The shadow of the gods walked slowly toward the girl.
At that moment, the Sword of Final Annihilation also let out a sword cry.
“The shadow of the gods?!”
The woman awoke, her voice ringing in Lu Mo’s mind, shaken to the core and extremely alert.
“Damn it… when the previous Demon King died, humanity never even summoned the shadow of the gods.”
“I never thought they would awaken such an existence just for you…”
“The shadow of the gods?”
Lu Mo looked at the figure walking out of the burning sky and spoke.
“You seem to know something.”
“Of course.”
The woman replied.
“After all, I am the Primordial Demon Emperor. Though my memories are fragmented, my understanding of this land is far beyond what a youngling like you can match.”
An old-timer, huh?
Lu Mo complained inwardly.
Just then, the woman also sensed the aura of the god’s shadow and spoke again:
“The shadow of the gods is the imprint left on this land by the gods during the Age of the Gods.”
“They used supreme means to imprint parts of their divine patterns onto the human world.”
“By injecting enough divine power into those imprinted divine patterns, the shadow of a god manifests in this world.”
“Their rank is close to that of the gods, and they also possess part of the gods’ power.”
“If such a method exists, why wasn’t it used in the Demon King Wars?”
Lu Mo asked.
The woman answered her:
“Because the cost of summoning the shadow of the gods is too high.”
“The divine pattern imprints are one-time use. No one knows how many divine pattern imprints remain in the human world now that the gods have departed.”
“Moreover, the divine substances in this world are now extremely scarce. Accumulating enough divine substance to awaken the shadow of the gods would take at least several hundred years.”
“No one can guarantee that something more severe won’t happen in the next few hundred years.”
“Thus, the value of the god’s shadow surpasses any life in this world.”
“Summoning it is the final resort of the human world.”
“Let me think… in the past few thousand years, when the demon realm attacked the human world, humanity only used this two or three times?”
“And that was only when the human defense line completely collapsed and they were about to be slaughtered all the way to the world’s center.”
“And the outcome was always the same.”
“The Demon King was killed.”
“Should I feel honored that they’re using the shadow of the gods to kill me?”
Lu Mo let out a cold laugh.
“But my realm is far from reaching the level of a Demon King, isn’t it?”
“But you are the most special and the most uncontrollable.”
The woman’s voice rang out.
“They cannot understand you, nor can they see your future.”
“With the human world’s strength far from recovered, they are unwilling to gamble.”
“So you must die.”
“Die within the human world.”
“Die… before this wall.”
The sea of flowers was burning fiercely.
Boundless divine might all descended upon Lu Mo and Cecilia.
The divine power within the entire Illusory Divine Kingdom surged like wild waves.
And in the next instant, an extremely pitch-black power exploded outward from Lu Mo as the center.
“—!”
Blackness enveloped several hundred meters, surging skyward at that moment!
Countless withered branches thrust out in all directions.
Then a pitch-black sun…
Rose slowly from within that darkness!
The next second, Lu Mo stepped out of that black sun.
Holding the Sword of Final Annihilation.
Bringing with her a vast power of darkness.
In an instant, she struck downward at the shadow of the gods!
“Swish—”
A black sword light flashed by, making heaven and earth flicker!
The girl’s cold pupils reflected the black sword light and the shadow of the gods.
The sword light quickly reached the god’s shadow, slashing at its body.
Then swiftly passed through it.
But the shadow of the gods showed not even a single crack.
Only a slight tremor.
As if…
Lu Mo’s sword had merely cut through some illusion.
“!”
Lu Mo’s eyes narrowed sharply in that moment.
She sensed it.
The nature of the god’s shadow’s power was fundamentally different from any power in this world.
She had only ever felt this sensation from the threads behind Cecilia!
The woman’s voice rang out again.
“You can feel it. His power level is essentially different from the mortal realm.”
“However, the shadow of the gods is weaker than that thread.”
“Give up.”
“Inside him is the imprint of a divine pattern. His rank is infinitely close to a god’s.”
“Your Paradise Realm power can’t even touch him.”
