Myriad Rivers to the Sea

While the Demonic Alliance licked their severe wounds in the temporary camp, another area of the ruined human domain remained a slaughterhouse.

Sovereign ThorneLi Yu and Garrick had not stopped moving. They were cutting a bloody swathe through the endless swarms of the Hive Empire. Their highly aggressive tactics were originally meant to thin the herds on the edges of the battlefield but their relentless forward momentum was slowly pushing them closer and closer to the towering dimensional rift.

They were starting to draw the attention of the more powerful forces of the foreign invaders.

Thorne continued to move like a broken shadow but was slower than when we started. It was clear that his wounds and the constant battles were taking a toll on him even though he didn’t fight like it did. His breathing was incredibly ragged and his steps were completely uneven but his sword never stopped swinging.

He manipulated the dark shadows of the ruined valleys, turning them into razor sharp traps that bisected the charging demons and scythe armed monstrosities. He was covered from head to toe in dark blood and his own life force was draining with every passing minute.

Li Yu continued to cover the old man on his suicidal charge. He stayed strictly on the edges of the chaotic melee and ensured Thorne was never completely surrounded. A dense wave of heavily armored insectoid demons rushed over a nearby ridge and was charging directly toward Li Yu with their jagged mandibles clicking wildly.

Li Yu planted his feet firmly into the grey ash and gripped Star Crusher with both hands. He channeled his heavy Void Qi and integrated it into his staff.

"Third Form." Li Yu muttered, his eyes narrowing with focus. "The Comets Kiss."

He stepped forward and executed a devastating forward thrust with his staff. The concentrated power and speed of the strike instantly tore the air apart. A massive vacuum tunnel erupted from the tip of Star Crusher and was shooting forward like a localized hurricane.

The suction force caught the entire wave of charging demons, dragging them violently into the center of the vacuum tunnel where the crushing pressure instantly pulverized their thick carapaces into dust.

Garrick was growing a bit more impressed with Li Yu’s fighting capabilities. Li Yu was showing mostly brutish attacks so it fit Garrick’s style quite well. He was having a great time unleashing his pent up frustrations on the ugly bugs.

However, the slaughter came to a sudden and chilling halt.

The air above the ruined valley violently distorted. The screeching insect swarms instantly stopped their charge and backed away. They formed a wide circle around the three fighters. The Hive demons bowed their grotesque heads in reverence.

A figure slowly descended from the distortion. It was Lucien. Having just completely dismantled the Demonic Alliance vanguard, the mutated traitor had sensed a disturbance here. He came to personally eliminate the annoying variable.

Lucien looked down at the three fighters. His black eyes bypassed Li Yu and Garrick completely and locked directly onto the blood soaked old man.

"You look absolutely pathetic, Master." Lucien spoke. His voice echoed with a strange and terrifying buzzing distortion. "You are bleeding out in the dirt fighting and a war that was lost the moment I finished my plans. You should have joined me."

Thorne froze at the sight of his disciple. His insane eyes locked onto his former elder disciple. The man he had raised from childhood. The man he had trusted to protect the future of humanity.

A sound escaped Thorne that did not sound human at all. It was a raw, guttural roar of pure heartbreak and blinding rage.

Thorne launched himself off the ground and left a small crater in the ash. He channeled his Qi into his broken sword. The blade became a solid construct of dense metal and shadow. He swung the weapon directly at Lucien's neck, intending to sever the traitor's head in a single strike.

Lucien smiled.

He did not dodge. He casually raised his chitin covered arm and blocked the devastating strike with his bare forearm. The jagged shadow sword sparked violently against the alien armor but it could not leave a single scratch on the dark plating.

Thorne was already exhausted and heavily injured. He was completely running on empty. Lucien on the other hand, was perfectly fresh and possessed a physical strength and treasures that had just easily overwhelmed multiple Demon Lords. The power gap between them was incredibly vast.

Lucien flicked his wrist and casually backhanded the old man.

The heavy blow struck Thorne directly in the chest, shattering several of his remaining intact ribs. Thorne was blasted backward and crashed violently into the rocky ground. He tumbled through the ash. He tried to force himself back up to his feet but his broken body finally reached its limit. He was coughing up a massive puddle of dark blood.

"You were always far too weak to do what was necessary." Lucien mocked while hovering forward. He raised his hand and materialized a long spear forged entirely from dark, demonic energy and toxic purple chitin. "I will end your miserable suffering now. May you have a better life next time."

