Chapter 222

"Now is not the time to be stubborn or worried about me!"

Meanwhile, Giant Spirit Hera, while merging with Xue Ning, began to step toward Qi Xing, walking over slowly.

The islanders of Labyrinth Island, having been genetically modified by Xue Ning's bloodline, could not be considered mere mortals; they were more like monkey-version Greek demigods. Even if directly exposed to the Giant Spirit's divine radiance, they wouldn't instantly turn to ash… but prolonged exposure, much like radiation, would certainly be unsustainable.

If hit directly by the Giant Spirit's attack, needless to say, it would mean certain death.

After all, even if Qi Xing took a single hit, he would lose at least thirty percent of his health.

What to do?

"Qi Xing, only by giving me one [silver coin] will we have a chance of victory through cooperation!"

In her desperation, seeing that Qi Xing would absolutely not yield to force, Sasa had no choice—she had to soften her stance and take a step back.

"Aren't you always looking for a way to use two [silver coins] at the same time? Temporarily give me the [Dominator] silver coin—not for me to use, but to let me act as a vessel so you can use both [silver coins] simultaneously!"

Is that for real?

However, Giant Spirit Hera had already unleashed its power, which had surged to its peak. Like the moon's gravity pulling the tides, it was about to forcibly drag Qi Xing and everyone on the island toward it.

It was absolute, pure power, as if the entire moon had truly descended onto the earth; even with Qi Xing's Complete Realm, he couldn't resist it!

If they didn't come up with a plan, they were all doomed.

Damn it! This is preposterous!

"Sasa! If you screw this up again—"

Thus, Qi Xing, seeing Sasa's softened, pitiful gaze, ultimately took out the [Dominator] silver coin.

"Even if I die, I'll haunt you from the grave, you jerk!"

"Huh?!"

Volume 5: Welcome to █ █ █ Paradise! : 203: The Best Combination

What did she mean by letting Sasa act as a vessel so Qi Xing could use two [silver coins] at the same time?

Sasa had actually considered this back in Tokyo.

Qi Xing hadn't adapted yet; it would take at least three to five years before he could sufficiently use two [silver coins].

Having someone else help Qi Xing control the second [silver coin]? Sasa absolutely would not agree to that.

The ideal solution, of course, was to forge a tool capable of bearing the power of a [silver coin], but such materials were extremely rare in this world.

Until today, on Labyrinth Island, when she saw Xue Ning using Giant Spirit Hera as a vessel for a [silver coin]—though it was an illegal operation, Sasa had to admit the ingenuity of these guys.

If a Giant Spirit could be a vessel, why couldn't she, Sasa?

It was just that Qi Xing liked to complain, so she had to change the format.

Taking the [Dominator] silver coin thrown by Qi Xing, Sasa couldn't help but beam with a smug smile.

"Very good."

Holding the [Dominator] silver coin in her hand, her body began to change.

"Let me show you why I've always said your [Dominator] is being used incorrectly!"

"Huh?"

Before the words had even faded, Sasa had already disassembled.

The little evil god's spirit body seemed to instantly transform into dozens of pitch-black shadows, spiraling up with uncanny and elegant trajectories, rapidly extending, twisting, and intertwining in mid-air.

The next moment, these shadows coiled around Qi Xing's right hand, like vipers, like thorns, wrapping and attaching themselves.

An indescribable sense of heaviness suddenly fell into his palm.

It was a blade.

It was actually a blade!

It had no cold gleam; instead, it swallowed light. The blade extended with the shadows, turning from void to reality inch by inch, forming a deep, abyss-like black greatsword—large and heavy, yet extremely sharp. The [Dominator] silver coin was embedded in the hilt. It was as black as night, yet shimmered with tiny golden specks like a starry sky.

The divine body had become a blade.

A deity that should have been eternally immortal—a greatsword formed from the body of a creator who knew neither birth nor death.

Even Qi Xing, upon grasping her, couldn't help but subconsciously hold his breath, feeling every nerve in his right arm vibrating. A tyrannical, unparalleled will of the [Dominator] was slowly pouring into his body from the depths of the blade.

