522: Chapter 457: Clash of Gods, Marshal vs. Night Owl, Sky Collapses

The moment the Fire of Civilization slashed into Night Owl's chest, his body began to disintegrate.

Gray-white specks of light surged from his seven orifices, and dark red blood evaporated into mist.

But Night Owl did not dissipate immediately.

The mass of gray-white flame in his left eye suddenly surged, overflowing from his eye socket and engulfing his entire face.

Within the flames, his consciousness had been completely devoured by Guixu, and the last shred of his humanity turned into nothingness under the scorching of the Fire of Civilization.

Night Owl's body dissipated into gray-white specks of light, but those specks did not vanish; instead, they re-condensed in the Void Realm.

It was not a human shape, but rather—a colossal phantom.

It stood about a thousand kilometers tall, entirely gray-white, with its surface covered in dark red patterns.

Its form was between human and beast; it had a head, torso, and limbs, but the ends of its limbs had no hands or feet, only gray-white tentacles.

Its eyes were two clusters of gray-white flames, hollow and cold.

This was not Night Owl.

This was a Clone condensed by the Lord of Nothingness, borrowing Night Owl's godhead and physical body.

Night Owl was dead, but his godhead had been deeply fused with Guixu for three hundred years, and Guixu energy had long since permeated every corner of his godhead.

The Fire of Civilization had purified his consciousness, but it could not purify the power that had already merged with Guixu.

Once free from the constraints of consciousness, that power spontaneously condensed into a projection of the Lord of Nothingness—stronger than the previous projection, because it had the power Night Owl had accumulated over three hundred years as its Foundation.

[Lord of Nothingness · Night Owl Incarnation]

- Rank: LV7500 (high-tier divine power Peak)

- Form: Giant humanoid, 1,000 km tall

- Trait 1: Guixu Domain — All non-Guixu rules within range become invalid, existence decays by 2% per second

- Trait 2: Void Devour — Can devour all existence, restores 1% godhead integrity per second

- Trait 3: Night Owl's Memory — Retains Night Owl's combat experience and tactics

- Weakness: Fire of Civilization (Damage +3000%)

The Marshal's face turned livid.

He recognized every pattern on this Incarnation—that was Night Owl's godhead structure, formed after being twisted by Guixu energy.

His student was dead, but the Lord of Nothingness was using his corpse to continue the battle.

"Teacher, you are old," the Incarnation spoke, its voice not Night Owl's, but that of the Lord of Nothingness, hollow and distant.

"But your student is still here. His combat experience, his tactics, his memories—they are all here. Will you destroy him with your own hands?"

The Marshal was silent for a moment, then raised his left hand.

"He is already dead. This is not him."

He leaped up and flew toward the Incarnation.

The Order Domain contracted to a diameter of one thousand kilometers, covering only the core area of the battlefield.

His right hand was completely ruined, hanging uselessly at his side, but his left hand could still fight.

Golden light condensed in his palm, and he struck toward the Incarnation's head.

The Incarnation did not dodge.

It raised its right arm, and the gray-white tentacles collided with the Marshal's golden palm.

Boom!!!

The entire Void Realm trembled, and the Guixu energy walls on both sides of the rift were cracked with countless fissures.

The Marshal was knocked back, and the Incarnation was also forced back a few steps.

[God King Duel · First Strike]

- Marshal godhead integrity: 10% → 9%

- Incarnation godhead integrity: 100% → 95%

- Aftermath: Shattered Guixu energy walls within a thousand-mile radius

Lin Zhou's river of civilization vibrated violently in the aftermath, and the water level dropped from 25% to 20%.

Wang Meng's Vanguard Battalion was blown away by the aftermath, and hundreds of soldiers were thrown thousands of meters away.

Lei Zhan's shield wall developed large cracks, and the Iron Rock Giants fell to the ground.

Su Yueyao's Moon Brilliance shield stood in front of the legion, but the shield was almost shattered by the impact of the aftermath.

"All troops, retreat!" Lin Zhou shouted. "This is not a battle we can intervene in!"

The ten vanguard legions retreated three thousand kilometers and lined up at the edge of the Marshal's Order Domain.

Even the aftermath required them to defend with all their might.

In a God King-level battle, rules collapsed and reorganized, space tore and healed, and time stagnated and flowed.

Every collision was accompanied by an energy release on the scale of star destruction.

The Marshal struck three times with his left hand in succession.

