Beyond and Beginning

"At last, it's over!" The enormous image of Hera's Wheel gradually vanished. Having successfully swallowed Chen Rui into himself, Shura was certain of victory and burst into wild laughter. "I told you from the start—the final victor would be me!"

No sooner had he spoken than the temperature around Shura began to plummet. An icy aura spread outward, and vast swathes of space froze over once more.

"The Winter Domain again? Pitiful Four Seasons Domain—its only offensive domain is built upon the framework of destructive power," Shura said disdainfully. "No matter how strong your power or will may be, before the ocean-like vastness of the origin of destruction, you are nothing but a tiny stream. Not worth mentioning at all!"

Sure enough, as Shura shifted his power, the effects of the Winter Domain gradually faded. Yet before long, his body stiffened again as the Winter Domain reappeared.

Shura snorted coldly. "Still refusing to give up? I told you it's useless. No matter how many times you try, the result will be the same!"

This repeated several times. With each occurrence, the power of the Winter Domain seemed to grow stronger. A glint of chill light spilled from Shura's blood-red eyes. "Trying to survive by putting yourself to death first? What a pity. No matter how desperately you struggle, it's futile. You are already the loser!"

Shura's figure flickered, and he appeared within the nebula formed by the earlier "supernova" explosion.

To be precise, this had merely been the explosion of an "artificial star." Yet it was not much different from a true supernova explosion. Expanding gas and dust formed a dazzling nebula, while the star's outer matter had been blasted outward by the tremendous force of the eruption, leaving behind only an exceedingly dense core.

The entire nebula was filled