“This will be the moment of your death”
The shadow slowly approached Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t care about him at all.
He simply gripped his sword tightly and raised it high——
Then violently plunged it into the ocean water!
A magnificent scene then followed.
Boundless ashen ocean water rapidly retracted under the sword, shrunk down, and turned into a surging water current.
Hoh——–
The ocean turned into a river, the river turned into a lake, then a stream, then finally disappeared into nothingness.
The scenery around them changed.
Black City had reappeared, and Gu Qing Shan found himself standing in the Colosseum once again with his sword in hand.
An irritated female voice came from his sword: “Remember this… I want to go strolling around the shopping district for ten days… you’re paying…”
“Alright, I’ve troubled you” Gu Qing Shan said.
“You keep putting me to sleep…”
The female voice complained and finally went silent.
At the same time, lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[You’ve activated Chaotic Flow]
[The Phase Realm has returned to its original position, no longer overlapping with the main world]
Gu Qing Shan sighed in relief.
As expected [Chaotic Flow] was useful!
“—–What did you do!” the shadow solemnly questioned.
“Nothing, I simply want to take the first turn” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The countless skeletons returned and entered his body.
In an instant, a boundless mass of black fog emerged from his body and spread in every direction.
His surroundings were completely enveloped in black fog, turning into overlapping images.
The main world’s scenery became blurry again.
——Bullying Skill, [Yesterday Recollection]!
“A unique Phase Realm?”
The shadow called out and stood still, clearly wary of what he was experiencing.
Only an entity of his caliber would understand just how terrifying a unique Phase Realm could actually be.
The reason why I acted first was that I was wary that the other party might have some sort of unimaginable Phase Realm.
And yet my Phase Realm was still dispelled by him using some sort of Temporal technique.
And now, I’m the one caught in his Phase Realm.
Around them.
The scenery gradually became clearer.
The world turned into a scene that the shadow was very familiar with.
His home world.
“Sir, what should we do?” someone asked him from behind.
The shadow abruptly turned around.
Only to see a group of Professionists in military uniform standing in a formation around him.
Everyone was standing in a large underground path, waiting for his orders.
That’s right, this was that moment——
When the Apocalypse monsters were destroying everything and massacring everyone.
These people were my last subordinates.
Then, did this technique send me to the past?
Or is this just a regular illusion?
The shadow grinned, then threw a punch at full power.
The void of space around him was quickly shattered, but it recovered just as rapidly, once again forming the same scene.
The shadow tried using several techniques and spells with a lot of destructive power to thoroughly crush the illusion world.
But everything simply reverted itself.
Time continued to rewind to this very moment.
The same underground passage.
The same people.
“Sir, what should we do now?”
The soldiers seemed completely ignorant of his earlier actions and were still waiting for his orders.
The shadow fell into thought.
How exactly can I escape from this Phase Realm?
Should I let everything play out the same way?
The shadow then said: “Try and hold your positions here, I’m going to take a closer look inside the passage”
“Yes sir!”
The soldiers then proceeded to take their combat positions.
The shadow started walking deeper into the underground passage.
He inputted a long password into a heavy metal gate to open it.
Clang clang clang clang——–
The gates closed themselves behind him.
Standing behind the gates, the shadow was a bit silent.
Ten seconds.
In the next ten seconds, the Apocalyptic monsters will have destroyed everything in the city above and discover this underground passage.
My subordinates would only be able to hold the monster’s attack off for a short moment.
—–so, I have to do everything again from the beginning?
—–if I can’t flee, I’ll die here?
With that in mind, the shadow swiftly made his way into a bedroom.
This place was connected to the Arctic Ocean, which hides a secret submarine base that would help me escape this calamity alive.
The shadow proceeded faster and faster, pushing open the next door.
His vision became blurred.
All the images around him began to recede and returned to the underground passage from before.
——in front of those same people.
“Sir, why did you come back?”
