Chapter 381: Racial War; Demon God's Death
To his horror, it wasn't closing. His regenerative abilities were completely neutralized here. He could tell that it's working, but there is a strange energy that kept eroding his flesh, which cancelled any healing done to his body, leaving that wound permanently open and bleeding.
It didn't take long before he realized what this was, and the discovery just made this even more horrifying for him.
'Sword Laws, too!? As if his comprehension over Planetary and Grand Solar Laws weren't enough to deal with me, he just had to have this too!?'
'Heavens! Is this really the end for us?'
The Sword Law. It's one of the strange and elusive concept laws that never fell under the orthodoxy. It doesn't contribute to creation as a whole, and its existence was just as mysterious as it was strange, yet it definitely exists.
There are a lot of people in the alliance who comprehended it. Some even pursued it their entire lives, dedicating thousands of years of their lifespan just to see what's on the other end of this road. It's unknown how many managed to see what's on the other side, but there had been definitely millions of people who failed on this road.
Was the sword law strong? Of course it is. Concept laws in general were the power of nature itself. Comprehension and usage of them meant harnessing the power that makes up the universe.
Those who comprehended sword laws had their own interpretations of them. Nobody was either right or wrong; what matters was their strength output in the end. That's why it's very rare, even by the alliance's standards, to see swordsmen with identical styles. This is what makes them unique and also terrifying.
Cedric never stopped pursuing the road of the sword. Before he inherited the eyes of the godking, his sole company was his sword. His initial class template was a swordsman, and he never thought about changing his choice of weapon.
Amongst the millions of humans here on Prime Earth, only Cedric reached the peak of Sword Intent. Even Old Man Jin, who's publicly known for his faithful pursuit of the sword path, couldn't compare with him in this regard.
And during his long periods of seclusion in the Tower of Prodigies, Cedric never ceased his pursuit of perfecting his sword arts. He achieved the sword domain and touched the road leading to the sword laws. Even now, he hasn't stopped practicing and perfecting his skills, and with his intuition and comprehensive abilities, his progress has never been slow or stagnant.
The Demon God could tell that the concepts included in Cedric's Sword Law were sinister.
It contains the concept of annihilation, which neutralizes any form of false immortality. It also has destructive and persisting elements that make it near impossible to get rid of. But the most terrifying concept contained within this sword law was the concept of absolute control.
Typically, the element of annihilation and destruction just spreads everywhere. It erodes and affects everything it touches, making it difficult to grasp and control. Paired with the persisting element, and they became pretty much unstoppable.
A moment of carelessness was all it takes for even a sliver of this sword law to destroy Prime Earth thoroughly. However, thanks to its absolute control properties, this law wouldn't cause any further damage than what Cedric initially intended it to do. It won't spread or hurt anything that he didn't want to. Hell, even the degree of damage done to his intended target was something he set up himself.
Meaning that when he sliced his earlier, Cedric only wanted him to realize that none of the advantages he believed he had could actually stop him if he wanted to kill him.
This attack was just a harsh reminder—a rude slap in the face—that the Demon God was completely out of his league here.
The Demon God got the message. It didn't make him happy, of course, but he completely understood it and had no other choice than to accept it.
Still, he was unwilling to just bow down and accept his death here. He had come too far to fail. He just couldn't accept that after all his hard work, this was his ending. Anybody in his position would feel the same.
That's why, despite knowing that his chances were abyssmal, he still pressed on.
"RAAAGGGHH!!!"
A furious shout containing his unwillingness to die and resolve to survive exploded from his throat. He didn't care that this agitated his gaping wound even further; he ignored the sharp pain coursing through his body and forced himself to use more strength.
He forcibly engaged Cedric again, bleeding and paining. He threw punch after punch that sundered the earth and overturned the seas. The sheer might he exuded caused the world to darken ominously, as if responding in fear to his raw power.
But no matter what he did, all of it was child's play to Cedric, who just batted away any and all of his attacks like they were nothing but childish temper tantrums.
He didn't waste even a single ounce of strength in deflecting the mad demon's attack. He looked bored even, especially since in his eyes, the Demon God was moving at a snail's pace. It's like he has to wait for years until the next attack lands only to toss it aside and wait for the next one.
This isn't an exaggeration either. Cedric faced more challenging enemies in the tower. Even though some of them were just phantons or unreal beings, at the very least, they managed to make his sweat and work for his victory.
The last fight he had enjoyed the most was his battle against that dwarven elite who uses a giant sword. That guy killed him hundreds of times and taught him how to fight someone far stronger and better than him without deliberately doing so.
Comparing that dwarven guy to the Demon God would just be insulting, because if that drawf was here, a mere shout of him could've killed the Demon God several times in a row, and that's even in his transformed state.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
They repeatedly clash, causing shockwaves to reverberate all over the land. No matter how many times the Demon God pounded on Cedric, he was only met with a bored stare and a casual swat of his sword. He failed to even make him take a step backward. Cedric was like a pillar who's deeply rooted to the core of the land, unmoving and incredibly steady.
The more he moved, the worse his injuries got. He's tapping more and more into the strange well of strength hidden in his body; he even started to recklessly devour the power of the strange lifeform without filtering it just to summon more strength to defeat Cedric.
Right now, it didn't matter to him if the attributes of the strange lifeform infect him beyond repair. Because if nothing changes now, he knew that he would most likely die soon anyway. So if he wanted to gain even the smallest chance of survival, now is not the time for him to be prudent or cautious.
This reckless act of his indeed gave him more strength faster, but its side effects were also obvious.
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The Demon God's consciousness was starting to blur. His senses were numbing, and thoughts were becoming more and more disorganized. Physically, a bunch of warts began growing out of his body; some popped and secreted the same life-withering miasma that infected the land.
The miasma were burned to nothingness right away, so they didn't become much of a problem, but the transformation of the Demon God did cause distress to the remaining demons alive.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More time passed, and by now, the Demon God's consciousness was completely gone. All that's left of his were his instincts. His minds had been taken over by the incomplete residual will of the strange lifeform he devoured earlier.
He became way stronger, yes, but this trade-off was hardly worth the effort since nothing much changed since the start of the fight. Cedric was still standing strong and tall, unfettered and undisturbed by the changes that occurred to his enemy. Even as he exerted more strength, Cedric still dealt with it casually.
The Demon God was reduced to a blabbering mess. No signs of clarity could be seen in his glazed eyes. He's only moving through sheer will and instincts at this point.
"Well, this had been a huge waste of time," Cedric muttered indifferently.
He truly thought that this guy would at least have the ability to give him a challenging fight. But alas, it seems that he overestimated him in the end.
Even his girls could've easily toyed with this thing. Such a pity, really.
"This farce has gone longer than necessary. It's time to end this and usher in the new age of humanity."
Having decided to conclude this matter here, Cedric took the initiative this time.
Once again, he moved with grace and swiftness that made him seem like a ghost. He passed through the Demon God's body and walked away without looking back.
The Demon God froze once he passed through him, and a few seconds later, he was bisected vertically. His flesh was burned by the golden flames to nihility; the only thing that survived from his was his contaminated soul, which flew to Cedric's hand for safekeeping.
The desolate battlefield disappeared after that.