What Made Her Become Like This Was You

Phantylia confronted Bai Sheng and the other two. Even with only one arm left, she could still withstand their attacks.

Powerful Path Energy poured out as if it were free, and the entire battlefield was already covered in solid ice.

The three of them defended against Phantylia's attacks while looking for opportunities to counterattack. Among them, even Bai Sheng, the strongest, struggled to fend off the ice spikes that could suddenly emerge from anywhere at any moment.

"Aatrox!"

Bai Sheng no longer intended to hold back. If the battle continued, it would affect the civilians who had been evacuated into the distance.

He did indeed have a grudge against the emperor, but Bai Sheng felt no hatred toward those people. On the contrary, if not for the people of this country, Bai Sheng would not even have been willing to enter the battlefield.

Aatrox understood what Bai Sheng meant. His entire body slowly dissipated, transforming into black-and-red motes of light that returned to Pandora.

As the motes of light returned, Pandora's Scythe Blade began to change. The entire blade grew larger, becoming sharper and more ferocious.

The black-and-red color scheme radiated an arrogance that was difficult to suppress. This time, it was not only Pandora who changed—Bai Sheng himself began to transform as well.

"World Ender, activate!"

The aura of the [Destruction] Path that he had constructed earlier was torn apart by this brand-new [Destruction] power, then fed back into Bai Sheng.

Black plates of armor began growing across Bai Sheng's body. Two enormous, savage horns like Aatrox's sprouted from his head, except that his horns grew upward. His height suddenly shot up to two meters. His eyes remained golden, but they now held a far more obvious aura of brutality.

"Come on! Even if you're an Emanator, I'll still kill you! Beleria, go hide somewhere nearby!"

Bai Sheng felt the power surging through him. Unlike the simple and crude way he had constructed a Path before, this fusion allowed him to feel that his [Path] had seemingly shifted from [Harmony] to [Destruction].

Furthermore, the quality of his Path Energy had undergone a tremendous improvement. Though it was only temporary, it had already become nearly equal to Phantylia's in quality.

Beleria had wanted to help, but Bai Sheng's shout made her obediently find some ruins far from the battlefield and recover her strength there.

Bai Sheng had already sensed it moments ago: the [Abundance] energy within Beleria was vanishing at an astonishing speed. This was the terrifying cost of Beleria's presence on the battlefield! That was the power of [Abundance]. Although she only possessed the amount available to a single [Abundance] Pathwalker, it was still equivalent to the vitality of hundreds, or even thousands, of people.

Beleria was mainly diverting energy to heal the wounds on her body. She had no choice. Unlike Aatrox, she could not charge fearlessly into the front line. He had a puppet body that could even repair itself automatically if damaged, but she could not do the same. Her flesh-and-blood body simply could not withstand such violent attacks.

The wounds on her body were quickly healed by Beleria. Only then could she avoid wasting the opportunities Aatrox created for her while charging forward with his body pierced by ice spikes.

It could be said that if not for that mass of flesh, Beleria would have lost control and gone berserk long ago.

After settling Beleria somewhere safe, Bai Sheng turned back toward Phantylia. She, in turn, looked at him calmly. What Bai Sheng failed to notice, however, was a faint strand of cyan firelight flickering indistinctly behind Beleria.

"What is this power? It actually allowed that boy to obtain the power of the Darkin?"

Phantylia muttered to herself, then continued releasing ice spikes, attempting to keep him here.

Unexpectedly, Bai Sheng did not struggle to block them as he had before. When the ice spikes collided with Pandora, they were like eggs striking a rock, crumbling into powder.

Bai Sheng swung Pandora with immense force again and again. Gradually, Phantylia's ice spikes could no longer suppress him. Instead, Bai Sheng found an opportunity to pin her to a huge boulder with a single sweep of the Scythe Blade.

Bright red blood flowed out, but Phantylia did not care. Instead, she grabbed Pandora, and a layer of frost gradually formed over the black-and-red Scythe Blade.

"Heh heh, you don't really think you've won, do you?"

As she spoke, Phantylia's body suddenly swelled, and Path Energy poured out as if it were free.

"Not good! She's going to self-destruct!"

Bai Sheng was startled. Borrowing the power provided by "World Ender," he yanked Pandora free, then flapped his wings and retreated from Phantylia.

"Boom!"

Phantylia's physical body had exploded, but Phantylia herself was nowhere to be seen.

Bai Sheng knew that an Emanator of [Destruction] could not possibly die so easily. He tightened his grip on Pandora once more and warily watched his surroundings.

However, aside from the chill emanating from the solid ice, there was no other presence at the scene.

"Sister Pandora, do you know where that Emanator went?"

Pandora responded, sending purple energy radiating in all directions. The result, however, was still nothing.

"Looks like she escaped."

Pandora's voice echoed in Bai Sheng's mind.

Bai Sheng sighed in relief and exited World Ender mode. At that moment, he was exhausted to the extreme. Almost none of the Path Energy in his body remained, and his physical strength had long since been drained. Though he felt that things would not end so easily, for now, it seemed to be over.

Bai Sheng put Pandora away and walked toward Beleria. After checking her condition, he saw her hanging her head, the little white tufts that usually stuck up now drooping listlessly. He could not see the expression on her face. Just as he was about to poke her shoulder and ask what was wrong, Pandora's voice suddenly rang out in his mind:

"Bai Sheng! Stay away from her! Protect yourself!"

Hearing this, Bai Sheng did not hesitate. Firefly Alpha instantly covered his body. Back on the Scorched Earth Battlefield, Pandora had warned Bai Sheng of impending danger more than once.

Because of that ingrained vigilance, Bai Sheng protected himself immediately.

Sure enough, the moment Firefly Alpha covered his entire body, Beleria's attack, accompanied by sharp shackles, struck Bai Sheng in the chest.

"Ugh..."

Although Firefly Alpha had not finished repairing itself, it still absorbed most of the force for him.

Even while bracing himself with Pandora, Bai Sheng was forced far backward.

"Beleria! What's wrong with you?"

Bai Sheng could feel that Beleria's condition was abnormal. Beleria was usually lively, but now she was gloomy to the extreme. It even felt as though she had lost all emotion.

"Kid, when facing a companion, can you really bring yourself to fight back?"

Suddenly, Phantylia's voice came from Beleria's mouth, shocking Bai Sheng.

"Phantylia!"

Bai Sheng was furious. Looking at Beleria attacking him, he still could not bring himself to strike her hard, leaving him no choice but to defend passively. Beleria had even assumed the ferocious appearance she wore in her hungry state.

"It's all thanks to the attacks you kept launching without regard for the cost. That little girl actually dared to consume my [Abundance] offering. She certainly has guts. The reason she became like this was you."

Phantylia's voice struck Bai Sheng's heart like muffled thunder. While he was distracted for a moment, Beleria pounced and knocked him to the ground. In her hungry state, Beleria opened her mouth, filled with sharp fangs, and bit toward Bai Sheng's throat...