Terror
“You’ve always been like this, Allsnake… Hoping for help and allies, remaining unaware that the most reliable support is yourself…” Shar revealed a bizarre smile as her eyes scanned the Snake Dowager’s surroundings. “What about that Magus ally of yours?”
The Snake Dowager’s expression changed immediately upon Leylin’s mention. “Have you reached an agreement with him?”
Leylin was the ally she placed the most importance on, someone she valued more than the other three rank 8 existences. It might’ve been because she’d previously suffered at his hands.
“Nope! But since he decided not to show up, I can feel at ease when dealing with you…” A sincere smile appeared on Shar’s face, the terrifying killing intent causing the skies to darken as snow fell to the earth.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking…” The Snake Dowager had resolved herself to kill.
*Whoosh!* A layer of obscure black wind instantly engulfed the entire Shadow World. The Snake Dowager spat out a frightening black storm from her mouth that seemed to sweep everything away.
This was an attack covering the entire Shadow World. Since the Mistress of the Night had chosen to take control of everything, she would instead destroy the planet.
The destruction would lead everything back to primal chaos, akin to resetting the world. The Snake Dowager had thought this through, working up the determination and courage to do so. Even more terrifyingly, her peak rank 8 strength made it possible to succeed.
How terrifying would a peak rank 8 existence be? A tenth of the Shadow World’s surface had been decimated by her strike within a few minutes, and the corrosion continued to dig deeper. Even the Tree of Life that was fusing with the world suffered great damage, a few branches scattering apart into motes of light.
“You’re trying to provoke me, Allsnake. I never imagined you’d be so foolish.” Shar looked at the Snake Dowager with pity in her eyes.
A raging will emerged in the skies, its core surging with oppressive origin force. The act of returning everything to primal chaos would naturally erase the World Will, pushing it to wait for its rebirth. However, the Dowager currently intended to completely destroy this will!
Shar wished to control it, while the Snake Dowager wished to eliminate it entirely. The latter obviously engendered more hate. Disregarding her nativity, the World Will raged with fury.
However, Shar already had control of more than half of the World Will, allowing her to gain the power of the World Origin Force. Thus, it made no difference to the Snake Dowager how the rest of the World Will behaved.
“Allsnake… To have accumulated several tens of thousands of years of power, you are indeed worthy of being called the Shadow World’s favourite daughter…” Shar’s voice was calm as a huge Weave emerged in her hands. Although the terrifying black storm had destroyed a great amount of the Shadow Weave, it recuperated quickly.
On the other hand, energy consumption became a problem. The black winds were slowly pushed back after being devoured, wrapped up by the huge Shadow Weave.
“It’s a pity… With control over the entire Shadow World, I am invincible…” Shar currently seemed like a frightening spider queen as she relied on the Shadow Weave to suppress the Snake Dowager completely.
With the great consumption of energy, the Snake Dowager was like a fly trapped in a web. Although her initial struggles could break a few strands, she still couldn’t avoid the fate of being captured and poisoned to death.
The mermaid guardian Kou stood out at this moment. She had brilliant golden hair and beautiful green pupils, her lower body the tail of a fish. Her green scales shone with splendor.
“Ocean,” she said softly.
The entirety of the Shadow World’s ocean suddenly roared, a territory that was more than twice as large as the entire Shadow Empire. With control over the law of the ocean, Kou could bring forth great disaster once she mobilised the seas.
Almost instantly a violent tsunami engulfed the lands, bringing destruction to the Empire once more. Unlike the previous incident which only affected the coast, the waves this time were hundreds of metres high as they made their way inland. The rivers of the Empire changed direction as the sea level strangely increased.
The azure ocean, the cradle of life, revealed its ferocity for the first time. With the sea level rising a few metres, a great portion of the mainland would likely be submerged. On top of that, Kou was controlling this. What if she decided to let the disaster continue?
The waves instantly swept away the flora and fauna of the land, the terrifying pressure erasing all traces of life on the ground. The life forms of the land had been annihilated before the Tree of Life could even spread its roots completely, leaving no value to them.
