Ch. 1001..1010
Chapter 1001 1001 - Ally
The tournament had now officially begun.
Yet, before Isis Neweston started to draw the lots, someone spoke up.
"I'm conceding."
The Mage Emperors looked at Linastra Boomwitch with furrowed brows.
"We have too many contestants anyway," Linastra said.
"Are you certain that this is what you want?" Isis Neweston said in an even voice, which had a hidden tone of threat and danger to it.
The other Mage Emperors were also looking at Linastra with narrowed eyes.
Linastra had always stood on the sidelines, and now that the fate of the entire world was being decided, she stood on the sidelines again.
She hadn't helped them against Shang in the past. The least she could do was try to hurt the current Shang or Abaddon.
"Yes, I'm certain," Linastra confirmed.
At this moment, Linastra felt a thick wave of hatred come towards her.
Her old friends were not happy with her at all.
"Fine," Isis Neweston said.
Behind Linastra, the Sacredflame King felt like his life had been spared.
He didn't need to die!
The Sacredflame King and Linastra stepped back, showing that they were no longer part of the combatants.
"I am willing to support you," Linastra transmitted to Gregorio.
Gregorio was a little surprised, but not very much.
"How do I know you are not supposed to betray me later and that this isn't a trick?" Gregorio asked.
"I am willing to hand over my life," Linastra transmitted. "You can use an asynchronous Life Connection Spell."
Now, Gregorio was quite certain that Linastra genuinely wanted to help him or that she was willing to sacrifice her life to kill Shang.
The next moment, Gregorio contacted Kali. "Linastra is willing to help me, and she is also willing to accept an asynchronous Life Connection Spell."
Kali was slightly surprised.
One had to know that a Life Connection Spell connected two lives. If one of the two recipients of the Spell died, the other one would die as well.
At least, that was how it was with the synchronous version.
With the asynchronous version, if person A died, person B would also die. However, if person B died, person A would not die.
In this case, if Gregorio died, Linastra would die, but if Linastra died, Gregorio would not die.
A moment later, Kali asked Abaddon.
Abaddon was basically the one in charge by now since Abaddon would very soon become superior to Kali.
"Fine," Abaddon told Kali, "but I will be the one creating the Spell. I want this to be secure."
Kali informed Gregorio, but before Gregorio informed Linastra, he told Kali one more thing.
"I want her connected to Shang, not me," Gregorio transmitted. "I can imagine that they plan on confining me without killing me, which wouldn't kill Linastra. If we want to be certain, we need to give it to Shang."
Naturally, Gregorio had already asked Shang.
Just like with Kali and Abaddon, the leadership between Shang and Gregorio had also switched.
Gregorio was no longer the one in charge.
Shang was.
In fact, it had been Shang's idea to make him the recipient of the asynchronous Life Connection Spell.
Shang had two reasons for it.
First, he could just use his Domain of Entropy to negate it if necessary.
Second, if anyone planned something with that Spell, Shang wanted to give them some hope before dashing it.
The more hope they felt, the better.
"Okay," Abaddon answered.
While Isis Neweston was drawing lots for the tournament, Abaddon was using his unique Magic to create two tiny bubbles.
Abaddon's Magic was so unique and advanced that none of the Emperors even noticed anything.
A moment later, Abaddon handed the bubbles to Kali, who handed them to Gregorio.
"Crush this in your hand," Gregorio told Linastra.
The next moment, something tiny appeared in Linastra's hand, and she looked at it.
She was quite surprised that she couldn't see how this Spell had been performed.
However, she could easily discern what this Spell would do.
Sure enough, it was an asynchronous Life Connection Spell, but it worked in a very different way.
Nevertheless, it achieved the same effect.
Linastra narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Then, she crushed it.
An instant later, a complex diagram appeared on the palm of Linastra's hand.
However, she didn't feel a connection yet, which meant that Gregorio hadn't activated it.
Linastra became worried and suspicious, but then, she suddenly felt a connection.
Yet, she felt connected to Shang, not Gregorio.
Linastra's eyes opened wide in shock.
But just an instant later, she seemed to accept her new circumstances.
She didn't protest.
There was nothing she could do anymore.
The Spell had been cast, and forcefully breaking it would take several years.
None of the other Emperors had noticed what had just happened.
"The lots have been drawn," Isis Neweston said.
"First, the warrior versus the Duality Queen."
"Second, the Eternity King versus the Abyssfrost Queen."
"Third, the lcespear Queen versus the Fierycold Queen."
"Fourth, the Unbreakable King versus King Sanctified Death."
Sure enough, Shang and Abaddon had been placed at opposite corners, but that wasn't really surprising.
No one actually believed that the drawing of the lots had been random.
"First match, the warrior versus the Duality Queen."
The Duality Queen's expression had already become solemn.
Due to her introverted and power-oriented mindset, she had never seen Shang, but she had heard a lot about him.
She knew that Shang was about as powerful as King Sanctified Death.
However, for some reason, he didn't feel very dangerous.
In fact, he felt very weak.
It was like Shang was close to death.
At the same time, Amon Gus looked at Gregorio.
He was trying to convince Gregorio to make this a benign battle. After all, he didn't want to lose his most powerful Mage King.
"Malicious," Gregorio asked, ignoring all of Amon Gus' pleadings.
Amon Gus gritted his teeth. "Malicious."
The next moment, Shang slowly floated forward.
The entire Horizon would be their battlefield.
Eventually, Shang stopped around 200,000 kilometers away.
The Duality Queen also flew forward and stopped around 450,000 kilometers away from Shang.
Isis Neweston looked at the two combatants.
"Start!"
Chapter 1002 1002 - Helpless
The Duality Queen immediately readied her most powerful Spells.
She used the Domain Spell and also her Darkness and Light Spells.
Shang didn't do anything.
The Duality Queen wasn't sure why Shang wasn't doing anything, but she wouldn't waste such a chance.
A moment later, she had prepared over 30 extremely powerful Spells, and she would unleash them all at once.
A cataclysmic storm of Mana gathered around her in preparation.
And then...
SHING!
A black tear appeared in the world.
The spot where the Duality Queen had just been in had vanished.
Silence.
The Horizon shook as the Space, Time, and Gravity Mana were being torn apart.
But the next moment, the tear vanished.
And the only thing that remained was an arm, which fell to the ground.
The next moment, a brutal storm of Mana exploded out and scattered across the world.
Naturally, this was the Duality Queen's Mana.
No one said a word.
It had just been too shocking.
Shang hadn't even moved.
He hadn't even done anything.
The tear had just appeared on its own, and the Duality Queen had been killed in an instant.
She had prepared over 30 Spells.
With such a long time to prepare, she could have easily gotten the place of second strongest Mage King in the world.
And yet, everything had been for nothing.
It didn't matter what the Duality Queen did.
If Shang wanted her dead, she would die.
The Emperors couldn't come to terms with what they saw for several seconds.
This was even more powerful than they had thought.
Meanwhile, a small light appeared in Abaddon's eyes.
For a long time, the Emperors just looked at the unmoving Shang.
The Mage Kings behind them felt absolute shock and terror.
All the plans for the tournament they had created over the past thousand years had been abandoned at this instant.
The Emperors had created some plans where the Mage Kings could unleash some disguised Spells created by the Emperors to maybe kill Abaddon.
Of course, these plans could also be used against Shang.
But this single strike destroyed all of them.
