"Lord of the Ming Realm, prepare to face the judgment of the Celestials!"
Arishem's voice was cold, and terrifying killing intent blazed from his enormous eyes.
The leader of the Multi-Universe Celestials had given him an absolute command.
Lu Chen had provoked Eternity's Divine Kingdom and killed a Celestial. Although Dimension Demons were immortal beings who could revive within their dimensions after being killed, he had to be killed at least once to uphold the Celestials' authority!
Lu Chen looked at the giant in scarlet armor before him and sneered. "I've never seen what the Multi-Universe Celestials can do, but I imagine you're no better than those two useless fools."
The two useless fools he referred to were the Celestials from Eternity's Divine Kingdom, one dead and the other wounded.
"Very well. It has been a hundred thousand years since I last encountered someone as arrogant as you in the multiverse."
Arishem raised his hand, and a deep blue gem appeared in his palm.
Far away, the Watcher's pupils contracted. "The Space Stone!"
It was not just the Watcher. Countless gods who had rushed to this single universe to watch the battle were stunned.
The Multi-Universe Celestials had actually brought out the Space Stone to punish Lu Chen, a Dimension Demon.
And judging by its appearance, this seemed to be the original Space Stone, not one of the projections scattered throughout the individual universes.
Hum!
The Space Stone erupted with dazzling blue light. The single universe trembled as a boundless Starry Battlefield opened up.
"Lord of the Ming Realm, do you dare join me on the Starry Battlefield?" Arishem asked coldly.
Lu Chen wasted no words. Five-Element Divine Light erupted from his entire body, and he charged into the Starry Battlefield created by the Space Stone before Arishem could!
The entire single universe was stunned.
This time, he was truly going head-to-head with the pinnacle of the Celestials' combat power!
Boom!
Arishem immediately gave chase, soaring upward like a blazing scarlet sun!
Within the single universe, the watching gods immediately turned their attention to the Starry Battlefield, eagerly anticipating the clash.
"Die!"
Arishem roared, his fist turning into a blazing sun as he brought it crashing down on Lu Chen!
He was utterly aggressive, opening with a killing move intended to destroy Lu Chen outright!
Lu Chen raised his hand and punched, golden divine power surging wildly!
Boom!
A dreadful explosion thundered through the universe. A terrifying torrent of energy swept outward in every direction from the point where they collided!
Countless galaxies were caught in the blast, shattered, and reduced to nothing!
"You're strong."
Battle lust appeared in Arishem's eyes.
After all, they were outside a dimension. Dimension Demons could not unleash their full strength here, and this was one of their major weaknesses.
But in that first exchange, Arishem had clearly sensed Lu Chen's strength.
The Single-Universe-level Peak!
Lu Chen wanted to see where the limits of his human form lay.
He instantly appeared before Arishem. The law of gold manifested over his hand, its terrifying sharpness seemingly capable of cutting through anything, as he slashed down at Arishem's head!
Deep blue light shone from Arishem's palm. Space rippled like water, enveloping his body as he vanished.
Hiss!
Lu Chen's strike, imbued with the law of gold, missed. It cut a massive fissure through the spot where Arishem had stood, and violent spatial turbulence instantly spilled out, tearing apart countless nearby stars!
Boom!
Arishem emerged from the void beside Lu Chen and threw an enormous fist wreathed in scarlet energy!
Yet this punch, powerful enough to blast an entire galaxy apart, suddenly stopped just before it struck Lu Chen.
Arishem could clearly sense that his fist had hit some unknown, transparent object.
Bang!
A white shock wave exploded!
Immediately afterward, Lu Chen lashed out with a vicious roundhouse kick at a speed Arishem could not comprehend!
Boom!
Arishem was sent flying on the spot!
"He's so strong!"
"He actually knocked Arishem back!"
"And he did it with physical strength alone!"
The watching gods were stunned.
In the Dark Dimension, untold billions of light-years away, envy appeared on the face of Dormammu, the Lord of Darkness.
Although he was also a Dimension Demon, he ranked as the weakest among them.
The reason was that he was essentially a fragile mage with an utterly feeble body. In battle, he relied entirely on ranged attacks with demonic flames. Once an enemy closed in, all he could do was take a beating.
Of course, that was only in comparison with other Dimension Demons.
To those below the level of Dimension Demons, Dormammu was still the Lord of Darkness whose very name inspired terror.
"Hmm. As expected of a Celestial. Your body really is tough."
Seeing that Arishem remained completely unharmed after taking his roundhouse kick, Lu Chen offered his own assessment.
"Lord of the Ming Realm!"
Arishem could not believe he had been knocked back. Nothing like this had happened in well over a hundred thousand years!
He had never expected that, after all those years, he would once again be driven back in a direct clash with an opponent at his own level!
Though he was uninjured, it was a devastating blow to his pride.
"If that's all you've got, you won't escape death today," Lu Chen said with a faint smile.
The gods were stunned!
It was already shocking enough that the Lord of the Ming Realm dared to challenge Arishem, the pinnacle of combat power in the multiverse, alone. Yet he actually intended to kill him!
How confident did he have to be in his own strength to make such an audacious declaration?
"Arrogant fool!"
Shocked and furious, Arishem unleashed scarlet, blood-colored light from both hands!
Millions of rays swept outward, forming a raging sea of blood!
Crack, crack, crack!
The void could not withstand the blood sea's pressure and shattered inch by inch!
Arishem raised his hands, then pressed them down, sending the blood sea overhead crashing toward Lu Chen!
With a thought, Lu Chen acted.
Boom!
Amid a terrifying explosion, a fiery red portal manifested.
Lu Chen reached inside and grasped the Fire Punishment Sword.
Clang!
Brilliant, blazing sword light burst forth!
Under the gods' horrified gazes, the blood sea bearing down on Lu Chen was instantly swallowed by the sword light and shattered!
Arishem's pupils contracted. He unleashed dozens of blasts of fist energy in succession, barely managing to destroy the universe-rending sword light.
At this point, Arishem no longer dared underestimate the Lord of the Ming Realm.
He had always thought the Lord of the Ming Realm was just like the other Dimension Demons. They all boasted grand titles such as King of Hell or Lord of Darkness, but in Arishem's hands, they were nothing more than pathetic weaklings.
Yet judging by that last sword strike, his opponent had already demonstrated strength on par with Cyttorak, the Lord of the Crimson Cosmos.
Arishem was not the only one who thought so. The gods who had come from across the multiverse to watch the battle felt the same, including the Dimension Demons.
Dormammu, for instance.
He felt it more keenly than anyone.
Of all the Dimension Demons, he was the weakest.
Just how weak was he?
Within the multiverse, Dormammu could even be restrained by the Infinity Stones!
Apart from the six Primordial Infinity Stones formed from Nemesis, the Infinity Stones of other universes were nothing but a pile of trash to Dimension Demons.
Yet those very Infinity Stones, dismissed as trash by the other Dimension Demons, could restrain Dormammu.
That alone showed just how weak Dormammu was.
Moreover, unlike the other Dimension Demons, he had not been an incarnation of a supreme Ancient God before becoming one. Before taking over the Dark Dimension, he had merely been a fairly accomplished Dark Sorcerer.
In the end, Doctor Strange had used the Time Stone to trap the Dark Dimension in an endless loop, wearing Dormammu down through sheer relentless talk.