Collector

"Mm, the fifth safe zone is about to refresh. Get ready to move." Sett saw that the safe zone was about to refresh and prepared to get going.

The third safe zone had a diameter of only 5,000 kilometers, and the fourth was even smaller, spanning just 2,000 kilometers.

Yet Sett hadn't encountered any enemies in the past four days. In the eight days since the competition began, he'd encountered only two.

One had called himself the Axe Emperor, but Sett had beaten him until he fled. The other had been a Controller, whom Sett had killed and looted.

Eight days into the competition, out of the thousand Planetary Level Giant Axe Warriors, 960 were still alive.

Some had met other Giant Axe Warriors and been killed, while others had encountered powerful beasts and fallen to them.

Although the safe zone had been enormous at the start, the Giant Axe Warriors had given each participant a watch that marked the location of any enemy within ten kilometers.

As everyone moved around, some of them inevitably crossed paths.

Most participants naturally attacked whenever they encountered an enemy, which led to many deaths.

Whenever people met, death was likely to follow.

And as the safe zone continued to shrink, the chance of running into an enemy would only increase. Battles would become more frequent, too.

"The safe zone's only a thousand kilometers across now, and it's just three hundred kilometers from here. I'd better hurry. There'll probably be fights everywhere soon." When the safe zone refreshed, Sett immediately set off.

Three hundred kilometers was a short distance for Sett.

"Someone? Two people, actually. I'll go take a look." Sett saw two people marked on his watch.

Their locations overlapped, so they were probably fighting.

Sett naturally decided to join the fun. He didn't care whether there were two of them or more; he simply flew over.

"Brother, someone's coming. How about we kill him first, then settle things between us?" Ten kilometers from Sett, two people were fighting furiously.

Both wielded blades. One was bald and carried a huge blade.

The other had short hair and wielded a short blade.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The short blade and the great blade clashed several times in a single second. The two were evenly matched, trading blows back and forth.

The bald man noticed someone marked on his watch in the distance and called out to the short-haired man.

The short-haired man heard him, swung his blade, and used the force to retreat.

"Sure. Let's kill him together, then fight each other. I'll show you just how deadly my short blade is."

The two made their decision in an instant and waited for Sett to arrive so they could team up and kill him.

Since they both used blades, they naturally wanted to prove which style was superior—especially since one wielded a great blade and the other a short blade.

Each believed his own style was the best. Neither was willing to concede, yet neither could beat the other. Now that Sett had suddenly appeared, they decided to deal with the outsider first.

"Huh? Why aren't they fighting?" Sett saw the two standing apart as he flew over. They weren't attacking each other, just watching each other warily, which surprised him.

Only one person could survive the Golden Giant Axe competition, so there was no such thing as teaming up. No matter how powerful someone was, only one could live. Nobody would willingly make trouble for himself.

That was why Sett found their behavior strange. Surely people who met would fight or go their separate ways. Why were these two standing together without attacking?

"Maybe they just met and are still testing each other," Sett thought.

"Attack!" The bald man shouted when Sett drew close.

The instant he spoke, the bald man charged at Sett with his great blade. Cold light glinted along its edge as he brought it down.

As the great blade came slashing toward him, the surrounding space seemed to darken. The waves of dark light released by the man further dimmed Sett's vision.

With his Domain of Light released and his great blade in hand, the bald man was like darkness itself, as though he could shatter the sun with a single slash and embrace the dark.

As the bald man attacked, the short-haired man moved his short blade in the distance.

He spun the blade in his hand, sending a chill through the air.

The short-haired man moved like a cat, his steps strange and elusive. In an instant, he was in front of Sett.

Just moments ago, the two had been fighting to the death. Now they worked together like longtime comrades, their coordination impeccable.

The short-haired man was like an assassin, concealed in the darkness—and that darkness came from the bald man's domain. Their domains didn't interfere with each other; instead, they complemented each other and greatly increased their strength, making them more than the sum of their parts.

