Chapter 507: Treating All Equally, Invaders

"You have outmaneuvered me. What could possibly have brought two monsters like you together? It seems I miscalculated the strategies and arrangements of those who once stood against us."

Within the void, hundreds of kilometers from the entry point, Sura floated in the nothingness, speaking with a detached calm. Judging by words that seemed entirely disconnected from the reality of the situation, the current turn of events was clearly not within his expectations.

Opposite him stood Wang Yu. Within the cubic domain surrounding him—a space whose interior remained impenetrable to outsiders—was Aiviah, manipulating the power of the Night God through the Chariot Force granted by Wang Yu, and Lady Darkness, who crouched silently at the edge of the domain, watching Sura.

"..."

Silence. Wang Yu offered no response of any kind. He was waiting—waiting for Aiviah to finish laying out the battlefield, so he could use the Chariot Force to beat this fellow to death. Anything else was of no concern to him.

"..."

Seeing Wang Yu remain so tight-lipped, Sura ceased his incessant chatter. He had realized the truth: Wang Yu was beyond communication. It was not that he failed to understand, but that no matter what was said, the man would only pursue his predetermined goal. Even if Sura claimed to know the way back to Earth, Wang Yu would slaughter him first and ask questions later.

"Clang!"

A massive chain suddenly erupted from the depths of the void, binding Sura’s waist with unimaginable speed. The chain was stained with a terrifying, corrupting, and twisting power; it was hard to imagine the staggering invasion Sura must have been enduring as that chain pressed against his body.

"When nothing is prepared in advance, one must borrow the power of the future. Let me see if you, an existence I cannot comprehend, can withstand its erosion."

In the void surrounding Sura, tiny fragments resembling snowflakes drifted outward. These were not dandruff, but the shattered, crumbling remnants of a soul.

"Wang Yu, it seems we can basically confirm the nature of his existence. In essence, this being called Sura is similar to the consciousness aggregate we sensed at the core of the Utopia organization."

"His consciousness is surrounded and tightly clustered by many souls that do not belong to him. Unlike undead creatures that devour souls to strengthen themselves, these souls gathered around his consciousness still exist independently. At this moment, they are using their own extinction to shield him from the erosion of that power from the depths of the void."

"As for his own soul, it must possess immense strength to support such a massive cluster of souls attached to it. My hypothesis is that over a long period, he fused his own soul with those who shared his ideals, strengthening himself in a manner similar to how the undead devour souls."

"The reason his soul hasn't lost its memory and wisdom like that bone dragon in the undead plane—'Old Bones'—despite such prolonged scouring and assimilation, is likely due to that 'shared ideal.' This goal is something every soul that voluntarily allowed itself to be consumed possessed. With this ideal as an anchor, he would never lose sight of his ultimate objective."

"So, I believe Sura was once a real person, but now he has been absorbed into some ancient thing that has lived for who knows how many years. Only fragments of his original traits remain in the current personality."

Aiviah relayed her deductions to Wang Yu. The face he wore belonged to the Sura whom the Astartes called the greatest mage, but as for who he truly was, tracing the timeline back would likely reveal many different existences.

"So, he talks so much because of some flaw? Those souls that voluntarily let themselves be consumed only shared an ideal; other personality traits would inevitably influence him after the fusion."

Wang Yu responded. The surrounding area was gradually being blanketed by the power of the Night God. With this as the battlefield, it would be quite simple for Aiviah to mobilize the power of the void. As for Sura, Wang Yu could sense the strength of the original owner of the power he wielded, but it did not matter...

"That should be it. Be careful, his power has begun to affect the environment. Under its influence, the Night God's power will only be able to serve as a platform for your combat."

The girl acknowledged Wang Yu's assessment and warned him that the battle had officially begun.

"Bring it on. Sura’s physical constitution is no better than mine. Thanks to you bringing him to a place where he cannot borrow the full power of the Utopia organization, otherwise, I might not be able to contend with him in this state."

In the void ahead, a pitch-black eye suddenly opened. Sura was now completely enveloped by the power from the depths of the void, becoming a singularity that radiated chaos and distortion. The only proof that he had not been entirely swallowed by the void were the soul fragments dissipating from that massive, dark eyeball.

