Chapter 422: Shattering the Cage

The towering pillar of flame swept outward, devouring everything in its path. The massive iron mountain, along with the countless explosive devices scattered across its interior, were vaporized in a single stroke. Every hidden mechanism in the vicinity designed for high-impact destruction was annihilated just as thoroughly by that overwhelming slash.

The conjured fire burned itself out, vanishing from Wang Yu's grasp. Between him and Selene, no obstacles remained.

Before he could speak, Avia had already shaped footholds for him from void energy. He stomped down, his form flickering out of sight. When he reappeared, he was less than a hundred meters from Selene.

Her eyes, like galaxies of starlight reflected within crystal pools, locked onto his charging figure. If this space were not one she herself had created, her body could never have kept pace with his. Even now, she could barely track Wang Yu's movements, and that only because his Void Engine remained dormant.

Magic flared in Selene's hands. Two spatial spells unfolded at once: one targeting Wang Yu, the other herself. Even for her, there was no escaping the truth that, when a magician faced a knight at close range, the magician would instinctively try to create some distance.

Selene's command of spellcraft was exceptional, particularly in the realm of spatial magic. There was barely any delay between invocation and spellcast. She succeeded in locking onto Wang Yu's position, and her teleportation spell enveloped his body.

Space folded. Instantly, the distance between the two widened as they were displaced in opposite directions. Even as she landed, Selene was already channeling a different power.

"Got you. Coordinates locked."

Avia's calm voice reached Wang Yu's ear. At this range, she could have nullified the teleportation spell aimed at him using the Chariot's power with ease.

But the one cast on Selene herself was another matter. Instead of interrupting it, she took advantage of it. By tracing the enemy's magic, Avia obtained the exact coordinates at which Selene would reappear.

"Let's go!"

Wang Yu lunged forward, bursting into the Gate of Phases that materialized before him. In the next heartbeat, he emerged behind Selene. His arms shot out, locking around her throat. Muscles tensed with a crack like thunder. Before she could finish her incantation, her head was torn from her shoulders.

Blood surged from his heart and exploded through his throat in a concussive blast of power. The shockwave shredded Selene's frail body to ribbons. Flesh and blood, and even bone, were ground to fine dust.

Her body was gone, but Wang Yu did not relax. The Banner of Triumph remained silent; no essence of life flowed into it. That meant she had not truly died. The being called Selene was still alive.

"Wang Yu," came her voice, echoing all around him, resonating through the broken space. "You are more than I imagined. Your power... once, it only surprised me. Now, it unsettles me. You are strange and unnerving. What are you, truly?

"Perhaps you cannot answer that yourself. But the feeling you give me now... it's the same as when I first faced the creatures of the Abyss. Unknown. Utterly unknown. No—worse. You're more dangerous than they are. At least their motives we understand.

"Donatien Charlemagne wants his kingdom. Edward Wolyn seeks to protect his people. Charles Ryder only ever wished for an easy post and a salary for doing nothing, though at heart he's much like Edward. Hugin thirsts for vengeance. Fang Stuart...

"But you, Wang Yu—you, I cannot read. What is it that you desire? You seem to have no direction, no goal, no burning ambition driving you forward. Your actions defy prediction. What are you trying to accomplish? What will you do in the end?"

Her voice lingered in the air, calm yet somehow fevered. Wang Yu frowned, dismissing it all as pointless rambling.

"Do you understand?" she pressed, her words quickening, trembling now with urgency. "A being with no discernible motive, no certainty of intent, yet wielding power beyond all measure—such an existence is far too dangerous. Tell me, Wang Yu... are you the Abyssal creature of this era?"

"No. I'm nothing like the creatures of the Abyss." Wang Yu spoke up as he rarely did in battle.

"What?"

Selene paused, her voice brittle with surprise.

"I'm stronger than they are," Wang Yu replied coolly.

"...Indeed, you are far more dangerous than they are. We'll have to move faster. You and that young woman will become our next targets for elimination."

The domain that Selene had woven began to tear. The sealed space, constructed to imprison Wang Yu within the Endless Corridor, was being torn apart from the outside. The barrier that held this place together split open, as though something had clawed straight through the fabric of reality itself.

A shaft of silver light pierced inward. Then, through that rift, a colossal silver dragon thrust in its head. A moment later, she was beside Wang Yu.

