Ora ora ora ora—!
"That's right."
"An executioner deserves an ending like this."
"My whole family died by this executioner's hand."
"Thank you, benefactor."
Sounds ordinary people couldn't hear reached Koji's ears. Through the [Blessing of the Soul], he could hear the furious howls of those wronged spirits.
Koji's expression turned a little odd. Just how much of a monster was the Wicked Knight, to attract this much hatred?
"Master… you look really pathetic."
Skirk stood quietly at the outer perimeter where she wouldn't be caught in the blast, watching calmly. She already knew Koji was strong, but seeing it with her own eyes still made her heart pound with shock.
Even so, seeing this scene filled her with a kind of exhilaration.
Even during training, there had always been the risk of being killed by the Wicked Knight. The past was too painful to revisit. Even now, her body still felt that stabbing pain.
Honestly, she wanted to run in and throw a few ora oras herself—scratch that itch—but it looked like she wasn't going to get the chance.
"AAAH!"
The Wicked Knight let out a heaven-shaking roar. His pride was being ground into the dirt by Koji. He couldn't take it anymore.
Pfft!
To break free of Koji's grip, the Wicked Knight tore off his own scalp. The bloody flap of skin was still twisted into a vicious shape.
Koji looked at the scalp in his hand, the corner of his mouth twitching. This guy really was ruthless.
The pain of ripping off an entire scalp would make most people pass out on the spot. The Wicked Knight, however, acted like nothing happened.
Abyssal power surged, and the wound healed instantly—only now he looked like he had a bald "monk ring."
"Abyss Rend!"
The Wicked Knight roared. Abyssal power across his whole body gathered onto his battle blade. A deep, pitch-black radiance flickered along the edge, as if it could devour all things and drag everything into a bottomless abyss.
A black slash tore through the cosmos. This strike was everything he had—body and soul poured into it. An attack infused with abyssal power, carrying the force to corrode and erode all things.
Interesting… but compared to Nihility, it still wasn't quite there.
"Flames…"
"Lightning…"
Koji held a fireball in one hand, hot enough to burn all things to ash, and a lightning sphere in the other, brimming with the aura of destruction.
Everyone knew that when Pyro and Electro collided, they produced the elemental reaction: Overload.
"Thunderous Blaze Burst!"
Boom!
Flame and lightning collided in the void like water splashed into boiling oil—instant detonation. Destructive energy erupted, roaring outward in all directions with unstoppable momentum.
Two different elements collided, producing power that was one plus one greater than two. Lightning serpents danced within the flames, giving off an intensely dangerous fluctuation.
Skirk raised an eyebrow and immediately retreated. Koji's control of the elements had truly reached the level of effortless mastery.
The "rank" of both of these elements surpassed even gods—enough to destroy stars.
"Become ash in the cosmos!"
"Detonate!"
Art was explosions. Koji directly triggered the Pyro and Electro to blow, and the surrounding stellar energy storm poured straight into the Wicked Knight.
In the midst of his struggle, the Wicked Knight's body was ripped apart by Electro-Pyro Overload. Bone and flesh were incinerated at terrifying speed, unable to regenerate—an extremely domineering kind of annihilation.
"This is pure abyssal power."
In Koji's hand was a lump of purple-black abyssal origin. He had refined the Wicked Knight, and this was what he obtained.
It seemed like only about one-sixth of the total. The "anti-lord" had such an enormous amount of abyssal power, yet sinners had still managed to find a chance to carve it up—probably while it was sleeping.
"Skirk—did your master ever tell you where abyssal power comes from?"
Skirk walked over, her tone complicated. "No. Even my master probably doesn't know where the abyss's power comes from."
The abyss's origins were shrouded in mystery—maybe it wasn't even a force from this universe.
"Then what are you going to do next?"
"Go back to Teyvat, or travel the starry sky on your own."
…
Koji handed the abyss's power to Lumine. For him, this kind of power offered no real improvement.
"If I absorb it, how much stronger would I get?"
Lumine sensed it. She could absorb it easily, but it also didn't feel necessary.
"If you don't absorb it, it's fine. I can protect you completely."
Warmth spread through Lumine's chest. "Then I won't absorb it. Keep it with you for now."
Her current strength wasn't weak. After all, she had already obtained six elements. Once she resonated with the Pyro element at a Statues-of-the-Seven tower, she should be able to recover that old "main-account password."
"I don't need it either. Later I'll forge you a one-handed sword, and we'll fuse this power into it," Koji said.
"That works." Lumine looked forward to it. Koji's divine sword had that "strength-beauty" vibe—an abyss sword definitely wouldn't be any worse.
As for giving it to her brother… this was her man's spoils of war, so it belonged to their family.
Surely Aether wouldn't mind letting his little sister use this power.
…
"Koji, do you have any Mora?"
"No. You're a Ruler of Death—why aren't you staying on Celestia? Why are you running around the kingdom of the Undying Brigade instead?"
The woman asking Koji for Mora was none other than the familiar Ronova.
Koji was speechless. Were gods all broke or something?
To this day, he'd met a lot of gods. The ones who actually carried money… really weren't many.
"Mora? Why would I, a god, save up Mora—dowry or something?"
"And besides, you've got plenty of Mora on you. Don't play the poor routine."
Ronova said it as if it were only natural. Celestia didn't require spending money, so there was no reason to carry a mortal currency like Mora.
She also didn't have a habit of "zero-dollar shopping," so she came to Koji to ask for Mora.
"I have plenty of Mora, but I'm not your ATM," Koji said, exasperated.
If she was broke enough to come to him, she might as well go do some "zero-dollar shopping." With the Ruler of Death's abilities, nobody would even notice.
"Don't be so stingy. I'll pay you back later," Ronova said.
Koji laughed. Pay him back with what? Could she earn Mora? Or was she going to do what Lumine did—go out into the wilds, hoe the earth, and open chests?
Wait. Did Celestia even have treasure chests?
You could find chests in the residences of various gods, so there was no reason Celestia wouldn't have them too. In fact, they might even be unopened chests that nobody had ever looted.
As for who put them there… no need to worry about that. If there are chests, that's what matters.
"Ronova, does Celestia have treasure chests?" Koji asked.
"Huh?"
Ronova froze. Whether Celestia had treasure chests… honestly, she'd never paid attention to that.
Maybe it did. After she got back, she could go look. She might even get a pretty nice haul.
(End of Chapter)
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