503: Chapter 438: Horn Appears, Battle of the Peak of Intermediate Divine Power

After Zhou Tianxing fell, the Guixu energy inside the anchor point began to fluctuate wildly. The phantom of the Lord of Nothingness closed its eyes and fell back into a deep slumber, but the dark red patterns on the surface of the crystal were still slowly writhing. Lin Zhou knelt on one knee in the Void Realm, the river of civilization already recalled, and the wound on his left arm was still bleeding—not a physical wound, but a "void" left after his existence was deleted. His memories were slipping away, but the Fire of Civilization was slowly reshaping them.

"Captain, your left arm..." Su Yueyao squatted beside him, her lunar glow enveloping his body.

"It's fine." Lin Zhou stood up and shook his left arm. The Fire of Civilization had already filled that void, but the deleted memories would take longer to rebuild. He looked at the crystal; the contamination level had dropped to 50%, and the golden core was mostly revealed. The awakening of the Lord of Nothingness had been delayed by a year, which meant they still had time.

The team prepared to evacuate. Wang Meng recalled the squad, Qin Qing counted the personnel, and Iron Face searched the ruins for remaining evidence. Li Mo's projection was analyzing the energy fluctuations of the anchor crystal.

Just then, at the bottom of the anchor crystal, the dark red patterns suddenly flashed violently. A powerful surge of Guixu energy gushed from inside the crystal, condensing into a humanoid shape in the Void Realm. Grayish-white mist gathered into the outline of a human body, with dark red patterns spreading across the surface like blood vessels. A few seconds later, the figure became clear—Major General Huo En.

He wasn't dead. Or rather, he had died once, only to be resurrected by the power of the Lord of Nothingness. His divinity integrity was only at 50%, and his divine fire was no longer dark gold, but pure white—the ultimate expression of Guixu energy. His body was semi-transparent, hovering between existence and nothingness. His eyes were two clumps of dark red flame, with no pupils, only hollow voids.

[Major General Huo En · Void Puppet Form]

- Rank: LV1200 (Mid-Tier Divine Power Peak)

- Divinity Integrity: 50% (Irrecoverable)

- Divine Fire Form: Pure White (Guixu Energy)

- Skill 1: [Void Divine Fire]—When burning, the sense of existence of all units within range continuously drains

- Skill 2: [Existence Deletion]—Deletes a certain period of existence or concept of the target

- Skill 3: [Guixu Reshaping]—Can absorb Guixu energy to repair oneself, recovering 1% integrity per second

- Weakness: Fire of Civilization (Damage +2000%)

- Status: Puppet (No self-awareness)

"Major General Huo En? Isn't he dead?" Wang Meng gripped his battleaxe tightly.

"Resurrected by the Lord of Nothingness." Lin Zhou stepped in front of the team. "He has no consciousness; he's just a Puppet. But his power is stronger than when he was alive."

Major General Huo En raised his hand, pure white divine fire burning in his palm. A grayish-white beam of light shot toward the team. Lin Zhou swung his sword to sever the beam, and the sword light swept onward to slash at Major General Huo En. Major General Huo En did not dodge, and the sword light sliced through his body, leaving a crack. Grayish-white mist gushed from the crack, which was immediately repaired by the Guixu energy.

[Major General Huo En · Guixu Reshaping]

- Repair Speed: 1% integrity per second

- Damage caused by Lin Zhou's attacks: 2% per second

- Net Damage: 1% per second

"We can't fight him like this; he recovers too fast." Qin Qing deployed the Net of Law. "I'll restrict his recovery."

[Net of Law · Define Illegal]

- Definition Content: 'Guixu Reshaping' is illegal

- Target: Major General Huo En

- Cost: 5,000 Divine Power per minute

- Effect: Repair speed 1% per second → 0.5% per second

Su Yueyao unleashed her lunar glow, enveloping Major General Huo En in a silvery-white light. His repair speed dropped further, from 0.5% per second to 0.2% per second. Wang Meng led the Civilization Sword Cultivators in a charge, sending fifty teal-gold Flying Swords slashing at Major General Huo En. Dozens of cracks were carved into Major General Huo En's body, and grayish-white mist surged wildly.

[Battle · First Wave of Data]

- Major General Huo En's Integrity: 100% → 80%

- Repair Speed: 0.2% per second

- Net Damage: 1.8% per second

- Estimated Kill Time: Approximately 45 seconds

Major General Huo En counterattacked. Pure white divine fire erupted from his body, turning into countless grayish-white tentacles that swept out in all directions. Wherever the tentacles passed, space was erased from existence, leaving pitch-black voids behind.

