Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"To think...my daughter had to die for this." A voice filled with tyranny and ancientness resounded. Nearby Yan Zaizen's collapsed form, a figure shimmered into existence wielding a snow-white blade. This figure had a similar form to the phantasms from before, but he also had a white symbol of 'hell' etched into his glabella. As if his soul was refined by hell itself.

This soul form was slender, dressed in a sky-blue robe, and had white prayer beads the size of baseballs around his neck. Despite the necklace of prayer beads, his translucent hair was long and filled with a water-like feel. It felt like an odd visual contradiction, yet strangely beautiful.

His tyrannical gaze shifted to Yan Zaizen's collapsed body, a hint of disdain streaked across his eyes. Turning this gaze away, he looked towards Ma Xiuren whose eyes was as enlarged as an egg. When she saw Yan Zaizen's pierced body and eventual collapse, an indescribable pain stabbed into her heart. For this person she just met, when she saw his death, a tear flowed from her left eye. There was a sudden bout of anger in her heart, but she understood her limitations.

The moment that figure's gaze reached her, she dashed away towards the spatial platform. If Yan Zaizen was instantly killed by this person, she wouldn't stand a chance.

"Tch." A soft sound of ridicule surged from the soul form. He didn't take a step forward, but his body shimmered out of existence. These people caused his daughter to give up her life to give him a few minutes of life before his revival. All so that he may survive their presumed assault, but it seemed like his daughter overestimated their capabilities.

These two didn't even know much about the Hell Altar nor did they have profound cultivation bases that could threaten him. With a single flick of his energy blade, he killed one and with a single breath, he could kill the other. In his belief, his daughter should be able to do the same with her strength. Unfortunately, that girl was always overly dramatic and prone to quick decisions.

Well, to him, when he properly revived, he'll just restore her soul form. To him who possessed a two-floor Hell Altar, that would be as easy as breathing itself, especially since she merged with it. Therefore, he didn't feel too bothered by it all. He'll use the few minutes he had left to torture this little girl for now...at least it'll relieve him of this frustration he felt.

"Yan Zaizen! YAN ZAIZEN!!" Pinaka's voice continually called out to Yan Zaizen, but his soul form was encapsulated in some form of pure white strings. The strings were slowly allowing his soul form to dissipate naturally without the support of his body, as if he had already died, despite Yan Zaizen's body still having a faint trace of life! If it wasn't for the fact the white strings contained hell energy, something unique to those who've constructed their Hell Altar, she would've done everything she could to destroy it.

Unfortunately, as a soul form, she was powerless against these strings. She tried to think of anything, everything, but the only thing that could help the situation was Yan Zaizen waking up! Even his soul defense didn't react to this attack! It seemed as if it'll only act if directly attacked and not restrained.

As for Yan Zaizen, the trace of lifeforce came from the shredded remnants of his heart. A very small, almost atom-sized, white flame flickered defiantly. However, the destruction of the heart was too serious. The only thing the white flame had left was the ability to defiantly resist dissipating into the ether. To all those who could see Yan Zaizen's body, it was as if he truly died without an ounce of lifeforce.

"Finally!" A deep, dark voice filled with the essence of death resounded in the strange language of the heavens! This voice was spoken off from within Yan Zaizen's body, but not his heart. From his inky, black quad-lungs!! That inky-blackness started to tremble slightly as if something was going to hatch from those lungs.

Before, there was always an equal balance between life and death, even in the Regalia itself! The Unyielding Flame of Life would persist perpetually, always burning the shadow of death away with its vibrant flames to prevent its rise, but the Siphoning Shadow of Death would always fight back, taking back what belonged to it while strengthening itself by siphoning the essence from others, never allowing itself to be completely burnt away by those flames, but always looking for a chance to win!

Yan Zaizen's laws embedded in his souls were fundamentally different than the concept within the Regalia. As displayed earlier in the battle with the Phantasm, the concept contained a complete consciousness of its own. They both do!

Long ago in chaotic space, Yan Zaizen speculated about the truth of conceptual laws! He had a faint belief that they were alive. During his moment of near death, the concept of death and life surged out to protect him. They were just mere concepts who were a part of his soul and yet they had faint traces of sentience and autonomy!