"Hm? You two actually teamed up to attack me." Sett was surprised that they'd attacked him so suddenly. Their teamwork was like that of old comrades.

For two Giant Axe Warriors to team up against him in the Golden Giant Axe Warrior competition was certainly unexpected.

If this weren't the Golden Giant Axe Warrior competition, he would've thought they were sworn brothers who'd shared years of life and death.

The two blades moved incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, they were right in front of Sett.

"Hmph! Haymaker!" Sett didn't panic. He released two domains, then used his area-wide Innate Secret Technique to strike at them.

Bzzzz!

The instant Sett unleashed his Domain of Metal and Domain of Space, they suppressed the two men's domains.

The bald man's Domain of Light and the short-haired man's Domain of Wood were no match for Sett's domains.

That was what happened when a freak like Sett had the support of a seven-layer Domain of Metal and a five-layer Domain of Space.

The two domains complemented each other perfectly, their combined strength greater than the sum of their parts. And since they both came from Sett, they naturally surpassed the two men's domains by a wide margin.

Rumble!

Infused with Sett's laws, the golden fist carried terrifying force as it smashed into the two men.

"What is that?" Startled by the sudden appearance of the enormous fist, both men's eyes widened as they tried to dodge it.

The two were already in the middle of attacking. How could they possibly evade Sett's Haymaker so easily?

The golden fist shot forward at incredible speed and struck them directly.

With a tremendous boom, the enormous fist collided with the two men and exploded.

"How is this possible?" The short-haired man was blasted back and dropped to one knee, covered in wounds and bleeding heavily as he gasped for breath. He hadn't expected the man in front of him to unleash such a powerful attack in a single move. He was gravely injured.

They were both ninth-level Planetary Level fighters. How could one attack defeat them?

The bald man was in no better shape. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his once-shining scalp was now stained red. He looked utterly disheveled.

Sett had dismantled their clever teamwork with one move and left them gravely injured. The two geniuses could hardly believe it.

The short-haired man and the bald man had been considered geniuses in their respective star regions, but among the Planetary Level Giant Axe Warriors gathered from across the Ganwu Universe Kingdom, they were near the bottom.

Neither had comprehended the laws, and their domains were only at the fourth or fifth layer. On top of that, they lacked powerful weapons and defensive gear, so Sett had naturally defeated them in one move.

He'd attacked without warning, leaving them no chance to defend themselves. And with the Law of Metal empowering his Haymaker, he had gravely injured them both.

"You two wanted to gang up on me, and now you're lying on the ground?" Sett felt a surge of satisfaction after defeating them in one move.

His previous two battles had been frustrating. This feeling of defeating an enemy with a single move was downright refreshing.

The two had witnessed plenty of life-and-death struggles and knew they had no chance to turn things around. They said nothing, only glaring at Sett with hatred.

Anyone who became a Giant Axe Warrior wasn't afraid of death, especially not someone who entered a brutal competition like this.

Sett walked toward them step by step, like death itself drawing near.

Death wasn't the scariest thing. The wait for death was.

Thud! Thud!

One punch each ended their lives.

Sett had already killed more than a thousand people, so killing two more made no difference to him.

The path to strength was naturally bloody. Only by fighting through life-and-death battles again and again could someone become strong.

Every World Lord or Immortal had climbed a mountain of corpses to reach that level. There wasn't a single human who'd reached Immortality through solitary cultivation without external help.

Even the strongest human bloodline could only reach the Domain Lord Level upon adulthood.

That was thanks to the efforts of their ancestors, who had evolved their race's bloodline to such a level.

Aside from Special Lifeforms, which were born in the universe without parents—or whose parents could be said to be the universe itself—they were utterly unique.

Only these Special Lifeforms could be born with strength beyond the Immortal Level.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you can find it next time.

Earthlings weren't even guaranteed to reach the Apprentice Level as adults. Even the Martial Artists who became Battle Generals or War Gods on Earth had to fight the monsters in one life-and-death battle after another to grow stronger.

The same was even more true of humans across the universe. Sett naturally didn't care about killing two people.

