Chapter 26: God Slayer
Location: Pluto – Surface
The dwarf planet of Pluto was no longer a quiet, frozen rock. It had become an arena for a battle that defied physics.
Void Lord #11: The Red Hunger stood ten kilometers tall. Its body was a mountain of wet, red flesh, pulsating with veins the size of highways. A massive, tooth-filled maw occupied its entire torso, dripping black saliva that dissolved the icy crust of the planet upon contact.
"HUNGER!"
The Void Lord didn't speak with a voice. It spoke with gravity.
A shockwave of red energy exploded from its body.
"Shields!" Jiang Chen roared.
He didn't rely on the System barrier. He crossed his arms.
[Grandmist Art: Sovereign's Wall.]
A translucent purple wall manifested.
BOOM.
The impact was cataclysmic. Jiang Chen was pushed back, his feet carving trenches through the ice deep enough to reach the planet's core. Pluto groaned, massive cracks appearing on its surface.
"He's strong," Jiang Chen gritted his teeth, shaking the numbness from his arms. "Divine Rank is no joke. My Grandmist suppression is only working at 50% efficiency."
"He is eating the space around us," Mo You noted, floating beside him. Her shadow armor was flickering. "My darkness is being swallowed."
"And he's ugly!" Feng Xi yelled, throwing a Solar Lance at the giant.
The lance hit the Void Lord's shoulder. It exploded with the force of a nuke. But the flesh just rippled, the mouth on its stomach opening wide to inhale the fire.
"DELICIOUS..." The Red Hunger laughed. "MORE... SPICY... LIGHT."
It raised a hand massive enough to crush a continent.
"NOW... I EAT... YOU."
The hand descended.
Jiang Chen looked at his wives.
"We can't chip away at his health," Jiang Chen said. "He regenerates too fast. We need to one-shot him."
"One shot?" Mo You raised an eyebrow. "Husband, he has the vitality of a star system."
"Then we hit him with the weight of a Universe," Jiang Chen's eyes glowed blinding white.
He held out his hands.
"Trinity Fusion: Activate."
Mo You and Feng Xi nodded. They didn't hesitate. They dissolved into pure energy—one black stream, one gold stream.
They slammed into Jiang Chen's chest.
[System Alert]
[Trinity Fusion Initiated.]
[Grandmist + Abyss + Solar Origin.]
[Synchronizing...]
A pillar of tricolor light pierced the darkness of space.
When the light faded, Jiang Chen was... different.
He wasn't bigger. But his presence felt heavier than the Void Lord itself.
He wore armor made of woven starlight. His left eye was black (Dragon), his right eye was gold (Phoenix), and a third vertical eye of pure purple light had opened on his forehead.
Wings—one feathered gold, one scaled black—spread from his back, spanning a kilometer.
[State: The Genesis Avatar.]
[Duration: 3 Minutes.]
The Void Lord's hand slammed down.
Jiang Chen caught it. With one finger.
CRACK.
The sound of a god's bone breaking echoed through the vacuum.
"WHAT...?" The Red Hunger paused. Its stomach-mouth twitched. "WHAT... ARE... YOU?"
Jiang Chen looked up. His voice was a harmonic triad of three souls speaking as one.
"We are the End."
Jiang Chen punched.
He didn't hit the hand. He hit the concept of the Void Lord.
[Chaos Sutra: Origin Erasure.]
A beam of white energy exploded from his fist, traveling up the Void Lord's arm.
The red flesh didn't burn. It simply ceased to exist. The arm disintegrated into white particles.
The Void Lord screamed—a psychic shriek that shattered every satellite in orbit.
"PAIN! IMPOSSIBLE! I AM ETERNAL!"
The Red Hunger panicked. It realized, for the first time in eons, that it was prey.
It tried to retreat back into the Gate of Entropy.
"You don't get to leave," Jiang Chen flapped his wings.
He teleported. Not speed—teleportation. He appeared directly in front of the massive stomach-mouth.
"Open wide."
Jiang Chen thrust Nightfall—now a blade of pure white light—into the center of the maw.
"Trinity Art: Supernova Implosion."
He detonated all his remaining mana inside the boss.
KA-BOOM.
The Void Lord froze.
Rays of light burst from its skin. Purple, Gold, Black. It looked like a balloon being overfilled with light.
"THE... ELEVEN... WILL... AVENGE... ME..."
SPLAT.
The Void Lord exploded.
