Sizzle—
A sound like red-hot metal being quenched in water echoed as Su Min rapidly retreated, her colossal Chaos Embodiment shuddering. Three deep, glowing claw marks now marred the chest of her avatar, leaking wisps of chaotic energy. To think these half-immortals, beings on the threshold of true immortality, fought in such a primitive, visceral manner, no flashy, long-range techniques, just pure, brutal, close-quarters physical combat.
This very simplicity ironically gave Su Min a massive headache. Against intricate spells and esoteric abilities, her versatile and all-encompassing chaotic skills could find a counter or a weakness. But raw, unadorned brawling backed by transcendent power? Only equivalent or greater force could meet it head-on. Her Five Elements Holy Body's innate elemental resistances were useless here. Though the physique was integrated into her Chaos Body, it offered no specific advantage against this kind of pure physical onslaught.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Below her, a separate, frenzied battle raged. Through her heightened spiritual perception, Su Min could see Tian Hao leading a group of a dozen Mahayana experts in a relentless, coordinated assault against the remaining injured half-immortal. Their clash was even more intense and chaotic than her own high-level struggle, a storm of flashing lights and concussive blasts.
"It seems I must employ some tricks. I can't afford to waste time and energy in a protracted brawl."
Exhaling deeply, Su Min dismissed the distracting noise and focused entirely on the illusory tiger and crane before her, their combined aura pressing down on her.
Then, a soft light erupted around her as an ancient, semi-transparent bell materialized above her head, its surface etched with indecipherable runes that pulsed with the rhythm of time itself.
"THE WORLD—ZA WARUDO!!!"
Instantly, the flow of time within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers warped and slowed to a crawl. Every being in the area felt the bizarre sensation, their consciousnesses untouched and processing at normal speed, but their bodies trapped in molasses, their movements becoming agonizingly slow.
"Time Law?!"
The two half-immortals, He Zhi and Wen Bi, paled visibly. Though the Burial Mire was steeped in turbid energy, its fundamental laws mirrored those of other universes. Yet, direct manipulation of time was practically unheard of here. Divine Transformation cultivators lived only 3,000 years, far too short a lifespan to grasp the profound mysteries of time, which demanded millennia of dedicated study and perception. But as peak Mahayana experts and half-immortals, their powerful souls and bodies resisted complete immobilization. Still, their speed dropped drastically, turning their fluid coordination into a sluggish pantomime. Su Min allowed herself a faint smirk. The silly meme reference aside, this wide-area time dilation was a perfect tactical tool, it ensured neither foe could flee or coordinate a complex counterattack. The cost, however, was an immense, continuous energy expenditure that strained even her vast reserves.
"Now, prepare to die."
With a sharp inhale, Su Min lunged forward, her own movements unimpeded within her own temporal field. In the blink of an eye, she appeared directly before the crane cultivator, Wen Bi. Her hand formed a blade, imbued with swirling Chaos energy, and descended without any unnecessary flourish, aiming for his core.
Crack!
A crisp, shattering sound echoed as the slowed half-immortal could only watch helplessly, his own defensive movements lagging far behind his intent. The Chaos-imbued strike cleaved deep into his chest, and the corrosive, balancing energy immediately began seeping into his meridians and dantian.
The effects were instantly evident, one only needed to observe the rapidly weakening elder on the other front to understand the devastation this energy caused.
Splat!
Blood sprayed mid-air, the droplets hanging frozen in the distorted time for a moment before the crane cultivator hurtled backward like a broken doll, his aura flickering violently.
"One down."
There was no time to pause or admire her work. Su Min flashed through the slowed space and appeared before the tiger cultivator, He Zhi, her hand-blade already arcing down towards his neck in a decisive strike.
"Time resumes!"
With Su Min's simple declaration, the temporal stasis ended abruptly. The world snapped back to its normal pace with a jarring lurch. Both stricken half-immortals crashed violently into the hard ground, vomiting great mouthfuls of black blood before staggering back into the air, their faces now etched with pure, unadulterated horror. The brief respite hadn't done anything to stop the damage already done.
"Who... who in the heavens are you?" He Zhi stammered, clutching his chest where the chaotic energy was running rampant.
Su Min rolled her eyes, a gesture utterly out of place in the deadly confrontation. "Just a passing Kamen Rider. Remember that. Now, face your judgment."
If they insisted on dramatic, last-minute questioning, she'd indulge their theatrics with her own brand of nonsense. It wasn't out of arrogance, but because the real finisher was already in motion, the Chaos Azure Lotus had already bloomed into existence behind her, its black-and-white petals slowly unfurling with world-ending finality.
