Chapter 283: Soul-Scorching Flame, Throne of the Commander!

"Give me a hand. The halo above this guy's head is caught in his spatial coordinates; I cannot warp space to displace him. Let me prepare—the time lock should be able to pin him down, but I need time to gather my strength."

Devil Five spoke to Devil Four, who occupied Mira’s body beside him. The pitch-black blade in Wang Yu’s hand instilled in him a deeper sense of existential crisis.

"Hurry. I will do my best to stall him with this vessel for as long as I can. He still seems intent on protecting this body; in that case, I am indeed better suited to hold him back than you. You still have the remaining power of your corruption authority, don't you? Use it all."

Devil Four did not retort. Gathering the power of the Void, he swung his arm toward Wang Yu, whose body was covered in proliferating limbs made entirely of blood.

The colossal metal serpent, its body severed by Wang Yu’s strike, ignored the wound that barely registered as damage. It leaped, defying gravity with the aid of Void energy, and charged through the air toward the sprinting Wang Yu.

Devil Five offered no further response. While gathering his strength, he unleashed the remnants of his power—the authority of "Corruption" bestowed by the Void—scattering it toward Wang Yu’s position.

"Clang!"

The massive metal serpent soared above the charging Wang Yu, coiled into a ring, and slammed down with a speed that defied its gargantuan frame.

Glancing sideways at the descending serpent, Wang Yu accelerated, kicked off the ground, and dodged the impact with precise timing. The serpent’s body grazed him as it crashed into the earth.

The power of the Chariot radiated from Wang Yu, expanding his perception outward in a ripple—the most fundamental application of his ability.

In an instant, a flood of data from the serpent’s body poured into him. This creature was not driven entirely by Void energy; for a construct of such scale, controlling it as a single entity via the Void was far less efficient than utilizing other methods of attack.

Within its metal frame lay a structure akin to a spine, composed of a main trunk and countless fine branches. This network, linked to the Void, drove the serpent’s oversized body.

"Boom!"

Leaping upward, Wang Yu stepped onto the serpent’s hide. He crouched low, his blood-limbs gripping the metal as they hauled him upward at high speed.

The shattered meteorite blade, imbued with materialized Void energy, pierced the serpent’s hide as if it were air, its destructive energy shattering the internal nodes.

Destruction Blade—that was the name for the meteorite steel, now infused with the Void.

If this oversized, impossibly agile serpent was to be a nuisance, he would simply dismantle it. As he sprinted, he dragged the blade through the metal, leaving a trail of annihilation in his wake; the serpent’s body collapsed behind him.

"Click-clack-clack!"

The metal serpent began to retaliate. Its body twisted and deformed, sharp iron spikes and blades erupting from its surface.

The blades swiped at Wang Yu as he surged upward, frantically destroying nodes. The blade, forged of mithril and adamantine, was sharp enough to slice through the flesh of any Great Knight.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Wang Yu’s speed increased rather than waned. He charged directly into the forest of iron blades converging from all directions.

Blood-swords, formed by the art of Material Shaping, emerged from the blood pool and materialized around him. Commanded by the Chariot’s power, they shot outward, colliding with the incoming metal blades.

A crimson storm of blades roared against the incoming onslaught. Sparks flew, and the sound of metal clashing was sharp and frantic.

Shattered blood-swords scattered; fragments of blades and hilts rained down like a storm. Wang Yu’s torrent of blood-swords crumbled under the collision with the adamantine and mithril blades.

Ultimately, these constructs were still composed of blood. Even with their structure altered by Material Shaping, they could not match the hardness of the two precious metals.

But the flying fragments liquefied in mid-air, driven by the Bloody Gale Knight secret technique to return to Wang Yu, where they reformed into swords and rejoined the fray.

The metal blades were finite, but Wang Yu’s torrent of blood was endless, provided his battle qi held out.

The metal blades bore the brunt of the violent collisions. Within seconds, their edges struck hundreds of times. Metal fatigue set in, and the blades began to chip.

Dull blades were no longer a threat. With a surge of battle qi, Wang Yu unleashed the full power of a Great Knight. The blood returned to his side, hardened by the secret technique, and formed a partial suit of crimson armor.

Ignoring the Destruction Blade still embedded in the serpent, Wang Yu slammed directly into the mass of chipped, cracked metal blades.

"Bang!"

A thunderous impact echoed. The blood armor burst, sending crimson shards and silver metal fragments flying. The sheer force of the collision shattered the metal blades entirely.

"Crack!"

