Chapter 1435: Fall of the Starlit Legend |
As the spatial rifts spread, the gray world of time shattered in an instant.
Everyone was shocked by the sight before them.
"What's that?"
Fang Yi's domain trapped even the spectators in stasis. They saw him activate the domain—and the next thing they knew, his technique had activated.
Zhang Lie was inwardly startled. Fang Yi's wheels of time were so strong that they had begun to affect him as well.
The skin on Fang Yi's arms cracked. Veins protruded from his forehead and his arms turned bright red.
Bolstered by the strength of the stone of counteracting fate, of the wills that it possessed that fought against destiny, the golden and black threads of karma shattered.
The strength imbued in the stone of counteracting fate exploded as the black chains broke apart, along with the golden and black threads surrounding Fang Yi. The spectators were astounded.
"Who is he? What's he doing here?"
As the power of karma shattered, so too did everyone's understanding of Fang Yi.
The karma that linked the challengers and spectators in the Galactic Rising Stars Cup—gone. Everyone forgot about Fang Yi's existence.
The stone of counteracting fate was able to break the tethers of fate, but Fang Yi wasn't able to control it perfectly. As a result, his own fate had been affected. Everyone in this virtual realm had forgotten about Fang Yi's existence.
If the destruction of karma had been more complete, no one would even be able to establish a karmic link with Fang Yi.
In other words, they would be unable to see him or sense him.
Fang Yi might live on in the universe, but none other would be able to sense or interact with him. He would be the first living specter.
He had entered a particularly unusual state, freed from the chains of karma and of the mortal world. It was as though he were standing above them all, looking down at them without their noticing him.
However, Fang Yi didn't have the time to appreciate the unusual state. With the stone of counteracting fate's energy incorporated into the mix, he was about to lose control. Blood seeped out of his mouth and lips. He forced himself to manifest a spear from the confluence of energies.
The wheels of time to his back exploded. Fang Yi was bolstered by the combined force of fifty wheels of time, and his strength was elevated beyond what he had ever imagined. He was all but unable to control the strength he wielded. His skin cracked, his blood vessels burst, and his bones creaked. Fang Yi's eyes filled with blood as he reached the limits of what he could handle. He was no longer able to maintain the energy in the form of a spear.
Having expected that this situation would arise, Fang Yi didn't dare to use the stronger form of his ultimate, the Fated Spear.
Of course, that was only one reason. Another reason was that he was unable to combine karmic power with that of the stone of starlit fate. If he were to use the Fated Spear, he would only be able to substitute the power of the stone of starlit fate with that of karma. Without karmic power to serve as glue for the eight disparate sources of energy, the energies couldn't combine, so he had no choice but to use [Heaven's Judgment] instead.
Xing Yu immediately applied the Stargod Seal he had been manifesting, but it was too late.
The energy that emanated from Fang Yi transformed into a frightening tempest that shot forth and destroyed everything in sight.
Bolstered by the fragment of the stone of starlit fate, the attack was unassailable and undefendable. The Stargod Seal melted away and dispersed in the face of the overwhelming attack, and the void itself shattered.
The combination of wind and storm, spatial force, void lightning, time and space, and chaos—all that energy erupted in the middle of the virtual realm as it cracked and fell to pieces.
Xing Yu, at the epicenter of the explosion, had his reinforced body destroyed. All that remained of him was half a chest, his head, and one arm.
Xing Yu's eyes filled with grievance. "I am the Starlit Legend, and I cannot fall!"
He bore too much; his burdens weighed him down. He was the hope of his generation, of the Starlit Legend.
If he were to lose here, the Stargods' resurgence would only ever be a joke.
Xing Yu forced out the last of his strength in a ray of starlight. Fang Yi immediately retreated, sensing the attack, then retaliated with the lightning from his spear.
All paled in comparison to that flash of lightning.
"No!" Some of the Stargods tried to leap onto the arena to prevent the attack, but there was no way they could react so quickly.
The spear pierced straight through Xing Yu's head in a fountain of blood, leaving behind nothing but a pile of scattered dust.
The spectators reeled.
"Xing Yu lost."
"The Starlit Legend... lost?"
"The Starlit Legend lost to a nameless challenger?! How could this be?"
The spectators had no time to consider the ramifications of the fight. The virtual realm collapsed quickly after as everyone was unceremoniously dumped out once again.
All the spectators and challengers were shocked and awed by the events that had transpired.
"What's going on? Why are we back out again?"
"Could the realm have collapsed again?"
"You must be joking. Wasn't it already reinforced?"
Shortly thereafter, the equipment screens lit up with a notice. "We apologize to all affected users. An uncontrollable incident in the competition has triggered emergency maintenance. Please wait patiently."
"It really did collapse again!"
"What? This wasn't planned, was it?"
"I don't believe it. Are the challengers this year that strong that the virtual realm would collapse twice in a row?"
"Once is bad enough, but twice?"
"Which match was it?"
"It looks like it really was the qualifiers..."
"What sort of match?"
"A nameless race against the Stargods."
"The Stargods? Aren't they a relic of history?"
"The Stargods were very strong during the era of a Starlit Legend, but their race has been weakening ever since. No true Starlit Legend has appeared in eons, and those who have attuned to the stone of starlit fate are incapable of drawing out its full power. The race is just a joke by now."
"Right? How many of them can still attune to those stones of starlit fate?"
"You're wrong. This challenger did so."
"At this age? I suppose there's still a spark of hope left for them, then. If that challenger's unable to draw out its full power, however, the Stargods will only remain a joke."
"No, no. Not only has the Stargod challenger attuned to the stone of starlit fate, he even managed to recreate the legend. He wielded the Starlit Horns, the Starlit Wings, and even the divine armor!"
"What? All three manifestations? How many stones of starlit fate has he attuned to?"
"One."
"Just one...? He's treading the path of the Starlit Legends of yore, then!"
"It's no wonder the virtual realm shattered in that case."