The first palm struck the Incarnation's chest, and its godhead integrity dropped from 95% to 90%.

The second palm struck the Incarnation's abdomen, and the integrity dropped to 85%.

The third palm struck the Incarnation's head, and the integrity dropped to 80%.

The Incarnation counterattacked; gray-white beams of light shot from its eyes, hitting the Marshal's left shoulder.

The Marshal's shoulder armor shattered, and his godhead integrity dropped from 9% to 8%.

[God King Duel · Data]

- Marshal godhead integrity: 9% → 8%

- Incarnation godhead integrity: 80%

- Aftermath: Shattered the Void Realm within a two-thousand-kilometer radius

Golden blood spilled from the corner of the Marshal's mouth, but he did not retreat.

He flew above the Incarnation's head, and his left hand condensed a giant golden sword—the Order Sword.

[Order Sword · Data]

- Attack Power: God King-level full-power strike × 2

- Cost: Marshal godhead integrity -2%

- Effect: Can sever Guixu rules

The sword light slashed down, cutting into the Incarnation's head.

The Incarnation let out a silent roar, and its godhead integrity dropped from 80% to 60%.

A crack a hundred kilometers deep was slashed into its head, and gray-white mist surged from the crack.

The Marshal's godhead integrity dropped from 8% to 6%.

"Teacher, how much longer can you hold on?" the Incarnation's voice came from the crack. "Your godhead integrity is only 6% left; two more strikes, and your godhead will collapse. And I still have 60%."

"Enough to kill you." The Marshal raised the Order Sword again.

The second sword slashed down, and the Incarnation's godhead integrity dropped from 60% to 40%.

The Marshal's godhead integrity dropped from 6% to 4%.

The third sword slashed down, and the Incarnation's godhead integrity dropped from 40% to 20%.

The Marshal's godhead integrity dropped from 4% to 2%.

Three sword strikes, and the Incarnation's godhead integrity was only 20% left.

The Marshal's left arm was trembling, and the golden light had dimmed to the point of being almost invisible.

His godhead integrity was only 2% left; one more strike, and his godhead would collapse.

"The final sword." The Marshal raised the Order Sword.

The Incarnation did not sit and wait for death.

It burned its remaining power, and gray-white beams of light shot from its eyes, rushing straight at the Marshal.

The Marshal did not dodge; he swung his sword down.

The sword light collided with the beams of light, exploding in the Void Realm.

As the light dissipated, the Marshal's figure was still floating in the Void Realm.

His left arm had become transparent, and his godhead integrity was only 1% left.

The Incarnation's godhead integrity dropped from 20% to 0%.

[Lord of Nothingness · Night Owl Incarnation — Dissipated]

- godhead integrity: 0%

- Status: Disintegrated

The Incarnation's body began to disintegrate, and gray-white specks of light scattered and fell.

The Marshal fell from the sky, and Lin Zhou flew over to catch him.

"Marshal!"

The Marshal opened his eyes, his gaze tired but still spirited.

"My godhead cannot hold on any longer. After returning, I need to hibernate for a period of time. I leave the closing of the Guixu rift to you."

"Yes."

The Marshal closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

His godhead integrity was only 1%, and his divine fire was as faint as a candle in the wind, but it had not extinguished.

Lin Zhou handed him over to Su Yueyao, letting her Moon Brilliance nurture his godhead.

Three days later, the Civilization Guardian Legion returned to the Iron Wall Fortress.

The Marshal was sent to the medical center in the core area of the New Universe and entered deep hibernation.

His godhead would need at least a century to recover.

After the Night Owl Incarnation dissipated, the width of the Guixu rift rebounded from 150 kilometers to 200 kilometers, but the space Anchor Point remained, and the rift did not continue to expand.

Lin Zhou stood on the Wall of Heroes, looking in the direction of that collapsed bronze gate.

The Lord of Nothingness was dead, and Night Owl was dead too.

The Guixu rift remained, but the structural diagram of the Gate of Guixu's energy core had been fully analyzed.

One month later, the reversal device would be completed.

By then, the Guixu rift would be permanently closed.

"Captain, what are you thinking about?" Su Yueyao walked over.

"I am thinking about the last sentence Night Owl said. He said that the Lord of Nothingness is dead, but Guixu remains. A new Lord of Nothingness will be born in a hundred years."

"Then what will happen in a hundred years?"

"In a hundred years, there will be a new successor to the Way of Civilization."