Doom Slayer

Endless! They never stop coming!

Li Tang felt himself beginning to tire. His frail body grew stronger with every punch thrown, and the time it took for the demons to kill him grew longer, yet the exhaustion did not stem from his flesh, but from his soul.

"0000"

"0001"

"0002"

"0003"

Time here seemed infinite, forever trapped under a blood-red sky and the Crimson Desert. Li Tang used a method of counting seconds to maintain a relative sense of reality.

Every rebirth, every death.

The demons' attacks were not merely physical; they brought corruption and the wicked whispers that eroded the human heart.

Not violent, not swift, not obvious. But constant, omnipresent, wearing down the spirit like water dripping through stone.

The demonic entities were infinite, surging in wave after wave, tirelessly battering the defensive line Li Tang had constructed with his own hands and mind.

Li Tang was exceptionally weary, his body covered in scars, blood streaming down him—some his own, some the demons'.

His left hand had been bitten off by a demon, exposing white bone, while his right hand gripped a demon horn to use as a weapon.

His nerves were strained every waking moment, yet there was always a lapse.

In an imperceptible gap, a mountain of flesh in the shape of a demon grinned, using the cannons embedded in its arms to blast him into slag.

Returning whole once more, the demons lunged again!

"What do you want? What are you trying to gain? What do you want me to prove?" Li Tang's mind shattered. In the cycle of death, his suppressed heart and frayed nerves finally exploded.

He screamed, hysterical, spittle flying.

The Blood-Colored Wasteland offered no reply; the demons grinned, and the whispers in the darkness mocked him, urging him to let go of his exhaustion and rest.

"Go to hell!"

In this moment, Li Tang abandoned his intellect. Instinct replaced thought, and his fists began to greet the demons' entire lineage.

"Coward!!!!!!" A roar shook the heavens! It resounded through the Blood-Colored Wasteland, a primal howl devoid of any thought.

"Trash!!!!!!" He cursed in a violent rage, thrusting his left hand into a demon's screaming maw and tearing out its incessant tongue.

"Weakling!!!!!!" Another curse followed; he kicked a pink, dog-like demon off a mountain of corpses, then snapped off a horn and drove it into its eye socket.

In the operating room on Terra, a chilling, terrifying howl rang out. The roar of hatred felt familiar to the Custodes.

Time passed, no one knew how long, until the roaring and cursing in the Blood-Colored Wasteland ceased.

Still the demons, still that man.

The man had fallen silent, silent to the point of numbness. Instinctively, he swung his fists and feet, destroying the surging demons with every blow.

From silence to numbness, Li Tang vented his violence. Constant slaughter made him strong, but also fragile.

He sank into an eternal rage and bloodlust, becoming no different from the demons, until he was beyond saving.

Finally, the fury ignited him. His soul caught fire, burning into a pile of ash.

Flames rose from his body, and the scent of burning fat filled the operating room.

"He's finished!" The golden-clad Custodes shook their heads in regret, silently dragging over a hose to wash away the ashes from the operating table later.

When he burned to ash, the next trial would involve three hundred subjects simultaneously, sparing no cost to forge three hundred warriors.

"Kill! Kill! Kill to your heart's content! Kill until they are all gone!" The wicked whispers urged him on.

Pain trickled in, his soul began to dissipate, gradually returning to coldness and dead silence.

"What do you want? What are you trying to see?"

Li Tang's last remaining shred of reason asked. He wept, unable to speak, asking the Blood-Colored Wasteland over and over again.

As always, there was nothing, and no one answered.

He gave up, kneeling to the ground in exhaustion. Though he did not want to die, he did not know how to survive in the Blood-Colored Wasteland.

Darkness descended upon him, carrying a bone-deep chill.

At the moment of his passing, Li Tang shivered instinctively, vivid memories flashing before his eyes.

He seemed to see his former self, the biting, frigid winds of the Himalayas surrounding him just like this, moving forward through the bone-chilling gale in the desolate wilderness.

Why move forward?

With a sudden jolt, stimulated by the cold, Li Tang seemed to regain a sliver of clarity in his hazy consciousness.

To live!

To live while drifting between the warlords of Terra, to live while hiding from the chaos of war, to live while walking toward the operating table.

Are you submitting to death now?

"No! No! I'm just too tired!" Li Tang, like a drowning man, struggled in the murky depths of his consciousness, frantically asking and answering himself.

So, you yield to exhaustion?

This time Li Tang did not answer, merely gasping for air before rising bit by bit, staggering as he straightened a spine bent by fatigue.

"Come on! Demons!"

He wheezed, saliva dripping from his mouth. Reborn once more, the slaughter remained endless.

This time, Li Tang had a clear goal: to kill in order to live.

"Huh!" The suspicious sound from a colleague drew the attention of the Custodes; the raging, burning body and the greedily licking flames seemed to subside slightly.

The observational skills of the Custodes could not be wrong; they realized that the young man seemed to have hope yet.

"9998"

"9999"

Li Tang began counting the seconds again; he remembered clearly how many times the numerical cycle had repeated.

As he resumed the count, his consciousness gradually cleared, and the exhaustion in his body began to fade.

Escaping from the brink of death, fighting back against demons with his fists, and treating those incessant, inflammatory whispers as background noise, he now possessed a sliver of realization: at the very least, there is hope in staying alive.

The horrific events continued, and no matter how he maintained his mindset, the endless slaughter still caused despair to well up within him.