No Mage King except King Sanctified Death could do anything against Shang.
He was just too powerful.
The only thing the Mage Emperors could do was to force Shang and Abaddon to kill each other.
While the Emperors were looking with anxiety at Shang, he was flying back to Gregorio.
He hadn't said a word.
One of the strongest Mage Kings had died like an ant in front of an Ancestral Beast.
"Winner, the Lightning Manor," Isis Neweston proclaimed in a neutral voice.
Gregorio didn't seem happy.
In fact, he displayed no emotions.
It was almost like no development during this tournament could shock or surprise him.
And that was actually the case.
Gregorio had seen how Shang had developed his powers over the last 22,000 years.
Shang had managed to elevate his World Connection to a far higher state.
Instead of asking the world to do something, it was like Shang was forcing the world to do something.
Its compliance was no longer a factor.
Space, Time, and Gravity were also no longer factors.
If Shang could perceive someone, they were in his melee range.
Shang could unleash 100% of his power at any spot inside of his Spirit Sense.
Just now, Shang could have attacked with all of his tentacles, and it would be exactly like Shang stood directly beside the person.
Yet, Shang had only needed to unleash a single attack.
He had only swung his right index finger around a bit.
Even though Shang had countless tentacles with swords on them, the other parts of his body could also act as swords.
Just now, Shang had simply transformed his finger into Entropy Ore, which he had then shaped into a small sword.
The power of all the gathered Sword Mana inside Shang's body had exploded forward, unleashing a devastating attack.
And yet, it hadn't even been difficult for Shang.
It wasn't much harder than flipping his hand.
Shang's power had become ridiculous, and Gregorio knew that this wasn't even close to everything Shang had learned in the last 22,000 years.
Amon Gus gritted his teeth, but he knew that he couldn't do anything about this at the moment.
He had to wait until later.
"Next, the Eternity King versus the Abyssfrost Queen."
The two combatants stepped forward and eyed each other.
The clear favorite was the Abyssfrost Queen. The Eternity King was definitely very powerful, but the Abyssfrost Queen was just too overwhelming. After all, the Abyssfrost Queen was very likely within the top five.
"Benign," Isis Neweston said.
The other Emperors snorted.
They knew that Isis Neweston had given her candidate this fight so that her candidate would leave the tournament without dying.
"Malicious."
Isis Neweston glared at Bina Ching, who only looked back with a slight sneer.
Obviously, Isis Neweston wanted Bina Ching's combatant to fight Shang, which would essentially mean killing her.
Bina Ching wasn't a big fan of that and decided to screw with Isis Neweston's plan.
The two Mage Kings narrowed their eyes as they readied themselves.
"Start," Isis Neweston announced.
The next moment, the two Mage Kings started to clash.
The fight was brutal.
The Eternity King was going all out from the very beginning, but the Abyssfrost Queen managed to survive the onslaught.
Due to that, the Eternity King ran out of Mana very quickly, and the fight ended in just ten seconds.
Naturally, the Eternity King died, and his Mana was scattered across the world.
The Abyssfrost Queen returned to hovering behind Bina Ching.
"Winner, the Darkcold Empire," Isis Neweston announced with an emotionless voice.
The Abyssfrost Queen was not happy at all.
After all, she knew that she would die very soon.
She had seen Shang's power, and she knew that she would be as helpless as a child in front of him.
"Next, the lcespear Queen versus the Fierycold Queen."
The two combatants came forward and faced each other.
There was no suspense.
Everyone knew that the lcespear Queen would win.
"Benign," Jenny Greenhouse said.
Nivera Preston looked deeply into Jenny Greenhouse's eyes.
"Benign," Nivera eventually said.
The Fierycold Queen released a sigh of relief.
She wouldn't die today.
The fight started and ended very quickly, and sure enough, the lcespear Queen won.
Although, one had to consider that both Mage Kings had fought very casually.
"Winner, the Deepsteel Empire."
"Next, the Unbreakable King versus King Sanctified Death."
Chapter 1003 1003 - It Is Here
Brutus Cesar looked at Kali neutrally.
Now that Shang was back, the alliance between the three Empires should also be back.
They didn't need to go against each other, right?
"Malicious," Kali said.
Brutus Cesar gritted his teeth in frustration and hatred.
"Malicious," he said with spite.
The Unbreakable King stepped forward with furrowed brows while Abaddon stepped forward with a friendly smile.
"Start!"
Yet, neither of the two did anything.
"lf l am going to die, I might as well die to the most talented Mage that has ever lived," the Unbreakable King said.
"Oh?" Abaddon asked with an interested expression. "That's interesting."
"Please," the Unbreakable King said, "let me prepare my defenses before you attack. I know that I will lose, but I want to see how long I can hold against you."
"Sure, go ahead," Abaddon said with a friendly smile.
"Thank you," the Unbreakable King answered before he started to cast several powerful Spells.
A moment later, a terrifying shield of the most powerful metal appeared around him, and the power of a planet itself seemed to encompass and shield him from everything that could harm him.
The metal fused with the planet, and it was almost like the Unbreakable King now represented the core of a star made of iron.
"That all?" Abaddon asked.
The next moment, the Unbreakable King narrowed his eyes and took out several objects.
These were the things that the Emperors had prepared for him to deal with King Sanctified Death.
CRKSH!
Silence.
The star of metal had suddenly imploded to a quarter of its earlier size and started to fall to the ground.
Naturally, the Unbreakable King couldn't survive something like that.
"Whoops," Abaddon said with embarrassment. "I thought he could survive that. Sorry for the boring match."
When the Emperors saw that, they grew shocked once again.
They knew that King Sanctified Death was powerful, but they had no idea that he was that powerful!
In fact, he could probably even fight a Mage Emperor.
That was a jump of five levels! After all, the Mage Emperors were all at the Peak of their Realm.
No other Mage King could even hope to resist them.
The Emperors once more realized that their plans wouldn't work.
At this moment, they were actually happy that Shang was here.
They needed Shang to weaken King Sanctified Death!
"Winner, the Judgment Palace."
Abaddon just smiled and flew back to Kali, who didn't show any reaction to what had happened.
Three Mage Kings had already died.
"Next round," Isis Neweston said.
"First match, the warrior versus the Abyssfrost Queen."
Shang floated forward, and the Abyssfrost Queen followed.
"Malicious," Gregorio said emotionlessly.
"Benign," Bina Ching said, even though it wouldn't make a difference.
"Start!" Isis Neweston announced.
In an instant, the Abyssfrost Queen readied several Spells.
If she was going to die, at least she would die fighting!
BANG!
Suddenly, her Mana Shield broke as another black tear appeared in the world, but compared to the last one, this tear didn't reach her body.
It simply consumed all her Mana.
The next moment, the Abyssfrost Queen's eyes shot open in terror and pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
An incomprehensibly loud scream of terror and pain echoed throughout the world.
The Abyssfrost Queen was convulsing in the air, helpless to do anything.
The Emperors grimaced at the pure cry of pain they were hearing.
They were not certain what was happening, but they knew that Shang was torturing the Abyssfrost Queen.
"KILL ME! KILL ME! KILL ME! KILL ME!" the Abyssfrost Queen kept shouting.
But Shang didn't answer.
At this moment, small specks of Entropy were appearing inside the Abyssfrost Queen's soul. The small specks combined with the bits of Mana and created tiny bursts of Destruction.
