C2316 Avenge My Husband!
Yu Yuan remained silent in response to the question, for there was no fault in the accusation. The pact with the Death God Kurkova, to excise the Soul Power infection from the big devil, Lin Daoke, Loong Jie, Ballo, and Green Willow, was indeed a choice he had made. At that time, Yu Yuan's priority was to ensure the safety of Bertain and the others, to prevent their souls from being twisted as Loong Jie's had been. He saw no wrong in striking a deal to safeguard them.
Moreover, Yu Yuan had initially intended to confront the internal threat before addressing the extraterrestrial gods. However, the unexpected acceleration of events had compelled him to band together with the very being he sought to oppose.
"Had your Soul Power not contaminated them during their ascension to Supreme at the All Spirits Ban, I wouldn't have been driven to this," Yu Yuan stated frankly.
"You've allied yourself with the extraterrestrial gods!" The anger in his voice was palpable.
Crack!
In that instant, the colossal grey skeleton turned its neck, directing its hollow, lifeless eye sockets towards the Secular Bird Queen. The Wraith Tree vanished, and two tufts of grey-white flame blazed to life.
The appearance of the grey-white flames weighed heavily on the chests of those like Loong Jie, who watched the skeleton's movements. A sense of powerlessness washed over their souls.
"Don't look at it!" Yu Yuan cautioned sharply. The Dragon Slaying Stage shifted, prompting all the Supremes gazing at the skeletal colossus to turn away, presenting their backs to the skeleton now under Kurkova's control.
Its vacant eye sockets, now ablaze with twin grey-white flames, fixated on the Secular Bird Queen. She let out a sharp cry, compelled to manifest her three-headed, six-armed form to fend off the invasion of malevolent thoughts.
Following a shrill screech, a greenish-grey Divine Bird emerged from atop Chen Qinghuang's head. This Divine Bird, embodying the Secular Bird Queen's essence of Death Magic and born from her Solar Spirit Body, felt the pull of the skeleton's power and inexplicably soared towards the skeletal giant.
The greenish-gray Divine Bird gently alighted upon the skull of the skeletal giant, its surface as smooth as jade.
It seemed as though she was constructing a nest atop the giant's head.
The Divine Bird beat its wings, driving away the surrounding dark energy, which streamed toward a fissure that had been split open, causing the crack to widen further.
The Lost Lands, infused by the Primal Soul with dark energy, now bore a unique breach.
The Secular Bird Queen, transformed from the Solar Spirit, had no opportunity to resist and was effortlessly controlled by Kurkova.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the Divine Bird flapped its wings, the laws of the Primal Soul within the darkness swelled, and blood began to pour forth like a fountain.
Yet, the Divine Bird's gaze and demeanor were unusually frenetic, oblivious to its grave injuries and the assault by the Primal Soul's power as it valiantly fought the darkness.
Kurkova appeared utterly indifferent to the Divine Bird's wounds.
She was exploiting the Green Divine Bird, extracting the death force within it, trading the bird's demise for a wider tear in the rift.
"Galuba, Galuba..."
A cacophony of voices suddenly erupted in Chen Qinghuang's mind, slicing through her spiritual sense.
The death force within her flesh and soul transformed into a blade intent on her destruction. The God of Destruction, Galuba, seemed to be resurrecting within her, tightening its grip on the devouring power of destruction.
Chen Qinghuang's consciousness blurred as she felt besieged by both the Death God Kurkova and the God of Destruction Galuba.
The clamorous "Galuba" pounded against her mental defenses like a relentless hammer.
Boom!
The forces of destruction and death within Chen Qinghuang spiraled out of control, morphing into black and gray flames that engulfed her form.
She screamed in agony within the inferno, as sparks scattered from the depths of her icy eyes.
"Flames!"
Loong Jie, Ballo, and Green Willow, upon witnessing Chen Qinghuang consumed by the blaze, quickly gestured for Yuan Lianyao to take action.
"No, this is different. These flames are devoid of heat; they contain only destruction and death."
Yuan Lianyao, with her dynamic presence, channeled the essence of the Fire God she had mastered, attempting to inscribe a divine pattern with the flame meteor, to dissolve with Earthfire, and to counter with the radiance of the sun.
