Myth Beyond Heaven - Chapter 3045: Last Standing (3)
Chapter 3045: Last Standing (3)
Outside the barrier, Nian Shi’s cold triumph curdled into sharp frustration. He felt it immediately—a shift in the energy of the Phoenix barrier.
The violent tremors that had promised an imminent collapse began to steady. The spider-web cracks of void energy, which had been spreading so enticingly, slowed their advance and then… stopped.
The barrier, which had been flickering like a dying star, now burned with a renewed, steadied intensity. But it was a different kind of power now. The fierce, sacrificial flames of the Phoenix were still there, but they were now interwoven with something else: an ancient, unyielding, and immovably stable energy.
It was an aura of absolute defense, of earth and water and primordial fortitude.
Nian Shi’s silver eyes narrowed, his temporal senses reaching out. His frown deepened into a scowl of disbelief.
“The Black Turtle?” he muttered, the words laced with venomous surprise. “The little brat actually awakened his true power? And he’s… burning his origin to reinforce it?”
This was unacceptable. A mere child among the mythical beasts, bolstering the sacrifice of a Phoenix to create a defense that was now actively resisting the combined, if misdirected, power of Uncreation and Time.
“Insolent vermin! Do you truly believe you can defy the inevitable?” Nian Shi roared, his patience shattering. He could not allow this delay. Every second Yun Lintian meditated was a second closer to a catastrophe he could not control.
He raised the Blade of Eternity high, no longer content to let Yin’s wayward power do the work. Silver light, the color of dead stars and ended eras, erupted from him. He poured his own primordial might onto the ongoing wave of Uncreation, adding the relentless pressure of time’s end to the void’s hunger.
“Decay!” he thundered, slamming his own power into the barrier.
The combined force of two primordial energies—one aimed with mindless hunger, the other with calculated fury—struck the reinforced barrier.
BOOOOOM!
The impact was colossal, shaking the very foundations of the Land of Beyond Heaven. The gray dust of the dead earth was blasted away for miles, revealing the barren, cracked bedrock beneath.
But when the visual distortion cleared, the barrier stood.
It shuddered under the immense pressure, the fused flames of Phoenix and Black Turtle rippling violently. But it did not crack. It did not yield. It held firm, a testament to two ultimate sacrifices.
The impact was colossal, shaking the very foundations of the Land of Beyond Heaven. The gray dust of the dead earth was blasted away for miles, revealing the barren, cracked bedrock beneath.
But when the visual distortion cleared, the barrier stood.
It shuddered under the immense pressure, the fused flames of Phoenix and Xuanwu rippling violently. But it did not crack. It did not yield. It held firm, a testament to two ultimate sacrifices.
Nian Shi stared, his face a mask of stunned fury. It was impossible. It was illogical. He was the God of Time! Nothing could withstand the end of all things!
From beside him, a sound broke the silence—not a roar of attack, but a hearty, deeply amused laugh.
Yin was clutching his stomach, his head thrown back, laughing as if he had just witnessed the funniest jest in all of creation. The sound was rich and full, yet it contained nothing but mockery.
“Hahahaha! Oh, this is priceless!” Yin finally managed to say, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye. “The great God of Time, the master planner! You outmaneuvered me, you turned my own power against my goals, you set a brilliant trap… and for what?”
He gestured flamboyantly at the utterly unmoved barrier. “For it to all come to nothing! A Phoenix and a Turtle, a couple of the Creator’s beloved pets, have completely and utterly stymied you! All your cleverness, all your calculations, have amounted to a spectacular failure!”
Yin crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back to look at Nian Shi with unadulterated contempt. “You are clever, I’ll give you that. But cleverness without the power to back it up is just… pathetic.”
He shook his head, his expression shifting to one of bored dismissal. “Now, I won’t do anything. I will stand right here and watch. I want to see how you, the magnificent Nian Shi, are going to break through that little wall. Entertain me.”
Nian Shi’s frustration boiled over. His silver aura flared uncontrollably, distorting the time around him. He had been humiliated, first by the sacrifices of insects, and now by the mocking laughter of his greatest rival.
He took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing his rage down into a cold, desperate knot in his stomach. He turned to Yin, his voice tight but controlled.
“The deal,” he said, each word precise and sharp. “The deal still stands. The Spark of Chaos for your assistance. Break this barrier, and it is yours.”
Yin’s mocking smile didn’t return. Instead, he looked at Nian Shi with something akin to pity.
“The deal?” he repeated, his voice flat. “You think I still care about your deal? After this display? It doesn’t matter.”
He gestured loosely toward the barrier, toward the meditating Yun Lintian within. “I can wait. I have an eternity. He will awaken eventually. The power of Creation will flood the universe. My strength will return. And then… then I will deal with everything on my own terms. Your ’Spark’ is a tempting shortcut, but it is a risk. Waiting is a certainty.”
He took a step closer, his dark eyes boring into Nian Shi’s. “The truth is, Timekeeper, it is you who cannot wait. You are the one on a timeline. You are the one who fears his awakening. You are the one growing desperate.”
A wide, cruel grin finally spread across Yin’s face. The irony was too delicious.
“Isn’t it just the funniest thing?” he mused, his voice dripping with sarcastic delight. “The God of Time… has finally run out of time.”
The words landed with the force of a physical blow. Nian Shi recoiled slightly, the truth of them striking a nerve deeper than any attack.
Yin was right. He was out of moves, out of time, and out of options. He was trapped by his own desperation, forced to watch as his window of opportunity was bricked over by the very sacrifices he had forced others to make.
The master of time had been outlasted…
