Two powerful auras erupted in the middle of the sky and clashed with force, but they had not yet attacked each other.
Belial extended his hand, and a sea of blood covered the sky, turning it red. His crimson eyes seemed more intense. He suddenly stepped forward as this collision continued for a moment.
Explosion!
The entire sky trembled as he took this step forward. The massive sea of blood surged wildly.
It suddenly transformed into a colossal blood wave stretching hundreds of thousands of feet, heading violently toward Zhang Yong.
Zhang Yong's body was as small as an ant before the massive blood wave
He stared coldly at the wave , There was no exaggerated gesture, only him calmly raising his hand toward the immense blood wave.
Memory of Eternal Ice – Ninth Layer: Eternal Freezing
The frost spread from him at unimaginable speed. The blood wave that was meters away from him suddenly stopped, transformed into a massive ice sculpture of crimson crystal.
Even the blood spray in the air froze, forming billions of small diamond pieces that hung in space like unknown stars.
Belial found himself trapped. Not only was his body frozen, but even the flow of his demonic energy and his thinking slowed to near cessation.
He couldn't even blink his crimson eyes.
But his power – even if he was currently only in a human vessel – was immense. Cracks began to appear on the surface of the massive ice sculpture.
"T...h...i...s...f...a...r...c...e.." Belial's distorted words emerged with difficulty due to the slowed time.
Zhang Yong, now breathing heavily, knew this wouldn't last long.
He had expended nearly all his spiritual energy to freeze Belial for a few seconds in this time-stopped state.
With a booming cracking sound, the massive ice sculpture exploded. Shards of ice and crimson crystal flew in every direction like high-explosive bombs, tearing the space around them.
Belial burst out from within the explosion, his distorted body now covered in a thin layer of cracked ice that quickly fell away. His crimson eyes blazed with an anger Zhang Yong had never seen before.
"Audacity... from... an... insect... like... you!" Belial roared, each word shaking the sky , The spiked tail behind him struck like an angry serpent.
Zhang Yong had no time to respond. He raised his bone sword, which was beginning to show cracks, and met the attack.
Thwack!
The tail collided with the sword, but this time the force was overwhelming. Zhang Yong heard the sound of his arm bones breaking under the pressure. He was sent flying like a ball, smashing through the ground in a straight line.
Zhang Yong rose with difficulty, blood filling his mouth. He looked at his right arm, twisted unnaturally. Even with his enhanced body, the blow was too powerful.
"You see?" said Belial, floating slowly toward him through the air. "This is the difference between us. You are just a human... weak, ignorant, and worthless."
Belial raised his hand, and a sphere of absolute black energy gathered above his palm.
This energy was different... darker, colder than anything Zhang Yong had ever encountered. Even the light around it seemed to bend and die.
"Time for your end."
At the same time, a change occurred in the sky. A seven-colored light appeared above the battlefield, White clouds filled the sky instead of black ones.
Soon, snow began to fall from the sky. Golden snow fell, and the clouds and mist seemed human. They scattered like flowers across the world.
Belial stared at the sky, his eyes narrowing sharply. "Light of the Selection Ceremony? This world is choosing its child anew? This is useless. There are no living beings nearby strong enough to..." Suddenly, his eyes widened.
The golden snow began to fall and sway like flower petals, but they had a specific direction. They were heading toward Zhang Yong.
'The will of this world recognizes Belial as a danger. As a last resort, it has chosen the strongest human currently present to grant enough power to win.' Zhang Yong thought coldly.
The will of this world did not intend to intervene personally. It preferred to choose an outsider like Zhang Yong to do the fighting.
If not for the circumstances, it would not have done this.
Zhang Yong smiled secretly. 'No matter. The world's will was an unplanned backup, but luck is on my side... so I will invest in luck!'
The golden petals began to fly rapidly toward Zhang Yong, entering his body. His body rose into the air as a golden light shone upon him from the sky alone.
His spiritual energy circulated rapidly, and his body became completely immersed in the light.
He felt his Dantian begin to fill to the brim, and suddenly—
Breakthrough!
Zhang Yong began a series of consecutive breakthroughs without any pause.
Golden energy rose around his body like silk threads, and soon a golden dragon appeared in the middle of the sky behind Zhang Yong.
Zhang Yong slowly opened his eyes. He had reached it: the Emperor Stage.
