Battle Situation and Past

Inside the gradually crumbling palace, the battle between Chariot and Anna continued.

The glint of blades flashed and crossed, kicking up a thick cloud of dust as the entire building slowly collapsed amidst their fight.

“If you keep this up, you’re going to bring down the whole palace!” Bai Yunqing commented sarcastically.

“It’s fine! Worst case, I’ll just make that old bastard cough up some coin!” Anna shouted, then swung her blade at Chariot.

Clang—

The power of a dark god erupted, as if a deity symbolizing calamity and darkness had cast its gaze upon the mortal world.

“A difficult opponent,” Chariot said, then traced a sword dance in the air with the rapier in his hand.

A merciless flurry of slashes, like a tangle of thorns, swept towards Anna.

Seeing this, Anna slowly closed her eyes, the phantom image behind her growing ever darker.

[From the Darkness]

In an instant, Anna’s figure dissolved into a black mist.
The storm of thrusts pierced through the mist but failed to cause any harm.

“Get back to your damn Abyss!” Anna roared, as endless darkness gathered on her dagger before she brought it down in a fierce chop!

“You want to defeat me? You’re still a long way off, assassin!”

While one side was burning with passionate combat, the Hanged Man on the other side wore a troubled expression.

Seeing his opponent’s awkward predicament, Bai Yunqing couldn’t help but taunt him, “What’s this? Even a mighty Apostle can find himself in a tight spot?”

Unlike the battle between Chariot and Anna, which took place in reality, Bai Yunqing and the Hanged Man were clashing within the Mirror Dimension.

Bai Yunqing hadn’t expected his opponent to actually dispatch one of his divine nature clones to enter the Mirror Dimension.

“Aren’t you afraid of losing a clone, Apostle?”

“Some people like to bark like dogs the moment they gain a slight advantage, completely oblivious to their own situation.”

“I’d say that’s the howl you make before death.”

“Who will win and who will lose is not yet decided.”

The two were like players in a game of chess, neither willing to yield an inch.

And outside the Imperial Palace—

Beneath the overwhelming Black Tide, a sturdy, yellow-haired man stood firm, the greatsword in his hands slowly emitting a ghostly glow.

The Godslayer of Mingxi City, bearer of the Godslayer’s title—Feilu Fenrir.

“A mere Black Tide dares to dream of overwhelming this city of order?”

“Have I grown old, or did you think I could no longer lift my sword? How dare you come here… you dregs of the Abyss!”

“ROAR—!!” The Black Tide seemed to answer the man with a deafening roar.

Immediately after, the sky-blotting black tide rushed madly towards Feilu.

“Those who don’t listen to advice are not good children.”

A massive beast tens of meters tall suddenly appeared.
An infinite gravitational force manifested, with Feilu at the very center of the vortex.

The powerful gravity constantly pulled at all the creatures within the Black Tide, eventually gathering them all before him to be slaughtered one by one!

“Too slow! Far too slow! Let the tide come on stronger!” Feilu laughed maniacally, swinging the greatsword in his hand as if it were a mere rope.

“Hey, old man, don’t get so carried away,” a voice sounded from beside Feilu.

“You… Fosite Heracles. It seems even you were drawn out.”

“Of course! The city is about to be submerged, how could I not show up?”

“I wonder how my foolish son is doing… Honestly, studying alchemy all day long. What’s there to learn about that stuff? It’s really not as good as…”

A pitch-black Abyss creature suddenly swung its fist at him.
Fosite merely gave it a sidelong glance.

“…as much fun as fighting!”

The man quickly crouched into a punching stance, then gathered his strength for a single strike!

[Across Heaven and Earth—I Alone Am Supreme!]

With just a simple, unadorned punch, the surrounding space was well and truly shattered, and countless tiny spatial fragments filled the air.

The shockwave rolled outwards, and at its center, Fosite alone stood firm.

“Looks like you’re not what you used to be, old man. You weren’t this soft back in the day.”

“I’m getting old. Almost sixty now. My limbs are starting to feel weak.”

“And what about you? The name of Godslayer won’t die with your generation, will it?”

“That won’t happen. At least…”

Another wave of the Black Tide rushed towards them, and countless Abyss creatures lunged at the man, baring their fangs.

“…not until I’m dead!”

“True. We should at least leave a good environment for the next generation.”

“So… what about these dregs?”

“Let’s just kill them all. They are quite an eyesore, after all.”

“Right.”

Three years ago—

In a dark basement, various specimens were arranged in a row.
Their hideous expressions all revealed the abuse they had suffered in life.

But unlike normal humans, though these specimens had a human form, their entire bodies were covered in multicolored spores, making for a particularly frightening sight.

“Xisite, you know the consequences of what you’re doing,” Sui Ming’s cold voice rang out.

“I know… but I am not wrong! I am right! Sui Ming!” the haggard-looking middle-aged man said, his hands gripping Sui Ming’s shoulders tightly, his expression ferocious.

“Trying to fuse humans with creatures of the Abyss… have you lost your mind?”

“You are the leader of Mingxi City, you bastard!”

Unable to contain his rage, Sui Ming sent Xisite to the ground with a single punch.

Wiping the blood from his nose, Xisite said calmly, “This world is already riddled with holes. Our hope died three thousand years ago!”

“For these past few years, I have been trying to find a way out for Mingxi City, to lead them to survive the apocalypse, but it’s clear I have not succeeded.”

“That’s because hope is gone, Sui Ming!”

“The being that the [Holy Church] has worshipped for thousands of years is actually long dead! We… our fate is already sealed!”

“And this is your idea of finding another way? Attempting to combine humanity with the Abyss to escape this inevitable reality?”

“You’re loading everyone’s lives into the chamber of a gun, all for this minuscule possibility?”

“This is blasphemy, Xisite!”

“The possibilities of life are beyond your imagination.”

“Do you think I don’t know that, Sui Ming? But in the face of a predetermined ending, everything seems so powerless, doesn’t it?”

“Faced with an ending that will inevitably come, what will you do? Sui Ming, the youngest [True Manifestation]-level Soul Invoker.”

“What will you do?”

Sui Ming let out a long sigh and prepared to leave.

“Have you ever thought about how she would feel?”

“Yes. But in the face of the fate of all humanity, the feelings of an individual are not worth mentioning.”

“Your affairs… I will settle them one by one.”

“So, wash your neck and wait. When the time comes, I will give you my answer.”

“It would be my greatest honor.”