Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 408: Dao of Jack Rust!

The pain of his wounds was all but forgotten. Jack laughed as he jumped into the fray, channeling his powers through the lens of his personal Dao. His body turned into a ray of light, an avatar of carnage. He no longer dodged. He punched away at all attacks, be they space or time or whatever bullshit the gods could throw at him. He broke them all. He was no longer hindered—instead, with every punch, with every step, Jack’s Dao was growing even purer, unlocking more and more of his sealed power as he absorbed it into his own Dao.

What was the Fist? It had been a long time since he asked himself this question. The Fist was strength, the fist was power. It was daring to fight and breaking through all obstacles. It was crashing head-on against injustice. It was taking control of yourself and your destiny, charging bravely through life until you met your end. The fist was heroism, it was confidence, it was the only road to a happy life.

The Fist was the only true path. The only path Jack could follow. So what if there were other Daos? In his view, they were nothing but illusions, false concepts that led in circles. If others could make them work, that was fine—but there was only true path for Jack, and that was to fight, fight, FIGHT!

His fist smashed squarely into the Mass God’s. A colossal shockwave erupted, flinging away two other Gods. Jack lost in depth but won in power—the hand of the Mass God was smashed backward, forced to give way, as Jack’s fist unstoppably pushed through.

“METEOR PUNCH!” he shouted. The world exploded. Spheres flew everywhere as the Mass God was obliterated, and without a pause, Jack turned to face the rest. A brutal battle ensued. He punched Gods and their attacks. He grabbed the Star God by the throat, smashing him into the Fire God, then endured a space spike to punch a hole through the Time God’s chest.

Bodies and energy attacks were flying, and at their center, a mortal man was slaughtering the gods.

He roared. He was unstoppable. The white world was dyed with blood, and all sorts of powers flailed wildly. Like a beast, Jack traded injury for injury, using his tempered body to come out ahead. Finally, as his fist shattered the Space God’s head, making it dissipate, only two Gods were left—the Life and Death Gods. Enas and Axelor. The former and current King of Gods.

They had not acted so far. They stood at the back, their haughtiness clear but supported by real power. Jack could sense that their auras were far superior to all other Gods. These two alone were as strong as the other ten put together. Was this true for the Gods themselves, or just these small projections formed by the trial?

Jack grinned. Though he had defeated the Space God, his space mastery did not return. He would have been shocked if he hadn’t already realized that this trial tested the very core of his Dao.

Enas smiled. A green aura flooded his body, raising his strength to an impossible degree. At the same time, his smile turned hard, bloodthirsty. But Jack attacked the other God first—the Life Drop came from the real Enas and gave Jack extreme regeneration, so if this projection shared that power, it would be very difficult to take down.

Axelor was a devil clad in darkness. He snorted as Jack approached, directing a dark mist towards him. Jack had a feeling that, if he touched this mist, he would die.

He punched it all the same.

The mist was split. Jack’s fist grew cold, as if his hand had died, but he still charged bravely into the darkness. The devil turned into a shadow as it drew backward.

Enas stood by the side, only watching. This was the pride of the King of Gods. Even if it meant his defeat, he would not work with another to subdue a mortal.

Fist met darkness. Axelor was far, far superior to the other Gods Jack had faced. Even by himself, he was a worthy opponent. His every move brought death, his every gaze brought darkness. Jack’s body was constantly resisting instant death. Midway through the battle, he was blinded. But he still kept going, because his Dao of Jack Rust could not be blocked by mere darkness. His fists struck shadows again and again. Parts of his blood turned into black sludge. He and Axelor were killing each other.

But Jack prevailed. With a final fist, he tore through Axelor’s darkness and claimed his head. Everything dissipated. Jack was left panting and injured. His body bore numerous wounds, some so deep they revealed white bones. It was a gruesome sight—but thanks to his tempered body, he retained roughly half his battle power.

He turned towards Enas, the final God.

Jack had no confidence he could win. Not only was he wounded and exhausted, but Enas’s power was also faintly above Axelor’s. Yet, those didn’t matter. He would still fight. If he died, so be it.

Enas smiled again. His face was kind, his eyes green, his head covered in long dark hair, and he wore pure white clothes, making him seem ethereal. Yet, through his wide sleeves, infinite power gathered. “Mortal cannot overcome the divine,” he said, the first time any of these projections spoke. “Come.”

And Jack came.

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His fists were a maelstrom. His fighting skills, sharpened all the way from the Forest of the Strong, to Shol’s training, to his numerous battles afterward, shone at their brightest. As his many Daos slowly merged into his core, so were his fighting skills polished even further, making Jack approach the existence of a complete whole.

At the same time, some of his Dao Skills were already expressed through his personal Dao so he could use them. Meteor Punches cut through the air. His body moved with the grace and power of an expert martial artist.

But the God of Life was formidable. His own body was as tempered than Jack’s; every collision left them both shaking, reverberating across the world like the sound of a massive gong. The white expanse had been ravaged. Space shattered. Craters and holes spread out for miles, and even the sky had been blasted open, revealing the deep darkness beyond.