The brilliant flames, Serpentflame, and Sunflame encircled Chen Qinghuang, refusing to be extinguished.
"I can't do anything."
Yuan Lianyao sighed, watching the Secular Bird Queen consumed by black and grayish-white flames, writhing in agony. "The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. The power of destruction she has mastered has been mobilized by Kurkova, and it's erupting directly from within her. It's very difficult for me to help her."
"How dare you?!"
Suddenly, the voice of the Death God, Kurkova, echoed throughout the endless World of Darkness.
Instinctively, everyone's gaze shifted to the gray-white skeletal giant that she dominated, observing the erratic grayish-white lightning within its hollow eye sockets.
The lightning, reminiscent of human meridians, sketched the vague silhouette of a woman.
The Death God, Kurkova, was visibly seething with rage. Her anger was directed at Yu Yuan, Loong Jie, and all those who had assisted Chen Qinghuang in her assault on Galuba.
"Galuba is my husband."
Upon hearing this, Loong Jie and the other supreme beings were dumbfounded.
Even the one who had paused to reprimand Yu Yuan was taken aback by Kurkova's declaration.
In the Otherworld, the powers of destruction and death could merge, and as Chen Qinghuang had explained, the deities governing these forces were sworn enemies.
How then could Galuba be Kurkova's husband?
"I simply chose a different Way of Heaven from him. Though we split and have long ceased communication, we were once family."
"I've had the power to kill him for some time, but I've always restrained myself, never lifting a hand against him. I didn't go to Deichakeon to end his life or to absorb his rule of destruction. How could you dare?"
"How dare you kill my husband, Kurkova's husband?"
The Death God's fearsome presence, channeled through the massive skeletal giant, spread wildly in the darkness.
A visible grayish-white ripple of light, laden with the ultimate essence of death, instantly enveloped the Star River for billions of miles around.
As the ripple of light traversed the expanse, the potent death force transformed into a torrential downpour.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
In the boundless void, the world He had forged was suddenly riddled with countless breaches.
More starlight beamed from the holes torn open by the death force. The laws laid down by the Dark Anima and Kurkova were rapidly eroded by Kurkova's potent death force.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
From the fiery essence of Chen Qinghuang, numerous black, crystal-like shards burst forth, settling into the hollow eye sockets of the ashen skeletal giant and merging with the tiny figure formed by the gray-white lightning.
Kurkova was in the process of stripping the knowledge of destruction, belonging to Galuba, from within Chen Qinghuang, assimilating it into herself.
This deity, who had made the Underworld her domain, had long eclipsed Galuba. Had she not been bound by old ties, she would have ventured to Deichakeon to obliterate Galuba and seize all he possessed.
By doing so, the Death God, Kurkova, would have gained immense power, ascending to become one of the mightiest gods in the Otherworld.
Her friend, the Space God, had repeatedly urged her to take action against Galuba, yet she wavered.
Her indecision to eradicate the God of Destruction led her to be drawn into the Wasteland by Chen Qinghuang, only to fall victim to the schemes of its inhabitants.
She was, without doubt, intent on exacting her vengeance.
"You! You! And you!"
The eyes of the skeletal giant, ablaze with the flames of death, flickered with indistinct images as they shifted to gaze upon Ballo, Green Willow, and Loong Jie.
Kurkova's enraged howls echoed piercingly through the vast rifts and within the myriad white apertures.
The three eleventh-level supremes caught in her sight shuddered, sensing an imminent calamity.
The next instant, a deathly aura began to emanate from the bodies of Green Willow and Ballo.
Loong Jie was quick to follow.
Bizarre symbols of death materialized in Loong Jie's golden consciousness, clouding his senses and driving him towards a path of self-destruction.
Green Willow and Ballo, their bodies once vibrant with life, now found themselves harboring a growing desire for death's release as the death force enveloped them.
The three supremes were instantaneously overwhelmed by her death force, rendered powerless against their will.
Loong Jie was horrified and shrieked, "You've actually left your death mark inside us! Damn it, you broke the agreement and have been scheming behind our backs!"
