"Well? Impressive, right?"
"Impressive! So impressive!" Akame threw herself into Lin Ran's arms in excitement and offered him a kiss.
Sheele stared at the two of them with a plaintive gaze. Lin Ran gave her pert bottom an exasperated slap, and her pretty face instantly flushed red.
When the Western Empire learned how powerful the Teigu wielder sent by the Eastern Empire was, panic spread, with everyone afraid Lin Ran would cut them all down with a single stroke.
That night, Lin Ran held Akame's soft, delicate body and was just about to sleep. Tonight was a ceasefire! Fighting on the front lines every day was getting to be more than he could take.
He had barely closed his eyes when he suddenly frowned, hurried out of the tent, and looked up at the sky. A purple tide of anomalous energy swept down from the sky, blotting out the heavens as it surged toward the ground. Lin Ran turned his gaze toward the distant town, where the anomalous energy was particularly dense.
"System, what's going on?"
[I'm not sure. It should be the Source of the Anomaly's doing, but sending down so much of its origin power this time must have cost it quite a lot. Perhaps we can seize this opportunity to eliminate it completely.]
Lin Ran nodded thoughtfully. Akame and Sheele also came to his side.
"Is that the anomalous energy on the Danger Beasts?" Akame had noticed the abnormality too and asked in some surprise.
"Yes. We'll go to that town tomorrow and see what happened."
Lin Ran slept with Akame in his arms that night. The next morning, he was somewhat surprised to find that the anomalous energy filling the air had vanished without a trace. He eagerly took the girls to the distant town to see just what had happened.
Even from far away, Lin Ran noticed something was wrong. There was no one outside the town. He leaped onto the wall and looked inside, finding the streets packed with members of the foreign tribes.
At that moment, the tribesman closest to Lin Ran charged toward him, eyes gleaming like a thug who had spotted a peerless beauty. Indeed, all these tribespeople had purple light shining in their eyes, making them look utterly sinister.
They were also exceptionally fast. Some even ran on all fours like wild beasts. Lin Ran jumped to the ground and beheaded two tribespeople with one stroke.
To Lin Ran's surprise, even having their heads cut off did not rob these tribespeople of their ability to fight. Their headless bodies continued clawing toward him.
Lin Ran frowned slightly. His devouring power erupted, consuming all the anomalous energy within them. Only then did the tribespeople finally die.
The fighting here drew more tribespeople to attack. After some experimentation, Lin Ran discovered two ways to kill these tribespeople infected by anomalous energy. The first was to consume all the anomalous energy within them with his devouring power. The second was to grind their bones to dust and scatter their ashes. For instance, many of Divine Abyss's ultimate techniques simply vaporized the tribespeople, which counted as physically annihilating them.
What Lin Ran did not know was that the will of the Source of the Anomaly had already possessed the ruler of the Western Empire. After Lin Ran killed his subjects, he had detected Lin Ran's location. However, he did not act rashly. Under the command of his will, all the tribespeople began quietly gathering.
Yes, all the tribespeople! As many as ninety percent had been infected by the tide of anomalous energy last night. Those who remained uninfected were all tribespeople with justice in their hearts, and they had been devoured down to the last scrap that very night. The tribespeople now belonged entirely to the Source of the Anomaly. Of course, all the people abducted from the Eastern Empire had also been eaten alive.
Lin Ran did not change his destination and continued toward the imperial capital. After using his first ultimate technique four times, he wiped out four towns. What puzzled him somewhat was that there were clearly far fewer tribespeople in these towns.
The imperial capital was already right before him. Lin Ran was just about to step forward when he saw the gates slowly open. A figure walked out from within, and Lin Ran grew more vigilant than ever before.
"System, teleport Sheele and the others back to the Guardian Temple!"
The teleportation array lit up. Lin Ran reassured Sheele briefly and had her take Zi Xing and the two sisters back to the Guardian Temple.
"Don't worry. If there's danger, Akame and I can take the teleportation array back too!"
After Lin Ran coaxed her and kissed her, Sheele left with the others.
"Be careful. There's something strange about this tribesman. He feels powerful to me, much stronger than those World-Destroying Beasts!"
Akame nodded. Even without Lin Ran's reminder, she had noticed something was wrong.
"The strongest person in the Eastern Empire? You're the one who destroyed the ten Anomalous Beasts I sent down!"
"You're the Source of the Anomaly?" Lin Ran asked in disbelief.
"That's right. You keep ruining my plans, so I can only act personally, dispose of you, and then have these puppets kill all the followers of this world's Heavenly Dao."
"Are you sure you can take us down?"
"Of course. Though your power is strange, however strong you are, you cannot exceed the limit this world can contain! Speaking of which, I should thank you. If you hadn't put so much pressure on this ruler, I couldn't have occupied his body so easily. After all, he is someone blessed with great fortune."
"Get ready to fight. If we can't beat him, retreat to the Guardian Temple first. It's safe there," Lin Ran told Akame. He kissed her forehead, and his figure instantly merged into Divine Abyss.
Akame felt that Divine Abyss was now completely in tune with her wishes. If she could draw upon twenty percent of Divine Abyss's power before, she could now draw upon at least ninety percent! This was because Lin Ran was actively cooperating with her. However, this move consumed a great deal of mental power and was unsuitable for a prolonged battle.
"Come and fight!" Golden-red divine light blazed in Akame's eyes, and her figure abruptly vanished. The ruler remained utterly unflustered. A spectral cyan divine sword formed from the wills of living beings materialized in his hand, and he slashed behind him. Akame appeared at his back at that exact moment. He had seen through where her teleportation would take her!
Golden-red and spectral cyan waves spread outward, and Akame was sent flying.
"There's something strange about the sword in his hand. It can enthrall the mind," Lin Ran said calmly.
"Impressive. I slaughtered millions of living beings and blended their negative wills to create this sword, yet I never expected it would still fall short of the one in your hand. Once I kill you, I'll have to study it carefully!"
"Divine-Prohibition!" Akame acted as though she had not heard the ruler's words. The vast power of Divine Prohibition ravaged the entire area. The ruler's figure paused slightly before an utterly terrifying force erupted from him, forcibly breaking free of Divine Prohibition's suppression.
"Interesting! I'm becoming more and more interested in that sword of yours!"
The ruler's figure flickered continuously, and one clone after another formed around Akame. For a moment, she actually could not tell which was the real body.
She shattered two clones with one stroke, and the ruler abruptly appeared beside Akame, thrusting his sword toward her heart.
Akame remained calm in the face of danger and raised her sword to block, only to be sent flying again. Just as she locked onto the ruler, she discovered that a clone behind her was attacking again. Judging by its power, this one was also the real body!
"He can keep shifting between these clones!"
"Heaven Opening!" A colossal sword thousands of zhang long plunged straight down from the clouds.
"Myriad Spirits Slash!" Boundless power likewise erupted from the ruler. His sword split the heavens, sending a thousand-zhang sword beam upward to meet the colossal sword in a stalemate. In the end, it even shattered the colossal sword.
"A fine move. Now try this one of mine!" The ruler sliced open his palm with his sword. Purple blood dripped onto the blade, all of it absorbed by the divine sword in his hand.
The divine sword suddenly blazed with cyan divine light, and a sword beam several zhang long shot toward her at tremendous speed. Akame's pupils contracted. This move looked ordinary, but the killing intent it contained was terrifying. Akame felt herself completely locked on to. She could only take this attack head-on!
Unwilling to show weakness, Akame drew upon Divine Abyss's power and unleashed a sword beam of her own. The two collided, and after only a few breaths, the cyan sword beam shattered the golden-red one.