The Abyssfrost Queen's soul was being torn apart thousands of times per second.
Slowly, Shang's head turned to look at Bina Ching.
His message was clear.
Bina Ching hadn't been truly involved in the campaign to kill Shang until the Grand Tournament, but then, she had truly gone against him.
Of course, if this were the only reason, Shang would have done the same to the Duality Queen.
The other reason was that Shang wanted to show another side.
In his first fight, he showed that he could kill whoever he wanted whenever he wanted.
In the second fight, he showed that he could even keep them forcefully alive and torture them for all eternity.
The purpose of this second fight was to instill the Emperors with as much fear as possible.
For six hours, the Emperors just watched with discomfort as the Abyssfrost Queen was slowly turned into a husk of a person.
Eventually, she died, and Shang just dropped her corpse.
Except for that one movement of his head, he hadn't moved at all.
He had tortured the Abyssfrost Queen to death without even moving or doing anything.
"Winner, the Lightning Manor," Isis Neweston announced with an emotionless voice.
Shang slowly floated back.
"Next, the lcespear Queen versus King Sanctified Death."
As the two combatants floated forward, Nivera Preston looked at Kali.
Nivera Preston had never gone against Kali.
She had always helped her if she needed anything.
"Malicious," Kali simply said.
Nivera Preston immediately felt stifled and frustrated.
"Benign," she said.
"Start," Isis Neweston announced.
The second most powerful Mage King versus the most powerful Mage King.
Usually, one would expect this to be an exciting fight.
Yet, everyone knew how this would go.
Abaddon just smiled, and a moment later, the lcespear Queen was turned into a little ball of meat.
The Emperors just took deep breaths. Nearly all the Mage Kings had died.
The only two that remained were the Fierycold Queen and the Sacredflame King.
Every other Mage King had died.
The finale was approaching.
Abaddon versus Shang.
All the Mage Emperors became nervous as the fight approached.
This was it!
This was the moment of truth!
Shang versus King Sanctified Death!
After this fight, the fate of the world would be decided.
All the Mage Emperors would unite against Kali and Abaddon after they had won.
Chapter 1004 1004 - Shang Versus Abaddon
"The finale, the warrior versus King Sanctified Death," Isis Neweston announced, her voice more serious than normal.
Shang and Abaddon flew forward, stopping around 550,000 kilometers away from each other.
"Benign," Gregorio said.
Immediately, the Emperors looked at Gregorio with interest.
Benign?
Why was he suddenly backpedaling?
The Judgment Palace had been the biggest enemy of the Lightning Manor, and King Sanctified Death was the biggest rival and enemy of the warrior.
Why would Gregorio want this fight to be benign?
However, that didn't matter.
The decision was up to Kali, and she was not someone that easily spared someone's life.
This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Shang without Gregorio being able to complain.
Kali didn't immediately answer.
Instead, she thought back to her talks with herson.
Her son was the one in charge now, and she simply followed.
Her son had already made her decision for her.
Now, she only needed to follow.
"Benign," she said.
Silence.
The Emperors couldn't believe what they had just heard.
Benign?!
Both of them had agreed to a benign fight?!
But!
But how?!
Why?!
Why would they do that?!
The Emperors immediately started to rapidly discuss what was happening with voice transmissions.
Of course, they were also coming up with new plans.
They were not certain what was going on.
Were both sides not confident in victory?
It took almost five seconds before another word was spoken.
"Start," lsis Neweston announced.
In the distance, Shang and Abaddon focused on each other.
"So, it's finally time, huh?" Abaddon transmitted.
"It is," Shang answered.
"Have you found your way?"
"I have," Shang transmitted.
"Good," Abaddon transmitted with a chuckle.
While Abaddon and Shang were talking, the Emperors were rapidly coming up with more plans.
None of the two would die, but both still needed the Mana to reach the Ninth Realm.
This meant that they would still need to fight, and if everything worked out, both of them would be extremely weakened by the end of the fight.
Things were not hopeless yet!
Everyone looked at the two combatants with rapt attention.
Who would win?
How powerful were the two of them?
"I concede?
Silence.
Just now, Shang had conceded!
Why had he conceded?!
They were supposed to fight!
Shang slowly flew back to Gregorio.
He didn't say anything else.
Gregorio, Shang, Kali, and Abaddon didn't seem surprised at all.
While the other Emperors were still in shock, Kali had covertly flown over to Gregorio's side.
There was no longer any reason to keep their alliance a secret.
Obviously, Shang would only concede like this if they were secretly allies.
Everyone would immediately make the connecfion.
The Emperors immediately looked at Kali, who was now near Gregorio.
They almost couldn't believe it.
All of this had started because of a conflict between these two!
How could they be allies?!
All of this had started with Kali killing Queen Primordium.
Then, Gregorio had killed two of Kali's Mage Kings.
After that, Gregorio and Kali had fought, which ended in huge parts of the Judgment Palace getting destroyed, and even Kali's husband, the Emperor of Life, Adam, had died!
Then, their two Empires had warred fiercely, and the Judgment Palace had paid an incredible price during the war.
Several Mage Kings and millions of lives.
The Mana that would allow the winner to become a Mage Emperor was the very Mana that Kali's husband left behind!
And now, these two were suddenly allies?!
At that moment, the Emperors also realized why Abaddon and Kali had spoken up for Shang during the Grand Tournament.
So, they had already been allies back then?
Had all of thisjust been a farce?
But Gregorio had always said that he disagreed with allowing Abaddon to become a Mage Emperor!
The Emperors were quite certain that Gregorio hadn't lied back then.
Kali had always despised Gregorio, and Gregorio had always despised King Sanctified Death.
All of this made no sense!
At that moment, King Sanctified Death also floated over to his three allies, stopping at the front.
When King Sanctified Death stopped, the Emperors finally realized how all of this had been possible.
Right now, King Sanctified Death stood at the front with Shang a bit behind him.
Gregorio and Kali were behind both of them.
So, that was how!
Kali and Gregorio were not the ones making the decisions anymore!
It was up to Abaddon and Shang!
And by the looks of things, Abaddon had managed to convince Shang tojoin his camp.
"Hey, I don't want to rush you or anything, but I'm a bit excited for my reward," Abaddon spoke with a polite voice.
The Emperors all looked at him, and in an instant, the atmosphere turned tense.
"Since when?" Linastra Boomwitch asked.
Naturally, none of the Emperors knew that Linastra had alsojoined Gregorio and Kali.
Yet, even Linastra had had no idea that the camp she had chosen was actually far stronger than she had anticipated.
But when she remembered that her life was connected to Shang, she grew fearful and nervous again.
Didn't Shang know what kind of person King Sanctified Death was?!
As soon as he became a Mage Emperor, he would immediately kill Shang!
And when Shang died, Linastra would die as well!
"Let's save that for after the reward," King Sanctified Death said politely as he stretched out his hand.
The Emperors all floated closer to each other as they glared at their opponents.
Things had changed.
The entire reason why they were even holding this tournament was that Gregorio would unleash the Archivist otherwise.
But since Gregorio was now their enemy, there was no longer a reason to keep to the rules.
Because of that, they wouldn't hand over the reward for winning the tournament.
If they did, they would just be committing suicide.
A moment later, Mana Shields appeared around the Emperors' bodies.
King Sanctified Death just scratched the side of his head awkwardly.
