"Is there really going to be war between us?"
The Locust Mother Demon's voice was cold, yet beneath it lingered unease.
Gu Chuan's golden eyes narrowed, then curved into a smile that dripped with disdain. His vast coils shifted like continents sliding, and the chaos itself seemed to groan at his movement.
"This prey belongs to me," he hissed. "If you covet it… then come and try. But do not delude yourself with half-measures. I will not share."
His words, like blades, cut the void.
The Locust Mother Demon's pupils tightened. She had seen arrogance before—chaos was full of it—but rarely had she felt such implacable confidence. He wasn't bluffing. She knew it.
And yet… she could not simply turn away. The World Tree was no mere treasure. It was destiny. Without it, her path forward would wither.
Her mandibles clicked sharply, and a low buzz rippled across her vast swarm. "Old Serpent, I respect strength. Then let us split it. Half for you, half for me. That is my final offer."
Behind her calm tone lay venomous calculation. If she could secure even half, she could bide her time—grow stronger in secret—and when the serpent faltered, she would consume both him and the rest of the Tree.
The World Tree's branches trembled in silent fury. Was this to be its fate? Born from the first breath of chaos, yet reduced to a prize to be divided like carrion. If not for its wounds, it would have lashed out, roots piercing both predators. Now, all it could do was wait—hoping serpent and locust would destroy one another.
But Gu Chuan only laughed, low and scornful.
"Half?" His voice cracked like thunder. "You insult me. I don't bargain scraps. This World Tree is mine—whole. If you speak again of dividing it, I will not merely kill you; I will erase you. Consider that your only warning."
The Locust Mother Demon's composure shattered. Rage boiled in her black carapace, soul-flames sparking. "Serpent, you dare—?! Very well. If you wish for war, then drown in it!"
Her roar shuddered across the void, and instantly her swarm reacted.
Rumble.
The void itself darkened as millions upon millions of locust demons moved as one, a living storm that blotted out light. Each sickle-like wing reflected the laws of death and hunger, and their combined will resonated with hers. Their screeches wove into a single murderous chant as they surged forward.
The World Tree's leaves quivered. It knew this army well—an endless tide that had gnawed its bark, poisoned its roots, stripped its vitality until even its immortal frame had nearly collapsed. Against such numbers, even it had bled helplessly.
But Gu Chuan did not move. His coils floated, still as mountains. His expression did not flicker.
The first wave struck.
Millions of death-lights, black lances of annihilation, converged upon his body. Where once they had torn through branches of the World Tree like knives through flesh, now they met something far different.
A shimmer.
The Chaos Barrier unfolded, a thin veil of law itself, bending reality around him. Each death ray shattered against it like glass on steel.
Not even a scratch.
The serpent's golden eyes glowed faintly. "Is that all?"
The swarm faltered. The World Tree froze in disbelief. The Locust Mother Demon's mandibles clicked, a sound of raw shock.
Never—not once in her countless hunts—had her swarm's combined assault failed to wound. Yet here, the ancient serpent floated untouched, bored, as though enduring a drizzle of rain.
Gu Chuan's voice deepened, calm yet filled with killing edge. "You mistake numbers for strength. Allow me to show you the difference."
The void cracked.
Chaos Realm.
The words were not spoken loudly, but they struck like a verdict. In an instant, tens of billions of kilometers of void thickened, slowed, and froze. The locust swarm, once swift as lightning, now thrashed like flies trapped in amber. Even the Locust Mother herself staggered, her massive body moving as though shackled by worlds.
"This… impossible…" she rasped, her wings struggling against invisible chains.
The World Tree's branches creaked in awe. Even its vast roots felt the suppression, dragged into stillness. What kind of monster was this serpent, to wield law as prison?
Then Gu Chuan moved.
His tail, stretching two billion kilometers, whipped once through the void. The chaos itself wailed. A sonic boom detonated, carving a vacuum across eternity.
The swarm—millions strong—was obliterated. No cries, no struggle. Just silence, then drifting fragments of flesh and law.
The World Tree trembled to its core. The infamous Death Army, scourge of chaos, wiped away in a single motion.
The Locust Mother Demon screamed. Her swarm—her power, her pride—gone in an instant. Terror gripped her heart, sharp and cold. She had misjudged this serpent. He was no rival. He was calamity given flesh.
Her soul split, desperate. "Locust Clone!"
Her form shattered into billions of emerald fragments, each a true clone carrying a shard of her soul. They scattered in all directions, a tide of buzzing bodies fleeing for survival.
Gu Chuan's eyes narrowed. Clever. If even one escapes, she returns.
His fangs parted. "Venom… Cannon."
A drop of primordial venom, the size of a planet, shot forth. It spun like a black sun, splitting into billions of droplets that rained across the void.
Zzzzzzt—
Every clone it touched corroded instantly, body and soul unraveling into nothing. The Locust Mother Demon's shrieks tore through the chaos, but in breaths they faded into silence. Her aura was gone.
The World Tree froze. "Dead…? Just like that?"
Gu Chuan licked his fangs, his voice flat, calm, but edged with quiet triumph. "So ends the Mother of Locusts. Remember her well—chaos does not forgive weakness."
The chaos was silent. Only Gu Chuan's coils stirred, circling the wounded World Tree. Its branches trembled, despair clear in the subtle rustle of leaves.
It tried to retreat, roots dragging land, but Gu Chuan's laughter rolled like thunder. "Where will you run, Tree? You are slow. I am inevitable."
The Chaos Orb flared from his sea of consciousness. It expanded, yawning open like a black sun. The World Tree's massive body strained, leaves flaring with emerald light, roots digging into land. But the Orb's pull was absolute.
With a roar, it swallowed tree, loam, and land alike, sealing them within its boundless space.
Gu Chuan exhaled, coils relaxing, eyes glinting with cold satisfaction. "Another treasure secured."
The chaos shivered.