chapter 326
Chapter 326:
– Layla–
A swirling purple portal tore open over Hong Kong, and I shot out of it, my sixteen black wings flaring wide as I soared over the burning city. My glowing purple eyes scanned the devastation below, and even though I had already seen the destruction on the news, seeing it in person was far worse.
People screamed, running frantically in all directions, desperate to escape the absolute carnage. Buildings crumbled, flames raged, and in the middle of it all, a massive black monster with multiple twisted animal heads rampaged through the streets. It crushed people beneath its hulking body, sent cars flying with every step, and even swallowed screaming victims whole.
I grimaced at the sight and sounds...
Trihexa.
The beast had to die, and it had to die fast before it caused more destruction. But first, I needed to get it the hell out of the city before the casualty count got any worse.
I spread my arms wide. "Susanoo!"
My eyes burned with power, and in an instant, brilliant purple light erupted around me. A colossal ethereal construct formed, surrounding my body in the shape of a towering, armored angel. Hovering above the city. Its glowing wings spread wide as it loomed over everything.
The screams below stopped. People stopped in their tracks, their fear momentarily replaced with stunned shock and awe.
Usually, I would have smiled or waved to reassure them. Let them know that I had everything under control. But there wasn’t any time for that now.
Trihexa roared, its monstrous heads twisting toward me. Multiple sets of eyes glowed red with fury.
My susanoo’s massive hand shot down and closed around the beast’s entire body. Trihexa snarled and thrashed, but my grip was far too strong to escape. I tightened my hold, squeezing the monster’s torso with crushing force.
Trihexa was a creature whose existence had been debated for centuries. Some called it a myth, others whispered that it had been locked away since the dawn of time. But everyone old or powerful enough to know the truth understood one thing—it existed for one purpose only: to destroy everything.
Susanoo’s massive hand clenched around the beast, and with a powerful heave, I hurled it straight out of the city. The sheer force of the throw sent shockwaves through the air, and Trihexa’s screeching roars faded as it flew miles away, crashing into the empty countryside far beyond Hong Kong.
I was about to follow after it when something unexpected happened.
A weight suddenly landed on my construct’s shoulder. I turned my head and saw a man standing there. A Chinese man. Dressed in regal robes. Ten glowing rings gleamed on his fingers.
Oh… The Mandarin?
I had never met him before personally, though I knew of him. He was one of the most powerful figures in China’s underworld and controlled vast swathes of territory, much of which had become even more influential after the two Earths merged.
Judging by the furious look on his face, he was not happy to see me.
"You," he said, voice low and seething, "explain why your Christian monster is destroying my territories’ most prosperous city!"
Wow. That was an accusation if I ever heard one.
I frowned. "Okay, first of all, it’s not MY monster. And second, it doesn’t give a damn about religion, race, or nationality. It wants to kill everyone equally."
[It’s an equal opportunity apocalyptic beast of the end!]
The Mandarin narrowed his eyes. "That does not change the fact that it appeared here—on my lands."
I sighed. I really didn’t have time for a territorial pissing match, not when Trihexa was still very much alive and about to start wrecking the countryside.
"You will help me rid my lands of this beast," he continued, "and then you will leave immediately."
Jeez. "Man, I thought we were cool since you invested in FallCorp," I muttered, mostly to myself.
The Mandarin didn't respond. I just rolled my eyes and directed Susanoo’s enormous wings to flap, propelling us toward where I had thrown Trihexa. Whether the Mandarin wanted to tag along or not, I had a monster to kill…
[Quest Started: Slay Trihexa and “save the day!”]
I still have a bunch of stuff to do–since the world decided to go crazy today–but sure…
{Reward: The Soul Stone!}
The Soul Stone? How the hell is that a reward for beating Trihexa?
My Susanoo touched down on the ground, the massive construct making the earth tremble beneath its weight. Trihexa was already pulling itself out of the mountain it had been lodged into, shaking off boulders like they were mere pebbles.
It looked very pissed off.
The Mandarin hopped off Susanoo’s shoulder and floated in the air beside me. His rings glowed with power as he stared down at the beast like a king looking at an unworthy subject.
He lifted a hand and started giving a speech.
"I am the Mandarin!" he declared, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "You have dared to set foot in my lands, to bring destruction upon my people. For this insult, I will personally slay you!"
I sighed.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Trihexa didn’t understand a word he was saying. The monster was pure destruction incarnate, a creature that existed solely to annihilate everything in its path. It didn’t care who ruled what land or who thought they were strong. It just killed.
And right now, it was already charging an attack.
The goat head in the center of its body opened its mouth, and I felt the surge of power gathering. Lightning crackled between its jagged teeth, the air around us heating as electricity built up into something catastrophic.
