CLEAVER OF SIN

Chapter 786: Fake Buddha?

Acker Holloway opened his eyes, his hands clasped in front of him as though he were saying a prayer. At this moment, he was plummeting from the sky, his monk-like robes fluttering wildly as gravity tore him downwards through the freezing air."Amitabha," Acker spoke as he plummeted, his face calm and tranquil, his staff perfectly balanced on his shoulders as the raging wind couldn’t even move it by the slightest fraction.

Arriving at the ground, he landed with a deft touch, his landing smooth and controlled. His eyes scanned the area as he took in his surroundings. All his black eyes could see was a field of ice. It was as though he had landed in a completely different world; the atmosphere was chilling and biting, carrying with it a coldness that seemed capable of freezing flesh and bone alike.

But Acker stood as though his body was resistant to such temperatures. Snow and small icicles fell onto his body ever so slowly. Huge, thick ice shards stretched for meters into the air, resembling frozen spears thrust towards the heavens. There seemed to be no life in sight, no trees of any sort, no insects, no nothing, as though no life form was strong enough to survive within such a merciless blizzard. The only sounds present were the distant howling of the wind and the faint crunch of snow beneath his feet.

After assessing his surroundings, Acker began to walk. He didn’t think too much about anything; his mission was simple: purify the world of Monsters, Beasts, and Emovirae so the world might become peaceful and return to what it once was twenty thousand years ago. And to him, his first big step in his grand mission was this Inter-Empire Competition, where the world could witness him and see the path he intended to walk.

Of course, it wasn’t that he sought attention. It was simply that he wanted to display his strength so that people could call upon him whenever they were in need of his power to survive any calamity or crisis, which he would lend out freely. After all, he wasn’t doing this to get paid, nor was he doing it to become a Hero, as fame, wealth, influence, authority, none of those things interested him in the slightest.

"Buddha shall purify the world of sin," he spoke as snow fell upon his bald head, the Mala beads hanging from his clasped palms as he walked forward through the frozen wasteland.

Soon, he came to a stop as his ears picked up something ahead of him. In front of him was a pack of ice wolves that stood a head taller than him in terms of body size. Their white fur blended almost perfectly with the snowy environment, while their glowing blue eyes stared at him with obvious hostility. Frost escaped from their mouths with every breath they took.

"It seems the first sinners are here," Acker spoke as his hands finally moved. He hung his Mala beads around his neck as he finally touched the staff that had been balanced upon his shoulders.

"Creatures of the world, your presence terrorizes the innocent. You are the sins of the world," Acker spoke, tears rolling down his eyes.

To him, anything that wasn’t Human or an unawakened creature was a sin of the world, something birthed to bring about its eventual destruction. Whether they possessed intelligence or not, whether they acted out of instinct or malice, it made no difference within his worldview.

"Your sins can only be purified by Buddha. In him, you shall find forgiveness and peace," he stated yet again.

But the pack didn’t seem ready to listen to his rambling. One of the wolves simply raised a paw and slashed across the air, and the moment it did, a burst of pointed icicles erupted from the ground, tearing towards Acker as the Monster aimed to kill him where he stood.

"Violence is never the answer, but it is the only solution," Acker stated as he simply dodged to the side, his robes fluttering as he evaded the attack with ease.

But the moment he did, another ice wolf closed in from behind, its enormous jaws snapping open as its canines moved to tear through Acker’s body. But Acker didn’t even bother to turn around; he simply sidestepped as though he possessed eyes on the back of his bald head.

The moment he sidestepped, the wolf’s head snapped forward, its jaws clamping shut as it bit into thin air. But before it could move again, Acker’s left hand blurred upwards, his golden staff crashing against the eight foot tall Monster’s head. And with that single attack, the wolf’s head burst open, blue blood splattering into the air and staining the snow beneath it.

Although Acker cried, he showed no mercy. To him, these were sins, and although he didn’t advocate violence, he had no choice but to do this. He vanished from where he stood, his body flickering into existence before another wolf. The wolf tried to dodge, but it was futile. Acker’s golden staff connected with its stomach from below.

And with brutal force, the wolf was ripped in half. Not sliced apart, but literally torn apart. Flesh, blood, and organs scattered through the air as though caught in an invisible explosion. Acker didn’t even wait for the two halves of the body to hit the ground. He dove through the suspended corpse as he moved toward his next attack.

One of the wolves howled, Astra energy erupting through its body as jagged ice spikes manifested beside it, and without hesitation, it fired them towards the approaching Acker. Acker’s staff blurred in a circular motion like a spinning fan as he destroyed every single attack, his speed not slowing even for a moment. Ice fragments exploded around him, but none were capable of touching his body.

He arrived before the wolf, about to end it, but another one simply sent another burst of icicles erupting from the ground, racing towards Acker, trying to capitalize on the moment.

But Acker didn’t stop his initial attack. Instead, his staff crashed against the jaw of the first wolf, while he clenched his left fist and punched outward towards the incoming icicle attacks. A sonic boom erupted forth, slamming into the icicle attacks and shattering them into tiny ice fragments. The air warped violently as the sonic blast didn’t slow down, it crashed into the second wolf and immediately reduced it to nothing more than mangled flesh and shattered bones.

Although it was freezing, the tears streaming down Acker’s face never froze over, as though they were only meant to vanish once they reached his jaw. The contradiction between his mournful expression and his ruthless actions made for an unsettling sight.

The remaining wolves closed in, but Acker simply spun his staff dexterously in one hand before slamming its butt into the frozen ground with tremendous force. Instantly, a burst of wind and ice shot outward as an all-encompassing attack slammed into every wolf that had closed the distance. The frozen earth cracked apart beneath the impact, sending spiderweb-like fractures racing across the landscape.

The wolves couldn’t even react before they were wiped out, their bodies twisting in unnatural directions and angles, bones breaking apart as they were crushed into fragments. Some were torn apart entirely, while others were reduced to little more than bloody remains scattered across the snow.

With that single attack, Acker had ended the pack.

Acker stood in silence for a moment. He gazed at the destruction and deaths he had caused and sighed. He clasped his hands together in front of his chest as he said a two-second prayer for the Monsters. Despite being the one who had killed them, his expression carried genuine sorrow, as though he truly believed he had done them a kindness.

With that done, he turned and began to walk away.

He didn’t bother to check the point rankings. He wasn’t here for that. While he needed the world to know him, he was far more interested in ending the sins of the world. Rankings, rewards, prestige, and recognition all came second to the mission he had devoted his life towards.

And with that, Monk Acker Holloway started his journey, his mission to purify the world.

But one had to ask, did Buddha really send this guy, or was he just an imposter?