The Era of Gods

Chapter 530: Chapter 530: The Nightmare Sovereign’s Frenzy and the Human Overlord’s Bargain

The battle raged on much longer than Lin Xiao had anticipated. Both sides were Titans, their vitality beyond ordinary human comprehension; the difficulty of killing one another also exceeded what most could imagine, at least beyond Lin Xiao’s own expectations.

After ten years of relentless combat, neither could gain an advantage over the other, with each maintaining their power above standard levels.

However, at the end of the tenth year, the tide of battle turned.

In their tenth year as Titans, the gifts from the Crystal Wall Universe Origin had reached their limit; they no longer received feedback from the universe’s origin power, and their subsequent battles would deplete their own divine rights and strength.

At this juncture, Lin Xiao’s power to devour gave him sustained combat power.

The black hole behind his head continuously devoured the energy and matter in the surrounding Void, including the energy dissipated during his battle with Du Longer, which was ceaselessly converted into his own strength.

Although Du Longer’s original powers were Arcane and Guardian, which became Fel and Conquer after his fall, were also very strong, they were inferior to Lin Xiao in terms of endurance and recovery.

By the start of the tenth year of battle, a discrepancy began to show between them, with one retaining their undiminished strength, and the other’s power gradually depleting.

Although the decrease was slow and barely noticeable against a Titan’s formidable healing ability, a decrease was still a decrease, and eventually, it would reach a critical point.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao discarded his previously more passive combat stance for a more aggressive and intrusive one, in order to deplete Du Longer’s strength further.

By the fifteenth year of fighting, Lin Xiao had already gained the upper hand in his power comparison with Du Longer.

By the twentieth year, the comparison of strength between Lin Xiao and Du Longer was akin to that of the newly born Du Longer and the Ancient God Zagulon; Lin Xiao held a very obvious advantage.

Lin Xiao was not hasty or careless despite his advantage; instead, he continued to maintain his fierce initial offensive, keeping the pressure on.

Both were Titans, sharing the same origin and equally impressive combat experience and skills. As long as he wasn’t reckless, victory would eventually be his.

After more than twenty years of fierce battle, their battleground spanned billions of kilometers of Void. Countless planets were affected, with four worlds inhabited by intelligent life utterly destroyed by their hands, along with thousands of desolate planets. The Void was filled with numerous powerful entities drawn to their battle, yet none dared to join the clash between the two Titans.

In fact, they didn’t even dare to approach. Every time Lin Xiao unleashed his Big Move Black Hole, some less powerful beings or those who ventured too close were sucked into the black hole and shattered to pieces.

As a Titan, the might of Lin Xiao’s Big Move Black Hole became even more terrifying, such that even Du Longer couldn’t resist being pulled in by the fearsome gravitational force of the black hole.

Though the black hole could not destroy a Titan Body or even pull one in, while in the Black Hole State, he could absorb the dissipating origin power of the Dark Titan, Du Longer, making himself even stronger.

One year…

Two years…

Five years…

After a full twenty-five years, the gap in power between him and the Dark Titan Du Longer had reached a certain threshold.

That day, with a sword strike, he forced the Dark Titan Du Longer to stagger backward into a Void Storm. Lin Xiao, now larger than Du Longer, moved forward with giant steps. The black hole that had remained unchanged for years behind him slowly contracted inward, and the surrounding space began to twist.

With the divide in power reaching this level, he didn’t want to wait any longer and prepared to formally deal with Du Longer and end the decades-long war.

As the gravitational pull of the black hole behind his brain reached a certain intensity, the surrounding Void began to collapse. The raging Void Energy and shattered space all fell into the collapsing black hole. Lin Xiao’s eyes blazed with pitch-black flames, and his body emitted a suffocating dark aura, his strength now pushed to its limit.

His hands extended slowly, and an invisible wave radiated from him like lightning, causing layer upon layer of space to collapse like lightning. An indescribable terror of gravitational force emanated, binding the raging and roaring Du Longer, slowly…

“Hm?”

Lin Xiao suddenly looked up in a certain direction, but there was nothing in that patch of Void. He kept staring in that direction without moving, even interrupting his devouring, but he didn’t release his hold on Du Longer.

This state lasted for a while when a face as vast as a planet slowly emerged from the chaotic Void Energy. The face was half Light and half Darkness; its vast pupils, one spewing endless clear light and the other surging with tumultuous dark brilliance.

This planetary-sized face looked at Lin Xiao on both sides with eyes full of uncertain surprise, expressing a dubious uncertainty.

Lin Xiao confidently knew he had never seen this vast face before but astonishingly knew who it was and understood its doubts, speaking solemnly:

“Radiance Lin Xiao, at your service, senior!”

The next second the clear light side of the planetary-sized face burst with ecstasy, while the dark light side was filled with shock and rage. With a loud ‘boom,’ the dark side of the face exploded, accompanied by a raging roar of ‘Banish,’ coalescing into a black ring of light that flashed millions of kilometers away.

