Chapter 197: Tipping The Scales
Listen While Reading: Shower of Swords
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BOOOM!
Both gigantic manifestations of our Auras clashed against one another, generating a huge explosion that split the clouds above us, revealing the bright golden sun shining behind the Will of the Venerable. The attack I unleashed summoned Uroboros own powers within my own Dao Roots and Radiance, not only managing to devour the entire Thunder Dragon Technique but also reach the Will of the Venerable. His six hands desperately summoned six gigantic golden weapons as he attempted to destroy my attack with them.
“What sort of power is this?!” He muttered. “{Golden Pagoda’s Six Divine Relics}!”
A short sword, a great sword, a spear, a trident, an axe, and a hammer. All six of these golden weapons attacked at the same time; the manifestation of Uroboros was pulverized, each strike simply deleting a piece of itself, only leaving behind sparkles of light and crimson lightning.
“Did you think that would be enough to hurt me? Think again, child. You’re fighting an esteemed venerable that has lived through three Eras!” The Will of the Venerable laughed. “Now, will you ascend the heavens to confront me, or die like cockroaches before my Divine Lightning?”
He pointed his weapons at us, and thunderstorms descended within a second. It felt like everything within the Dungeon was his domain. He was merely a fragment of the Constellation, yet he already could expand his Divine Immortal Domain to such an extent that it was incredible.
“Thunder’s coming!” Kevin said, pointing his spear into the skies. “Gungnir, time to do your thing! {Divine Light Spear Storm}!”
“Anna, you’re not the only one here who will fight him; we’re on this together!” Baihe roared, pointing her hands into the skies. “{Frost Wyvern’s Breath} + {Domain of Cold} = {Frost Dragon’s Domain of Eternal Winter}!”
“Alright! I’m pumped up! Let’s do this!” Annabelle said her entire Demonic Aura gathered within her hands. “{Demonic Aura Manifestation}!”
Kevin, Baihe, and Annabelle leaped into the skies. Using Mana and my Tamed Monsters to help them rise with me. Kevin’s powerful attacks manifested themselves to their fullest. His spear suddenly unleashed an Aura that seemed to have made the weapon grow up to a hundred meters. The titanic golden spear pierced the thunder dragons one after another, making them explode in midair, unable to reach us.
Baihe expanded her Domain and combined it with a Monster Skill she had acquired in the first Dungeon we explored, where she awakened her powers. Her Aura of Ki merged seamlessly with her Mana, creating the manifestation of half of a gigantic dragon made of pure ice, its presence spreading an eternal winter into the skies. The powerful winds blew away the Thunder Dragons, their cold making their lightning grow weaker or dissipate entirely.
Annabelle unleashed all her Demonic Energy through her Aura, manifesting a gigantic black spider with eight legs resembling spears that pierced the heavens. The thunder dragons held no chance, with explosions of darkness erupting everywhere.
Amidst the countless explosions, and as I heard the Venerable’s Will roars of frustration and disbelief, I flew using my wings, reaching the heavens, only to be greeted by a dozen rays of divine light.
“You think I’ll let you get a step closer?! Perish already!”
“After having invited me to go to the heavens and slay you, you’re cowering and chickening out? And you call yourself a Venerable?!”
I swung my three blades while overflowing with the Demonic Energy of all the Death Apostle Equipment covering my body. Cutting through his rays of sunlight wasn’t hard at all, especially when Thousand Blades triggered with each slash, multiplying them by many more waves of attacks at once. It seemed he was unable to comprehend how that Skill worked because his eyes constantly grew wider.
“You’re calling me a coward when I am merely sparing you from an agonizing death?!”
As he spoke, full of arrogance, he finally attacked me physically. His six weapons, each at least ten meters in height, clashed against my own. The sound of our weapons clashing against one another reverberated across the skies like thunder. The black clouds surrounded me as more lighting dragons appeared, opening their jaws and biting through my Aura, attempting to reach me.
However, before I was to waste time slaying them, a gigantic demonic insect flew through the skies. Slashing the dragons with his titanic scythes, coated with large quantities of demonic energy, a mighty insectoid roar echoed.
“KRIEEE!”
“Violet! Good boy!”
Violet took care of the incoming attacks from the black clouds as I noticed the Venerable beginning to harness energy inside of his light halos. But he didn’t just stand there; his weapons kept relentlessly attempting to chop me down. My amazing armor held on even as these enormous attacks impacted me.
