Ains

"What have you done?" Beneath the bright moonlight, the Skull Giant raised its head, gazing at He Ao’s body enveloped in bones.

At the city’s edge, the fog continued trying to spread from all directions, but its speed had significantly slowed.

This majestic city was now returning to clarity.

The Skull Giant seated on the throne rose, lifted its head, and looked at He Ao.

Thin strands of light still connected to his body, yet these lights were now nearly dim.

As these lights dimmed, so too did the power of the Skull Giant.

He Ao raised his hand and directly tore off the bones covering himself.

He stood up, a ’K’ symbol resembling both a weapon and a tentacle appeared on his body.

A burst of fierce red radiance instantly surged into his body.

He raised his hand, and this fiery brilliance gathered in his hand, forming a blurred blade.

This blade seemed entirely composed of radiant light, appearing fragile and simple, yet upon close examination, it subtly emanated a silent sharpness, as if it could cut through anything in the world.

"How did you sever the connection to the Netherworld?" The Skull Giant gazed at He Ao, for the first time showing doubt and tension in its thunderous voice.

"None of that matters, it’s our battle that begins now." He Ao looked calmly at the Skull Giant before him.

In fact, this ’New Netherworld’ below the dungeon world, strictly speaking, was like an interstitial space and hadn’t disappeared.

However, the connection between this ’New Netherworld’ and the true Netherworld was severed, resulting in this space losing the support of Netherworld’s power.

The strength of the Skull Giant before them was sustained by the support from that ’New Netherworld’.

In a sense, the Skull Giant was almost one with the New Netherworld now, sitting on a throne tightly connected to that space.

Now, without the support from the true Netherworld, the power of the ’New Netherworld’ was rapidly waning, naturally leaving no more strength for the Skull Giant.

The Skull Giant’s aura and power were rapidly declining, no longer possessing the oppressive presence they once had.

He Ao had long discovered the peculiarness of this ’New Netherworld’; during his projection into this space, he vaguely felt a membrane between this space and the true Netherworld.

With the aid of the Secret Wizard, he quickly realized this space likely wasn’t an extension of the Netherworld, but some ’New World’ strongly related to the Netherworld.

Combining the mystical knowledge he already possessed, he naturally surmised the ’membrane’ was related to the War God.

After all, the Grim Reaper would hardly bother to create a new world if everything was fine, and would just let the Netherworld expand over.

Unless the Netherworld couldn’t expand.

Of course, He Ao had actually already tried ’awakening’ the War God’s power long ago; given the War God clearly had a feud with the Grim Reaper, the War God’s power was certainly useful, especially in a situation with no prepared information, early preparation was a necessity.

If He Ao waited until receiving relevant intel to start sensing the War God’s power, it would have been too late.

Thus, regarding the situation around Ains, the entire process’s simplest description was He Ao removing the Skull Giant’s extra support.

Now, the Skull Giant no longer had an overwhelming power disparity, and as the Grim Reaper’s power was cut off, their strength continued to rapidly decline.

"Do you think isolating the Netherworld’s power threatens me?" The Skull Giant raised its head, gazing coldly at He Ao, "Foolish talk!"

Its body suddenly opened, scattering innumerable sparks like rice grains, falling to the ground, instantly growing limbs and turning into countless bones.

These bones, each taller than a person, landed on the ground, dyeing the entire earth white.

The Skull Giant returned to its throne, slightly raised its hand, and the bones on the ground raised their heads, densely crowding and charging towards He Ao.

Pulsating purple light surged from He Ao’s body, and when those bones approached, they were swiftly struck away.

The shattered bones immediately turned to dust, dissipating into nothingness.

Yet in the next moment, more masses of bones charged towards He Ao.

These bones climbed onto He Ao’s body, tearing at his radiance, in an incredibly short time, they covered his feet.

He Ao raised his foot, kicking these bones away.

But by now, more dense points of light had already fallen from the Skull Giant’s body, forming more white bones.

This time, He Ao no longer cared about these bones, but gazed at the Skull Giant ahead, raised the crimson blade in his hand, stepped forward, and swung directly at the Skull Giant.

The Skull Giant raised its hand, once again trying to block the glowing blade.

But this time, the arm was just barely horizontal before the blade, before being cut off by it and falling to the ground.

And at this moment, He Ao was already stepping forward, swinging the blade at the Skull Giant’s head.

At this instant, the Skull Giant immediately flipped up, dodging the blade He Ao swung.

Dim strands of light connected him to the throne, but now these strands of light were exceptionally dim.

The Skull Giant directly raised its hand, abruptly shattering those strands of light.

In this fleeting moment, it lost temporary support from the Netherworld, but also lost its restraint, no longer confined to the throne.

It raised its hand, and the arm dropped onto the ground naturally flew up again, attaching to its broken arm.

Yet only upon connecting in that instant, the severed arm fell from the sky, again landing upon the earth.

Faint red light covered the wound.

"Can your blade fix damage?" The Skull Giant raised its head, gazing at He Ao.

Yet He Ao merely held the blade in his hand, calmly saying, "It’s not fixed damage, but the remnants of divine anger."

"What are you talking about? How could a divine being die?" The Skull Giant scoffed, raising its hand, light points gathered in its other hand, forming into a slender bone blade.

Grasping this bone blade, it swung at He Ao without hesitation.

At the same time, a certain invisible force suddenly surged up from the depths of He Ao’s soul, quickly spreading towards his body.

His entire body stiffened at this moment, and even the surrounding radiance dimmed.

Layers of seemingly invisible joints appeared within He Ao’s body, filling his frame.