His running speed slowed slightly after the impact. Wang Yu crouched, and with his free hand, he channeled the Chariot’s power into the serpent’s body. He exerted force, using the massive recoil to drag the Destruction Blade faster, tearing through the serpent’s internal structure.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several metal blades flew toward him. He swayed his body, dodging the lethal strikes, and allowed three or four unavoidable blades to graze his shoulder, arm, and flank.

The blades cut flesh, yet not a drop of blood spilled. A moment later, the wounds were filled by surging blood; within seconds, they would be as if they had never existed.

He looked ahead. The massive serpent head was aimed at him. Mira—or rather, Devil Four—stood atop it, surrounded by floating metal blades that fired toward him incessantly.

"Boom!"

Noticing that Wang Yu continued to charge and destroy the serpent despite the kinetic blades cutting his flesh, Devil Four changed tactics. Several fireballs, their matter twisted by Void energy, appeared around him and rained down.

The fireballs were not fast; they would be easily dodged.

But a devil would not make such a low-level error. The fireballs detonated mid-air, releasing a sea of flames that descended from the heavens. It was a wide-range, high-temperature attack that engulfed the entire serpent, leaving Wang Yu nowhere to hide.

He glanced at the serpent’s body. Two-thirds were already destroyed. Only the head where Devil Four stood and a short section of the torso remained. It was time to finish this and separate Mira from the devil.

"Whoosh!"

The Bloody Gale Knight technique was driven to its limit. All the blood surrounding him was flung toward the descending sea of fire. He had no further use for it; he needed to clear his Chariot’s control capacity for something else.

"Snap!"

With a quick snap of his fingers, the Cursed Fire ignited the life force within the blood. The wall of blood collided with the falling inferno, erupting into a ghostly green, high-heat cursed flame.

The crimson and ghostly green flames clashed, neither yielding, momentarily obscuring the line of sight between Devil Four and Wang Yu. This masked Wang Yu’s movement as he crouched and pressed his hand against the serpent’s body.

"Is this guy not a Knight? Where does he get all these messy powers? Could it be his inner potential...?"

Devil Four looked irritably at the wall of fire below. This Knight’s repertoire was far too eclectic; what were those bizarre things?

"Boom!"

Before he could finish the thought, the wall of fire was torn asunder. To his shock, a massive metal greatsword cleaved through the flames, wreathed in red and green fire. It struck the serpent’s neck, and the vibration of the immense force nearly sent Devil Four flying.

Behind the greatsword, Wang Yu appeared. He gripped the hilt of the oversized weapon with both hands, the Destruction Blade hovering at his side.

His skin was flushed crimson, veins bulging, his battle qi pushed to the limit. The Chariot’s power commanded the greatsword, the multiple bonuses allowing him to wield the impossibly heavy blade.

In the brief moment the flames obscured their view, Wang Yu had abandoned control of the blood, pressed his hand to the serpent, and commanded the Chariot to seize the serpent’s structure. Simultaneously, he invoked Material Shaping—adamantine and mithril, why waste such good materials?

He had forged a monstrous, inhuman sword and brought it crashing down upon the serpent’s head.

The dual-colored flames swirled as the blade—strengthened by Material Shaping—collided with the serpent’s original frame.

Wang Yu violently shattered the final section of the torso and the head. Caught off guard, Devil Four tumbled from the serpent’s body.

"Click-clack, snap!"

The greatsword, no longer commanded, collapsed and shattered. Wang Yu grabbed the Destruction Blade and charged at Devil Four.

"Damn it, this guy!"

Devil Four’s expression was ghastly. The power this Knight displayed exceeded all imagination; he could only attribute it to the secret treasures left behind by Roland.

The devil known as "Four" did not flee. A pitch-black blade manifested in his grip, a "materialized" void similar to the Ruin Blade wielded by Wang Yu.

Empowered by void energy that bolstered his every movement and reinforced the fragile, wretched frame of Mira, "Four" charged across the ground littered with the shattered remains of the metallic serpent, hurtling toward Wang Yu.

"Do you truly intend to kill 'her'? My soul is intertwined with hers; to slay me is to slay her. Would you not rather attempt to save her?"

The two figures, moving at blinding speeds, collided and came to a momentary standstill. The Ruin Blade locked against the devil's black sword, and the seductive, insidious whispers of "Four" echoed in Wang Yu's ears.

"..."

There was no response. Wang Yu merely increased his pressure, pushing the strength of the Knight to its absolute limit, pinning the black blade held by "Four" with such overwhelming force that the devil was rendered immobile.

"The power you displayed before was far greater than this. It seems you truly wish to save this mother after all. That hesitation shall be the reason for your demise!"

