Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-1944-30041322

Chapter 1944 - Claw of Nightmare

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

The Eastern Divine Region was still trembling all over. The howling Heavenly Wolf and the pitch black sword annihilated the space of an entire star region as they traveled toward the outsiders. From the perspective of the distant star regions and star realms, they looked like a pitch black star on the verge of undergoing a supernova.

CHIBOOM!

The first casualty of the battle was a page. The sword image had sliced through his waist before crushing his body so thoroughly that all that was left of him was a shower of blood.

Just an instant later, the second and third page were cruelly dismembered before their body parts were scattered across the catastrophic storm. They had dissolved into dust so quickly it was as if their impossibly tough bodies were nothing but smoke. They never even got the chance to scream their last.

The last page won the “honor” of being devoured by the Heavenly Wolf itself and buried in ten thousand swords. By the time the sword image had passed through his location, not a trace of him could be seen anywhere.

All four pages were dead in just the span of two breaths; their hopes, dreams and supreme glory they thought would last throughout history vanishing eternally in a world that did not belong to them.

Chiang!

Chiang!

The second and third Southern Sea divine origin crumbled at the same time.

The Immortal Slaying Sword Formation was incredibly powerful, but it also put a huge burden and rebound on the user.

Yun Che’s body was starting to shiver a little, and his vision several times redder and blurrier than it was at the beginning. The only thing that hadn’t changed was his fiendish aura. It remained terrible enough to freeze all the souls in Primal Chaos.

By now, the dark Heavenly Wolf and the nightmarish sword were slowly fading away into nothing. However, the damage they left behind was not. An innumerable amount of spatial cracks and black holes were scattered across the star region, and it did not look like they were going to heal anytime soon.

Right now, the space of Primal Chaos was simply too weak to bear the power of a Half-God.

“Hnn… hngh…”

The painful groans sounded terribly frail and pitiful amidst a backdrop of groaning space.

They came from the two squires, of course.

They had survived the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation thanks to their exceptionally powerful physiques, but it wasn’t a boon. Not even close. They would’ve been far better off dead than they were alive.

There were holes all across Nan Zhaoguang and Nan Zhaoming’s bodies, and their heads, their torsos and their limbs were nothing more than withered husks. They looked like a pair of ragged dolls who had most of their stuffing cruelly torn out of their bodies.

Even now, the remnant dark profound energy was consuming their tattered bodies like billions and billions of bone-consuming demon worms.

Had they been unconscious, they would not have been able to feel the horrible sensation. Had they been less intuitive, they might have been able to fool themselves into thinking this was just a dream. Ironically, their strength had led to them experiencing the worst torture of their lives.

The one constant throughout this nightmare was his eyes.

Their consciousness was fading, their vision was blurry, and yet those dark, ruthless eyes remained as clear as ever.

After putting away the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Sword, Yun Che grabbed toward Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang’s solar plexuses.

There was a reason why people cared so much about karma. The emperor of Primal Chaos was making sure that they repay every bit of arrogance in suffering. However, they were the squires of the Abyss. They could never bow their heads to a member of this lowly world.

Nan Zhaoguang forced himself to summon some steeliness in his eyes before threatening hoarsely, “When the Abyss arrives… you will all… be… uh… uaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

His threat abruptly dissolved into a bone-chilling scream.

A pair of pitch black flames had ignited on Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang’s solar plexuses at the same time.

The flames easily entered their bodies through the solar plexus, spread to every corner through the meridian and the veins, and began cooking them from the inside.

The Devil Flame of Eternal Calamity was a special flame only Yun Che could use, and burning someone alive with it was the cruelest torture a person could be subjected to bar none. In fact, it was a torture that not even an ancient True God could have endured.

The second the flame had made contact with their internal organs, Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang immediately fell into a nightmarish purgatory they could never imagine.

It was eerie how silent the black flames burned especially considering how loudly the two men were screaming. It was like a scene straight out of the lowest depths of hell.

Yun Che’s expression didn’t change in the slightest though. There wasn’t a shred of pity or even emotion on his face.

He had said that he would make them regret their choice to invade his world, and he was making good on that promise.

“You… aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—” Slowly and soundlessly, devilish flames poured out of their orifices and devoured their ears, their noses, their broken teeth, and their eyes. It burned away their sight, smell, taste and hearing, but not their touch. On the contrary, their sense of touch felt sharper than ever before. Of course, it only plunged their souls into greater despair.

