Nix looked at the four of them, his sharp, hate-filled eyes assessing each one in turn. He landed the tip of his nullification blade on his armored shoulder with a soft *click*. "Since you all came in here, it means you've already given up on life. What makes you think you have a chance against me now?"
Li Zhan shrugged, his expression serene. "Chance was never part of the plan. An opportunity presented itself. We took it. It's as simple as that."
Nix's eyes sharpened when they landed on Li Zhan. For an unknown reason, a cold ripple of disturbance went through his core. *He's not a straightforward threat. He's… a variable.* He told himself he wasn't ready for a protracted fight in this state. It would be better to scare them, make them hesitate, buy a few more precious minutes. "Do you know what lies beyond this world?" he asked, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial rasp.
Gen smirked, settling deeper into his combat stance, his golden light unwavering. "I can see clearly through the game. Who cares what's beyond?" In his mind, the old lessons whispered. Legends said the Milky Way was full of realms, their world just one of them. But he wouldn't let Nix's words become a distraction. The Divine General was stalling.
Lorel's voice cut through, cold and clear. "After destroying so many worlds like you claim… do you know what it feels like? To feel cornered? To feel the edge at your throat? Do you understand what we faced when that Damocles fell?" The anger in her voice was a palpable thing, a pressure in the air. It was something she had been retaining for too long. The fear, the helpless anger of that day was still vivid in all their minds.
Looking at Gen and Lorel, Duo Yi felt a strange pang. She could feel their grief, a raw, living thing, but she couldn't fully relate. Back then, she had been safe within the Doom College. She had just seen a bright light fall in the distant sky, felt the shockwave that traveled from the Jiang Mountain to shake the foundations of the Four Kingdoms. She hadn't known what they must have felt on that peak. But in Gen's burning eyes and Lorel's cold fury, she could somehow understand. "I was always taught to follow what I feel the most," she said, her voice quiet but firm. "To follow my martial heart. Today, we shall collect a debt of blood from the Divine General."
Nix's face darkened as he saw their auras subtly rise, their skills blooming to life once more around them. His mind, a tactical engine honed over annihilations, instantly catalogued them. *The Jiang thing and the Doom College girl have the greatest explosive, direct power. The pink-sword girl… I can't be sure of her threat level, but she's a problem. The wild card is the puppeteer. I have no real measure of his depth.* This was troublesome.
Nix raised his nullification blade. "The best way to know is to test you. I need to set the tempo before you do."
His figure vanished without warning. It was hard to believe he was wounded, given the speed. In a blink, he appeared in front of Li Zhan, a wild, horizontal swing of the grey blade aimed to bisect him at the waist.
Li Zhan smirked. His reflexes were inhuman. He flipped backward, a graceful, almost lazy motion, letting the sword pass a hair's breadth below his arched spine. As he flipped, he stepped down on the waiting palm of his chained puppet, which propelled him sideways like a launched dart. The puppet itself completed the movement, its own spectral sword making a daring arc to counter Nix's next, inevitable swing.
At the same moment, Lorel's will snapped forward. She summoned her **Supremacy Swords** not in a line, but in a closing circle, all seven points of brilliant pink light stabbing inward from different angles at Nix's center.
Nix smiled thinly. "You little pink things will never harm me." He moved, not by running, but by vibrating in place, his good arm and the stump of the other becoming a blur as he parried sword after sword.
*CLANG! SHING! CLANG!*
On the first parry, his arm went numb. A shocking, foreign sensation—the power behind the pink blade wasn't just force; it carried a *weight*, a principle that traveled down the metal and into his bones. His face took a drastic turn from contempt to sharp reassessment. He instantly pivoted, choosing to evade the next sword rather than parry, his feet carving deep trenches in the ancient altar stone as he slid sideways.
But the **Doom Dragon** was already there, biting down from his new blind spot with Duo Yi behind it, her face a mask of cold focus.
Nix cursed. "This is annoying!" He flipped, not away, but *onto* the dragon's back as it lunged, using it as a springboard to launch himself directly at Duo Yi.
Surprised by his wounded agility, Duo Yi reacted. She waved a hand, using **Shidow** to gather all the scattered, residual light and impact-energy from their chaotic fight, weaving it into a desperate, jagged sword of her own. She met Nix's descending null-blade.
