Phanes Won the War, but He Was Near Death! Sky Island Was Reduced to Ruins, His Divine Body Cracked Like Shattered Porcelain

"He succeeded."

He spoke slowly. His voice wasn't loud, but it made everyone's heart sink.

"From today onward, every living being on the Teyvat Continent who sets foot in this desert and sees this Heavenly Nail will remember the majesty of the Heavenly Principles. Fear will become the firmest foundation of his rule."

Huo Yuhao's lips had gone pale. With his spiritual power, he could faintly sense that beneath that Giant Nail, the Dragon King called Apep was still conscious.

Conscious, and enduring every second of decay and torment.

"She's still alive..." Huo Yuhao's voice trembled. "She... can feel everything."

The desert's silence seemed to cross the Light Screen and seep into everyone's bones. Huo Yuhao's trembling words—"She... can feel everything"—were like an invisible needle, piercing everyone's heart. To endure eternal torment with a clear mind... What kind of despair must that be?

Just as the oppressive atmosphere reached its breaking point, the scene on the Light Screen changed without warning. The view no longer focused on the Giant Nail that pierced heaven and earth, nor lingered on Apep's body, twisted by pain. It began to rise rapidly, passing over the barren desert and the thin Cloud Layer, climbing higher and higher, as if taking everyone to the abode of the Gods.

"Where are we going?" He Caitou blurted out, breaking the silence.

No one answered. Every eye was fixed on the Light Screen. They saw an island floating high in the sky. It should have been sacred, majestic, and radiant. But what appeared before them now was a... ruin on the verge of collapse.

Yes, a ruin. Sky Island, which should have been the cornerstone of a Divine Kingdom, had dimmed to the point that it barely shone. Its enormous body was covered in sinister, web-like cracks, as if it might shatter completely the next moment and plummet from the heights to the mortal world.

"How could this happen?" Ning Rongrong covered her mouth, disbelief written across her face. "The Victors' Divine Kingdom... Why is it in such a state of ruin?"

"This... This makes no sense!" Dai Hao frowned deeply. As a duke, he couldn't understand what he was seeing. "They won the war, but their own home is about to collapse?"

The color that had just returned to Emperor Xue Ye's face drained away again. Moments ago, he had been despairing at the might of the God of the Heavenly Principles, who could slay any god or Buddha in his path. Yet in the blink of an eye, that God's home had become a crumbling tower. The jarring contrast strained his already fragile nerves once more.

The view on the Light Screen didn't stop. It passed through Sky Island's shattered shield and entered the floating Divine City. At last, it came to rest before a magnificent but lifeless throne. A figure sat upon it. That had to be the Heavenly Principles—the New God who had just nailed the Dragon King to the earth: Phanes.

But when everyone saw his appearance, all their boiling anger, fear, and reverence froze in an instant. In their place came an even more profound shock, one that welled up from the depths of their souls.

The God seated on the throne showed none of the triumphant confidence a victor should have. His body resembled a shattered porcelain vessel that had been hastily pieced back together, covered in vicious cracks. The fissures ran deep, exposing the bone. What seeped from them was no sacred radiance, but an unsettling Abyss Power, steeped in decay and ill omen.

That violent Abyss Power was like a parasite burrowing into bone, constantly eroding the Power of Order at his core. The four pairs of Light Wings that should have blotted out the sky had gone completely dark, hanging limply behind him like withered branches.

His light was fading. He was barely clinging to life. This was no majestic New God. He was a dying deity, grievously wounded and on the verge of falling at any moment!

"He... He..." The Dragon Prince pointed at the figure on the Light Screen, too stunned to form a complete sentence.

The Dragon God's blazing red eyes had been filled with killing intent, but that fury froze in an instant, turning into a cold scrutiny that held a trace of delight. "So that's it... So that's what happened!"

"The Throne War... He won, but paid a price beyond anything we could imagine," Rong Nianbing murmured. At last, he understood why Apep's Storm of Despair had been laced with such a faint but furious curse of resentment. Her enemy had reached the end of his road, too.

Ji Dong and Lie Yan exchanged a glance, both seeing the same shock in each other's eyes. They had faced the Divine Realm's enforcers and knew how powerful a Deity could be. Yet this one, powerful enough to suppress a Dragon King, was himself on the verge of death. Just how brutal had that Throne War been?

"The Abyss's Curse..." God of Death A'Dai's wooden expression, twisted by Apep's suffering, now turned to understanding. "He toys with life and death, yet death and decay have him by the throat. What... exquisite irony."

"A dying God dares to humiliate the King of our Dragon Tribe like this!" The Dragon God roared again, but this time there was a naked killing intent beneath his fury. Their enemy was not invincible. He was weak!

Chang Gongwei, Lei Xiang, and the others exchanged glances. The reversal had come so quickly that they could hardly take it in. "So he nailed that Dragon King there and drained her Life Force in order to... save himself?"

"Not just to save himself." Tian Hen shook his head. The compassion on his face had vanished, replaced by a cold gaze that saw the whole picture. "It was also to intimidate everyone. He had to use the cruelest, bloodiest methods to conceal the fact that he was dying. He needed the entire Teyvat Continent to live in terror of him. That way, no one would dare challenge a... Sky Island on the verge of falling."

"An empty shell..." Ye Yinzhu opened his eyes and spoke softly. "A God who uses fear and brutality to disguise himself as an empty shell."

Zi clung tightly to his arm. Her body no longer trembled. Once the source of fear was revealed as something weak, the fear itself no longer seemed so frightening.

Everyone from the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy fell into a deep silence.

Bei Bei opened his mouth, but no words came out. Xu Sanshi and He Caitou exchanged glances, both wearing expressions of disbelief. Xiao Xiao and Tang Ya let out a long breath, as if a boulder had been lifted from their chests.

Niu Tian and Tai Tan, two men as imposing as iron towers, were stunned as well. Moments ago, they had been shaken by that godlike power of Divine Punishment. Now it turned out the God himself was nearly dead.