The Jiaolong was flustered.
Something that should never have happened was happening.
The impossible had become possible.
A human.
A mere human.
Was defying a god.
And doing it with power he had built himself.
“Hahahahahaha!!!”
The fist of the Thousand Demon thrust out.
A fist condensed from a thousand demons shot forward.
And then it exploded.
Pure ink-black sword aura, with not a trace of white mixed into it, burst in all directions and slammed into the Jiaolong’s body.
“Kkh...!”
The ink-black sword aura did not pierce the Jiaolong’s body.
But it began to press the Jiaolong back, slowly, leaving small and large wounds in its wake.
“How dare you...!”
In response, the Jiaolong trembled and spat out black smoke laced with fury.
The black smoke that had spread in all directions suddenly condensed into a sphere.
“GRAAAAAAAH!!!”
As the Jiaolong’s howl burst forth, it flung black spikes in every direction.
At the sight of the thing curling its body into a ball and raising its spines like a hedgehog, the Thousand Demon burst into laughter.
Thud!
The Thousand Demon stamped down hard.
The earth shook.
And surrendering his body to that vibration, the Thousand Demon launched into a soundless charge.
The spikes shot out.
And then.
The Thousand Demon began pouring ink-black sword aura from his entire body.
Black spikes and ink-black blades tested each other’s strength.
Unlike sword aura formed purely from telekinetic force, the ink-black sword aura astonishingly shoved the black spikes aside and carved out a path for the Thousand Demon to advance.
“You think something like spikes can block my path!”
The Thousand Demon stepped forward.
What could stand in his way was.
“Die!”
Nothing but a god.
The Jiaolong roared and spewed out even more spikes, but the Thousand Demon laughed and clenched his fist.
He drove away the light, and ink-blackness filled the tip of his fist.
Light recoiled from him and fled.
And where the light had gone, darkness took its place.
Now there was only darkness left.
Even so, the Thousand Demon smiled and thrust out his fist.
Hundreds of ink-black sword auras met thousands of spikes.
“Condense!”
The ink-black sword auras began gathering at his command.
They burst outward.
Scattering qi like grains of salt in every direction.
Hundreds of ink-black sword auras merged.
And became a single sword.
“Spirit soaring to the heavens? No. No, that won’t do!”
The Thousand Demon shouted with a grin.
“This sword is one that will break the sky!”
The Thousand Demon hurled his right fist, now bearing a single black sword, at the Jiaolong.
“I shall call it [Mount-Pushing Evil, Black Severing Righteousness]!”
The sword meant to break the sky shot forward.
The Jiaolong stared at that ink-black sword and drew in black smoke.
The black smoke gathered and gathered until it became a single spear.
The god of stone. In other words.
A spear made to shatter the earth.
A sword made to shatter the sky.
Spear and sword flew at each other.
“GRAAAAAAAH!!!”
“Hahahahahahahahaha!!!”
A mad laugh and a fury-filled roar filled the space.
And the spear and sword, each made to destroy the other, collided.
The earth trembled.
The sky shook.
And then.
“...Impossible...!”
The spear began to break apart.
The blade forged by human power split the spear forged by divine power clean in two.
“Break it!!!”
KWA-CRASH!
Even after piercing through the spear, the Thousand Demon ran on, stepping across the air.
And then.
He thrust.
Toward a god.
Toward the sky.
The Thousand Demon smiled as he stepped forward.
A laugh filled with madness echoed out.
The Jiaolong, hearing that laughter, spat out its rage.
“How dare you...!”
“Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!”
The ink-black blade slammed into the Jiaolong’s abdomen.
“Kheh...!”
But even this time, the blade failed to pierce the Jiaolong.
The Jiaolong was pushed back a little, and that was all.
Violet blood spilled from its belly.
But that was all.
“I’ll kill you...!”
“Damn it, you’re disgustingly tough!”
The Thousand Demon raised his fist again, but.
