Faced with Cerydra's inquiry, Lu Jingming still wore that knowing smile, as if everything was within his grasp.
"Actually, didn't the wise and mighty Empress already see through my little thoughts?"
His tone was relaxed, carrying a hint of sincerity that was hard to detect.
"To me, you are special. I help you simply because I want to, not to gain a so-called debt of gratitude."
Cerydra finally turned her head completely, her flawlessly exquisite face carrying an unprecedented seriousness. She stared intently into Lu Jingming's eyes, as if trying to pierce his gentle exterior and look directly into his soul.
After a moment of silence, she finally asked the question that had been suppressed for too long:
"Then, tell me, Lu Jingming... did we complete the Journey of Chasing the Fire? Did we... complete the Re-Creation?"
Lu Jingming was not surprised by this.
To have endured until now, only asking this question, which concerned the very meaning of their existence, at the edge of such a tense battlefield, was already a sign of extreme patience for the meticulous Empress.
He shed the smile on his face and nodded solemnly.
"Yes, you succeeded. You... completed the Re-Creation."
Cerydra listened quietly. A faint glimmer of relief, quickly suppressed, flashed across her eyes, which seemed capable of discerning all things. They then returned to the deep serenity of an ancient, still well.
She nodded gently.
"Is that so... that is enough."
She did not press for specific details. She didn't ask how tragic the process was, nor did she ask... what the final fate of their Golden Lineage was.
For some answers, knowing the result was sufficient.
Knowing that their efforts were not in vain and that their sacrifices held meaning—that, to her, was the best solace.
Lu Jingming remained silent, offering no further words of comfort or explanation.
He simply stood quietly beside Cerydra, gazing up at the ultimate battle raging high above, the fight that would determine the succession of the Asura God's position.
The powers of ice, fire, and the ocean continued to erupt in that airspace, mingling into a light that illuminated the entire world, a light woven from creation and destruction.
High in the sky, the extreme collision of three streaking lights paused, and they separated, revealing their forms.
Hysilens hovered in the air, the Golden Trident in her hand still shining brightly, but she could feel that relying on this inherited divine artifact always felt like being separated by a veil, unable to truly suppress Kevin.
She looked down at the divine artifact, which symbolized the Sea God's authority, and a flicker of realization passed through her eyes.
"In the end... it is but an external object."
With a soft murmur, she performed an action that drew the attention of both Jingliu and Dark Kevin—she let go of her grip.
The Golden Trident, which once shook the four seas, let out a reluctant hum and turned into a streak of light, withdrawing into her body.
Simultaneously, the ornate Sea God armor she wore rippled and dissipated like water. In its place was a more form-fitting azure battle skirt, embroidered with ancient and esoteric tidal patterns, seemingly synchronizing with the breathing of the entire ocean.
Her demeanor abruptly changed.
She lost some of the magnificent dignity belonging to "the Sea God" and gained a deeper, more ancient, and mysterious aura belonging to "the Ocean itself."
Next, she made a grasping motion with both hands, and two completely different powers condensed within them.
In her right hand, vast water elements surged and converged, ultimately solidifying into a translucent longsword.
The blade was cast from the purest seawater, with internal currents and waves seemingly swirling in eternal motion. The edge shimmered with an extreme sharpness capable of cleaving all things.
This was the Blade of Tides, representing the "dynamic" aspect of the ocean: the destructive giant waves and the undercurrents that tear the seabed.
In her left hand, ethereal power of nothingness intertwined with the extreme softness of water, transforming into a faint, watery-hued Guqin.
Its strings were composed of flowing water-light, and a slight pluck produced an ethereal sound that could both soothe the soul and summon inner demons.
This was the Lute of the Void Sea, representing the "static" aspect of the ocean: the all-consuming abyss and the tranquility where all things return to rest.
Seeing the change in Hysilens's aura, the demonized Kevin let out a deep growl, and the flames on his Judgment of Destruction Greatsword flickered even more violently.
He sensed an aura from this state of Hysilens that was more threatening than before.
Jingliu's brow under her black veil slightly lifted. She could "hear" the "ringing" of the water sword in Hysilens's hand.
"Come. Let me, in my own name—Hysilens Demigod of the Ocean—engage you in battle."
Before the words finished, Hysilens moved.
She no longer transformed into a simple blue streak of light but was like a surging tsunami. The Blade of Tides in her right hand struck directly at Kevin with the sharpness to tear everything apart.