Those soldiers looked at him and awaited his orders.
The shadow paused.
What exactly is going on here?
Was I forcefully brought back to the underground passage?
The howls of Apocalyptic monsters resounded from above ground, mixed with countless desperate screams, the sound of collapsing buildings, as well as combat explosions.
Everything was coming to an end.
The shadow looked over these soldiers’ faces and observed each of their serious expressions one by one.
All of them were extremely loyal subordinates.
Without them, I wouldn’t have escaped in time.
The shadow took a deep breath and calmed down.
It’s fine.
There’s no problem.
With my current strength, even if I face those Apocalyptic monsters in the past, there would still be nothing to fear.
With that in mind, the shadow returned to his troops and said: “Don’t worry everyone, there’s an ocean current in the passage that will allow us to escape, but we first need to stop those monsters”
“Yes sir!”
Hearing that there was hope to survive, the soldiers all became high-spirited and prepared themselves for battle.
Boom——-
The entrance to the underground passage was blown open.
Monsters with terrifying appearances appeared.
They had bodies as sharp as razor blades, rushing inside like a tsunami, filling the entire underground passage in an instant as they charged towards the soldiers.
“Everyone, ready!” the soldiers called out in unison.
The shadow stood among the soldiers with killing intent radiating from his body as he prepared to attack as well.
Nothing but a few insects, even if I have to do it all again, they’re still going to die
As he was thinking this, he felt a cold sensation on his body.
This cold sensation was accompanied by pain as it penetrated deeper.
A sensation that had been lost to him a long time ago.
The shadow slowly looked up and around himself.
Only to see all the soldiers staring straight at him.
“Sir, you deserted us all those years ago, so now we’re here to take revenge” one of the soldiers said.
All of them carried a sword in their hands, trying to thrust them into his body from every direction.
Their swords were both fast and accurate, almost to the point of being as natural as breathing.
“—–You all have a death wish!”
With his life at risk, the shadow howled angrily and exerted 100% of his power.
Immense gusts of wind erupted from his body to manifest into hundreds of thousands of fist images.
This was an advanced fist technique, his signature move, an unstoppable attack!
In an instant, both the soldiers and the Apocalyptic monsters were eradicated.
The underground passage had also been destroyed.
The world was literally leveled by the barrage of fists.
However, after those soldiers’ bodies were destroyed, they transformed into skeletons with skeletal wings that swiftly took flight.
The skeletons each wielded two swords in their hands, continuously circling above while observing the shadow.
Somehow, all of them appeared to be grinning, mocking him.
The shadow spat up some blood, gritted his teeth, and ferociously declared: “A bunch of poser skeletons, I’m going to eliminate you all”
A deep heavy voice responded to his threat:
「 Oh? What a relatively confident individual 」
The shadow instantly turned around, finally noticing that a large entity had already appeared behind him at some unknown point.
It was a giant whose entire body appeared bloody red.
「 YAAAAAH! DIE! 」
The giant howled and put all of his strength into a single downward attack.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
With a resounding sound of impact, the shadow was struck deep into the ground.
The earth trembled, flames rose to the sky, and the world itself began to collapse.
This was a regular world, so it was unable to endure the giant’s attack and was destroyed right away.
The world crumbled and faded away.
Emptiness.
“Cough cough…”
The shadow spat up some blood, then looked around.
There was nothing around him.
But at the very next moment, a familiar world reappeared around him again.
This place is—–
Black City!
The shadow sighed in relief.
It seems that the other party’s Phase Realm had a time limit.
Although I had taken a severe injury, I managed to survive.
And now, the other party’s Phase Realm is already gone.
It’s my turn to rampage!
He stood up and angrily roared: “Gu Qing Shan, get out here, I’m going to kill you and use your head as a chalice!”
He didn’t appear at all.
The shadow was a bit anxious.
I need to see my target in order to activate my Phase Realm.