Lucien lunged forward and thrusted the demonic spear directly at Thorne's heart.

Before the lethal tip could pierce the old man, a shadow eclipsed the sun. A hand covered in a faint metallic sheen reached out and grabbed the shaft of the demonic spear. The kinetic force of the gro[ generated a shockwave that blew the surrounding ash away in a massive circle.

Garrick stood firmly between Lucien and the broken Sovereign. He held the vibrating spear perfectly still with his bare hand and had completely halted the traitor's attack.

Lucien narrowed his black eyes in genuine surprise. He had just ripped the arm off a Demon Lord without using Qi. He knew exactly how much physical strength he possessed. For a random brute to stop his spear so casually was completely impossible.

"Run away you mindless beast." Lucien commanded, his buzzing voice filled with authority. "This does not concern you. This is between a disciple and his master. Leave before I tear you apart."

Garrick threw his head back and let out a booming booming laugh. He released the spear and cracked his thick knuckles.

"You are such a colossal fool," Garrick mocked while pointing a finger at the hovering traitor. "You sold out your entire race and murdered billions of people just to follow some foreign demonic bugs? And what exactly did you get for it? Is this ugly appearance and this borrowed strength the grand reward for all your troubles? You look like a squashed cockroach!"

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The insult hit Lucien right in his inflated ego. He was incredibly proud of his new evolutionary fusion. He snarled, revealing a mouth full of sharp jagged teeth.

"I am the apex of this realm!" Lucien roared.

He dropped the spear and launched a devastating flurry of close-quarters strikes against the Great Sage. He threw punches and kicks that were aiming to completely shatter Garrick's metallic skin.

Garrick met the assault with eager joy. The two massive figures blurred into a chaotic storm of heavy impacts. The sound of their fists colliding echoed like massive iron bells ringing across the dead valley.

Lucien fully expected to turn the brute into a bloody pulp within seconds. But to his shock he simply could not get the upper hand. Garrick was absorbing the heavy blows without flinching and returning strikes that rattled Lucien's internal organs. Garrick was actually beating him back and pushing the mutated traitor further and further away from Thorne.

As they fought Garrick felt something incredible happening deep within his foundation.

The golden seal binding his soul to Li Yu was dictated by an absolute rule. Garrick could only be as strong as the top power level of the current realm he inhabited. For the past few months that ceiling was firmly established at the standard Demon Lord level.

But Lucien had just completely changed the rules.

Lucien was fused with a high tier entity from the Hive Empire. His presence and his raw combat output were currently exceeding what was naturally here in this realm. Because Lucien was standing on this battlefield and radiating that foreign power the functional power ceiling of the realm was artificially raised.

The golden seal instantly registered this new higher limit of cultivation.

Garrick smiled a very wide and very dangerous smile as he felt the heavy restrictive chains around his soul suddenly loosen. The seal actively granted him access to a bit more of his original cultivation to match the strongest entity currently present. His physical strength increased. His metallic skin thickened and his aura exploded with the terrifying pressure of a true beast.

"Thank you for powering me up you ugly bug!" Garrick laughed out loud. He was roaring with delight as his fists moved even faster.

While Garrick was joyfully pummeling the traitor, the surrounding space distorted once more. Two new Demon Lord level commanders from the Hive Empire appeared. They saw Lucien struggling against the massive brute and immediately moved to intervene.

One of the commanders, a towering insect with massive scythe arms charged directly toward Garrick. The other commander locked its glowing red eyes on the young human standing near the edges of the battlefield and was still fighting with the weaker troops. It let out a violent screech and charged straight at Li Yu. It was moving at terrifying speeds.

Garrick saw the second commander rushing toward Li Yu. The joyful thrill of combat instantly vanished. It was entirely replaced by panic. Garrick did not know the extent of Li Yu's abilities. He did not know that Li Yu possessed incredible evasive skills. All Garrick knew was the terrifying condition of his soul contract. If the boy died he died instantly.

Garrick completely stopped playing around. His eyes widened in terror. In fear for his own life.

"Don’t you dare touch him!" Garrick screamed as loudly as he could, his voice cracking with panic.

He tried to leap across the valley to intercept the charging commander but Lucien immediately stepped into his path and was blocking his exit.

"You are not going anywhere." Lucien buzzed and was preparing to launch another heavy strike.

"Get out of my way you damn insect!" Garrick roared with fury.

Garrick pulled out his weapon. Garrick gripped the handle with both hands and channeled his new strength into the heavy metal. He swung the mace horizontally with everything he had.