The sword style was no longer the grand magnificence of the Sea God's Halberd Art, but was instead more bizarre and unpredictable, like the unpredictable undercurrents of the deep sea, launching attacks from various tricky angles.
Kevin swung the Judgment of Destruction to block. The clash of the flame sword and the water sword produced a fierce "hissing" sound of extreme vaporization. But this time, the Blade of Tides was not easily deflected. The oceanic power contained within it was actually able to contend equally with the fire of destruction. Furthermore, its pervasive nature began to slowly infiltrate and weaken the Judgment of Destruction's flames.
Simultaneously, Hysilens gently plucked the Lute of the Void Sea.
"Zheng—!"
An invisible sound wave spread out, not targeting the physical layer, but striking directly at the soul and consciousness.
Kevin's movement imperceptibly froze for a moment. His gathered will of slaughter and destruction rippled, as if a stone had been dropped into a deep pool.
This was soul erosion and conscious interference.
How could Jingliu miss such a golden opportunity? Her Transience sword transformed into a flying light, instantly thrusting forward, the chilling blade targeting the opening revealed by Kevin's momentary pause.
"Roar!"
Kevin roared in fury. His demonized body forcefully broke free from the sound wave's interference, and the Judgment of Destruction Greatsword swept horizontally, forcing Jingliu back.
But Hysilens's Blade of Tides immediately followed from the side, like a leech fixed to the bone.
The combat pattern had completely changed.
Hysilens abandoned absolute frontal strength confrontation, instead using the sharpness and versatility of the Blade of Tides for hit-and-run attacks and tearing, while using the soul erosion and conscious interference of the Lute of the Void Sea for support and control.
She and Jingliu, one like the ever-changing ocean and the other like the constant, cold moonlight, formed a perfect synergy.
Jingliu was the main attacker; her sword was the singular, ultimate "point," aiming for a one-hit kill.
Hysilens provided support; her power was the vast, formless "surface," suppressing, weakening, and creating opportunities.
Kevin was plunged into an unprecedented bitter struggle.
He had to not only defend against Jingliu's sword, which was peak-speed and absolute-cold, but also divide his attention to deal with Hysilens's unpredictable sound wave attacks and the tidal blades assaulting him from all angles.
The sound of the Lute of the Void Sea was like demonic whispers filling his ears, constantly attempting to dismantle his fighting will and disrupt his energy circulation, making him intensely irritable. The flames on his demonized body even started to become somewhat unstable.
Below, Lu Jingming watched the transformation of Hysilens's fighting posture high in the sky, a slight smile flashing in his eyes.
"Finally... willing to find your true self?" he muttered softly.
Cerydra also watched the battle, slowly speaking:
"Abandoning the divine position and divine artifact, returning to the source. It seems the Sword-Riding Duke also found her own 'truth' in this battle."
Her gaze swept over the Blade of Tides and Lute of the Void Sea in Hysilens's hands, then turned to the raging demon.
"Then, it is time for this hunt to enter its final stage."
Cerydra, who had been observing quietly, finally moved.
She raised the scepter in her hand high, and the ethereal blue flames on her crown burned with unprecedented intensity, as if she herself was about to transform into a part of the Law.
"Law: Proclamation."
Her voice was no longer limited to sound but transformed into invisible Law, directly branded into the rules of heaven and earth across this battlefield.
"Proclamation One: He who wields Tide and Void, his strength is like the abyss, his will is like the sea, his authority... is liberated."
Buzz—!
An invisible, immense power instantly surged upon Hysilens.
The Blade of Tides in her hand burst with light. The surging undercurrents within the blade seemed to turn into genuine ocean vortices, and the sharpness of the air sliced the space with sizzling sounds.
The Lute of the Void Sea became more tangible, its strings vibrating on their own, and the power of nothingness and erosion contained within the sound waves abruptly increased several times over.
She felt that her control and output of her own power had broken through an invisible constraint.
"Proclamation Two: She who wields the Sword of Frost and Destruction, her body is like light, her sword is like the cosmos, her limit... is broken."
Another surge of power enveloped Jingliu.
The chilling aura surrounding her climbed fiercely, like a breaking flood.
Her swirling sword energy was no longer just cold but carried an intent to end all things and return to eternal stillness.
Her speed surged again. What trailed behind her were no longer mere afterimages but short-lived spatial rifts.
