Hitman With A Badass System

The water around Agra's head began to darken, turning from crystal clear to a murky, inky black, as the blood oozing from his wounds, thick and viscous, mixed with the water. The koi fish, still huddled in the corner of the pond, their scales shimmering nervously in the dim light, seemed to absorb the darkness, their bodies pulsing with an unnatural energy. Slowly, gradually, the blackness receded, the water returning to its pristine clarity, as if cleansed.

Michael felt Agra's struggles cease, his body going limp, the chaotic energy that had radiated from him dissipating like smoke.

And then… a black hole opened up in the center of the pond, its edges crackling with temporal energy. Agra's body, his face now a mask of serene… emptiness, was pulled towards it, his limbs disappearing into the vortex, one by one.

And as the black hole disappeared along with Agra, Michael's mind got riddled with system notifications.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing the God of Chaos, Agra. The reward is 200,000 Experience points and 100,000 Badass points.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 2,000,000,000 Badass points.]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for completing the quest Chaos Slayer. Reward: Agra's Domain (including all current worshippers). Related quest "Unlock the Godhood of the Goddess of Monsters" completed.]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. The current stage is the Celestial Resonance Realm.]

"Holy shit," Michael muttered as his eyes widened in surprise. Two billion Badass Points? That was… insane! He hadn't expected that. He'd known killing Agra would be lucrative, but he did not expect that many points.

He hadn't even noticed the black hole disappear, the Pond of Tranquility returning to its serene stillness, the koi fish, their bodies now glowing with a faint, golden light, swimming lazily through the clear water. But Michael was too focused on the numbers, the sheer magnitude of his earnings.

"Jackpot," he chuckled, a slow grin spreading across his face.

"Michael…" Gaya's voice, soft and… strange, made him turn. She was walking towards him, her hand outstretched, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"What's… happening?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. "I… I feel… weird."

Michael's grin faded as he looked at her. A faint, white light, a warm, ethereal glow, was emanating from her skin, pulsing and shimmering as if she had a fever and her eyes were… glowing.

And then, her legs buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Gaya!" Michael shouted, rushing to her side. He knelt beside her, his gaze scanning her face, searching for any sign of… injury, of pain…

She was gritting her teeth, her body trembling, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

But even as he worried, a part of him, a deeper, more intuitive part, recognized what was happening.

The quest. He'd completed it. He'd killed Agra. He'd freed the beasts. And now… now Gaya was… ascending.

Her godhood was… unlocking.

Soon, a black, oily substance, thick and viscous, began to ooze from her pores, coating her skin in a layer of… something that smelled like a mixture of burnt rubber and sulfur. She coughed, a spasm that wracked her body, and a stream of the black liquid, shot through with flecks of… something that looked suspiciously like… glitter, erupted from her mouth.

Then, as Michael watched, a torrent of pure and potent celestial energy poured into her, washing over her and seeping into her very being. It was… purifying her, restructuring her from the cellular level outwards, transforming her from a mortal, albeit a powerful one, into… a goddess.

Michael sat beside her, his hand resting on hers, his gaze fixed on her face, watching as the transformation unfolded. He didn't flinch as she coughed up another mouthful of that black, glittery goo, didn't even seem to notice as it splattered across his armor. He was… focused. Concerned.

"Michael! What's happening?!" Fayeth's voice, sharp with panic, made him turn.

Fayeth had tried to… observe… the fight between Michael and Agra. She'd wanted to see the God of Chaos get his ass kicked, to witness the… retribution… he so richly deserved. But the Death Range, that impenetrable darkness Michael had conjured, had blocked her view. She'd heard the sounds of the battle, the clash of weapons, Agra's screams and curses, and Michael's chilling laughter but she'd seen nothing. Until the black hole had appeared, swallowing Agra's… essence.

And now… this. Gaya, lying on the ground, her body convulsing, covered in that… stuff, her eyes glowing with an unnatural light.

"What did he do to her?" Fayeth demanded, her gaze fixed on Michael, accusing.

"She's… ascending," Michael said calmly, his voice a reassuring rumble. "She's becoming… a goddess."

Fayeth stared at him, her jaw slack, her mind struggling to process his words. Ascending? Becoming a goddess? What the hell did that even mean?

She'd always believed that gods were born, not made. But here, before her very eyes, she was witnessing a miracle. A transformation. The birth of a goddess if she was to believe Michael, anyway. It was unbelievable and a little bit terrifying.

As Gaya ascended, the Verdant Sanctuary began to heal itself.

