Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 4833  Intercepting The Venerable Knights

A group of purple-black streaks shot across the horizon at full speed.

They were so fast that not a single person in the entire Second Layer might not be able to see them shoot past their gaze.

As a lightning strike from the clouds flashed past one of these silhouettes, one could see a figure who possessed pale skin. It shone darkly under the thunderous region. It appeared to be a female magical beast with snowy-white hair, accompanied by big, droopy rabbit ears swaying in the wind.

The whites of her eyes were pitch-black like a ghost, and adorned inside were golden gem-like pupils that sparkled with a faint luster. Her white hair also carried the luster of black strands, appearing two-toned. The color of her rabbit ears was similar to her hair.

She possessed a frightening appearance. Her dark-blue nails were long and sharp, and each time she hopped in the air, her speed increased even more, practically capable of leaving spatial cracks.

However, not a single ripple emerged as she was encompassed by a gloomy purple-black translucent veil.

Her thirty-two clones made their way to four incoming targets.

They split into four groups, and eight Illuminas veered toward each incoming presence.

One incoming presence was already faster than the others, maintaining the lead.

It was a green-white-robed fairy with shimmering blue hair that flowed like mist.

She was a peerless beauty, but with her terrifying speed, she was nothing short of a tempest of destruction. Her ethereal, verdant wings spread in the air and flapped, sending her zooming across heaven and earth, traversing billions of kilometers per second. The winds shifted and made a tunnel of wind-current for her to speed through the torrent.

But at this moment, she vaguely frowned as she sensed something.

Before she could even tell what she was- it struck!

*Boom!~*

Venerable Knight Lussandra felt like she rammed into a mountain as the space in front of her imploded. Her charge was forcibly halted as something hit squarely in her body like an arrow. Even though she managed to block it with her Verdant Seraph Wings, she was sent flying back, her momentum severed and space shattering between them.

Her blood essence tumbled, and soul essence rippled as she was flung back like a kite that had its strings cut.

With a stretch of her verdant ethereal wings, she regained balance, but as soon as she panned her gaze, she saw who it was. It was that rabbit she had been a bit wary about due to her already having become an Exalt Beast, but at this moment, her shock became prevalent as she recognized that this beast had become a True Exalt Beast!

They were comparable to Alpha Exalts and Supreme Primarchs of the human race.

They didnʼt compare to Omega Exalts or Absolute Primarchs, but it wasnʼt necessarily the case here in the Second Layer, where the layer limit made sure that one could not go past a certain prowess except for a few exceptional individuals.

Seven Illuminas surrounded her as they came to a stop. With their hands raised, they all said.

”Spectral Torment Domain~”

Their words overlapped as seven voices became one.

Venerable Knight Lussandra barely saw twenty-four other purple-black silhouettes shoot past her when space folded the instant the phrase fell.

Lussandra felt the world tilt. In her gaze, the surroundings did not spin, not shatter, but sank as though heaven itself had been draped in a funerary veil.

The thunderous skies vanished, and the raging winds disappeared.

In their place stretched a nether expanse of shadow and gloom, where the ground resembled black glass submerged beneath mist and the horizon dissolved into nothingness. Color drained from existence, leaving only gradients of dusk and void.

Her ethereal, verdant wings trembled.

Having researched the Spectral Gloomveil Rabbit, Venerable Knight Lussandra knew that this was a terrifying domain capable of invoking nightmares, suppressing the soul, and making one go insane if they were to lose. It wasnʼt a killing ability but a suppressing one.

”Mmph! Trying to buy time?” Venerable Knight Lussandra coldly snorted, ”A species domain technique wonʼt trap my elusive wings.”

Seven Illuminas stood around her in a perfect circle, evenly spaced. Their rabbit ears drooped gently, swaying as though submerged in invisible water. The gloomy purple-black veil around them thickened, forming translucent layers that overlapped like curtains of night.

Lussandra clenched her teeth and spread her wings fully.

*Buzz!*

Verdant light surged as her Verdant Seraph Wings Physique responded, destructive-wind laws bursting outward in a spiraling torrent. Green-white radiance slashed through the gloom, forcing cracks into the nether mist.

She surged forward but suddenly found herself still in the center of the domain.

In the distance, light emerged as though signalling dawn, but she couldnʼt see it as anything but darkness enshrouding the world.

”Youʼre trapped in your worst nightmare. Watch as the Divine Emperor of Death becomes an Empyrean.” Illuminasʼ voices coldly overlapped, their giggles haunting the space.