Suddenly, a gentle female voice sounded from behind him:
“Dear, are you going on the ring again today?”
The shadow abruptly turned around.
Only to see a woman holding a baby looking closely at him.
She appeared clearly worried.
The shadow’s heart dropped.
No.
The Phase Realm hasn’t gone away.
This woman and the child in her embrace had both died a long time ago.
I sold out the former for a chance to survive, while the latter was killed.
When I finally gained enough strength, I had trampled that enemy under my feet, but this woman had already been tortured to death long before that.
“Dear, don’t go on the ring again, we don’t need too much money” the woman worriedly told him.
She kept the baby in her embrace with one hand while her other hand reached out to hug the shadow.
But with every step she took towards him, the shadow was unable to help himself taking a step back, maintaining the same distance the entire way.
“Don’t come here!” the shadow angrily shouted.
“Dear, what’s gotten into you?” the woman asked with a strange expression.
“I… merely wanted to live! This is a world of evil, even if you want to redeem yourself and live a new life, don’t get me involved!”
The shadow called out and swung his fist towards the woman.
She was instantly sent flying and died on the spot.
“Hoh… hoh… hoh…”
The shadow clutched the wounds on his body and breathed heavily.
Suddenly, a voice called out from behind him:
“Dear, don’t go on the ring again today”
The shadow abruptly turned around.
That woman.
That woman in my memories is still alive.
She stood in front of him with an expression of concern and gentleness, whispering to him: “I don’t need luxury and wealth, I just need you to be safe”
The shadow was stunned.
The woman approached, wanting to embrace him tightly.
“We… can we just live like this, there’s no need to sell our dignity or do any of those dirty deeds, please?” the woman asked.
The shadow shouted out loud and threw another punch.
The woman was sent flying again, dying in front of his eyes.
But the baby in her embrace was only sent flying into the sky and hasn’t actually fallen to the ground.
The shadow glanced over that tiny figure.
It was his child.
At an age where they haven’t even learnt to speak, they were killed.
His child was killed by his own ambitions, murdered by his enemy to take revenge on him.
The shadow suddenly felt a bit absentminded and reached his hand out towards the small figure.
The child returned to his hand.
From behind him.
The woman called out again:
“Dear, please don’t fight anymore, we can simply live our lives in this simple manner, can’t we?”
She embraced him.
He embraced the baby.
Suddenly, he opened his bloody-colored eyes and screamed out loud: “NO! I must become the most powerful person in this world! I want to wield the world’s authority in my hands, to make everybody grovel at my feet. Even if it costs your life in the process, I need to achieve this!”
The illusion disappeared.
The woman and baby both vanished together with it.
The shadow was stunned.
There was already nothing left in his embrace, but he noticed that he had been restrained.
An innumerable number of skeletons had plunged their swords through his body, pinning him in place.
Hundreds of swords.
Completely stripping him of his life force.
The skeletons didn’t say a single word, only staring at him with their hollow eye sockets.
They seemed to be mocking something.
The swordsman from earlier emerged from the void of space and stood watching him with his arms crossed.
“Peh!” the shadow spat out his saliva with a scoffing tone.
The swordsman sighed with a complicated expression in his eyes.
“You merely won a gladiator match, you don’t have the right to mock me” the shadow said.
Gu Qing Shan remained silent for a few moments and shook his head: “——-In reality, your loss had already been determined from the very first moments”
“Why?” the shadow questioned.
“—You know perfectly why. You had sacrificed those who had protected and sheltered you in order to survive and finally become the Gladiator King”
“It was exactly because your heart was filled with cowardice and regret that I could see your sins and use [Yesterday Recollection] to reenact them”
A sword appeared from the void of space hovering behind Gu Qing Shan, seemingly ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
The shadow didn’t say anything.
“I mock and spit on your everything” Gu Qing Shan stated.
His sword danced like an image.
A severed head was sent flying.