Fayeth felt it first. A tingling sensation, a warmth that spread through the forest, like the first rays of sunlight after a long winter. The air, once heavy with the stench of decay and corruption, became… lighter. Cleaner. Fresher. But the true transformation was happening outside the forest, in the heart of Agra's desolate domain.

The scorched, black earth began to… heal. Tiny sprouts of green, delicate shoots of grass, pushed their way through the cracked soil, blanketing the barren plains in a vibrant carpet of life. The bodies, the limbs, and the debris that had choked the ocean around Agra's temple… dissolved, cleansing the water until it shimmered with a clear, turquoise glow. The twisted, blackened trees straightened, their branches reaching towards the sky, their leaves unfurling, their colors vibrant, alive. Even the jagged, black rocks that had littered the landscape softened, their edges smoothing, their surfaces turning a warm, earthy brown.

And the temple itself… the Temple of Chaos… began to… change.

Vines, thick and green, snaked their way up the walls, their tendrils twisting and coiling around the jagged edges, softening the harsh angles, their leaves a vibrant contrast to the black stone. Flowers, delicate blossoms of pink and white, bloomed in the cracks and crevices, their fragrance a sweet counterpoint to the lingering stench of… well, of Agra.

"What the fuck…?" one of the cultists patrolling the temple perimeter muttered, scratching his head. "Is this shit… growing?"

"It's those… tree-hugging Ava worshippers, I bet," another cultist growled, spitting on the ground. "Trying to… redecorate. They're gonna pay for this. Agra's gonna be pissed."

"I thought… chaos destroyed… things," a third cultist said, his voice laced with confusion. "Not… grew them."

"Yeah and I thought Qin Jiu's runes will keep this place intact, not fucking vines and shit growing," said the other, "This is unnatural."

Inside the cages, within the walls of the temple, the enslaved beasts stirred. The ones that were still alive, their bodies emaciated, their eyes dull with despair, looked up, their gazes drawn to the sky, as if… sensing a change. A… presence. They whimpered low, mournful sounds, and then… began to… heal. Their wounds closed, their fur regained its luster, and their eyes brightened with a flicker of… hope.

On the other hand, the emaciated worshippers, their bodies broken by Agra's cruel regime, felt a surge of something flowing through them. It started as a warmth, a tingling sensation deep within their bones, and then… it blossomed.

Once thick with the stench of decay and corruption, the air now carried a sweet, floral fragrance, each breath a balm to their wounded lungs. The aches and pains that had become a constant companion, a dull throb that never truly faded began to subside. Their skin, once stretched taut over their bones, now regained a hint of color, the wounds, and scars that crisscrossed their flesh slowly fading, as if time itself was being… rewound.

"What's… happening?" one of the slaves whispered, his voice hoarse, barely audible. He had been hauling stones, his chains digging into his flesh, his body screaming in protest, and now the pain was gone. He looked down at his hands as his skin no longer a sickly gray, but a healthy, warm brown. The cuts and calluses that had marred his palms were fading.

"I… I feel… stronger," a woman murmured, her eyes wide with disbelief. She had been beaten, whipped, her body a canvas of pain, and now… now she felt… whole. She touched her face, her fingers tracing the outline of a fading bruise.

"The air… it's… clean," a young boy said as he looked around with newfound hope.

"Is… is Ava back?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

As the land healed, as Ava's power flowed back into the Verdant Sanctuary, the caged beasts felt a surge of strength, power, and rage. The energy emanating from Gaya, a byproduct of her ascension, reached them, a beacon, a call to arms.

The chains that bound them, etched with runes that pulsed with Agra's chaotic magic, began to corrode before breaking. And then… all hell broke loose.

The griffins, their wings healed, their eyes blazing with a newfound fury, snapped their chains, their talons tearing through the flesh of the cultists who'd been tasked with… guarding them.

"What the…?" one of the cultists shrieked, his eyes widening in horror as a griffon, its massive beak snapping, lunged at him while its talons ripped through his chest, lifting him into the air.

On the other side, the lions, their roars echoing through the temple grounds, pounced on their tormentors, their fangs tearing through flesh and bone, their claws leaving deep, ragged wounds.

"Get… get these fucking beasts off me!" another cultist screamed, his voice a choked gurgle as a lion, its jaws clamped around his throat, shook him like a rag doll.

And the dragons… oh, the dragons. Their scales shimmered as the dragons' breath incinerated everything in its path.

"Run!" a cultist yelled with a terror that went beyond the usual enthusiasm for chaos.

"They're… they're breaking free!"

But there was nowhere to run as the beasts, freed from their captivity were everywhere. And they were… hungry.

They surged towards the forest, drawn to the source of the power that had awakened them. Drawn to their Goddess.