Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 616 - 577 Deaths in Huang Quan

Chapter 616: 577 Deaths in Huang Quan

In the previous two battles, as long as the Great Demon Xuanwu’s attacks hit, they could send me spiraling into oblivion. But now, with even stronger power, I have done the same thing.

Since the burning fire attribute transformed into the heavy earth attribute, the relationship of attribute restraint between us was completely reversed. Last time, the Catastrophe Demon’s attack on the Great Demon Xuanwu lacked murderous intent, only causing heavy injury. But now, I have infused my mana not only with full murderous intent but also with True Spirit Power that restrains all Undying Bodies.

The Great Demon Xuanwu has been completely erased from the Post-mortem World, and even the Naraku Gospel finds it impossible to summon it again.

This also means the opportunity to fully repair Mazao’s soul using the Great Demon Xuanwu’s flesh has forever vanished.

Of course, I wasn’t entirely unprepared for this. Although this was a method I thought of only recently, it is far better than having no plan at all. In any case, after the recent strike, I’ve already acquired the crucial flesh of the Great Demon Xuanwu. While I could elaborate on the details here, my focus now is solely on defeating Huang Quan.

Witnessing the shocking scene of the Great Demon Xuanwu being instantly killed, Huang Quan, amidst the lingering light and explosion, hesitates not and attempts a retreat to flee.

He cannot escape.

Even he admitted it; the Catastrophe Demon possesses the power of "attraction," and the designated prey cannot easily escape alive. In the Eclipse Form, combined with the continuous output from the Furnace Slag Straight Sword, I now am the "enhanced version" of the Catastrophe Demon, with power scale and density far superior to Huang Quan. This vast region has been fully absorbed into my gravity field, trapping Huang Quan as utterly as light entering a black hole’s event horizon.

In astronomy, what we see as the sky full of stars are actually past images, even sunlight takes minutes to reach Earth. If the sun were to suddenly extinguish, its effect on Earth would also take the same amount of time to manifest. In other words, where light cannot reach, causal relations cannot reach, and this holds true for black holes: anything entering a black hole’s event horizon is forever disconnected from the outside world.

Inescapable gravity is ultimately inescapable fate.

Gravity and fate are two sides of the same concept, therefore, the force of gravity is also the force of destiny. Huang Quan’s fate has been entirely captured and locked within my gravity field, and he can no longer run.

I imbued True Spirit Power into the black flames, transforming them into a massive spear that shot towards Huang Quan’s heart.

I could see Huang Quan was trying to commit suicide, but it was too slow. To be precise, it wasn’t about speed. With fate being completely determined, Huang Quan has actually already lost, and this is merely the process of "playing out" his defeat, akin to flipping to the last page of a story, revealing the protagonist’s death, with all previous pages merely explaining why the protagonist dies.

Gravity so intense even affects time, slowing his actions of suicide visible to the naked eye, seemingly never reaching the reality of death. As a human god, he certainly possesses the power to affect time, and is currently using all his might to affect time in the opposite direction. But his power still cannot surpass my gravity. The black flame spear reaches first. He can only exert all his strength to convert all his mana into defensive power.

Black flames and yellow-black mana fiercely clashed.

An explosion occurred once more. Booming light and heat spread across the land once again. Clouds of boiling dust thickly obscured sky and earth, vision became only darkness, surrounded by endless rumbling. Huang Quan’s mana fluctuations vanished in this deafening darkness.

The battle was over.

I exited the Eclipse Form, descending to the ground.

After quickly checking up on my current state, and summoning a small flame to test the feeling of using my power normally. As expected, the side effects of the Eclipse Form exist, and the sensation is quite clear. Fortunately, probably because the duration of entering the Eclipse Form was very brief, with only two formal moves, the side effects aren’t particularly intense. It’s simply a notable discomfort and unfamiliarity when using power normally.

Much like being accustomed to a phone’s system, suddenly being changed to an entirely different type, where unconscious habits like swiping for return suddenly lose their place. Later, when your body naturally adjusts to another system, only to be suddenly requested to switch back to the original phone system, the habitual operations don’t immediately re-adapt.