“I will give you the honor of dying with one of my strongest Techniques. Behold!” He laughed. “Nirvana’s Golden Sun Mirror, reflect the brilliance of the Nine Heavens!”
A Golden Mirror was materialized, his six weapons rising up and surrounding the floating relic he conjured out of his Immortal Techniques. It shone with the brilliance of the nine heavens, as a powerful rainbow-colored essence gathered within, about to unleash itself against us at full power.
His Thunder Dragons constantly stopped us from reaching him, as he sneakily flew away from us the more we got closer. He was such a damned coward!
“DIE!”
The Rainbow Light fully gathered, releasing. A beam of nine colors pierced everything—the black clouds, the thunder dragons, and even our own auras. I quickly rushed in front of the attack. Breathing in and out, and then swinging my swords, all at the same time, together once more!
“{Thousand Blades}: {Heaven Splitting Sword}!”
I swung the swords vertically first as I rushed across the skies, clashing against the rainbow beam. An explosion of blinding light engulfed me, my swords piercing through it slowly, barely. The light was so intense that my own physique was having difficulties resisting it. I felt the skin beneath my equipment beginning to boil.
“Not yet…! {Uroboros All-Devouring Maws}!”
I pushed upwards and then spun in midair. As my entire body moved, my swords slashed through the beam faster and more effectively. My Auras and Radiance combined together; a gigantic crimson snake started to swallow part of the rainbow beam.
But that wasn’t enough!
“{Divine Sunlit Arc}!”
As I gathered the power of Thousand Blades and stacked on the multiplied slashes, my swords kept growing larger and larger. The Rainbow Beam wasn’t advancing; it was being pushed back. The Venerable’s gasp of shock could be clearly heard.
“J-Just what are you?! A mortal to be able to… Stop my Brilliance of the Nine Heavens?! It is one of the techniques I spent ten thousand years perfecting!” He screamed in frustration. “This is impossible! This isn’t real! You damned illusionist, you trickster! PERISH!”
He started going insane, pouring more and more Ki into his beam, but that became to my benefit. I permeated my attacks with [Demonic Snake’s Gluttony]. Each attack devoured a part of the energy of the Beam, feeding me with more Ki, Mana, and Celestial Energies. My entire Physique was overcharging, turning my entire body into the embodiment of light.
“She’s absorbing the light… The Brilliance of the Nine Heavens?!”
“This is enough…”
My body could barely move due to all the power. I quickly used all my energy and directed all the power I had accumulated into my hands, pouring it into Gram, Aim’s Sword Form, and the Nameless Axe-Sword.
“{Thousand Blades}: {Divine Sword Of The Nine Heavens}!”
It was no longer just a sword; it resembled a tower of light. All of the energy he used to blast me was sent back to the Venerable’s Will; the tower of rainbow light pierced through the rest of his attack, making it detonate and create cracks in the fabric of space within the dungeon. At the same time, the explosion engulfed him. Slashing through his Mirror Relic and shattering it at the same time as two of his arms and one of his legs, which were cut cleanly.
SLAAASH!
“W-Wha…?! WHAT IS THIS?!”
He glanced at his own Divine Body, refined after cultivating the Ki of the Heavens for eons. Or, well, just a replica of that. His wounds were bleeding golden essence, the “blood” of immortals, a liquified form of Immortal Ki. He felt agony. Pain rushed through his entire body. His eyes, full of disbelief, were locked on me.
“Hahhh… How do you like that? Will you finally recognize what we mortals are capable of?!”
“Y-YOUUU!”
He lost his marbles, immediately flying towards me, his gigantic claws attempting to grasp me. His Immortal Ki quantity was still tremendous, and I felt really tired. Baihe and everyone else appeared in front of me, attacking him with their strongest attacks. Barely buying me some time as I started healing my wounds thanks to Gram’s Divine Form Healing and Protection Buff.
"Begone, you pests! She’s the one I must kill! I cannot let her LIVE!”
“You still got a lot of energy in you, huh? Alright, I’ll use it; you’re in perfect range! {Anubis’ Judgement}!”
“What…?!”
Suddenly, the entire battle came to a halt, as if time itself had stopped. Everything grew darker as a gigantic golden balance materialized between the Venerable’s Will and me. He was flabbergasted, naturally. He had never been a victim of such a cheat skill before.
“What’s happening?! What is this! Answer me! Why can’t I move?! This is… ANUBIS?!”
[Player Anna has begun the [Weighing of Hearts Ceremony]!]