It was a new feeling, different from everything else, causing Zhang Yong's fighting spirit to rise.
Unfold the wings of pride and soar to the sky.
Ride the clouds and grasp the stars.
Mock the ants and watch the birds.
Hold the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left.
Touch the River of Fate and rewrite my destiny.
Become the one true star of the sky.
Slaughter between worlds and rebel against fate.
Trample upon storms and shatter thunder.
Break through the horizons without fear or hesitation.
Create new paths, standing alone at the summit.
Cross barriers, break bonds, and proclaim to the corners.
See truths that eyes cannot perceive.
Live immortal, soar, and write a new history.
On this day, he had achieved the peak of the human world.
He raised his hand, and the golden dragon rose toward the sky, beginning to circle around itself.
Luck Path – Golden Turtle Shell
The golden dragon began to spin around itself at tremendous speed, forming a massive golden vortex in the sky. The golden light emanating from it was so bright that it overshadowed the crimson color of Belial's sea of blood, restoring the blue color to the sky.
Belial, still floating in the air, roared angrily. "Luck?! You think some trivial luck can defeat me?!" he screamed, his voice shaking the ground beneath their feet.
Belial raised his arms, and the sea of blood transformed into thousands of blood-made demons, each growling and screaming toward Zhang Yong. "Kill him!" Belial commanded, unleashing his hellish army.
But Zhang Yong did not move. He only smiled calmly, his eyes staring at Belial with defiance.
The dragon released golden light and was replaced in the center of the light by an empty turtle shell on its back. Above it, a set of orange crystal dice appeared.
A word was carved into the center of each die: Death, Life, Light, Darkness, Wood, Earth, Metal, Fire, Water, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Transformation, Illusion, Poison, Soul, etc.
On each face of the dice were numbers from one to six.
This was the absolute luck technique.
The dice represented the laws understood by the user, and the numbers represented the level of damage that would occur.
With this technique, there were three levels of damage: low, medium, and high.
The result was dependent on the luck of the user and his enemy.
Numbers 1, 3, and 5 would affect the user.
While 2, 4, and 6 would affect the enemy.
Zhang Yong had not used it until now for several reasons. The first was that the effects were random. However, this technique was created so that... the chances of obtaining the law with the highest understanding by the user were increased.
In Zhang Yong's case, that was the Law of Death.
Additionally, if the dice landed on an odd number, Zhang Yong would be the one dead without a doubt!
What made Zhang Yong use this technique now was that he had received the protagonist's luck, making his luck incomparable to any being in this world!
The orange crystal dice began to spin at a maddening speed above the golden turtle shell, releasing flashes of bright light that scattered across the sky.
Belial, who felt the strangeness of the energy emanating from this technique, did not wait. "Hmph!" he roared, charging toward Zhang Yong with his demonic claws extended, trying to interrupt the ritual before its completion.
But it was too late.
The dice suddenly stopped spinning, and one settled in the center. The word written on it was... Fire. The number was 4.
That was medium-level damage from the Law of Fire category.
The moment the die settled, the sky exploded with fire unlike anything seen before. It was not ordinary fire, but pure golden fire.
A wave of golden flame erupted from the die, heading directly toward Belial. The heat was so intense that the sea of blood around him began to evaporate instantly, releasing thick crimson steam.
"This...!" Belial screamed, his crimson eyes widening in shock. He raised his arms in a desperate attempt to block the attack, forming a shield of absolute darkness.
But the golden fire did not slow down. It pierced through the darkness shield as if it didn't exist, enveloping Belial in its blazing grasp.
Ahhhh!
Belial's scream of pain shook the sky. His distorted body began to disintegrate under the golden fire's effect. The spiked tail and leathery wings melted like wax in a blazing furnace.
Zhang Yong stood watching, his blue eyes reflecting the golden fire's glow. He was breathing with difficulty, his body exhausted from using the absolute luck technique.
Zhang Yong raised his hand, and the Sword of Self rose behind him. He made it descend rapidly toward Belial.
Belial was hurled through the air toward the ground. He extended his hand before him, landing with force. His gaze fell upon Mine in desperation.
He smiled.
He extended his hand toward Mine, and strange words began to emerge from his mouth.
Zhang Yong's eyes widened, and he quickly unleashed the Heavenly Sun Explosion, obliterating Belial's existence from the face of creation.
