Chapter 658: Infernal Archdevil Commander: Yujia IV
Yujia’s eyes narrowed in frustration, her energy surging as she prepared another strike, but just then, she sensed some presences surrounding her.
Her pupils darted around as she spotted the Elder Spirits positioning themselves in a perfect ten-point formation around her, chanting as one.
Without hesitation, Yujia unleashed a massive burst of molten energy in all directions, erupting every volcano within sight to rain down lava upon everything around her and incinerate them all.
But before her wave of lava could fully spread, Arthur’s faux true voice rang in her head.
|¬AGSD! ¬|
A singularity materialized before Arthur, drawing in all the scorching lava and molten energy, swallowing it into an impossibly dense core.
In an instant, the singularity hit its maximum capacity, its pull intensifying to the point that Yujia herself staggered, her balance thrown off as her body and weapon were wrenched toward the gravitational force.
Arthur let go of Lostvayne and he grabbed the swirling mass with his hands, condensing the destructive power into his right fist. His left hand pulled back and Yujia’s gravity rotated, yanking her legs to the side and forcing her stance to buckle as she toppled.
Before she could react, Arthur was there, his fist blazing with the power of her own attack as he brought it crashing down on her mid-air.
His blow connected with a force that sent shockwaves through her body, slamming her downwards into the ground with such impact that her body bounced back from the rebound.
The earth beneath them didn’t just crack—it disintegrated. The spot where she landed turned to dust, and a heartbeat later, a massive sinkhole opened under both of them, the ground collapsing into a gaping chasm, swallowing the battlefield.
Blood spilt from Yujia’s lips, her organs bruised and shifting from the impact. As she struggled to catch her breath, the Elder Spirits’ chanting reached its crescendo, each voice blending into a command that echoed through the battlefield.
[Tenfold Soul Chain Seal!]
They shouted in unison, and from each Elder Spirit, ethereal chains forged of pure soul power shot forth.
They pierced Yujia’s body, yet no blood spilt; the chains bypassed flesh and bone, sinking directly into her soul. She gasped as the chains wrapped around the Origin cores forming within her soul, and in an instant, her connection to her universal law energy was cut.
"?!"
Her law energy, the power that had been barely containing Arthur’s destructive energy within her, was sealed away.
Without her law energy to keep it in check, Arthur’s destruction energy surged within her, igniting an unstoppable rampage. She choked, dark blood spilling from her mouth, along with pieces of her shattered ribs.
Her brain hadn’t yet fully computed the damage when Arthur’s leg collided with her side, a strike powered by 25x gravity that launched her like a comet.
Her body rocketed through the air, blasting through mountains that crumbled in her wake. She finally crashed into the heart of her base, carving out a smoking crater amidst the ongoing battles between Devils and Spirits.
The woman forced herself to her feet, even as blood spilt from her lips and eyes. Her Transcendent vitality kept her standing and, in her blood-covered vision, she turned towards the cultivators who had sided with the Infernal Devils, fighting alongside her forces.
"To me!... All of you! Aid me no-guk...NOW!"
In response, the allied cultivators and the surviving Infernal Devils scrambled to follow her order, breaking from their engagements to rush toward her.
The spirits, however, didn’t let them. They chased after the Infernals, launching attacks to hold both them and the cultivators back and blocking them from reaching Yujia.
The battlefield plunged deeper into chaos as cultivators from Yujia’s side clashed with the spirits—and those siding with the spirits retaliated, adding to the mayhem.
Some of the cultivators unsealed powerful artifacts and life-saving treasures bestowed by their sect Elders and Masters.
Energy surged as these artifacts ignited in bursts of light and power, and they charged at Arthur, unleashing a barrage of fierce attacks that forced him to defend himself against a relentless wave of strikes and spells.
|¬Localized Gravitation! ¬|
Arthur’s command amplified the gravity around him, yet several artifacts pulsed with energies potent enough to slice through his gravitational field.
Celestia and Lostvayne appeared in both hands as he deflected blow after blow, and amid this storm, Yujia seized the opportunity.
Lunging forward faster than he could react, her molten halberd arced through the air, crashing down with volcanic force on his back.
**BAMM!!
The blow struck true, breaking past his guard and sending him tumbling through the air his body struggling to regain its balance. As he flailed, a strike from one of the cultivators landed squarely, knocking him to the ground.
|¬DAMNED NUSIANCES!!!¬|
Arthur’s voice roared with fury, his Pseudo-Origin core thrumming with power as his anger boiled over.
|¬ANTI-GRAVITY! ¬|
At his word, the gravity within his range reversed, sending everything around him—including the spirits and cultivators—floating helplessly into the air.
|¬DOWN! ¬|
The air crackled as gravity crushed them back into the ground with a force so immense it shattered the earth beneath. Arthur’s pupils darted in multiple directions as he shot forward.
Blood sprayed, and three heads fell from their bodies in an instant, his blade cutting through the distractions.
Before the remaining cultivators could react, Lostvayne was already reaping two souls in a single stroke, while Celestia’s slicing arc cleaved through three more bodies, splitting them cleanly in two.
Yujia who was outside the range of his Anti-Gravity saw Arthur’s ploy and reacted instantly. She charged at him, blood dripping from her body as she propelled herself like a living comet.
Just as Arthur was about to behead another unsuspecting cultivator, Yujia attacked and he turned and crossed his blades to block her strike.
The force knocked him through the air and he crashed into the Spirit he was trying to save, the force of Yujia’s attack sending them both crashing into the ground.
They tumbled and knocked into another duo battling nearby, with all four of them falling in a chaotic heap.
Arthur pushed the others off him, and in that moment, his eyes met those of one of the cultivators he’d crashed into.
