57: Chapter 57 What I'm exploding isn't a punch, it's a predetermined fate.

The moment the mirror light shattered, the entire Abyss seemed to fall silent for an instant.

The biting cold wind stopped, and even the flow of time appeared to be frozen.

The core at the bottom of the Abyss was finally exposed before the two of them without any concealment.

It was an incomparably massive black heart, its surface covered in knotted sinews, slowly beating with a bizarre rhythm.

Countless scarlet, blood-like vines sprouted from the heart, coiling and lingering like venomous snakes. At the tips of these vines, a black nucleus radiating an ominous aura was suspended.

And surrounding the black nucleus, twelve ancient bronze mirrors rotated slowly along an arcane trajectory.

Eleven of them were already covered in cracks, their light dim. Only the last one remained as flawless as new.

Every mirror, whether shattered or intact, reflected the same scene—a trial participant, fanatical in expression, kneeling on the ground and personally offering the heart of the person they cherished most to the formless Throne.

That was the 'completion' path of the other trial participants.

"Heh heh... Heh heh heh..."

Sounds of thousands of voices, male and female, old and young, some sharp, some deep, some manic, some weeping, overlapped and rang out from the black nucleus, converging into a demonic sound that shook the soul.

"You all think you've won just by shattering a few mirrors?" The voice of the heart nightmare carried endless mockery and pity. "This is merely a transition of fate, a struggle destined to play out in the script. The ending? The ending has long been written—Su Shuang must die, and you, Chen Fan, must step over her corpse to ascend that one and only Throne!"

As the voice faded, the perfectly intact bronze mirror shone brightly, and the scene within it became incredibly clear—a Chen Fan, clad in a long robe woven with stars, stood expressionless atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. In his hand, he tightly clutched a still-beating, nine-tailed fox heart belonging to Su Shuang.

Chen Fan's eyes showed no fluctuation. He merely protected the slightly weakened Su Shuang behind him more tightly, the corner of his mouth curving into an expression of extreme coldness.

"When did it become your turn, you cowardly skulker, to write the script for my life?"

The copper coin in his palm and the crimson-veined copper coin on his chest resonated as never before. Amidst the buzzing sound, streams of scorching red light burst forth from his body, flowing over his entire form like magma, enveloping both him and Su Shuang.

That searing aura actually made the surrounding blood-silk vines recoil in fear for a moment.

Just then, Su Shuang suddenly raised her hand, her fair fingertips drawing an almost imperceptible wound. A drop of crimson blood accurately dripped onto the copper coin in Chen Fan's palm.

"Buzz--!"

The crimson veins on the copper coin seemed to come alive, frantically absorbing this drop of essence blood containing the Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline.

Su Shuang's eyes instantly became exceptionally clear, as if layers of fog had been dispersed, allowing her to see the concealed truth.

She spoke quickly in a low voice, yet her words clearly reached Chen Fan's ears: "I remember now... Chen Fan, the purpose of the Twin Trial was never just to repair my incomplete bloodline... Its true objective was to utilize our bond to ignite the legendary 'Fire of Defying Fate' that is capable of incinerating all destiny!"

The nine fox tails behind her moved without wind, lifting up elegantly and resolutely, pointing directly at the 'Mirror of Truth and Falsehood' reflecting the 'future'.

She looked at the Chen Fan in the mirror, holding her heart and coldly ascending to the summit. Far from feeling fear, she instead broke into a devastatingly beautiful smile. That smile held a trace of sorrow, but overwhelmingly, it held an unshakable trust.

"Do you see? If you truly become that kind of King, then I would rather die here in this sunless Abyss right now."

"Jie jie jie jie! Well said! So moving!" The heart nightmare's laughter turned sharp and violent. "Since you wish to die so badly, this Venerable One shall grant your wish! Feel the torrent of fate, you ants!"

Before the words fell, the twelve bronze mirrors suddenly accelerated their rotation, transforming into a blurry ring of blood-colored light!