There was no blood. Only a massive shockwave of energy that blew the atmosphere off Pluto.
Jiang Chen hovered in the aftermath, the Fusion ending abruptly. He separated back into three people.
Jiang Chen, Mo You, and Feng Xi floated in zero-G, gasping for air. They were drained.
But floating in front of them, where the monster used to be, was a prize.
It was a heart. But it looked like a black diamond, pulsing with an infinite, terrifying rhythm.
[Looted: Heart of the Void Lord (Divine Rank)]
[Status: Active]
[Power Output: Infinite.]
Jiang Chen grabbed it. It was heavy. It felt like holding a screaming soul.
"Got it," Jiang Chen grinned weakly. "Battery secured."
Location: Terra Nova – The South Pole
One hour later.
The Void Piercer dreadnought sat silently in the underground hangar.
Jiang Chen stood on the platform beneath the ship, holding the Heart of the Void Lord.
"This is crazy," Feng Xi whispered, hiding behind Jiang Chen. "That heart... it feels evil."
"It's just fuel," Jiang Chen said. "The engine will purify it."
He walked to the pedestal.
He placed the Black Heart into the slot.
CLICK.
Silence.
Then... a heartbeat.
THUMP.
The entire planet of Terra Nova shook.
THUMP.
Purple veins of light raced up the pedestal and into the ship.
THUMP.
The Void Piercer woke up.
The black crystal hull turned translucent, revealing pulsating Grandmist machinery inside. The engines ignited with a silent, violet roar. The ship levitated off the clamps.
[System Online.]
[Power Source: Divine Heart (100% Efficiency).]
[Weapon Systems: Online.]
[Void Shields: Online.]
A hatch opened. A ramp descended.
"WELCOME ABOARD, CAPTAIN."
The ship's AI spoke. It wasn't a robot voice. It was smooth, powerful.
Jiang Chen walked up the ramp, his wives following close behind.
They entered the bridge. It was massive, with a captain's chair made of white star metal in the center.
Jiang Chen sat down.
The holographic interface sprang to life, displaying a map of the entire Galaxy.
"System," Jiang Chen commanded. "Diagnostic."
[Ship Status: Peak Condition.]
[FTL Drive: Ready.]
[Main Cannon (Singularity): Ready.]
"Good."
Jiang Chen looked at the map. He saw the Gate of Entropy on the edge of the system. But he also saw ten other red markers scattered across the galaxy.
The Ten Remaining Void Lords.
And in the center of the galaxy... a blinding white light. The Primordial Source.
"We have a ship," Jiang Chen said. "We have a map."
He turned to the communication screen.
"Dad, Mom. Do you copy?"
Jiang Wu's face appeared on the screen. He was sitting in the Jiang Estate, wearing a bathrobe.
"Son! We felt the shockwave. Did you kill it?"
"Dead and buried," Jiang Chen smiled. "The ship is active. We are ready to leave the system."
Lin Xi appeared next to Jiang Wu. She looked worried. "You're leaving Earth?"
"I have to, Mom. If I stay, the other Void Lords will come here. I need to draw them away. I need to take the war to them."
Lin Xi sighed, but nodded. "Go. Save the universe. But bring me back a souvenir."
"And grandchildren!" Jiang Wu added. "Don't forget grandchildren!"
Jiang Chen choked. Mo You smirked. Feng Xi blushed bright red.
"We'll... work on it," Jiang Chen muttered. "Jiang Chen out."
He cut the feed.
He looked at his wives.
Mo You was sitting at the weapons console, looking eager. Feng Xi was at the navigation console, pressing random buttons (safely).
"Are we ready?" Jiang Chen asked.
"Course set," Mo You said. "First destination: The Andromeda Market. We need supplies and Intel on the Void Lords."
"Engage," Jiang Chen pointed forward.
The Void Piercer hummed.
The space in front of the ship warped.
ZOOM.
They vanished.
Earth was left behind. The Solar System was left behind.
Jiang Chen, the Sovereign, had entered the Galactic Stage.
[End of Volume 1]
[Volume 2: The Galactic Sovereign]
[Prologue Teaser:]
In the dark space between galaxies, a council was held.
Ten thrones floating in the void.
One throne was empty.
"The Hunger is dead," a voice made of rotting stars whispered.
"The Grandmist has returned."
"Hunt him. Hunt him down before he reaches the Core."
(End of Chapter 26)