With this law-defying amplification from Cerydra, the momentum of Hysilens and Jingliu instantly overwhelmed Kevin.
"Ugh—Ah!!!"
Sensing a fatal threat, the demonized Kevin roared a soul-tearing cry.
He could no longer hold back, injecting all the power within him, his will of slaughter, and even the source of his demonized body, without reservation, into the Judgment of Destruction Greatsword in his hand.
He gripped the sword with both hands, not slashing at a specific target, but violently thrusting it into the empty space beneath his feet.
"Boom!!!!!!!!!!"
A column of dark-red, nearly black flame of destruction, over a thousand meters in diameter, shot up into the sky like a volcanic eruption, centered on him.
Wherever the flame column passed, space shattered like fragile glass. Every material thing caught within it—air, dust, or dissipated energy—was instantly broken down and annihilated.
This column of destructive flame pierced straight through the sky, not only completely scattering and evaporating the rampant energy storm and thick clouds in the atmosphere but also continuing its momentum, as if to breach the atmosphere and blast into the cosmic stars.
Immediately after, the sky-piercing flame column suddenly contracted and warped, condensing in the air into a dark-red flame sword that spanned the heavens and earth, kilometers in length.
The blade burned with the fire of the end, which eclipsed even the sun, emitting a desperate aura capable of igniting the entire Douluo Star and dragging it into destruction.
This was Kevin the Demon's final strike. There was no evading it; the only option was a direct confrontation.
Facing this world-destroying sword, Hysilens's eyes were as calm as the deepest ocean trench.
She slowly crossed the Blade of Tides and the Lute of the Void Sea, holding them up in front of her.
"Abyssal Silence: All Things to Nothingness."
She chanted softly. The surging oceanic power within the Blade of Tides and the ethereal power of nothingness within the Lute of the Void Sea did not merge but achieved a resonance in an esoteric manner.
A seemingly sparse barrier of absolute darkness, yet capable of swallowing all light and heat, unfolded before her. In the depths of that darkness was the ultimate void, where even time and space lost meaning.
It seemed connected to an all-consuming black hole, emitting an aura of finality that made even gods tremble.
Simultaneously, facing the overwhelming descent of the Sword of the End, the black eye veil that had always concealed Jingliu's eyes was finally torn away and blown off by the violent energy storm.
Beneath the veil were pupils that were completely scarlet, like eyes burning with the fire of a blood moon.
"With this body... I cleave the stars."
She gripped the Transience sword tightly with both hands. Upon the blade, moonlight-like chill intertwined and surged with a blood-red hue.
She adopted no defensive stance but merged with her sword, transforming into a streak of ultimate sword light that rolled upward, seeking to split the entire sky.
Wherever the sword light passed, the void was neatly torn apart, leaving bottomless black ravines, and the emanating coldness froze and solidified the time and space along its path.
The next moment—
The Sword of the End, carrying the might to incinerate the world, slashed down!
The Domain of Nothingness, unleashing the power of silence, devoured all things!
The Ultimate Sword Light, carrying the will to cleave everything, flew against the heavens!
Three powers representing different concepts collided violently over the Slaughter City!!!
"——————————!!!"
An indescribable thunderclap erupted. It was not sound, but the lament of the Law, the howl of the world.
At the center of the collision, first a singularity of ultimate darkness, which devoured all light, expanded, and then transformed into a pure white flash that swept across the heaven and earth.
Beneath this flash, all things lost their color, as if returning to the chaos of creation's beginning.
Next came energy, unimaginable energy, bursting forth violently in a perfect sphere centered on the collision point, spreading in all directions.
The earth was easily ripped up, shattered, and vaporized like a fragile eggshell.
A mushroom cloud, vast beyond the limits of mortal imagination, slowly rose, its height directly penetrating the atmosphere, the top still expanding wildly in the near-vacuum environment.
Circular shockwaves swept outwards at countless times the speed of sound.
Wherever they passed, whether mountains several kilometers high or canyons tens of thousands of meters deep, everything was instantly leveled, crushed, and reduced to fine dust.
The topography within a radius of several hundred kilometers was permanently altered. The former mountains and valleys were transformed, in a matter of seconds, into a vast, flat plain of radioactive glass, smooth as a mirror.
The shockwave even rushed tens of thousands of meters high, completely driving away and emptying the remaining atmosphere.
In an instant, looking up from the center of the battlefield, one no longer saw the blue sky, but the cold, silent, star-dotted deep cosmos.