The tide of destruction, like a black ocean, seemed determined to devour all living things.
Inside Shrek Academy, the remaining teachers instinctively activated the academy's massive underground soul tool defense array in their terror.
A huge, thick, seven-colored energy shield rose up with difficulty, making a final, desperate stand.
However, this shield, the pinnacle of Shrek's soul tool achievement, was as fragile as a soap bubble before the destruction ring infused with the will of Lord Ravager.
At the moment of contact, the shield couldn't even ripple before it let out a mournful wail and shattered into countless specks of light, vanishing instantly.
"Shrek Academy... is finished!"
Wang Yan, a teacher who had devoted his life to studying martial soul theory and stayed behind due to his lack of combat ability, bitterly pushed up his iconic black-rimmed glasses. As he stared at the oncoming wave of destruction, there was a trace of fear, but even more, a deep unwillingness and regret at not being able to further explore the mysteries of martial souls.
He was obsessed with the vast sea of knowledge, with so many unsolved mysteries yet to discover. To end here was truly a regret.
"No!!! Hold on!!!"
Nearby, the hot-tempered Zhou Yi screamed hysterically, pouring all her soul power into the soul tool pedestal beside her in a frenzy.
She was not alone. Every teacher left behind was like a fish stranded on a drying riverbed, making one last desperate, futile struggle.
Their faces twisted by terror and despair, survival instincts warring with utter hopelessness.
But the process of destruction never changes for an ant's struggle.
The purple-black ring of destruction swept calmly, irresistibly, through it all.
Whether it was the rational Wang Yan, the frantically struggling Zhou Yi, or anyone else, their actions, expressions, even their very signs of life, were frozen in that instant.
A moment later, their bodies, along with the buildings and ground beneath them, dissolved into nothingness—like sand sculptures blown away by the wind—vanishing into the air as the blackest of dust.
The tide of destruction mercilessly devoured the entire core area of Shrek Academy.
And this was far from the end.
After erasing Sea God Island and Shrek Academy, the purple-black ring showed no sign of stopping. It continued expanding steadily from the golden tree, as if determined to wipe Shrek City, the continent's greatest city, from the map.
Whether city walls, houses, bustling streets, or those who had not evacuated out of blind faith in Shrek Academy, their fate was the same before this aura of absolute finality.
Their existence—along with their fear and hope—vanished the instant they touched the ring.
In just a few breaths, more than two-thirds of Shrek City was swallowed and leveled by the deathly purple-black wave, leaving only a void, a blank land wreathed in black smoke, as if the continent's greatest academy had never existed.
"No, this can't be true...!"
Yan Shaozhe, Cai Mei'er, Elder Lin, Shi Xing—every surviving Shrek leader and powerhouse stared blankly at the ruins, hollowed out by the utter despair and heart-wrenching pain of seeing their home erased.
All that was left of their lifelong sacred ground was endless emptiness, and the towering golden ancient tree, now dyed pitch black and radiating terrifying evil.
Then, the blackened giant tree suddenly erupted with a blast of light that devoured all else.
Amid a terrifying energy fluctuation, its massive form began to twist, contract, and morph.
The thick trunk and branches writhed and reformed like living things, finally condensing amid the swirling aura of destruction into the form of a tall, demonic, coldly lifeless woman.
She slowly opened her eyes, purple-black flames of icy ruthlessness flickering within, seemingly able to freeze all life.
"This vessel... will do."
Phantylia spoke, her voice no longer a mere spiritual fluctuation but now possessing a true physical form, her tone carrying a soul-chilling evil.
"Now, this tiresome farce is over."
A lazy yet cruel smile curled on her strange face as she gazed down at the ruined city below, still echoing with faint cries of resistance and despair—admiring it as one might a painting not yet wholly bathed in blood.
"The struggle of ants can be annoying at times."
She murmured softly, her voice echoing through the lifeless air.
She slowly raised an enormous arm, formed from the pure life energy of the golden tree, and pointed it toward the starry sky.
A terrifying gravitational force, born of the very law of destruction, erupted from her palm.
This was not a physical pull, but a compulsion targeting existence itself.
Crack—Hum—!!!
Above the clouds, space let out an unbearable, tooth-aching cracking sound.
A massive asteroid fragment, nearly a kilometer in diameter, once floating quietly at the edge of Douluo Star's shadow, was forcibly ripped from the space crevice by this overwhelming power.
The star fragment was dark as iron, covered in craters and solidified lava scars.
From Phantylia's palm, purple-black destruction spilled out like a flood, instantly crossing space and wrapping around the giant star fragment.
The energy didn't just envelop—it invaded, corroded, and assimilated madly.
Its surface turned inky black at visible speed, its structure compressed and reforged under the law of destruction, becoming incredibly hard and dense. Dark red destructive patterns began to flow across its surface, as if a furnace of annihilation burned within.
Meanwhile, countless smaller space debris, cosmic dust, and captured meteorites were drawn in and fused, swelling the mass even further, until it became an irregular, kilometer-wide Star of Destruction, ablaze with dark red and black fire.
Wherever it passed, space twisted and collapsed, leaving behind a trailing wake of void and a soul-shattering roar.
This Star of Destruction, embodying pure malice and the will of finality, descended from the heights, plummeting toward the half-ruined Shrek City with unstoppable force.
Its vast bulk completely blocked out the last light of the sky, casting an ever-expanding shadow of death over the ruins.
"Wh-what is that?!"
The remaining city guards looked up, their soul tools hanging limply, faces drained of color, left with only terror in the face of this calamity.
"A divine punishment?!"
Some collapsed entirely, slumping to the ground, losing control of their bodies.
All survivors, human or soul beast, felt that soul-freezing will of destruction locking onto the area, and the burning, stifling stench of annihilation.
"Why did it come to this? What did Shrek Academy do wrong...?"
Staring at the world-ending meteor, Yan Shaozhe let out a bitter laugh, his eyes filled only with utter despair.
They had the courage to fight the beast tide to the death, but against Phantylia—this world-ending demon beyond comprehension—they could only wait for death.
As destruction came, whether Title Douluos like Yan Shaozhe, the last-stand city guards, or young students forced onto the battlefield, all could only stare blankly and hopelessly as the apocalyptic vision loomed overhead.
"Shi Xing—!!!"
But in that absolute silence and despair, the fear and confusion in Yan Shaozhe's eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by a desperate resolve.
He spun and yelled at Time Douluo Shi Xing, his final cry filled with hope and trust.
In the next moment, to everyone's shock, Yan Shaozhe erupted with a last burst of holy light, transforming into a brilliant phoenix and, like a moth to flame, flew headlong against the destructive torrent toward the falling Star of Destruction.
"Shaozhe!! Don't!!!"
Cai Mei'er shrieked, tears blurring her vision.
Elder Lin, Elder Zhuang, Gong Changlong, and others were also jolted awake, watching helplessly as that golden streak flew toward doomsday, their eyes filled with grief and helplessness.
"Hmm?"
Yan Shaozhe's unexpected move not only roused his despairing friends but attracted a glance from Phantylia high above.
She watched with interest as that tiny golden light flew at her creation, a mocking smile on her lips.
She had seen many like this—across countless civilizations she had destroyed, there were always so-called heroes of courage and sacrifice.
They always tried to overturn fate with faith and bravery, but before Lord Ravager and the Antimatter Legion, all struggle was futile. Only destruction was the eternal end.