Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change
Arc: The Great Gang War
A colossal wave of energy surged toward Scarlet King,
hurling him backward with such force that the ground collapsed beneath his feet.
The red grass was ripped apart.
His body sank into the earth up to his knees.
Even so—
He remained standing before the overwhelming breakthrough aura erupting from Tian Sha Gongzhu.
A faint laugh escaped his lips.
"She's about to break through… I should support her, or…"
A merciless, demonic smile curved across his face as he drew the Ming Hao daggers.
"Breakthrough is the only moment when realms momentarily stand equal."
"If I wished to end her, this would be my only chance—
the only moment I could even touch her… but—"
His gaze lifted toward the sky.
"I must deal with the external threats first."
Six spiraling gates tore open across the heavens.
From them emerged the Void-Destroying Space Centipedes.
Scarlet King's eyes narrowed.
(Void Centipedes… they manifest only during breakthroughs of Void-tier realms.
Heaven's Will did not send lightning tribulation—
it sent them.
There should have been only two…
but there are six.
First rank of the Fourth Dimension.
Their true strength is suppressed within the Pearl. Outside… they could threaten the entire First Dimension.)
Their bodies were pitch black.
Countless crimson eyes covered their forms.
Jagged fangs gleamed.
Their endless segmented bodies extended from the blue spiraling portals like living calamities.
(It seems Heaven's Will has noticed me…
No need to conceal myself any longer.)
Mist spread around him.
It thickened.
From within it emerged—
Titan King.
A black blade in his right hand.
A cannon mounted on his left arm.
A violet energy core pulsing in his chest.
The first centipede lunged toward Tian Sha Gongzhu—
Titan King intercepted it.
He blocked its strike with his blade and unleashed a devastating sonic wave.
The centipede convulsed violently, its body visibly cracking.
(Void Centipedes are vulnerable to sound.)
He surged forward, seized its neck, forced its jaws open—
And fired a compressed sphere of explosive qi directly into its throat.
Its head detonated in a burst of black ichor.
Another centipede appeared behind him—
It seized Titan King by the jetpack, lifted him skyward, and smashed him into the ground.
The impact carved his silhouette into the earth like a branded seal.
Three centipedes unleashed a synchronized roar.
Space twisted violently.
Titan King's mechanical arm was severed instantly and fell to the ground.
Scarlet King responded with a more powerful sonic blast.
Their heads slammed into the earth.
(I nearly forgot… their roar distorts space.)
One centipede shot toward Tian Sha Gongzhu.
Titan King raised his blade—
Mist formed above the centipede's head.
His arm emerged from the mist and drove the blade down, pinning the creature to the ground with crushing force.
He seized another centipede, locking it beneath his arm and squeezing until its defensive scales cracked.
The creature shrieked, warping the surrounding space.
Scarlet King vanished before the distortion could collapse upon him.
Another centipede lunged toward Tian Sha Gongzhu—
Titan King descended like a meteor, crushing it into the ground and hammering it repeatedly.
Once.
Again.
Again.
Its scales splintered—
But the remaining centipedes coiled around Titan King, binding him tightly and crushing his metallic body.
He unleashed another sonic pulse—
Their forms trembled—
yet their grip only tightened.
Suddenly—
An overwhelming aura erupted from Tian Sha Gongzhu.
It surged upward, twisting space itself, reshaping the battlefield into something resembling a colossal altar of blood.
A titanic explosion of energy blasted outward, throwing everyone back.
Scarlet King smiled.
On his internal display appeared:
":]"
Then he spoke in reverse:
".laeh nac I …reyal dioV eht fo level htneves eht ot yllanif hguorht nekorb sah uhzognoG ahS naiT"
The system translated:
"…1%…45%…100%…"
"Tian Sha Gongzhu has finally broken through to the seventh level of the Void Layer… I can recover."
She appeared behind one of the centipedes.
A blade of condensed blood formed in her hand.
With a single strike—
Its head separated from its body.
Space tore apart.
Reality fractured.
Even the narrative itself seemed to split.
A blank white void—like an empty page—opened within the rift.
All from a single swing.
The severed head fell.
The body convulsed—
Then exploded into a pool of blood.
She plunged her blade into it—
The centipede rose again, now formed entirely of blood.
(Summoning the dead through blood… a terrifying technique.
Yet still weaker than resurrecting corpses as shadows.
The Ghairamengi Darkness technique was superior…
But when my body shattered, many techniques were lost.
I recovered fragments of them in a previous life…
Perhaps once I reach the Third Dimension.)
Tian Sha Gongzhu spoke coldly:
"Slave… attack the others."
The blood centipede obeyed, lunging at its former kin.
She knelt beside Titan King.
"You protected me… thank you."
She released a surge of healing blood energy—
Nothing happened.
(Why is he not recovering?)
Titan King answered:
"He is constructed from the resource Al-Hadghiyahi—
one of the strongest materials in the First Dimension.
Not a human body to be healed."
Mist spread.
It contracted.
It vanished.
Scarlet King stood once more in his military attire.
"The transformation will recover on its own."
He launched forward.
One centipede's neck was severed instantly.
Blood erupted in every direction.
He passed through its collapsing body and emerged from the other side.
It shriveled—
Then detonated.
He glanced back, blue aura glowing in both his eyes.
He laughed softly.
He leapt—
The ground shattered beneath him.
Another head fell.
Another explosion followed.
He stood before the remaining centipedes, a cold presence that seemed to freeze the air itself.
He raised his hand.
The blood from the explosions began flowing toward him.
He broke through instantly to the ninth level of Qi Refinement.
(Centipede blood is pure… powerful.
I am close to Qi Condensation.)
His movements became faster.
Sharper.
He surged forward—
The remaining centipedes charged at him simultaneously.
The battlefield trembled.