Chapter 820: No one can escape the void

[Shatter the veil]

It was a insignificant skill, mainly meant to be a disorienting skill by opening up multiple temporary spatial fissures, but Damon pushed it to the extreme. Before anyone could react, all of a sudden the fabric of space started tearing apart and rupturing at the seams.

It was already weak because of the presence of so many Gods at the same time. Damon did not even have to try a lot.

Deep spatial tears appeared everywhere, and the void rumbled from within. The moment the void started pushing through, all of the Gods’ faces changed. Even the two Supreme Gods looked stunned. No one had expected something like this to happen. This was practically suicidal.

"What are you doing? Do not invite the void in!" One God bellowed.

"You do not know of the dread that inhabits the void!" Another one thundered.

The two supreme Gods immediately started sealing up all of the spatial tears. The others joined them.

But Damon casually undid everything, putting more and more strain on the spatial structure. He knew exactly what he was doing. The moment he saw that creature step out of the void to fight against the Spear God, he had already decided his back up plan.

If others wanted to get rid of him, then they are going to have to work really hard. Without any hesitation, he unleashed total and utter chaos. He ripped apart the space framework and invited the void in.

The Gods scrambled to seal everything back but it was completely useless. The very next instant, an eerie, chilling aura flooded the space. Many creatures suddenly appeared from the void.

The first crawled through an opening that should have been far too narrow to contain it.

Long, jointed limbs unfolded from the darkness, followed by a pale body covered in closed eyes. It caught the edges of the rupture and pulled. Space stretched between its fingers, widening until several more shapes could squeeze through behind it.

Elsewhere, something enormous pressed against the other side of a tear.

Damon saw a row of teeth. Then the opening split from end to end.

"Seal the breaches!" Golden Trigram shouted.

His voice cut through the confusion, and several gods immediately raised their hands. Golden formations spread across the nearest ruptures, drawing the edges together.

But it was too late. One by one, the creatures started coming, and they seemed to have absolutely no problem with the sheer number of Gods in the area.

Treating Gods like random mobs, they started attacking. Pitch-black energy shot out of the creatures, and everything it struck turned into the void itself. Their attacks were extremely surreal.

A god swung his sword at an approaching creature. The blade released a brilliant arc that split its pale body from shoulder to waist.

For a moment, Damon thought the attack had worked. Then the two halves moved independently. Each caught one end of the sword.

Blackness spread along the blade. The god immediately abandoned it, but the creature’s severed halves were already pulling themselves toward him. His barrier flashed once before a long arm passed through it. The scream that followed made several nearby gods retreat.

"Do not cut them!" Silver Eye shouted.

His eyes blazed. A silver sphere enclosed the creature, the god, and the broken weapon. Everything inside stopped moving.

Silver Eye closed his hand. The sphere shrank, compressing until it was no larger than a bead, and shot into one of the ruptures.

Damon’s eyes narrowed. The god had still been alive inside it. Apparently, these supreme gods weren’t particularly sentimental about their own people either.

Golden Trigram swept his sleeve outward. Eight enormous symbols rose around the battlefield, their light connecting into a formation that caught several spreading patches of darkness. The void pressed against its boundaries, making the golden lines bend.

"Groups of nine!" he ordered. "Contain them and force them back through the breaches. Stop releasing your power everywhere!"

The gods scrambled to obey. Damon immediately understood why.

The creature covered in closed eyes had ignored a god retreating behind a shattered rock. Instead, it turned toward another who was gathering an enormous spell above his head.

One eye opened on its stomach. The spell disappeared. So did the god’s hands.

Damon felt a cold sensation crawl up his back. He pulled his aura inward, suppressing it as far as he could. His remaining avatars followed his command, their bodies collapsing into thin streams that slipped through the debris toward him.

He had created the opening he needed. There was no reason to stand around admiring his work.

Just as he prepared to leave, the space rippled in front of him. At the same time, three void creatures appeared around him. Damon stopped.

One hung upside down above his head, its long arms folded against a chest that opened and closed with each movement. Another resembled a thin strip of pale skin, twisting through the darkness without any visible limbs.

