Vol 3. Chapter 93: The Third Shackle
‘Th-This... This is impossible...’
Slowly sliding down from the wall and collapsing into a pool of blood, Xue Tianao was so shocked that it felt as though five bolts of lightning had struck him at once. His mind fell into a half-stunned, half-dazed state as he stared in disbelief at the blood covering the ground ahead and the two divine weapons that had fallen nearby.
Me?
I was sent flying?!
Th-This is impossible?!
Xue Tianao refused to believe the reality before his eyes.
Now that he had released two shackles, his strength was already approaching the Mid Eighth Tier. Back then, he had even relied on this state to defeat the Demon King-class Flame Prison. Even without the ‘Divine Might Armor,’ which caused his combat strength to decline somewhat, there was no way he should have been this helpless!
‘No... No... This... This shouldn’t be happening?! This is impossible! How could I...’
Xue Tianao struggled to stand up from the ground, only to discover in horror that he could no longer feel the lower half of his body. At this moment, the excruciating pain intense enough to distort his facial features, combined with his rapidly draining vitality, made Xue Tianao realize just how terrible the condition of his abdomen was.
At this moment, his abdomen had been completely blown apart by a single demonic cannon blast from Xiao. His internal organs were gone, and even his spine had been reduced to ashes. Although divine power had granted him Eighth-Tier strength, he was ultimately not a true Eighth-Tier existence. His physical body was still entirely made of flesh and blood. After suffering such devastating injuries, Xue Tianao had undoubtedly lost all ability to continue fighting.
At the same time,
it also forced the Child of Destiny to realize that everything before him was real.
He had been completely crushed...
‘Damn it!’
Lying on the ground like a dead dog, Xue Tianao could not help cursing inwardly. He barely managed to raise his head and glare resentfully at the black-haired man ahead.
The next moment, Xue Tianao’s pupils abruptly contracted, and an incomparably panicked expression appeared on his face.
At this moment, reflected within Xue Tianao’s azure eyes,
violent gray-white light swept across the Imperial Palace and, guided by the demonic spear, spiraled toward his fallen body! Feeling the destructive power contained within the demonic spear, that despair-inducing power resembling a Grim Reaper coming to claim his soul, Xue Tianao’s entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Cold sweat poured madly down his forehead.
Obviously,
that bastard Xiao intended to take advantage of the opportunity and completely reduce him to ashes!
In his current state, if this attack struck him, he would undoubtedly die!
‘No! No! I can’t!’
He had struggled so hard to reach this point. He could not let everything end here! He was the protagonist of this world, someone destined to step into the legendary Ninth Tier!
He couldn’t! Absolutely couldn’t! He absolutely could not die here for some inexplicable reason!!
He absolutely could not die at the hands of the same person three times!
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”
Driven by an overwhelming desire to survive and an equally powerful desire for revenge, Xue Tianao unleashed an astonishing roar.
Faced with a life-or-death crisis, Xue Tianao had no choice but to release the third shackle restraining the divine power within his body. Right now, he could no longer care about the agonizing backlash that would come afterward. The current Xue Tianao had only one goal remaining—to survive and defeat the enemy who had killed him multiple times!
Guided by his hysterical roar,
the divine power within Xue Tianao erupted even further. Surging pale golden light enveloped his battered and broken body. The various wounds covering him, as well as the bloody cavity in his abdomen, rapidly began healing beneath the embrace of the golden radiance.
More importantly, Xue Tianao’s power also began rising continuously.
Golden light erupted from Xue Tianao’s body like a raging hurricane and violently collided with the incoming black demonic spear!
The golden and gray-white forces crashed into each other.
The two powers collided, devoured, and eroded each other, erupting into a dazzling radiance symbolizing ultimate destruction. The residual shockwaves rapidly spread outward, directly knocking the Royal soldiers continuously arriving as reinforcements unconscious. Even the magnificent Imperial Palace began showing signs of collapse beneath the impact...
After an intense collision, the golden divine power ultimately suppressed the demonic spear’s violent force,
shattering the endless gray mist into countless fragments.
Having lost the power supporting it, the demonic spear was sent flying backward and returned to Xiao’s hand.
Meanwhile, Xue Tianao,
protected by golden divine power, rose to his feet once again. He directly tore away the ruined clothing covering his upper body, revealing his muscular physique. Under the enhancement of divine power, golden patterns appeared one after another across Xue Tianao’s body, making his physique increasingly powerful.
Both Xue Tianao’s hair and eyes began emitting waves of pale golden light.
The faint yet unmistakable pressure emanating from his soul caused the space surrounding him to distort, while the earth trembled incessantly. In terms of sheer presence, the current Xue Tianao was worlds apart from how he had been moments ago. Holding both divine weapons in his hands, terrifying pressure continuously erupted from Xue Tianao’s eyes and locked firmly onto Xiao.
--
“Enmmm...”
Looking at the spectacular scene before him, at Xue Tianao surrounded by golden light like some mythical warrior, Xiao narrowed his eyes slightly.
For once,
the Black Rose Duke revealed such a serious expression.
‘The eruption of divine power... Although it didn’t directly attack me, just like with the Daughter of Destiny, it healed every wound on his body.’
After noticing Xue Tianao’s completely restored abdomen, Xiao arrived at this conclusion.
Not only did he not die,
he became even stronger?
From that perspective, this guy really was somewhat similar to the ‘protagonists’ Lady Yumo always used to talk about. Impossible to kill, and the more you beat them, the stronger they became...
Truthfully,
Xiao could have easily crushed the previous Xue Tianao. But now, this Child of Destiny, whose divine power was surging wildly, actually made Xiao feel a trace of danger. He had no choice but to regard him seriously.
Sigh,
forget it.
