source of light. He couldn't move due to the suppression of that array, so it was better to solve it from the source.

The moment it exploded, Alex managed to free himself, but Sun Gongming had anticipated this. It turned out that the earlier Array was just a fake. He had been creating a stronger array behind his back.

"After going through the record, I know that the Spirit King will have Spirit Eyes. Your eyes are capable of seeing the energy from everything, so if I concentrate my energy inside my chest and start using my power to create an array, I should be able to fool your eyes for a few seconds." He smiled, looking at Alex while summoning an array.

"Don't die, Spirit King. I need you to be alive to end this war." Sun Gongming released all of his power to this array and shot a powerful lightning cannon.

"You talk too much." Alex snorted as if he had expected everything.

Alex had the same thought as him, which was to end this fight. Instead of releasing three of his powers, he added his Pure Weapon Qi and Weapon Spirit in the mix, allowing him to gain enough strength to cut everything.

"Five Purities Slash." Alex slashed his sword, cutting through the attack until it sliced Sun Gongming's neck.

"Ah…" Surprisingly, there was no trace of regret in Sun Gongming's eyes. He simply recalled the things happening back when he was a kid.

One thousand years ago.

Sun Gongming was only seven years old at that time. He had been fixated on Arrays even when he was a kid. He simply read all kinds of books all day in his garden.

It was a beautiful garden with small rocks. Next to him was a pond with so many golden fishes, but he paid no attention to it.

Suddenly, someone opened the door and walked inside the room, approaching the son who was too focused on his book.

"It seems that my son is so focused that he forgets his father…" The Array God, Sun Gong, bent his knees while patting his head.

"Ah, Father!" A smile appeared on Sun Gongming's face. "Welcome back."

"Yep, I'm back. How are you today?"

"I am confused on a few parts while reading this book."

"Haha!" Sun Gong laughed and lifted his child before putting him down on his lap. He hugged him from behind while holding the book with one hand while asking. "So, what makes you confused?"

"This…"

The two started discussing things. It was a peaceful time.

A few decades passed and Sun Gong had started fighting Sun Gongming with Array, training him under intensive care. However, the smile never disappeared from Sun Gongming's face.

Even with his mother giving birth to his third brother, the cheerful atmosphere never disappeared.

His father started to change a hundred years ago when he reached God King level. His expression became cold, and he never visited him again.

To that end, Sun Gongming visited his father while being careful. He cupped his head and bowed to his father. "Father. Can I ask you about this array?"

Surprisingly, what he got was just a cold gaze. "You can ask someone else. I don't have time."

"…" Sun Gongming furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what kind of thing could change his father. When he left the room in disappointment, he suddenly heard his father's voice inside.

"Argh! I am going to destroy Eulja! They are trash! I am going to make sure that they won't ruin my plan!"

*Thump—!* The moment he heard it, his heart dropped. He thought, 'Why would Father say that? He never has any conflict with Eulja. No, they even haven't met each other. Is there something between them or is it related to the change of my father?'

Since then, Sun Gongming decided to start his own investigation with all his efforts, trying to find the reason for his father's change.

He ended up not finding anything related to Eulja. Instead, there was another entity that was influencing his father and made him suffer. His father even started talking weirdly from time to time, which he listened to a few times.

It turned out that it had something to do with the Array God inheritance he got from the former Array God. Unfortunately, his investigation ended here as his father found it and forced him to stop.

During the night, he fell silent, watching the moon in this tranquil atmosphere.

"Mother. What should I do? Sun Jia has started going weird. Second Brother also has died during a mission. Now, I am left alone here and can't stop Father. Mother, what should I do?"

During the long night, he came up with an idea. It wouldn't be an easy and short path, but he decided to pursue it. Stretching his hand to the sky, he smiled. "I am going to become a Rank 1 God too and stop Father from all this. I know that he must be suffering something that I don't know, so when I have enough strength, I will force him to tell me everything. After that, my Father and I can protect this family and world."

Unfortunately, he could never achieve that dream. His eyes became fuzzy as he didn't have the feeling of his body anymore. Well, his head was already separated from it, so of course, he couldn't feel it.

Without knowing why, he ended up using the last bit of his Divine Energy to hand him a Space Ring and closed his eyes while saying. "Thank you."

His mind became blank before he saw something so bright.

"Is this Heaven?" His fuzziness prevented him from thinking straight. Everything he did was according to his instinct. There was a woman in front of him, smiling. That smile just melted his heart as if telling him, 'Everything is going to be alright.'

"Ah…Mother… I am… Sorry. I… Can't…Keep…The…Family…i—"

He started hallucinating and heard a voice in his head.

'It's fine, Son. Let's go back and wait for your father and brother.'

"Ah…" He instinctively took the lady's hand and smiled, not wanting to think anymore. He simply followed her while saying, 'Yes.'

…

Meanwhile, Alex looked at Sun Gongming's last moment. He didn't understand what he saw during his last moment, but he couldn't help but empathize with him.

There was a genuine smile, tears, and relief reflected on his face at the same time. He was someone who just wanted the best for his planet and family.

Alex grabbed the Space Ring and checked it with his Spirit Eyes. After confirming that there was no trap inside, he checked inside the Space Ring, only to find so many research papers. He didn't understand it until he took out one to check the content before fighting again.

It just took him one glance to understand what was going on since everything had been summarized by the title. After storing it back and keeping the Space Ring, he snapped his finger.

Sun Gongming's body was burned to ashes as Alex started to chase his prey. However, he still didn't forget to say one thing to the deceased Sun Gongming.

"Thanks."