The Queen of the Night disappeared. Nighteye stood there in a daze, almost as though the Queen had never left. She didn’t even notice the slender figure that had appeared in the room.
After a long while, that person sighed. “Why go through all the trouble?”
As though she had just woken up from a dream, Nighteye said while shaking her head, “It’s nothing.”
The man’s face gradually appeared—it was the Azure King. He pointed at the jade box, saying, “Not going to take a look?”
“It’s no doubt a drop of her origin blood. What’s there to see?”
The Azure King laughed wryly. “It’s the Queen’s origin blood. If this gets out, people will stop fighting the war in Blacksun Valley and come for the blood instead. Even I am very willing to give it an extra glance.”
Nighteye turned the box in his direction. “Look at it then.”
The Azure King sighed. “I’ve already seen it and neutralized a portion of Her Majesty’s power with my own, making it easier for you to absorb.”
Seeing that Nighteye was still unmoved, the Azure King said, “You’ll lose a portion of your memories and emotions if you abandon this form, but you’ll lose even your past life’s memories if you don’t do it. You wouldn’t have waited until now to do battle if you had any other way.”
Nighteye glanced at the Azure King. “Did anyone tell you that you’re very annoying when you speak?”
This was a grave disrespect for a great dark monarch, but the Azure King didn’t mind. “No one will say these things to you if I don’t. So, I have to say it even if you hate me.”
“I understand now.” Nighteye’s reply was cold.
“The past years…”
“Memories from my past life are too far away, I don’t remember anything.”
“Nevermind then. It’s about time, an army of ten thousand and all the experts from the other races are all looking at this place.”
Nighteye’s gaze landed on the black jade box.
There was a lustrous drop of origin blood inside the container, as big as a human head. If a prince’s condensed origin blood was amber and a duke’s was ruby, it wouldn’t be excessive to say that this drop of blood was like diamond.
It was both beautiful and big.
It was just an ordinary drop of blood inside the Queen’s body, but it grew massively after leaving her body. Without the constraint and suppression of its host, the blood’s original volume could no longer contain the terrifying amount of power.
The Azure King walked over to the window, gazing out into the distance with his back against Nighteye. Although it was just his projection, the man looked no different from the real person. He did not vanish or leave, clearly intent on monitoring her until the blood had been absorbed.
At this point, Nighteye’s face gradually turned pale and her aura became unstable. There was a faint trace of light emerging from her body as she could no longer suppress the heavenly monarch’s power inside her. Prince Greensun’s destructive energy contained an extremely pure aura of daybreak, and it was starting to destroy her body.
The Azure King’s fingertips moved slightly, but he held back from taking action.
Nighteye finally reached out, grabbing the Queen of the Night’s origin blood and sucking it in. The origin blood softened and shrunk back to its original form, turning into a drop of dark origin blood as it flew into her mouth.
A layer of darkness spread over her entire body. She let out a muffled groan, curling up and falling to her knees in the process.
Countless flowers began to bloom inside the room, swaying without any wind. The sea of flowers spread over the entire building; it filled the entire courtyard, then the entire dark race camp. It kept spreading out for a great distance before coming to a stop.
This was a massive domain that could cover a hundred-thousand-strong army. Comparatively, the Demoness’ domain was like a firefly next to the moon.
Many dark race experts became restless. This rapidly-expanding domain filled them with a sense of foreboding, almost as though it would control and devour them at any moment.
This wasn’t an illusion. Nighteye had shown everyone how terrifying this domain was when she faced off against the Profundity Monarch. The entire dark race army had fallen under her control back then, and all their power was at her disposal. That was how she had managed to achieve that glorious accomplishment.
Although they knew she wouldn’t take things too far, the experts couldn’t help but worry about what was happening in the small house.
The boundless floral sea came to a stop after stretching far and wide. The swaying flowers were supposed to be fragrant and beautiful, yet they filled everyone’s hearts with terror.
All of a sudden, the dark golden petals peeled off, leaving only the outermost layer and the long stamen stretching out from within. The moment the stamen appeared, everyone gasped in fright. “Spider lilies!”
This wasn’t just one spider lily but a sea of spider lilies. The flower came in a dark color and not in the bright red shade everyone knew of.
As the flowers faded away, Nighteye slowly stood up within the command building. There was unnoticeable darkness in the depths of her eyes and a lingering black energy at the tips of her slender fingers.
“Turns out… this world is so dark…” she whispered to herself.
The room was completely empty as the Azure King had long since left.
Nighteye walked out of the command building to find countless dark race experts gathered around the door, waiting for her to appear.