The duo blanched, their bloodied faces turning ashen. That unique aura promised absolute death, a causal inevitability that bypassed conventional defenses. Among Su Min's myriad of comprehended laws, causality was one of the most efficient, it demanded relatively little energy for a guaranteed, unblockable strike on a locked target.
"Heavenly Tiger Sundering Strike!"
"Nine Skies Crane Dance!"
As seasoned half-immortals, their combat instincts were still impeccable. Instantly, recognizing the threat, they pushed their injuries aside and unleashed their ultimate, most powerful techniques directly toward the blossoming lotus, a desperate, last-ditch effort to counter it.
"Retreat!!!" Tian Hao didn't hesitate for a single second. Slapping the already injured elder he was fighting away, he turned and fled at his maximum speed without a single backward glance.
The others followed suit immediately. They had witnessed this technique's aftermath inside the fortress. Now, with Su Min having advanced to the Mahayana middle stage? The resulting blast radius would be catastrophic, enough to vaporize any of them caught in the open. Even the severely wounded elder, belatedly sensing the apocalyptic energy gathering, turned to flee, his survival instinct overriding everything else, but he was far too late.
"Where do you think you're going, old man?"
Su Min's whisper ghosted right behind him. She had mentally released the lotus, its targets were already locked and doomed. Her physical form shot towards the fleeing elder.
Thunk!
Another swift, powerful strike to his back sent the already wounded half-immortal spiraling helplessly directly into the path of the converging energies of the lotus and the two ultimate techniques. There was no scream, just instant, silent annihilation as his form was erased from existence by the conflicting, overwhelming powers.
Then—
BOOM
A soundless, yet spiritually deafening explosion occurred, birthing a lotus of pure destruction that spanned tens of thousands of kilometers, a bloom of energy easily capable of shattering entire planetary systems. Deep within the Nether Prison's core, the warden's eyes snapped open wide, his meditation shattered.
"What energy is this?! It's not quite immortal-tier, yet... it feels threatening even to me?!"
Worse, he felt it immediately, the final altar's connection had snapped. With all four directional supports gone, the foundational formation was broken, and the entire artificial dimension began collapsing in on itself, the spatial fabric starting to tear apart at the seams.
"Done already? And you leveled their fortress along with them?" Tian Hao, having successfully dodged the initial shockwaves, gaped at the violently destabilized region ahead. The three distinct half-immortal auras were completely gone, erased. Su Min had soloed all three of them in a single, devastating engagement.
"Fall back! Their plan has failed. This world is collapsing, only the central pillar where the warden resides remains stable. We must leave, now!" Su Min dared not linger any longer. As the dimension continued to shrink and collapse, they risked being trapped inside, forced to face the true immortal warden, a fight she was absolutely not ready for. Quickly collecting the fractured soul essences of the fallen half-immortals, she bolted toward the dimensional exit they had used to enter.
"Everyone, follow her! The dimensional collapse weakens the exit's restrictions, you should all be able to escape now too!" Tian Hao yelled, and his group surged after Su Min, a stream of light fleeing a dying world.
—
Outside, Dark Universe Core
"The Nether Prison's collapsing?! Did those idiots revolt and destroy the altars themselves?!" The true immortal, Black Sun, panicked as he felt the connection sever. With no way to communicate directly, he could only assume there'd been infighting among the arrogant half-immortals, which was entirely possible given the known rivalries between their clans.
"Useless fools! But... this chaos might help..." Seizing the opportunity presented by the dimensional instability, he channeled his full power. The black sun hovering above him flared with intense, desperate light before extinguishing momentarily, its energy forcibly tearing open a tiny, unstable channel through the crumbling dimensions. A single, critical message shot through,
["Chaos Body spotted. The prophesied one has emerged. Prepare the Zhexian Curse."]
Back in the disintegrating Nether Prison, the warden's face drained of all color as he received the message.
"A Chaos Body?! Impossible! Our ancestors paid a heavy price to ensure their eternal extinction!" Now he understood the source of that anomalous, harmonizing attack. Normally, clear and turbid energies were like fire and water, they couldn't coexist within a single entity without driving the being mad or turning them into mindless puppets. Yet that strike had harmonized both forces perfectly. Only one explanation existed, the legend was true, the Chaos Body had returned.
"If I'd known, I'd have intervened personally, regardless of the cost!" he roared in frustration to the empty chamber. But it was too late. The attacker had already escaped through the collapsing exit.
"Cease all reinforcements. I must warn the higher-ups and the major clans immediately." The Zhexian Curse, their only proven recourse against such a being. The tragedies of the past and the dire omens of the future all demanded one thing, the Chaos Body's eradication, whatever the cost.