The instant the Four-Force Heaven-Suppressing Seal shattered with a thunderous boom, before the scattered points of origin light had even faded, the Chaos Legion came pouring down upon the earth like a flood of black water bursting through a dam.
Dark silhouettes blotted out the sun and moon. An aura of death that annihilated all things shrouded the land, while mountains and earth continued to tremble. Cracked fissures spread across the surface like ugly scars. The glimmer of hope the four had fought desperately to preserve was now utterly gone.
Lin Chen slumped onto the ruined ground. His meridians burned with searing pain, and the light of his Ancient Saiyan Bloodline flickered fitfully. Every breath sent tearing pain through his internal organs. He had just endured the backlash of the four forces and then faced the impact of the Chaos King's origin power. His combat strength had plummeted, and even standing up straight had become exceedingly difficult.
He raised his eyes toward the sky, his gaze piercing layer after layer of churning Chaos fog until it locked onto the enormous shadow suspended at the center of the heavens. The Chaos King had defeated four of this universe's top powerhouses with nothing more than a cross-dimensional phantom. The disparity was so vast that it weighed on the heart and made it hard to breathe.
In midair, Kallen struggled to steady himself, blood continually spilling from the corner of his mouth. The pure Saiyan Battle Qi he had once been so proud of had dimmed to a faint glow. As he looked down at the mountains and forests being dissolved by Chaos Power, grief and helplessness filled his eyes. His homeland, which his people had protected for generations, was being trampled before him. Yet even after exhausting all his strength, he still could not stop the advance of the Outer Realm enemy.
The Golden Full-Power Super Saiyan slowly descended through the clouds, his long golden hair disheveled and his origin energy in turmoil. He had witnessed countless deaths and partings over the long ages, but never before had he so keenly felt how small and insignificant the universe's inhabitants were before the might of a higher dimension. Their plans and schemes over ten thousand years had been in vain. From the very beginning, all their resistance had been under their opponent's control.
Frieza hovered in the void, most of the pale energy around him—the Emperor Energy—drawn in. His usually cold, arrogant face was now clouded with gravity. He had swept across the galaxy, built a vast empire, and believed he commanded the laws of life and death. Yet before the Chaos of the Outer Realm, his power and authority seemed utterly insignificant. As he watched the Chaos Army dive toward them, murderous intent filled Frieza's eyes, but he did not rashly strike again.
A forced attack would only waste their strength. The situation was no longer one they could turn around through sheer brute force.
"Ha ha ha! A bunch of low-dimensional ants actually think they can stop the great cause of Chaos."
The Chaos King's indifferent voice rang across heaven and earth once more. His cold gaze swept over the four, their auras weakened, and held undisguised contempt.
"Ten thousand years of planning, and immeasurable effort spent breaking through the barrier. Today is the day we reap this universe's origin completely. You four exhausted your origins to break the barrier, so you have earned some credit. Surrender obediently, and I may yet leave you a wisp of your souls to merge into the Chaos origin."
There was no room for negotiation in his words. In the Chaos King's eyes, all the life in the universe was already his to claim.
Countless Chaos Minions reached the ground first. Everything in their path turned to nothingness. Buildings crumbled with a roar, mountains and plants dissolved in an instant, and even the energy particles drifting through the air were swallowed by Chaos Power. The surviving human fortifications and the wreckage of starships in the distance turned to ash the moment they touched the black fog, utterly unable to resist.
Bulma trembled in the depths of the forest, instinctively shielding the young Little Goku behind her. She had witnessed the apocalyptic scene with her own eyes, and every support she had relied on had crumbled. Advanced technology, energy weapons, planetary defense systems—all were pitifully fragile before this power that transcended reason and annihilated everything.
Little Goku pressed his lips tightly together, his clear eyes fixed on the countless dark silhouettes overhead. He didn't understand dimensional disparities or conflicts with the Outer Realm. All he saw was the land beneath his feet being destroyed and the people around him in danger. His small fists clenched tight. The Saiyan blood hidden within him stirred faintly, and though he was filled with fear, he never took a single step back.
Wails of grief rang out across the Earth. Earth warriors hidden in various places and surviving alien inhabitants appeared one after another, summoning their courage to resist the Chaos Minions. Fists, energy blasts, and all manner of weapons erupted together, but their attacks left not even a mark on the shadowy Chaos figures. Instead, their power was devoured, and many of the defenders vanished into nothingness in an instant.
The carnage continued to unfold, and despair slowly swallowed the world.
Lin Chen endured the pain in his body and pushed himself up from the ground. His gaze swept across the devastated land. The ancient records passed down by his ancestors said that alien races from beyond the realm had invaded in antiquity, but nothing like these terrifying beings had ever appeared.
What weighed even more heavily on his heart were the several hidden auras he had glimpsed deep within the rift.