’...Xinyi...?’
Before he could even think, Yujia’s molten lava slashes tore through the air, her fury unleashed without restraint. The Archdevil spared no magic power, attacking him with the determination of someone prepared to die if it meant bringing down their opponent with them.
And those kinds of enemies, were the most dangerous.
He teleported behind her in a flash, his sword raised to strike. But just as the blade of destruction descended with the full might of his power, a pure white sword interposed itself, deflecting his blow and offsetting the destruction energy within his strike.
Arthur’s eyes widened in shock as the figure who had blocked his strike came into focus, and an immediate, furious recognition twisted his expression.
"You fucking bitch!!"
The boy roared, unleashing his rage in a vicious swing of his sword.
In the heat of his fury, Arthur forced his Destruction Pseudo-Origin core into overdrive. The energy circuits in his arm exploded, blood spurted from his wound, and before he could even comprehend it, he unconsciously achieved the third stage of the Split Series Technique.
Continental Split.
A massive wave of destruction energy thundered from his blade, space itself distorting with the sheer force of it.
For a fleeting moment, Yujia didn’t see a boy wielding a sword—she saw DEATH itself descending upon her.
She could not react, however, the figure who had blocked Arthur’s initial strike could, and they moved faster than Yujia’s wounded body could respond.
"Heed me, Creation!!!"
The words rang through the air as the power of the Law of Creation condensed in an instant, coalescing into a radiant barrier that shimmered with energy.
The barrier clashed with Arthur’s descending blade, and in a violent explosion of magic and cosmic energy, the two opposing powers collided and offset one another.
The shockwave hurled Arthur back, his body slamming against the ground with the force of the rebound.
At that moment, Yujia snapped out of her daze, her focus returning as she glanced at Xinyi—who had intervened just in time—and then turned her sights back to Arthur.
She charged at him and attacked, but just before her strike reached him, her worldview turned monochrome.
Celestia sliced through her molten arm, disintegrating it in the stopped time, but just as the world resumed its flow, the remaining lava energy in her arm detonated in a fiery explosion that engulfed Arthur.
His arm took the brunt of it, blood spraying as the force of the blast dislodged his sword from his hand.
Yujia acted in that instant, reaching out and grabbing Arthur by the throat with her left arm. Before he could use his time magic to heal his wounded right arm, she recreated her molten arm, the heat radiating off it in waves.
She formed a spear of pure lava in her hand and drove it through Arthur’s arm, impaling it. The molten spear embedded itself deep into the earth and Yujia burned her life itself to grant her the last burst of strength needed to hold Arthur in place.
Arthur struggled, his body tensing as he fought against her strength. His left hand reached out and grabbed the side of her face, unleashing a point-blank energy blast that erased her skin and revealed her bone.
But even while blinded in one eye, Yujia didn’t let go. She looked behind Arthur and shouted at Xinyi.
"KILL HIM!"
Xinyi charged forward, creating a sword with all her remaining magic power and Arthur tried to twist his body out of the way, but Yujia held firm, stomping on his foot.
He strained, even calling upon his gravity powers, but Yujia’s pure physical strength was too great to overcome at that moment.
Arthur’s right eye glowed and the air was charged with the power of Destruction. He was a split second away from using Destruction Nova to obliterate everything in one final burst of energy when his left eye flashed.
His time powers activated involuntarily, his mind recalling a memory of the future. His eyes widened, and he barely managed to conceal his shock.
The boy’s expression contorted with frustration, yet he continued struggling against Yujia’s grip, desperate to free himself.
By this time, Xinyi had already closed the distance and she thrust her creation sword with all her strength, stabbing Arthur through the back.
Blood sprayed into the air, and yet...
It was Yujia who coughed blood, not Arthur.
Yujia’s eye went wide with disbelief. She looked down and saw the impossible—the creation sword had phased through Arthur’s body and pierced her own heart.
Her gaze met the blade protruding from her chest in shock.
"What...?"
She gasped, her voice trembling.
Her eye snapped up, locking onto Xinyi who glared back at her with cold resolve. Yujia’s shock turned to rage, her life force burning as she tried to retaliate.
But Arthur moved first.
The energy he’d planned to use in Destruction Nova was rerouted to his Time Pseudo-Origin core and the still forming Spatial core in his soul.
Gravity intensified, space compressed and time slowed.
Arthur wrenched his right hand free, ignoring the pain that came from the spear of lava still piercing through it.
Celestia appeared in his hand and he drove it into the same spot the creation sword had pierced, his blade sinking deep into Yujia’s chest.
The tip of the sword emerged from her back, blood mingling with molten rock as the wound gushed.
Lava surged towards Arthur, bubbling and hissing with searing heat. But before it could reach him, Arthur twisted his blade and used all his remaining energy for one last attack.
"Cataclysmic Divide."
With an upward slash, Arthur unleashed the full force of his technique. A surge of silver energy erupted from his sword, slicing Yujia’s chest apart from the inside out.
The destructive power cleaved her body in two, the slash splitting her from the base of her chest up to the top of her head. Yujia’s eye went wide with pain and disbelief as her body tore apart.
In a final, defiant moment, Yujia’s body trembled, molten lava surging one last time—but it was too late.
Her body collapsed backwards and the molten rock, now without a master to control it, splashed harmlessly to the ground, its fiery energy fizzling out as it melted the earth beneath them.
Arthur stood over her fallen body, breathing heavily, his body soaked in sweat and blood.
The sword of creation phasing through him disappeared, its energy spent and again, Charisse’s words resounded in his head.
[Please, for the duration of this attack, do not be wary of ’Creation’.]
