Chapter 2077: Final Clash — Rage of the Past (1)

Darkness and light. Darkness and light. Darkness and light again.

[Life Points: 81]

How many times did I die?

Rex’s eyelids fluttered open for the tenth time, and he saw only a vicious cluster of red crystal.

Each thick branch of the crystal tree had closed in around him from every side, slicing into smaller and smaller limbs until no gap remained. He was trapped in a prison of killing crystal with no way to escape, and accompanied only by his own pitiful reflection.

Excruciating pain burned every single nerve inside his body.

Smaller branches had pierced through him from every angle—and branched out inside his body, locking him in place. He was completely immobilized. He couldn’t move his arms, legs, or even his eyes. He was utterly fixed in place.

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<Notice: the user has died ten times in the span of two minutes!>

Died...? What happened?

Rex tried recalling what was going on or what even is happening, but he couldn’t remember anything.

Each time he tried to think, the crystal branch moved, dispersing the thought before it could form.

Crack—!

[Life Points: 74]

Everything darkened again, and when he opened his eyes again, the same thought swirled inside.

He kept trying to remember—what he’d been doing, how he’d ended up like this, and why his body was wracked with such pain. Nothing came to mind. But beneath the confusion—a relentless heat burned in his chest.

It seemed he was angry. Of that much, he was certain.

But why?

Even without his permission, his body tried to move forcefully, trying to break the crystals. It was trying to tell him something, so he tried to help. He flexed his body, breaking the crystal branches around him, but the world grew dark again.

[Life Points: 67]

Just as he opened his eyes, he heard a scream.

It was distant, muffled, but something about that scream was heating up his entire body.

Who is that?

Miles away, a figure was being devoured by darkness, too.

High Lord Rashal sank into the depths of the dark ocean.

He was slammed so hard that it felt like his body was paralyzed from the savage impact.

Above him, the light from the full moons and the stars filtered through the churning surface—a distant, fractured dream. But as he sank, that light grew gradually darker and darker, swallowed by the crushing, aphotic weight of the deep darkness.

A trident was embedded deep within his chest.

Its prongs were spreading invasive immortal energy across his entire body.

A creeping miasma that poisoned his energy flow and blood, killing him slowly from the inside.

Unlike the chaotic, roaring surface, the deep water was silent—peaceful.

It was calm and quiet again. Exactly like when he was inside that rundown house of his after the tragedy in the past, pulling his knees to his chest in the dark corner while staring at the cracked ceiling above. He thought about what he would do with his life in that moment.

And he decided that there was no use in surviving.

No point in living in a world where he had nobody he could call family.

A small smile, a genuine smile, curled on his lips—as he recalled what happened when he was about to surrender to the darkness. He heard the sound of light footsteps. And then—a small girl poked her head into his room, dispersing the darkness like he was the only beacon in the darkness.

Vadyn.

Had she not trotted through the wooden floor with her small, unsteady feet back then, High Lord Rashal would have let the darkness take him. There was no point in living in a world without anyone whom he could call family.

Perhaps it was precisely why he had given every single life-saving treasure to her.

Leaving him vulnerable.

He had believed he could end the battle with High Lord Ursa without needing them.

But looking at the trident in his chest, feeling the cold, lethal immortal energy spreading through every part of him—it seemed he was wrong. Just like him, High Lord Ursa had prepared extremely well. He knew exactly what to do to win.

A sharp, agonizing pain lanced through High Lord Rashal’s ribs.

He choked—the air in his lungs was dangerously low. A fading reserve that he could not replenish.

Bubbles burst from his mouth, a desperate, futile attempt to breathe as he began to suffocate.

Eventually, the deep started to devour him—the pressure crushed him, and the silence became his tomb.

High Lord Rashal’s eyelids grew heavier—as the all-encompassing darkness of death crept closer from his periphery. Inside, his mind began to slip into the void as the invasive immortal energy overwhelmed his own.

Just then, light returned.

Swish—!

For a second, he blinked his eyes one last time to focus and then looked down.

His eyes fixed on the necklace tucked inside his combat suit that was now glowing brilliantly.

It was a brilliant, pulsing warmth in the freezing abyss.

And then, he heard the unmistakable voice ringing inside his mind that snapped him back to reality.

’Rashal! You promised!’

In the spectators’ seats—the gathering of High Lords watched in relief as it seemed the result would end as expected. Despite the absolute surprise along the way, High Lord Ursa’s side would take the win in the end.

High Lord Ursa managed to deal the killing blow to High Lord Rashal.

And Diamantona managed to trap Rex in a killing loop.

No chance for him to revive endlessly.

High Lord Leenim stood on the edge, watching the spot where High Lord Rashal had drowned—while gripping the railing tightly. His eyes then shifted to the side, locking on High Lord Ursa, who had Vadyn by her neck.

’Come on, Rashal.’ He gripped the railing tighter—until his hand turned white. ’You have gone through countless wars. You have spat on death’s face and kept on surviving. Everything you do up to this point was not through luck. It was because of your willpower.’

Right beside him, Lilliana was also standing.

Her heart was pounding achingly as she watched Davina being pinned on the boulder.