[Void Divine Fire · Domain Expansion]

- Range: One kilometer in diameter

- Effect: All units within range lose 1% of their existence per second

- Lin Zhou's Divinity Integrity: 80% → 79% → 78%...

Lin Zhou did not retreat. The river of civilization surged out from his divine kingdom, turning into a teal-gold torrent that rushed toward Major General Huo En. The river collided with the divine fire, making a sizzling sound. Major General Huo En's repair speed was completely suppressed, and his integrity plummeted from 80% to 60%, 40%, 20%...

[river of civilization · Purification]

- Target: Major General Huo En

- Cost: 100,000 Divine Power per minute

- Effect: Integrity -5% per second

- Net Damage: 5% per second

Major General Huo En's body began to turn transparent. He felt no fear, no pain, only counterattacking mechanically. A pure white beam of light shot toward Lin Zhou. Lin Zhou dodged, but the beam grazed his shoulder. The existence of his left arm was deleted once again—the newly reshaped part vanished once more.

[Lin Zhou · Status]

- Left Arm: Existence deleted

- Divinity Integrity: 78% → 75%

Su Yueyao's lunar glow enveloped his left arm, accelerating the repair speed. The Fire of Civilization was also reshaping it, but the speed could not keep up with the rate of deletion.

"Captain, fall back!" Wang Meng charged forward, swinging his battleaxe at Major General Huo En's head. Major General Huo En raised his hand, and grayish-white tentacles wrapped around the battleaxe, deleting the existence of the axe blade. The battleaxe in Wang Meng's hand turned into a bare stick.

"Fuck!" Wang Meng threw away the stick and rushed at Major General Huo En bare-handed.

"Wang Meng!" Qin Qing pulled him back with the Net of Law. "Don't get close, his Existence Deletion is area-of-effect."

Wang Meng was pulled back. Lin Zhou condensed the Fire of Civilization once more. This time, instead of using a sword, he compressed the river of civilization into a beam of light and fired it from his palm.

[river of civilization · Compression Cannon]

- Attack Power: Full-power strike of a mid-stage great divine power × 5 (Focused)

- Cost: 200,000 Divine Power

- Effect: Damage to the Guixu faction +2000%

The beam of light struck Major General Huo En's chest. His body began to disintegrate from his chest outward, grayish-white mist surging wildly, and the dark red patterns shattered. His integrity plummeted from 20% to 0%.

[Major General Huo En · Status]

- Integrity: 0%

- Void Puppet: Dissipated

Major General Huo En's body turned into grayish-white specks of light, dissipating into the Void Realm. This time, he did not resurrect again. Even the power of the Lord of Nothingness could not save him.

Lin Zhou knelt on one knee, panting heavily. The existence of his left arm had been restored—repaired by the double effects of Su Yueyao's lunar glow and the Fire of Civilization. However, his divinity integrity had dropped to 70%, and he had lost some more memories. He remembered his name was Lin Zhou, and he remembered he was the Legion Commander of the Civilization Guardian Legion, but some details had become blurry.

"Captain, your memories..." Su Yueyao looked at him with concern.

"It's fine. The Fire of Civilization can rebuild them." Lin Zhou stood up and looked in the direction where Major General Huo En had dissipated. "Major General Huo En is completely dead. Even the power of the Lord of Nothingness cannot save him."

"His power seems to have weakened," Li Mo said, analyzing the data. "The Lord of Nothingness was interrupted just as he was awakening, consuming a vast amount of power. Being able to resurrect Major General Huo En was already his limit."

"Does that mean his awakening will be even slower?"

"Theoretically, yes. The countdown to his awakening might be extended from one year to one and a half years."

Lin Zhou nodded. "That's enough."

He turned and looked at the team.

"Let's go, back to the fortress."

After returning to the fortress, Lin Zhou submitted the battle report to the Command Headquarters. Major General Huo En had completely fallen, and Zhou Tianxing had fallen as well. The highest echelon of the Void Sect was completely wiped out. But the Lord of Nothingness was still there, the anchor point was still there, and Guixu was still there.

Lin Zhou stood on the city wall, looking in the direction of the Chaos Star Domain. Within the grayish-white mist, dark red points of light were still flashing. Those were the anchor points of the Lord of Nothingness; though half had been purified, the other half remained.

"Captain, what are you thinking about?" Qin Qing walked over.

"Thinking that in one and a half years, the Lord of Nothingness will completely awaken."

"Can we win?"

"Yes." Lin Zhou looked in the direction of the New Universe. "Because we are not alone."

He walked down from the city wall and returned to the barracks. The Fire of Civilization burned, illuminating the path ahead, as well as those who waited.