In a world of Darkness that Azdaar found himself lost inside, the ground beneath his feet was pulling onto him as if it wanted to devour him.
The gravitational pressure that was locking him was several times greater than what he had tried to lock Keith with, and in this despicable place, he could not sense the presence of his enemy at all.
Not willing to take any risks, Azdaar fortified the Aura Shields around his body, and the only thing visible to him was his own body which was exuding a reddish-brown miasma.
For a brief moment, he debated if he should utilise his own control over Darkness to blend in this place, but he felt silly for even considering it.
How could he play with Darkness to compete with the Lord of Darkness himself? He was quite certain that he would end up getting humiliated again.
Nonetheless, silly as it was, he still acted upon it, trying to blend in with the Darkness, and he merged again with his Aura Soul, making it guard him as he decided to force his way out of this dmaned place which was eerily silent.
Fear whispered in his heart the moment he crashed into something that took ridiculously great strength to pierce through, and since there was no light and no sound, he was not sure what he had crashed into.
Once again, he found himself crashing into something just as hard, and then he felt his Aura Soul being attacked from all sides, being clawed, bitten, and pierced.
"Erebus!!!" He tried to scream, but no voice came out of his mouth, and all Azdaar could now do was brace himself and try to break out of this place.
He tried and tried, over and over again, time passed, minutes turned into hours, and the fear in his heart now weighed heavily on him.
'There was no way out of this place'. The thought was now quite loud in his mind.
His Mana and Aura reserves were being depleted as he constantly channelled them to protect himself, and now he had lost all his patience as he was restless beyond what he had ever been in his life. And to add to his worries, there was no air now either.
He could go on for much longer without needing to breathe, but his instincts were screaming at him as he had never before been in such a situation. It was driving him crazy.
How was someone even supposed to sane in this hell or Darkness?
Finally, having decided to channel his trump card, he called on to the Power of Destruction that he could utilise, and the miasma around his body started taking a more reddish form.
Bursting his Aura and Mana, he eliminated what was attacking him and his Aura Soul, and then he used his Power to break everything that was caging him.
As he channelled more of his God Powers, the ground under his feet started shaking, forcing cracks to appear on it, and the tremors were even felt by the Mortal Gods who were present inside the Valley, staring at the Dome of Darkness.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes when she watched red cracks appear on the Dome, and then, to everyone's surprise, the Dome of Darkness crumbled down, revealing what was hiding inside it.
It was a massive crystalline structure that was crumbling down, and right in the middle of it was the Inheritor of the Babylonian God of War who was bellowing as he wanted to shatter the sky with his battle cry.
There was a strange reddish miasma oozing out of his body, and it exuded a dreadful feeling that gripped their hearts.
Rebecca's heart thumped hard when she sensed a hint of familiarity with this strange power, and it was the same for Yingying and Marianne. But then their eyes caught Keith, and his blonde bride could not help her giggles.
There, at the Northern side of the Crystalline structure was a crystal throne, and Keith sat on it with his eyes closed, legs crossed, and his head supported on his right hand.
It was as if he was utterly bored and needed a nap, which was a stark contrast with his enemy, who looked to be in a pitiful state, having lost his mind, and was visibly very exhausted.
Azdaar was outraged when he saw how comfortably Keith was sitting on his throne, and then he rushed at him, coating his fist in the Power of Destruction.
The onlookers felt their hearts slow down with the fist landed on the crystal throne, shattering it into countless pieces, but then they felt chills up their spine when they saw Keith standing right behind Azdaar with his Aura Sword drawn.
The Aura Sword landed on the Black Lion that was protecting Azdaar, and it cut right through it, managing to reach the man inside it, leaving a horrifying diagonal gash on his back.
The blood was drawn, but a strange yellow light immediately burst out of Azdaar's body, and everyone watched Keith pull back at a terrifying speed, evading that light.