It had been going extremely well, but things turned for the worse when Vadyn abandoned the battle and ran to check on High Lord Rashal. Alone, Davina was no match against the High Millinar, and now she was pinned.

But what was making her wince wasn’t the situation Davina was in.

No—it was the whimpering scream that came out of her mouth.

Lilliana had never heard her make this sound.

As the High Millinar poured more immortal energy into his katana and ripped the other tail, Davina let out this breaking scream that barely made a sound. And the tears that rolled down her cheeks were an additional layer that showed how much pain she was experiencing right now.

Across centuries, Lilliana had never seen her like this.

’Rex...’ She turned to the crystal prison—the dire situation was getting to her really badly, and she began to hyperventilate—seemingly unable to inhale enough air for her lungs. ’You told me that I should have faith in you. That things would end up good. You’re not going to keep your promise, right? You’re going to somehow win this, right?’

"Get up, Rashal!"

"Fight back, Rex!"

Both High Lord Leenim and Lilliana roared from the spectators’ seats.

Some High Lords wanted to laugh at them, but they were given no chance to do that.

BOOM—!

High Lord Ursa snapped his head down at the dark ocean.

And what he saw made his breath hitch.

A massive, swirling hole had opened in the water—a vortex of impossible depth—and right at its center stood a figure. High Lord Rashal. His entire eyes were open portals to the Pure Black Realm, twin voids of white that bled a seething, steam-like white light.

His palms, too, were portals, and from them erupted a force field—that violently pushed the dark water back in a perfect, expanding circle. High Lord Rashal’s aura grew exponentially heavier, a suffocating pressure that cracked the ground around him with tectonic might.

Fractures spread across the ocean floor for miles.

"He survived?" High Lord Ursa gritted his teeth in profound annoyance. "How?!"

Decisively, he swung his free hand toward Vadyn, aiming to carve out her heart in a spiteful instant.

But a powerful, seething shockwave exploded from the vortex.

It slammed into High Lord Ursa—like a physical wall, causing his grip on Vadyn to slip and launching him spinning skyward. He caught himself in the sky with a blast of immortal energy—and glared down at High Lord Rashal.

Soon, the realization hit him like a cold wave.

High Lord Rashal was putting everything he had left into one final, suicidal attack.

"You think you can overpower me? Fine." High Lord Rashal raised his arms skyward.

He drew in the dark water from miles and miles in a radius—the dark ocean was drained instantly. Now, the barren, crystal-littered seabed was revealed as a massive ball of dark water formed overhead. It was a moon of liquid death, filled with every single ounce of his immortal energy.

It was the full, terrifying might of millennia of strength.

Dozens of miles away, Diamantona saw the apocalyptic gathering of power in the distance.

He stared at it for a second before his attention was violently snapped back to the battlefield before him.

Rumble—!

An eruption of energy slammed against the walls of the crystal prison.

’Where is he getting this much power from?’ Diamantona frowned. He was sure seconds ago that it was a matter of time before Rex died for good, but now he wasn’t so sure. ’The Major Law of Killing Crystal should’ve been suppressing him, killing him repeatedly, draining his lives. So how is this possible?’

Rumble—!

Another eruption slammed into the inner walls.

Just then, Diamantona snapped his head to the side when he heard a faint, agonizing scream.

His eyes bulged.

In the distance, he saw the High Millinar pinning Davina against the boulder—the serrated katana still buried in her stomach as he twisted it savagely. He wasn’t simply keeping her down to stall for time; he was torturing her.

"Idiot!" Diamantona roared. "Stop! Stop hurting her, you empty-headed bafoon!!"

He tried stopping the High Millinar, but it was already too late.

Inside the crystal prison, Rex’s heart pounded even harder as he found the scream familiar.

Instincts took over as his right arm forcefully pushed forward—ignoring the lancing pain as the crystal branches cut through his blood vessels—and flesh. Rex grabbed the crystal lance that stabbed through his forehead and broke it.

Almost instantly, his brain regenerated, and the memories returned to him all at once.

Rex gritted his teeth so hard until he tasted blood at the realization.

Davina was in trouble.

And then, a rumbling voice with the weight of an oncoming cataclysm echoed.

"Lower Theophany!"

CRACK—!

Diamantona recoiled as the crystal prison shattered into fragments.

Not stopping at that, the explosion of force travelled up the main branch of the crystal tree, a shockwave of pure, unadulterated rage threatening to destroy the entire construct. Diamantona reacted immediately, severing the branch before the force could reach the trunk and the crystal tree itself.

Splash—!

He focused back on Rex. And his heart sank to his stomach.

The redness of the Anger Stratum that had devoured Rex’s eyes was burning even more violently now. Incited by Davina’s pain, the Blank Organ of the Anger Stratum pushed his strength past its limit.

Now, the redness was no longer merely a glow.

It was a conflagration, a furnace of pure, unbridled fury that spilled out of his eye sockets—and painted his face in crimson light. The scream he had heard belonged to Davina. It had reached him. And every part of him reacted, driven by the raw, primal need to protect her.

As the Alpha and as a man, he had a duty to fulfill.

And his body responded with a terrifying surge in raw strength.

KABOOM—!