As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 40: Deep Blade
The "thing" standing in front of Xu Yan could no longer be described as "half human, half machine".

Because he - every bit of flesh and blood in his body was fused with the mechanical parts in the most intense, thorough and chaotic way.

The only three remaining blade limbs are covered with blood vessels and nerve networks.

The human's chest and abdomen were gaping, most of his internal organs were missing, but gears, ratchets, and circular pipes gushed out like popcorn, replacing the functions of the internal organs.

The blood-red crystal covering the eye sockets shattered and flew apart, and two glow tubes popped out from it, shining with the light of a burning soul.

The transparent cover protecting the mechanical half-brain disappeared, and the parts inside were severely damaged and corroded. However, more ratchets, spring plates, stems, screws and adjusters grew, multiplied and combined like flesh and blood, overflowing from the broken "skull", but were still running at high speed, emitting boiling steam.

"Zizi, hee hee, squeak..."

Along with the hissing of steam, from deep within the mechanical brain came Dr. Hyde's distorted voice, as if it were coming from an old phonograph, "Ancient Undead, our battle is not over yet!"

His arms, shoulder blades and most of his chest were torn apart by the eldest brother.

The lonely spine was armed with infinitely proliferating metal components, poking out the pale skin, constantly extending, growing, and curling, raised high above the head, like a mechanical spider with a scorpion-like tail, or a brand new, sharper "Blade of the Deep".

"Dr. Hyde has gone completely crazy!"

The infinitely expanding fierce rage stimulated Long Jianhuan on Xu Yan's shoulder, who exclaimed in disbelief, "He has unlocked 70% of the power of the Demon Card and entered the 'Hyper-Fusion Mode', no, it's the 'Collapse Mode' with an 80% synchronization rate!"

Dr. Half-Brain completely lost his mind in the collapsed form.

But even if he forgot who he was.

None of them forgot their mission.

"Whether you are the origin or the end—"

The appearance of the eldest brother made Dr. Hyde's whole body burn with passion.

The black giant sickle made from the spine shines with the brilliance that is fueled by the soul and can only bloom once in a lifetime.

"Please bear witness to the power and pride of humanity!"

Dr. Hyde laughed heartily in the black flames, and it seemed that countless nerves in both his mechanical and flesh-and-blood brains were broken.

"careful!"

Xu Yan's pupils shrank into needle points, and he rolled towards the bushes on the side of the road while holding Long Jianhuan.

The next second, the "Blade of the Deep" brushed past their heads, cutting off countless strands of hair and tearing a black crack hundreds of meters long across the entire Land of Echoes, revealing the abyss at the end of the River Styx.

Time, space, color, consciousness... everything seemed to be swallowed by the abyss.

Xu Yan felt like he had fallen into the mouth of a giant beast in the abyss, and every cell in his body was being squeezed, torn and eroded by endless darkness.

Long Jianhuan, who was already seriously injured, groaned and fainted completely.

The eldest brother was first besieged by dozens of Black Dream members. Although he used the escape technique and corpse-driving technique to kill all the opponents, he also paid a heavy price.

Long Jianhuan grabbed her and bombarded her again.

After finally getting rid of the sticky female operator, he was hit head-on by the Ghost Car Killing Formation. Even though "Fairy from the Sky" possessed strange healing and regeneration abilities, he was still extremely weak.

Before he could perform another escape technique, he was split in half by this unprecedented "Blade of the Deep".

The split hemispheres, like two trembling clumps of fungi, hissed and screamed. Thousands of threads of hyphae emerged from the churning flesh and blood, reaching towards each other, attempting to reenter and reconnect. Dr. Hyde, sacrificing his life and soul, summoned a terrifying force from the depths of the Styx, but it transformed into a surging black wave that continuously impacted the eldest brother's wounds, carbonizing the flesh and fungi, cracking and peeling off, turning them into an off-white powder, unable to reassemble.

The eldest brother was furious.

The same strange, deep, and evil black flames spurted out from the depths of the hemisphere, like a black poisonous snake with faint scarlet markings, opening its bloody mouth and biting the power from the abyss.

The wills of the two monsters were like ouroboros gnawing at each other, revealing subtle differences as they tore and devoured each other. The eldest brother's black flames were composed of countless tiny wronged souls whose lives were worse than death, like thin red lines like nerve bundles. Every tremor would erupt with a heart-wrenching scream, terrifying people, and they couldn't help but dance to his rhythm.

The power of Dr. Hyde, or the "Lord of the Deep," seemed to surge out from the depths of the River Styx, emitting black waves with a smell of corruption. It would not return to peace until the soul of the last sinner was harvested.

They roared and collided, sometimes revealing painful crying faces, sometimes condensing into crystal clear but sharp fangs, and sometimes turning into chains inlaid with thorns, tightly entangled together, desperately consuming each other's last strength in a way of mutual destruction.

Until the black flames became as weak as a candle in the wind, the endlessly flowing Styx was blocked by silt, the waves surged smaller and smaller, and were about to become a stagnant pool of water.

The tug-of-war between the two evil wills has entered the final and most critical stage.

Regardless of who wins or loses, they will become the master of this land of echoes.

However, just as they unleashed their final and most violent force, both sides were about to suffer heavy losses.

An inconspicuous chess piece, relying on its own will, stood up shakily.

"Pooh!"

Xu Yan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

It felt like my entire throat and mouth were burning.

The fighting spirit surging in his eyes was ten times stronger than the fire boiling in his chest.

A crazy smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and his eyes staring at the two evil wills were extremely persistent and...hungry.

That's right, he could hold his head, lie quietly in the grass, and pray to God that the two evil wills would perish together.

but……

"I will never again leave my fate to God or anyone else.

"Whether you're a Mahayana cultivator or a demon god from the deepest reaches of the Ancient Purgatory, feared and worshipped by countless people, don't even think about controlling my fate!"

He grabbed a handful of "burning injections" which were more powerful than "burning capsules" and stabbed them into his carotid artery.

"Chi chi chi!"

The dark blue potion was pushed by the pressure and injected into the blood vessels, turning into thousands of dark blue battle patterns, pouring into the brain and chest cavity, wrapping the brain and heart.

"call--"

Xu Yan's eyes opened wide, and bloodshot veins instantly covered the area around his pupils.

The next moment, the bloodshot was burned off by the dark blue flames of war gushing out from the depths of his pupils, turning his eyes crimson.

Xu Yan felt as if an underwater volcano deep in his mind was erupting violently, rising up and emerging to the surface of the sea.

Thirty-six thousand pores on his body spewed out turbulent steam, which condensed into a blazing giant hand, swinging the chessboard of fate.

(End of this chapter)