A Crumbling Gaia

The golden waters of Tamojin Lake were no longer visible. In their place were dazzling streams of energy and corpses scattered everywhere.

Such scenes were not uncommon in Hell. But today was different. Among the bodies on the ground, aside from the spectators killed by the attacks' shock waves, every one of them was a Seven-Star Demon—top-tier powerhouses capable of dominating entire regions of Hell.

"My god, is that really a Highgod? Are we sure it wasn't an Overgod from the legends who made that move?"

On a mountain a thousand meters from Tamojin Lake, a group of people who had rushed over to watch stood frozen in shock. The sight was almost surreal.

"Those people who were killed... were they all Seven-Star Demons?" A white-haired young man swallowed nervously, wondering if he was dreaming.

"Everyone, should we move farther away?" A trembling voice rang out. The words snapped everyone back to their senses. Without a second thought, they turned and fled, afraid that a stray shock wave might kill them.

A few, however, sent out clones and headed straight toward the battle. If they could record a Floating Projection of this fight and sell it to the Fiend Castle, it would fetch an astronomical price. Losing a clone was a small cost for such a fortune. It was worth the risk.

Inside the Augusta Clan's Metal Lifeform, Montero had somehow crushed the wineglass in his hand. He seemed not to notice, watching in silence, his expression inscrutable.

Montero had seen more than one Paragon High-God, but he had never witnessed one in action. Magnus and Clementine had both been famous for countless years and had no enemies, so they rarely fought. Montero had never been in a position to spar with them or seek their guidance.

He knew that Paragons were invincible, but he had never experienced their power firsthand. Now that he had seen it with his own eyes, he finally understood that feeling of helplessness and despair.

Montero tried to imagine himself in Gaiseresen's place, facing Ren. He realized it would be utterly terrifying. At last, he understood why their ancestor, Augusta, was so deferential to Clementine. A Paragon had every right to command such respect.

Belfield, standing beside Montero, remained motionless as if he were a statue. Just moments ago, the corpses that had fallen from the sky had all been Seven-Star Demons, just like him. He felt as if he had been taken back countless years, to when he was a child watching a Saint Realm powerhouse.

I really was a frog in a well! Belfield thought, unable to believe what he was seeing.

The spectators weren't the only ones struggling to believe what had happened. Gaiseresen and the others, who had faced Ren at close quarters, were even more stunned.

"How is this possible? How is this possible?" Blood still stained the corner of Gaiseresen's mouth. He stared blankly at the scene before him, as if trapped in a dream.

Gaiseresen couldn't understand how things had come to this. Wasn't the other man just an ordinary Asura? How could he be so powerful? The clan's honorary Grand Elder had also fused five Mysteries. Even with all of them together, could nine Asuras really not stand against a single Paragon?

"You... how dare you!"

Gus, the White Tiger Patriarch, had recovered and flown back into the sky. His voice was filled with fury. Just moments earlier, his son—the second elder of the White Tiger Clan—had been killed without the slightest chance to fight back.

Gus's eyes were bloodshot. He had completely lost his reason, forgetting the difference in their strength as he charged at Ren with reckless abandon.

"You never learn."

Ren shook his head slightly and moved his right hand. A green glow spread out, transforming into white ribbons that rapidly expanded and bound Gus, leaving only his head exposed.

"Let me go, you bastard! I'll kill you! You... Mmmph!"

Gus cursed, but after he had spoken just one sentence, a beam of white light covered his mouth. He could no longer make a sound.

"How annoying."

Ren ignored Gus and looked at the two men behind Gaia. A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

He couldn't kill Gus or Gaia. They were children of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns, like Leisjing, the son of the Bauhinia Sovereign. Even the boldest Paragon High-God wouldn't dare kill a Sovereign's child, unless he was prepared to remain in a Material Plane forever.

But Ren had no intention of letting the others go. He had never met Fuerhan, but he knew that the man standing in front of Emmanuel, whom Gaia was shielding, was most likely Fuerhan.

"You two, it's time to die!"

Ren looked at Fuerhan and Emmanuel, especially Emmanuel, who had brought Alfred, the former Prefect of Liang'an, and Conofier, the Azure Dragon Sovereign's emissary, to his door. He was the one who had started all this.

"Mother!" "Grandmother!"

Feeling Ren's icy gaze, Fuerhan and Emmanuel immediately turned to the Grand Elder, their faces full of desperation. They forgot all propriety and called out to her as mother and grandmother.

"You—what are you going to do? You wouldn't dare!" Gaia immediately stepped in front of the two men and warily faced Ren.

Ren found Gaia's words ridiculous. Things had already gone this far, and she was still asking him what he intended to do.

"Go!"

Tia, the Vermilion Bird Patriarch, and Bowen, the Black Tortoise Patriarch, hurried over to the three of them. Gaiseresen followed close behind, dragging his injured body and roaring at Fuerhan.

Without a word, the two men split their clones in two and sent them racing off in four different directions. In turn, Gaiseresen and the others charged at Ren with reckless abandon.

"How dull."

Ren snorted. A layer of transparent ripples appeared around him, and a strange melody rang out.

"Buzz..."

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Translucent sword shadows shot from Ren's eyes. In an instant, they pierced through Gaiseresen and the others, then entered Emmanuel's two clones. Emmanuel died before he could do anything.

"Ah!! You bastard!"

Gaia roared and lunged at Ren, her dragon claw covered in green scales. Her furious attack crashed down on him.

"Pointless!"

Ren shook his head slightly. A white glow appeared around him again, splitting into four tendrils that shot out and wrapped around Gaiseresen and the others.

"Whoosh!"

In the next instant, Ren's figure blurred and then appeared in front of Fuerhan. With a casual wave of his hand, both of Fuerhan's bodies materialized before him.

"Stop!"

Gaia let out a guttural cry. A massive Azure Dragon Shadow appeared behind her, sending a special energy that struck at Ren's soul.

Innate Divine Ability—Dragon Roar!

At the same time, Gaiseresen used the same move. Two enormous Azure Dragons appeared from nowhere, and a surge of heaven-and-earth energy descended upon Ren.

In an instant, everything around Ren seemed to slow. He immediately recognized the power of time. In the Magic Universe, the Laws of Time could not be cultivated. Only the Innate Divine Abilities of a few divine beasts could affect time, and the Azure Dragon's Dragon Roar was one of them.

But only a moment later, Ren's body could move again. He continued forward at undiminished speed. Dragon Roar was powerful, but its effectiveness depended on who wielded it.

After Linley's Soul Mutation, he had been able to banish Magnus with his Innate Divine Ability. That was partly because he had the support of Willpower and a powerful soul, and partly because the Star River beside the Planar Battlefield was next to a spatial rift, so Magnus could be sent tumbling through it with a single kick.

Somewhere else, Linley would have needed to tear open a spatial rift before he could banish Magnus. It would have taken only an instant, but even that brief moment might have been enough for Magnus to escape.

And that was with Linley's level of power. For Sovereign's children like Gaia, their Innate Divine Abilities were formidable in an ordinary Asura battle, but they meant little against a Paragon. The same held true even when Gaia and Gaiseresen attacked together.

"Boom!"

Fuerhan's body crumbled to dust, and his Godhead fell to the ground. At this point, everyone from the Four Divine Beasts Clan had perished, except for the five children of the Four Divine Beasts Sovereigns.