(The chapter has been modified)
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The woman who appeared after the floating sword was unlike any human standing in the burning ruins.
Her beauty was unsettling—silent—something beyond mortal nature. Long black hair flowed down to her waist, catching the flicker of nearby flames. Her crimson eyes held a deep blue light inside them, as if a hidden fire was sealed behind glass. A sword circled her slowly, drifting like a guardian spirit that obeyed only her will.
Zhang Yuan stepped forward and bowed slightly.
"Younger sister Sue Bai … thank you for coming. But shouldn't you be traveling with your daughter, Su Yan?"
Her voice was cold, flat, stripped of emotion.
"There is no need. She is no longer a child. If she cannot survive the road by herself, then she is not worthy of carrying my family's name."
Zhang Yuan and Alistar exchanged a troubled glance. Their concern wasn't for the Abyss or its creatures… but for a girl walking alone in a world this merciless.
Before either of them could respond, a soft and disturbingly sweet voice drifted through the smoky air.
"My, my… what do we have here? More guests than expected."
They turned toward the source.
A woman stood atop a collapsed wall, swaying gently with an odd, playful rhythm. Her hair was white but stained with dried crimson at the ends, as though it had been dipped into blood that never washed off. Her eyes were unfocused and distant, like she was staring at something far beyond the physical world. She wore a thin smile—one that belonged to someone who chatted with ghosts rather than humans.
Behind her, a swirling purple rift rotated slowly in the air. It was not a full portal, but a wound carved into reality, leaking a suffocating, unnatural light. From the rift emerged black-purple threads, thin at first before thickening like veins. They burrowed beneath her skin, wrapped around her spine, and fused with her flesh like roots of a corrupted tree.
Each thread pulsed rhythmically.
Every pulse made her body tremble slightly, as if she was connected to something far away—something alive.
She raised her hand lazily and gestured toward a half-destroyed corpse of an elf child on the ground.
"You know… this place was meant to be a vessel. A ritual site for summoning a minor Lord of the Abyss. And you killed him."
Silence followed.
Not because they feared her—
But because they understood the implications.
She tilted her head and smiled wider.
"No apology? No regret? Not even a polite little 'sorry'? So cruel of you."
Zhang Yuan's voice tightened.
"You speak of cruelty, yet you turned this city into a slaughterhouse."
She shrugged with a broken laugh.
"Oh, I know. I don't complain.
I merely follow orders. But mortals… you truly underestimate us far too often. Even while you celebrated a pointless holiday, believing yourselves safe, you had no idea what dwelled beneath your feet."
She clapped softly.
The massive sphere of congealed blood behind her contracted sharply before bursting into strands of gore. They twisted and spun around a central point. A chest formed first, then colossal shoulders, and finally a helmet made of bone that dripped dark red fluid from every crack.
A giant knight—seventeen meters tall—rose from the blood.
Its gauntlets were solid lumps of frozen flesh and bone.
Its armor was layers of coagulated blood.
Its sword was a slab of dark bone that breathed corruption with every pulse.
The ground shook violently as it took its first step.
Purple threads from the rift shot toward the figure, embedding themselves into its spine and ribs. In moments, they had fused completely, linking the knight's existence to the woman's very soul.
She whispered, almost lovingly,
"That's it… move. Move for me."
---
The giant knight moved forward and the entire street fractured beneath its foot. Buildings collapsed. A shockwave of dust erupted outward with terrifying force.
People trying to escape at the city's edge collapsed as crimson sound beasts screamed. The monstrous cries ruptured their eardrums. Blood streamed from eyes, nose, and mouth. Men, women, and children alike fell without distinction.
Some remained barely conscious, just long enough to witness the towering knight raise its massive sword.
The moment the blade rose, all sound vanished.
Even the raging fires went silent.
Then the sword fell.
The ground detonated in a red shockwave strong enough to obliterate two buildings instantly. Bodies, monsters, stones—everything flew like scraps in the wind.
Zhang Yuan unleashed a golden barrier with all his strength, redirecting the blast. Even so, the impact drove his foot deep into the shattered stone.
Alistar's voice hardened.
"This is not a normal summoning. This is a sacrificial vessel."
Su Bai's expression did not change.
"No. It is a container. A medium for transmitting a fragment of an Abyssal Lord's will."
Zhang Yuan clenched his jaw.
"Which means this entire city… is the gate."
---
"Alistar! Left flank!"
Alistar soared upward like a silver comet. His sword carved a half-moon arc toward the knight's arm joint. The blow struck with force, cracking the bone—but failing to pierce fully.
"Too dense!" he hissed.
Su Bai shot from the ground like a needle of light. Her floating sword spiraled once, then lunged at the knight's chest. It pierced the first layer of bone but stopped at the second.
"Reinforced bone. Abyssal enhancement," she said coldly.
At that exact moment, when the knight's chest cracked open slightly, the pale woman flinched violently. Her threads pulsed chaotically.
Zhang Yuan narrowed his eyes.
"She's linked to him."
Alistar muttered,
"Meaning every wound hits her too."
The woman let out a trembling laugh.
"How troublesome… but nothing I cannot endure."
She directed her hand back toward the rift.