In that instant, Lin Xiao felt an unimaginable force of expulsion descend upon him. He immediately felt as if the entire world was repelling him, seeking to expel him from this world.

The Dark Titan Du Longer he had trapped sensed the suppression lift, struggling fiercely to break free from his control and escape.

In the next second, however, another face formed by the clear light also collapsed into chains of light that firmly locked him down. The force of the expulsion was so great that even his Titan Body couldn’t resist it, but the light chains countered the pressure from the Nightmare Sovereign, and he was brought back into the world. The voice of the Human Overlord resounded in his ears:

“I don’t know how you’ve reached this point, but this is now an established fact, excellent junior, are you willing to make a deal with me?”

Regardless of whether Lin Xiao responded or not, the voice continued:

“Help me defeat the Nightmare Sovereign and become the Lord of the Crystal Wall System of this world, and you will gain a favor from me in the future, as well as a portion of the Innate Origin of the Titan, which will allow your True Body to ascend to become an Innate Ancient God Titan.”

Lin Xiao was surprised and asked:

“I am already a Titan now…”

“You are only this Incarnation now, a Titan only in this world. Moreover, because this world is an imitation of the Azeroth World, it is still not complete. Plus, you are merely a sliver of Consciousness Descending here; you are not a true Titan Ancient God. Once you leave this world, most of your strength will disappear, and the Titan Body and powers you have acquired cannot be taken with you.”

This news shocked Lin Xiao, who immediately followed up with a question:

“If I help you become the Dominator of this world, can I become a real Titan Ancient God?”

The Human Overlord replied:

“Yes, if I can defeat the Nightmare Sovereign and absorb each other’s origins, I can become the Lord of the Crystal Wall System, which will allow me to Merging the Dao and complement the world’s imperfections. Only at that time can a true Titan Ancient God be born.”

“So, if I help you succeed in becoming the Dominator of this world, can I retain my current strength?”

“You can only retain a part of it.”

“It’s not that I won’t give it to you, but because your True Body is not an Ancient God yet, your divine physique and Divine Fire are not sufficient to carry your current strength, let alone the even more powerful strength you will have after you defeat Du Longer and merge with the Origin.”

“So you mean if my True Body and Divine Power are strong enough, I can carry more strength, and the stronger I am, the higher the limit I can carry?”

“Correct.”

“I understand now.”

“Actually, you need not fuss over this detail. For you, the most important thing is the Innate Origin, which decides your future potential; accumulating Divine Power is a matter of time, but enhancing Innate Origin is a top-level opportunity that countless strokes of luck cannot bring. Once you reverse the nature of your life to Innate Ancient God and become a newborn Titan, you may have the possibility of reaching the station I am at. How can the current strength you possess compare to that?”

“Hmm, then how can I help you?”

Lin Xiao wisely didn’t dwell on this point. The expert had made it very clear—his True Body’s strength determined how much power he could bear.

The expert thought he was just a Demigod, so he evaluated his current situation based on the strength of a Demigod. That’s why the expert believed the power he could inherit was limited.

But Lin Xiao was aware of his own circumstances; his True Body had already merged with the repaired core of the Crystal Wall System’s Origin. Strictly speaking, his True Body was already an existence a rank higher than the Lord of the Crystal Wall System; he was the original will of the Crystal Wall System. If described in the terms of the Eastern Immortal Knight, he was the Heavenly Dao.

His strength might not be overpowering, having just reached the initial rank of a True God. He probably couldn’t defeat any True God who had undergone Divine Enthronement, and could only contend with Demigods.

But the level of his origin was high, enough to allow him to carry a portion of a Titan’s strength and all of the Innate Origin.

As the Human Overlord had said, what mattered most to him was the Innate Origin of the Innate Ancient God Titan; strength and other things were not that important.

At that moment, the Human Overlord said:

“A very wise choice. Given your strength, you have two options to help me.”

“One is to go to the center of the universe to help suppress my opponent with your strength after absorbing your opponent’s origin.”

“The other method is to return to the place of your birth after absorbing your opponent’s origin and attack the Main World of the Children of Nightmare. The more players of the Children of Nightmare you kill, the greater the help to me.”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Lin Xiao immediately answered:

“I choose to return to my birthplace.”

What a joke, helping him to suppress the Nightmare Sovereign would be like courting death. In the struggle between two terrifying existences whose strength lies between Powerful Divine Power and great divine power, he would likely be squashed in an instant with his current strength; no thanks.

It would be better to attack the Main World of the Children of Nightmare. Once he eliminates Du Longer and becomes a true Titan, just his True Body would be tens of thousands of kilometers tall, larger than an average planet, and then he would be capable of crushing them in minutes.

Without outside interference, Du Longer’s destiny was already sealed.

But to avoid unexpected delays, such as the unwilling Children of Nightmare influencing other powerful beings in this world to intervene, he immediately unleashed his Big Move Black Hole to trap Him and began a lengthy process of erosion.

After all, being a Titan, even without resistance, it was not that easy to wear down his mighty Titan Body.