The Chaos King was merely the vanguard commander, and the Chaos Legion was only the blade that cleared the way. The seven ancient, imposing supreme auras hidden beyond the dimensional barrier were the true deadly blades hanging over everyone's heads. They watched silently from across the void, coldly observing the Chaos slaughtering this universe, like hunters waiting for their prey to exhaust its last reserves of strength.
Once the Earth fell completely and the entire universe lost the ability to resist, those terrifying hidden beings would surely appear one after another. Then, all that awaited the people of this universe would be total annihilation.
They couldn't just sit and wait to die.
No matter how great the disparity in strength, no matter how hopeless the road ahead, they had to hold the final line.
"Everyone, focus on recovering from your injuries for now. Don't face the Chaos Army alone," Lin Chen said gravely. His voice cut through the din of rushing air and reached the other three. "Chaos Power counters every form of energy in this universe. Fighting alone will only drain us. We must regroup and find a way to turn this around."
Hearing this, Kallen suppressed his grief and forced down the churning blood energy within him, slowly gathering his disordered battle qi. He knew Lin Chen was right. Fighting recklessly was pointless; it would only waste their strength and extinguish any chance of turning the tables.
The Golden Super Saiyan nodded slightly, his gaze steady as he looked toward the rift in the heavens. "They wield the power of dimensions, so conventional tactics are useless. And with unknown powerhouses from the Outer Realm watching us, the situation is far more dangerous than we imagined."
Frieza snorted, his crimson eyes sweeping over the Chaos shadows charging in every direction. His voice was icy. "No outsider gets to trample my territory at will. No matter how powerful they are, they won't devour my domain without a fight."
The four cast aside their past differences. With a formidable enemy before them, the fate of the entire universe bound them together. Former rivals who had once kept each other in check were now the only companions who could stand side by side against the enemy.
The Chaos King noticed their movements. His hollow eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke. "You're merely struggling in your death throes. I would like to see what kind of storm you can raise without the power of the four forces combined."
As his words fell, several Chaos Generals far larger than the ordinary minions stepped out of the black fog in the heavens. These generals were powerfully built, their bodies wreathed in dense black energy. The pressure they gave off was already on par with that of the universe's top fighters. The moment they appeared, they swooped toward the four with a ferocious momentum.
The three leading Chaos Generals gave off powerful auras and locked onto Lin Chen and the others. Their black claws tore through the air, crashing down with a gale that could annihilate everything.
"Fight separately, and cover one another!"
Lin Chen barked, pushing his remaining Ancient Saiyan Bloodline to the limit. Ancient golden flames surged around him once more. Though gravely wounded, he could only grit his teeth and fight with all his strength.
He shot into the air, charging straight at one of the Chaos Generals. His palm, wrapped in the weighty power of his origin, slammed into its black claws.
Boom!
The collision erupted with a deafening crash, and a terrifying shock wave swept in every direction. Lin Chen's body was hurled back several yards, his arm numb. Chaos Power seeped into him through the point of contact, but he used his bloodline origin to hold it back with all his might.
This Chaos General was powerful, far beyond the ordinary shadows they had encountered before.
On the other side, Kallen's purple battle qi surged. Abandoning flashy techniques, he engaged the Chaos General in close combat using the Saiyan Clan's most ferocious fighting style. Their fists and legs crossed, thunderous booms erupting as purple and black energy clashed and canceled each other out. Every exchange made the void tremble.
Golden light flowed around the Golden Super Saiyan. His complete Super Saiyan Origin formed layer upon layer of protection as he conjured sharp blades of energy to counter the incoming attacks. His combat experience was immense; he advanced and retreated with calm precision, constantly seeking his opponent's weaknesses and tying up the enemy's strength.
Pale energy suddenly erupted around Frieza. The Emperor's power was domineering and fierce, and every attack was a killing blow. He unleashed every deadly technique honed while conquering the galaxy, bombarding the Chaos General with bone-chilling energy and forcing his opponent back again and again.
Each of the four engaged a Chaos General. For a time, the sky blazed with battle, and the light of exploding energy flashed one burst after another.
But the Chaos Army continued to grow, its numbers pouring forth without end. More and more shadows emerged from the rift and scattered to every corner of the Earth, wreaking destruction across an ever-wider area. The land collapsed, the seas dried up, and spiritual energy vanished. In a short time, this thriving planet had become a battered ruin.
Watching the four struggle more and more with every exchange, Bulma grew frantic. She rapidly worked through the principles of energy and the structure of the dimensional barrier in her mind, trying to find a way to counter Chaos Power through science. But no matter how she calculated, she couldn't find the slightest opening. These two powers belonged to entirely different levels; there was no law by which one could restrain the other.