The Mandarin scoffed. "Arrogant beast!"
One of his rings flared with energy, and a massive, shimmering shield appeared in front of him.
A fraction of a second later, the lightning blast fired.
It wasn’t just a normal storm. It was pure divine thunder, a massive wave of destruction that ripped through the air and slammed into his shield.
The barrier shattered instantly.
Before the Mandarin could even react, the lightning engulfed him completely.
And just like that—he turned to ash.
…Well.
That was disappointing.
I let out a sigh, rubbing my temple as the last bits of his ashes scattered to the wind. I should have felt bad, but honestly? He was kind of dumb for thinking he could go toe-to-toe with the monster responsible for my father’s death.
Was his death going to have massive repercussions on the world at some point soon?
[Probably, but you have other stuff to deal with…]
“Rest in peace, my guy…” I clasped my hands together and my Susanoo copied my motion.
"I'm not dead!"
I blinked as the Mandarin suddenly reappeared in the same spot he had just died. His outfit was burnt to hell, his hair was a wild mess, and he was panting, but otherwise? He looked completely fine.
Damn. Those rings were more powerful than I thought.
That wasn’t just a resurrection—that was a reality-warping resurrection. That was almost on the level of a Reality Stone in terms of power.
"You try to kill me with lightning! I'LL SHOW YOU LIGHTNING!" The Mandarin screamed, his rage palpable as another one of his rings flared with golden energy. A massive bolt of lightning descended from the sky.
“CRACK-BOOM!”
The strike was so powerful it drove Trihexa into the ground, leaving a smoking crater.
…Unfortunately, it barely did anything.
The wounds from the attack were already healing over, Trihexa’s disgusting flesh knitting itself back together as if nothing happened.
Then, without warning, the snake head on the beast’s body lunged forward.
Faster than I expected.
Way faster.
Its mouth stretched unnaturally wide, snapping shut around the Mandarin, trying to swallow him whole.
His body suddenly warped into darkness, slipping through the snake’s teeth before reforming a few feet away.
But he didn’t get away unscathed.
Even from a distance, I could see the strain on his body. His movements were slower. His breathing was ragged.
Trihexa had some kind of anti-divinity and anti-magic properties.
[You just gonna stand there and watch?]
The system’s sarcastic reminder snapped me out of it.
I grit my teeth and Susanoo rushed in to help.
However, just as I started moving, an orange portal ripped open nearby.
And I saw it.
A genuine, ballistic missile—heading straight at me.
[HOLY SHIT, THAT'S A NUCLEAR MISSILE!]
My eyes widened, and I reacted fast!
I swung Susanoo’s massive arm, obliterating the missile before it even got close.
The mandarin looked pissed. "Who dares try and use a weapon like that on us?!"
I let my Susanoo fade away. As much as I loved the extra power, it did slow me down in certain situations. And considering someone just launched a fucking nuke, I needed to be able to move fast in case another one came my way. Not that it would actually kill me, or even hurt me that badly—but the blast radius would have leveled Hong Kong.
"I dare!"
A voice rang out from behind us, making both me and the Mandarin turn around in the air.
Trihexa took the opportunity to try and lunge at us again, but I didn’t even need to look. With a flick of my wrist, I summoned a lightspear and tossed it over my shoulder. The spear expanded mid-air, impaling the giant monster and slamming it into the ground. It screamed in agony, but I ignored it. It wasn’t going anywhere for a second.
A portal appeared in front of us, swirling with energy, and someone stepped out. A face I immediately recognized.
I narrowed my eyes. "Didn’t I kill you already?"
The man smirked. "You killed my alternate, He Who Remains." He spread his arms in mock gratitude. "And I thank you for that. But my name is Kang. Others know me as Kang the Conqueror."
I grimaced. Right. He Who Remains might have mentioned something about this guy before we killed him, but I wasn’t exactly listening to the monologue of a man who tried to hurt my children. I crossed my arms. "So what do you want? You behind all the crazy shit happening today?"
Kang’s smirk twisted into a scowl.
"What I want?" He scoffed. "What I want is one thing and one thing only—to be the undisputed ruler." His expression darkened, and I felt the sheer rage radiating off of him. "But that’s impossible now!"
“And why is that…?” I asked him.
"The future I lived in… the futures that I ruled…" His hands clenched into tight fists. "They're all GONE." Kang’s gaze locked onto mine, and I could see the hatred burning in his eyes. "There’s only one future now in all of the multiverse… And I will not accept your rule, ‘Supreme Goddess!’" He spat the last words like poison.
My mind raced as I tried to figure out if this guy was just insane or if he actually had a legitimate reason to hate me.
I settled on probably both.