[While the Ceremony is in effect, both members cannot move or use any of their abilities.]
[Player Anna has decided to balance the target’s powers and sins in comparison to her own, which are reflected in the Feather of Truth.]
[Due to the Feather of Truth being assimilated by Player Anna’s body, her heart will be taken instead.]
He screamed in horror as he saw the “ghost” of Anubis appear within my Constellation’s Aura. It was just the manifestation of the Skill holding the golden balance. Our hearts were taken out. My heart was now the blue cosmic heart core, and the Venerable’s Heart was a huge, golden marble overflowing with Immortal Ki.
“What are you doing with my Golden Immortal Core?!”
Both hearts were weighted; his own heart was so heavy that it immediately made the Balance almost break. The golden plate holding it fell into the dungeon below, collapsing it and making everything fall into ruins.
CRASH!
“The fuck?!” The Venerable’s Will had no more restraint, saying swearing words unbefitting of such an ancient monster just because he was so confused right now.
“You’re very sinful, aren’t you? Abandoning your people and your world to become a Constellation instead. Leaving your family and friends to die. Letting a world full of rich history and a beautiful legacy perish by the Apocalypse’s endless waves of Monsters…”
“What are you talking about?! I am not sinful; I am the most virtuous man in all Heaven and Earth!”
“Well, the Balance disagrees with you.”
[The [Weighing of Hearts Ceremony] has finished.]
[Golden Sun’s Venerable Divine Will] has been judged by his terrible sins.]
[The difference in power between both users is incredibly high.]
As he noticed the messages appearing in bright golden letters in front of him, the Venerable started to panic.
“Listen! Those bastards were the ones that made me like this! If they hadn’t given me all this responsibility... If they hadn’t been such annoying cockroaches all the time! I was tired, you know? TIRED OF ALL OF IT! I only wanted one thing: to ascend! You understand me, right? You’re incredibly strong; you must understand this endless desire to push ourselves to our limits, right? RIGHT?”
“I grow stronger because I want to save my world and all the people I love. You do it simply to feel fulfilled. We are not the same.”
[Due to the difference in power exceeding 50%, proper compensation and debuff will be applied to both parties, respectively.]
[Player Anna's total Power has increased by +500% for the duration of this battle.]
[The target’s Total Power has been lowered by -50% for the duration of this battle.]
[As compensation, a {Guardian of the Balance} has been summoned.]
[Cooldown until next Skill Usage: 12 Hours]
“My power…! I am growing weaker!”
An invisible wave of cosmic essence encompassed the Venerable’s Will, his strength started to quickly fade, and it was swiftly reduced to half. He was unable to counter this power either. It was permanent until one of us died.
And as if things couldn’t get any worse for him, I quickly decided to alter the Skill Effects, as I activated my Specialization right in this instant. I had gathered tens of thousands of Holy Nether Essence by now, which I swiftly used.
“{Rise}”
The Golden Soldiers down below came together, alongside the Golden Emperor’s corpse, and all their Martial Soul Fragments, becoming a single, gigantic entity. Through the Skill, it was chosen as the Guardian of the Balance, and it also became my Holy Undead.
[You have used the power of your Specialization to modify the Skill’s effects.]
[The {Guardian of the Balance}: {Divine Golden Emperor: Fang Shuan} has been summoned!]
[You have registered the {Divine Golden Emperor: Fang Shuan} as your Soul Bound Holy Undead.]
I might as well register him right away, so he doesn’t disappear later.
RUMBLE!
A giant made of gold, wearing dragon armor, and holding a gigantic spear rose from below, reaching the heavens by releasing golden flames from his boots. It looked more like a gigantic golden mecha than an Undead. His eyes shone with bright, golden light, resembling yellow jewels.
“T-This can’t be true…” The Venerable’s Will was already beginning to break.
“Why aren’t you happy? I just assembled a meeting with your son!” I said, looking at him straight into his ugly eyes. “Fang Shuan, don’t you have a few words for your father?”
“Father…” Fang Shuan glared at his own father hatefully. “You… You’re a monster… Even mother, everyone died! And not only that, but you only came back when everyone was dead, and you enslaved us; you turned us into your puppets! I won’t forgive you. I will avenge them, my siblings, our family, my friends, and my mother. I will take you down with my own hands!”
“Fang Shuan! You dare point your weapon against your own father?!”
The Divine Golden Emperor rushed towards the Venerable’s Will, both titans clashing against one another.
Time to get the popcorn; this is going to get really good!
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