29: Chapter 29 The Fateful Finale

When Monitor Zhou Yi's name appeared on the list of finalists, the roar of the entire stadium stalled for a split second.

Immediately following this was an even more deafening uproar of confusion and disbelief.

"How could it be Monitor Zhou Yi? Didn't Jiang Xun crush him during the monthly assessment? How did he win the other semifinal?"

"I heard his opponent forfeited directly. His face was deathly pale before even stepping onto the stage, as if he'd seen something terrifying."

"Something's wrong, something's very wrong…"

In the mentors' seating area, the principal and the mentors frowned, pulling up the footage of Monitor Zhou Yi's previous matches. On screen, every one of his opponents had appeared dazed before the battle even began, ultimately suffering inexplicable defeats as if they had been subjected to mental attacks.

In a corner of the spectator stands, the hint of relief and the smile on Xu Qingran's face slowly faded, replaced by cold vigilance. She knew Monitor Zhou Yi's character better than anyone; someone whose spine had already been broken could never stand back up on his own, unless… he had sold something far more important.

Amidst tens of thousands of gazes filled with shock, curiosity, and pity, Monitor Zhou Yi slowly walked onto the battle stage.

His complexion flushed with a sickly crimson, and his eyes no longer held mere resentment, but a distortion mixed with excitement and madness. He stared fixedly at Jiang Xun, hoarse laughter squeezing from his throat like a broken bellows.

"Jiang Xun… you didn't expect this, did you? We meet again."

"You took my glory, my status, everything I had… Today, I will return everything you inflicted upon me a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"

"I will tear apart your divine kingdom, slaughter every one of your believers, extract your divine soul, and turn it into a wick for my throne, to wail for eternity!"

These crazed words made many students present feel uncomfortable; this didn't feel like a match, but rather a declaration of a fight to the death.

Jiang Xun calmly walked onto the stage and pushed up his glasses; the gaze behind the lenses was as sharp as a knife. He sensed an extremely dangerous and nauseating aura coming from Monitor Zhou Yi.

The bell signaling the start of the finals rang out.

"Jiang Xun, open your dog eyes and see clearly—this is the power you will never be able to reach!"

Monitor Zhou Yi roared, and instead of summoning the Thunder Colossus as usual, he pulled a fist-sized, pitch-black crystal from his robes!

The crystal pulsed like a living thing, its surface covered in eerie dark purple veins, and an evil, chaotic, and filthy aura instantly radiated from it!

"What… is that?!"

"Such… such a disgusting feeling, my divine soul is trembling!"

The students in the front rows of the spectator stands turned deathly pale in an instant, and many even began to retch on the spot.

In the mentors' seating area, the principal stood up abruptly, exclaiming in shock: "An artifact of an evil god! How could he have something like this?!"

At that moment, Monitor Zhou Yi held the "Corruption Core" high and slammed it down onto his own divine kingdom sand table.

"With my divine soul as a sacrifice, I welcome the power of the abyss! Descend, my Fallen Titan!"

Rumble!!!

The figure of the Thunder Colossus coalesced within the sand table, but this time, the pitch-black crystal merged directly into its chest.

"ROAR—!!!"

A painful roar, not like that of a construct but of an abyss demon, erupted from the colossus's mouth.

The holy golden lightning originally on its body was stained with an ominous dark purple at a speed visible to the naked eye. Its massive body expanded once more, muscles twisting and knotting, sharp bone spurs grew from its skin, and its once majestic face became hideous and terrifying.

Most unsettling of all was that countless twisted black runes, writhing like living things, appeared all over its body.

The original Thunder Colossus had completely mutated into a Fallen Titan over fifteen meters tall, exuding an aura of endless destruction and chaos!

It was no longer a creation of a god, but a projection of the abyss; the entire arena was shrouded in a chilling fear that originated from the soul.

In the split second the entire arena fell into a deathly silence, two unremarkable figures at the back of the spectator stands saw their expressions change drastically at the same time.