Obviously, he had a serious grudge against Future Me and decided that instead of dealing with her, he’d jump back in time and take it out on Present Me.
Fucking time travelers.
That was exactly why I never bothered with time travel even after merging with the Time Stone. It was too much of a headache.
Kang’s scowl deepened. "Enough talking! There can only be one!" he yelled.
I blinked. "Did you just—was that a Highlander reference?"
He ignored me, throwing his arms wide.
Hundreds of portals ripped open around us.
My gaze snapped to them immediately—and my stomach tightened when I saw what was coming through.
Missile tips. Hundreds of nuclear missiles, all locked and loaded, ready to wipe out everything.
Kang’s expression twisted into a cruel grin. "I’ll reduce you and this entire Earth to radioactive dust!" he declared.
The sheer amount of firepower in the air was enough to exterminate all life on the planet.
Too bad for him…
He was seriously underestimating me.
I felt cosmic energy surge through my body as I raised both hands.
"Almighty Push!"
A wave of pure gravitational force exploded outward from me in a 360-degree blast, slamming into every single missile at the same time.
The entire sky rippled.
The missiles crumpled like tin cans, their metal shells twisting and warping under the sheer pressure before they were flung back through their own portals.
Kang’s face twisted in fury. "You—!"
The Mandarin suddenly flew forward. He shot toward Kang like a missile himself. He wasn’t too happy about the hundreds of nukes aimed at his country either.
The Mandarin was going all out against Kang the Conqueror, and honestly, it was kind of fun to watch. He was throwing everything he had at the time-traveling bastard, unleashing a chaotic display of ring-powered abilities that were honestly a bit ridiculous. One moment, he was summoning golden lightning from the sky, the next, he was hurling black holes, only to follow up with a storm of energy blades that looked sharp enough to cut through reality itself.
Kang, for his part, wasn’t going down easily. The air cracked and distorted as he teleported away from the Mandarin's attacks, appearing in multiple places at once, as if time itself was folding around him. His armor absorbed and redirected several of the Mandarin’s energy blasts, launching them right back at him!
But I wasn’t focused on them anymore.
Because Trihexa was doing something way worse.
While those two megalomaniacs were busy trying to kill each other, the apocalyptic abomination in front of me was in the middle of literally eating my Lightspear.
Its skin darkened, shifting into a deep, glowing purple, and I felt its energy spike hard.
"Well, that’s fucking annoying," I muttered, watching as the monster’s many heads shuddered and twisted unnaturally, its size starting to increase. The ground trembled underneath it.
The mutated snake heads suddenly shot forward, way faster than before, snapping at me with rows of jagged teeth. I barely managed to dodge, twisting mid-air as its gaping maw missed me by inches. Damn, that thing was insanely fast now!
I flipped backward, summoning another Lightspear, but this time, I wasn’t going to just throw it and hope for the best. I compressed the energy, forcing all of its divine power into a single point, until the spear was small, dense, and radiating enough raw heat to make the air around it shimmer.
If this thing wanted to absorb power, fine. Let’s see how well it handled this.
I shot forward, faster than before, and drove the new, concentrated Lightspear straight into the center of its chest.
The moment it made contact, the energy detonated, blasting through its corrupted flesh and sending the beast screeching as a shockwave tore through its body.
It staggered back, black ichor dripping from the wound.
But I wasn’t done yet.
I spun mid-air, summoning three more spears—all condensed, all brimming with divine power—and hurled them toward its multiple heads. If it wanted to absorb my power, I was going to make damn sure it choked on it!
[Something tells me it doesn’t like deepthroating Lightspears!]
All of Trihexa’s heads exploded into nothing, leaving behind a massive, twitching corpse. I grinned, thinking it was finally over.
[Good work there...]
"Thanks, system," I muttered in my head, relaxing slightly.
"NO! I DIDN’T GO TO THIS MUCH EFFORT FOR NOTHING!" Kang screamed.
I looked up to see Kang the Conqueror still locked in combat with the Mandarin. Supervillains killing each other? Normally, I’d just let them go at it, but something about Kang’s tone made me uneasy. Then he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a decent-sized, glowing white stone.
Oh, that son of a bitch—
A small portal appeared next to Kang, and before I could stop him, he tossed the Soul Stone through it. The same portal opened up right next to Trihexa’s corpse, and the stone landed right on top of the monster, sinking into its blackened flesh like it was being absorbed.
The second it vanished beneath the surface, the air shifted violently. The ground cracked, and a massive shockwave shot out, rattling the entire area.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," I muttered as dust and debris kicked up all over the place. Blocking my vision for a couple seconds. I flapped my black wings, clearing the dust and smoke for miles. As the debris settled, I blinked a few times, trying to process what the hell I was looking at.
