Chapter 586 - 540: Possessing the Time Giant
Shi Ming knew it too. He only had three seconds left.
He had to end this quickly!
Of the nine secret glyph patterns within the Apocalypse Divine Artifact, he could now activate the first six and the very last one. But the last, [Final Advent], was a self-destructive attack. Once used, the Apocalypse Divine Artifact would be obliterated. Even if it could be reassembled someday, its components would be scattered randomly throughout the Star Sea, finding new masters.
There was no need to make such a foolish trade in a fight against Candela—destroying a treasure he had spent three million Civilization Stones to obtain!
’Unleashing the sixth glyph pattern with my full power should be enough to deal with Candela now that he’s lost his connection to [Time] and "Destiny"!’
[Candela.]
The voice from within the Apocalypse Divine Artifact was merciless and cold, like an ancient echo of a god left behind one hundred and twenty thousand years ago.
[Destiny will no longer favor you.]
[Secret Technique! Sever the Nightmare, Return to Unity!]
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...
Three seconds!
A mere three seconds felt like an impassable chasm to Candela. He had once been the foster son of time itself; time was like his own body, something he could accelerate, pause, or even reverse at will!
But now, these brief three seconds stretched on for what felt like millennia!
The Apocalypse Divine Artifact before him became somewhat hazy.
It dissolved into countless particles. From each particle, a ray of light emerged. Hundreds of millions of these rays slammed into the Time Giant’s body, melting his right arm—which was clenched into a fist—then his shoulder, his chest, and finally his head, his heart...
A tenfold power stack!
Combined with the Arm of Judgment!
At the Time Giant’s feet, the gold and silver secret glyphs began to return. Like vines, they crept up the giant’s legs, spreading upward.
But it was all too late.
The Divine Country, [Gold and Silver Island], which was connected to Candela’s heart, began to collapse. It crumbled into fine dust, raining down upon the world that contained only that single, solitary island.
The sky-filling golden and silver sands intertwined, forming a chaotic and disordered torrent of energy. This torrent erupted from Candela’s heart, as unstoppable as the endless march of time and destiny.
Candela saw his own destiny. He saw the revelation he had received from the Gold and Silver Island.
Seize the lost Eye of the Divine,
Abandon the body of the Time Giant.
His consciousness let out a soft sigh and took one last look at this world.
Amidst the falling bicolored sands, he saw his own birth; he saw the high spirits of his youth; he saw the body of the Time Giant trampling countless races; he saw himself warring across the Star Sea in innumerable timelines; he saw himself being summoned by a god and bestowed with a divine medal; he saw himself and the other Pillar Stones backstabbing that god and devouring his authority...
He saw the distant past,
and a future that no longer existed...
His final glance fell upon the eyes of the Apocalypse Divine Artifact. Those eyes were both hazy and clear. Like the god from one hundred and twenty thousand years ago, they were filled with divinity, resembling a vast, emotionless sea, devoid of sorrow or joy.
ROAR—
A great Kun leaped from the surface of the sea.
The Kun then transformed into an endless swarm of butterflies, which flew into the remnants of the Time Giant Candela’s body.
...
The one-of-a-kind Time Giant.
’Can’t let him go to waste.’
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The vast Ice River Star was no more.
Ten thousand years of pristine ice had completely vanished. The space where the planet once was had become a chaotic domain field. A tiny, twelve-meter-tall divine artifact stood in the void, and a heavily wounded Shi Ming tumbled out of it.
He had only controlled the divine artifact for five seconds.
The physical trauma it caused had nearly torn Shi Ming’s body apart. This was also true damage, which was slow to heal. On a battlefield, it could easily be the key to defeat, triggering a domino effect of failure and even death.
But now, it didn’t matter.
Shi Ming had played all his trump cards. Through a perfect combination of various methods, he had first "banned" Candela’s [Time], then thrown his "Destiny" into chaos, rendering it unusable. After a furious expenditure of energy, his final trump card, the Apocalypse Divine Artifact, had brought about the true end.
The one-of-a-kind Time Giant had fallen.
No,
strictly speaking, he hadn’t fallen. Like the Ten Thousand Forms Kun, Rui Liang of the Dark Star Race, and Lord Ron before him, he had been reborn. At the final moment, the newly-upgraded Ten Thousand Forms Sanctuary invaded Candela’s Sea of Spirit, and the Time Giant became a part of Shi Ming.
A unique and most powerful Phase!
The Phase of the Time Giant!
Anchoring and fusing with this unique Phase was not a simple task; it would still take some time.
In the void where Ice River Star used to be, the Apocalypse Divine Artifact stood like an eternal guardian. Beside it, Shi Ming floated. In his Sea of Spirit, blue butterflies fluttered back and forth, weaving new patterns into his Ten Thousand Forms.
During this process, Shi Ming learned that the Time Giant had received a revelation from destiny, telling him that the Eye of the Divine had already been absorbed by him. The giant’s original plan had actually been to abandon his Time Giant body and, in turn, possess Shi Ming’s human body to obtain the [Eye of the Divine]!
’Dude, seriously?’
’Now look what happened. Not only did you fail to possess me, you got possessed instead. Your Time Giant body is gone, and you didn’t get the Eye of the Divine either.’
’That’s the thing about destiny...’
’It’s great at screwing people over.’
’Misinterpret it just once, and you’ll walk right into the dead end it points you to. But even so, there’s no shortage of beings who rush in one after another, like moths to a flame, stepping onto their predetermined path of ruin.’
’That’s why, even though I possess the Eye of Destiny and Destiny Fixation, I’ll only ever use them as tools for gathering intelligence and as a guide for seeing side paths. Even gods can fall; a fixed destiny that deviates from its path is no exception.’
The dreamlike butterflies stirred ripples in the river of stars.
A new Time Giant, within Shi Ming’s Sea of Spirit, was shaping the contours of destiny.
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Beneath the Hundred-Floor Celestial Tower, the Colorful Insect, which had been "reborn" twice, gnashed its teeth in fury.
’That bastard!’
’That liar!’
’That biggest thief in the Star Sea, that despicable, shameless barbarian! He’s stolen power that never belonged to him and made it his own again!’
Originally, the Colorful Insect had been overjoyed when it saw the Time Giant Candela arrive. It felt that a new chance to escape had appeared out of nowhere—and it was the best chance yet. As long as Candela killed Shi Ming, the Hundred-Floor Celestial Tower would be destroyed, and it could leave this prison and flee into the Star Sea.
’Then, after recuperating and building up my strength, it would be inevitable that I’d once again reach the [Celestial Calamity] realm!’
’The Colorful Insect is immortal and indestructible.’
’Candela doesn’t have shameless methods like Shi Ming’s. He probably wouldn’t even notice me now that all my power is gone. And even if he did, even if I couldn’t beat the Time Giant, there’s no way I’d be sealed again. At worst, I’d just lose all my power and fall into a deep sleep.’
’That outcome would be ten thousand times better than this!’
’I’d wake up eventually.’
’But now...’
’The dream is shattered.’
’The opportunity is lost. The Bicolored Celestial Calamity, a being that doesn’t belong in this part of the cosmos, must once again continue its life in prison. These days of being suppressed, sealed, and used as a power bank, a source of pollution, and a shield... who knows when they will ever end...’