He didn't go for a straight clash. Too smart. He slid his blade along the edge of her constructed sword with a screeching *shriek* of energies, his aim not her weapon, but her hand holding the threads of control.
A clear, cutting sound echoed.
Duo Yi gasped, retracting her hand instantly. The sword of light dissolved. The backlash of severed energy propelled her hard onto the stone, the impact knocking the wind from her lungs. The **Doom Dragon** around her flickered violently, its form threatening to dissipate.
Gen's face darkened with fury. He gave chase, but Nix was already moving, way faster than any of them had expected from a being so broken. He put distance between them once more, a grim smile on his face.
"From the looks of things," Nix panted, the strain finally showing in his voice, "you might be able to handle this much power. Although my armor is broken, none of you can harm me unless you target my upper body. And for that… you must go through my blade. This game is set, little kids. I will enjoy having fun with all of you." His eyes, cold and predatory, landed on the two young women. Duo Yi, holding her bleeding hand, and Lorel beside her. They were not fully grown, but real delicacies to the eyes. The unspoken threat hung in the air.
Gen balled his fists so tight the bones creaked. "Trying to scare us? Keep dreaming. I have trained for an entire year for this moment. With the sole idea of killing all of you. Now that you stand in front of me… Nix, do you understand how I feel?"
As Gen spoke, the **Eternal Body** changed.
The golden hue didn't flare outwards. It *condensed inward*. The light sank beneath his skin, leaving his surface a normal, human tone. But above his skin, a strange, shimmering film of energy appeared—a second, harder layer, like heat haze over desert stone, humming with dense, silent power.
Seeing the sudden, fundamental change, Nix's face turned serious. "What is that?" he demanded, his voice losing its taunting edge.
"Death," Gen muttered.
He appeared behind Nix.
For the first time, Nix's heart genuinely skipped a beat. He lifted his sword sideways in a frantic, instinctive block to protect his head.
Gen's fist, sheathed in that shimmering, solidified aura, landed.
***CRUNCH-SHATTER!***
The nullification blade, already weakened from the fight with Varja and a hundred smaller clashes, shattered into a thousand dissipating shards of grey light. The fist continued, landing squarely on Nix's already battered, scarred face.
The impact was terrifying. Nix was lifted off his feet and hurled sideways like a discarded rag. He hit the stone, skidded, tumbled for several meters, and came to a halt stumbling forward, barely staying upright. The aura around him dimmed abruptly, flickering like a guttering candle.
Li Zhan, from behind him, let out a soft, chilling laugh. "It's clear. Varja really beat the hell out of you. Now, I will enjoy collecting your soul."
Nix's face darkened with a mixture of pain, rage, and dawning alarm. He saw them now, forming a tight, unyielding circle around him. He didn't know why, but he felt a strange energy coiling around his limbs, fine, almost invisible strands of **Shidow** that had latched onto his body during their earlier, fleeting clash. *That was when he left it on me.* He cursed, his eyes locking onto Li Zhan's calm smile. He was an experienced fighter. He had seen countless abilities. He didn't know what those threads did, but their presence meant only one thing: he was in grave danger.
Furthermore, Lorel was summoning all her **Supremacy Swords** once more into a final, focused attack. The seven swords gleamed with a dangerous, intense light, drawing power from the resolve of everyone present. He had thought her the weakest, but the Supremacy Sword had shown him otherwise. The moment they had clashed, it was like there was something in those swords that sought to *dominate*—to be supreme over his own blade. It was a different feeling from the Unbreakable Varja's density, but just as deep, just as absolute. He had never imagined that in this backwater of the Milky Way, a world's cultivators could have progressed this far.
That's when he heard the shriek.
He looked up.
The **Doom Dragon** hovered above his head. This time, Duo Yi's figure seemed to merge with it, a deity descending from a hell of her own making. She had poured all her remaining Qi into it, combining **Heidow** with her raging will. The dragon was no longer just a corona of force. Coiling spikes of solidified energy, sharp as monomolecular blades, erupted from its skin. Even the eyes of the beast were edged with razored light. As it smiled, the dragon's maw clashed with a sound of pure, malicious intent.
Nix's heart skipped a final, terrified beat.
He was cornered.