C2149 The Wailing of Death
"Alright then," Kaiya sighed, her voice tinged with regret.
She attributed Saca's haughtiness and conceit to the deep influence of that individual, which had recently led him to disregard others. Kaiya was convinced that once Saca awakened to his senses, as Youqian had, he would remember his true identity and once again approach her with humility. Saca and Sable, both revered Demon Gods, had been integral to the history of the Sky Fiend Clan and had always shown unwavering loyalty to her father. She had no desire to see Saca become a blind follower of that person.
Yet, with Yu Yuan's firm stance, Kaiya felt helpless and resolved to bide her time, hopeful that there might still be a chance to help Saca break free in the future.
"Focus on your devil souls and ignore the outside chaos. I need your strength as well!" Yu Yuan commanded.
As he concentrated on examining Youqian and Kaiya's devil souls through the Soul Altar, Yu Yuan noticed that the magic he wielded in the Zagreus Astral Domain differed from that in the Frostlands. The light emanating from the Soul Altar seemed to struggle more with erasing the Primal Soul traces in the Zagreus than it had in the Frostlands. In this extraterrestrial territory of the Star-Spawned Terror, the power of the two Divine Level Demon Gods was amplified. The more formidable the soul, the more challenging it was to breach their spiritual defenses and erase the Primal Soul imprints.
The forces of light, thunder, and ice were refined through their essences and merged with the pure Soul Power of the emerald table, creating the Soul Cleansing Brilliance. This sacred energy could erase unwanted traces deep within the soul, rendering it pristine and unblemished. Meanwhile, Yu Yuan's own Soul Power was rapidly diminishing.
Youqian and Kaiya, now fully conscious, could ease his burden if they fully embraced his Soul Cleansing Brilliance. "Understood," they both acknowledged, intelligently aligning their actions with his, tuning out all external distractions.
Bathed in the glow of the Soul Cleansing Brilliance, they sensed imprints deep within their devil souls—marks they could never have detected on their own. The soul threads, finer than the thinnest strands of hair, formed intricate knots and crystal chains akin to the bloodline chains of the soul. These lay concealed at the very core of their beings, entwined with their memories and the intricacies of Mind Magic they had mastered.
With her power, it was nearly impossible for her to pinpoint these hidden marks within the soul threads recorded in her memory. In fact, without the illumination of the Soul Cleansing Brilliance, those soul threads, knotted like dead ends, would have remained unseen. These were the unique imprints of the Abyss's Primal Soul!
Upon regaining consciousness, Kaiya quickly realized that the Everlands' Primal Soul, which had elevated her father to an eleventh-level supreme being, had been consumed by the Demon God of the Abyss. With the source assimilated, they were inevitably tainted, leading to the loss of their selfhood.
"What on earth are you two up to?"
Deep within the Meteor Sea, Saca had been counting on Kaiya and Youqian to join forces with him to swiftly dispatch the Secular Bird Queen. Yet, they were nowhere to be found, not only failing to strike down Yu Yuan but also engaging in idle chatter with him under the brilliant light. Saca was greatly displeased by this.
A hundred thousand years ago, it took the combined might of numerous tenth-level peak Otherkin warriors to slay the Secular Bird Queen in the Annihilation Nebula. Saca had grown stronger atop the Abyss, but the Secular Bird Queen seemed more formidable than she had been a century ago. Despite his confidence, Saca had no desire to confront the frenzied queen on his own.
He needed Kaiya and Youqian to join the fray or to take immediate action against Yu Yuan, ensuring the Starway remained clear for more Ashlands' warriors to arrive. In essence, Kaiya and Youqian should not be idle, nor should they be engaging in lengthy conversations with Yu Yuan!
"Saca..."
Beneath the shadow of the greenish-gray Divine Bird, Chen Qinghuang's delicate waist was encircled by a nest woven from the branches of the Uxthar Tree. Her eyebrows were artfully arched, yet her pupils were suffused with the presence of death. As she uttered Saca's name, it seemed as though she had ensnared him with a voice of mortality, directing an endless horde of Ghouls toward him.
Then, with a sudden grace, she emerged from the Deathwing Lair. Her arms, now a shade paler than before, clung to the lair's edge like tender white lotus stems. The Deathwing Lair, resembling a crown of interlaced thorns, was flung by her towards the meteor sea where Saca awaited.
Whoosh!
The Deathwing Lair, resembling a crown, gradually expanded in the void, its interior crackling with ghostly white lightning.
Suddenly, a powerful suction emerged.
Ghouls, converging from all directions, scrambled desperately into the Deathwing Lair.
The lair seemed to possess a bewitching magic, accelerating the demise of the Ghouls. In mere moments, it had swallowed tens of millions of them.
Inside the Deathwing Lair, the Ghouls accumulated, their limbs entwining as if reforged, rapidly growing in stature.
Before long, a colossal mountain of corpses, composed of Ghouls, loomed into view.
Trapped at the waist by the expanded lair, it radiated a palpable death force as it moved towards Saca's Meteor Sea.
As it traveled, more Ghouls became its fingers, its skin, its very flesh and blood.