"It's the mark of the 'Void Whisper'!"

Old Baitou and Lame Zhang exchanged a look, both seeing the shock and fury in the other's eyes.

"The Zhou family… they actually dared to collude with that bunch of lunatics!"

Jiang Xun's expression became incomparably grave for the first time the moment the Fallen Titan took form.

His movement of pushing up his glasses even showed an extremely unusual pause; while others only felt fear, he had genuinely recognized the source of this power.

It was an aura of the same origin as the extraterrestrial evil god from the historical records of his past life—the one that had destroyed countless brilliant civilizations and dragged billions of living beings into eternal darkness!

The nature of this battle had completely changed.

"Hahaha…! Jiang Xun! Feel despair!"

Monitor Zhou Yi acted like a madman, commanding the Fallen Titan to attack. The Fallen Titan used no tactics, simply swinging its giant fist, wreathed in dark purple evil energy, and smashed it down toward Jiang Xun's divine kingdom!

That punch even tore the space of the sand table, emitting a wail of unbearable strain!

"Rock Battle Soul! Raise your shield!"

Jiang Xun immediately gave the order.

However, the moment that evil-energy-infused fist descended, the golden battle soul shield, which was said to be able to withstand the attacks of the Thunder Colossus, shattered instantly as if it were made of paper!

Boom!

With just a single strike, Jiang Xun's believer battle formation was torn open, a huge gap created. Dozens of believers were instantly annihilated by that violent evil energy, not leaving a single trace behind.

Jiang Xun's pupils contracted sharply.

His divine kingdom had suffered such heavy casualties for the first time!

"It's useless! It's useless!" Monitor Zhou Yi laughed maniacally. "Before the great power of the abyss, the struggles of you mortals are so laughable!"

The Fallen Titan took a step forward, ignoring the harassment attacks of other believers. Its massive body charged straight ahead, its target only one—Jiang Xun's divine kingdom core!

Every one of its attacks caused the land of Jiang Xun's divine kingdom to crack and the laws to wail.

Jiang Xun issued orders continuously, attempting to use hit-and-run tactics and focused fire to replicate the strategy that had defeated the Thunder Colossus.

But in the face of this absolute power and the eerie, corrosive evil energy, any tactic seemed pale and weak.

A rout.

An unprecedented rout.

In just three short minutes, Jiang Xun's divine kingdom was already devastated, with over half of his believers killed or injured.

The situation was precarious.

The entire arena was deathly silent; everyone was too terrified by this overwhelming, evil power to make a sound.

Xu Qingran's hands were clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palms; she didn't even notice the blood flowing out. For the first time, her eyes revealed an emotion called "fear."

The Fallen Titan finally broke through the last line of defense and arrived before the core of Jiang Xun's divine kingdom.

It raised its sky-obscuring giant fist high, the dark purple evil energy gathering to its peak, forming an energy ball capable of destroying everything.

Everyone held their breath, as if they had already seen the ending where the youth who had risen like a dark horse, along with his divine kingdom, were completely wiped out by this punch.

A look of extreme, sickly ecstasy appeared on Monitor Zhou Yi's face.

It was over.

Everything was over!

However, the very moment that fist of destruction was about to fall.

Jiang Xun, in his desperate situation, closed his eyes instead.

Amidst all the gazes—some worried, some terrified, some gloating—he slowly took out the ancient god fragment from his robes, which he had kept close to him, emitting a warm, golden light.

That faint yet eternal light appeared so out of place in this arena shrouded in dark purple, yet it was also so… dazzling.

Jiang Xun opened his eyes, and there was no longer any ripple in his gaze, leaving only endless determination and holiness.

He gently pressed that ancient god fragment against his own brow.

An ancient, solemn voice, as if it had traversed eons of time, resounded in his heart and throughout the entire world.

"In the name of civilization, awaken the sleeping guardian!"