"So, I presume this means I am not getting my reward?" he asked.
The next moment, the Emperors gathered their Mana.
The final battle had begun.
Chapter 1005 1005 - Nivera Preston
The Emperors readied their Spells while Abaddon just watched with a friendly smile.
Shang just stood behind Abaddon like a faithful servant.
Kali and Gregorio were readying their own Spells.
There were nine Emperors present, and twoof them would be fighting against the other seven.
However, Abaddon and Shang also had the power of Emperors, making their side have four Emperors.
Four versus seven.
As everyone gathered Mana, all of Aterium seemed to transform.
Even the True Mages at the edges of Aterium felt the Mana rapidly moving away from their position.
Even the weakest humans realized that something monumental was happening.
The Mage Kings could already guess what was happening.
The Emperors were fighting Abaddon.
"And I thought we could do all of this peacefully," Abaddon said with a helpless smile.
Nobody answered him.
Instead, an apocalyptic storm of violent Mana gathered behind the Emperors.
A majority of all the Mana in the world gathered behind them, and the sheer presence of this Mana had already destroyed the Horizon.
Now, they had returned to the real world, and the Mana was even destroying the atmosphere itself.
SHING!
The next moment, a black booklet appeared in Gregorio's hands.
Kali was gathering all the Death Mana she had.
Yet, Shang and Abaddon were still just hovering there, doing nothing.
CRRRRK!
Suddenly, a black tear appeared in the atmosphere, and the Fierycold Queen, who had been watching from a distance, died.
She had survived the tournament, but in the end, she had still died.
The Emperors couldn't spare any focus for the dead Mage King right now. They were too busy preparing for the final battle.
However, the next moment, a pearl appeared in the place where the Fierycold Queen had just been.
In an instant, the pearl absorbed all the Mana, and a bit later, it appeared directly in front of Gregorio.
An lnheritor Sphere!
The Emperors gritted their teeth.
They knew what this meant!
Instantly, the Emperors released their storm of destruction.
Reality was being torn apart as the storm shot toward the four of them.
The gathered power of seven Emperors was simply too powerful!
In Gregorio's hands, a couple of pages fluttered, and the next moment, the lnheritor Sphere in front of Gregorio vanished.
Gregorio had sacrificed the Fierycold Queen's Mana to Entropy!
The apocalyptic storm in front of the four of them vanished without any sign.
Destruction always acted in a very silent manner.
Usually, it wouldn't be easy to defend against such a powerful attack, but with Entropy, they had managed.
The combined attack had been dealt with.
WHOOOOOOM!
Suddenly, the Death Mana Kali had gathered violently expanded outward, swallowing everyone and isolating them from the world.
The Emperors had to defend against that attack, or they would take significant damage!
Additionally, they all knew how Kali fought.
Kali had a terrifying amount of Death Mana inside her, but recovering the Death Mana took a long time. Recovering Death Mana during a battle was not feasible for her.
So, as long as they managed to get rid of the Death Mana Kali had gathered, she would be significantly weakened.
Because of that, all the Emperors attacked the Death Mana around them.
The more they destroyed, the better!
Kali might have been able to split the Emperors apart for a moment, but the Death Mana she would lose would prove to be a costly price.
While the Emperors were attacking the Death Mana, Nivera Preston, the Deepsteel Empress, felt something approach.
For some reason, the darkness in front of her seemed to be even darker than every other spot.
Suddenly, the darkness enveloped her.
CRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
It was like her Mana Shield had been thrown into an ocean of spinning circular saws!
Nivera felt her Mana rapidly fall, and she immediately used Mana Step.
But it didn't work!
What?!
How?!
For some reason, her Mana Stepjust wouldn't work!
An instant later, Nivera managed to glean what was attacking her.
It was Abaddon!
Death Mana was violently attacking Nivera's Mana Shield, but she couldn't tell how it worked. Additionally, the density of the Death Mana couldn't compare to Kali's Death Mana, and yet, the way the Death Mana was attacking her Mana Shield was crazy!
In this short moment, Nivera had already lost 25% of her Mana!
But that wasn't the end.
CRKCRKCRKCRK!
In an instant, 36 attacks hit her Mana Shield!
These attacks had all come at nearly the same time!
With terror, Nivera realized that she had lost another 50% of her Mana!
Together with Kali's attack, she only had around 15% of her Mana left!
The fight had just started!
"I'm sorry."
Nivera's eyes widened.
BOOOOOM!
Nivera's Mana Shield blew apart as a searing beam of sunlight and fire tore through her body.
Until the very end, Nivera's mind couldn't come to terms with what happened.
As Nivera's body disintegrated, a person was revealed.
It was Linastra Boomwitch, the Sungod Empress.
Linastra looked with a mixture of pain, determination, and discomfort at the disintegrating Nivera Preston.
Nivera Preston, the Deepsteel Empress, had died.
An Emperor had died.
An instant later, an lnheritor Sphere appeared where Nivera had just been.
At the same time, the other Emperors destroyed all the Death Mana, allowing them to see the world again.
Yet, the first thing they saw was Linastra grabbing an lnheritor Sphere and arriving in front of Abaddon.
The shock the Emperors felt couldn't be put into words.
Linastra had betrayed them?!
Linastra had joined Abaddon?!
"Thank you," Abaddon said with a polite smile as he accepted the lnheritor Sphere.
Linastra didn't say anything and stepped beside Gregorio, facing the other Emperors.
A moment later, the Emperors noticed that Nivera Preston was missing.
One of them had already died.
Many years ago, they had all journeyed together across the world.
They had traveled with eleven people in total.
Lucius had been their leader.
Gregorio had officially been the second-in-command.
Kali had unofficially been the second-in-command.
Amon Gus had been a serious scientist who tried to understand everything.
Bina Ching had been an icy beauty that many wanted to conquer. Yet, deep inside, she deeply cared for all her friends.
Brutus Cesar had always been at the forefront of battle, and he always volunteered to take on the most dangerous position.
Jenny Greenhouse had been responsible for all their equipment, and she had also dealt with their finances.
Isis Neweston had originally only been an agent of a powerful rival, but she had eventually fullyjoined Lucius' group and had become a valuable asset.
Linastra had been a battle-hungry maniac, and she had always had a deep rivalry with Brutus Cesar.
Adam had been focused on supporting everyone, and his charming personality brightened everyone's clay.
Nivera Preston had led all theirfollowers. All the weaker Mages looked up to her and followed her command.
The group had once gone through so many adventures.
And now, they had turned into this.
Lucius had become a God.
Kali and Gregorio had betrayed everyone else.
Adam and Nivera were dead.
And Linastra had now also betrayed them.
The happy and laughing group of adventurers had turned into this.
What had gone wrong?
The five remaining Emperors looked at each other and nodded.
Things had already become this terrible.
There was no longer any reason to wait.
Chapter 1006 1006 - Identity Revealed
As the Emperors made their decision, Abaddon jumped back.
Gregorio, Kali, and Linastra stepped in front of him, and Shang stepped in front of them.
A moment later, Abaddon focused on the lnheritor Sphere in his hands, and he began to violently consume the Mana.
Reaching the next Realm always took a bit of time, but someone with Abaddon's talent and experience could expedite things.
Injust some seconds, Abaddon would become an Initial Mage Emperor.
Abaddon could already fight one of the Emperors.
If he actually became a Mage Emperor, he could probably fight three to five of them at the same time!
