Ark Undead

Ace asked somewhat nervously.

"how?"

"She's exhausted; her body is still too weak. But she's alright."

The Undead looked at Amiya's frowning sleeping face and nodded slightly.

"However, it exceeded expectations."

Then he turned around and walked to the throne on the other side.

On her throne, Talulah became aware of the existence of the undead for the first time.

This caused the black mist around her to begin to churn uneasily.

Having stood idly by until now, the Undead finally found a reason to act when that undisguised aura of the abyss appeared.

He was certain that the malice he had encountered that day came from the person standing in front of him.

The undead removed the hood from his head and reached behind him to take the greatsword.

"finally found you."

Golden flames ignited from the sword, creating a stark contrast with the murky red flames hidden in the black mist on the other side.

The Undead looked at Talulah in front of him, his boiling killing intent so intense it almost burned Talulah's eyes.

"You can go die now."

246. Burning away nine thousand

(Suggested background music for this chapter: Victory - Two Steps From Hell. It's a great, energetic track for classic edits, and I think it's quite suitable. That's what I listen to.)

When time no longer has the opportunity to be perceived, the very existence of time loses its full meaning.

That was exactly the case for the black snake.

Over the vast expanse of time, he gradually lost the ability to measure it, and this was the punishment that immortality had given him.

For him, waiting and being waited for had no value. Therefore, he was able to orchestrate Talulah's birth and successfully take her away in the battle against Lungmen.

For him, Talulah was an inevitable outcome, not a significant factor.

When the Black Serpent led Talulah and raised her to adulthood, it did not cause the Black Serpent to have any feelings related to himself.

Koschei was just a code name for him, a code name known within Ursus, and he could have many such code names.

Therefore, the Black Serpent only became interested when Talulah personally plunged her sword into Koschei's chest.

He wanted to see just how far this girl, who was trying to overcome the taboos he had set for her, could go.

He would show her every detail of the suffering on this road and all the setbacks that people can endure.

He wanted to annihilate Talulah in despair, so that everything she had would become nourishment for his rebirth.

Isn't this also a form of amusement? For someone like him who has lost the concept of time, anything that can be called interesting, anything that can arouse his interest, is something he can play with.

In his eyes, Talulah was like that, and so was Rhodes Island.

Amiya's transformation was unexpected, but it didn't affect his mood too much.

Even the Patriot cannot transcend the limitations of humanity itself. The Patriot might be able to suppress Talulah, but he absolutely cannot suppress Talulah, who has become the next Koschei, nor can he suppress the master of this land.

The more Patriot and Amiya struggled, the more delighted Black Serpent became.

In the black serpent's eyes, humanity's resistance against an unknown fate is like a swarm of ants trying to fly, even though they have no chance to realize their dream.

Everything is like a dream, a bubble, only when the abyss and darkness of the future, and when humanity's true nature returns, will there be reality.

Therefore, he could sit on the throne and watch as patriots restrained their tempers and accepted his commands.

Therefore, he could sit on the throne and watch Amiya raise her right hand to him, launching a pointless attack.

Therefore, he could sit on the throne and watch Amiya and Patriot become one, roaring helplessly at their unbreakable destiny.

But when the flames ignited and he was awakened by the excruciating pain that branded his body every moment, he realized that Rhodes Island was not unprepared.

The arrival of the immortals was within his expectations.

Black Serpent was extremely cautious, very careful. Even when he was on the outer ring of Chernobog, he immediately left the city upon hearing news of the Undead.

When he realized that Mephisto was dead and needed his help, he did try to find his mental coordinates, but when he realized that the undead were there, he immediately withdrew them, not wanting to confront the undead head-on.

Unexpectedly, even though the black snake tried its best to cover the entire process with its consciousness at all times, the undead still managed to get close to it.

He saw the gray-black armor and the golden flames burning on the sword.

The deep-seated imprint in his memory throbbed with pain, and the black snake's eyes were also burned.

Talulah couldn't help but take two steps back, looking at the undead in front of her with disbelief.

"Impossible! Why didn't I sense your presence at all?!"

The Undead gripped his greatsword and slowly took a step forward.

"In Chernobog, it was you, wasn't it?"

