CHAPTER 853: MUTUAL DESTRUCTION

In the Dueling Space, on the second level.

"Perhaps defeating you will allow my power to be recognized," the opponent, a being of pure madness, cackled. "I am a madman, and you are a mage. Let this madman feel the power of magic! Let me scream freely in a world of your making! Hahaha..."

Faced with this frenzied foe, Deputy Commander Edward remained preternaturally calm. A frenzied opponent is always difficult to handle. To face one, maintaining one’s own inner peace, refusing to let them disrupt one’s heart and rhythm, is the best possible response.

"Wind rises. Clouds surge. Space collapses," the Deputy Commander intoned, his voice steady, each word clear and precise.

As he spoke, the very environment of the demigod-level dueling ground began to shift and warp under the influence of divine power and fundamental rules.

"Soul-suck, and the wind stops!" his opponent shrieked. "Soul-burst, and the clouds scatter! With the guard of my soul, the heavens may fall, but I am not extinguished! Hahaha... continue... this is not enough!"

The Deputy Commander’s expression remained serene. He slowly raised his hands and began to weave the seals for a powerful formation.

The battles of demigods are a contest of divine power, a collision of cosmic rules. Between equals, such a battle is a continuous, unending clash.

In the Dueling Space, on the fifth level.

After a full-force collision, Orion and Chix separated. In the clash between Orion’s Titan Form and Chix’s second form, the latter had the upper hand. Chix’s teleportation consumed less energy and was faster than Orion’s Instant Impact. If not for his own prodigious regenerative ability, Orion might already have been exhausted.

"You are very strong," Chix said, shouldering his scythe as he stared at Orion from a distance. "You’re the first enemy at the Archlord level I’ve met who can trade blows with me for this long. To be honest, outside of the Abyss, I’ve never seen a giant as powerful as you."

This guy is tough, Orion thought. A peak-tier Archlord. In aura, resources, and combat experience, Orion held no advantage. This was the second supremely difficult opponent he had ever faced, every bit the equal of the Silver-Eyed Grand General Dorian and his ability to slow time. If Dorian was unbeatable because of a single, overpowered ability, then Chix was superior to Orion in his overall, comprehensive stats.

"You are not unbeatable!" Orion retorted, raising his trident.

"The Death-Soul race is not unbeatable, it’s true. But it seems I’m guaranteed to win this duel! Hehe..."

The weaknesses of the Death-Soul race were well-hidden. Physical attacks and ordinary spells were useless against them. Only targeted sonic attacks and psychic assaults were truly effective.

But when Chix entered his second form, his resistance to those very things increased. It was as if his original form was immune to physical attacks but weak to vibration, while his second form was no longer immune to physical damage, but his soul’s weakness to vibration had been reinforced, its resistance heightened. And his combat power in that second form was tremendously enhanced. With his overwhelming strength now covering for it, his one minor weakness was no longer a weakness at all.

Orion flipped his hand, and five Lord’s Stones appeared in his palm. The Titan Emblem on his chest began to glow, absorbing all five stones. In his current state, Orion was certain he had no way to defeat his opponent. So, he had no choice but to play another trump card, sacrificing the five Lord’s Stones to the Titan Emblem.

A mysterious power flowed from the emblem, strengthening Orion’s body. He began to grow even larger, his strength and speed increasing wildly. The aura he now radiated was intensely oppressive.

"Guaranteed to win?" Orion taunted. "That’s not for you to decide!"

He raised his trident, and his figure flashed, leaving only a fading afterimage. In the distance, Orion and Chix collided once more. The trident danced, the scythe whirled. The contest of strength and speed had become a blur, impossible to distinguish.

In the Dueling Space, on the sixth level.

Amidst the endless self-destruction of souls, space itself was collapsing. No matter how focused the Void Dragon was, Leonidas found that his speed at finding stable spatial nodes could no longer keep up with the rate of collapse.

"Hehe, I can feel it. Your speed at finding nodes is slowing down," his opponent’s voice echoed. "In the end, I will win this duel! It’s just a pity about my little darlings. It took me hundreds of years to collect them."

In truth, Leonidas couldn’t even see his opponent anymore. His vision was a chaotic swirl of colorful and gray void. His dragon eyes flashed with rage and unwillingness.

"Damn it... you piece of trash... bastard..." Filthy curses poured from the Void Dragon’s mouth, though it was unclear if Leonidas was cursing himself or his opponent.

It’s no good. I’m still not fast enough. Am I going to lose this duel? No! I refuse to fcking lose!*

Having apparently made a decision, a mad glint appeared in Leonidas’s eyes.

"Hehehe, this is a feast of souls, a Requiem of Souls. In the soul’s..." Just then, the Soul-Devouring Reaper’s voice came again, now tinged with a sacred, fanatical quality, as if it were lamenting something, singing something.

"Will you shut the fuck up!?" Leonidas roared. "You sound terrible! Are you chanting a sutra to send yourself off? We’re both Archlords, stop putting on airs in front of me, you goddamn charlatan! Playing at being some kind of artist with this crap?"

"ROAR!"

The Void Dragon let out a final, defiant roar as dense spatial energy gathered around its body. A silver mark on its forehead began to flash violently.

"You like explosions so much? Fine! I’ll play with you! Let’s have a big fucking explosion together!"

BOOM!

Knowing he could not win by finding nodes, Leonidas had made the desperate choice to self-destruct. This was the self-destruction of an Archlord’s Void Dragon avatar, an explosion that resonated with countless spatial nodes. The resulting spatial collapse was on a level that the soul explosions could not even begin to compare to. Their fundamental principles were entirely different.

The blast was so immense that it not only caught the Soul-Devouring Reaper, but also the Flesh Golem in the center of the arena, killing it instantly.

"This is fine too," the Soul-Devouring Reaper’s faint voice echoed through the blast. He could accept this outcome. "Mutual destruction. No winner, no loser. At least I can answer for this to my people."

At the very least, he had not fueled his enemy’s power.