“Uh… uh… ah…”

Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang’s screams had died down considerably at this point, but the hacking coughs and involuntary moans only made things scarier. Their tattered bodies spasmed violently under Yun Che’s control like dying larvae that had been nailed to a wall of thorns.

These two had overcome many stringent tests and exams to become squires. They had been one step away from breaking through their final bottleneck and becoming true Abyssal Knights; a loyal subject of the Abyssal Monarch.

The fact that they managed to enter this world before anyone else and become the pioneers of the Abyss had fueled their imaginations even more. They had believed that supreme glory was within their grasps, and their names would be remembered for all of history.

This was supposed to be the best day of their lives, and yet… they had fallen into the purgatory below the purgatory before half a day had passed.

“Kill…”

Nan Zhaoming didn’t have any lips or teeth left in his mouth at this point. His voice sounded anything but human.

It had taken the man every ounce of willpower he had left to say the words, and he would never speak again once the flames had burned through his throat. And yet, his final words in this life were, “Kill me… kill me… kill me…”

His hearing had been completely destroyed a while ago. He would never hear an answer even if Yun Che decided to say yes.

For as long as the Abyss had existed, no Abyssal Knight or knight-to-be had ever been subjected to such torture.

To think they would meet such an end in the last place they could possibly imagine.

All of their belief and willpower had been burned into nothing, leaving behind only the mad, all-encompassing desire for death.

The last Southern Sea divine origin began to blink rapidly.

Although Yun Che was much stronger than he was before, activating God Ash by force was always going to put an overwhelming amount of stress on his body. Already, an innumerable amount of cracks had spread throughout his body, and he was bleeding like a blood fountain.

At least forty percent of his meridians and bones had broken during the time, and yet his expression remained shockingly dark and frigid. It was almost as if he couldn’t feel any pain whatsoever.

Logically speaking, he should’ve ended this way sooner and saved himself much pain and recovery time down the line, but the Devil Flame of Eternal Calamity continued to burn at a leisurely pace. He was going to draw out the nightmare that would not be forgotten even after a thousand life cycles for as long as possible until he finally burned them down into wicked dust.

He hadn’t been this angry for a very, very long time.

He had endured many cruel and despairing tribulations to make it to this point. Xia Qingyue had literally sacrificed her own fate, flesh and blood to make him the supreme emperor of this universe. However, someone still managed to harm one of the most important people in his life in spite of all that.

The spatial tremors and the wails of the heavenly were weakening. The oppressing pressure no longer felt quite as suffocating as before. It was clear that Yun Che’s God Ash was about to reach its end.

“So this is the power of a True God… I had no idea it was this powerful,” Qianye Wugu commented with a deep sigh.

He was one of the highest existences in this world, and yet he wasn’t able to defeat one Nan Zhaoming even with Qianye Bingzhu, Qianye Ying’er and Mu Xuanyin’s aid.

That same person had been utterly brutalized by Yun Che with almost no resistance at all.

To say that the power gap exceeded everything he knew would be the understatement of the century. However, Chi Wuyao said, “No. Emperor Yun has not yet achieved the realm of True Gods. In fact, he is far, far away from it.”

“The power he is displaying right now is but the halfway point to True God Realm. He is what the ancient used to call a Half-God.”

Chi Wuyao’s Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul carried some of its past memories, so she had a basic understanding of the power level of the realm of gods.

“Half… God?”

It was a shocking and frightening revelation to say the least.

If a Half-God was already this powerful, then how much more powerful would a True God be?

More importantly, were there True Gods in that world known as the Abyss?

This was not the time for idle conversation, however. Chi Wuyao shot Yun Che’s flickering aura a glance before saying, “Prepare to teleport us away, Meiyin. I’m fairly sure the battle has alerted Mo Beichen, and we need to leave as soon as possible.”

Shui Meiyin, Caizhi and her had all seen Mo Beichen in Jun Xilei’s memories. If Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang were scary, then that man was a titan none of them could possibly defeat.

Judging from the way Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang had tiptoed around Mo Beichen, there was a high chance the man was also a Half-God.

Worst case scenario, he was at least as strong as Yun Che in God Ash form, if not stronger.

Moreover, Yun Che’s power came at the cost of precious divine origins, and the rebound was severe enough that he had to spend a considerable amount of time to recover. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he could only maintain that form for a very short time.