“Only the power you’ve been researching lately…”
“Has a chance to harm him.”
The woman referred to the Eightfold Fusion Sublimation Power.
In her view, Lu Mo was indeed an utter madman.
To actually complete such a terrifying power within the mortal domain.
Although for now, the Eightfold Fusion Sublimation Power was still highly unstable.
It truly was…
A power capable of harming the shadow of the gods.
“But I suggest you don’t use it immediately.”
The woman spoke again.
“Because even though the shadow of the gods has no self-awareness, it still possesses extremely strong combat ability.”
“Once you expose that power and harm it, it might not give you a second chance.”
“You’d better avoid any direct confrontation with it and instead look for an opportunity.”
“Use that power to break the boundary of the divine kingdom and escape with all your might.”
“You are my master and the most heretical Demon King I’ve ever seen.”
“I hope… you can survive.”
These were the woman’s heartfelt words.
The shadow of the gods was an existence with rank infinitely close to a god.
Not something a Demon King girl or an Original Sin Imperial Armament could kill.
Lu Mo did not answer the woman.
She simply stared coldly at the shadow of the gods slowly approaching.
She couldn’t touch the shadow of the gods.
But the shadow of the gods could burn her at this moment.
Beneath the black withered branches, the sea of flowers reappeared, blazing fiercely.
As if trying to burn away even that darkness.
Above, the pitch-black sun also began to show cracks under the suppression of the divine sun.
As if all darkness would be exposed before the shadow of the gods.
And in the end, annihilated completely!
***
At that moment, she saw the golden thread again.
Extending from Cecilia’s body to a place beyond the black shroud.
Connecting to the sky at the infinite distance beyond the divine kingdom’s end.
She wanted to do everything possible to protect Cecilia right now.
But she couldn’t wrap that thread in her darkness.
Couldn’t…
Stop that thread from burning.
Perhaps she could escape the Illusory Divine Kingdom.
But even if she took Cecilia with her, that thread would still appear inside the divine kingdom.
Tightly connected behind Cecilia.
Like…
The fate the girl could not escape.
“…”
The shadow of the gods drew closer and closer.
The divine sun above radiated even more brilliant and dazzling light.
Light was divine power.
Endless divine power flowed into the hand of the god’s shadow.
Finally, it formed an ancient great sword shimmering with countless complex divine patterns.
He walked toward Lu Mo.
And at that moment, he passed by the golden thread.
Then casually struck toward it.
He couldn’t cut the thread.
But the golden flame could burn away Cecilia’s life force and soul in an instant.
Perhaps, in his instinct, Cecilia should have died as the Saintess in the Demon King War.
She had no right to stand here.
And killing her was nothing but a flick of his palm.
The golden flame that incinerated everything fell.
Just as the golden flame was about to touch the thread—
“Swish—”
Another sword light struck him.
Still pitch-black.
But seemingly…
Deeper than the previous one.
Carrying a will to cut through all things.
Carrying a…
Madness!
The sword light howled past.
“Rip—”
And in that instant, a tearing sound rang out.
The flame was extinguished instantly.
Golden, illusory blood splattered.
What was torn was the golden flame about to fall on Cecilia.
And…
The hand of the god’s shadow!
This sword light was unstable and soon exploded in the sky.
For the first time, the shadow of the gods stopped walking.
He mechanically looked down.
At his torn hand.
Then raised his head, looking at the girl not far away.
“You don’t have the right to casually decide someone’s life and death.”
Lu Mo said.
At that moment, she actively walked toward the shadow of the gods.
A faint darkness appeared around her.
At that moment, it forcefully shook the divine power and pressure of the Illusory Divine Kingdom.
Exuding an aura…
That the god’s projection could not recognize.
Eightfold Fusion Sublimation Power!
But even now, Lu Mo could barely control this power.
Whether it was the previous sword light or the darkness undulating around her.
All were highly unstable at this moment.
Constantly losing balance, collapsing, then reappearing.
As if with the slightest misstep, the girl herself might be devoured by this power.
