Need a Hand

An Changqing’s pupils contracted.

How could this be…

He had considered that things might not go so smoothly, but he never imagined his attack would be blocked so effortlessly.

Pinching the tip of the sword between two fingers, Liu Xiao slowly raised his head to look at An Changqing. The smile at the corners of his mouth grew wider.

“My dear junior, it’s time for everything to end.”

At this moment, the strength he displayed had far surpassed the level of an ordinary student.

After all, Liu Xiao was only one year above them. Moreover, he was not one of the top students in his year. Otherwise, he would never have hired others to serve as his Demon King’s guards before.

According to Chen Guan’s memories, Liu Xiao had been weaker than An Changqing and the others. Even if he had grown stronger, there was no way he could have received An Changqing’s full-powered attack with such ease.

The Liu Xiao in Chen Guan’s memories and the man before him now bore no resemblance at all aside from their voice and appearance.

“Foolish boy, stop viewing him as the Liu Xiao you used to know.”

Baal saw what Chen Guan was thinking and spoke without mercy. “I told you before—Astaroth is a demon with a wicked sense of amusement. He enjoys leading people into depravity. Once someone becomes entangled with him, there are only two possible outcomes.”

“Either they die. That counts as the better outcome; at least they die with their human dignity intact. Or they are assimilated into his servants, and everything beautiful they once possessed is erased from them. Since the day we first became acquainted, there has never been an exception.”

“Many people have believed they could resist temptation and remain true to themselves. Unfortunately, hoping to freeload off a demon god harboring supreme malice? That’s a pipe dream.”

“He thinks he is still himself. He thinks he is acting according to his own will. He has no idea that his will has already been twisted, and that everything he does has been reshaped around Astaroth.”

As if to prove Baal’s words, Liu Xiao continued speaking.

“My dear junior, it seems you’ve already given it everything you have.”

His voice carried a light, amused smile, as though he were commenting on a dull play.

The fingers clamped around the sword tip gave it a gentle flick.

Clang.

A crisp sound rang out, followed by a mournful cry from the long sword in An Changqing’s hand.

An irresistible force traveled down the blade, shaking his internal organs out of alignment. His entire body was sent flying backward, completely beyond his control.

Pfft.

Bright red blood traced an arc through the air. He crashed heavily onto the ground more than a dozen meters away. He struggled to rise, only to cough up another mouthful of blood.

“An Changqing!”

Hong Yuan tried to rush over, but endless demon puppets swarmed around her, holding her back.

“Bastard!”

Long Ao’s eyes were bloodshot. Abandoning the lesser enemies, he gathered all his strength into one punch and hurled it toward Liu Xiao from a distance.

Liu Chengjun reacted just as quickly. Towering flames condensed in his hands into a burning spear, which shot toward the figure standing before the heart alongside the force of Long Ao’s punch.

Long Ao’s fist could split mountains and shatter stone. Liu Chengjun’s flaming spear could melt steel. Yet when the two attacks approached within three feet of Liu Xiao, they struck an invisible barrier and silently vanished into nothingness.

Liu Xiao did not move an inch. Not even the faintest ripple stirred in the pale violet demonic aura surrounding him.

“Do you see that?”

Liu Xiao’s gaze swept across the shocked and resentful faces of the crowd. He was clearly savoring the moment.

“This is the difference between us.”

“Under the grace of the Great Lord Astaroth, all of you so-called mortal prodigies are nothing but frogs at the bottom of a well.”

He spread his arms wide.

“You thought I was only on the first level, and that you could defeat me with willpower and courage.”

“Hahahaha! Wrong!”

“My guests, your battles, your fury, and your despair—all of it is the most wonderful fuel in this world to us.”

He drew in a deep breath, savoring it like a connoisseur enjoying a rare vintage.

“Thank you for offering this final—and most abundant—source of energy for His descent.”

The instant his voice fell, the ornate golden hourglass at the very center of the stage released its final grain of sand.

Time was up.

Buzz.

At that moment, all the scarlet magic-circle runes spread across the theater floor blazed with dazzling light. The enormous heart suspended in midair, beating incessantly until then, suddenly stopped.

The next second—

Boom!

The colossal heart exploded.

A thick black-and-violet pillar of light beyond description shot into the sky from its ruptured core. It pierced through the theater’s domed roof and continued straight into the clouds.

Outside the theater, Yin Tianzheng and all the members of the Public Security Department stared up at the sky in horror.

The heavy clouds above the Demon Capital were torn open by the pillar of light, leaving behind a massive hole. The sky itself seemed to have been punctured, a savage wound gaping across it.

A pressure originating from the primordial wilderness descended through the rift, enveloping the entire Demon Capital.

Inside the theater, everyone except Chen Guan trembled in terror beneath that pressure. Their legs went weak, and even standing became an immense struggle. An invisible mountain weighed down on every person’s heart.

Within the black-and-violet pillar of light that pierced heaven and earth, a massive, indistinct silhouette was taking shape—a demon god with six pairs of wings.

Even though it was no more than an incomplete outline, no more than a lingering phantom, the surrounding space had already begun to warp and destabilize.

The demon god, Astaroth.

His remnant projection had descended.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

Liu Xiao threw himself to his knees, laughing wildly as he offered his most fervent worship and reverence to that imposing divine shadow.

“Welcome, Great Lord Astaroth, to Your kingdom!”

His actions proved Baal’s earlier words.

He was no longer himself.

The divine shadow’s cold, indifferent eyes swept across the entire scene. Wherever its gaze passed, every demon puppet disintegrated into powder.

Its gaze passed over the kneeling Liu Xiao without stopping.

It passed over An Changqing, Long Ao, and the others as they struggled desperately to endure, regarding them as no more than dust by the roadside.

At last, its gaze came to rest on the young man in the corner.

The instant Astaroth’s eyes met Chen Guan’s, an emotion comprehensible to humans appeared for the first time on the demon god’s eternal, emotionless face.

It was confusion.

Then came wariness.

With a single glance, He was able to read the recent conversation between Chen Guan and Baal.

A moment later, He understood.

His will reverberated through space, transforming into an ancient, inhuman language that was directly engraved into the depths of every soul present.

“Baal…”

Liu Xiao’s heart sank.

Of everyone there, only someone like him—a contracted servant—could understand those divine words.

That was Baal, the legendary strongest demon god. How could he not feel terrified?

“Several thousand years have passed since we last met, yet you have become this feeble.”

“Your own power has been scattered into a thousand fragments, and you must gather them all before you can recover. How laughable. You have disgraced your title as the Demon God Sovereign.”

Liu Xiao was stunned at first. Then ecstatic delight surged across his face.

He understood.

He understood everything.

The being inside Chen Guan was not the complete Demon God Sovereign at all, but merely a broken fragment scattered somewhere in the world.

What he had summoned, however, was a genuine divine shadow that had descended here.

Yet the protagonist being mocked was paying no attention whatsoever. His voice sounded in Chen Guan’s mind.

“Tsk, he really did make such a huge spectacle. The Third’s taste is as ostentatious as ever.”

“Hey, kid. Need a hand?”