The threads swelled, pulling a dense, corrupted energy from somewhere far beyond this world. The knight's wounds healed. Its armor thickened. Its aura darkened.
She inhaled sharply.
"Yes… that's better."
---
Su Bai's voice remained steady.
"If she continues drawing power at this rate, the city will collapse within minutes."
Zhang Yuan's grip on his sword tightened.
"If we sever all the threads at once, the vessel breaks—and the thing behind it loses its anchor."
Alistar exhaled heavily.
"And the cost?"
Zhang Yuan answered without hesitation.
"We use the Tenth Form."
Silence followed.
The Ninth Form was already capable of wiping out an army.
The Tenth Form was something they had vowed never to use again unless the world was at the brink of annihilation.
Alistar nodded slowly.
"It will break our bodies."
Su Bai replied calmly,
"And if we refuse… all of this burns anyway."
Zhang Yuan closed his eyes briefly before speaking.
"Prepare yourselves. Tenth Form."
---
Zhang Yuan lifted his sword.
The air bent around it as if bowing. Light gathered along the blade, shifting from gold to a brilliant, pure white.
Alistar raised his silver sword, drawing glowing runes into the air with each movement.
Su Bai raised her hand. Her floating sword shattered into countless pieces of blue light, then reformed into a single, razor-sharp lunar spear.
Their auras rose sharply:
Gold turning to celestial white.
Silver becoming transparent luminescence.
Blue shifting into a cold moonlit glow.
Cracks formed beneath their feet.
Flames parted.
Even the smoke above tore open, revealing a glimpse of a clear sky—
as if something beyond the clouds was watching.
Zhang Yuan spoke in a low voice:
"Heavenly Sword Art—"
Alistar followed:
"Tenth Form—"
Su Bai finished the incantation:
"Judgment of the White Blade."
Their energies interlocked, merged, and rose into the sky like a pillar of divine radiance before crashing downward onto the giant knight and the cursed threads.
---
The knight tried to resist, lifting its sword—
but its limbs froze under the oppressive purity.
Corruption ignited before the divine light even touched it.
The pale woman's eyes widened in horror.
The threads connected to her began burning with white fire—
a flame that did not belong to the Abyss.
"No… this light… what is—"
She couldn't finish.
The celestial strike tore across the city.
The knight's body fractured.
Its armor dissolved into ash.
All corruption disintegrated the moment it met the white radiance.
The giant screamed—or tried to—
but its voice vanished as its throat evaporated.
Thread by thread, the bonds connecting the puppet to its master shattered.
The woman collapsed, clutching her chest as if pieces of her soul were being ripped out.
"You… dare sever me… in this insignificant world?"
Black blood poured from her nose.
Something behind her eyes twitched—
as though an ancient presence glimpsed through her for a heartbeat.
The rift behind her pulsed violently.
And just as the final threads were about to snap—
A shockwave of energy surged through the Abyssal channel from a place far away.
---
A Distant Cry
Deep in a corrupted dungeon in another land,
Arthur's Destruction Fire tore through a colossal dragon. Its heart ruptured under the overwhelming force.
The corruption within the dragon shuddered violently as something ancient and hungry stirred from within the Abyss.
The Abyssal Lord—
through the cracks of the woman's rift—
took a bite of the dragon's dying essence.
That devouring pressure rushed back through the threads.
---
The woman screamed.
Not from the heavenly strike—
but from the agony that surged through the Abyssal link.
Arthur's destructive flame…
the dragon's death throes…
and the Abyssal Lord's monstrous hunger…
All crashed into her at once.
"This pain… this isn't just the dragon… something else… something is devouring it from my side—!"
Before she could speak further, the final threads snapped.
The knight crumbled into dust.
The rift shrank—
but did not vanish.
The heroes barely remained standing.
Their bodies trembled, drained by the Tenth Form.
Su Bai watched the pale woman closely.
She was still alive.
Barely.
Blood dripped from her eyes and mouth.
Her smile returned—twisted, trembling.
"I understand now… Even this fragile world cannot escape the Lord's reach."
She turned toward the rift.
It pulsed—inviting her.
"He tasted something… something he should not have tasted.
Whoever burned the dragon… and whoever devoured it… both brushed against me."
She staggered toward the rift, leaving a trail of blackened footprints.
Zhang Yuan raised his sword weakly.
"You will not escape."
Alistar tried to step forward and nearly collapsed.
Su Bai remained silent—knowing none of them could stop her now.
The woman giggled softly.
"Escape? No… I'm answering a call."
She stepped closer to the rift.
The air shook.
And then—
A distant, world-shaking roar exploded across the city.
A dragon's cry.
Though no dragon flew above the burning streets,
its voice echoed inside every bone.
Zhang Yuan froze.
Alistar felt his spine turn cold.
Su Bai sharpened her gaze.
The woman gave a faint, peaceful smile.
"So he dies there… and I feel every moment of it.
How exquisite."
She turned her head slightly toward them.
"If you survive… you may meet him one day.
The one who burned my prey… and awakened the Lord's hunger."
Then she stepped into the rift.
The darkness swallowed her whole.
The tear in reality closed slowly behind her,
leaving the city scarred, silent,
and three heroes who understood one thing clearly:
This was only the Abyss's greeting.
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