It didn't matter that they all were Peak Mage Emperors.
If Abaddon managed to become a Mage Emperor, the fight would be over.
Yet, for some reason, the Emperors didn't seem worried.
Instead, only determination and acceptance could be seen in their eyes.
"There's no other way," Bina Ching spoke.
The next moment, something happened.
Between the two groups, a transparent figure appeared.
In an instant, that transparent figure became solid, and everyone focused on it.
It was an old man with grey hair and along beard. He wore grey scholarly robes, and many different trinkets hung from his body.
His eyes were determined but calm, and they spoke of unparalleled wisdom.
Shang had never seen this person, but he immediately knew who this was.
The Archivist.
The Archivist was still suppressed by Lucius' Spell, but he could still travel across the world.
The next moment, the Archivist held up his right arm, and the five Emperors cast some Spells.
The bracelet on the Archivist's right arm became thinner and less bright.
It was obvious that Lucius' restrictive Spell had weakened considerably.
This had probably been what the Emperors had given the Archivist.
Shang, Abaddon, Gregorio, Kali, and Linastra weren't sure what they had offered.
Linastra had always assumed a very neutral stance, and the other Emperors hadn't even told her of their plan.
When Gregorio saw what was happening, he retrieved the bracelet he had gotten from Lucius.
BANG!
And broke it!
BANG!
The bracelet on the Archivist's arm also broke into pieces, and he looked at his arm with an unreadable expression.
The other Emperors narrowed their eyes, but deep inside, they grew nervous.
The Archivist had been freed.
Nobody knew what the Archivist would do now.
For the first time in an eternity, he was free.
He could do whatever he wanted without fear of repercussion.
Yet, the Archivist didn't seem to care much.
His demeanor didn't change.
"It does not matter," the Archivist's old voice spoke.
"Mages, warriors, beast tamers, beasts, cultivators, it does not matter."
"It does not matter who rules the world."
"The five Emperors win, and things return to the status quo."
"The talented youngsters win, and life resets."
"In a million years, nobody will remember this conflict."
"In the eternal history of Aterium, this battle will be a footnote like all the other battles for supremacy."
"You all believe your importance to be greater than it actually is," the Archivist spoke slowly.
"I could not care less for the outcome."
The five Emperors grew nervous.
If the Archivist didn't help them, they would most likely die today!
Abaddon couldn't battle right now, but if Shang's power was actually on the level of an Emperor, the enemy had four Emperors that could battle.
Even more, Kali could fight two of them at the same time equally, and Gregorio would most likely win against his opponent, freeing him up to help Kali.
If the Archivist didn't help them, they would die!
"Nevertheless," the Archivist said.
The Emperors grew excited again.
The next moment, the Archivist turned his head and looked at one person.
Shang.
"While I can deal with the resurgence of new life, I can not allow the world itself to stop existing," the Archivist spoke slowly.
The Emperors looked with confusion at Shang.
Shang didn't react.
"The Child of Calamity must be eliminated for the good of the world," the Archivist spoke as he fully turned to face Shang.
Silence and shock.
The Child of Calamity?!
Shang?!
But they had checked Shang so many times!
They had tested his mind, blood, soul, everything!
Shang didn't show any reaction.
The one that felt the most shock was Linastra.
She had connected her life to the Child of Calamity?!
The next moment, everyone looked at the people behind Shang.
Abaddon was still absorbing Mana.
Kali and Gregorio showed no reaction.
This meant that they had already known!
They had knowingly supported the Child of Calamity!
He was the reason!
This warrior!
This warrior was why trillions of people died!
This warrior was why all the Mages in the world were dying!
This warrior was why there was less and less Mana in the world!
It was him!
For 50,000 years, he managed to stay hidden!
The Child of Calamity had been right in front of them this entire time!
If Shang managed to become an Emperor, Abomination Emperors would appear all over the world, and the Emperors were certain that this meant the end of the world!
In an instant, an ocean of rage towards Shang, Gregorio, and Kali formed in all their hearts.
How could they?!
These traitors!
These monsters!
They were fine with sacrificing that many lives?!
However, the Emperors knew that they couldn't focus on their emotions right now.
They had to stop Abaddon from advancing!
BANG!
The Emperors readied their Spells and entered battle.
Gregorio, Linastra, and Kali answered in kind.
The battles had started.
Kali was fighting Amon Gus and Brutus Cesar, a terrifying combo. If Kali had all her Death Mana left, she would likely win, but as things stood, she would likely lose quite soon.
Gregorio was fighting Bina Ching. Bina Ching was amongst the strongest Emperors. Most likely, she was weaker than Gregorio, but she would be able to hold out for a long
time.
Lastly, Linastra was fighting Jenny Greenhouse and Isis Neweston. Obviously, one of them could already fight Linastra evenly, but with both of them fighting her at once, her loss was only a matter of time.
The plan of the Emperors was obviously to kill Linastra first.
After that, they would fight Gregorio with three people.
And finally, they would fight Kali with five.
Earlier, the Emperors had been at a disadvantage, but now, they were at an advantage.
All because of the Archivist.
The Archivist would deal with the Child of Calamity.
The Emperors expected the fight to be over very quickly.
Chapter 1007 experience
The Event Horizon Empire turned into a brutal battlefield.
Every existence in the Ninth Realm was battling.
The last time something like this had happened was when the beasts had been killed by the combined forces of humanity.
When Lucius had grown powerful, there had never been such a great battle. Lucius had killed all the other Emperors in duels individually.
No matter what came of the battle, the entire world would be changed forever.
As soon as the Emperors clashed, every living being in a radius of a million kilometers died, except for the Mage Kings.
The Mage Kings could still defend, but the weaker beings couldn't.
For a radius of two million kilometers, everything below the Fourth Realm died.
The destruction only stopped at a radius of three million kilometers.
This was already brutal, but one had to remember how big Aterium was.
The biggest radius of destruction barely covered the Event Horizon Empire.
The other 90% of Aterium received no damage.
The world could recover from something like this.
As all of this was going on, the Archivist summoned five different artifacts.
One of them was a floating sword that was being orbited by small streams made of even smaller swords.
One of them was a powerful round horn from a mystical beast, emanating an impossible feeling of domination.
One of them was a book that summoned Magic Circles on its pages.
One of them was a chain with several hooks that were filled to the brim with dangerous forms of Mana.
The last one was a spinning trinket representing Yin and Yang.
Each one of these artifacts represented one era of Aterium.
The Yin and Yang symbol represented the supremacy of the Cultivators.
The Horn represented the beasts.
The Chain Hook represented the beast tamers and beast controllers.
The floating sword with streamers represented the powerful Weapon Masters.
And the book represented the Mages.
The Archivist had lived for an unbelievable amount of time, and he had learned from all the different Paths.
"You've lived for long enough," the Archivist said.
Then, the Yin and Yang symbol started to rotate quickly.
In the next instant, a shining beam of opposing forces rapidly shot towards Shang.
Shang immediately summoned his Domain of Entropy and lifted his sword to block.
CRACK!
Shang's sword exploded and turned into tiny fragments.
It couldn't possibly resist such a powerful attack.
At the same time, Shang was shot into the distance and became heavily injured.
The Archivist didn't seem surprised that Shang survived and simply launched the same attack again.
The next moment, Shang summoned his second sword, which caught on fire.