Such was the level of a battle between existences like Shar and the Snake Dowager. The Dowager and her allies were racing against time to destroy everything, while Shar had to ensure the completion of the Tree of Life at all costs.
Shar’s opponent this time around was far more troublesome than the Trial’s Eye. Being at the peak of rank 8, the Snake Dowager had strengthened herself for tens of thousands of years as she plotted her vengeance. Her power was unpredictable, while Kalle and Kou weren’t opponents Shar could ignore either.
More importantly, these three existences were native to the Shadow World, born with power to rule it. They naturally had great resistance to the World Origin Force.
With the bloodline energy from the Snake Dowager reinforcing them, even if Kalle and Kou weren’t in top condition they still posed a terrifying threat. They already hated Shar greatly for their fall, and with their souls being mere residues now they had nothing to fear.
“I see origin force converging… Be careful, she’s trying to buy some time for the Tree of Life to mature and engulf us.” Kalle had been watching Shar attentively all this while.
“There’s no need for such trouble! I can settle all of you now!” Perhaps due to the humiliation of her plans being exposed, the current Shar no longer had any reservations. The force of the sea whizzed up as the scattered origin force of the world was recalled instantly.
The Shadow Weave suddenly retreated without the protection of the origin force, and the speed of the world’s destruction grew tenfold.
However, neither the Snake Dowager nor Kalle betrayed any joy. They were currently facing an existence at the peak of rank 8 who’d drawn in all her power to strike.
With the control over the World Will and the great amount of origin force she’d recalled, Shar had stepped into the absolute limits of rank 8 for a while. Had the Tree of Life project gone more smoothly, she would’ve stepped into that stage permanently just now.
“I was born into shadows, and grew up within them. I am the daughter of shadow itself, I should be the original master!” Shar stepped forward with that declaration, and the entire world roared out with oppression. Powerful origin force chopped through a few snake heads like a knife through butter, blood spilling from the Snake Dowager’s hair.
“The dead should no longer exist in this world!” Shar’s sentence was echoed by the Shadow World, causing Kalle’s face to change continuously.
“I see that… She’ll complete the Tree of Life… AAAH…” Kalle’s eyes changed colours, but before he could finish his prophecy a hand filled with origin force pressed down on his head.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The eternal astral abyss shall be your final destination…”
Kalle’s body sizzled as it melted under dazzling light. Shar’s power of laws managed to reduce the prophet to ashes even if he had the Snake Dowager’s help. After all, only a part of his soul had managed to revive, and he was far from his prime. He was weak compared to Shar who was at her peak.
Once Kalle’s body dissolved completely, a bunch of lights similar to star fragments dissipated from Shar’s hands. These fragments were the remnants of his will, representing the failure of his resurrection.
Kalle’s truesoul had been sent to the astral plane, where he would have to wait a really long time before he could move into rebirth. It would take tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of years. Shar’s actions had revealed her terrifying strength.
“Allsnake… Do you really think I didn’t realise those two soul residues were acting?” Shar abruptly raised her head, coldness hiding in her clever smile. “A complete World Will doesn’t just include thoughts of creatures, the earth, the seas, and the sky. Beings of laws are included as well. Only when everything is conquered would the World Will form a true body.” She spoke softly.
“Kou, you’ll be next!” The Snake Dowager’s face changed suddenly.
The World Will certainly comprised the thoughts of all life forms. This obviously included beings of law, and what’s more they took up a disproportionate portion of the World Will.
An ordinary person wouldn’t comprise a millionth of a millionth of a percentage point of the World Will, but any being of laws would take up at least a hundredth of the world. This was what had allowed the Snake Dowager to escape after her prior fight. A being of laws was the darling of the world, and they also held a portion of its essence.
“You’re wrong…” Every step Shar took spanned a thousand miles as she came face to face with the huge star-like ball of snakes. “I’ve stripped away all of the World Will’s laws in the Shadow World, except the bit you possess.”
The Snake Dowager turned frantic upon hearing this.