If this was a normal continent, it would have long been torn asunder.

Two bodies flitted through the endless white space, clashing again and again. Neither used magic or fancy powers; they were brutally beating each other to death. Fists smashed like rockets, thunderous roars echoed. Enas’s smile had long faded, turning into stark killing intent. As for Jack, his face had done the opposite; it had unknowingly warped into a fierce grin, a smile stemming from his excitement to do battle, to kill and be killed.

This was his path forward. Following it brought him immense joy.

The two clashed for many minutes without a clear victor. Finally, Enas changed tactics; his fists were weaker now, but every collision sent streams of intrusive life energy into Jack’s body, bloating and disturbing him. His skin squirmed as if about to grow, his bones rumbled, his organs shook. Tumors grew all over him.

Life could be disturbing sometimes.

Yet, Jack only roared, using his Dao to suppress these changes. They would bring him down sooner or later, but as Enas had invested his power there, he was losing every exchange. Jack’s fists pummeled the God of Life, breaking his bones and dying his pure white robes crimson.

Jack was rapidly running out of energy, but so was Enas. The power he held was too much—as a result, his endurance was actually limited.

Finally, Enas took to the sky. His body flared green as his aura gathered. For a moment, he really did resemble a God.

“This is my final attack,” he declared in an even voice. “Kill or be killed.”

Jack laughed. “Kill or be killed!” he agreed, ignoring the extreme pain rampaging through his body. His fist shone purple, gathering everything into it. Due to the constraints of this trial, spacetime, light, and sound resisted his pull, but Jack had already realized that it wasn’t really those that gave him his power. What really gathered inside his fist, what really imploded, was his own burning fighting spirit, and there was no Dao in the world that could stop that.

“Die!” he roared, soaring into the sky.

A green sun flared, sucking in the life energy of the world. Jack felt his own body deteriorating, but he still charged forth. His fist gathered more and more power. The world warped around it.

“End of Life!”

The green sun expanded. As Jack reached it, the entire thing exploded in a massive, world-shattering explosion directed entirely towards Jack. His fist exploded at the same time, disintegrating his entire arm.

“SUPERNOVA!”

Two explosions went head-to-head. The world lost its vibrancy, turning purple and green. The white expanse was entirely uprooted for endless miles, revealing a deep darkness below it, while the sky and timespace were all burned away.

In the deep void, the purple and green tussled with each other, each hiding the power to destroy celestial bodies. Yet, as the two colors waged war, purple took a slight advantage—and like a tower of cards, the green sun collapsed, imploding on itself and completely evaporating Enas who hid in its center.

An unwilling roar echoed.

The last explosion blew Jack away, sending him flying for hundreds of miles. It was only then that he crashed against the white ground, bouncing off it multiple times before finally rolling to a stop.

His entire body was charred black. Many wounds had stopped oozing blood because he’d almost run out. He was a dying candle, barely even alive. Worse yet, the trial restraints remained, and he couldn’t even muster the power of life to heal himself.

But even an Archon’s trial wasn’t completely merciless. A green light shone on Jack, filling him with vitality. His wasted blood was made anew, his bones snapped into place, his skin and flesh regrew. Before long, he was whole again, and even his exhaustion had abated somewhat.

This regeneration was the final sign that he had succeeded. Only then did he truly let himself relax, resting on the white ground as he took deep breaths.

“Thank you…” he whispered into the air.

This trial had been beyond brutal. Even though it played completely on Jack’s strengths, he had still only barely survived—he had no idea how other people were supposed to complete it. Yet, for all that difficulty, his harvest was equally bountiful. Let alone the Archon’s inheritance—just this battle alone had opened his eyes and expanded his horizons, showing him the powers of the twelve Old Gods. It had also helped him realize the importance of his personal Dao and fuse everything else into it—a process which, even if he consciously tried outside, would be almost impossible without an extreme power locking down every other Dao.

Just this battle had given Jack tremendous benefits. That was why, despite almost dying, he had thanked the Archon.

The world gently warped around him. Jack found himself standing before the realm heart again, in its tiny chamber, his body still exhausted but mostly healthy. To his relief, the Dao restraints were lifted, so he could contact the Life Drop again and begin fully restoring himself.

“Success…” the voice boomed again, this time with a hint of hesitation. “I was not sure anyone would pass my trial before the dimension collapsed… I am wondering whether I was too harsh. However, if you are hearing this message, you must have succeeded. Congratulations. It seems my legacy will not be forgotten. I also hope that you understood the trial’s point and did not use vile means to pass…”

Jack had no idea what vile means he could have used, but he still bowed deeply in gratitude.

“Then, my legacy belongs to you. Rest your hand on the realm heart again to access it. The core of my teachings, as well as this realm heart which I spent my own life to create, will belong to you. Do not waste them!”

“Thank you…” Jack muttered, relieved to have finally succeeded. His hand touched the realm heart, and a Dao Vision shot into his mind.