An enemy was an enemy, whether there was one or ten thousand of them. If he didn't kill them, they'd kill him. That was how Sett saw it. As long as he didn't harm the innocent, he was fine.

"What kind of junk blades are these? They're worthless." Sett picked up the two men's blades and looked them over. They didn't seem valuable.

Still, not wanting to waste them, he put them in his Space Ring. Sett's ring had a space more than a hundred kilometers across, mostly empty. The largest thing inside was a spaceship several dozen meters long, which King Zhenlian had given him.

There was plenty of room, so he could toss in whatever he wanted.

Space Rings were valuable to ordinary people, but they weren't worth much to Sett.

After all, once someone comprehended the Space Law to a certain degree, they could forge a Space Ring with a wave of their hand.

Only World Rings were valuable, because only World Lord-level experts could forge them.

Each contained a world of its own, with an enormous area. And their greatest advantage over ordinary Space Rings was that ordinary rings couldn't hold living things, while World Rings had no such restriction.

Even experts at the Immortal Level carried several World Rings with them as backups.

"Whew. I'd better get to the safe zone quickly. Once the area gets smaller, there'll probably be fights everywhere." After finishing up, Sett continued on his way.

The fight had only taken one move, so it had barely cost Sett any energy. He didn't need to stop and rest.

"No way, someone else?" Sett had flown only a few dozen kilometers when his watch showed someone within ten kilometers.

"Fine, I suppose I can do them the favor of fighting. The safe zone keeps shrinking, and the battles keep piling up. Let's get excited and get this fight started!" Sett's fighting spirit surged.

Whoosh! Sett turned and flew toward the enemy marked on his watch.

"Hm? Someone's coming for me. Another fool who isn't afraid to die." Within the area marked on Sett's watch, a man with a gloomy expression stood there, emanating a lifeless aura.

When he saw Sett charging toward him, a sinister smile spread across his face.

"Here I come!" It took Sett only a few seconds to reach the man.

"Why does this guy seem so lifeless? Did some kind of special secret technique cause it?" Sett wondered as he looked at his opponent.

Most Martial Artists brimmed with vitality. Only a small minority seemed so lifeless, and the man across from him felt even more oppressive, as if he were surrounded by death.

Ten thousand spaceships hovered above Ao Planet, watching the battles taking place below.

The competition had been going on for eight days, and things were finally heating up. As time passed, the number of battles increased.

Most fights ended with one of the Giant Axe Warriors falling.

"Master, look! The Boss and the Reaper are about to fight." A beautiful woman aboard one of the spaceships reminded the expert beside her.

The man looked so ugly that even if human standards of beauty were stretched to their limits, he would still be ugly.

But with the strength of an Immortal Level, even the most ordinary Immortal was still a powerful being who had achieved immortality.

With the strength of an Immortal God, he wouldn't lack women, no matter how ugly he was.

"Mm. Hurry and help me up so I can watch," the Immortal God said.

An Immortal God naturally didn't need help getting up, but he enjoyed the feeling.

After becoming an Immortal God, he had carved out a star region as his own private Universe Country. He'd also killed everyone who had ever called him ugly.

Who would've thought that he, a man of such ordinary talent, would become an Immortal God?

"Oh? It's The Boss and the Reaper. The two of them fighting should be interesting. This is worth watching," said the World Lord whose head bore the recognition of the Origin Laws, speaking to another World Lord who had also been recognized by the Origin Laws.

The Giant Axe Arena monitored all of Ao Planet. Whenever a battle broke out, it sent the spectators a notification on their secondary screens, letting them choose whether to watch.

Especially powerful participants like The Boss and the Reaper were broadcast to the spectators the instant they crossed paths.

Just moments ago, The Boss had defeated two opponents in a single move. Everyone on Ao Planet was a Giant Axe Warrior, so defeating two in one move was proof of his formidable strength.

As for the Reaper, he'd comprehended a tiny sliver of the Time Law, which made him one of the strongest among the thousand Giant Axe Warriors.