Then, Shang released a terrifying wave of black fire.
BOOOOOM!
The two forces canceled each other out after colliding.
However, Shang's second sword had also been turned into dust.
Both of Shang's weapons had vanished!
Some of the Emperors noticed and grew exched.
The warrior was out of weapons!
The Child of Calamity would finally die!
The Archivist used the same attack again.
This time, Shang wouldn't be able to defend himself anymore.
CRRRRRRRK!
An ear-piercing sound reverberated throughout the world.
The Archivist wasn't surprised, but the Emperors were.
Even Kali threw a quick glance at Shang.
Abaddon also opened his eyes for a moment to look at Shang.
Just now, Shang's body had transformed, and terrifying black claws appeared on the end of Shang's bulky arms.
Even more, two powerful legs had shot out of Shang's torso!
A couple of black pieces of ore floated through the air, and Shang's claws had received a couple of small cuts.
Naturally, blocking such an attack was beyond difficult.
The Emperors almost couldn't believe what they were seeing.
The warrior actually wasn't injured?!
And then, they saw a smirk on Shang's lips.
Shang's right claw moved to his head and ripped the bandage off.
He didn't need it anymore.
No one except for the God could hide from Shang's senses anymore, and the bandage also wouldn't tell Shang when the God was looking at him.
The bandage had become useless.
A moment later, Shang's black and white eyes were revealed, and the entire atmosphere changed.
When they saw Shang's eyes, the Emperors realized one thing.
Abaddon was not the danger.
Shang was the true danger!
This sheer aura of confidence and power in front of the Archivist couldn't be faked.
Shang was actually confident in fighting the Archivist!
Looking at Shang felt like looking at the end of the world for these Emperors.
Shang couldn't survive!
Shang wasn't allowed to survive!
No matter the price, Shang had to die!
The Archivist's eyes narrowed.
Shang's smirk only widened.
The next moment, Shang slashed forward with his claw.
At the same time, the Horn beside the Archivist gave off a terrifyingly loud droning sound.
WHOOOOOOOOM!
Five tiny cuts appeared in front of the Archivist, but the vibrating reality around the Archivist was dispersing the cuts like they were stains.
Shang slashed several more times, but they all got dispersed before they could even touch the Archivist's Mana Shield.
Shang's smirk transformed into an interested grin when he saw that.
WHOOOOM!
The next moment, all the Mana around the Archivist vanished.
Shang had used one of his new abilities.
Shang could now summon his Domain of Entropy at any place inside his Spirit Sense, and right now, the Archivist was enveloped by Shang's Domain of Entropy.
Then, the sound of pages turning echoed throughout the battlefield.
The next moment, Shang's Domain of Entropy froze around the Archivist.
Shang's Domain of Entropy actually stopped converting Mana!
Shang was quite surprised when he saw that.
Someone managed to essentially deactivate his Domain of Entropy?
Sure enough, the Archivist was extremely experienced and powerful.
WHOOOOM!
The Horn sounded again, and Shang felt his Domain of Entropy disperse across the world.
At the same time, Shang felt a horrible headache appearing in his mind.
It was like his mind had been overexerted just now.
Yet, Shang's grin only widened, and he grew even more interested in the Archivist's powers.
1008 Chapter 1008 Pointless
The Yin and Yang symbol began to spin again, but this time, the hook and chain began to shine.
A black light came off the hook at the end of the chain, and the chain itself was shining in a bright red light.
A moment later, the hook shot toward Shang.
As the hook approached, Shang felt the reality around him solidify, making it difficult for him to move.
The next moment, the destructive energies of the Ying and Yang symbol arrived.
The Archivist's attacks were already incredibly fast, and with the hook's suppression, it became even more difficult.
WHOOOOM!
The next moment, the Domain of Entropy reappeared around Shang, but it was different from before.
One of Shang's claws vanished, and Shang's Domain of Entropy intensified.
The destructive forces of the Yin and Yang symbol were weakened significantly, and they became so weak that they couldn't injure Shang's body anymore.
However, that didn't help against the hook.
The power of the hook didn't become weaker.
It was almost like it didn't interact with the Domain of Entropy at all.
The other Emperors watched with excitement.
Shang was about to die!
It was finally over!
But Shang only snorted in amusement.
CLING!
The atmosphere rapidly changed.
What?!
The Emperors couldn't believe what they were seeing!
So many swords!
36 swords!
Just now, 36 swords had appeared between the hook and Shang, and they had blocked the hook together!
The hook had managed to destroy one of them, but the destroyed sword quickly reappeared.
The next moment, the 36 swords pulled to the side, revealing Shang.
36 tentacles ending in 36 swords.
There were all manners of swords present.
The Emperors couldn't come to terms with what they were seeing.
How was this possible?!
Gregorio didn't seem surprised.
Kali and Abaddon shot two quick glances at Shang with surprise.
They had expected that Shang was powerful, but they hadn't expected that he would turn into something like this!
Linastra's feelings were going crazy since she had connected her life to such a monster!
This was no longer a human!
What even was this?!
At this moment, Abaddon didn't seem as dangerous anymore.
Abaddon was extremely dangerous, but at least he was still a human!
The Archivist's Aura grew even more solemn.
Shang's smile widened.
WHOOOOOOM!
The Horn released another sound.
CRKCRKCRKCRK!
The Emperors hadn't thought it to be possible, but they grew even more shocked!
Just now, they had seen the Archivist's Mana Shield vibrate.
That meant that something had hit it!
One had to remember that hitting the Archivist's Mana Shield was already beyond difficult with all his defensive measures!
Yet, Shang had actually managed to do so!
Of course, based on the vibrations, the attacks hadn't been very strong, but they had still hit.
Shang had managed to get past the Horn!
The next moment, all of the Archivist's artifacts began to shine.
He was no longer taking it easy.
The Yin and Yang symbol released terrifying storms of destructive energy.
The Horn shook the world around the Archivist, severely increasing his defensive power.
The Chain Hook suppressed the world around Shang and shot at him with incredible power.
The streams around the floating sword enlarged and destroyed the world as they bathed Shang in a river of destruction.
The book released one powerful Spell after the other, each one as powerful as a Mage Emperor's Spell, and the book released four times as many Spells as an Emperor could launch!
It was an incomparable offense.
It was debatable if anyone in Aterium had ever released such a powerful and varied ofiense.
A cacophony of different sounds exploded out of Shang's surroundings.
The forces of the Yin and Yang symbol were grinding on Shang's hard body.
The Chain Hook destroyed a sword.
The Spells released by the book were all either blocked, parried, deflected, or reflected.
The unending river of destruction from the floating sword was being kept at bay by over 15 of Shang's swords.
More and more black cuts appeared in the air around the Archivist before they were dispersed.
The fights of the other Emperors had slowed down significantly at this moment.
No one could concentrate on their battle anymore.
They were too shocked.
The Archivist was unleashing powers that no one could possibly summon or resist.
Just his book was already unleashing the offensive power of three Emperors at once.
He was using five artifacts!
And despite all of this...
Despite this brutal offensive...
Shang was still managing to unleash attacks on the Archivist's Mana Shield!
The Emperors had difficulties believing what they were seeing.
Someone in the Peak Eighth Realm was managing to fight the Archivist evenly!
It was incomprehensible!
Lucius Volstad, the Mage God, could have only jumped a single level against the Archivist.
By now, everyone knew that Abaddon was superior to Lucius.