The eye fixed its gaze on Wang Yu. An invisible attack erupted from within, astonishingly and unreasonably shattering the surrounding Night God power. The void energy possessed by the Lady of the Night had no power to resist the strength he had obtained from some entity deep within the void.

"Boom!"

Charging and throwing a punch, Wang Yu’s violent blow collided with the power from the nothingness, triggering a massive shockwave that sent him reeling backward, crushing several pitch-black walls before he came to a halt.

The Chariot Force had now almost entirely converged onto Wang Yu’s body, filling every corner of his formidable frame. Only a small portion was left to Aiviah, who used it to drag the pre-arranged Night God power to create footholds for Wang Yu.

"Too dangerous. I must kill you completely before you grow any further. Your threat to this continent is no less than that thing below."

Sura’s personality was exactly as Wang Yu had anticipated—a bit of a chatterbox, even now.

"Come."

Wang Yu stood on the ground created by the girl’s Night God power and beckoned to the eyeball formed of deep-void power. After one collision, he had figured a few things out; he wasn't the one who should be anxious—Sura was.

It was unlikely that Sura would be rattled by his provocation, but regardless, the attacks came. There was no fluctuation of void energy; the eyeball could trigger omnidirectional attacks simply with its gaze. These attacks were eerily devoid of void energy; they originated from the void itself...

"Bang!"

He slid rapidly across the pitch-black ground, the footholds of Night God power behind him exploding into dust. Though the attacks were invisible to the naked eye, Wang Yu could use the Chariot Force to capture their origin and trajectory.

He raised his hands, covered in Chariot Force, to catch a spear piercing through the nothingness, using the momentum to launch himself in a straight line toward the dark eyeball.

A frontal charge meant Wang Yu had to take every attack projected from that eye head-on, which was exactly what he did. With the Chariot Force infused, he stopped trying to control anything other than the Night God power, using it only to ensure he could touch everything.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Invisible attacks struck his body, delivering powerful destruction that sliced his tough skin into bloody ribbons, creating new wounds before his self-regeneration could heal the old ones. Yet, this could not stop his advance. Protecting his head with his hands, he stepped on the ground shaped by the Chariot Force and charged toward Sura without hesitation.

Those deep-void powers, which could crush any void energy, seemed no different from ordinary physical strikes in front of Wang Yu. There was no priority, no suppression effect. The Chariot Force stripped away the special nature of this deep-void power, forcing it to collide with Wang Yu’s physical strength instead.

"Step!"

As the distance closed, Wang Yu threw his arms wide, letting the attacks carve bloody marks into his face. He swept his hands forward with great force, clapping them together. The full power of the high-energy blood within him ignited, releasing a fan-shaped shockwave that blasted toward Sura.

The shockwave released by Wang Yu momentarily dispersed the attacks that should have had incredible effects but had been rendered unremarkable by the Chariot Force. He pushed his foot off the ground with maximum force, shattering five layers of stacked Night God power, and vanished.

"Boom!"

Wang Yu, having removed his power limit in the void, slammed his shoulder—now a bloody mess of exposed bone from charging through the attacks—into the pupil constructed of deep-void power. The Chariot Force ensured that this impact, while lacking any special properties, was sufficiently powerful and effectively applied.

The force traveled through Wang Yu’s body, tearing open the deep-void power covering Sura to reveal his original form beneath, along with a face that had completely lost its calm and detached expression.

"Bang!"

"Crunch..."

A violent collision of flesh echoed. Wang Yu threw a punch at Sura’s face, which was blocked by the man’s raised arms. However, the collision between the Chariot Force and the deep-void power shattered Sura’s arms, the bones within snapping inch by inch.

Stepping off a pitch-black foothold that appeared above, Wang Yu used the momentum to drive Sura down into the deeper reaches of the void.

"How... could you... possibly... have the power... to oppose the void!"

Sura’s question was laced with hysteria. The "void" he spoke of was likely not the one commonly known to the world.

"Perhaps it’s because I’m an intruder, too."

Somewhat unexpectedly, Wang Yu gave his answer.

[The last few chapters have had a bit too much combat, making the plot drag. It’s time to speed things up—it’s about time!]