Vol 3. Chapter 109: Shattered
Do I
really want to kill the Child of Destiny?
I clearly
waited for them for so many years, and only finally managed to see them appear after all that time...
Do I really have to kill him?
No.
Not kill him. This is supposed to be a trial for him... A trial meant to change that arrogant and conceited heart of his, change the way he views the world, and change the way he treats the people around him, so that this guy named Xue Tianao can become a true Child of Destiny. Rather than some bastard who carries the title of Child of Destiny while doing whatever he pleases...
...
Before this operation began, Yumo had always thought this way. She had no choice. The trial had to continue, and for the trial to succeed, the Chosen One was indispensable. No matter how much of a bastard this Child of Destiny was, even if he had hurt her own daughter...
The purpose of this operation was to teach all the factions across the continent a lesson, and more importantly, to teach the Child of Destiny a lesson.
At least, that was what Xiao had told her.
Therefore, when the barrier Xiao had erected around the imperial palace was blasted open and Yumo sensed Limo and Liyu’s energy fluctuations through the breach, she froze. Immediately afterward, intense confusion and deep unease surfaced within Yumo’s heart.
What confused her was why her two daughters, who had been missing for so long, had suddenly appeared here. When had they come to Skyvault?
What made her uneasy was that those two girls had appeared inside the imperial palace of Skyvault. Judging by the scale of the energy spreading from within, they were even fighting Xue Tianao.
One had to understand that the divine power within Xue Tianao, as well as the unique aura belonging to the Child of Destiny, could very easily awaken an Abyss Demon’s instincts. No matter how ‘obedient’ those two children, Limo and Liyu, were, and no matter how unwilling they were to ‘harm’ the Child of Destiny, they might still be driven by instinct to tear Xue Tianao apart.
It would certainly feel satisfying if that bastard died,
but the trial might fail because of it...
Whenever Yumo thought about the so-called consequences the Goddess had once told her about, she couldn’t help feeling deeply uneasy. She hurried toward the imperial palace, intending to stop her two daughters from participating in the battle. If she hadn’t been concerned about Mengxi’s presence, Yumo probably would have already transformed into blood butterflies and rushed straight into the imperial palace...
However, when Miss Yumo arrived near the imperial palace and saw Xue Tianao inexplicably charging toward her, she immediately had a terrible feeling. Originally, she had merely planned to keep her distance and remotely order her daughters to leave.
But now?
Yumo never could have imagined that Xue Tianao would charge toward her at full power.
Compared to when they had been in Wind Facing City, the divine power surrounding Xue Tianao was now far denser. Even the blood flowing from his wounds was saturated with the aura of divine power! And as that aura continued approaching Yumo, the inexplicable hatred and killing intent within her heart once again began surging wildly,
completely beyond her control.
‘No... I can’t...’
‘No, no, I can’t kill him...’
‘Not... not yet...’
‘I have to... I have to... hold it back...’
...
...
Yumo continuously struggled with herself, desperately trying to suppress the impulses within her mind, but all her efforts ultimately proved futile.
As those strange whispers continued echoing through her mind, Yumo’s eyes began glowing completely scarlet. In an instant, overwhelming Shadow of Silence Power erupted outward with Yumo at its center, like a wild beast that had broken free from its shackles, rampaging uncontrollably in every direction! Even Mengxi was suddenly blasted several hundred meters away by the impact, a mouthful of blood spraying from the silver-haired girl’s lips...
Normally, seeing Mengxi injured would have made Yumo’s heart ache terribly. If this had happened during their time in the Great Winter Forest, Yumo probably would have immediately stopped whatever she was doing and rushed over to take care of Mengxi.
But now?
Yumo completely ignored Mengxi, who had been injured because of her.
Within those scarlet eyes, only Xue Tianao remained.
With her mind almost completely engulfed by the desire to kill, Yumo now had only one objective—to completely erase the person possessing divine power before her from this world.
That disgusting aura had to be annihilated.
--
Meanwhile,
when countless blood-red butterflies mixed with earth-shaking scarlet Shadow of Silence Power came roaring toward him like a tsunami, Xue Tianao’s pupils suddenly contracted. The flame of hope that had finally appeared in his eyes was mercilessly extinguished once again.
?!?
‘Are... Are you fucking kidding me?’
At this moment, nothing but terror remained within Xue Tianao’s pale golden eyes.
He had originally assumed that Blood Butterfly, having only recently been born, would undoubtedly be considerably weaker than Xiao and the other two Demon King-class beings.
Controlling her had been his only chance of surviving.
However, after sensing the fluctuations of that scarlet power, Xue Tianao realized in utter horror that his opponent’s strength far exceeded his imagination...
The energy contained within those scarlet fluctuations was even more immense than Xiao and the other two Demon King-class beings combined!
That absolute sense of oppression caused both Xue Tianao’s body and soul to experience an unprecedented feeling of terror. As he drew increasingly closer to her, Xue Tianao even felt as though his soul could no longer withstand the pressure and was about to be crushed...
