Chapter 1024: Chapter 1024

"Whose blood? Whose praise?"

Gleaming thunder coalesced in He Ao’s hands, and as the storm carried his body, he almost instantly appeared before the illusory figure. Then, with two huffs, he once again hammered his fists onto the cheeks of the phantom adversary.

The entire darkness came to a standstill, and the power of the cage that wound its way towards him also froze in this moment.

Even the flickering Arrays surrounding them halted their operations at this moment.

Time itself seemed to pause in this moment. In the surging darkness, there was only the sound of the Crimson Giant’s punches and the crackling of fine thunder covering the gradually solidifying phantom figure.

Two figures fell from the sky, bringing thunder and the night with them, plummeting into the midst of mountains.

The flickering lightning shrouded everything, turning ancient cliffs into dust, and flattening the folds of the undulating mountains.

Crazed exotic beasts raised their heads, looking towards the two invisible figures in the darkness. Then, in just an instant, their bodies twisted and mutated, becoming fierce and insane monsters that dashed through the mountains.

Following that, the pervasive darkness opened a greedy maw, swallowing these frenzied monsters.

"How can this... Impossible..."

Mad ravings with an air of disbelief exploded in He Ao’s mind.

"I told you to await our formal meeting."

He Ao’s lips curved into a slight smile, standing amidst the shattered mountains, he raised his hand and slapped the face of the phantom figure that could no longer muster a smile.

An invisible force acted upon the phantom figure, and that initially somewhat illusory figure again became slightly more solid.

The power He Ao obtained from the War God was actually limited by the energy limit that could be mobilized by Nell’s body and the constraints of his own Soul’s strength.

Although the distance between Yilan City and Rock City was further than that to Wint City, and the energy consumed in transfer was greater than to Wint City, overall, the energy that Nell’s body could mobilize was still in surplus.

Therefore, the most significant limiting factor at present was He Ao’s own Soul strength, which was the limit of energy he himself could control.

After the last Copy World ended, his Soul strength had increased somewhat. Thus, this time his power was actually even greater than the last time, almost approaching that of a true Angel.

However, according to his estimates, the limit of the War God’s power that he could ’borrow’ was also more or less at this level. The next time his Soul strength increased, after deducting the transfer loss, the power he could borrow might not necessarily see such a significant increase.

By then, he would have to find a way to reduce the ’transfer loss.’

And even so, his current power was only approaching that of an Angel, not truly that of an Angel.

Therefore, he was deliberately delving deeper into the usage methods of the War God’s power, to enhance the efficiency of utilizing the War God’s power.

His current combat strategy against the Abyssal Prisoner was his decipherment and application of the War God’s power.

The War God’s power is that of a straightforward brute, not knowing any Secret Techniques or twisted abilities.

But when It believes Its attack can hit, most of the time, It can.

This is the ’rule’ of the War God.

Although the power He Ao borrowed is not much and the restrictions are significant, limiting him to melee combat, he could not use Weapons.

But what he is facing is not a Divine Being.

The quality of the War God’s power he borrowed is of a higher tier; after all, a deceased Divine Being is still a Divine Being.

And at this moment, the phantom figure before He Ao had already solidified more than before.

When the phantom figure was about to be hit by He Ao for the first time, a powerful ’rule’ forcibly condensed his body into a solid to facilitate He Ao’s fist to truly ’strike’ an entity.

Therefore, no matter what state the phantom figure was in at that time, when He Ao wanted to hit him, he could definitely hit him.

Of course, using such power also consumed a great deal of He Ao’s own power, and the effect was not so Perfect.

After all, He Ao was just a passerby borrowing power and not the real War God. He couldn’t just ’ponder a thought’ and completely solidify the phantom figure from ethereal to real.

In fact, after being initially stunned by the attacks, the phantom figure also gradually came to realize the nature of He Ao’s power and started to mobilize strength to resist He Ao’s power, even showing signs of becoming ethereal again now.