The beating black heart violently contracted, and the myriad blood-silk vines wrapped around it instantly erupted, like arrows loosed from a bow, like venomous pythons seeking life, attacking from all directions through the air, their sharp tips aimed directly at the two's throats and hearts!

Every vine carried a whistling sound that tore through space, sealing off all possibility of evasion!

"Seeking death!" Chen Fan's eyes sharpened. His right fist clenched, and magnificent red light converged on the fist's edge, intending to meet this sky-covering killing intent with the most vigorous posture.

"Don't move!" Su Shuang's voice rang out first. "Use my blood to lure them in!"

In a flash of lightning and flint, Su Shuang moved first!

She did not retreat, but instead stepped forward. The nine fox tails behind her drew nine brilliant silver trajectories in the air, like a giant net, actively meeting the bloodthirsty vines!

"Puchi! Puchi!"

Several of the thickest vines instantly pierced through the fox tails, greedily beginning to suck out the pure demonic power and blood contained within.

Su Shuang let out a muffled groan from the intense pain, her face instantly turning pale, but in her fox eyes, the brilliant light of a successful plan flickered!

The moment the vines began to draw blood, she unhesitatingly detonated the talent she had already prepared!

[Charm Critical Hit x 2]!

An invisible, massive charm energy, sufficient to distort the mind, instantly erupted from her body!

But this energy was not released outward; instead, the instant it touched the vines, it was captured by a stronger suction force—the source of that suction was the system within Chen Fan's body!

[Warning! Detected injection of high-level energy of the same origin!]

[Twin Critical Hit Module Determination: Cooperative Combat Established!]

[Skill 'Charm Critical Hit' Energy Capture Successful... Activating 'Energy Accumulation' Mode!]

"Now!" Chen Fan roared low. He did not waste the one ten-thousandth of a second Su Shuang had created!

He clearly felt a pure and massive energy being conducted backward through the few vines connected to Su Shuang's fox tails, ultimately flowing into his right fist!

The red light already blazing like the sun on his fist was now being compressed wildly!

One layer! Two layers! Three layers!

The extreme compression caused the ball of red light to shift from dazzling to restrained, condensing into a fist-sized, dark-red singularity that seemed on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

The surrounding space groaned under the unbearable pressure of this power.

"I was waiting for this moment—Explode for me!"

Chen Fan's furious roar echoed through the Abyss!

His right fist shot out fiercely!

[Charged Critical Hit x 3] stacked with [Cooperative Critical Hit]!

This punch did not even create a world-shaking gust of wind; all the power was perfectly bound to the fist's edge.

However, before the punch landed, the black nucleus itself sensed a threat sufficient to cause its complete annihilation!

"Dream on!" The heart nightmare let out a terrified shriek.

The twelve rotating bronze mirrors instantly stopped, turning in unison to form an unbreakable mirror shield in front of the black nucleus. Blood light flowed across the mirror surface, forming the absolute defense of the Rules of Fate!

Chen Fan's fist, wrapped in world-destroying power, fiercely slammed toward the mirror shield!

However, just as the fist was about to touch the mirror surface, the dark-red energy singularity abruptly... extinguished.

All power, all might, vanished without a trace in that one ten-thousandth of a second, as if it had never existed.

This was a 1.2-second delay intentionally applied by Chen Fan!

The heart nightmare was first stunned, then burst into triumphant, wild laughter: "Foolish..."

Before the laughter finished, a sudden change occurred!

Su Shuang's fox eyes, which had been locked onto the battlefield, erupted with an unprecedented brilliant divine light!

"Now!"

The true effect of her undeployed [Charm Critical Hit] was unleashed at this moment!

That energy which had been sucked away by the vines and captured by Chen Fan's system was, in fact, an extension of her spiritual power!

She used her spirit as a guide to detonate this energy remotely!

This energy did not attack the heart nightmare; instead, like the most precise catalyst, it was channeled backward into Chen Fan's seemingly dissipated punch!

Boom--!!!

