Sabom’s eyes blazed with an eerie red glow, its roar so deafening it could rupture even a beastman’s eardrums. But in the instant it prepared to unleash its fury on the tiny golden figure, Celi was already perched atop Sabom’s stone sword. She drew her spear, now crackling with thunder, and aimed straight at its head…
The entire sequence took less than a second.
“Swish—!”
Bracing against the stone sword beneath her feet, she hurled the golden spear with all her might. It pierced Sabom’s skull with pinpoint accuracy and rocketed upward, parting vast swaths of clouds like a curtain being torn aside.
This was the power of the War God.
It was said that this War God needed no so-called hero. She could save thousands of worlds in crisis all by herself.
Sabom’s head shattered, and it went limp like a spaceship that had lost all power, plummeting downward…
But just as Celi sensed the battle’s end, a rush of wind from behind forced her to whip her head around.
“Bam—!”
It felt like an entire mountain range crashing down on her. The stone sword swatted her away like a fly, sending her flying a full kilometer. She hadn’t even fully registered what happened before she slammed into the peaks of several mountains, sending countless rocks flying in all directions… Only then did she manage to steady herself.
“Is this… the Evil Dragon’s power? So utterly despairing, Xuefei.”
There was more than one Sabom.
Feeding on the negative emotions born from the land’s recorded strife and endless wars, Sabom could summon far more than a single body… for they were creatures sustained by such darkness.
Dark clouds swallowed the moonlight once more. In this pitch-black night devoid of light, only a few scarlet giant eyes glimmered faintly.
Golden cracks spiderwebbed across Celi’s body, as if she might burst open like an eggshell at any moment.
“Hit your limit already?” Xuefei laughed. “Isn’t it time to give up? Your body can’t sustain the reckless use of divine power.”
Unless, like the Evil Dragon, she could convert that divine power into something profane and wield it.
“You don’t understand. You don’t understand at all…”
The stone-armored giants—each as massive as a city wall—closed in on her, but Celi refused to yield.
She clutched the Endless Treasure tight, then opened her mouth and swallowed the entire artifact whole!
Her eyes locked onto the Evil Dragon, whose body was wreathed in crimson-purple energy—the airborne Xuefei. Celi transformed into golden light once more and charged at her unbeatable foe…
She was powerful, yes, but still not quite enough… Not compared to the gods. Not compared to Xuefei herself, who had absorbed a god’s power along with the Endless Treasure!
Her speed built relentlessly. Even when Sabom caught sight of her, its fragile stone sword failed to swat her away as before. Instead, it shattered and crumbled beneath the golden shield on her left arm, utterly ineffective.
Celi sliced through the clouds with effortless grace, an unstoppable force.
The green glow of the Endless Treasure mended the cracks on her body, fusing her form even deeper with divine power. Now, she was stronger than ever!
She effortlessly pulverized Sabom’s hearts, and the stone-armored giants toppled one after another like collapsing walls.
Finally, five stone swords converged on her from all sides. Celi gathered her divine power at her core and unleashed a shockwave. Everything in its path reduced to pathetic dust.
Only Xuefei remained.
Celi had won the fight.
She gathered her strength and flung her golden spear, impaling Xuefei’s body. A golden shockwave erupted like divine judgment, illuminating the night as brightly as if the sun had risen…
That would be enough to make Xuefei suffer.
“Has it ended?”
The golden light faded as Celi descended to the scarred ground below. She leaped atop the highest pile of rubble and squinted into the sky, searching for any sign of the exhausted Xuefei.
She would reshape the future of the Snake Demon Country. With this heaven-sent power, she would reclaim everything that was hers. If she ruled the Camiran Continent with the gods’ might and brought peace, their anger would subside, ushering in greater happiness for all. Celi had no intention of killing Xuefei, but to evade the gods’ notice, she would have to turn her into a stone statue for now.
But just as she prepared to call for her surrender, Xuefei’s voice echoed from behind like that of a ghost:
“You’re still a bit lacking when it comes to battle.”