He Ao kept attacking, not merely for the sake of attacking, but to use the activating mechanism of the War God’s power to forcibly maintain the phantom figure in a solidified state.

But all things considered, based on the speed of the exchange between the phantom figure and He Ao, this solidification process only lasted for a brief instant.

However, although the process of solidification was extremely brief, it was enough.

After all, this time He Ao was not fighting alone.

Behind He Ao, Levi, from whom numerous Arrays had emerged, quickly came to his senses after a moment of shock.

Endless green Arrays, like a spring falling into the Abyss, in an instant surged into the body of the phantom figure, filling up his ethereal Husks.

The radiance flickered, continuously drawing in the power from the surrounding darkness, absorbing it into the body of the ethereal figure.

The cages, spreading and coiling in the darkness, couldn’t close up in time and were forcibly ’absorbed’ into the body of the ethereal figure.

And under this immense suction, the ethereal figure’s body rapidly became solid.

"Arrogant and greedy fools... you must die... must die..."

A fierce roar exploded in He Ao’s mind; the figure before him, suddenly burst forth with immense power. The twisting darkness around him morphed into spikes, thrusting towards He Ao’s body.

Emerald lightning flared in the darkness, like a river of green electric light, connecting heaven and earth, surging towards He Ao from all directions.

He Ao didn’t retreat an inch, lifting his hand, the golden longsword, now seeming minuscule compared to him, appeared in his palm.

In an instant, glorious thunder surged into his palm, centering around the ’tiny’ golden longsword, amassing into a colossal thunder sword.

He raised the giant sword, thick veins of thunderous brilliance covered his body, facing the surrounding emerald electric light.

At this moment, dark powers had also spread from the figure’s hands, morphing into overlapping cages, attempting to ensnare and completely swallow He Ao’s form.

The surrounding darkness writhed as if invisible life swam within it.

In that instant, the emerald Array that had merged into the figure’s body lit up as well, resembling a cage that restrained powers, consolidating the figure’s abilities.

The figure’s body stiffened, the cages extending from his body suddenly retracted, with most being drawn back into his form, and the flickering emerald electric light also lost its support at the same time.

Seizing the opportunity, He Ao stepped forward, instantly shattering the surrounding river of green electric light.

Then he raised his longsword, meeting the dark spikes hidden behind the electric light, shattering them with one stroke.

In the next second, the thunderous giant sword, ablaze with light, cleaved through the darkness, the yet to be fully concentrated cage force appeared before the figure, a sword strike aiming for his face.

The figure’s body quickly submerged into the darkness, dodging to the side.

But He Ao’s sword light still cleaved his shoulder, severing his right hand directly.

The severed hand, floating in the air, tried to melt into a Black Shadow.

In that moment, the Array entwined within this arm lit up instantly, transforming into beams of light that imprisoned the hand, invisible flames spreading in the darkness, consuming the entire arm.

He Ao also lifted his hand, with the brilliance of thunder covering it in an instant, completely shredding the hand that was about to dissolve.

Then he turned back, looking at the figure whose arm had been severed.

Where the arm had been broken, a new hand had already grown back, but He Ao could sense that the figure, already weakened, had become even weaker.

However, this time, the figure didn’t try another head-on collision with He Ao. His body rapidly retreated, the surrounding darkness writhing like flesh, piercing into the figure’s body, transforming into continuous lines, tearing at the Array within the figure.

Behind the figure, a multitude of dark Illusions also spread from the writhing darkness, densely covering the Firmament and earth, flying towards He Ao’s location.

The Abyss was gradually assimilating this time-space, and life from the Abyss now had the possibility of moving here.

More and more dark Illusions appeared, gradually enveloping He Ao’s surroundings, including a hundred-meter-long serpent and a five to six decimeter long Lizard.

They emerged in dense numbers from the darkness, obscuring all ’field of view’, swarming like locusts towards He Ao, and towards the expanse of Starlight illusion behind him.