“You, you, you… have you gone mad? You actually—”
The woman’s voice rang out, filled with extreme terror.
She truly hadn’t expected Lu Mo to just blow up against the god’s shadow like that!
Without a hint of hesitation!
Although she had personally experienced Lu Mo’s attempt to cut the thread behind Cecilia before.
But back then, Lu Mo wasn’t in any real danger.
But now…
The girl was actually challenging the shadow of a god as a mortal?
Madness!
Utter madness!
The woman roared madly in her heart.
But at this moment, feeling Lu Mo’s resolve and madness.
She actually felt a very clear pain.
As if some long-erased memories were about to resurface deep within her remnant soul.
She seemed to have felt a similar madness before.
A long, long time ago.
In her…
Original body.
“Huh?”
Thus, the girl walked alone toward the burning sky.
Pointed her sword at the lofty gods above.
Without wavering.
Without fear.
She was going to end that illusory sky.
She was going to…
Kill a god!
“Swish—”
The next second, Lu Mo moved.
And in that instant, the withered tree trembled, countless branches thrust out.
She drove the boundless darkness, with the Eightfold Fusion Sublimation Power…
Struck toward the shadow of the gods!
The shadow of the gods reacted at that moment.
He passed over the golden thread and also regarded Lu Mo as an enemy to be annihilated.
At this moment, with infinite divine might and golden flame that incinerated all things, he blasted down at the girl.
—
Mortal and God.
Golden flame and pitch-black darkness.
Finally collided at that moment.
And at that very moment, countless eyes were also watching the battle before the Holy Demon Wall.
Because the power of the god’s shadow was indiscriminate.
They dared not rashly approach that Illusory Divine Kingdom.
Once they touched that burning sea of flowers, even they would be harmed immediately.
And they…
Did not dare stand before the shadow of the gods.
Because the power of the god’s shadow was indiscriminate.
He was the shadow of a god.
Standing before such an existence, they would tremble and revere from the depths of their souls, involuntarily wanting to submit and prostrate.
So they could only watch from a great distance through special means.
Watching that sky turn golden.
Watching the golden flame like divine wrath ignite everything.
Watching the withered giant tree rise from the ground.
Watching that heaven and earth flicker continuously.
“Such a terrifying sword intent…”
A Starry Realm cultivator murmured.
Recalling the moment Lu Mo had spared him, still shaken.
“She held back back then, after all.”
“Is she resisting the shadow of the gods?”
“What right does she have? How could she?”
Others were puzzled.
Humans, before the shadow of the gods, only felt awe, as if they dared not commit blasphemy.
But why did Lu Mo dare to draw her sword against the gods?
“Because she is no longer human, but a Demon King.”
“This is no ordinary Demon King. They must strike with full force and kill it!”
“Before the shadow of the gods, all resistance is meaningless. She won’t last long.”
Some angrily denounced the girl’s blasphemy against the gods.
And they believed Lu Mo would eventually be killed by the god’s shadow.
The gods would kill any blasphemer.
The gods were invincible.
It had always been so.
***
At the Kalis family estate.
The Kalis family head had locked himself completely in a secret room, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Lu Mo… my daughter…”
“It’s your father’s fault… your father is useless…”
He had voted against the motion in the meeting.
But it all meant nothing.
Before the overwhelming tide, before the shadow of the gods, he could change nothing after all.
He felt he was a failed father.
***
At that moment, the Valkyrie also stood far away, looking toward the direction of the Holy Demon Wall, her expression complex.
She didn’t know when it started.
She had been avoiding everything related to Lu Mo.
Avoiding each piece of news about Lu Mo.
Avoiding each pursuit.
And this time, she seemed unable to avoid it.
She would see…
The girl’s end.
The Illusory Divine Kingdom had completely dyed the Holy Demon Wall gold.
Making that entire world seem to turn into an eternal dusk.
The great withered tree stood tall in the dusk.
Like that withered World Tree.
Faintly, it evoked memories of a distant, ancient myth.
That extremely tragic story.