There was no time to celebrate the victory. Before the last atom of Belial's existence dissipated, Zhang Yong had already shot toward Mine at speeds exceeding lightning.
"Mine!" he called, his voice carrying an urgent tone she had never heard from him before.
But it was too late.
He found her standing in place, but her body was covered in a dense network of fine cracks and fractures, like porcelain about to shatter.
"Zhang... Yong..." she whispered in a broken voice, her pink eyes looking large and exhausted in her pale face. She tried to smile, but even that simple movement made the cracks on her cheeks widen slightly. "I..."
"Don't speak!" Zhang Yong commanded her, landing before her. His hands, which had just hurled enough force to destroy a demonic entity, were now trembling slightly as he raised them with extreme care. "I will heal you, so..."
He placed his palm gently on her shoulder. He closed his eyes and began concentrating all the energy he had left.
Millennium Tree of Life... Sacred Wood Art... Sun and Moon Harmony... he whispered, summoning everything he could to help. He used the Sacred Wood Art to boost the vitality, used the Millennium Tree of Life to transfer it, and supported it with Sun and Moon Harmony to transfer his energy to her, reducing the cracking time and buying her additional moments.
Warm golden light emanated from his palms, blending with the faint pink glow emanating from her body. The cracks began to gleam with a golden color, as if liquid gold were filling them.
But they did not heal.
'What am I doing?... Didn't I want her soul? Then why... why am I now....'
Without his will, Zhang Yong felt a great contradiction within himself. He wanted her soul, but he didn't want her to die.
He was the one who wanted to distance himself, yet in the end, he ended up drawing closer.
Zhang Yong raised his eyes toward the sky, where the golden selection clouds began to disperse. The world's will was retreating; its mission was over.
Zhang Yong gritted his teeth. Even for a moment, he did not want to see another person close to him die again before his eyes.
"Zhang Yong... where are you?" Mine whispered in a barely audible voice. Her pink eyes seemed lost as her senses began to fade one by one.
First was sight. Her pupils seemed to begin melting and disappearing, merging with the white. Everything in her vision disappeared into dark darkness.
"Mine!" Zhang Yong replied, his voice tinged with a rare hint of panic. He pressed his hands harder, trying to pump more energy into her cracked body. "I'm here. Don't close your eyes."
But she couldn't hear him. Sound was next. Zhang Yong's whispers, the rustling of energy, even the sound of her own breathing—all began to fade as if underwater, then suddenly cut off.
Her world became completely silent, except for the annoying ringing filling her head.
Her body trembled violently in his arms. The cracks he had tried to seal began to widen again, but this time there was no pain. The sense of touch was leaving her.
She could no longer feel the warmth of his hands around her, the coldness of the ground beneath her, or even the tearing of the energies ripping her apart from within.
"No... this can't be..." Zhang Yong whispered, his eyes widening as he watched her body truly begin to disintegrate.
The smell of swirling dust began to turn into the smell of damp earth, then into the smell of nothingness itself. The sense of smell—gone.
Only taste remained. The last thing she tasted was the taste of blood in her mouth, metallic and warm. Then even that faded, leaving a bitter emptiness on her tongue.
Thank you... for being here in the end...
It was not words, not even a thought—but a pure feeling, a final pulse of consciousness before death.
Then... it was over.
Her entire body turned into luminous golden dust, shimmering under the post-battle sky before beginning to fade.
Zhang Yong, who had been desperately trying to hold on to her, found only scattered particles of light flowing between his fingers.
Zhang Yong fell to his knees, breathing with difficulty, staring at the emptiness in his arms. His newly formed body after his return from Helheim was cracked and bleeding, and the butterfly wings behind him were torn and burnt.
Using all those powerful techniques, especially the absolute luck technique, had drained nearly all his spiritual energy. Adding what happened at the end was an overload.
[The summoned soul 'Mine' has been successfully absorbed. Number of absorbed souls (14/16)]
[The mission for this world has been completed. The host will receive the reward upon returning to his own world.]
Zhang Yong raised his head quietly. In his eyes, there was a strange glimmer. He was not sad. There was only a bitter smile on his face before he laughed.
He laughed sarcastically and bitterly. More precisely, he was laughing at himself.
"Ah... yes, I understand. I'm not sad. I'm just... disappointed in myself."
