Lord of Prayer

Boundless thunder shook the heavens.

Brilliant lightning surged into the sky, blotting out the sun. Countless azure bolts danced around Li Xiye like coiling dragons, weaving together into an ocean of thunder that cast a tyrannical yet solemn radiance.

A few minutes ago, she had been trying to force her way through Forbidden Object B-023: Golden Maze. However, the master of the Golden Maze had deliberately thrown her before the Evil Steel Giant, forcing her into battle.

The Evil Steel Giant was undoubtedly powerful. At its peak, she would have been no match for it. But the Giant had been severely wounded in a previous battle. Its heavy iron armor was almost completely shattered, and blood gushed from its vital points like waterfalls. Its condition had deteriorated drastically, which gave her a rare opportunity.

After an exceptionally brutal fight, she finally killed the Evil Steel Giant, thereby completing the final step of her Advancement ritual. She immediately initiated the Secret Ceremony and began her Advancement.

"Hooo—"

A kilometer away, a dark creature clad in a rotting robe noticed the situation. It let out a strange, wicked cackle and exhaled a puff of gray, decaying mist toward Li Xiye. A storm of decay, capable of extinguishing all life, swept forth like a torrent, withering life and leaving the land barren in its wake.

Li Xiye gave it an indifferent glance, raised a finger, and the myriad azure bolts of lightning converged into a single line, erupting from her fingertip.

The lightning flashed, instantly crossing the one-kilometer distance. It tore through the decaying mist, pierced the body of the dark creature in the rotting robe, and annihilated its Dark Soul with overwhelming ease. A gust of wind blew, and it turned to ash.

"KRAAA—!"

Suddenly, a strange shriek echoed from above. A pitch-black Harpy dove from the sky. Its upper body was that of an ugly woman, while its lower half was like a vulture, complete with wings and sharp claws. The shriek it emitted was as piercing as fingernails on a chalkboard or a sharp knife scraping across glass, and it carried a psychic impact.

The Harpy’s talons were exceptionally sharp, like curved steel, and they gleamed with a cold, black luster. They tore through the air in an instant, striking at Li Xiye’s throat.

Li Xiye raised her eyes, which held a formidable gleam of lightning, and stared coldly. The Harpy was suddenly thrown into a frenzy, letting out a shriek filled with Fear as if under immense pressure. It instantly lost control of its body, freezing in mid-air before plummeting and slamming hard onto the ground.

CRACK!

A stray bolt of azure lightning flashed past. The Harpy’s flesh and blood flew everywhere as it was cleanly blown to smithereens.

The azure lightning grew even more violent, swelling and expanding without end until it affected the weather of the entire Abyss. A somber thundercloud, like an iron curtain, shrouded everything. A deafening roar erupted from within, like a Giant beating a war drum, echoing ceaselessly between heaven and earth.

The blazing azure lightning flashed frantically at an ultra-high frequency. Gigantic arcs and forked chains of electricity spread in all directions, densely covering the sky and crisscrossing the firmament to form a sea of thunderbolts.

Several hundred azure bolts of lightning rained down from the heavens, crashing down like pillars of thunder connecting the sky and the earth in a magnificent spectacle. The lightning struck only the Abyssal Demons on the battlefield, obliterating them into dust on contact and stunning the Ascenders who were fighting them.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE...

It was as if the heavens, in their great anger, had sent down divine retribution. Thunderbolts fell one after another, filling the sky in a dense, dazzling array. An untold number of Abyssal Creatures died beneath the lightning, and countless people were stunned speechless by the thunderstorm.

Li Xiye felt as if she had become that endless ocean of thunderbolts high in the sky, looking down upon the mortal world, reigning over all creation.

At that moment, the Divine Mark known as "Tyrant" completely merged with her Soul. The brilliant light of divinity began to shine from her body.

In that instant, the World fell silent. The thunderbolts reversed their flow. The sky-shaking sea of thunder and the storm of lightning surged like a mighty river, endlessly pouring into Li Xiye’s body. Nourished by a myriad of thunderbolts, her Soul underwent its ultimate sublimation. She successfully crossed the chasm-like boundary and stepped into a new realm.

The azure thunderbolts quietly died down. Not a single halo of Essence light flickered. Li Xiye simply stood there, yet she seemed to have become the ruler of this land, compelling all things to bow before her.

SWOOSH!

Just then, a black arrow infused with the Essence of Calamity shot toward her from several kilometers away. Li Xiye’s gaze flickered. The Absolute Will of "Tyrant" pressed down, and the black arrow shattered inch by inch in mid-air, scattering as dust.

Immediately after, Li Xiye froze for a moment. The Essence Fluctuation of Dark Essence emanating from the black arrow felt very familiar, yet she couldn’t quite recall why...

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Suddenly, three more black arrows tore through the air toward her.

Li Xiye casually condensed a bolt of azure lightning and hurled it in their direction. With a deafening roar and a spray of sparks, the three black arrows were instantly annihilated. The mighty thunderbolt continued forward, but after crossing a great distance, it was caught by a demonic hand and crushed.

"LI—XI—YE—!!!"

A roar of Anger echoed across the distance, the hatred within it so thick it was almost tangible.

It was a woman. The left side of her body was human, with a reasonably pretty face. But the right side of her face and neck looked severely burned, covered in ugly scars. Upon closer inspection, one could even see the marks of a lightning strike. Her right eye was a translucent crystal, and her right arm was a demonic limb—hideous and twisted, covered in strange, ritualistic markings.