Chapter 75

The two blades intertwined, and the storm was forcibly cleaved apart.

The black flames above the ruins swirled, and the Root Blade and the Rune Blade tore a narrow rift in the sky, revealing a long-lost light.

The fissure, like a wound on the chest, burst open once more.

Its wailing tore at eardrums, and its shattered tentacles fell one after another, like giant trees being set ablaze.

Sprout 12 was panting heavily, the runes on the blade were dim, but it still clung tightly to the last glimmer of light.

237 gripped the Root Blade tightly, his arm trembling from the pressure. Blood trickled down the hilt, only to be absorbed by the interwoven light and darkness of the veins, transforming into new power.

Just when they thought they could suppress it, an even deeper darkness surged from the wounds of the transformed being.

That wasn't blood, but some higher substance, like a liquid night sky, dimmed as if stars were falling.

It spreads along the wound, covering the entire body, and piecing the broken shape back together.

Countless eye openings and closings rearranged into a huge ring-shaped outline.

The outline slowly rotated, like an inverted black star wheel, shrouding the entire battlefield.

Sprout12 muttered under his breath, "...it changed its shell."

The avatar spoke, its voice overlapping like a thousand layers:

"You think you've hurt me..."

No, this is only the beginning of my true arrival.

Immediately, the black star wheel began to spin rapidly.

Countless tentacles extended from the void once more, but this time they were no longer chaotic whippings, but rather an orderly array, like a reenactment of some ancient ritual.

Each tentacle carries cracks in space, causing the void to fold and collapse wherever it goes.

237 gripped the blade of the root vein tightly, the light spot on his forehead throbbing violently, as if it might explode at any moment.

He exhaled coldly:

"12, this time we either sever its rebirth... or we'll be buried together in this Black Sea."

Sprout 12 curled his lips into a smile, and the blade blazed with a fierce light once more.

"You should have said that a long time ago."

They stood side by side, and the veins beneath their feet lit up once more, as if the very pulse of the earth itself was about to strike with them.

—The battlefield has completely entered the next stage of spiraling out of control.

The black star wheel roared and spun, as if countless worlds were being crushed simultaneously.

The sky was torn into fragments of mirrors, reflecting a desolate, fiery, and abyss-like illusion, which then poured onto the battlefield.

The avatar stands in the center of the star wheel, as if controlling the entire sky.

Its tentacles transformed into jet-black chains, pulling and piecing together the shattered space, forcing all living beings to kneel before its rhythm.

237 and Sprout 12, however, did not give in.

The roots beneath their feet suddenly expanded, extending from the cracks in the earth to the sky, like an ancient array spanning heaven and earth.

The low murmur of the mother tree spread outwards, no longer a single heartbeat, but a ritualistic rhythm, each echo colliding with the roar of the star wheel.

"...The protection has not been extinguished."

A sonic boom rose from the ground and entered the chests of the two men.

Sprout 12 raised the long blade, and the runes on the blade were lit up by the roots. Streams of fire spread along his arm, as if his blood was being rewritten.

The light spot on 237's forehead transformed into a rotating double ring, and the dark flame and the blazing light no longer clashed, but breathed in sync.

They marched in step at the same time.

The roots beneath their feet expanded like a heartbeat, lifting their figures into the air.

Under the watchful gaze of the afterimage, the two clashed their light blades and talisman knives, slowly aiming them at the rotating star wheel above their heads.

The avatar's furious roar then erupted:

"You dare to try and shake me with the power of afterimages?"

Utterly foolish!

The star wheel suddenly lit up, and tens of thousands of black chains fell simultaneously, like a rain of stars, attempting to completely crush the combined attack ritual.

But at that very moment—

The roots, stretching from the earth to the sky, suddenly converged into a massive tree shadow of light and shadow, its branches spreading out as if supporting the skeleton of the world.

The shadows of the trees collided head-on with the star wheel, and the convergence of light and darkness unleashed an impact powerful enough to engulf the battlefield.

237 roared, his voice like thunder:

"Now—slay!"