Lucien raised his chitin-covered arms to block the strike, fully expecting his mutated armor to deflect the blunt weapon just like it had deflected Morven's trident. He was completely wrong.

The mace struck Lucien's midsection with the force he had never known. The kinetic impact completely ignored the chitinous plates. The heavy blunted spikes caught the alien armor and violently tore right through it.

With a sickening crunch the mace completely obliterated Lucien's right arm. It continued its devastating trajectory, completely pulverizing his stomach and entirely destroying his lower body. Flesh bone and dark chitin were instantly vaporized into a fine bloody mist.

Lucien was violently thrown backward and smashed heavily in the grey ash. He was completely stunned and was staring down in absolute disbelief. He was left with nothing but his left arm, his chest and his head. The grand apex of the realm had been completely mutilated in a single swing.

Garrick did not even pause to look at his handiwork. The moment Lucien was out of the way, the Great Sage bent his knees and launched himself across the valley like a fired cannonball.

Li Yu was calm and watching the massive scythe armed Demon Lord charging toward him. He had already gathered his Qi and was preparing to step into the second layer of the void and allow the monster to crash harmlessly into the empty dirt.

Before Li Yu could even activate the technique, Garrick crashed into the ground directly in front of him.

The Great Sage was breathing heavily and his eyes were lit up with fury.

‘This bastard was coming to kill me, in a way.’ Garrick thought.

Without a single word, Garrick swung his spiked mace upward in a brutal uppercut. The weapon struck the charging Demon Lord directly under its mandibles.

The impact was so completely overwhelming that the massive insectoid commander did not even have time to screech. Its entire body was violently compressed by the kinetic force and instantly exploding into a shower of green blood and shattered chitin. Garrick smashed the Demon Lord into a fine mist.

Garrick dropped his mace and turned around. He quickly grabbed Li Yu by the shoulders and was checking him over frantically.

"Are you hurt?!" Garrick yelled in panic. "Did that bug touch you?! You have to stay behind me kid! If you die, I die!"

Li Yu was surprised by the sudden display of overwhelming force and panic. He looked past Garrick and saw the completely mutilated body of the supreme traitor bleeding out in the ash. He realized just how terrifying the Great Sage actually was.

‘So he wasn’t just all talk back then. He is quite handy after all…’ Li Yu thought to himself before quickly returning to the present.

"I am perfectly fine, Garrick" Li Yu said calmly while pulling himself free from the massive hands. "I was getting ready to dodge it. But thank you for coming to my aid. That was an incredible swing."

While Garrick was busy frantically checking Li Yu, the remaining Demon Lord commander realized the battle was completely lost. It rushed over to the mutilated remains of Lucien and scooped up the traitor's torso. It immediately retreated, tearing a hole in the space and vanishing back toward the central rift.

Li Yu looked over at Sovereign Thorne. The old man had passed out but was still breathing and alive. His broken sword was resting loosely in his hand.

"We need to go," Li Yu instructed. "Grab the Sovereign. We are retreating to let him rest. He has done more than enough."

Garrick nodded eagerly. He was now incredibly anxious to get Li Yu as far away from the dangerous battlefield as possible. Garrick made a mental note to himself to be even more careful in the future.

He carefully scooped the unconscious Thorne over his broad shoulder and launched into the sky. They were flying rapidly toward the safest edge of the ruined domain.

Hours later, the Demonic Alliance Vanguard was back in action.

The medical tents had stabilized the worst of the injuries and the remaining Demon Lords rallied their troops for a second desperate push toward the rift. They knew they could not afford to sit still and wait for the leader to cross over completely.

The massive army marched forward once again. Sovereign Morven and Seraphis the Snake King remained safely in the rear. They were far too wounded to participate in front line combat but their presence kept the morale of the troops steady.

They pushed forward and were destroying endless swarms of lower tier demons and slowly reclaiming the land they had earlier given up. However a deep sense of confusion began to spread through the leadership.

Ignis stood on a raised plateau launching fireballs into the distance while constantly scanning the dark sky. She was entirely braced for another apocalyptic encounter. She fully expected the mutated traitor to descend from the clouds and unleash another devastating artifact to shatter their lines.

But Lucien never showed up.

The unstoppable betrayer who had casually ripped off Rathor's arm and swatted Morven away like a fly was nowhere to be seen. The Demon Lords continued their bloody march but were deeply confused by the sudden absence of the enemy's greatest weapon. They were completely unaware that he was currently missing half of his body.