Yet they were highly respectful and none of them dared take a step into the courtyard. No one had any doubts about her strength after seeing the flowers just now.
Standing before the host of experts, Nighteye held herself with a temperament of one who could look down upon the world. “Assemble the army, we attack!”
Moments later, a long bugle cry echoed through the air as the dark race army erupted in an earth-shattering cheer. Countless dark race experts poured out like the tides and swarmed toward the Imperial fortress cluster. The sky was quickly filled with airships, along with countless experts.
The curtains had been drawn again over the war, and this time, there would be no lucky developments.
By night, the Empire’s outer fortresses had fallen, and only Zhao Jundu’s core second-line fortress and Song Zining’s central fortress remained standing.
The core second-line fortress was right on the frontline, but fortunately, the area between the two fortresses was covered by heavy cannons. The dark races could not surround it entirely; they could only attack from three sides.
Zhao Jundu stood atop the city walls, looking fearlessly at the dark race army.
A general beside him whispered, “Sire, only a few thousand men remain in the fortress, and most of them are injured. Sire Zining has already issued the order to retreat. We can’t hold this line, let’s retreat.”
Zhao Jundu said calmly, “This fight is inevitable, let’s see after I’m done with it. You can head to the rear if you’re afraid.”
That general’s face turned red. “I’ve fought for the Zhao clan for twenty years and been through many dangerous situations. If you think that I’m afraid of death, then leave me to guard the rear. You should retreat with the army!”
Zhao Jundu’s tone softened. “It’s good if you’re not afraid. We can no longer retreat, look.”
In the direction Zhao Jundu was pointing at, the dark race army was parting like the tides as Nighteye walked out from their midst.
Every step she took would push the sea of spider lilies forward. By the time she was at the front, the entire fortress and even the dark race army were under her domain.
Even someone as strong as Zhao Jundu couldn’t help but look worried.
Nighteye took to the air, climbing higher and higher until she was above everyone else. She said to Zhao Jundu, “Our fight is not yet over, let’s continue here.”
Zhao Jundu retrieved Dark Sky and held it at his side. “Very well.”
Nighteye’s lips curled up into an expression that lay between a smile and mockery. “Don’t worry, I won’t go all out in this battle.”
Zhao Jundu had never been a talkative person. Without another word, he erupted in a burst of dark fire that surged hundreds of meters into the air! The raging blaze began to devour the sea of spider lilies with great ferocity.
These flowers looked rather weak, but they took quite some time to wilt amidst the flames. The dark flames were stunted after expanding several dozen meters.
Zhao Jundu’s silhouette disappeared into the fire.
It was at this moment that a pair of golden eyes opened behind Nighteye and stared at a certain part of the flames. Under its gaze, Zhao Jundu’s figure reappeared and could no longer merge into the fire.
The Tempest appeared in Nighteye’s hands, and its four barrels began spitting out tongues of fire. Countless bullets converged into one and bombarded Zhao Jundu.
Zhao Jundu remained fearless in the face of a weapon that had once held back the Profundity Monarch. He held his sword crosswise and produced a shield, both covered in raging black flames. He then crashed into the Tempest’s stream of fire.
The battle reached its most critical phase right off the bat. Nighteye had moved to suppress Zhao Jundu with a tempestuous barrage, foregoing technique in favor of absolute power.
Even Zhao Jundu had no choice but to go all out with his defense. The Tempest constantly dispersed his black flames, but they were immediately drawn back to supplement the front.
Even against a Grand Magnum known for its fierce firepower, Zhao Jundu’s black fire remained highly tenacious and slow to drain.
Several swift birds appeared in the sea of spider lilies and landed on the dark race experts in the vicinity. Specks of darkness origin power gathered unto Nighteye, stabilizing her aura and allowing her to calmly blast Zhao Jundu with the Tempest.
The Imperial soldiers were shocked.
Everyone could see that he was not Nighteye’s match as long as the dark race experts in the domain kept on providing her with darkness origin power. Only the owner of such a domain was the most suited to use the Tempest.
Zhao Jundu’s pillar of black flames was gradually reduced to a ball of fire, shrinking continuously until it was only enough to cover his body.
The Tempest was still roaring.
The Imperial soldiers felt their hearts at their throats, knowing that victory and defeat would be decided very soon. But what could they do? A fight of this level wasn’t something they could intervene in. Even divine champions and dukes were helpless.
Finally, the fire around Zhao Jundu collapsed with a loud rumble. Countless embers rained down in all directions, charring everything they came into contact with.
Has it been decided? Everyone glanced at Zhao Jundu, only to see a hazy azure emerge amidst the dying black embers.