The long blade of Sprout 12 and the root light blade of 237 merged into one, transforming into a giant blade that stretched across the heavens and the earth, with ancient runes and new veins burning on its edge.

They swung down at the same time.

—The blade marks, interwoven with light and darkness, slashed towards the star wheel.

The entire battlefield fell silent, save for the deafening roar of that single strike, powerful enough to shatter cause and effect.

The moment the giant blade fell, all sound was swallowed up.

All that remained of the world was the white trace left by the blade's slash, which cut straight into the core of the black star wheel.

"Click—"

The cracking sound came from countless layers of space simultaneously.

The rotation of the star wheel suddenly stopped, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on its surface, each crack flashing with destructive black lightning.

The avatar's eye sockets contracted simultaneously, and it roared as it waved all its tentacles in an attempt to hold up the star wheel, but the cracks continued to spread.

The next instant, the star wheel shattered completely.

Countless fragments of space disintegrated into a torrent of light and darkness, cascading down like a collapsing galaxy.

The pitch-black tide and the pale fragments devoured each other, transforming into a rampaging energy storm that swept across the entire battlefield.

237 and Sprout 12 were almost instantly swallowed up by the recoil.

Their long blades and points of light shattered after the strike, the aftershocks tearing flesh and branches apart.

The sprout vomited blood, its branches broke off inch by inch, like an ancient tree split open by lightning.

237's forehead halo shattered, and dark flames poured back into his body, burning every vein in his bloodline, almost turning him to ashes.

They were thrown into the air at the same time, falling heavily and crashing into the shattered earth.

However--

Just as the projection of the mother tree was about to dissipate, a final stream of light surged into their bodies from the roots.

That wasn't shelter, but rather a passing on of the torch, bought with lives.

"...The protection...is not yet over."

The lingering echo of the heart resonated one last time before vanishing completely in the storm.

The avatar staggered as it fell from the shattered star wheel, its chest split open with a deep crack, and black flames surged wildly.

It is not dead yet, but it has lost its former invincible power.

As the storm subsided, only embers and broken tendrils remained on the battlefield.

All the survivors stood frozen, staring into the depths of the ruins—

There, 237 and Sprout 12 knelt to support their figures, covered in wounds and barely breathing, yet still alive.

With this strike, they truly forced the Rift Incarnate into a state of severe damage.

The massive crack in the avatar's chest surged, with black flames and fragments of the void flowing backward.

Its deep roar gradually tore into a scream, like the sound of hundreds of worlds collapsing simultaneously:

"...You...how dare you—force me to this point!"

Its body suddenly exploded.

Countless tentacles transformed into a black waterfall, intertwining once more and coalescing into an even larger and more twisted form.

The sky lost its color, and the earth sank.

Each of its steps seemed to drag the battlefield into an even deeper abyss.

Behind it, the fissure opened completely.

The whirlpool on the other side churned, revealing countless writhing shadows and eyes.

The whole world seemed to be nothing but a gigantic, dark maw, ready to swallow everything whole.

The avatar's outline is no longer humanoid, but a giant monster pieced together from star wheel fragments, black flame tentacles, and void shards.

The crack in its chest no longer bled, but transformed into a bottomless abyss, within which strange points of light appeared, like the groans of a dead star.

"...Ultimate - Annihilation."

It sang softly, stretching out its palms as large as mountains.

The next instant, a black and white "Wheel of Annihilation" appeared in the sky above the battlefield.

It was the ultimate weapon, reforged from the remnants of the Star Wheel and the power of the Rift, slowly pressing down on the earth.

All the survivors instantly knelt down, their breaths completely taken away.

The earth's texture shattered inch by inch, and sea-like black flames erupted from the ground.

Despite the broken branches and leaves, the 12 sprouts stood firm, gritting their teeth.

237's chest was bleeding profusely, but the remaining light in his forehead rekindled, as if responding to the long-vanished shadow of the mother tree.

They knew—

This is the most insane and final outburst of the incarnation.

If this attack cannot be stopped, the entire world, along with them, will be buried into nothingness.