Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

The lips of the five twitched as they saw the comment as what it truly was; cocky.

Hal did not wait for them to move at a time that was 'convenient' for them as he dashed towards the one closest to him and swung his broadsword Artifact.

The Dystopian then made the mistake of meeting the broadsword with a punch,

*crack!*

Despite the manifestation of his physique around his fist, it still broke the bones in the said fist.

"Ahhhh" he yelled and stepped back quickly as he finally realized the grade the Artifact was.

Because Hal had not been charging it with cosmic energy, the Artifact was not actually giving off the vibe that it should have at the Aurora grade but it was still an Aurora grade Artifact nonetheless.

And while at the peak stage of the Phenomenon beast realm, they could hold their own against phenomenon grade Artifact, making that attempt with an Aurora grade was the height of foolishness.

Anyway, Hal pursued with his Broadsword in one hand and his comic Armament in the other but before he could actually strike his target, something swiped in his direction and he leaned back quickly.

The 'something' was none other than another Dystopian whose arm had now transformed into a brown tentacle. Twice as big as his normal arm had been before and looking every bit more dangerous.

And that was before Hal noticed the ink-like substance that coated said tentacle.

Leaping back however to escape the tentacle moved him right into position to be kicked by another lying in wait.

But how could Hal not have sensed the presence as a repelling force of Cosmic energy formed around him and protected him from getting kicked.

That said, the kick still pushed him forward as the attempt of the five to overwhelm him continued.

Some of those in his group had successfully defeated their opponents and a few had even successfully killed said defeated opponents.

Those few now looked at Hal getting slowly encircled and smiled.

Finally, the show-off psychopath was getting his due.

Maybe that would teach him to not be cocky.

It was not that they would not help him because they would. When all was said and done, they were all still fighting for the same cause but they would still let him suffer a tad bit.

In the meantime, they would assist the others who had not had the success they already had.

However, while cosmic attacks and phenomena refused to do the trick, especially considering how they outnumbered him, Hal smiled before a dome of Astral energy surrounded him and two of his opponents.

One of them being the tentacle Dystopian.

The other three were repelled by the sudden appearance of the dome.

"He's a Runemaster?" One of them asked in indignant surprise and his expression was mirrored by the other two.

Not to even speak of the Dystopians, even the Harons who had come with him had no idea Hal was a Runemaster.

Not once over the course of the past two months had he showed any inkling that he possessed Astral sense.

Amidst their platoon were those who had Astral sense and were never shy to speak of it. Hell, they always found ways to show the usefulness of this ability of theirs.

Now they could not help but think how many times he must have laughed to himself when they bragged to him.

Even worse, he was a Rank 5 runemaster!

When he was still only at the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

Hal was indeed now a Rank 5 runemaster after having spared enough time to train his Astral sense.

He was spurred on to try even harder at it after it was now more clear than ever that his cultivation and Astral sense Rank did not necessarily have to go hand in hand.

Anyway,

Inside the Dome, the two Dystopians were introduced to a Hal who was not feeling particularly patient.

A tiny green serpent uncoiled from his arm and expanded so fast that before the tentacle Dystopian could react, she had wound her undulating and beautiful green firm around his neck, and after one particularly hard squeeze, he was dead.

Being a Demon beast herself, Sassy was not a victim of the difference in physical strength with the Dystopians and as Hal's familiar, she was at least empowered enough to not be on the same level as these weaklings. (Her words not mine).

While Sassy strangled the Dystopian, Hal had had a successful one-hit-kill himself with just the minimal use of his Blood fiend abilities which saw his eyes turn Blood red.

He didn't even need to summon Executioner.

The other three had been hitting the Dome with their full might and were making progress when it exploded.

They knew the explosion was not due to their efforts especially since the explosion sent them all flying.

When they regained their bearing, they saw their companions on the ground, dead with only one of the bodies actually bloody.

Then a smiling Hal snapped his fingers and three runes appeared and struck the Dystopian trio.

All three Runes were of the same functions, [Bind].

All three Dystopians froze in place and found it impossible to move.

Hal, knowing that attacking them would undo the bind and they would be ready to counter-attack if he did not kill or injure them in one critical hit, took his time.

There was no reason to rush.

Any other Dystopian present was busy with the rest of those in his group.

He moved up to the first and made a show of where he wanted to strike and then he swung his Broadsword and Decapitated the Dystopian in a single swing.

The body fell to the after the thud of the falling head sounded.

Then Hal moved to the second and this time made a four-fingered camera as he said with the air of a demented perfectionist,

"Perfectly centered"

That was the last thing the Dystopian heard before he shared the same fate as his companion.

The third, however, had had enough time to prepare for his breakaway, and right before Hal's broadsword touched his neck he unleashed the might of his physique while also imbibing his attuned element, which was earth, with Cosmic energy so that it rose as a wall between Hal's sword and himself.

The Broadsword hit the earthen wall and its debris rained over the Dystopian and broke the binding Rune's hold.

Then the Dystopian channeled all of his harnessed physical might to attack Hal who looked caught unawares.

However, when his punch went right through the surprised Hal and he faded as an afterimage, the real one was already behind him,

"Too slow" he said before swinging the sword and putting an end to it all.

After that impressive display, Hal took on a nonchalant casual stance as he watched the battle between his group and their Dystopian opponents.

He had no intentions of lending a hand and as it turned out, he did not need to.

While two of those in his group died, a majority survived which counted as their victory.

The group leader eyed all those Hal had killed singlehandedly and frowned before he said,

"We have to keep moving. They'll send more after us. And we need to keep them away so that the Devices can be placed"

Hal smiled lightly.

"You go ahead, I'll catch up"

'Leave without collecting these prime bodies? Not a chance'

The leader shrugged,

"It's your head" he said and left with the rest of the group.

Once Hal was sure he was gone, he began wrapping the bodies one by one in Cosmic energy to send them into the Beast habitat.

It was while he was doing this that he heard a voice behind him,

"A pocket dimension, Nice"

Without turning around, Hal frowned.

Whoever this was, they were good at concealing themselves and that spelled bad news.