“Karma! Obstruction!”
Violet ropes poured from the Jiaolong’s mouth and began gathering in the air.
The density was on a completely different level from the thing that had invaded Gumu’s mind.
“...Hm.”
The Thousand Demon thought for a moment, then relaxed his clenched fist and muttered, “That one’s a bit much, even for me...”
“DIE! DIE! DIE!”
The Thousand Demon stepped back.
Backward.
To the opposite side of the Jiaolong.
“...?”
“See you later!”
As the Thousand Demon began to flee, the Jiaolong only stared blankly for a moment, watching him run.
“...You bastard...!”
Only after a few seconds did the Jiaolong grasp the situation, and it dragged its massive body after him at terrifying speed.
The two ink-black beings raced forward, scattering dark energy in all directions, and the traces they left behind were carved into the earth like fragments of night.
“You...! You’re completely different from before! Get back here at once!!!”
“No one can order me around!!!”
“GRAAAAAAAH!!! You coward!!!”
“Hahahahahahaha!!!”
As he sprinted, the Thousand Demon spotted a group far ahead.
“Oh. Perfect timing!”
It was the Yaksha and Ganyu, carrying the people of Guili away to safety.
The Thousand Demon changed direction and plunged into the Yaksha ranks.
The Yaksha looked back at the thunderous impact shaking the earth.
“Master...! ...?”
They were horrified by the karma energy rising from the Thousand Demon’s body.
“This is bad...! Master’s been hit! Everyone...!”
By the time Fusa realized what was happening,
the Jiaolong had already hurled a spear made of violet karma.
The violet spear flew forward, corrupting everything around it.
It was corruption itself.
The karma of living beings itself.
The Thousand Demon laughed and slipped in among the Yaksha.
He meant to use the Yaksha and Ganyu as shields to minimize the damage.
And then.
Giyeon opened her eyes.
The Thousand Demon, forcing his way through the Yaksha, met Giyeon’s gaze as she opened her eyes.
And then.
He saw her lips moving very slightly.
“...What are you saying?”
Of course, the Thousand Demon ignored it and turned his eyes back to the violet spear.
His murky blue eyes, mixed with blue and black, looked at the violet spear.
And black lightning began striking through the Thousand Demon’s mind.
“So this is... how it felt!”
The Thousand Demon clenched his fist.
“With this insight, I can neutralize that violet spear!”
The Thousand Demon smiled, spun his body in midair, and aimed his fist at the violet spear.
Of course, the Yaksha, Ganyu, and Giyeon were in between.
“What does that matter? Insight is right in front of me! As the saying goes, ‘If one hears the Way in the morning, one may die in the evening.’ If I can obtain enlightenment, what are a few lives worth?”
The Thousand Demon smiled and gathered ink-black internal energy at the tip of his fist.
“I won’t miss it! This insight! Even if I must use another’s blood and flesh as sacrifice!”
The ink-black energy gathered and gathered.
It became a sphere, a compressed sword aura orb.
And that black orb of sword aura began to shine like a star.
The Thousand Demon smiled at that star.
And then.
He struck out.
The Thousand Demon’s fist thrust forwar...
“Got you.”
Something seized the back of the Thousand Demon’s neck and yanked him down hard.
In an instant, the Thousand Demon’s mind sank.
{What the...!}
The Thousand Demon turned his head in alarm.
There,
“Long time no see. Has it been a hundred years?”
Gumu was looking at the Thousand Demon, his pupils stained black with madness and gleaming in the dark.
The Thousand Demon stared in shock and looked down at the ground.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine heart-demons.
Gumu, who had climbed up by stacking himself atop those 999 heart-demons, was looking at the Thousand Demon.
Standing atop a tower of blood and flesh, Gumu held the Thousand Demon in one hand, expressionless.
{You madman...! You really killed every single one of “me”...!}
“Yes. And...”
Gumu’s eyes glowed a dark red.
“You’re the last one.”
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