He Ao lifted the giant sword, not immediately dealing with these Abyssal creatures, but instead sent an inquiry to Levi, "How is it going?"

He could vaguely sense that the Starlight constituting Levi’s body was dimming.

"That guy is Deciphering my Secret Technique Array,"

Levi quickly replied, "The essence of the Abyss has covered the surroundings; my power can’t be replenished."

"How can you replenish your power?"

He Ao asked urgently.

"Starlight, I need starlight,"

Levi replied wearily in He Ao’s mind, "The Sun, the Moon, the stars, any starlight will do."

Power comes from the starry sky?

He Ao looked up at the twisting darkness overhead, raising the thunderous giant sword in his hand. The surging power gathered in his palm, he threw his head back and roared, "Meteor Fire!"

The storm danced with his voice, thunder flashing to his tune.

Brilliant radiance surged from the thunderous sword, soaring into the sky to form a pillar bridging the earth and heavens, unleashing its ferocious power into the deepest reaches of darkness.

The brooding darkness writhed as if opening its monstrous maw to devour the surging light.

Silent stillness spread between heaven and earth.

The shining light quickly faded, and the darkness resettled, without a ripple stirred.

A slight disturbance came from the darkness, as if a figure hidden in its depths let out a mocking sneer.

But the mockery did not last, becoming rigid in an instant.

A violent, howling roar tore through the sky, shredding the darkness that loomed over everyone’s heads.

The beasts surrounding them let out piercing sorrowful cries, sensing something and trying to pull away, to flee from this area, this moment in time, back into the abyss of nothingness.

Yet it seemed as if invisible forces entwined their bodies, compelling them to continue charging towards the Crimson Giant standing in the darkness, towering like a mountain.

Around the gaping void in the sky, the crimson light that tore through darkness illuminated the sky.

Yilan City·Saint Yilan District

"You’re all crazy! All of you are!"

The man wielding a submachine gun glared furiously at the squad ahead holding riot shields, his voice a harsh roar, "Why can’t you just die quietly?! Why!!!"

He pulled the trigger, recklessly unleashing bullets at the front, "The world’s about to end, everyone’s going to die, I’m trying to help you! I’m trying to help you!!!"

"His magazine’s almost empty."

Hiding behind a car at the roadside, a young boy peered out and quickly spoke into the walkie-talkie, "Can we counterattack now?"

Laughter transmitted from the walkie-talkie, "Don’t doubt our gang experience we’ve gathered over the years."

The pouring sound of the submachine gun gradually ceased, followed by a more abrupt gunfire, which then abruptly stopped as well.

"Kid, it’s taken care of."

Laughter sounded from the walkie-talkie.

The young boy slowly walked from behind the car, looking at the man now riddled with bullets and letting out a long sigh of relief, then lifted his head to approach the figures bearing riot shields, speaking with some surprise and emotion, "You guys are amazing."

"No big deal, we’ve dealt with worse scenes following the gang and Prisoners’ Gang back in the days. Those mad dogs from Prisoners’ Gang acted nothing like humans,"

The burly man leading them tightened the bandage on his arm, "We people from the Southern District, we fight and kill all our lives just for a piece of bread,"

He looked up at the surrounding towering affluent buildings, smacked his lips, "Who would’ve thought we’d actually have a day to save the city."

At this moment, an elderly man with a cane and carrying a plastic bag approached slowly.

The burly man immediately turned vigilant, gripping his firearm as he watched the old man.

However, the old man, noticing the moving gun barrel, merely paused before opening his plastic bag to reveal the chocolates inside, smiling at everyone, "I’ve seen you guys hanging around here for quite a while, must be hungry, right?"

He tore open the packaging of a chocolate, presenting the real sweet inside, then paused and slowly placed the chocolate on the ground.