"Four" wore a twisted grin, his mind racing. Wang Yu’s strength was undoubtedly greater than this; it was clear the man was hesitating because of the body he could not separate from his target. He was searching for a solution.

Hesitation is the harbinger of defeat, human.

A surge of power, stored deep within the core of "Four," was unleashed, flooding into the body of Wang Yu, who stood at point-blank range. It was the authority of "Corruption" bestowed upon him by the devil "Five."

The corrupting force surged into Wang Yu’s flesh, immediately beginning a rapid erosion of his muscles and blood. Decay and rot spread swiftly through his system, causing Wang Yu’s movements to falter abruptly.

"Pfft!"

In that brief moment of hesitation, the black blade in the devil's hand vanished into an abruptly appearing spatial rift. No longer locked against the Ruin Blade, it reappeared instantly at Wang Yu’s chest, piercing through with lethal intent.

It was done. The smile of "Four" widened. Though that corrupting power was far inferior to the peak of "Five," it was not something a mere Knight could withstand. Seizing the moment Wang Yu was incapacitated by the corruption, he had run his blade through the man's heart.

Yet, just as he prepared to follow through and cleave Wang Yu’s body in two, a palm—burning with a fire so familiar it struck terror into the heart of "Four"—clamped down upon his head, or rather, upon Mira’s head. Emotionless eyes pierced through the physical form, locking directly onto the soul of "Four."

Wang Yu had indeed been eroded by the corruption; his heart had indeed been pierced. But did it matter?

Wang Yu found that he could not resist the corrupting force rampaging through his blood, and his highly active, aggressive blood could not purge these alien energies. The solution? He simply dumped it into the Blood Pool.

The blood tainted by the corruption was drawn into the pool without resistance, and Wang Yu cast a spark of Cursed Fire into the abyss.

The blood within the pool, rich with vitality, erupted into an unprecedented, violent crimson flame, incinerating the corrupting force—which Wang Yu could not handle—along with every drop of blood in the pool.

Igniting Cursed Fire within his own body would have burned Wang Yu to ash, but the Blood Pool existed in a separate space; its destruction had no impact on his physical form.

As for the pierced organ, the heart was truly an expendable trifle to Wang Yu. His blood moved of its own accord; at this stage, aside from his brain, Wang Yu could find no organ that could be called truly "lethal."

Thus, the attack "Four" had launched with such confidence was dismantled in an instant. Now, it was Wang Yu’s turn to scheme.

"This flame, it belongs to 'Seven'! This wretch is the one who killed 'Seven'! How is this possible? It should have been 'One'! Does he intend to burn this woman’s soul along with it? What is he thinking!"

Agonizing, searing pain flooded the senses of "Four." He screamed in silent, incredulous disbelief. He could not accept this reality, for the thing Wang Yu pressed against his head was the Soul-Scorching Flame of the devil "Seven"!

Indeed, after Wang Yu had slain "Seven" within the Key Space, he had cast that flame into the doorframe. He had never found an opportunity to use it, and later, when the key shattered, he could no longer reach into the door to cast it upon another’s soul.

But upon entering the Void, Wang Yu realized he could perceive the door within his own mental space. It made sense; the key’s purpose was to establish a connection between him and the Void. Now that he had entered the Void himself, that connection was tighter than ever.

In the Void, the soul itself became semi-materialized. In Wang Yu’s eyes, two phantoms hovered over Mira’s body: one was the sleeping Mira, and the other was the devil with the obscured face.

Wang Yu had realized upon entering the Void that a devil’s power could surely be used against a devil. The flame that had sat useless for so long now had a purpose. But how to avoid burning Mira’s soul in the process? The answer seemed simple enough.

Mental protection. The mental cube Wang Yu had fashioned while tinkering with his own psychic energy—the one he had previously used to shield the soul of Avia.

It was perfect. Wang Yu slammed his hand, wreathed in soul-scorching flames, into Mira’s body, driving the transparent cube into her chest. The cube encased Mira’s semi-materialized soul, while the flames burned directly onto the form of "Four."

"No! Aaaaaaah!"

A shrill, piercing shriek tore through the air. "Four" wailed in madness, but this flame, forged from the purified authority of his own brother, was not something he could resist.

In less than a second, "Four" was utterly incinerated, dissipating within Mira’s body.

Mira’s soul, protected by Wang Yu’s mental barrier, remained intact and was successfully separated. The flames clinging to her surface flickered and died, having lost their fuel.

Supporting Mira’s collapsing body, Wang Yu reached into the "halo" above his head for a few seconds. When he withdrew his hand, it radiated a golden light—a Tier 6 defensive spell, the Oath of Gold and Stone, cast with the aid of Avia and others in the outside world.

