Immediately after!
“Smack—!!!”
A crisp, piercing sound, as if the very laws of the universe had delivered a slap, thundered explosively in Jieluoluer’s soul perception!
She saw no movement! Felt no energy fluctuations! A terrifying, incomprehensible force, as if born from the world’s very rules, ruthlessly struck Jieluoluer’s flawless face—a face that embodied both divinity and seduction!
“Ugh—!”
Jieluoluer let out a twisted, agonizing scream as her entire body was hit head-on by a shockwave akin to a supernova explosion, instantly transforming into an out-of-control meteor hurtling backward with terrifying momentum far beyond her sprinting speed!
She tumbled and spun in the cold vacuum, her magnificent light-and-dark wings of the Divine Demon Angel form in complete disarray!
On that exquisite face, a clear palm print, branded by the pure power of the laws themselves, radiated a scorching glazed blue light, bringing bone-deep agony and… an unprecedented terror that nearly froze her soul!
She barely stabilized herself, hovering in the distant void, clutching her searing cheek, her gaze toward Eileen filled with disbelief and horror!
“No, no way! What—what did you do?!” Her thoughts trembled.
At that moment, she hadn’t even seen any movement from her opponent! It was as if that slap was the universe itself punishing her!
Now, Eileen’s eyes, burning with molten gold and starry magma, finally regained focus.
There was no more confusion, only a cold displeasure disturbed from deep contemplation, like a deity looking down on ants.
Jieluoluer’s gaze instinctively swept over the position where she had launched her frantic assault moments ago—at that thin glazed magic shield.
It was intact!
Not a crack, not a ripple of energy! Smooth as the most perfect mirror! As if her violent attacks—capable of tearing continents, burning mountains and seas, and freezing souls—were nothing but a ridiculous illusion!
A cold chill surged instantly from her spine to her crown! Fear, as deep and dark as the farthest reaches of the cosmos, instantly devoured all her arrogance and confidence!
She finally understood!
It wasn’t that her opponent was powerless to retaliate!
It was that the attacks she proudly wielded—powerful enough to slay gods—did not even qualify to make that shield ripple in the enemy’s eyes! That shield was the embodiment of universal law, the symbol of absolute defense! Her reckless barrage was nothing more than an ant trying to shake a tree, a pitiful joke!
The Holy Archmage King… was truly that terrifying?!
Eileen slowly raised her right hand, fingers splayed as if to grasp the boundless starry cosmos.
With her movement, the surrounding space thickened and grew heavy! Countless energies drifting in deep space—stellar radiation, stardust particles, even the light of distant galaxies—seemed summoned by the king, frantically converging into her palm!
A tiny point of light was born in her palm, then expanded at a geometric rate!
This was no ordinary magic energy sphere! It was a forcibly compressed, twisted… miniature star river!
A brilliant nebula swirled inside, countless miniaturized stars were born, burned, exploded, and collapsed within!
Blazing star flows interlaced with cold dark matter; black hole singularities coexisted with white hole jets!
The laws of destruction and creation collided fiercely, annihilating and birthing even more terrifying energy! An indescribable aura of annihilation spread forth, as if she held a universe on the brink of explosion!
Jieluoluer stared at the expanding “star river” in Eileen’s palm, which emitted a dreadful energy that made her soul wail, her face instantly draining pale as paper!
She had no doubt: if that thing detonated, not only her Divine Demon Angel body but even a whole planet would be utterly erased from physical and law dimensions in an instant! No trace of existence would remain!
The shadow of death was clearer than ever! Her once proud power looked laughably insignificant before this cosmic force!
“W-wait! Miss Eileen, no—Your Majesty, Holy Demon King! We can talk!”
Jieluoluer’s voice (or rather her thoughts) trembled with unprecedented panic and fear, completely stripped of former arrogance. “Power! Authority! Eternal life! Whatever you want, I can give you! There is no hatred between us that cannot be resolved! Humans, no, beings like us, should understand each other! Together control the future of this world!”
She babbled, attempting to sway the other with promises and appeals to “understanding.”
She saw Eileen’s cold golden eyes turn toward her—a gaze like watching a fish struggling on a chopping board, trying to reason.
There was no anger, no hatred in that look, only an all-knowing indifference and impatient annoyance at being disturbed.
Jieluoluer’s heart plummeted to the bottom.
Eileen’s lips moved slightly, as if saying something. Jieluoluer could not hear the sound, but she clearly “read” the lip movement’s meaning:
“Annoying trash.”
Then, under Jieluoluer’s utterly despairing gaze, Eileen’s hand holding the “Collapse of the Star River” gently pushed toward her direction.
There was no cataclysmic explosion.
Only an indescribably magnificent and terrifying glazed blue torrent instantly pierced the cold cosmic vacuum!
That torrent was not straight but twisted and coiled like a living serpentine star river!
Wherever it passed, space shattered and vanished like fragile glass! Time around it became chaotic and distorted! Inside the torrent, countless miniature stars endlessly birthed and perished in a cycle, releasing ultimate energy!
Jieluoluer only managed to emit a short, piercing soul scream of extreme agony before her three pairs of light-and-dark wings ignited and turned to ash!
The Sacred Creation Sword: Ymir and the Sin Severing Sword: Fafnir shattered and dissolved like common iron!
Her proud Divine Demon body was like ice and snow under the scorching sun before that star river torrent—unable to last even a microsecond—instantly disintegrated, vanished, and dissipated into the most fundamental energy particles, completely dispersed into cosmic dust!
In the final moment before her consciousness utterly faded, Jieluoluer finally understood why Eileen had chosen this battleground tens of thousands of meters above ground, even bringing her to the edge of the universe!
Not for a fair duel.
But to protect the fragile land below, to protect those… she cared about!
If the “Collapse of the Star River” had detonated in the Holy Capital, or even just above it… the entire Holy Capital and everything within hundreds of miles would be utterly erased from the map! Not a speck of dust would remain!
The last remnants of Jieluoluer’s consciousness emitted a final, resentful and unwilling wave—like the hiss of a dying venomous snake:
“Don’t… be proud… the gates of the Abyss… I’ve already opened… soon… the true… end times… will come… and you… will all… perish with me…”
That final thought echoed like a curse through the void for a moment, then completely vanished, along with Jieluoluer’s existence, returning to eternal nothingness.
Eileen floated silently in space; the destructive star river in her palm had disappeared.
She looked at the place where Jieluoluer had vanished, her expression indifferent and calm, as if brushing away a speck of dust.
She lowered her head slightly, her gaze piercing through the tens of thousands of meters of void, falling upon the land below—burning with war, scarred and broken—the Holy Capital.
There were still people she must protect there.
The splendid starry radiance flowed from the Holy Archmage King’s majestic robe as she moved slightly, transforming into a streak of light, diving down toward the ravaged battlefield below.