Standing in the massive crater where Trihexa had been was a young woman. She had pale white skin, long black hair, and glowing red eyes. Completely naked, with perky, perfectly shaped breasts, long toned legs, and a body that looked like it was sculpted to perfection.
I stared at her.
‘Okay, system. What the fuck just happened?’
[The Soul Stone happened? I don't have all the freaking answers...]
‘What did it do then? Give Trihexa a soul and a human form?’
[I guess so?]
Trihexa stood motionless, examining herself, running her fingers along her arms, stomach, and thighs.
I could see it. The hatred and madness from before? Gone. Instead, there was genuine intelligence in those glowing red eyes.
What. The. Fuck.
"What the fuck did you do, Kang!?"
A new voice cut through the air, one I recognized and hated.
I looked up to see Rizevim Lucifer floating above the battlefield, his silver hair messy and his expression somewhere between shock and outrage.
"What kind of moron gives a chaotic monster intelligence!? That defeats the whole purpose!" he yelled at Kang.
Kang, still hovering in the sky, looked smug as hell. "I did what I had to. Can you sense her power now?"
Rizevim paused. His brow furrowed in confusion. "No! I can’t sense anything!"
Kang grinned, like he had just pulled off the ultimate victory. "Exactly!" he declared. "The monster’s power is now boundless. And with me granting her the Soul Stone and intelligence, she will be loyal to me. I will use her to destroy all of my enemies and finally restore the future I deserve—"
Kang’s words cut off.
Along with his head.
I barely even saw it happen. And that was saying something because I had amazing eyes!
One second, Kang was gloating. The next, Trihexa was behind him, her hand gripping his severed head by the hair. His headless body twitched before dropping from the sky.
Even Rizevim and the Mandarin both looked stunned.
Whatever protections Kang had, whatever bullshit future tech he had been using to go toe-to-toe with the Mandarin, had been completely useless. Before... her. Kind of weird Trihexa had a gender now…
And that’s when it hit me.
I hadn’t even bothered to use my Observe skill on her yet.
I focused on Trihexa’s new form.
{The Beast of the End - Trihexa: Level 306}
Oh…
XXX
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Sixteen Winged Angel, High Goddess of Angels, Death’s Favored, Soul Queen.]
[Supreme Goddess 5 / 8: Merged with Mind Stone, Power Stone, Reality Stone, Time Stone. Space Stone]
[Level: 143]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 12,464,200]
[MP: 1,450,005,000]
[Faith Energy: 10,897,584,459]
[Vigor: 1,246,420]
[Strength: 3,083,899]
[Intelligence: 145,000,500]
[Luck: 1,345,788]
[Available Free Stat Points:]
[Perks and Skills:]
-High Goddess of Angels (100x Increase in all Stat Points. Access to all Angelic Abilities. Can turn other races into white or black winged Angels depending on the person's Karma.)
-Death’s Favored (Resurrect on Death after 24 hours. Can resurrect up to three people a day.)
-Daughter of Heaven's Will (Passive Skill: Ask and you shall receive! The universe bends to your whims and circumstances that you wish for are far more likely to occur!)
-Acting (Max: You are a master of the craft when you want to be.)
-Observe (Max: No one's level is hidden from your gaze. No one can detect you using Observe on them.)
-Light Manipulation (Max: All Light Abilities Cost 10x less MP to Cast.)
-Senjutsu (Max: Passively regenerate 1000 MP/Min.)
-Rinnegan (Max: All Rinnegan abilities cost 5x less MP.)
-Faith Pool (Can draw upon Faith Energy when MP runs out.)
-Cosmic Energy (Instead of air, you know breathe Cosmic Energy. All abilities are drastically improved along with access to Cosmic powers.)
-Blood of the Kryptonian (Massively Increases strength while under a yellow sun.)
-Lustful Queen (Active Skill: You can drain the energy of anyone you touch and convert it into any type of energy you desire. This ability is 1000x more effective when performed during sexual intercourse. You will also receive random stat points after every “session.”)
-Fear Resistance (Max!)
Support me on Pat-reon.-com / Starwaves
Here is the list of Current Advanced Chapters on there:
The Fallen Gamer ch 327-331
The Fox Hole 77
Thunder and Black Wings 18
The Fox Hole 76
A Systematic Tale: The Hero 4
The Fox Hole 75
The Fox Hole 74
The Blood Queen 42
A Systematic Tale: The Hero 3
The Fox Hole 74
A Systematic Tale: The Hero 2
A Systematic Tale: The Hero 1
Thunder and Black Wings 17
The Fox Hole 73
The Fox Hole 72
The Blood Queen 41