The third was faceless. Damon recognized it immediately.

The same long body. The same arms hanging far below its knees. Dark folds shifted across its flesh, peeling away whenever it moved. It was the same one he had met earlier from the Spear God’s world.

The three closed in on Damon and completely swallowed him as he disappeared from the spot. There was absolutely no trace of him left.

Golden Trigram noticed this. "The corrupted was consumed by the void." He clicked his tongue.

On the other side, the Silver Eye also noticed it. "No one can truly escape the void. What a waste."

The two of them did not linger around much longer and disappeared from the plane as well. It was only possible after they sacrificed many of their personal legion. But in the end, they managed to leave.

Back in the celestial court, Aiden appeared along with his father, Golden Trigram. "Father... I..."

"Hmph. Enough already. I am tired of hearing your excuses."

Aiden clenched his fist. He was about to say something when suddenly a jolt of pain erupted from within him.

The next second, his blood turned black and his skin and flesh started rotting.

Golden Trigram’s brow shot up. How could he not recognize what it was. Somebody had planted a venom seed inside his son’s body! He hurriedly tried to neutralize the venom but it was way too powerful.

In the end, he only manage to reduce the potency of it. Aiden shrivelled up as his flesh and skin started healing but underneath it, all of his foundation, his mana channels everything became crippled.

"Father..." He gasped in horror.

Aiden tried to draw mana into his body. The attempt sent him crashing to his knees.

Pain tore through his chest, and a mouthful of black blood splattered across the polished floor. He stared at it, unable to understand what he was seeing. His mana had always answered him. Even when exhausted, even when wounded, he had never felt this emptiness. He tried again.

"Stop." Golden Trigram caught his shoulder. Golden symbols spread from his fingers, sinking beneath Aiden’s skin and holding the damaged channels together.

Aiden barely noticed. His senses were shrinking. The formations woven through the palace walls, the distant presences of the guards, the countless currents of energy flowing through the celestial court, all of them were slipping beyond his reach.

"Fix it," he whispered.

Golden Trigram said nothing.

Aiden looked up. "Father. You can fix it."

"Be quiet."

The sharpness in his voice finally silenced him.

Golden Trigram pressed two fingers against his son’s forehead and sent his divine senses deeper. The venom had spread through channels that should have been protected by treasures he had personally bestowed upon Aiden.

Golden Trigram’s expression darkened. He isolated one venom thread and pulled it from Aiden’s body. It writhed between his fingers. He could instantly tell where it was from. The thing reeked of... corruption.

That corrupted was still alive!

Golden Trigram stared down at his son. He could suppress the venom. He could keep Aiden alive. But cleansing it completely would require care, and restoring what had already been destroyed was another matter entirely.

Aiden saw the hesitation. "No." His fingers closed around his father’s sleeve. "No. Don’t look at me like that. You are a supreme god. There must be something you can do. Find that bastard and kill him. That will remove this venom seed, won’t it?"

Find him and kill him? A newly ascended God who managed to stand his ground against not one but three void creatures? Golden Trigram gave his son one last look and then dusted him off before leaving. "You are not worth the effort. Suffer the consequences of your action." He then left his son and walked away.

Aiden stared at his father’s retreating back. For a moment, he thought he had misheard. Then the doors began closing.

"Father!" He tried to stand. His legs buckled beneath him, and he struck the floor hard enough to split his lip. He barely felt it over the pain crawling through his ruined channels.

Golden Trigram did not turn around. The doors shut.

Aiden remained on his hands and knees, panting. He had seen his father abandon disciples, servants, entire worlds when they ceased to be useful. He had never imagined himself among them.

A laugh escaped him. It broke into a cough, scattering black droplets across the floor.

While he was suffering like this, Damon was still alive.

Somehow, that bastard was still alive, and he was the one who had become an invalid. He clenched his fists as anger and resentment filled him, only to buckle in pain a moment later. He fell on the ground, pounding his fist again and again uselessly.

He was done for. He was utterly and completely defeated.