His laugh was dry and hollow, echoing against the silence of the shattered world around him. There were no tears, only that dry sound emanating from his throat, carrying the weight of all the choices that had led him to this moment.
In his past life, he couldn't save anyone. In his current life, even with gaining some power, he couldn't save those he loved.
And now, in this moment, yes, he had the power to save them, but in the end, he chose to let them die.
'Yes, I am scum.'
He stood slowly, his pained body groaning under the weight of injuries and depletion.
The torn butterfly wings behind him withered and faded, returning to their invisible nature. He looked at his hands, where he had just held warm golden ash.
"This is the price, isn't it?" he whispered, his voice hoarse. "The price of returning from hell... the price of power... the price of being me."
What use was it to be powerful if you didn't use your power for what you wanted?
Suddenly, he felt a disturbance in spacetime. Zhang Yong slowly raised his head.
The remaining golden clouds from the "Selection Ceremony" began to dissipate rapidly, not to be replaced by a blue sky, but by a darkness deeper than any night. A darkness that swallowed light itself.
It wasn't just a sunset. The entire sky was folding like a black cloth, pulled from the edges of the universe to reveal an absolute void behind it.
Stars dimmed and vanished, the moon faded, even the residual glow of the battle on the ground began to wane as if being pulled upward.
Then, in the middle of this darkness, something began to take shape.
A dark red spot, like a drop of blood in black ink, appeared in the center of the sky.
It expanded slowly, transforming into a glowing crimson ring that pulsed with slow, heavy beats, like a giant heart.
It was not a sun, nor a star.
It was an eye.
A colossal crimson eye, many times the size of the former sun, staring down at the world.
Its iris was a vortex of interwoven crimson and gold, writhing like a venomous serpent. Its pupil was an absolute black void, deeper than any emptiness, devouring sight and pulling at the soul
The light it emitted was not light in the known sense. It was a crimson glow like glowing blood, washing the world in a strange and terrifying hue
There was no heat. Only a piercing cold spreading through the air, a cold that penetrated bones and froze the soul.
A heavy silence fell over the world, broken only by the sound of massive pulses echoing in space, like the beating of a giant heart throbbing from within that eye.
Then the sky split. Not metaphorically. The sky literally split, and the vast universe appeared. It seemed that oxygen and air had vanished from the world.
Two strange creatures appeared in the sky.
The first was a giant beast with a dark, intertwined body resembling organic armor, full of sharp protrusions and twisted limbs. Its eyes and parts glowed with a bluish-purple color.
The second was a beast resembling a giant red brain, from which arteries and fleshy limbs dangled. At its center was a large, bestial eye surrounded by dense blackness. Several flying eyes swam around it.
[Preparations for return are beginning. You will return in 30 seconds.]
"If I have only this time to kill these two bastards," Zhang Yong smiled as he raised his bone sword.
He shot toward the sky, flying with his remaining power. The two heavenly beasts did not move. They didn't have to. Their mere existence was enough to tear the fabric of reality around them.
The organic-armored beast turned its 'face' of intertwined protrusions toward Zhang Yong. Its bluish-purple glow brightened, releasing a wave of energy that distorted space itself on its way toward him.
Void Path – Earth Fold!
Zhang Yong vanished from his spot, appearing for a moment above the beast. He raised his hand, and the massive Sword of Self descended upon it.
The brain beast did not move, but the flying eyes around it spun rapidly, releasing burning mental attack beams that cut across the sky toward Zhang Yong.
The massive Sword of Self pierced the air, but it collided with an invisible force field around the armored beast.
Bluish-purple energy exploded, pushing Zhang Yong back violently. At the same moment, he dodged the burning mental beams from the flying eyes by a hair's breadth.
[25 seconds]
He had no time to think. The armored beast began to transform. Its sharp protrusions extended and contracted, forming spear-like limbs of darkness.
These limbs struck toward Zhang Yong from all directions, surrounding every possible escape path.
Star Path – Star Collapse!
Zhang Yong summoned the last of his remaining power. Luminous bodies appeared in the sky above the two beasts.
But this time, they were faint and intermittent. His exhausted will was no longer able to maintain the technique at full power.
The miniature stars fell, but the brain beast raised its central 'eye.'
A wave of strange mental energy erupted, turning the falling stars into glowing dust before they could reach their target.
[20 seconds]
"Tch!" Zhang Yong cursed. The preemptive attack had failed. The spear-like limbs of the armored beast were meters away from him.