The Time Law was a higher law of the Wind Origin Law, the Law of Thunder, and the Law of Light.

It was as powerful as the Space Law, one of the two great higher laws.

Comprehending a higher law was incredibly difficult. To grasp even a tiny sliver of the Time Law at the Planetary Level was proof of terrifying talent.

For the eight days he'd been on Ao Planet, the Collector had flown freely through the safe zones, killing every enemy he encountered along the way.

With the Giant Axe Arena's watches able to detect people within a ten-kilometer radius, he could easily find enemies, even when the safe zone was vast.

But the Collector could fly at ten kilometers per second, letting him quickly find enemies hiding nearby.

Most participants weren't afraid to encounter opponents, but nobody else searched the entire planet for enemies the way the Collector did.

In eight days, the Collector had already killed twenty Giant Axe Warriors, a testament to his strength.

After all, the Giant Axe Warriors brave enough to enter this competition were confident in themselves, and all were quite powerful for their level.

Even so, the Collector had killed twenty of them in a row.

Of course, Sett had no idea how powerful the man across from him was. But he was just as confident in his own strength. With two Innate Secret Techniques and the Origin Law of Gold, his combat power had reached a terrifying level.

"Number twenty-one!" the Collector said with a wicked grin.

Bzzzz!

A strange light burst from the Collector and enveloped the surrounding space.

"What is this?" Covered by the light, Sett immediately felt himself slow down, as if everything had gone into slow motion.

The sudden change took Sett by surprise. He hadn't expected the man's domain to be so powerful.

"My Domain of Time isn't bad, is it? Heh." The Collector gave a sinister smile and took out a scythe.

He controlled the scythe and casually swung it through the air. It spun out with a whoosh and flew toward Sett.

The instant the Collector's Domain of Time enveloped him and slowed him down, Sett quickly released his own domains.

Only after he released his seven-layer Domain of Metal and five-layer Domain of Space did the feeling of restraint disappear.

"This guy's Domain of Time is probably at least seventh-layer, maybe even eighth. He's a freak too," Sett thought.

After all, even with his two domains released, he could only barely break free of the restraint. He still had no control over the space around him, which meant the Collector's domain had completely countered his own.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The scythe spun freely through the air. It was a full two meters long and covered in blue-green patterns, giving it a mysterious appearance.

In Sett's eyes, it rotated so slowly that it seemed like it would take forever to reach him.

"Something's wrong!" Sett was alarmed. He sensed something was off.

The scythe seemed far too slow—so slow that it wasn't an attack from someone at the Planetary Level. Even an Apprentice Level fighter could attack faster.

"Break! Break! Break!" Sett roared. His booming voice carried the Law of Metal, like the fury of a giant, and unleashed tremendous power.

By the time Sett roared, the scythe was already in front of him. Half a second later, it would have sliced off his head.

Haymaker!

A huge golden fist appeared in front of Sett, blazing with golden light.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The scythe struck the fist as it spun, attacking again and again. In an instant, it collided several times, each impact erupting with tremendous force.

The repeated impacts rang out thunderously. Both fighters' attacks were infused with their respective laws, making them incredibly powerful.

After quite a while, the scythe finally stopped attacking, and the fist phantoms Sett had unleashed vanished.

Neither man had gained the upper hand in their first exchange.

"Phew, good thing I reacted quickly, or I'd be dead here. It has to be the Time Law. I never expected this man to have comprehended it. That scythe's attacks carried the power of world laws, making them impossible to guard against." Sett let out a breath, still shaken.

Attacks using the Time Law were incredibly uncanny. If Sett hadn't reacted in time, he would already have been a headless corpse.

"Hm? He actually dodged that move of mine. The twenty people before him were all killed in one strike. This is interesting." The Collector waved his hand, summoning the scythe back.

He was a little surprised, but not discouraged. If anything, his smile grew wider.

To him, killing a strong opponent was far more interesting. No matter how powerful an enemy was, killing them in one strike was no different from killing a chicken.