Chapter 76: A Constellation’s Nightmare

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: A Constellation’s Nightmare

"[Domain Expansion: Infinite Cosmos Extinction]"

The moment Aeon activated his domain, reality shattered. The surrounding space ballooned out into an endless cosmos where countless ancient stars began to fade into dark embers.

A moment ago, Vorthak had been standing firmly on the destroyed terrain of the red gate with his power fully unsealed. Then, without even realizing what had happened, he found himself plummeting through an endless void.

Vorthak immediately calmed his racing mind and stabilized his footing, suspending himself in the vacuum. Instantly, an overwhelming sensation of weakness washed over him.

"Wh... what? I can’t access half of my power. Don’t tell me... this is a domain?!" Vorthak gasped, staring down at his severely dimmed aura.

He whipped his head around to survey the foreign terrain. An infinite universe stretched out in every single direction, populated by dying stars, shattered planets, collapsing galaxies, and colossal black holes.

"How can a mere mortal manifest a domain so powerful that it can seal away half of my strength? And what is this ominous dimension? Does he possess another high-tier artifact capable of doing this?" Vorthak’s mind swirled with confusion.

He couldn’t comprehend how a mortal had so many legendary things at his disposal, never once suspecting that this was Aeon’s actual, inherent power.

Scanning the void, Vorthak spotted Aeon standing hundreds of meters away, hovering effortlessly.

Suddenly, Aeon vanished.

He reappeared directly behind Vorthak, his katana heavily coated in a hardened, multi-colored aura as he unleashed a devastating slash toward the Vorthak’s back.

Whoosh!

Sensing that same cataclysmic energy threatening him from behind, Vorthak’s reflexes flared, and he barely managed to dodge the trajectory.

FWooooosh!

Vorthak immediately launched a counter-attack, swinging his red swords—which were heavily coated in pulsing Ruin Energy—while executing his personal combat techniques.

Aeon quickly brought his katana up, deflecting Vorthak’s blades with precise parries. For three minutes, they fought on perfectly equal terms, constantly trading high-level skills.

Claanck! Booooom!

Physically, Aeon was still not stronger than even a weakened Vorthak. However, because the domain heavily suppressed Vorthak’s stats and reaction times, the playing field was level.

Noting that he wasn’t taking any significant damage, Aeon suddenly backed off, stood perfectly still, and snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Vorthak, who had immediately dropped into a guarded stance when Aeon stopped attacking, instantly felt his sealed power rushing back into his veins.

Whoosh! Boooooom!

The atmospheric pressure around Vorthak spiked tenfold, triggering a massive sonic boom that rippled across the vacuum. Yet, despite the immense output, the space within the domain didn’t even tremble.

While Vorthak was still immersing himself in the euphoric sensation of his returned strength, Aeon’s calm voice echoed across the void.

"Now that you have your full power back, come and fight me," Aeon said, gesturing mockingly with his free hand, provoking the entity to strike.

Vorthak blinked in disbelief before bursting into a maniacal, mocking laughter. "Hahahahaha! Do you honestly take me for a fool?" he barked, wiping a tear of amusement from his left eye.

"You ’let’ me have my power back? Don’t make me laugh, mortal. It’s blindingly obvious that you simply ran out of energy and can no longer sustain whatever cheap trick you used to seal half my strength. I am not that stupid!"

Aeon stared at the rambling Constellation and could barely control his amusement. ’Actually, yes, you really are that stupid,’ Aeon thought, placing a hand over his mouth to mask his growing smirk.

Logically, he couldn’t entirely blame Vorthak for arriving at that conclusion. Who in their right mind would ever believe a mortal could wield this level of authority? Aeon then spoke aloud, his tone dripping with mockery to irritate his opponent further.

"So what if I did? I can still beat your ass until you beg your grandma for mercy."

A prominent vein twitched violently on Vorthak’s forehead as he glared at Aeon with pure, unadulterated killing intent.

From the very beginning of their encounter, this insect of a mortal had continuously disrespected him—a literal Constellation.

"I swear by the Void, I will rip that tongue from your throat and forcefully feed it to you," Vorthak hissed through clenched teeth. His form instantly blurred, vanishing from his position.

Whooosh!

With Vorthak’s full power completely unleashed, his raw speed was too astronomical for Aeon to physically react to.

Aeon was forced to rely entirely on reading Vorthak’s surface thoughts and emotions via telepathy to predict and intercept the incoming strikes.

But even that was barely enough. Whenever Aeon successfully managed to block a blow, the sheer kinetic force of the impact violently pushed him backward.

And whenever his parries failed, Vorthak’s crimson blades left severe, deeply agonizing gashes across his form.

For the next thirty minutes, they exchanged a flurry of attacks, alternating between desperate defense and heavy offense. However, Aeon no longer held the upper hand in this brutal exchange.

Whooosh! Buuuuum!

Aeon was launched backward yet again, tearing straight through a drifting, broken planetary body. He crashed through several massive chunks of solid rock, shattering them one by one before finally stopping.

As he managed to stabilize his footing, his helmet retracted, and he vomited a massive gallon of blood. The interior of his nano-armor was completely soaked, and his breathing turned shallow and ragged.

"Huff... huff... Damn, this is incredibly painful," Aeon muttered, wincing as a sharp ache shot through his torso.

By actively sealing his passive regeneration and high-speed healing factors, he was experiencing the raw, unfiltered agony of his body being broken down by Vorthak’s attacks.

