Chapter 598 - 48: Soul Burner

A resounding voice, so clear it was almost pure, echoed in the soul as he asked his question.

Of course, Su Zhou had no intention of answering him. An opponent this rare was hard to come by on Earth—he probably couldn’t find ten like this in the entire world. Plus, the man was clearly one of the Evil People, which meant Su Zhou didn’t have to hold back at all. In such a joyous moment, who had time for idle chatter?

But Su Zhou did take a moment to reflect and realized that he had, in fact, paid a steep price for his power.

True, he had what amounted to a cheat, but the advantage Yara gave him was, at its core, just a very high starting point.

After that, everything—the Thunder Technique, the Gale Armor, the Water Technique—was a spoil of war he had won by fighting powerful enemies with his own flesh and blood. His advancement was swift, and with Qiming and the government providing him with all the necessary materials, he never had to worry about logistics. But just the same, he hadn’t skipped a single battle or sacrifice required of him.

Even Yara’s favor and contract were something he’d only obtained after annihilating the old Leaders of the Continuous Prayer Meeting. The only things he hadn’t truly earned were probably the handsome face his parents gave him and the Talent from his Yinglong Bloodline... ’But honestly, with a cheat this powerful, who cares about minor details like that?’

As for whether he had brought pain unto others? Of course not.

After all, Evil People don’t count as human.

In reality, as Su Zhou relentlessly slashed at him with the Divine Blade, the Silent’s Exoskeleton Armor moved with nimble flashes, its engines roaring. A faint, crimson phantom of a Demon flickered around its frame. At times, the Silent would infuse its bullets with Spiritual Power and strafe Su Zhou with rounds carrying countless Curses of pain. At others, it would draw the Thermite Blade from its waist to clash with the Blade of Annihilation, only for the weapon to be sliced in two.

Yet, he managed to counter every one of Su Zhou’s attacks. The Silent was clearly a master of Martial Arts Skills. And unlike other martial artists Su Zhou had faced, he wasn’t rendered helpless by the boy’s brute strength. This allowed him to rely on his agile movements to evade danger, even in the most critical moments, like when Su Zhou’s kick nearly exploded his head.

’This is an opponent I can’t defeat with physical strength, Spiritual Power, or even skill alone,’ Su Zhou concluded. ’It would be the same even if I had my own Exoskeleton Armor.’

It made sense. The Silent was a Devotee of Dusk, and his affinity seemed to be unusually high. ’It’s strange, though,’ Su Zhou mused. ’They’re supposed to be the personification of destruction, agents of self-annihilation, yet every member of the Dusk Clan possesses life.’

’But thinking about it carefully, it makes a certain kind of sense. Only that which exists can be destroyed. Only by dissolving meaning can one achieve meaninglessness. A void from the very beginning is, in its own way, a form of meaning, which contradicts the essence of Dusk. It’s like how absolute darkness is called night; only the moment the sun is setting can be called dusk.’

As these thoughts crossed his mind, countless Gale Seeds filled the air, forming a ring around the Silent. Dozens of Gale Cannons, each brewing Dragon Breath, began to charge. Su Zhou hovered at the apex of this circle, directly above his target. He raised the Blade of Annihilation, and a towering pillar of Thunder Light shot skyward with a deafening CRACKLE. The Spiritual Power throughout the ruins of the old fortress began to vibrate violently. Even Rafael and the others near the Space-Time Sect were shocked to sense the abnormal spiritual fluctuations.

The Magical Beasts and distant Beast Kings, which were already fleeing, sensed this new aura and scattered even farther away in terror. The surviving Commanders of the Spirit Summoning Association, such as the Plant Master, felt their courage shatter. They fled deeper into the Demon Realm, not daring to even glance back.

’If the Celestial Thunder will not answer... then I shall smite him with my own!’

The surrounding clouds had long since been blown away by the shockwaves from his battle with the Silent. But if he couldn’t borrow the Celestial Thunder Power, then so be it. Was his own Spiritual Power somehow insufficient?

BOOM—! More than forty Dragon Breath Cannons fired from every conceivable angle, hammering down on the trapped Silent. At the same time, Su Zhou slashed downward, bringing a bolt of what looked like Celestial Thunder crashing from the heavens, sealing off every escape route from the sky to the ground.

But just then, the Silent, who had received no answer, began to laugh.

He lifted his head, and his eyes, which had been narrowed to slits, snapped wide open. Within them, long devoid of any distinction between pupil and sclera, a crimson flame ignited.

"No, you’re not a Monster."

Facing the onslaught of Thunder Light and Dragon Breath, he looked as if he’d had a revelation, a grin spreading across his face. "You’re a God!"

’Impossible to understand, impossible to communicate with, impossible to kill... Cannot be tested, cannot be looked upon directly, Eternal and Immortal... What’s the difference, really?’

But for the Silent, at least, this realization finally made him understand the difference between the two.

In that instant, his Exoskeleton Armor shattered, dissolving into a cloud of metallic dust. Like a violently swirling sandstorm, the dust cloud engulfed all the incoming Dragon Breath blasts, completely negating them. When the bolt of Celestial Thunder crashed down upon it, it only managed to blast away the upper half of the storm.

A terrifying power then erupted from the center of the dust storm—from Bornev’s body—forming a colossal, ten-story-tall Crimson Demon behind him!

Dusk Clan·Punishment Demon

The Great Demon’s features were constantly shifting, its eyes burning with Demon Fire. The unextinguished Fire of Sin still clung to its body, but what was that compared to endless agony? The pain of unfulfilled desires, of separation from loved ones, of enduring resentment, of being unable to let go—all the sufferings of the Human World. Which of these could not compare to being burned by Karmic Fire? When you’re covered in lice, you stop caring about a single bite.