Monster’s Power

In Bai Cangshu’s perception, the world seemed to plunge into darkness in an instant. It was not merely the loss of sight; along with the darkness came a long night, its icy aura seeming to pierce into his very bones.

As the god of the dark side of the dualistic world of A Song of Ice and Fire, the Ancient Alien God undoubtedly possessed power surpassing that of the Fox Outer God from that polytheistic world where mystery was gradually fading away.

But precisely because he had once been God’s Favored, and had fully experienced communicating with a god through Divine Thought and receiving the empowerment of a great being’s divine power, Bai Cangshu understood even more clearly.

There was only so much a god who had not descended into a world could do.

Even the god of the One-Punch Man World could only turn an ordinary person into a Dragon-level Monster through an infusion of power.

And that was with the god being in its own world, enjoying the advantage of home ground.

Now, the Ancient Alien God had yet to descend. The divine power it could bestow was absolutely nowhere near the full, unrestricted power Bai Cangshu had received from the Fox Outer God in the previous world.

And even that version of himself was no longer an invincible opponent to the current Bai Cangshu.

Therefore, standing in the darkness, Bai Cangshu remained tall and straight. He felt no fear at having his vision stripped away. His body stood in an almost twisted, bizarre posture, his eyelids lowered.

Though he had no sight, he could still look without obstruction toward Kei Kurono’s position.

Yes, Bai Cangshu discovered that the marking effect of Gaze of Arrogance actually took priority over the unknown ability the Ancient Alien God was using through Kei Kurono’s body.

He could see nothing else, but Kei Kurono, whose outline was traced by a red phantom, was perfectly clear.

Crack, crack.

The frozen earth began to fracture. Far behind him, that enormous special White Walker was also approaching Bai Cangshu, the sound of countless feet scraping against the ground unmistakable.

Bai Cangshu stood where he was and quickly felt icy power sweep up from his feet and spread throughout his body.

In almost an instant, ice froze Bai Cangshu solid.

"Mercenary Tao, this is not your battle…"

"Leave…"

Kei Kurono’s voice became cold and distant, and no longer carried any concealed fear in the way he treated Bai Cangshu.

At the same time, masses of slimy, tentacle-like things wound around Bai Cangshu’s neck from behind, while intense negative emotions surged toward him like a tide.

Fragments of images began flashing through Bai Cangshu’s mind.

There was the despair of witnessing one’s parents and family swallowed by a collapsing building; the terror of watching one’s younger brother have his belly hollowed out by a corpse ghoul; the fear of never seeing one’s family again; the despair of having one’s life and death beyond one’s own control.

Amid those emotions, icy divine power worked in tandem. Though Kei Kurono’s body remained standing where it was, both hands pointed toward Bai Cangshu from afar, while all sorts of images churned in his ice-blue pupils.

They reflected all the killing Bai Cangshu had carried out in this world.

"That’s right, Mercenary Tao. You are merely a Scavenger who came to this world to kill. Now that your goal has been achieved, you should have left long ago…"

"Is it because you still want to hunt down Bonnie? Unfortunately, that woman was persuaded away by her companions beforehand. She has probably left this world forever…"

"You were provoked but cannot take revenge, so you’re angry? It’s fine. I already took control of that loudmouth in advance."

The next moment, it was as though a streak of aurora descended into the pitch-black world. A delicate-looking figure with shoulder-length short hair rose from the beach.

Bai Cangshu raised an eyebrow. At this moment, he could indeed sense that the person before him was flesh and blood, but the other party’s ability should not have been powerful enough to seize someone from afar.

Seeing Bai Cangshu’s expression, Kei Kurono seemed to believe his strategy had worked. With a push, he shoved Lotus in front of Bai Cangshu.

Lotus could not see anything either. He was merely shivering slightly from the cold.

"Kill him and leave this world. I can pretend none of this ever happened. In the next world, you may still spread End of Winter. You will still be… God’s Favored…"

"Heh."

Bai Cangshu chuckled and interrupted the words the Ancient Alien God had influenced Kei Kurono to say.

The phantom of Omen of the Evil God enveloped his body. The Qi and muscles within him swelled slightly, that immense power having long been primed to erupt.

"Ancient Alien God, do you think I should gratefully accept your divine grace and leave this world?"

Boom!

Powerful Qi burst explosively from Bai Cangshu’s body.

In an instant, the tentacle-like intestines wrapped around his body shattered outright.

The ice melted inch by inch, utterly unable to bind Bai Cangshu’s body.

Even more exaggeratedly, the black power blanketing the entire area seemed to be struck by some tremendous force. It warped slightly outward and began to expand.

Kaio-ken!

Ever since Bai Cangshu had mastered this ability, he had never found a sufficiently sturdy target to test just what his doubled combat power was like.

"You have one thing wrong. The one controlling the situation here is me, not you."

Rumble!

Ever since Bai Cangshu had obtained Qi through Hamon and the Dodon Ray, it had never been particularly powerful within him.

But at this moment, his intense Qi broke through the restraints of flesh and erupted in visible form for the first time.

Bai Cangshu’s long black hair swept upward. The Qi, mixed with a great deal of blood color due to the strain on his body, made him seem like a warrior of red Qi.

Power—unparalleled power!

Bai Cangshu’s unbuffed Strength was originally 52. With midnight approaching, the additional boost to his power efficiency had reached 50%, expanding the original 1.5-fold boost to the limit of first-tier transcendent trait efficiency—twice!

His actual Strength had now reached 104. With the activation of Kaio-ken, that Strength doubled once more, becoming an unprecedented 208!

Bai Cangshu’s voice trembled faintly as he spoke, and even his tone was difficult to control. Despite his Grand Martial Arts Master-level command over his body, he felt as though every muscle in his body was running wild.

For a moment, he was actually unable to control himself perfectly.

Crack, boom!

After all the ice beneath Bai Cangshu’s feet shattered with a crack, the ground exploded.

It was caused by the terrifying force that erupted when his toes instinctively gripped the ground, instantly tearing apart the fully crystallized beach.

His powerful Qi further spread outward like a soaring current of air, carried by emotions that had risen to their absolute peak.

Rumble!

Shattered sand and chunks of ice seemed to lose all gravity, flying into the sky.

Under the infusion of that powerful Qi, Bai Cangshu’s eyes quickly returned to normal. His Spirit attribute had likewise doubled under Kaio-ken, and the force field created by divine power of this level could no longer suppress his senses.

"Kei Kurono" instinctively took two steps back, the ice-blue crystals in his eyes trembling violently.

"What… is this…?"

Unprecedented, ultimate individual might was destroying everything in a manner utterly different from divine power and authority.

Bai Cangshu’s expression was elevated. His brows, the corners of his eyes, even his pupils seemed to be rising uncontrollably. At this moment, Bai Cangshu finally understood why Kakarot and the others always looked down on everything whenever they transformed into Super Saiyans.

This pure power, born from within and wholly independent of any authority or rule, brought an almost uncontrollable thrill.

If he did not keep his eyelids lowered, Bai Cangshu even suspected that he would not want to place Kei Kurono, currently possessed by the Ancient Alien God, within his line of sight at all.

"Ancient Alien God, gather your divine power and creations, and make me… happy~"