He pressed the Oath of Gold and Stone onto Mira’s body. The golden barrier would protect her. It was not yet time to leave; returning to the material world required time, and he could not be certain the devils would not ambush him. Therefore, he had to slaughter "Five" and "Three" as well.

"Five" looked toward Wang Yu’s position with a heart full of dread. He had just felt a surge of power enter his body—the power granted by the Void that should have been divided equally among the seven devils. His strength had instantly surged.

This growth did not bring "Five" joy; it only deepened his anxiety. The return of this power meant "Four" was dead. Furthermore, the energy he had just sensed was the authority of "Seven"—the Soul-Scorching Flame?

"The one who completely erased 'Seven' is him?! What kind of monster have we provoked..."

In his long existence, "Five" felt regret for the first time. The human charging toward him was someone they should never have provoked. No, this creature could no longer be called human. He was a monster, wearing the skin of a man.

"There is only one way. Destroy this monster completely. The power returned from the death of 'Four' is enough for me to cast a Time Stop spell that approaches the original Tier 8 Forbidden Curse."

"Five" stared fixedly at the approaching Wang Yu, a sorcery he had been charging for a long time ready to be unleashed. He had to use this near-forbidden Time Lock to freeze Wang Yu, and then, in those two minutes of stagnation, utterly destroy the helpless man.

Five hundred meters, three hundred, one hundred, fifty, twenty, ten. Wang Yu, clutching the Ruin Blade, drew closer, his cold, emotionless eyes locking with those of "Five."

A flicker of fear, a sensation he had almost never known, crossed the mind of "Five." This monster...

A few more steps, and the Ruin Blade in Wang Yu’s hand would cleave "Five" in two from head to toe.

At that very instant, a ripple expanded from "Five," freezing everything it touched. This included Wang Yu, who was already in the midst of his swing—the pseudo-Tier 8 sorcery, Time Lock.

"It worked. Now, I only need to destroy him completely. This monster—hm? What is this? Why can I not move either? Why?! What happened? The Time Lock was clearly activated!"

Everything around them stood still, as if the world had been draped in a grey, decaying filter. No sound remained, no vibration existed.

"Five" watched Wang Yu, frozen before him, unable to make a single movement. A sense of relief washed over him, followed by an indescribable joy. This monster could finally be destroyed.

But as he attempted to move, to summon void energy to erase the frozen Wang Yu, "Five" discovered with shock and terror that he, too, could not move.

His thoughts still raced, but no matter what he did, his body would not budge an inch. All void energy was inaccessible. He felt as if he were encased in a block of ice with no temperature; beyond the act of thinking, he could do nothing else.

"Is it... him!?"

The gaze of "Five" was fixed on the motionless Wang Yu before him. Intuition told him that the source of his paralysis was this monster.

"Five," who had never guessed correctly before, had finally guessed right. This was indeed Wang Yu’s doing.

Wang Yu and Avia had seen the devils use this technique before. Time Lock. Back in the Great Library, Wang Yu and Avia had been frozen by that old monster, Yale.

Since then, Wang Yu had pondered how to deal with being frozen in time, but his conclusion at the time had been that there was no way.

The mechanism of Time Stop was actually quite crude: it simply froze everything within a certain range. Objects ceased to move, and time, a phenomenon arising from the motion of matter, naturally stagnated along with them.

But some things could not be stopped—gravity, for instance, or light, and other fundamental forces between atoms and electrons that Wang Yu did not yet fully understand. These persisted even within a Time Stop.

These foundational elements could not be affected by the power of Time Stop. Just imagine: if gravity vanished and light particles stopped in mid-air, the caster would not only be unable to observe the outside world, but would be crushed by the light particles filling the space the moment they took a step.

And Wang Yu possessed a power that Time Stop could not affect: the "Force Field" born from his own body, a power like the Void itself that could command external matter—the Power of the Chariot.

Similar to gravity, the "field" of the Chariot’s power would extend even if Wang Yu himself were frozen, influencing things in the outside world.

Wang Yu had once hypothesized: if the Power of the Chariot were strengthened to a certain degree, to command, tighten, and freeze everything around him, would that not create a domain of Time Stop within his vicinity—a domain completely under his control?

His power was clearly insufficient, far from enough. But what if, within a space already frozen by Time Stop, on the foundation of matter already brought to a standstill, he were to overlay his own Power of the Chariot, which could not be stopped by time?

That, then, was enough, enough to complete a technique still far too distant from its true manifestation,

commanding all things external save for himself, compelling them to kneel before his presence.

The power of the chariot? The throne of command!