At the same time, this didn't require the consumption of Qi Xing's own focus.

It was as if—Sasa was sharing the burden, controlling it in tandem with him.

There was actually a trick like this?

"Don't zone out!"

Sasa's voice exploded in his mind, still in that familiar, noisy tone:

"This is only one [silver coin]! Hurry up and take out the second compatible [silver coin]!"

"I've already bestowed the possibility upon you; the rest is up to you!"

The second compatible [silver coin], in other words, using [Illusion]—

…Should he really use [Illusion]?

Qi Xing suddenly felt something was off. Sasa asked him to choose the second compatible [silver coin], but [Illusion], at best, could only be considered as mutually restraining with [Truth]. Could it really be compatible with [Dominator]?

Giant Spirit Hera wouldn't just sit by and watch Qi Xing stand there pondering while holding his new weapon; at this moment, it had already closed in.

With one step, the ground beneath its feet shattered like porcelain, and the entire island trembled, as if the island couldn't bear the weight of the Giant Spirit.

On the iron mask, nine false eyes were all aimed at Qi Xing. Giant Spirit Hera's divine power was already concentrated.

Light condensed, and nine lunar beams erupted in the same instant! The speed at which they lunged toward Qi Xing was so fast he could only see them, unable to dodge!

But there was still a split second to react.

If he only used [Illusion] power to defend, the sea would be split by the beams; if he used the [Dominator] silver coin to reinforce the Sea of Illusion, perhaps he could completely block this blow.

…At this critical juncture, Qi Xing instead made up his mind.

Just as the nine-in-one beam cannon was about to touch him, Qi Xing flicked up the [Death] silver coin and swung the black blade.

In an instant, light and blade met.

It was not blocking, nor was it deflecting. The moment the blade touched, it severed the root of the light, causing the nine concentrated divine beams to shatter instantly like moonlight passing through a prism, breaking into seventy-seven thousand rainbows that exploded in all directions!

The seven-colored light streams flew, shattering like glass, like a meteor shower tearing through the firmament and crashing onto the ground.

Half of the administrative building and the entire plaza were sliced by the rainbow light, blasted into scorched earth.

Town buildings shattered like bubbles, and immortal marble was sliced with smooth cross-sections.

In the distance, the sea erupted with towering water columns amidst the roaring explosions; air waves surged, and the blast wind swept across the streets, even blowing away the residents who were fleeing in panic at the street corners.

The shockwave swallowed everything.

Thick smoke, dust, and fragmented light intertwined and scattered.

But in the center of all this destruction, only one person stood in place.

Qi Xing held his right hand high, the black blade pointing to the sky.

He had understood.

"Very good! Very good!"

Sasa shouted happily from within the blade,

"Using it for the first time, you already know how to combine the concepts of [silver coins]!"

[Dominator] and [Death].

Thunder certainly governs life and death, but Maya also has the Heavenly King. [Illusion] and [Dominator] should also be combinable; why must [Dominator] and [Death] be the best combination?

Qi Xing didn't actually understand the mysterious principle behind it; he just felt it.

With a turn of his wrist, the blade sliced through the night, outlining a pale halo in the air.

Ghostly blue flames immediately flowed with the blade, the halo expanding instantly, like the Styx rushing backward, pouring into his entire body.

In an instant, pieces of armor emerged amidst the burning blue fire, as if cast from molten iron, following the intersecting trajectories of the light, covering Qi Xing's entire body.

A helmet resembling a bone mask condensed from the ghost fire, covering his face; in his hollow eyes, only deep light shone through, as if he were an emperor returned from the underworld.

The Giant Spirit would not feel fear.

But at this moment, even the rampaging Hera paused its movements for an instant. Because this was not thought, but instinct—a warning from the instinct of a created being.

A primal, helpless terror.

If one had to describe it, it was thick enough to be felt on the skin—

The scent of death.

The knight wielding the [Death] silver coin and wearing bone armor.