At this point, the young boy immediately ran over, picked up the bag, and stuffed it back into the old man’s hands, speaking quickly, "We can’t accept this."

"Old timer, you take your things and go,"

The nearby burly man laughed as well, "We’ve shaken hands with Mr. Linen, if we take something, we can’t face Mr. Linen."

"This isn’t ’compensation’,"

The old man looked at everyone, his voice growing cold, as he stuffed the chocolates into the arms of the young boy, "I shook hands with Mr. Linen too, I am a Yilan person as well, what’s wrong with me bringing you something to eat?"

The strong man was at a loss for words for a moment.

Then the elderly man simply let go of the bag and walked into a small snack shop with its doors wide open next to them.

The little boy immediately followed, negotiated with the elderly man, and finally took out some federal coins to pay him, before he came back carrying the bag.

"He was only willing to take twenty federal coins, said it was the cost price."

The little boy lifted the bag and looked towards everyone.

"This old geezer sure is stubborn,"

The leading strong man sighed, pulled out a chocolate bar from the bag, took a bite, and laughed, "This tastes pretty good. Aside from my parents, this is the first time someone has given us folks something."

The little boy glanced at the strong man and asked with a smile, "How does it feel?"

"Awesome to the max."

The strong man took another bite of the chocolate and laughed heartily.

He looked up at the little shop in front of them and noticed the elderly man who had brought the chocolate over, leaning on the door and watching them. He hesitated for a moment, then still raised his hand and waved at the old man with a smile, as if to thank him.

The elderly man raised his hand and gave them a thumbs up.

"Let’s continue patrolling after we’re done eating!"

The little boy also waved to the elderly man with a smile, took out a chocolate bar, unwrapped it, and walked towards the vehicle ahead.

Just then, his wristband vibrated, and he answered the call. A red-clad woman appeared in his field of view, asking quickly, "Jerin, how are things on your side?"

"Sister Ini, everything is fine so far,"

The boy waved the chocolate bar in his hand, "Everyone was a bit worried at the start, but now things are a lot better. The residents around us have a pretty good attitude towards us, and they’re not as scared as before. It seems when the scared people decreased in number, the crazies did too."

"It’s the same here,"

Ini also replied quickly with a smile, "I must say, the folks from the Southern District have been a big help this time."

"After all, we’re all working hard for this city!"

The boy turned back to look at the smiling figures walking towards him and smiled.

These retired gang members, mostly residing in the Low-rise District, were found through Doctor Kewis’s channel.

At first, when they approached these people, they were rudely turned down.

Later, when they said that it was Mr. Lin En’s expectation, these ’warriors’ were willing to come out and cooperate with them.

And as the ’community patrol’ system they organized became more and more established, more and more people were willing to join, including not just the people from the Southern District but also many who were willing to bravely stand up to protect the city.

The City Defense Army and the police department had also made contact with them, and each was assigned their patrol areas.

And as the number of people patrolling increased, those crazed attackers that were scattered throughout the city and initially could be seen everywhere had now become very rare.

Ini on the phone smiled, "Then I’ll check with the other teams’ situation."

The little boy nodded and hung up the call.

He looked at the SUV in front of him, opened the door, and glanced at the clouds overhead.

That originally oppressive aura seemed to have dissipated without him noticing.

Even though the clouds were still present, people seemingly no longer felt as afraid.

The people of Yilan City, from Saint Yilan to the Southern District, from Wick District to Cena District, were coming together in a special way.

It’s just unknown how Mr. Lin En is doing.

Doctor Kewis said Mr. Lin En had already gone to deal with the root of the problem, but it seems very few knew where exactly Mr. Lin En was, not even Doctor Kewis knew.

Just at that moment, a voice full of confusion came from behind.

The boy looked up, gazing towards the sky.

At the edge of his view of the firmament, seemingly in the distant north, the clouds covering the entire sky were torn open by a rift, and a dazzling and scorching brilliance shone through the broken gap, illuminating this dark world.