The overwhelming stench of blood contained within the scarlet Shadow of Silence Power was unlike anything he had ever encountered before. Merely coming into contact with that energy made it seem as though mountains of corpses and oceans of blood had appeared before Xue Tianao’s eyes.
In an instant, the Child of Destiny, who considered himself a veteran of countless battles, was completely consumed by fear.
And this fear was even more intense than when he had faced Xiao and the other two Demon King-class beings.
“Wh-Wh-What kind of monster is this...”
This woman was definitely not some newly born Demon King-class being!
This power undoubtedly belonged to an ancient Demon King-class existence!
No,
she... might be something even beyond Demon King-class...
But regardless,
merely sensing the overwhelming scarlet aura rushing toward him was enough to turn Xue Tianao’s face deathly pale. His heart felt as though it might leap straight out of his chest from the extreme tension...
‘I can’t fight this monster!’
I-I have to retreat!
Xue Tianao quickly reached this conclusion.
Unfortunately,
the Child of Destiny soon realized an even more awkward fact—
he had charged forward far too quickly and was already unable to stop himself.
And the next moment,
under Xue Tianao’s horrified gaze, endless blood-red butterflies swarmed toward him from every direction.
They were clearly nothing more than butterflies that emitted no trace of energy and looked incomparably fragile, yet they effortlessly broke through the dense barrier of divine power surrounding Xue Tianao. They even directly devoured the entire divine power barrier...
‘Crack...’
The magnificent golden aura, filled with solemn and sacred power, instantly shattered apart, transforming into countless golden particles that were immediately swallowed by the endless blood-red butterflies.
And with his divine power barrier gone, Xue Tianao was unquestionably exposed directly to the surging blood-red butterflies and scarlet Shadow of Silence Power.
At that moment, Xue Tianao’s offensive momentum came to an abrupt halt, and his entire body was forcibly frozen in midair.
Under the crushing pressure, blood sprayed wildly from the Child of Destiny’s mouth, while crimson liquid continuously seeped from his facial features and skin. In merely an instant, Xue Tianao completely lost the terrifying momentum he had possessed moments earlier. Instead, he became a hideous, nauseating blood-soaked figure, resembling an evil ghost that had suffered endless torture throughout the eighteen levels of hell. Merely looking at him was enough to send chills down one’s spine.
The excruciating pain caused Xue Tianao to unleash a pig-like, ghostly howl.
However, after only a few screams, the blood continuously pouring from his mouth caused him to choke until he could no longer make a sound.
Faced with such overwhelming pressure, Xue Tianao instinctively tried to break free. However, the Child of Destiny soon discovered in horror that no matter how much he strengthened his body or mobilized his divine power to resist, the restraints formed by the Shadow of Silence Power remained completely unmoved...
‘How... How can this be...’
For a moment, an indescribable sense of helplessness abruptly flooded Xue Tianao’s heart. When he looked down at the black-haired girl below, there was no longer any trace of the affection, admiration, or desire he had once felt toward her.
Now, only fear remained within his eyes...
And the next instant,
when he sensed the dense Shadow of Silence Power around him beginning to converge at the tip of the black-haired girl’s index finger, Xue Tianao immediately realized that something was terribly wrong.
In Xue Tianao’s eyes, the black-haired girl before him had already transformed into a messenger from hell raising her scythe.
‘No, damn it!! I... I can’t just die here!’
Cold sweat poured from his body like rain, while regret overwhelmed Xue Tianao’s heart.
Damn it! If I’d known, I would’ve just run away earlier!
Bastard! Bastard, bastard, bastarddddddddddddddd!
Damn it!
Right,
that’s right!
I still have one move left!
Didn’t the System say before that the ‘Heart-Soul Lock’ would take effect after some time, roughly a few hours? It should be usable by now!
At this thought,
Xue Tianao abruptly gritted his teeth. Enduring the heart-rending agony, he mobilized the divine power within his body and slowly raised his right hand, attempting to activate the medicinal effect of the ‘Heart-Soul Lock’ inside Yumo’s body.
‘Activate... for me...?!?’
However,
just as his divine power began circulating, the scarlet sphere of energy gathered at the girl’s fingertip suddenly erupted with dazzling radiance!
The next instant,
red light exploded outward as a scarlet beam violently pierced straight through Xue Tianao’s chest, leaving behind a bloody hole the size of a soccer ball.
And as the blood-red beam penetrated his body, the divine power surrounding Xue Tianao immediately collapsed. The divine power enhancing his body seemed to have finally reached its limit at that very moment.
Having lost the protection of divine power, Xue Tianao’s aura plummeted sharply, dropping directly from the High Eighth Tier back to the High Seventh Tier...
Without divine power, Xue Tianao had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° also lost both his ability to resist and his powerful regenerative capabilities, completely reducing him to an ant waiting helplessly to be slaughtered.
The life force within his body began continuously draining away through the hole in his chest, while his eyes gradually lost focus...
‘No... How... How could... this happen...’