First Core – Formation Domain
Violent Heavenly Wind Formation!
A vortex of sharp wind blades formed around him, cutting the nearby spear-like limbs into pieces. But more kept coming, endlessly.
[15 seconds]
Zhang Yong suddenly turned toward the brain beast. He knew the armored beast was the first line of defense. The brain was the mastermind.
Zhang Yong raised his hand high toward the sky, preparing for his final, deadly move.
Second Core – Ice Body
Memory of Eternal Ice – Ninth Layer: Eternal Freezing
Absolute ice exploded from Zhang Yong's body. A frozen void devouring everything around it.
The shockwave of piercing cold spread in all directions.
The intertwined armored beast suddenly stiffened. Its bluish-purple glow froze mid-pulse, turning into a massive ice sculpture of purple crystal.
The spear-like limbs that had been striking toward Zhang Yong stopped mid-air, covered in a thick layer of ice that gleamed with a pale light.
The brain beast trembled violently. The flying eyes around it froze one by one and fell like frozen stones, shattering on the distant ground.
The large central eye tried to resist, releasing desperate attacks, but the freezing wave swept over it relentlessly. It turned into a massive crimson ice sphere, hanging in the sky like a dead star.
[10 seconds]
Oppressive silence fell over the place again, but this time it was the silence of frozen death. The entire sky, the two giant beasts, everything froze in a single moment.
Then, the massive crimson eye in the sky began to fade.
It shrank slowly, like a black hole closing in on itself. The dark darkness surrounding it retreated with it, revealing a strange, clear sky that was not the sky of his world. From within the fading eye, a man descended.
His appearance was frighteningly ordinary. Average height, indistinct features difficult to remember, wearing a simple black suit that wasn't even meticulously pressed. But his eyes... his eyes resembled the eye that had been in the sky, but at human size.
Crimson, without pupils, staring at Zhang Yong with cold, empty curiosity.
"Oh," said the man, his voice flat and devoid of any tone. "A world anomaly damaged the harvest process."
[7 seconds]
Zhang Yong did not wait. Every instinct in his body screamed that this being was the true danger.
He charged toward him, his cracked bone sword gleaming with the last of his remaining energy.
The man did not move. He didn't even raise his hands to defend. He just looked at Zhang Yong with those empty eyes.
Zhang Yong's sword collided with an invisible energy field inches from the man's face. There was no sound of explosion, no sparks, no resistance. The bone sword dissipated into dust particles in the air.
[5 seconds]
Brief shock washed over Zhang Yong before being replaced by an iron will.
He knew.
He had known since the moment he saw this entity that the gap between them was like the gap between heaven and earth.
But he never gave up.
[4 seconds]
"A waste of time," said the man, slowly raising his index finger. There was no visible energy, no flash, no movement of air. But Zhang Yong simply felt that half his body had vanished.
His right leg and left arm simply evaporated, as if they had never existed. Blood did not spill, because the wound itself was clean and unnaturally silent.
Even his body didn't realize it had been severed.
[3 seconds]
Zhang Yong fell to the ground, breathing with difficulty. His vision was blurring, his consciousness beginning to slip. He saw the man approaching him with slow, measured steps.
[2 seconds]
Zhang Yong smiled a weak, bloodstained smile.
"Waste of time... are you referring to yourself?" he whispered in a broken voice.
Then, with the last strength in his shattered body, he did what he knew best.
He decided to blow himself up.
[1 second]
[Returning]
He raised his middle finger at the man. "See you in hell, you bastard!"
His remaining body exploded with blinding white light. Not sacred light, not demonic light, just light. The pure light of an existence at the Emperor Stage that had decided to completely detonate its cultivation foundation.
KABOOOOOM!
The place exploded, the lands shook, and a deep rift appeared in the world, stretching for billions of kilometers.
At the center of that rift, the man stood without any concern. A slight corner of his mouth rose as he looked at the damage he had sustained moments ago.
Only his pinky finger had exploded. That was all the damage he had taken.
"Very good , he's Not even a God to contend with me, and yet he managed to wound me. Good. I will send you a gift." The man raised his hand and drew words in the air before the words pierced through the void and flew away.
"I will make sure to reward you. You will then have ten minutes. If you survive, that means I will kill you personally. And that is the greatest honor for you."