’But this was worth the trouble. I’ve successfully comprehended dozens of new martial techniques, forbidden spells, soul arts and gained so much experience than the Shadow dummies. I’ve even broken down Vorthak’s techniques and consistently modified them into my own system,’

Aeon thought, his mind rapidly processing and cataloging the newfound knowledge.

’If I hadn’t intentionally suppressed it, I would have already entered a state of enlightenment. Let’s save that breakthrough for a more dramatic moment. I know the perfect time,’ Aeon thought, smiling widely at his own plotting.

But in that exact millisecond, Vorthak’s voice materialized directly behind him. He was already mid-swing, driving his crimson blade swathed in a thick layer of Ruin Energy straight toward Aeon.

"Heh. You actually have the luxury to be lost in thought during a fight? You’re dead, mortal!"

Just as the edge of the blade was about to sever Aeon’s neck, Aeon calmly raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.

Snap!

"[Endless Devouring Chains]"

Instantly, thick, pitch-black chains erupted from the empty space surrounding Vorthak. They wrapped violently around his right arm and his sword, halting the fatal trajectory dead in its tracks.

For a fraction of a second, Vorthak was utterly bewildered. He hadn’t sensed a single fluctuation indicating where the chains had come from.

Before he could process the thought, hundreds of identical dark chains burst from the void simultaneously, tightly binding his limbs, torso, and throat.

Whooosh! Whooosh!

"Ugh!" Vorthak grunted heavily as the chains tautened, completely immobilizing him in mid-air. He roared, attempting to unleash his tremendous aura to shatter the bindings through sheer force.

But to his horror, his energy wouldn’t respond. Not a single drop of his enormous, star-shattering strength remained within him.

"W... where... is m... my power?!" Vorthak demanded in utter disbelief, coughing as the chains tightened securely around his throat. He stared at Aeon’s back with wide, terrified eyes.

"K-kh... What... are you?!" Vorthak choked out desperately.

Aeon slowly turned around to face the immobilized Constellation, a wicked, predatory smile spreading across his face.

"Who am I, you ask? Well, I am your worst nightmare. You were exceptionally strong, but unfortunately for you, you ran into me. Also, you were dead wrong about one thing—this power isn’t borrowed."

Aeon paused for a brief moment, savoring the look of pure, unadulterated horror painted across Vorthak’s face.

"This is my own strength. It is an inseparable part of who I am, and it will remain mine eternally. You provided excellent entertainment, Vorthak. Be glad that I didn’t simply use one of my most powerful abilities to erase you in a single move."

Cold sweat poured down Vorthak’s face as he listened to Aeon’s calm explanation.

’How is this possible? How can a mortal wield this level of power? He is a monster. A catastrophic danger to our entire faction... I have to escape. I have to warn the others...’

But before his thoughts could race any further, Aeon spoke again, his voice dropping into a chilling register that shattered Vorthak’s remaining sanity.

"Don’t worry. You won’t be warning anyone. Thanks to you, I now have the perfect cover story and gained an immense amount of combat experience."

Aeon raised his hand one final time, forming a snapping gesture.

Realizing what was coming, Vorthak began to relentlessly thrash against his bindings, desperately trying to break free as a terrified, pathetic cry escaped his lips.

"No! No, no, NO! Stop! PLEASE...!"

Snap!

The moment Aeon’s fingers clicked, the [Endless Devouring Chains] flared with dark energy, violently pulling Vorthak’s soul straight out of his physical vessel and completely erasing his consciousness from existence.

"Aaaaaaargh." With a final agonizing scream, Vorthak’s life force started fade quickly.

"Sayōnara then, my friend,"

Aeon murmured idly, waving a dismissive hand at Vorthak’s lifeless, motionless corpse. He then decided to convert the powerful entity into a permanent asset, voicing the command word clearly.

"DESCEND."

FWOOOOOSH!

Instantly, an abyssal, non-existent dark shadow seeped out from Vorthak’s empty shell. It coalesced into his exact physical form, but he was now fully clad in a dark, ethereal shadowy armor.

His once-white eyes now glowed with a deep, piercing crimson hue. The entity immediately dropped onto one knee within the void, bowing his head respectfully as his booming voice echoed across the domain.

"Greetings, my liege."

Aeon nodded his head in deep satisfaction. He now possessed a Constellation-rank Nihilborn, exponentially raising the overall military might of his growing Nihilborn army.

With a thought, Aeon stored Vorthak’s physical corpse inside his inventory. Then, he willed his domain to close. The newly created Nihilborn seamlessly sank into his shadow as the celestial terrain began to dissolve, vanishing back into the fabric of reality.

Aeon yet again stood amidst the broken terrain of the Red Gate.

"Now that that’s done, I have to face the next part and act perfectly," Aeon said as he walked toward the gate’s entrance, dismissing his armor with a thought.

As the armor retracted, Aeon tore apart the remains of his upper clothing, exposing his battered body.

His injuries were severe, with some slashes deep enough to expose his bones and internal organs. Even though he had deactivated his healing abilities, he continued to hold on through sheer willpower.

Soon, he reached the entrance, where the swirling red portal came into view.

Aeon held his katana in his right hand while taking the head of one of the SSS-rank Voidborns he had killed from his inventory. Gripping it by the hair, he prepared to step through the portal.

"Here we go, then."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Aeon deactivated his Omniscience Eyes and deactivated his new form, returning to his original appearance.

His cosmic eyes then returned to normal, but his pupils rolled upward until only the white part of his eyes remained visible.

With that, Aeon stepped through the portal and disappeared into the Red Gate.

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