194: Chapter 194 You're Going to Lose!

Being watched by that kind of excited gaze, Lu Yin's heart trembled slightly.

He could feel a higher-level life form casting its gaze upon him.

It was like an ant suddenly attracting the attention of a passing human.

"I have waited too long."

The voice of the Athena Projection changed. It no longer echoed in overlapping layers, but instead transformed into a single, clear tone filled with wisdom and fighting intent.

The spear of victory in her hand vibrated gently as she spoke, and the pure white flames suddenly retracted.

They turned into a flowing liquid halo, wrapping around the shaft of the spear.

"Long enough that I almost came to believe that atop this endless divine throne, only eternal 'correctness' remained."

She took a step forward, and a staircase of light automatically condensed in the void beneath her feet.

"But you are not him."

Athena's gaze locked onto Lu Yin, her eyes flickering with the cold, rational light of analysis—the manifestation of the Divine Authority of Wisdom.

"Your soul is weak, fleeting, and full of flaws... but your 'death' bears his shadow."

"Is it a fragment? An inheritance? Or... a ridiculous coincidence?"

"But regardless of which it is, it means that you are coming back..."

The Athena Projection spoke words that seemed to come from nowhere.

Yet the amount of information within those words sent Lu Yin into deep thought.

He steadied his retreating figure, the blade of annihilation trembling slightly in his hand.

The roaring souls upon the blade seemed to resonate with Athena's words, letting out even more piercing shrieks.

The Athena Projection slowly raised her eyes, her gaze piercing through the flying embers of divine power to land on Lu Yin.

"Regardless of whether you are him or not, you are very interesting."

Her voice returned to that multi-layered echo, but every syllable carried substantial weight, pressing down until the space within the temple hummed and vibrated.

"Your 'death' is not a complete authority, yet it carries 'his' aura."

The spear of victory in Athena's hand pointed diagonally toward the ground, its pure white flames flickering like breath.

"Did a fragment choose you by chance, or are you... originally a chosen vessel?"

Lu Yin did not answer, only gripping the blade of eternal silence tighter.

In truth, he already had an answer in his heart.

Whether he was the other party's vessel or the other party had chosen him didn't matter.

He was Lu Yin, an ordinary person who had transmigrated from that original world.

At times, Lu Yin was even grateful to the other party for giving him this fantastical and wonderful journey.

Whatever the outcome, he had finally done the things he wanted to do.

Whether he lived or died would be entirely decided by him.

It wouldn't be like his previous life—an awkward existence where he couldn't live well when he wanted to, and couldn't die when he wanted to.

Lu Yin's knuckles turned slightly white, and the cold sensation of the blade of eternal silence came from beneath his fingertips.

The shrieking dead souls on the blade seemed to sense something as well.

Amidst the hissing, there was an added trace of inexpressible trembling—not fear, but more like... some distant and blurry resonance.

"Who I am is not important."

Lu Yin suppressed the surging stray thoughts in his heart, his voice sounding exceptionally clear amidst the aftershocks of the divine power's surge.

"What is important is that the one standing before you right now is me."

Upon hearing this, the corners of the Athena Projection's lips seemed to twitch upward by a tiny fraction.

It wasn't a smile, but a sharp expression that bordered on appreciation.

However, she did not speak further, instead slowly leveling the spear of victory in her hand.

The liquid halo retracted at the tip of the spear flowed slower and slower, yet it emitted a pressure that felt as if it would freeze one's very soul.

"Then, prove to me that you are worthy of this 'choice'."

Before her voice had even faded, Athena's figure suddenly vanished.

Lu Yin's pupils shrank abruptly, and he immediately shifted his various attributes into Strength and Agility.

In this kind of close-quarters combat, these two attributes were undoubtedly the most important.

Although the drop in Constitution lowered his Health Points,

with the Sovereign-Subject Connection, HP and Defense were not the standards that limited him.

"Oracle: Heavenly Punishment!"

The light of the temple changed its texture the moment Athena's words fell.

It no longer flowed or diffused; instead, it suddenly "stood up."

Billions of blades of light, thin as razors, condensed out of thin air from every angle of the void, standing straight up like a forest of light that had suddenly sprouted.

Every blade of light precisely reflected Lu Yin's current figure, as if they had been waiting there for billions of years.

This was not an attack.

This was a "definition."

It was the Goddess of Wisdom and War using divine authority as her pen and rules as her ink to issue an "edict" upon this space.

All who stand here must receive "Heavenly Punishment."

Lu Yin felt his whole body grow heavy.

It wasn't weight or restraint, but as if "existence" itself had been shackled.

Every movement he made, every breath he took, even the Power of Death coursing through his body—

all seemed to violate some unspeakable "correctness," triggering the "judgment" of the static blades of light surrounding him.

This was divine authority—the power of a god.

Any mortal appeared incomparably tiny before such power, left at the mercy of others.

And just as those "divine punishments" were about to fall upon Lu Yin's body, a figure burning with black flames boldly blocked his path.

"Black Flame Shield Counter!"

Kasa, like a rapidly approaching meteor, raised a shield burning with black flames.

At the moment the divine punishment blades slashed down, he stood before Lu Yin without hesitation.

Boom!

The laws of light collided with the burning darkness.

There was no explosion, no airwave—only a sharp sound that exceeded the limits of hearing.

-21356565! -22356454! -25325645!

...

The moment the divine punishment blades hit the black flame shield, Kasa's figure shook violently.

Countless damage numbers surfaced above his head.

That suit of pitch-black heavy armor cracked inch by inch under the light of judgment, with blazing white fissures bursting from the gaps.

Yet he did not retreat a single step. The muscles on his shield-bearing arm bulged, and soul-fire burned crazily in his eyes.

His tall figure was like a candle in the wind under the impact of the divine punishment, yet at the very moment he was about to completely disintegrate—

"Guardian's Wrath!"

Yarberna charged out with her giant hammer, letting out a war cry filled with awe-inspiring power.

She swung the giant hammer in a full circle, not hitting any of the light blades, but slamming it hard into the void in front of Kasa!

Thud!

A dull boom that made the soul tremble exploded.

Centering on the point of impact, a ring of black ripples blasted outward.

It wasn't a diffusion of energy, but a will to protect.

Everywhere the black ripples passed, those blades of judgment actually stalled simultaneously, like a forest of steles shaken by an invisible giant hand.

As the next second passed, the sanctions symbolizing divine judgment shattered with a bang.

This didn't just mean they had withstood the blow; it symbolized that they possessed the power to defy a god.

"It looks like you're going to lose."

Lu Yin watched the scene before him, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.