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A humanoid figure drifted out from the eyeball—it was Bringer, now fully Corrupted.
He—no, at this point it—had a right arm thicker than its entire torso, covered in golden eyeballs. Its head consisted of a single massive eye.
It gave off a distinctly "Cthulhu"-like sense of grotesque horror, the kind that would make one's sanity plummet.
"Sacrifice!"
Zhu Yuan spoke the name of the Ether creature based on the knowledge she possessed.
Her emotions were in turmoil. Zhu Yuan found it impossible to accept that the person she had always admired would become such a horrifying monster.
No wonder they wanted to seize the Sacrifice discovered by Belobog Heavy Industries. So that was their human experimentation!
At the same time, Zhu Yuan understood something else as well.
"Pierce through gold—obey!"
While everyone was still stunned by the sudden transformation before them, Arden had already made the first move.
It was merely a probing strike. Arden wanted to see how Sacrifice · Bringer compared to "Bü Lu," whom he, Ju Fufu, and Yixuan had previously defeated together.
Whoosh—!
A sharp golden flash sliced through the air.
Sacrifice · Bringer felt his vision blur, and then he saw his own body split into two. Even the massive arm beneath him was severed in a single stroke, crashing heavily onto the ground.
Everyone present fell silent.
Sacrifice · Bringer's entrance had been imposing—terrifying and malevolent. Yet such a boss had been cleaved in half by an ordinary metal-element spell. Wasn't that a bit inappropriate?
"Pfft—!"
Soukaku, whose composure was the weakest, couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Sister Yanagi, isn't this boss way too weak? Daoist Arden killed him in one hit. I was totally planning to try out the human rocket launcher combo!"
Soukaku was still obsessing over the fusion move.
Her words pulled everyone back to reality.
Sacrifice · Bringer really did seem dead, lying motionless.
However, just as everyone was about to step forward to inspect the body, a spatial rift suddenly opened beneath it—and it vanished.
"This is bad. That thing can freely open spatial rifts!"
Belle's voice rang out from Eous. She immediately grasped what had happened, though the intelligence was still incomplete. Who could have guessed it could even fake its death?
Arden remained silent as he watched everything unfold, making no further move.
Although he hadn't truly killed Sacrifice · Bringer in one strike, its strength was now essentially assessed.
Not even as strong as Bü Lu… well, that figures.
Sacrifice · Bringer was merely a Version 1.4 boss, whereas "Bü Lu," in terms of level, was at least a Version 2.0 boss.
It wasn't just Arden who realized this—Sacrifice · Bringer himself understood it as well.
"What kind of joke is this? I've already become like this, and I still can't win?!"
At that moment, Sacrifice · Bringer hid behind a shipping container, gasping heavily.
After becoming an Ether body, it no longer needed to breathe, yet the instinct remained. The power displayed in Arden's casual strike filled him with immense pressure.
Unlike the rookie Lucius, who had been eliminated by Arden with a single effortless blow, Sacrifice · Bringer could fully control the power it had obtained and retained its own consciousness.
To humans, such a thing was unimaginable. Given enough time, Sacrifice · Bringer might even achieve ageless immortality.
Precisely because of this, it was somewhat stronger than Lucius and had not been killed outright by Arden's casual strike.
However, Sacrifice · Bringer had no time to ponder immortality. The problem it faced now was how to survive against Arden.
Having just been severed by the golden blade, it hadn't died—but it had used up its precious revival token.
There was only one chance. Restoring it would require a long time, and that certainly wasn't possible now.
All or nothing!
Though Sacrifice · Bringer retained human consciousness, it was inevitably affected, becoming far less composed.
With ruthless determination, he used his power to force open all the surrounding shipping containers.
Inside were the high-concentration Ether materials secretly prepared by Vision Corporation—originally meant to develop the Sacrifice's power.
Sacrifice · Bringer no longer cared about the consequences. Before Arden could find him, it absorbed all the materials into its gigantic hand, completing a leap in power.
"Heh. So, this is Phase Two?"
Just as Sacrifice · Bringer finished its evolution, Arden and the others arrived.
Sacrifice · Bringer's appearance had drastically changed. The bulging muscles across its body were thicker and denser, and the golden eyes now glowed with a dangerous red hue.
Countless eyes floated around it like hovering cannons, orbiting its form.
"Come on—Round Two!"
With its strength surging in a short span of time, Sacrifice · Bringer felt invincible again. That earlier spell? It could take at least two of those now.
This was the illusion everyone experienced when their power skyrocketed—the belief that they were already unbeatable.
"Oh?"
Yet Arden had already lost interest in Bringer's provocation.
He stepped aside, revealing Hoshimi Miyabi behind him.
" Miyabi, this is a good opportunity to test the Sword of Red Heaven in real combat. I'll leave it to you. No problem?"
An existence at this level did not require Arden's intervention.
"Mm."
Hoshimi Miyabi nodded and walked forward to face Sacrifice · Bringer.
"Sword of Red Heaven · Absolute Shadow!"
As Arden had expected, Sacrifice · Bringer could initially barely withstand Miyabi's assault and the Sword of Red Heaven's edge. But as her mastery deepened and she unlocked more techniques, its defeat became only a matter of time.
"Miyabi, use your power—and the Sword of Red Heaven—to end this."
It was time for the finale.
"Mm."
Miyabi responded softly, raising her right hand high, palm open.
"Ten Thousand Swords as One!"
At her command, the countless crimson sword phantoms floating above her converged into one, forming a colossal Sword of Red Heaven that seemed to pierce both heaven and earth.
"How is this possible—I won't lose—to you—!!"
By now, Sacrifice · Bringer had been completely devoured by Ether, its human consciousness erased, leaving behind only a monster ruled by madness.
It gathered all the Ether energy it could muster into a massive hand and hurled it toward the crimson greatsword.
Without Arden lifting a finger, survival was already impossible. But before dying, it could at least take Hoshimi Miyabi down and pave the way for the Creator's future.
…
In Miyabi's mind appeared her mother's smiling face, her father's care, and Arden holding out pills as betrothal gifts, shamelessly "tricking" her into eating them.
The final image froze on Arden stroking her fox ears, an expression of enjoyment on his face.
"Goodbye, Mom!"
Crack—!
The shackle that had long bound Miyabi shattered at that very moment.
Clang—!
A red line sliced through the massive etheric hand thrown by Sacrifice · Bringer, instantly shredding it into countless fragments.
Then came Sacrifice · Bringer's body—a fissure appeared, and even the Hollow behind it was cleaved open with a gaping rift.
Just like the scene when Arden used the Wisdom Sword to sever Lemnian Hollow.
"Excellent."
Watching Miyabi's performance, Arden nodded in satisfaction.
Forcing Miyabi's breakthrough at the critical moment—Sacrifice · Bringer had at least made one final contribution before its death.
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