Chapter 1191: Across The Prime Territory

While the battles continued across the Prime Territory and Billion was fighting Verilux, something unusual happened in every hidden settlement.

The enormous projections hanging above the territories suddenly changed.

Instead of showing only the different regions of Prime territory, they began displaying the major battles taking place across the entire Prime Territory. Millions of people stopped whatever they were doing and gathered beneath the glowing screens

Then a familiar face appeared.

"...Wait."

"Isn’t that... Billion?"

The crowd instantly fell silent.

On the island settlement of the Ironhearts, his family stood among the countless people staring at the projection.

His mother froze.

Her hands slowly rose to her mouth as she looked at the young man standing above the Soul Sea.

"No..."

Her voice shook.

"That’s Billion."

His father took an involuntary step forward, unable to take his eyes off the projection.

"He’s alive."

Around them, his grandparents, uncles, aunts and the rest of the family gathered closer.

"I thought he was still inside the trial."

"How did he come back?"

"Look at him... he’s changed."

The projection shifted, revealing the battlefield in its entirety. Above the endless Soul Sea floated a gigantic three-headed Hydra.

The moment everyone recognized the creature, the atmosphere completely changed.

"Verilux..."

Someone’s face turned pale.

"It’s Verilux!"

"What is he doing there?"

The whispers spread through the entire settlement.

"Run!"

"He has to run!"

"Don’t fight it!"

His mother’s face had already lost its color.

"Billion... what are you doing?" she whispered desperately. "Don’t fight him. Just leave."

His father clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but even he couldn’t bring himself to say otherwise.

Against Verilux, everyone knew the answer.

You escaped.

You didn’t fight.

The first clash erupted.

The projection shook violently as Verilux’s enormous body crashed through the Soul Sea. Waves hundreds of meters tall exploded into the sky.

Then, to everyone’s disbelief, Billion attacked first.

A single silver slash crossed the battlefield.

Verilux’s three heads flew into the air.

Silence.

Nobody even breathed.

"...He cut them off."

"But..."

Before anyone could finish speaking, the Hydra regenerated. Not only did the heads grow back, a fourth head emerged from its body.

The crowd erupted.

"I knew it!"

"Run away!"

"You can’t kill Verilux!"

His mother grabbed his father’s arm.

"He’s going to die."

"No..." his father answered quietly, though even he wasn’t convinced. "Just... keep watching."

The battle continued. Another silver attack.

Another explosion.

This time four heads were severed.

Verilux regenerated again.

Seven enormous heads slowly rose above the Soul Sea.

A child in the crowd started crying.

"Why does it keep coming back?"

An old man sighed heavily.

"Because that’s Verilux. As long as the Soul Sea accepts him, he cannot truly die."

The words made everyone’s heart sink.

Then something strange happened.

Instead of continuing to attack, Billion suddenly appeared in another location and drove a long crimson rod into the Soul Sea.

"What is that?"

"A weapon?"

"No... look."

Another rod appeared somewhere else.

The projections continued following his movements as he repeatedly disappeared and reappeared across the battlefield, planting the rods one after another.

Nobody understood what he was doing.

"Why isn’t he finishing Verilux?"

"Is he drawing some kind of formation?"

"What formation needs this kind of rods?"

"I’ve never seen anything like this."

Verilux attacked again.

A terrifying beam swallowed half the battlefield.

People screamed instinctively.

"Move!"

"Dodge it!"

But before the attack could reach him, Billion appeared directly in front of it and destroyed the entire beam with a single strike.

The explosion illuminated the whole projection.

When the light disappeared...

Verilux had lost six heads.

The settlement became completely quiet.

"...Again."

"He killed him again."

"How many times has that been already?"

Nobody was counting anymore.

Every time Verilux regenerated, Billion simply destroyed him again before placing another rod into the Soul Sea.

It happened once.

Twice.

Five times.

Seven times.

The reactions slowly changed. The panic disappeared first.

Then the fear.

What replaced them was pure disbelief.

A young warrior stared at the projection with wide eyes.

"Since when... since when is Verilux the one getting beaten?"

Another person laughed nervously.

"This doesn’t even make sense anymore."

"He keeps killing him like it’s nothing."

Back at the Ironheart settlement, his mother had stopped telling him to run.

She simply watched in silence.

Every time Verilux regenerated, her heart clenched. Every time Billion killed him again, she forgot to breathe.

His grandfather suddenly spoke, his old eyes fixed on the projection.

"He’s not fighting recklessly."

Everyone looked toward him.

"Look carefully."

He pointed toward the rods.

"He’s building something."

His father narrowed his eyes.

"A formation?"

"It has to be."

"But for what?"

Nobody knew.

They only watched as the tenth rod entered the Soul Sea.

Then the eleventh.

The moment the final rod was planted, crimson lines erupted beneath the ocean, connecting every rod together until an enormous runic formation surrounded Verilux.

The entire Soul Sea inside the formation became completely still. Even from the projection, everyone could feel that something had changed.

"Why did the sea stop moving?"

"What did he do?"

Verilux seemed to realize it as well.

For the first time, the Hydra ignored Billion completely and launched its strongest attack directly at one of the rods.

The beam was so terrifying that several people instinctively closed their eyes.

"Not the rod!"

"If that breaks, the formation is finished!"

When they opened their eyes again, Billion was already standing in front of it.

One thrust.

One silver beam.

The attack disappeared.

"..."

Nobody spoke.

There were simply no words left.

The next moment, Billion raised his sword. The space around Verilux folded inward.

The gigantic Hydra’s body began collapsing from every direction before exploding into countless fragments that rained across the Soul Sea.

This time...

It didn’t regenerate.

The seven heads never came back.

The Soul Sea remained completely still. For several long seconds, every settlement across the Prime Territory was silent.

Then someone whispered the words everyone else was thinking.

"...Verilux is dead."

Another voice answered immediately.

"What?"

"He killed Verilux."

The difference between the two sentences was enormous.

One meant that a monster had died.

The other meant that Billion Ironheart had accomplished something everyone believed was impossible.

The projections continued changing, now showing the other battlefields.

Knight stood before two Eternals without even releasing his Domain. Space itself twisted around his claws before both Eternals exploded where they stood.

Lyrate calmly retrieved a contract from the corpse of another Eternal. Ragnar laughed as his club flattened an entire battlefield.

Aurora’s lightning illuminated an entire region.

Ash sealed an Eternal’s Laws before executing him without resistance.

Silver crossed the sky as nothing more than a streak of silver light, and another Eternal fell before anyone could even follow his movement.

Every battlefield ended the same way.

Victory.

One Eternal after another disappeared from the projections.

People no longer reacted with cheers.

They simply stared.

An elderly woman finally broke the silence.

"Are... are those really our people?"

"The Eternals are losing?"