Such a degree of side effects isn’t a significant issue and can be dispelled without much time. However, if the duration in Eclipse Form is prolonged, the consequences would be different.

In terms of pure combat power, Eclipse Form isn’t stronger than Crown Form, it’s merely powerful in a different direction. To be safe, unless it’s a situation that necessitates reactivating it, it’s best sealed away.

Returning to the current situation. Although Huang Quan has completely lost the strength to continue fighting, unable to flee or even muster the energy to commit suicide, I can feel he’s still barely clinging to the last breath. Next, I have to deliver the final blow.

Quickly, I used my perception to lock onto Huang Quan’s location and moved there. I found Huang Quan now only a pitiful wreck, with a half-destroyed torso lying like non-burnable garbage on the pitted, uneven earth, barely recognizable as human.

"Zhuang Cheng..."

Huang Quan strained to produce a sound, weak voice filled with reluctance, "Such... a conclusion..."

It seems there’s no need for me to take action deliberately, just leaving him would cause him to pass away on his own. However, I feel no pity for enemies who are "already like this." Personally sending the adversary to the afterlife, scattering their bones is true respect for formidable foes. I raised my hand, planning to burn him to death.

Just then, recalling conversations during the battle, I had a faint doubt.

Although Huang Quan cooperated with Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang, and had analyzed two additional paths to save the world beyond the human slaughter plan, from his prior tone, it seemed Huang Quan still defaulted the human slaughter plan as the primary path. At least, leaving aside his personal thoughts, his stance seemed moving in that direction, with the common cultivators of the Evangelical Institute completely unaware of Taoyuan Village’s matters.

Perhaps because the other two paths didn’t align with the Institute’s interests, Huang Quan’s new ideas weren’t accepted by the Evangelical Institute Master Yama. Thinking carefully, it’s apparent that although the other two paths offer more benefits than the human slaughter plan, they heavily rely on Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang’s personal will.

If, during the later stages of execution, Taoyuan Village Master suddenly abandons or uses his position for something, by then the Institute would likely miss the golden time to switch back to the human slaughter plan and easily fall into a passive state.

If so, why does Huang Quan still stand by Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang in the modern world, providing support? Does this mean Huang Quan isn’t standing on the Evangelical Institute’s side, but rather on his personal stance, assisting Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang?

Then, what could be Huang Quan’s personal motivation? He doesn’t care about the inhumane nature of the human slaughter plan and secretly doing such a thing won’t prevent internal division... And if he originally doesn’t care whether the organization would split due to the human slaughter plan’s inhumane nature, why try exploring paths to save the world outside the human slaughter plan?

The achieved realm cultivator from the Evangelical Institute once said, Huang Quan ordered exploring other salvation paths after his student Mazao defected...

In my mind, suddenly recalled a room in Huang Quan Evangelical Institute. That room originally belonged to Mazao, banned by Huang Quan from entry, yet seemed regularly tidied.

"You cooperated with Taoyuan Village Master secretly... because you hoped for Mazao’s return?" I asked impulsively.

Huang Quan hesitated, saying, "What... are you talking about?"

"Why don’t you see her yourself?" I asked, "You should know Mazao is in the Living World and can even grasp her exact location. If you wanted to find her, you could at any time."

Perhaps my guess is wrong. After all, it’s a spur-of-the-moment thought, lacks evidence, and there are components that don’t withstand scrutiny. A character like Huang Quan, lacking humanity, initially only saw Mazao as a special observation study subject, probably doesn’t possess such sentimentality. His silence likely doubting those silly words.

Seconds later, he forced a laugh, through his strained voice.

"Ridiculous... a traitorous disciple like Mazao, why should I go seeking her?" He retorted.

After speaking, as if using his last bit of strength, he no longer could sustain his life.

Black flames suppressed inside his body surged from his guts, engulfing and devouring him, leaving him utterly reduced to ashes.