This body was purely supported by angelic power, originally having no bones at all, but now, it seemed as if bones truly manifested, forming a skeleton to support and attempt to control his body.

In that instant, He Ao felt his body slipping out of his control, while the white skeletons crawling on the ground climbed onto him, wielding bone blades and continuously attacking him.

His feet and calves began to be covered by these white skeletons.

The towering Skull Giant gazed at He Ao, taking a few steps back to widen the distance before opening its arms.

Twisted forces emerged from deep within He Ao’s body, hidden within the Hell Manager talent sequences.

Almost as soon as this power surfaced, it spread from his body towards his soul, attempting to seize control.

"Hawke, you can never defeat me, no matter what you do," the Skull Giant calmly gazed at He Ao, as if admiring a delicate piece of art, "From the very beginning, you were in my hands, with no chance of escape. This destiny was shaped from the start."

He gently flipped his hand and pressed down, causing the forces creeping towards He Ao’s soul to surge even more violently, rapidly eroding his soul.

The erosion proceeded without any hindrance, as if He Ao’s soul, or at least a part of it, had been ’prepared’ long ago, just waiting for this invasion.

"When you accepted my gift, you should have realized that your life and fate no longer belong to you," the Skull Giant said, his deep and hoarse voice echoing in the silent night sky, "No matter how you struggle, you will only become the medium for me to control the Illusory Heart and the Shepherd Spirit Emperor."

This was a preparation he had made long ago, a scheme set from the very start.

Hawke’s soul was most suited to be the core of those blank souls. From the beginning, he believed that Hawke could withstand the Shepherd Spirit Emperor’s contamination and, with the help of those blank souls, master this talent sequence.

Then, the time for harvest came.

He had already sown his power into Hawke’s main material, gradually influencing Hawke’s soul to make it the perfect vessel.

Waiting for Hawke to master the Illusory Heart, he could then implant his own will into this ’vessel,’ thereby mastering the Illusory Heart and becoming a powerful entity controlling the Double Angel talent sequence.

Despite some unexpected incidents during the process, the overall outcome wouldn’t change.

This was the ’price’ he intended to reclaim.

He knew well that the Hawke opposite him understood all this, and even if Hawke himself didn’t realize it, ’K’ would more or less provide some enlightenment.

But that’s all it was—predetermined fate has never been changeable.

By the time Hawke found out about all this, it was already too late.

"It’s all over," the Skull Giant lowered his head. The purple flames in its large eye sockets flickered with a hint of what seemed like ’regret.’ He sighed lightly, withdrawing his hand, and calmly watched He Ao.

As if watching prey struggle in vain, ultimately heading towards death.

"Is that so?" A cold voice inquired near his ear.

A massive crimson blade appeared before him.

The Skull Giant’s movements abruptly halted. He raised his head, gazing at the massive purple figure in front of him.

The power that was controlling ’Hawke’s’ soul suddenly stopped, as if encountering an insurmountable obstacle.

Immediately afterward, the surging power began to flow in the opposite direction, spreading towards the Skull Giant’s soul.

"How can this be?!" The Skull Giant’s eyes widened in shock.

"Did you forget what my talent sequence is?" He Ao calmly stared at him, "The soul is my domain."

He had been waiting for this moment, waiting for the Skull Giant to attempt to control his soul, so he could use this connection to extend his power to the locked-down soul of the Skull Giant.

"How can you have mastered the Shepherd Spirit Emperor’s talent sequence so quickly," the Skull Giant exclaimed while leaping backwards to increase the distance from He Ao, watching him intently, "Your promotion method isn’t normal at all! You should be struggling against the madness of the talent sequence! How can you have such high insight!"

"Indeed," He Ao gripped the red blade, smiling as he gazed at the Skull Giant, "You think others can’t do it because your insight is lacking?"

In truth, He Ao didn’t have exceptional insight either.

But he was now a ’Secret Wizard.’

The Secret Wizard talent sequence was as powerful as a cheat for him, with an ability to enhance insight that was excessively overwhelming.

Of course, a normal Secret Wizard probably wouldn’t have as many opportunities as He Ao to use ’insight’ for understanding new talent sequence applications.

"Impossible! Impossible!" The Skull Giant moved even further away from He Ao, attempting to sever the soul connection with him, only to find it immovable.

He raised his head to gaze at He Ao, "Impossible, the Shepherd Spirit Emperor doesn’t have such power. How could you do this?"

"I told you," He Ao took a step forward, almost instantly closing in on the Skull Giant, "The soul is my domain."

[Enclave of Ideals]

[Do you have expectations for the future after death? Is it Heaven, or Hell?]

[Available time: 00:45:26]

[Do you wish to exchange two Exchange Stars for 1.5 hours of use time for the skill ’Enclave of Ideals’? (Currently available Exchange Stars: 19.5)]

The Enclave of Ideals is equivalent to [Eternal Obsession], or rather, Yiluo’s ability.

This ability is believed to come from the Eternal Divine Nation, and the content of the ability is simple: demarcate an area, and within this range, it becomes He Ao’s domain.

All ’souls’ within this area will be subject to He Ao’s dominion. However, this dominion is not absolute; it is merely a force where the further something is from He Ao, the weaker the dominion becomes.

Simultaneously, their souls will also be influenced by He Ao.

This dominion power provides an additional boost against the dead and undead creatures.

The Skull Giant in front of him is a conspicuous ’undead creature.’

Even if it has become an Angel, once separated from a human body, it remains undead by nature.

And under the support of the Shepherd Spirit Emperor and Enclave of Ideals, utilizing the reverse-engineering of the Secret Wizard abilities, the Skull Giant can no longer stop the magic it initially set up.