Light and darkness alternated wildly.
The power of divinity and the power of the demon realm raged, annihilating the surrounding black crystals, causing the entire space to tremble and collapse!
The commotion was simply too terrifying. Many humans and demons also looked toward that area at that moment.
Witnessing the scene that seemed capable of destroying everything, they felt a chill in their hearts, utterly shocked.
“Is that… the Demon King?”
A demon spoke, dazed.
From that expanse of darkness, he felt a suppression originating from his bloodline, a fear and urge to submit from the very depths of his soul!
He wasn’t the only one.
At this very moment, deep within the Demon King’s Throne, Rumina and the Demon King, who were locked in combat, also paused for an instant upon sensing this anomaly.
“This aura—”
Rumina’s eyes trembled.
Even she instinctively mistook that dark power for the Demon King’s own.
If the true Demon King weren’t standing right before her, displaying his power, she would have suspected the one before her was an imposter.
“What is going on—”
That darkness, while inferior in terms of realm power compared to the Demon King…
Its rank, its oppressive presence, the feeling it gave her…
It seemed even more terrifying than the one before her!
“……”
The Demon King remained silent, merely watching that darkness, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
No one knew what he was thinking.
The pause was only momentary.
In the next instant, Rumina and the Demon King simultaneously looked back at each other.
The divine weapon was unleashed, the Demon King’s power surged.
And the two figures clashed together once more with a thunderous impact!
***
The scene returns to Lu Mo and Solaris.
Their swords were still locked in combat.
It wasn’t just a collision of divine power and demonic power.
It was the ultimate battle between a mortal and a being from the heavens!
The final showdown between Severing and Annihilating!
The sword that severs all things…
In this world, ultimately, only one could exist.
“Lu Mo… Lu Mo…”
“Just… die already—”
Within the blazing light, Solaris maintained her downward-slashing posture.
She was furious.
She was roaring.
This was her strongest possible strike.
A divine-grade combat technique… hidden within the Annihilating Sword!
This was the strike she should have used against the Demon King.
But Lu Mo had forced her to use it here, prematurely.
And even so…
Lu Mo had also delivered a strike no less powerful than this divine-grade technique!
Strike down!
She just needed to annihilate that darkness!
If she could just kill Lu Mo, she would be the undisputed strongest of the younger generation!
She could receive Cecilia’s sacrifice, using her soul and life to make her own sword even sharper!
She could stand beside Rumina and annihilate the Demon King!
She would become the highest, the strongest Hero!
She would… obtain everything she desired!
“I want my name to be remembered through the ages…”
“I want to become the immortal of the human world…”
“I want to stand at the pinnacle of that world, to be gazed upon and praised by all—”
She raged.
She was already exerting her full strength at this moment.
But…
Why couldn’t she strike down?
Why couldn’t the Annihilating Sword destroy both the girl and that darkness together?
Crack—
Right then, a clear, crisp sound rang out within the blazing light.
Solaris abruptly saw a thread of darkness appear before her.
A single thread of black within the scorching sun, at this moment, looked exactly like a suddenly appearing crack.
Crack, crack, crack—
A series of continuous shattering sounds followed.
To Solaris’s utter disbelief…
Within the boundless radiance, more and more threads of darkness were appearing.
Crisscrossing, spreading out, as if countless cracks were forming on the blazing Celestial Crown Solaris!
“How is this possible…”
“Absolutely impossible…”
Solaris kept muttering, terror appearing in her eyes.
This was a divine-grade combat technique!
A divine-grade technique executed with divine power!
The sacred solar blaze should not be tainted by darkness!
The holy, radiant Celestial Crown should be utterly beyond the reach of mortals!
Yet now…
The Celestial Crown Solaris was shattering, bit by bit!
The sun was being torn apart by darkness.
The Celestial Crown… was also unmistakably shattering at this moment!
BOOM—
With a tremendous sound.
A huge hole was violently torn open in the Celestial Crown Solaris before Solaris!
Endless darkness seeped through.
And she saw Lu Mo’s figure rapidly approaching her.
Holding a sword that was dark and cold.
Radiating an intent to sever everything.
Was it that sword that breached her Celestial Crown Annihilation?
Perhaps it was?
At this moment, that dark sword, whether in grade or in the power it unleashed, was not inferior to her Celestial Crown Annihilation.
Or perhaps—
It wasn’t just that?
In the next instant, Lu Mo had already arrived before her.
And thus, she felt with utmost clarity the sword intent emanating from Lu Mo.
Her eyes widened sharply at that moment.
She felt as if everything had become disjointed.
Her body.
Her soul.
The space around her.
And… everything in this world!
It was a sword intent that severed all things, all matters!
In her dazed state, it seemed Lu Mo had severed the entire world before her!
Shiiing—
The dark sword pierced through Solaris’s chest.
The sacred Celestial Crown, the blazing solar blaze, also completely shattered at this very moment!