Nevertheless, Abaddon could, at most,jump two levels.
Abaddon was the most talented Mage in history!
But Shang...
This warrior...
Was jumping five levels against the Archivist!
This wasn't real!
This couldn't be real!
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Everyone looked at Shang in shock.
Just now, Shang had laughed loudly.
Shang hadn't been able to hold his laugh back anymore.
The looks of the Emperors just now had fulfilled one of his deepest cravings.
Revenge.
Finally, the Emperors realized their weakness and worthlessness!
Like insects caught in a jar, they had believed that they could escape.
They had believed that they actually had control over their lives.
They had actually believed that they had agency over their destiny.
But now, they had realized the truth.
All their plans had been worthless.
All their schemes had been pointless.
The Archivist could kill all the other Mage Emperors on his own.
And Shang was fighting the Archivist evenly.
So, didn't this mean that Shang could kill all the Mage Emperors on his own as well?!
The tournament...
The battles...
The schemes...
The betrayal...
Nothing had mattered!
From the very beginning, they had been helpless in front of Shang!
As Shang was drowned in attacks, he couldn't stop laughing.
"Come!" Shang shouted.
"Attack me!"
"Maybe, with all of you combined, you can achieve something!"
The Archivist's Aura grew even more solemn, and he nodded at the other Emperors.
The Emperors looked at Gregorio, Kali, and Linastra.
They didn't seem to mind.
The next moment, the five Emperors shot towards Shang.
They had to help the Archivist!
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Chapter 1009 1009 - Not Of This World
Shang just laughed loudly as all the Emperors began to attack him.
Amon Gus, the Twilight Dusk Emperor, released terrifying lasers of darkness.
Bina Ching, the Darkcold Empress, releaseda blizzard made of darkness and ice.
Brutus Cesar, the Land and Sky Emperor, released a terrifying storm filled with stones.
Jenny Greenhouse, the Climate Empress, released alternating storms of hot and cold.
Isis Neweston, the Event Horizon Empress, helped the Archivist's Horn in defending from Shang's attacks.
DING!
Amon Gus' lasers were dispersed by a huge
sword.
CRRRRR!
Bina Ching's storm was weakened by the Domain of Entropy and finally collapsed when it hit Shang's powerful body.
The same thing happened to Brutus Cesar's storm.
Jenny Greenhouse's avalanche of attacks was parted by three of Shang's swords cutting through them.
Naturally, these were not all the attacks. The Emperors were releasing one attack after the other, after all.
At the side, Gregorio, Linastra, Kali, and Abaddon were just watching.
Abaddon was still absorbing Mana, but he also couldn't help watching Shang fight.
At this moment, Kali remembered her conversation with Abaddon a couple of years ago.
"I am willing to follow the warrior," Abaddon had said.
As always, Kali hadn't shown a big reaction.
"Why?" was the only question she had asked.
"Because he became a King without using up any Mana," Abaddon said as he looked at the Judgment Palace. "Someone on his level needs a lot of Mana, and by managing to reach the Eighth Realm without using any Mana, he has shown that he has learned to absorb the Abominations."
"I am uncertain what the Abominations are made of, but we all know there has to be some kind of mysterious force that can't be harnessed by anyone. Their destructive potential is just too great."
Abaddon chuckled a bit.
"Back when l detonated my remote body, I wanted to waste his time. I wanted him to spend millennia in a coma so that he wouldn't find the time to attain a sevenfold Spirit Sense."
"But based on what you told me, he managed to cheat longevity, which makes my past efforts irrelevant."
"He wouldn't have reached the Eighth Realm without undergoing another Transformation."
"Even more, he has managed to attain eternal life without becoming an Emperor, which means that he has become powerful enough to break a fundamental law of the world."
"If he can even resist something like natural death, his power has probably undergone a significant transformation."
Abaddon chuckled.
"I don't know how powerful he has become, but I can be sure of one thing."
"When the Ultimate Tournament happens, I will not be able to fight him."
Back when Abaddon had said these words, Kali hadn't been entirely sure about them.
But now, as she watched Shang battle five Emperors and the Archivist as a Peak Sword King, she realized that Abaddon had still underestimated Shang.
When Kali saw Shang fight, she only thought one thing.
'My power is irrelevant.'
Meanwhile, Abaddon felt like he had chosen correctly.
'Even with my World Suppression, I can't stop him,' he thought with a bitter chuckle.
World Suppression was a unique ability that combined all the level six Concepts in existence, except for the level six Concepts of Life and Death.
With World Suppression, Abaddon could summon a power that mimicked the power of an entire world.
The pressure that had killed Abaddon's opponents in the tournament was only one aspect of this ability.
That pressure had just been the pressure of the world.
There was also the gravity, the space, the time, the weight, and so on.
All of these abilities could be unleashed at once, making it seem like an entire world was crashing down on someone.
It represented mastery over existence itself.
Logically, this should be the most powerful ability that could be achieved.
Everything in the world would attack without exception.
It included all the Concepts.
And yet, this godlike ability couldn't stop Shang.
Why?
Because Shang was no longer part of this world.
A body could only hold so much Mana. After all, the existence of people was dictated by the Concepts, and the Concepts could only stretch so much.
Yet, Shang's body was, at least, two levels stronger than the maximum of what the Concepts allowed.
Nevertheless, Shang's body had to be made with some kind of Concept. After all, without a Concept, something couldn't exist.
This meant that Shang's body could have only been made by a Concept from outside this world.
It was more advanced.
It was stronger.
It was better.
It was like Abaddon had mastered and weaponized the planet Earth. No matter who fought him, the entirety of Earth would kill them. It was impossible to gain any more power than this on Earth.
Yet, when Jupiter suddenly crashed into Earth, it didn't matter.
Jupiter was just way bigger and heavier.
Jupiter represented power outside of the world, which was Earth in this case.
Naturally, Shang was Jupiter in this analogy.
If Shang's body were still made of only Mana, Abaddon would be able to fight him.
Shang would most likely still win, but it wouldn't be a one-sided fight.
But with the addition of Entropy, resistance had become futile.
The only reason why Shang hadn't won yet was his Realm.
He was an entire Realm below everyone.
Kali was surprised.
Abaddon was nervous but also relieved.
Gregorio seemed apathetic.
And Linastra seemed to feel all kinds of emotions right now.
The Emperors were attacking Shang with everything they had.
Five Emperors and the Archivist.
CRACK!
Another one of Shang's swords was broken by the Chain Hook.
DING!
One of Amon Gus' lasers managed to destroy one of Shang's arms.
By now, Shang had stopped attacking.
Under the Archivist's barrage, Shang had still been able to attack, but with the addition of all the Emperors, Shang was too busy defending.
Even more, defending became more and more difficult.
All of these attacks were incredibly powerful, and Shang's body wasn't on the level of these attacks.
Shang had already become silent.
The Emperors became excited and strengthened their assault even more!
They were killing him!
They could win!
Kali and Linastra looked at Gregorio.
Gregorio just seemed apathetic and filled with acceptance.
He didn't seem like he was afraid that Shang would die.
Beneath the warping time and tearing space, only a toothy grin adorned Shang's face.
Chapter 1010 1010 - Victory!
CRACK!
Another one of Shang's swords broke.
SHING!
One of Shang's tentacles was cut off by the Archivist's floating sword and torn apart.