Azdaar dropped to his knees as he felt the pain wash over him, and the Power of Destruction subsided as he no longer had enough Mana in his body to utilise it.
"So you know about it." He panted and whispered, but all of the Mortal Gods heard it. "Is that why you want to kill me?" He asked, but Keith, whom the question was directed at, did not answer him. Instead, he slowly walked towards the Inheritor of Nergal, summoning his Aura Soul around his body.
The answer was not needed and Azdaar was already sure of it now.
He glanced at the Golden locket he was wearing on his neck, which was in the shape of a curved tear-drop, and he sighed in his heart.
This was what had protected his life just now, but now he knew that he was going to die here.
"I won't go out without a fight, Erebus!" He shouted as he stood up on his feet, but sighed in his heart as the veil of Darkness surrounded them once again.
The Dome of Darkness appeared again in the Valley, and everyone was left to guess what was happening inside it.
What they were sure of was that Azdaar would no longer be living when this curtain is lifted, but they were unaware that Keith was not exactly having an easy time inside that cage of Darkness.
He was tired too, very tired, but his biggest headache right now was the golden light that emanated from Azdaar's body every time he managed to harm him, preventing him from landing anything fatal on his enemy.
However, it was just a matter of time now before one of them would fall due to exhaustion, and it was not going to be him.
Thankfully, Azdaar was not a True Inheritor, otherwise, the God Stone would have come to his rescue.
And then there was a drawback that every Inheritor had to bear.
Azdaar could not run even if he wanted to, and neither could he initiate the Law of Judgement to take him out of this world even though he was more than ready to leave.
The reason was that the God Stone was shielding him from the Law of Judgement, and to drop that shield, he needed a very clear mind and focus which was not possible for him in the situation he had at his hands.
Hours later, Azdaar was lying on the ground, bleeding all over, taking his last breaths. And his eyes listlessly watched the God Stone escape his body.
"Mark it," Keith spoke to the System in his mind, and his request was initiated.
The System marked the God Stone before it the Divine Laws enveloped it and it disappeared, only to appear at some other place to find a new Inheritor or to be born with a True Inheritor of Nergal's legacy.
Keith did not immediately drop the curtain of Darkness and bought a Mana and an Aura Recovery Potion from the System to deal with the dizziness and the weakness that was assaulting him.
Only the most basic if these potions were available in the shop, but they were still better than nothing.
He calmly created a crystal throne and then drank the potions before closing his eyes and meditating.
There were a few System Prompts that he paid no mind to.
Killing Azdaar, who was meant to be one of the biggest Stepping-Stones in this world for the favoured Child of Destiny, provided him with a good amount of Fate Value, and then there was the Fate Value he stole from Qin Feng for not just killing his Stepping-Stone but also stealing his chance that was meant to shape his future.
Away from the Valley, on top of a hill, the Child of Destiny desolately stood as he felt a little hollow in his heart.
A wave of weakness washed over him, and the lady by his side sensed the change in his expression.
"Are you okay?" Valerie frowned as she looked at Qin Feng's pale face.
"I am fine." He lightly said, not taking his eyes off the Dome as he impatiently waited to see what was inside it.
He did not know why he felt like he had lost something very valuable to him.
Keith opened his eyes several hours later, and feeling better, he stood up and lazily stretched his body.
Even though it was Dark here, he could still see everything. A perk of being the Lord of Darkness.
He walked over to Azdaar's body and crouched down, grabbing the Golden Locket from his neck and taking a good look at it.
"The Legacy of the Yellow Emperor." He smiled as he looked at the invaluable treasure, and then stored it away in his Storage Ring.
He still needed to find the second half of this locket, but it was going to be years before he would get his hands on it.
[The Host needs to get some rest.] The voice of the System sounded out in his mind, and he smiled.
"I know."
Though he had recovered most of his Mana and Aura, he was still mentally tired and needed to sleep.
But before that, he had to deal with everyone waiting outside.
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