That was why they could not run into Mo Beichen no matter what.

If it wasn’t to save Mu Xuanyin and Qianye Ying’er, she wouldn’t even expose Yun Che to Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang.

“Got it!” Shui Meiyin nodded and crossed the World Piercer in front of her. The Heavenly Profound Treasure began to shine weakly.

“Your Majesty,” Chi Wuyao said formally, “These two are already dead. Let us not waste anymore time and—”

RUMBLE—

Suddenly, her soul twitched without warning.

It was the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul warning her of an impending danger!

Not only that, it was followed by a vague yet impossibly dull rumble that she couldn’t describe. It sounded like it came from the furthest space and the deepest part of her soul at the same time.

Her shock only lasted for an instant. She exclaimed in panic, “Teleport us now, Meiyin!”

Shui Meiyin’s tiny hand shook. Everyone else instinctively looked at Chi Wuyao.

No one had ever seen the Devil Queen like this. She had been calm and collected even when Long Bai had descended upon the Southern Sea Realm with the full might of the Western Divine Region.

They had never seen her this panicked.

Shui Meiyin acted as quickly as she could after recovering from her brief daze. The crimson light of the World Piercer grew stronger and enveloped the Devil Queen, Mu Xuanyin, the Qianyes and the Yama Ancestors in an instant.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

It wasn’t a hallucination. The rumblings that sounded so far away grew deafening in just an instant. It was like a world-ending thunderclap had erupted right beside their ears.

Then, before anyone could react, a terrible storm swept across everyone.

“Ah!!”

Cries of surprise broke out among the group. The storm had appeared so quickly and out of nowhere that even the powerful Yama Ancestors and Brahma Ancestors were blown back a couple of kilometers.

Mu Xuanyin especially let out a painful groan as she was flung away without resistance. She stopped only after Caizhi had caught her.

Shui Meiyin was even less prepared than the others because she was busy channeling the World Piercer’s spatial divine powers. She had nearly lost her grip on the artifact.

Before she could even take a moment to think about what just happened, Chi Wuyao’s urgent cry entered her mind, “MEIYIN!!”

Shui Meiyin was the bearer of the Divine Stainless Soul, so she was able to clear her soul sea even before she caught herself. She released the spatial divine powers of the World Piercer once more, sent it toward Yun Che’s location and—

—Froze. The energy suddenly paused in mid-movement, and all the blood in her face drained away into nothing.

Chi Wuyao’s eyebrows had also sunk to the bottom. She felt as if her entire body was dunked in ice.

A new figure had appeared in front of Yun Che seemingly out of nowhere. He was a huge man clad in silver armor. They could only see his back from where they were, but he looked as if he was the center of the universe. The world itself was trembling in fear and submission toward him.

He had one hand locked firmly around Yun Che’s neck, long fingers sinking deeply into his flesh. He lifted the emperor of Primal Chaos into the air as if it took no effort at all.

Chiang!

The last Southern Sea divine origin died as Yun Che attempted to break the man’s hold with one final burst of power. However, it failed to budge the man even a millimeter.

The blackness in Yun Che’s pupils faded away into grayish white as he stared at the face in front of him.

He was the man in Jun Xilei’s memory, the terrifying man who was known as the Abyssal Knight…

Mo Beichen!

The situation couldn’t be any worse. God Ash had faded away since the death of the last Southern Sea divine origin. The rebound for activating a forbidden power beyond his current ability to endure had erupted in full force. He was at his weakest right now… and his greatest enemy had him in his grip.

An unprecedented chill pierced through Chi Wuyao’s spine and into her soul.

Everything was happening too quickly and suddenly.

The perception of a Half-God, the speed of a Half-God… they just knew too little about the power of a Half-God.

That wasn’t the scariest thing about him though, not to Chi Wuyao at least.

It was the way he acted.

He did not lose his head to arrogance despite facing a world that was far inferior to him in terms of power. He did not attempt to belittle them through his words or his actions. He did not even spare a moment to check out the dying Nan Zhaoguang and Nan Zhaoming.

He had gone straight for Yun Che and captured him with minimal movement, not giving them even the tiniest bit of chance to turn this around.

Clearly, the power Yun Che displayed earlier had alarmed the Abyssal Knight, and his response could only be described as lightning quick and horrifying.