However, the Regalia's were segregated from the heavens themselves. They not only had a consciousness, autonomy, but they were truly alive! Fortunately, Yan Zaizen's Herculean Physique was their catalyst now, they couldn't exist without him, so there's no conflict they could have with him. They even allow themselves to be used because that's what they want!

If Yan Zaizen ever created his own heaven, these concepts would become gods of that heaven! How could they not wish for this? How could they not want this?! This is why they allow themselves to be segregated from the heavens in the first place! Why be the fish swimming in the ocean when you could become the god of the ocean itself?!

"Now! It's all MINE'S!" The deep, dark voice resounded once more, its voice filled with anticipation and greed. With Yan Zaizen's heart destroyed, containing faint traces of life, the aura of death was so prevalent that it was beyond terrifying. From henceforth, there was nothing that could stop it! Usually, the Unyielding Flame of Life would never let itself be weakened to such an extent, but now it was different!

As long as that flame of life continued to flicker perpetually to maintain Yan Zaizen's life, it could siphon all! Afterward, the flame would forever be its inferior!

Then, if it wished, it could destroy the flame once and for all with just a thought!!!

"It's all mines, ALL OF IT!" A frightening aura of pure death permeated Yan Zaizen's surroundings. The hell altar in less than a second was submerged in an aura of inky, black but incredibly pure death. This was unthinkable! A hell altar was constructed from materials originating from hell itself, for someone to destroy it, let alone siphon off its essence, was unbelievable!

"What?!" The phantasm held onto a bloodied Ma Xiuren by his ethereal hands. One could see that she was tortured severely. Her body was filled with countless cuts, faintly reminiscent to a death by a thousand cuts. However, this torture for relief was ceased the moment he felt his existence was threatened.

Witnessing his entire hell altar engulfed in a deathly aura, his eyes widened with shock and disbelief. Completely disregarding Ma Xiuren, tossing her to the side, he rushed at his fastest speed to arrive near his hell altar. However, when he tried to penetrate the deathly aura, he felt the remnant energy that was bestowed to him by his daughter's sacrifice vanish slowly.

"What the?!" His mind reeled in fear and disbelief. If the energy disappears then so will he. In that case, he wouldn't be able to stop this from happening. Unfortunately, his current state was temporary and couldn't exert any strength of his hell altar.

However, how could he give up like this?

His eyes scanned the deathly aura, trying to find the sky-blue orb. If he could obtain the regalia, he had a slight chance of turning the situation around. The only reason he didn't immediately touch it was because of the Regalia's characteristics. His daughter's energy will most definitely vanish if he did so, but now, if he could galvanize the regalia into action, he had a chance of survival.

In truth, he did.

Unfortunately.

Men presume, and the heavens laugh.

In this case, it was quite literal as the conceptual law of death laughed.

The deathly aura continued to pervade every inch of the hell altar, siphoning its essence to strengthen itself. Without someone controlling the hell altar, it was nothing more than an ornament. Even the blood that lingered on the levels of the altar was absorbed gradually. When the Asura Phantom Palace Master saw this, his eyes were filled with anger and hatred.

The blood was prepared specifically for the reconstruction of his physical body, but if it was gone, then his chances of reviving would drop to zero! Unable to see the sky-blue orb amidst the black aura, he plummeted violently into the aura disregarding all consequences to reach Yan Zaizen's body. From his memory, the sky-blue orb was located there.

At this point, he could tell that 3% of his hell altar's essence was siphoned by this deathly aura. As it continued to absorb more, the deathly aura grew thicker and thicker, and thus the amount it absorbed became greater and greater.

The Asura Phantom Palace Master arrived where Yan Zaizen previously was, his personal energy levels were only about 10% at this point. He had to find the orb! However, when he arrived, he couldn't even find Yan Zaizen's body!! His mind was nearing total collapse at this moment, pushing the deathly aura away to search but alas, to his last ounce of energy, he found nothing.

If he knew that the death aura he risked everything to enter had shifted Yan Zaizen's body, he may do the impossible in his current state and spit out a wad of blood.

His last thought was…

"Could it be...the heavens truly wish for my death?!"

Then, he vanished.