Darkness devoured everything.
“And Severing…”
At this instant, surpassed Annihilating!
BOOOOOOM—
The thunderous roar echoed once more through this space.
Ultimate darkness swallowed all, only dissipating slowly after a long while.
On the spot, the black crystals had shattered, forming a massive crater.
And Solaris lay in the very center of the crater, her body almost completely broken.
The dark sword had pierced through her chest, pinning her firmly to the ground.
Her cultivation realm had been completely destroyed.
Dark energy was wildly invading her entire body, destroying her vitality.
The Annihilating Sword had fallen not far away, its light completely extinguished.
And she… was about to die.
Solaris’s face was covered in blood, her pupils dim. At this moment, she wordlessly looked up at Lu Mo, who stood before her.
Lu Mo was also quietly looking down at her.
Aloof, breathtakingly beautiful, radiating a terrifying demonic pressure, standing there… just like a tyrannical young monarch!
Only now did Solaris suddenly realize—
She seemed to have never surpassed Lu Mo.
She had always wanted to compare herself to Lu Mo.
But she had never managed to defeat Lu Mo.
She was jealous, she was furious, she roared, she went mad.
But Lu Mo, from beginning to end, had remained calm and detached.
Perhaps, in Lu Mo’s eyes, she was merely a clown.
Solaris didn’t notice that Lu Mo’s eyes, at this moment, held no reflection of her figure.
Lu Mo was looking far into the distance, at Cecilia.
No matter how earth-shattering the battle had been, she seemed completely unaffected.
She simply stood there, bathed in the light spilling from the edge of the sky.
Utterly quiet, utterly sacred.
Quiet like a stagnant pool of dead water.
Sacred… like some ritual object devoid of its own will.
In truth, when Solaris was fighting Lu Mo, the command was interrupted, and Cecilia’s sacrificial actions had already stopped.
But now, she still stood there, her eyes vacant.
She was still under the influence of that pale golden thread, unable to break free.
And now, perhaps because Solaris was nearing death, gradually losing her connection to the Annihilating Sword…
That golden thread was slowly fading, becoming illusory.
Soon, it would vanish from this world once more.
If Solaris died, the thread would quickly disappear from the perceivable world.
But it would only vanish from the realm that people could perceive.
It would still exist as a concept.
And as early as when she was seven years old…
Lu Mo had seen that thread.
In the heavenly light falling through the overcast sky, she had seen that faint, almost imperceptible line.
That thread constrained Cecilia’s fate.
With just a gentle pull, it could take Cecilia away from this world.
And now—
“Ahahahahaha….”
“Finally! Finally!!! You’ve still taken that step—”
“You’ve killed them all, and now even the Hero is about to be killed by you!!!”
“My great master, how does it feel, how does it feel?”
“Happy? Joyful? Excited?”
“They wanted to kill you, it’s already come to this, you should give up your illusions about humanity, right?”
“And… you can’t go back anymore, can you?”
A woman’s voice rang out in Lu Mo’s mind, excited to the extreme, to the point of being somewhat incoherent. “Accept reality, master.
Come with me… step into that deeper darkness…
You will kill the Demon King, you will ascend that ancient throne, you are destined… to wear the dark crown, to become the new king of all demons—”
“Lu Mo… I…”
Feeling her vitality draining away madly, Solaris, at this moment, became incredibly afraid.
She was just about to open her mouth to beg Lu Mo for mercy.
Shiiiiing—
But in the next second, Lu Mo violently pulled the dark sword out from her chest!
Flesh tore once more. Solaris’s expression twisted further in agony. Blood gushed from her chest, and she vomited more blood and fragments of internal organs, her life hanging by a thread.
Lu Mo paid no heed to the voice in her mind.
Nor did she pay attention to Solaris.
At this moment… she just coldly looked at the faintly visible golden thread behind Cecilia.
Then, gripping the End Annihilation Sword tightly, she walked step by step toward the past.
“Huh?”
“Why are you leaving?”
“Even if the Hero will die, isn’t this method of death too careless?”
“And, the Demon King’s Throne isn’t in that direction!”
The woman’s voice called out to Lu Mo at this moment.
She was desperate to see Lu Mo sever the Hero’s head, to witness with her own eyes Lu Mo ascend the Demon King’s throne.
But when she sensed Cecilia standing over there, sensed that faintly visible thread, she suddenly froze.
This aura, could it be—
Before she could confirm it, she then realized Lu Mo had locked onto that thread, gripping her own hilt tightly!
“No… that’s not right…”
The woman realized something was wrong at that moment.
She suddenly trembled all over, shocked, afraid, disbelieving…
To the point where, in the end, she began to shout and scream.
“Wait—”
“Don’t get any closer…”
“Don’t… come any closer…”
“What are you raising me to do?”
“Just what… are you trying to sever!!!”