"So that's your opponent? Quite a troublesome one," said Aurelian, glancing at him.

"Sorry to trouble you," Wang Yu replied, exhaling softly. "She's... an unexpected variable. I thought all I had to do was cut down Donatien Charlemagne and bring down the royal house, but it looks like things are more tangled up than I imagined."

Truth be told, he hadn't expected the situation to spiral like this. He'd calculated that the royal family's hidden trump card would be the greatest threat—so he'd played his strongest move first, blowing that card right out of their hand. Yet now, here he was, facing something that defied all logic.

"Can you lock on to her location? I have no idea how to kill her."

Even Wang Yu liked to hedge his bets before acting. He knew his own limits all too well. That was why he'd made arrangements with Aurelian beforehand.

If his link with her ever broke, she was to intervene. After all, when it came to mastery over space, she was the true expert.

"I can't," Aurelian said after a pause. "Her existence is... unusual. We'll likely need Lady Darkness to deal with her. This entire space—and the corridors you mentioned seeing within the void—they're all part of her."

Selene's very form was bizarre beyond comprehension.

"A creature of the Abyss? No... more like a draconic abyssal magician? No, that doesn't seem right either. Even the beings by your side are so peculiar. You truly are the most unpredictable threat of all. Then..."

Selene's voice quivered with tension as her gaze flicked toward the silver dragon. Whatever strange dread she held toward Wang Yu was mounting by the second. He truly couldn't fathom why she saw him as such a danger. He hadn't done anything that monstrous, had he?

But she never got the chance to finish her words.

A vast shadow blotted out the light above them. The very space Selene had created—indeed, Selene herself—was being consumed.

Pure darkness rolled in like a living tide, swallowing everything both in the material plane and within the void. Selene thrashed within that black mire, but it was pointless. The vast corridor Wang Yu had glimpsed within the void might have been immense, but compared to the Lady of the Night, it was insignificant.

Freed from her former restraints, the Lady's power had grown to an overwhelming degree. The divine force she had inherited from the forgotten God of Eternal Night, the power to erase, to consign all things to nonexistence, had only been enhanced by the swelling faith of the Church of Nightfall's believers.

For a god without any killing arts, this was her deadliest weapon. Selene's being was devoured piece by piece, until the light faded from the world. Around Wang Yu and Aurelian, all color drained away. Only the soundless, eternal grayness of the void remained.

"This scene," Aurelian murmured, "is rather chilling when seen up close..."

Her tone carried a touch of awe. The Lady of the Night, usually so mild and seemingly harmless, wielded power that was anything but gentle.

"Agreed," Wang Yu said, nodding slightly. The sensation of his existence being peeled away within that consuming dark, of his self dissolving into nothing, was enough to send a cold shiver through him.

A slit of light opened within the abyss. The Lady of the Night had torn a passage through which they could leave.

Aurelian reverted to her human form and passed through the rift alongside Wang Yu. For the moment, it was best not to parade a dragon's presence across the continent.

Outside, the battlefield lay in ruin. The throne on which Donatien Charlemagne had sat was now reduced to rubble. The man himself was nowhere to be seen.

"I cut him to pieces," Aurelian offered matter-of-factly, catching his glance.

"Good," Wang Yu replied with a nod. "Would've been a pain if he'd slipped away."

He glanced atthe distance: Edward was approaching with the Nightblades and the Grand Duke of the North's men in tow. It seemed the region outside the palace had already fallen.

The purge of the royal line was complete. Yet Selene's cryptic words lingered in Wang Yu's mind, hinting that further troubles awaited. Fortunately, with the Lady of the Night having buried Selene alive in the abyss, little of what she'd seen could have escaped.

"Wang Yu, why do you think she said those things about you?" Avia said from beside him.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He'd claimed that he was stronger than an abyssal creature in terms of his ability to learn, to evolve and adapt.

Abyssal beings learned as well, but they did so indiscriminately, devouring every trait for good or ill. One of those over-eager beings, a giant octopus beneath the Endless Sea, had doomed itself that way. Wang Yu, however, only absorbed that which was beneficial for him. He always targeted advancement based on what he knew.

After a moment's reflection, he sighed. Selene must not even have considered him human.

"I think she must have viewed me as a threat because I'm so different from everyone else."