The remains of beings from various races within the Zagreus domain were assimilated into this monstrous mountain of corpses.
Eyeless and faceless, it resembled a malevolent entity freshly emerged from another realm, pushed by the lair into Saca's Meteor Sea.
"What in the world is this abomination?"
Saca's devil soul, beholding this unprecedented creature and sensing the potent death force it exuded, felt a chill in his heart.
Staring at the bizarre mountain of corpses, a deep-seated desire for death flared within Saca's soul.
He actually contemplated suicide in Zagreus, longing to die before the Secular Bird Queen, as if it were the ultimate glory, his inevitable and final fate.
"Enough with these illusions!"
Saca's devil soul jolted back to clarity within the Meteor Sea. Several scattered devil souls merged with his dominant soul, purging the insidious deathly thoughts.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
More Ghouls surged into the Meteor Sea from behind and other directions.
These mindless Ghouls fell upon the meteors Saca had refined, crowding into the invisible threads connecting them, mingling with Saca's swarm of devil souls.
The vast Meteor Sea, Saca's demonform, was now thrown into chaos by the influx of countless Ghouls.
Boom!
A mountain of corpses and devilish creatures, towering millions of feet high, crashed into a meteor, causing it to fracture under the immense pressure. As fissures spread across the ground, the thick essence of death from the mountain permeated the earth.
Saca's consciousness blurred once more.
In that moment, the greenish-gray Divine Bird perched atop Chen Qinghuang's head screeched a piercing cry, as if narrating tales of demise to all creatures. With the Divine Bird's lament, life withered, vitality faded into obscurity, and the world fell into a hushed stillness.
Every being within the Zagreus Astral Domain, from the flesh-and-blood Otherkin to the ethereal Sky Fiends, felt the haunting echo of the Divine Bird's cry.
Beneath the Dragon Slaying Stage, the Devil Souls of the Sky Fiends quivered. Mysterious symbols of death emerged within these souls, sprouting like grim reapers' seals within their devil souls.
In mere moments, any Sky Fiend not having ascended to the ninth level of Demon God status dissipated into wisps of gray smoke.
Among those who had followed Kaiya and Youqian was Mitts, a ninth level Demon God of infinite potential, now tainted with the death symbols, his spiritual essence warped by the encroaching death.
"Save me!"
"Save us!"
The ninth level Demon Gods cried out to Youqian and Kaiya, seeking their refuge, desperate to withstand the Secular Bird Queen's deadly wail.
"Yu Yuan!"
Kaiya looked on in anguish as the ninth level Demon Gods, driven to madness by Chen Qinghuang, teetered on the brink of collapse.
The lower ranks of Sky Fiends, at the eighth and seventh levels, were numerous and more easily formed. The ninth level Demon Gods had endured great trials, and many were known to her. She couldn't bear to watch them perish so effortlessly.
Such a death was too stifling, too devoid of meaning.
"Bring them in!"
Youqian added, "The Sky Fiend Clan, having been consumed by the very source that gave rise to us, has been reduced to this state. Yu Yuan, their transgressions do not warrant death!"
At Yu Yuan's command, Zhong Chichen and Loong Jie prepared to confront the Sky Fiends.
He realized that the Sky Fiend had been completely overcome by the cries of the azure-grey Divine Bird.
Zhong Chichen felt dizzy and was beset by thoughts of death as he listened to the bird's cry.
Fortunately, his dragon heart, formed by the Life Keychain, was suddenly illuminated by the bloodline chain, which instantly cleared his mind.
Loong Jie, however, remained completely unaffected by the bird's cry.
Having achieved the Large Success Stage of the Ultimate Golden Body, Loong Jie's blood, flesh, and bones had transformed into fine gold. His nature was cruel and merciless, rendering him immune to the insidious thoughts of death.
"Kaiya, find a way to awaken your father and have him enter Zagreus," Yu Yuan's voice echoed from the depths of Kaiya's devil soul, commanding, "I intend to take him to the Frostlands. In that secluded place, I will aid your father in regaining his clarity."
"I've heard that he will be roused when you face a dire threat."
"Your life and death are supremely significant to him," Yu Yuan declared at that moment.
Regarding those ninth-level Demon Gods...
Beneath the Dragon Slaying Stage, with seven Soul Altars above his head, Yu Yuan gazed at the stunning figure of Chen Qinghuang beneath the Divine Bird and murmured, "Make the bird's cries cease."
The Divine Bird fell silent at his command.
Yu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, understanding that Chen Qinghuang's anger had been briefly ignited by Saca's provocation, due to his involvement in the hunt against her a hundred millennia ago.
It was her awakening that allowed her to hear his words and respond.
"There's an issue with the death symbol deep within your soul. I'll find a way to clear it for you later," Yu Yuan whispered.
"There's no need," replied the distant Secular Bird Queen, shaking her head with a firm refusal. "Those symbols have led me to a deeper understanding of the death force, making me more powerful. As for the fate of beings in this or any other Astral Domain, I couldn't care less. There's nothing and no one that I'm attached to."