“What do you mean?” Celi’s face filled with confusion, though she mostly figured Xuefei was just trying to unnerve her.
Unscathed after all that? As expected of the Evil Dragon. But it was over.
The Endless Treasure wasn’t just for arming oneself—it could fuse with its wielder, stabilizing the power within.
That must be why the Endless Treasure, relic of her ancestors, had chosen her: to become the “new god of the Camiran Continent.”
Of course, she owed it all to the gods who had granted her their power.
“You’re trying to keep the Snake Demon Country from living under someone else’s roof, and you dared to use the gods’ bestowed power without permission. It was strong, to be sure, but you made a grave mistake. And you never anticipated what bringing us to the Royal Palace would unleash.”
“What?”
Something felt off.
Celi tried to summon her power to knock Xuefei out cold, but the War God’s strength seemed utterly disobedient.
All of a sudden, golden cracks spiderwebbed across Celi’s body. Her eyes flew wide as excruciating pain forced her to her knees.
“Urgh…!”
What was happening? Had the Endless Treasure failed? Why was the divine power turning against her?
Had her power vanished?
She had clearly just used it moments ago.
Only then did Celi notice that the Endless Treasure was still clutched in her palm—she hadn’t swallowed it at all. She lifted her head slightly, her golden pupils reflecting Xuefei’s beaming smile, and demanded in an almost accusatory tone:
“What did you do?”
Xuefei paid her no mind. Instead, she propped her chin on her hand with a look of utter boredom, eyeing the baffled Celi with keen interest. “The one who killed Okate and usurped his godhood, calling himself Alres. He’s no fighter, but he’s a master of stealth, all thanks to that creepy ability of his.”
“Mirror Reversal.”
“Once you’re trapped in it, everything resets from the start—like a mirror’s reflection, crafting illusions that feel all too real.”
“That’s impossible!”
No one could reverse the act of swallowing the Endless Treasure right in front of her eyes! The conditions to activate that power were insanely strict. Unless… Xuefei had tampered with the Endless Treasure before she ever got her hands on it.
But the truth was, the Endless Treasure had been under Celi’s watchful eye the entire time.
Refusing to accept it, Celi swallowed the treasure once more. In her daze, however, she watched it reappear in her hand as if the previous moment had never happened—reduced to nothing but a fleeting phantom.
Xuefei crossed her arms, her little dragon tail swishing back and forth as she chuckled.
“So who told you I’d messed with the Endless Treasure?”
“Could it be…?”
Celi’s eyes widened in disbelief at the reality before her. With a thud, she dropped to her knees.
So that was it?
That’s what Xuefei had meant…
She must have seen through Celi’s scheme back in the Royal Palace.
“Using the Hero to muddy the source of the gods’ power was a clever trick, but you need to understand—our fight was meaningless from the very beginning. No… the moment you chose to believe the gods were paragons of justice, failure was all that awaited you.”
Those who became pawns of the gods never met a good end. Xuefei knew that better than most. And she counted herself among the lucky ones—at least she knew full well that Mo Ran was one of the gods’ pawns.
A golden orb suddenly materialized in Xuefei’s hand. Celi didn’t dare meet her gaze, bowing her head low. Of course she knew what that meant…
The mirror’s power had activated back in the Royal Palace.
In that instant, the golden bracelet on Celi’s wrist vanished.
She had placed the orb containing the War God’s power near the Hero to throw off any scrutiny, but even that hadn’t fooled Xuefei…
This was all her own doing. Self-inflicted doom.
“I’ll be taking the War God’s power now, Celi.” Xuefei’s expression turned frigid. “For the crime of insulting the Dragon King, you know what the punishment is, don’t you?”
…
Meanwhile, atop the Evil Dragon Palace, a gentle breeze stirred, lifting the girl’s silver-white locks.
Her exquisite beauty took on a haunting, solitary air under the night sky.
A few crows soared past, silent as shadows, without a single cry.
She tilted her head up toward the blood-red moon hanging overhead, let out a sigh, and exhaled—not her signature Blazing Flame…
But a soft, resentful mutter to herself:
“When is she coming home…?”