The Undead had no intention of wasting words with Talulah. As he spoke, he raised his greatsword in his right hand and slashed down in front of him.

Golden flames dispelled the black mist, splitting the space before the undead in two. The flames and sword shadows that were unleashed rushed straight toward Talulah beneath the throne.

This flame is different from Talulah's Originium Arts.

This is the fundamental difference: one relies on the power granted by Originium, while the other is the power that created the world at its inception.

Under the golden light of the flames, the confusing black mist was dispelled, and the flames hidden within it were forced back.

That fearful look was like the terror of a fake seeing the real thing, a panic born of knowing it couldn't compare.

Talulah raised her hand, holding her battle sword in front of her, and black mist burst forth, surrounding her.

After being weakened by several layers of power, the flames that reached Talulah were less than one-fifth of their original strength.

Even though it had been weakened so much, when it struck Talulah's sword, it still heated the sword to a bright red, pulling Talulah herself backward and pressing her back completely against the throne.

Despite the seemingly one-sided power imbalance, Talulah realized something during this collision.

"No, you're not him!"

Talulah looked up sharply and examined the undead surrounded by flames more closely.

A moment later, her eyes lit up, and she burst into unrestrained laughter.

"Hahaha! As expected, even you can't return to your original form so quickly! You're nothing but an empty shell now. How much power do you have left?"

The black mist that had been spreading around them suddenly intensified, and Talulah unleashed the power from the abyss without restraint, completely disregarding how this power was eroding her own body.

"You are the scum of the previous generation, the shadow of the old world! There is no place for you in Terra now! The Lord of Cinder is nothing more than a casualty in the torrent of time!"

Like the longsword in the hands of the undead, the crimson flames that ignited from the tip of Talulah's sword extended upwards, engulfing the entire blade.

"The world can no longer tolerate you!"

Yes, as Talulah said, the Undead know that their power has not yet returned to its original state.

The Undead themselves are also unable to draw power from the world as it is today.

But so what?

Golden flames transformed into blazing armor, turning his original greyish-black armor a fiery red.

The cloak behind him hung down from the undead's shoulders like flowing lava, and at the end of the cloak, countless sparks extinguished in the air and flowed around the undead with the scorching air.

A fiery red crown rose above his head, to re-crowned him and restore him to the throne.

"Killing you is enough."

As the immortal spoke, he continued to walk forward.

The greatsword in his right hand gradually turned even darker as it burned in the flames. But the flames swirling around the blade grew even thicker, like flowing liquid.

"How arrogant!"

Talulah raised her right hand, and with that, she swung her sword down at the undead in front of her.

It took her a lot of courage to finally muster the courage to launch an attack on the person in front of her.

Just as she had expected, her strike did not dissipate automatically with the airflow around the undead when it reached him. Instead, it was blocked by the undead's raised sword, causing the undead to pause for a moment.

Talulah saw this, which gave her even more courage.

“Your power and strength have been devoured by us. Your body is also broken and damaged; now you are just an empty shell before me. What do you have to stop me?”

She laughed wildly, took two steps forward, moved closer to the undead's body, and raised her weapon to attack him.

The Undead also raised the greatsword in his hand, swung it from the right side of his body to the left, and slashed forward with the sword.

Ding!

The two weapons finally collided, and flames spread to both sides like an explosion, the deep red abyssal flames mixed with the golden primordial fire.

The Rhodes Island members standing behind the Undead couldn't even stand still.

Even the lingering aftershocks were enough to extinguish any desire to fight.

Ace realized that this was a battle they couldn't interfere with.

"Everyone retreat!"

After Amiya fell, Ace naturally took over the command.

He immediately led the injured Rhodes Island operators away from the tower.

The battle between the Undead and Talulah continues.

High atop the tower, flames clashed against flames, and black mist completely enveloped them.

In the midst of such battles, Talulah's power gradually became more solidified.

She didn't want to interfere too much with the form of this body. Because the body itself is a symbol, and she needed such a symbol to command more people and to conceal her own existence.

But when she stood before the undead, she had no choice but to break free from the limitations she had set for herself.

Now, dark clouds gather in the sky, and the gaze from beyond the world makes the power within her gradually boil.

That sweet, never-ending dream of my hometown.