Ten years!

Li Tang recited the passage of every year; he had persisted for ten years. His body felt no fatigue, and his consciousness was clear.

He was accompanied by demons, wave after wave, group after group.

He did not yield to exhaustion, nor did he yield to death; he had succeeded. But where was the end?

Twenty years! Li Tang continued to mark the passage of time; his body was strong, capable of going toe-to-toe with demons.

The humanoid demons that once easily killed him in seconds were now troublesome, but posed no significant threat.

Thirty years! Countless times he wanted to give up, to end the endless resistance, to find release from the monotonous cycle of killing and being killed.

One hundred years!

"Hehehe! It doesn't matter! I am still alive! I can still laugh! I can still kill demons!"

One thousand years!

Li Tang fell silent again, day after day, year after year, killing demons every single moment. But he discovered an interesting thing: demons could also feel fear!

His voice, cold and devoid of fluctuation, rang out, sweeping across the Crimson Desert and chilling the demons to the bone: "Come! It is time to pay your debts! I will drink your fear! I will trample your pathetic courage!"

Then Li Tang began to do one thing: tormenting demons, slaughtering them, making them fear him!

Three thousand years!

"Demons~ demons~ where are you hiding? Hide well now~ I'm coming to find you!"

The cold, low voice echoed through the Blood-Colored Wasteland as a tall man walked through the Crimson Sea of Sand, searching for the demons that had gone into hiding.

When no demon could block his power, his torment made them feel pain and fear, until they gradually hid and dared not appear again.

Loneliness! Li Tang felt it clearly; the demons no longer played with him, and only loneliness accompanied him in the Blood-Colored Wasteland.

But this time, he did not yield to loneliness. Instead, he searched bit by bit for the few pleasures that remained, began to think independently, and used the demons to hone himself.

His martial arts gradually grew stronger, returning to the basics, discerning the weaknesses of life, and using absolute efficiency to help the demons find release.

"9999"

Another numerical cycle concluded, and Li Tang awoke on a rock. The demons had dared not approach this place for thousands of years; they only dared to watch and worship from afar.

In truth, Li Tang quite liked playing with the demons; they feared power and worshipped it.

In the span of ten thousand years, Li Tang had grown accustomed to everything here. His consciousness had gone from normal to insane, and from insane back to normal, becoming indestructible through countless cycles.

He even kept a demon's skull by his side, the incessant whispers helping him fall asleep.

He had long since understood the ultimate purpose of this boundless barrier and its trial.

It was tempering eternal resilience, but only an unyielding will was worthy of being forged into true gold!

He did not yield to the slaughter, the exhaustion, the madness, the death, or the cold, ten-thousand-year solitude!

"I have withstood the trial!"

"Boom!" The moment Li Tang, having endured ten thousand years of tempering, spoke his own name, the eternal Blood-Colored Wasteland began to collapse, ultimately entering the rune mark on his chest.

In the outside world, his dying body trembled slightly, and vitality returned!

"How long have I been lying here?"

Li Tang opened his eyes, and upon confirming he had returned to the Terra laboratory, he asked in a voice devoid of fluctuation.

He had thought he would be excited, perhaps even weep with joy, but at this moment he was calm as water, his heart without a ripple.

The superhuman minds of the golden-armored Custodes paused slightly; they did not understand how the man who had been sizzling and dripping oil just moments ago was now standing there without a scratch, asking for the time.

"One Terra week, three hours, seven minutes, and twenty-one seconds." The Custode named Plato spoke, addressing the awakened Li Tang.

The ten-thousand-year trial was so real, filled with pain and despair, yet only a week had passed in reality.

Li Tang sat on the operating table in silence, waiting for the master of the Custodes to arrive.

Just as he had expected, that golden figure appeared once more amidst a flash of brilliant light.

"An incredible miracle!"

Emperor's voice was filled with astonishment as he peered through Li Tang's current state, clicking his tongue in wonder: "Your level of existence has been altered!"

"It has transcended the limits of biological genetic engineering." He circled Li Tang three times, his hand brushing over his broad shoulders and sturdy arms, a sight that made even the Custodes struggle to hide their envy.

Emperor left a truth unspoken: he could no longer sense Li Tang's soul within the Warp, nor could he peer into his memories or thoughts.

His soul was fused with his being, immune to the influence of the Warp. The soul supported the strength of the flesh, and the flesh protected the soul, forming a perfect, closed loop.

"Implant the remaining Gene-seed; I cannot wait to see them!"

"As you command, my liege!"

"No!" Li Tang reminded the Emperor in a low, concise voice: "You do not know the horror of that trial; you will kill them all!"

The moment Li Tang left the trial barrier, a strange connection blossomed in his mind. He sensed the other two hundred and ninety-nine Gene-seed, as well as a star shining across the endless void.

He knew clearly that to create his brothers regardless of the cost, the current population of Terra combined would not be enough.

"Then we shall select them in an orderly fashion."

Emperor compromised with the one who had experienced it firsthand, then looked at his tall, majestic frame: "Custodes, get him a suit of armor first to conceal the specifics of his existence for the time being."

"And notify my personal artisans; I intend to design the armor for the Twenty-First Legion myself."

"The firstborn of the Legion." Emperor turned to face Li Tang, speaking with solemn gravity: "The Twenty-First Legion has a name bestowed by nature! I hope you do not live to disappoint it."

"Doom Slayer!"