Seeing the fierce battle in the sky, Little Goku was frantic. He unconsciously took a step forward, wanting to help, but Bulma grabbed him and held him back. At his current strength, rushing in would not help; he would only plunge into mortal danger.
After a brief but fierce battle, Lin Chen's aura grew increasingly unsteady. His wounded body could not sustain a high-intensity fight for long. The Chaos General across from him grew more and more ferocious, its black attacks pressing in wave after wave. The power of annihilation kept bearing down on him, gradually forcing him onto the defensive.
If this continues, I'll run out of strength and lose. Lin Chen thought to himself, his eyes unconsciously turning toward the depths of the dimensional barrier once more.
Those seven ancient auras remained motionless, still watching from the sidelines, as if this catastrophe were merely a show put on for their amusement. The Chaos King was a pawn sent out first, doing everything he could to weaken this universe's fighting force. Once the situation was fully under control, the hidden powerhouses from the Outer Realm would all make their appearance.
Suddenly, fragments of the ancestral teachings flashed through Lin Chen's mind.
The information left behind by an ancient remnant soul had once mentioned that the origins of universes were interconnected and that dimensional barriers were not unbreakable. Since forces from beyond the realm could invade across dimensions, the origin power of this universe should, in theory, also be able to reach into the void in the opposite direction. The fact that the four forces combined had briefly suppressed the rift was proof enough.
The four of them were now weakened and could no longer form the Heaven-Suppressing Seal. Yet the Earth, the entire star domain, contained the life origins of countless billions of living beings. If they could gather the scattered power of all life in the world, perhaps they could shake the Chaos forces before them.
But the method was extremely dangerous. Forcibly extracting the life origins of living beings might cause widespread deaths at the slightest mistake. And whether it could stand against Chaos Power remained unknown.
Just as Lin Chen was considering how to turn the tide, the Chaos King in the heavens lost patience.
Watching as the four continued to hold out, the enormous black shadow wavered slightly. An even more immense and oppressive force came crashing down from all directions.
"You've wasted too much of my time. Since you refuse to surrender, I'll crush you completely."
The Chaos King stopped watching the battle and slowly drew on his own origin power. Boundless black energy gathered in the void, gradually taking shape as an enormous black spear that spanned a thousand miles. Laws of Chaos from beyond the realm coiled around the spear. Its mere aura twisted and collapsed the surrounding space.
A terrifying sense of being targeted locked firmly onto the four. Their hair stood on end, and the threat of death pressed straight against their hearts.
"Careful! This attack is far stronger than anything before!" the Golden Super Saiyan warned sharply, immediately disengaging and flying toward the other three.
Kallen and Frieza immediately broke away from their opponents as well. The four quickly gathered together, their remaining strength instinctively drawing close as they prepared to withstand this deadly attack.
The enormous Chaos spear slowly rose. In the next instant, it would come crashing down and erase the four completely.
But just as the spear was about to swing, the seven hidden supreme auras deep within the dimensional barrier, which had remained silent and still until then, suddenly stirred.
An ancient, boundless, invisible will swept over the Chaos King's form. It seemed like a warning, or perhaps an attempt to stop him.
The black spear, poised to fall, suddenly froze. The Chaos King's movements were forcibly halted in midair.
Everyone beneath the heavens sensed the strange turn of events. The sounds of battle died away, and for a brief moment, the entire scene fell silent.
Lin Chen's pupils contracted sharply as he stared into the depths of the barrier.
Why had the powerhouses from the Outer Realm, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly intervened? Did they not want the Chaos King to kill the four just yet because they had other plans, or did they fear some unknown trump card this universe still held?
The Chaos King's body stiffened slightly. A hint of displeasure showed in his hollow eyes, but he did not defy that will. The enormous spear slowly dispersed, and the immense pressure of his origin power eased somewhat.
"So be it."
His indifferent voice echoed across heaven and earth. The Chaos King's gaze returned to the four, who were in a wretched state below, and his tone held an inscrutable meaning.
"I'll spare your lives for now. The game has yet to reach its end. It would be far less interesting if it ended too soon."
As his words fell, the Chaos Legion's assault abruptly slowed. They no longer pressed forward to slaughter them relentlessly, instead holding the rift in the heavens and sealing off every escape route from the world.
The crisis had eased for the moment, but no one felt the slightest relief.
Lin Chen's heart felt heavy. He sensed that an even greater conspiracy was brewing in the shadows. The Chaos King had been forced to stop, and the powerhouses from beyond the realm had secretly interfered. Though they had seemingly been spared for now, they—and the entire universe—had already fallen into an even vaster web that ensnared countless forces from beyond the realm.
No one knew what those ancient beings hidden beyond the barrier were plotting. This catastrophe, involving countless dimensions, was only just beginning. The true contest had quietly begun, and the many deadly threats lurking in the darkness were waiting for them to step into the unknown peril, one by one.
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