As Shang's weapons slowly started to vanish, more and more attacks hit him.
With fewer weapons, Shang couldn't defend himself as well anymore.
Kali glanced at Gregorio.
Gregorio didn't show any reaction.
By now, Kali wasn't certain anymore whether or not she had judged Gregorio's demeanor correctly.
She had thought that Gregorio trusted Shang's power, but maybe he had just grown apathetic to the outcome.
Kali knew Gregorio, and she could imagine that Gregorio felt quite some regret regarding supporting such a monster.
Gregorio was not telling Kali to watch, but he also wasn't telling her to interfere.
If Gregorio trusted Shang's power, he should have told Kali and Linastra that they didn't need to worry.
Yet, he wasjust doing nothing.
Kali looked back at Shang and noticed that his speed of regeneration wasn't nearly fast enough to keep up with the new images.
Then, Kali looked at Abaddon and realized that he was about 70% done.
At this moment, plans formed in Kali's mind.
The Archivist didn't care who won. He only cared about killing the Child of Calamity.
So, when Shang died, the Archivist would also leave.
This meant that they would only need to fight five Emperors.
And when Abaddon became a Mage Emperor, that wouldn't be a problem.
Even more, Shang, this ridiculous monster, would be dead, giving Abaddon sole power over Aterium!
After some calculations, Kali realized that Shang would die when Abaddon was only 80% done.
At that moment, all the Emperors would immediately attack them, and with Gregorio's apathetic mindset, it was very likely that he would only watch.
'The warrior needs to survive for longer,' Kali thought
The next moment, Kali looked at Linastra, who nodded back.
BANG! BANG!
Kali and Linastra shot towards the Emperors and attacked them.
With fury and hatred, the Emperors stopped attacking Shang in order to deal with Kali and Linastra's attacks.
The Archivist glanced over, but he wasn't worried.
The Child of Calamity had lost over half its limbs, and it couldn't defend itself from the Archivist's attacks anymore.
The only thing Kali's and Linastra's interference accomplished was to give Shang a bit more time to live.
Naturally, the Archivist knew that this was exactly their goal, but he didn't care.
The Child of Calamity would die, and that would be all that's important.
As Shang grew weaker and weaker, the Archivist glanced at Abaddon.
'A new hegemon will be born,' the Archivist thought. 'Will another period of suppression follow?'
The Archivist had always been incredibly powerful.
In fact, most of the time, he was the strongest being in Aterium.
Yet, whenever a true hegemon appeared, he became helpless.
The last hegemon had been Lucius Volstad, and the next one would be Abaddon.
'A restart wouldn't be so bad,' the Archivist thought.
CRACK!
Part of Shang's torso broke off, and he gritted his teeth with aggression.
The next moment, Shang screamed in unwillingness and rage.
"You did this!" Shang shouted at the Archivist.
"You are the reason why I can't attain world domination!"
The Archivist only looked at Shang with a serious expression.
The next moment, a malicious smirk appeared on Shang's face.
"If! can't have it, no one can!"
At that moment, the instincts of all the present Emperors screamed at them.
The Archivist narrowed his eyes, and the intensity of the Horn's sound multiplied.
Cracks appeared on the Horn. Obviously, it couldn't withstand so much Mana.
"I hope you all die!" Shang screamed.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Shang's body exploded.
The Emperors did their best to resist the strike, but they quickly noticed that they didn't need to.
The Archivist somehow managed to divert the explosion.
Instead of destroying everything around Shang, it exploded towards the south as a wave.
Beside the Archivist, his I-Iorn turned into dust.
A legendary and ancient artifact was destroyed just like that.
This artifact had contained the powers of the most powerful beast that had ever lived.
But the Archivist didn't regret the loss of his artifact.
If he hadn't sacrificed his Horn, nearly 20% of Aterium would have vanished.
Now, only the middle southern edge and some water from the Eternal Ocean vanished.
This was far better than the alternative.
Some moments later, the explosion vanished.
Shang had died.
The Child of Calamity had finally died!
The Archivist took a deep breath and threw another glance at the future hegemon, Abaddon.
Abaddon glanced back.
He didn't seem worried.
Kali and Linastra were resisting the violent attacks of the Emperors, and they were quickly losing ground.
Abaddon was already over 90% done.
Just a tiny bit more, and Abaddon would become a Mage Emperor.
The Emperors became more and more anxious as they strengthened their attacks.
Two of them quickly shot past Kali and Linastra right toward Abaddon.
Abaddon glanced at Gregorio.
Gregorio didn't do anything.
He still just looked forward like none of this had anything to do with him.
Abaddon narrowed his eyes at Gregorio.
BANG!
Bina Ching's Spell was being deflected as Abaddon summoned a powerful domain.
Abaddon had stopped absorbing Mana.
Abaddon wasn't helpless, but during a fight, he couldn't absorb the Mana.
In fact, it was even worse.
When Abaddon used Mana, he was forced to use the Mana he had absorbed, and this Mana couldn't be regenerated.
If Abaddon fought forjust half a second, he would have used up all the Mana he had absorbed in the past seconds.
Then, it would basically be impossible for him to break through.
Linastra and Kali looked at Gregorio with rage.
Why wasn't he helping?!
Why wasn't he doing anything?!
Didn't he know that he would die?!
The Archivist turned to look at the battling Emperors.
Maybe, a hegemon wouldn't be born just yet.
And maybe, that was actually for the better.
The fighting intensified.
The Emperors attacked with more and more fervor.
Suddenly, Bina Ching and Isis Neweston stopped attacking Abaddon.
Abaddon's Mana had dropped by a lot, which meant he would need several more seconds to absorb enough Mana to become a Mage Emperor.
The next moment, Bina Ching, Isis Neweston, and Jenny Greenhouse all fired their most powerful Spells at Linastra Boomwitch.
Linastra's eyes widened in shock and horror.
CRACK!
Her Mana Shield broke.
Forjust a moment, time seemed to freeze.
BANG!
The next moment, Linastra was burned into ash by Jenny Greenhouse.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An incomprehensible amount of Mana exploded out of the place where Linastra had just been.
For the first time in hundreds of thousands of years, the Mana of an Emperor had been dispersed across the world.
The next moment, all five Emperors focused on Kali.
Yet, for some reason, Kali didn't seem very worried.
That was because Kali had realized something.
Linastra had been under an asynchronous Life Connection Spell with Shang.
When Linastra had died, Kali realized that Linastra should have actually already been dead.
After all, Shang had also died.
This could only mean that Shang was still alive.
The next moment, Kali glanced at Gregorio, who still seemed apathetic.
Gregorio knew what was happening.
The heroes had defeated the Child of Calamity.
The heroes had killed one of the traitorous Emperors.
The heroes had stopped the new hegemon from reaching the Mage Emperor Realm.
Now, the heroes finally had victory in their grasp.
They had done it!
They had survived!
The world was saved!
Gregoriojust sighed.
Even after all of this, he felt bad for them.
After all, they had once been his friends.
"Hahahaha."
A silent laugh.
All the Emperors stopped attacking.
The Archivist's eyes narrowed.
The next moment, they all looked at the ground.
Just now, the laugh had come from down here.
"Hahahahahaha!"
The laugh became louder, and by now, it was unmistakable that this laugh came from Shang.
The Emperors became terrified.
And then, the Event Horizon Empire started to shake violently!
"HAHAHAHAHA!"