Transforming Succubus: Almost Doomsday

Even though it was entirely impossible to avoid the opponent's strike, Zhou Baiyu still gritted his teeth, tensed his nerves, and concentrated all his attention, preparing to dodge the attack.

This time, Celeos's gaze met with Guang Tongchen's, and Celeos slightly frowned.

He seemed to see someone incomprehensible.

That such a person existed...

Celeos found it absurd.

In his life, he had killed many people, those sword-like eyes seeing through countless people's frail courage and false kindness.

So much so that he felt humans, in order to disguise themselves and conform to the mainstream notion of goodness, always abandoned some of the most correct actions.

For instance, surviving the apocalypse, it was best not to carry any burden, yet there were always people… who would carry a burden.

They considered it love, duty.

But when disaster struck, humans would shed tears as they abandoned their burdens.

Celeos recalled that he was like this in his childhood.

When his father decided to abandon him, he was actually very calm.

That was in the origin world, in that world where humans, demonic races, and the corrupted coexisted.

After the death of the King God, the world's rules became twisted and chaotic. With no old gods' protection, some humans turned into the corrupted, while others began fleeing everywhere.

This included Celeos, who had not yet become a demigod.

"Dad, you should have abandoned me from the start. That way, you'd have more food along the way, and your journey would be quicker."

"If you were going to abandon me, you should have done it earlier. Why offer hope, then bring despair?"

When dozens of starving and desperate creatures infected by the Corruption Gu appeared, Celeos's father decided, for his own survival, to sacrifice his child, using Celeos as bait.

Celeos agreed.

Afterwards, Celeos felt that emotions were obstacles imposed by humans on themselves.

He did not hate his father for abandoning him; he even thought his father was foolish to have abandoned him too late.

That was Celeos's thought at that time.

In the end, surrounded by countless corrupted, Celeos, as a human, died...

Celeos, as a corrupted, was born.

His ability was to make cuts. He could freely sever many abstract concepts.

His cuts were a form of destruction and abandonment.

By abandoning those things meaningless to oneself, one becomes purer under the cuts.

All the while, Celeos firmly believed that his power stemmed from abandonment.

But at this moment, looking at Guang Tongchen, he was slightly confused.

Friendship, kinship, all kinds of human bonds, after being embodied, Celeos saw a star.

This star was emitting a strong light, and this light was shining on courage, calm, wisdom, and the desire to grow stronger.

Those things originally considered "burdens" had turned into sources of energy, continuously providing power for the traits Celeos thought should be preserved.

Such as traits beneficial to survival and fighting, like courage and calm, were shining brightly under the influence of these bonds.

This made Celeos suddenly struggle to swing his blade.

Because after cutting off all kinds of bonds with Guang Tongchen... Guang Tongchen would not only not become stronger but would become weaker.

Celeos had difficulty understanding.

He had seen those who highly valued "emotions," but in the face of life and death, he witnessed everyone willing to give up everything to survive.

Without exception.

Perhaps cutting off certain things can cause great pain, but it also means the elimination of a person's "weakness."

Some people hold dignity above all, but dignity doesn't bring them much strength; on the contrary, once he can abandon his dignity...

Their potential is often higher.

Celeos had killed countless people, including those like Guang Tongchen, for whom bonds could provide a source of strength... he had seen them before.

But he had never seen such purity. Pure to the extent that these bonds were like stars in his heart.

He would not cut down the brightest thing in a person's heart, even if it was his opponent.

Celeos raised his dark long blade, but it did not fall.

He suddenly remembered the strongest deity he had encountered in his life—the Time and Space God.

Once, Celeos, who had challenged the foremost of the old gods, the Time and Space God, suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of the Time and Space God...

But his performance had already surpassed many gods.

Now, he was purer than before, and could sever even more things.

Yet every time he recalled the Time and Space God, he would think of those words, which were what he was thinking about at this moment—

"In the time it took you to strike at me, I traveled through your entire life, Celeos. You cannot defeat me... because you simply can't find the meaning of defeating me."

"Maybe I should send you back, send you back to a certain time, change a few things. Maybe if your father hadn't abandoned you back then but because you became stronger... you might understand that strength comes from protection."

"But at this point in time, I cannot do such a thing for you, my energy must be used to face bigger threats."

"Go back, Celeos. Until you understand, you won't be able to touch me again."

The outcome of that battle was that Celeos felt the most powerful old god's absolute control over time, ultimately suffering a crushing defeat.

He thought he could sever time, but severing time itself also required time.

And in that gap that required time, the Time and Space God had boundless time to solve anything.

This was the pinnacle of the old gods' combat power.

After that battle, Celeos had always been confused, but he had already given up a lot.

What was abandoned could not be gotten back.

Now Celeos saw Guang Tongchen, who seemed to be completely opposite to him.

He suddenly realized, this was an opportunity to verify.

"Maybe, I should try it here."

A blade fell.

This blade severed Guang Tongchen's cognition, his memory, and his judgment of his surroundings.

After one strike, when Guang Tongchen came to, he saw Zhou Baiyu, Ling Hansu, and various others from the Baichuan Guild.

These guildmates who had experienced life and death with him were the source of his strength, the people he was willing to die to protect.

As the blade swung down from the sky, in the instant Celeos's dark blade struck Zhou Baiyu—

Guang Tongchen seemed to completely unlock all the shackles on his body.

The aura of the night suddenly unfurled! Along with executing Invisible and Five Senses Deprivation, the two strongest moves Guang Tongchen could master at this stage.

The night had arrived, and in Celeos's eyes, the previously slow-as-a-tortoise Guang Tongchen suddenly sped up a bit.

Though this speed had no meaning in his eyes, everything still seemed as if it were standing still.

Yet it was because of this that Celeos saw a new possibility.

Not long ago, Celeos had seen Guang Tongchen's calm, rationality, and courage.

He thought he must be someone very similar to himself.

But now, he discovered a different possibility in Guang Tongchen.

It turns out this young man's strength truly came from those things that he should have given up.

Bang!

The world around them suddenly shattered. The entire world was filled with sharp severing marks, fragmenting along those lines.

When Guang Tongchen suddenly came to his senses, he realized he and Celeos hadn't moved at all.

All that had just occurred was merely an illusion.

Clearly, Celeos was not a being skilled in illusion attacks.

It was just that the power difference between them was so vast that even a technique he wasn't skilled in could easily suppress him.

Conceptual things could be severed but would also quickly recover.

Guang Tongchen restored his rationality and consciousness quicker than Celeos had estimated.

He had severed many of Guang Tongchen's cognitive abilities, thus a simple scene made Guang Tongchen believe it to be real.

He indeed witnessed the scene he had longed to see.

Finally, Celeos no longer hid the admiration in his eyes.

Perhaps it was the Time and Space God's words that made Celeos think he should change direction, or perhaps it was Guang Tongchen, indeed making a strong impression on Celeos.

In any case, Celeos was not planning to look for another Celeos.

"What difference will there be between a severing of protection and a severing of abandonment? Once I become a god, I will watch over you in the form of rules.""

Guang Tongchen had not yet understood the meaning of these words when he felt an overwhelming pressure coming.

Celeos raised his saber, his eyes fierce:

"I can finally challenge the gods, but before that, I will leave my final cut in the human world."