A power ten, a hundred times more violent than before erupted violently on the surface of the mirror shield the instant the 1.2-second delay ended!

The perfect combination of delayed attack and secondary detonation formed an unprecedented attack pattern!

[Rule Critical Hit] triggered!

The system within Chen Fan experienced an unprecedented misjudgment at this moment!

It could not comprehend this attack method of 'energy disappearing and then reappearing,' judging it to be an 'environmental chain reaction' not initiated by the host!

The system's judgment directly deceived the rules of the Abyss!

Abyss Rule Judgment: This attack is a 'natural collapse' and does not count as external invasion!

The 'Absolute Defense of Fate' set up by the heart nightmare was useless against a 'natural collapse'!

"Kacha... Kacha kacha..."

Clear cracking sounds rang out. First the first bronze mirror, then the second, the third... The twelve mirror shields, claimed to be indestructible, shattered in succession like an ice surface struck by pebbles!

"No... Impossible! How... how could you... rewrite the rules..."

The heart nightmare let out an unbelievable, fear-filled scream.

The mirror shield shattered, and the black nucleus was completely exposed!

The residual force of Chen Fan's delayed exploding punch had not yet dissipated, and immediately following it, his third, already prepared strike—an angry iron fist imbued with the 'Fire of Defying Fate'—smashed into the core of the beating black heart without obstruction!

"Aaaaaahhhh--!"

Amidst an ultimate, piercing wail, the heart nightmare's black nucleus, along with the giant heart, disintegrated inch by inch, turning into a sky full of scattering black-red light spots that finally vanished into nothingness.

With its death, the billions of blood-silk vinesEntanglement the Abyss also seemed to lose all vitality, rapidly withering and decaying within a few seconds, turning into a pile of ashen-gray powder.

The stone tablet that had always stood in the center of the Abyss floor, carved with countless trajectories of fate, also let out a groan of being overwhelmed. With a 'rumble,' a massive fissure split it down the middle.

The back of the stone tablet revealed etchings never before seen by others—a line of text written in blood, filled with the meaning of a curse—

"In the Starlight Tower, there is your name, and there is her death date."

Chen Fan quickly stepped forward, scooped up Su Shuang, who had collapsed from blood loss and exhaustion, and held her tightly in his arms.

Almost simultaneously, the system prompt sounded in his mind:

[Congratulations Host! Twin Critical Hit Module fully activated!]

[New Function: Shared Delay.

Delay Limit: 3 seconds.

The host and the bonded partner can store one attack each and stack or release them sequentially at any time point.]

Chen Fan raised his head, his gaze passing through the entrance of the Abyss to look out at the world still raging with wind and snow.

He looked down at the pale-faced but faintly smiling Su Shuang in his arms, and then looked at the cracked stone tablet.

"Name? Death date?" he murmured softly, his voice devoid of discernible emotion, yet carrying a determination capable of melting ice and snow.

"Very well—then I will ensure this damned tower can never engrave anyone's fate again."

A thousand miles away, above the clouds.

A colossal tower, invisible to mortals, pierced straight into the heavens, its body seemingly forged from starlight, radiating an eternal, unchanging majesty.

At the very moment the heart nightmare disintegrated in the Abyss floor, on the summit of the Starlight Tower, a majestic figure wearing a crown, whose face could not be discerned, slowly, slowly raised his head.

His gaze seemed to penetrate the endless space and the wind and snow, landing precisely on the bottom of the Abyss.

A faint, almost inaudible chuckle quietly spread above the clouds, carrying a hint of approval, a hint of amusement, and a hint of... long-awaited pleasure.

"You have finally... reached this place."

As the words fell, the cold wind in the Abyss began to howl again.

The wind stirred up countless fragments of shattered mirror reflections, flickering with strange light in the air, like scattered stars.

And deep within the fissure of the cracked stone tablet of fate, a dark-red halo, deeper than blood and more ominous than a curse, was silently and slowly seeping out, staining the surrounding ground with an ominous hue.