I originally didn’t want to use this...
At this point, there’s no point worrying about the side effects...
After helplessly shaking his head, Xiao tightened his grip around the black demonic spear. Black light flickered within his eyes as streams of dense demonic power gradually poured out from the spear and entered Xiao’s body through his right arm.
As this power flowed into him, the Black Rose Duke’s pitch-black pupils gradually transformed into an icy pale blue.
At the same time, Xiao’s own demonic power flowed back into the demonic spear.
The demonic spear began trembling.
The consciousness contained within it gradually awakened.
‘I’m saying, have you slept enough, Puls?’
As Xiao’s words were transmitted through his mind,
a deep and steady male voice entered Xiao’s consciousness.
“Is it time to eat, Master?”
“Mm. It’s time to eat.”
...
--
Th-This is what it feels like after releasing the third shackle?
This power?!
It’s so powerful, so wonderful! This feeling is simply indescribable!
Ha~
Haha~
“HAHAHAHAHA!!”
On the other side, feeling the abundant and terrifyingly powerful force surging throughout his body, Xue Tianao’s confidence began expanding rapidly, instantly reaching an unprecedented height. Overwhelmed with excitement, he threw his head back and laughed wildly.
After releasing all three shackles, his strength had already approached the High Eighth Tier.
High Eighth-Tier strength, combined with the overwhelming characteristics of divine power—even a Peak Eighth-Tier powerhouse probably wouldn’t be able to defeat him!
The current him was invincible!
Although using this power would result in an enormous backlash afterward,
the current Xue Tianao could not be bothered to care about what happened later.
Right now, he had only one objective!
To tear the enemy before him into countless pieces and make him properly understand the consequences of opposing him! As the saying went, thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river! Now was the time for him, Xue Tianao, to take his revenge!
“I’ll give you one chance to surrender. If you surrender now, I might even show mercy and grant you a painless death.”
However,
faced with Xue Tianao’s words, Xiao remained completely silent. He had absolutely no interest in responding to Xue Tianao. From beginning to end, he merely stood there silently, holding his demonic spear and watching Xue Tianao, whose divine power was raging wildly in the sky.
Seeing his words ignored once again, Xue Tianao sneered coldly.
“Heh, you didn’t accept my proposal? It doesn’t matter. You’ll regret it soon enough.”
Now,
I’ll make you properly experience the pain I suffered earlier!
Extreme fury and violent divine power instantly erupted from Xue Tianao’s eyes. Surrounded by golden divine power, Xue Tianao’s aura climbed even higher. The terrifying pressure caused the surrounding space to gradually distort and shatter!
Under Xue Tianao’s control, endless golden light slowly converged upon the two divine weapons.
For a moment,
the two overwhelmingly powerful weapons, already filled with terrifying energy, began radiating shocking fluctuations powerful enough to destroy all things.
‘Wrathful Reincarnation — Heaven Severing!’
Xue Tianao’s pupils abruptly contracted as he decisively roared the name of his powerful technique inwardly.
Knowing full well how powerful his opponent was, Xue Tianao had no intention of showing mercy simply because his own strength had increased. Against this bastard who had already caused his death twice and now wanted to destroy everything he possessed, Xue Tianao intended to directly cripple his combat ability!
Then, he would torture him to death to his heart’s content!
Accompanied by rippling golden radiance,
Xue Tianao’s entire body transformed into a golden meteor. In an instant, he tore through space and flashed directly before Xiao at an inconceivable speed.
The vast golden curtain of light symbolizing divine power abruptly smashed apart Xiao’s gray-white aura until nothing remained.
The divine sword and divine axe struck simultaneously, sweeping up towering golden radiance as they slashed violently toward Xiao’s body with enough momentum to topple mountains and drown everything in their path.
“DIE!!!!”
Xue Tianao roared, unleashing an earth-shaking bellow.
At this moment,
Xiao naturally did not sit around waiting for death. Surrounded by dense mist, he raised the demonic spear in his hand, seemingly intending to block Xue Tianao’s attack.
‘Tch~’
Seeing this, Xue Tianao’s expression became filled with disdain.
‘Wrathful Reincarnation — Heaven Severing’ was an ultimate technique he had cultivated for a long time, one that required two divine weapons to execute. After all, the power of this move was simply too astonishing for ordinary weapons to withstand.
And an attack like this possessed unprecedented explosive power and penetrating force!
If used against a city, it would be enough to split the entire Sky Dome in half with a single strike!
If used against a person, even a God of Magic could be cleaved into two.
You actually want to block my attack with that skinny, broken demonic spear of yours?
What a ridiculous fantasy!
Pay the price for your stupidity!
And so,
under Xue Tianao’s crazed gaze, the two divine weapons violently collided with the demonic spear in Xiao’s hands.
Golden and gray light suddenly intertwined, devouring and eroding each other.
Wave after wave of world-destroying energy abruptly erupted from the violent collision, directly annihilating everything in the surrounding area with unstoppable force!
The Divine Armament Hall, including the countless weapons stored beneath it, was reduced to nothingness in an instant...
Clearly, compared to protecting those rare weapons and materials, eliminating a terrifying enemy like Xiao was far more important.
However,
...
Even after paying such an enormous price, the scene Xue Tianao had imagined—the black-haired man being critically injured by a single strike, collapsing to the ground, and becoming incapable of standing again—never happened...
On the contrary,
his opponent had forcibly blocked his attack.
And even more astonishingly,
Xiao was still standing exactly where he had been.
Completely unmoved...
At that instant, Xue Tianao’s pupils abruptly contracted.
An expression as though he had just seen a ghost suddenly appeared on the Child of Destiny’s face.
?!!!
“Th-This?! This! Th-This... WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”