=========

Elsewhere- a frigid shockwave erupted!

*Crack!*

Venerable Knight Walritch stood within a collapsing frost ring, gray robes fluttering violently as phantom ice spires erupted from beneath his feet. His sharp gray eyes gleamed beneath furrowed brows as Towering Phantom Ice Soul surged to full power.

”Interesting,” he rasped, violet hair whipping behind him, ”A nether-shadow construct that interferes with soul essence…”

Seven Illuminas surrounded him as well.

The gloom crept up his legs, only to freeze solid, ice crystallizing directly over shadow.

Walritch stamped his staff down.

*Boom!~*

A domain of glacial silence expanded outward, phantom frost overlapping with the gloomveil. The two forces clashed, ice and shadow grinding against one another like tectonic plates.

”You dare to hold me here with such paltry techniques?” Walritch sneered, ”Youʼll have to do better than that, beast.”

Yet even as he spoke, his breath fogged unnaturally.

His energy surged but more slowly, and for the first time in centuries, he felt cold gnawing at his soul, not his flesh.

=========

Further away-

*Thud!*

Venerable Knight Avarros skidded across the nether ground, silver armor ringing as he stabilized himself. Navy robes rippled beneath as Mandate Laws surged violently around him.

His Transcendent Titan Body roared to life.

”Outrageous!” he barked at the seven Illuminas who surrounded him, veins bulging as his physique expanded, mandated pressure from the heavens crushing the shadows beneath his feet, ”You think tricks like this can stop a Heavenʼs Warrior, a Venerable Knight like me!?”

He took a single step forward. The ground did not yield. The gloom wrapped around his legs like invisible chains, dragging against his mandate authority.

”…Tch.”

He could break it. He knew he could, but not quickly enough.

And time was the one thing they did not have.

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Somewhere nearby-

Venerable Knight Borges stood motionless.

The broad-shouldered man stared at the seven Illuminas surrounding him, his deep green eyes slowly widening as his Earthen Tyrant Body activated instinctively.

He tried to go against the shadows, but he felt his soul becoming firmly wrapped around by the shadows.

Arguably, he didnʼt seem to have the means to fight against Illuminaʼs species technique since he had the Earthen Tyrant Body, which only strengthened the fleshly body more than the soul.

He was momentarily caught in nightmares for a few seconds before he managed to come out.

However, he was quickly thrown into a nightmare again by the seven Illuminas constantly suppressing him. Regardless, no matter how much damage Illumina caused in his nightmares, he still stood tall, none of her attacks able to harm him.

==========

In the distance, Illumina watched through her clones with a dark gaze, firmly holding the Venerable Knights from leaving. Each time they attack, her clones take damage at the expense of the domain.

However, with another species technique called the Shadow Soul Transference, she received the damage instead of her clones, allowing her clones, that was as strong as he, to battle them and hold them for a few minutes.

Her senses maintained a secure perimeter. It didnʼt intrude on the heavens but flowed beneath the tribulation clouds like an encompassing net. Her soul hurt from the terrifying aura of desolation, and her body screamed in pain from enduring the overwhelming attacks from the Venerable Knights.

However, she constantly spent her energy, making no attempts to hold back or hesitate as she fully kept them in check.

ʼOnly need a few more minutes… Master will certainly cross his tribulation…ʼ

She awaited, knowing that the third strike had just ended and the Heavenly Death Tribulation was descending to punish Davis similarly to what she had seen when she guarded Myria during her Immortal Emperor Tribulation. At that time, Annihilative Heavenly Poison Tribulation descended because she refined annihilative heavenly yin.

She didnʼt find this strange or unfair at all.

Time quickly passed, but to her, it was moments of torment as nearly three of the seven clones in each group had been defeated. Venerable Knight Lussandra was the fastest in exterminating them, while Venerable Knight Borges still struggled, barely defeating one clone.

Illumina saw that Davis easily suppressed the new heavenly factor, death attributed tribulation, and even used it to increase the aid the Heavenly Water Tribulation was going to give him.

Seeing his gaze, she nodded and sacrificed her blood-soul essence, keeping the restriction on the Venerable Knights longer.

Illumina spared no expense to protect Davis, burning through her life as a True Exalt Beast to hold four Absolute Primarchs in bay. She hoped no one else would interfere, or it would be arduous for her to defend Davis, as her life would be in jeopardy.