His name was "Death," and Hades followed with him, having authority to kill a fourth of humanity with sword, famine, plague, and the beasts of the earth.

The Pale Rider of the Apocalypse.

"Why is [Death] more suitable for combining with [Dominator] than [Illusion]?"

Since [Dominator] is the core silver coin, theoretically it should combine well with anything… yet [Death] seems to combine better. Why is that?

"Don't worry about such trifles!"

The dark creator temporarily merged with Qi Xing clamored excitedly from within the black blade, having the time of her life!

"A mere Giant Spirit, nothing but my shadow, daring to hit me! Beat it back! Slice it up!"

Qi Xing really wanted to complain about Sasa's lack of class… but honestly, he could indeed feel the deathly divine power, stronger than ever before, and the intoxication of the endless night, rushing through his bones and blood like the infinite Styx, available for him to use.

The authority of death was calling him to sever, to negate, to completely end all these nonsensical things before him!

—Wooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo!

Giant Spirit Hera roared in anger, and having reacted, it launched another attack. Its massive body surged like a collapsing mountain, swatting down with one palm as if swatting a mosquito.

The fifty-meter-tall Giant Spirit, its massive left hand larger than a truck, dragged a roar that tore through the air as it slammed down toward Qi Xing, yet Qi Xing did not retreat in the slightest.

He merely raised his blade—and sliced along the momentum.

As if a reenactment of the previous clash, a gray-white arc of light severed Hera's left arm in one strike! But this time, Qi Xing did not rush to pursue, only waiting coldly for the Giant Spirit's reaction.

The Giant Spirit growled low, its divine power surging; the orange-red light fluid at the severed wrist surged and flowed like a living thing, attempting to sprout a new glowing arm again, just as it had before—

But this time, when the flow of divine light touched the wound left by Qi Xing's death power, it shattered instantly. The endlessly gushing orange-red light fluid turned into decaying ash in mid-air.

No regeneration. No healing. No Restoration.

For a moment, the hollow stump of Giant Spirit Hera's entire left arm could only helplessly burn with fragmented points of light.

"The concept of [Truth] is often understood as revealing hidden things or lies, but in fact, this scope also includes 'maintaining the status quo.'"

Sasa explained happily, as if humming a tune,

"But [Death] represents destructive change. Through my [Dominator], its 'status quo' has already been changed by [Death]."

She didn't explain it very clearly, but Qi Xing indeed vaguely grasped the key.

[Illusion] is like water; water has no constant shape, yet no matter how it changes, it is still water. Qi Xing himself had said that where there is "Maya," there is "Brahman"; behind the veil of illusion, there must be Truth. [Illusion] and [Truth] are two sides of the same coin rather than mutually exclusive; they are essentially the same.

The former obscures reality through flow, the latter reveals essence through stillness.

Making others and oneself see illusions, obscuring the Truth—because one is far from the Truth, isn't one conversely closest to the Truth? This, too, is a form of Zen.

But the divine power of [Death] negates the unchanging.

[Death] is a destructive end.

Some say winter passes and spring comes, and life will cycle and regenerate, but death denies both its identity and the eternity of this cycle. What is lost cannot truly return, burnt ash cannot be restored to its original state, and broken emotions cannot be reshaped as they were. Even if a new one grows, it is not the original one.

After Giant Spirit Hera's left hand was severed by [Death] power, its "status quo" had been defined by [Dominator] and [Death] as the form of a severed arm.

Relying on the Earth Mother's life force for regeneration or relying on [Truth] for Restoration were no longer possible.

Man and blade as one, the powers of [Death] and [Dominator] merged.

Through the hilt that was wrapped around his hand like thorns, almost fused with his hand, Qi Xing could feel Sasa's joy, feel her enjoying the battle—to put it bluntly, enjoying the pleasure of beating up an opponent—and feel her pride as well as her disdain for all the myriad things of creation.

And Sasa, meanwhile, could also perceive Qi Xing's firm will, that unyielding and cold determination.