As the war progressed, the number of dead Black-Winged Angels increased, and the aura of the Black Dragon became stronger and stronger.
Finally, at a certain moment, when most of the nearly five million Black-Winged Angels were killed on the volcanic battlefield, the Black Dragon, blessed by the power of millions of Black-Winged Angels, finally broke through the peak of the legendary third level and reached the threshold of the legendary fourth level.
The Black Dragon Lord's biological level has also successfully broken through from the 20th advanced level to the 21st intermediate level, which is the second level of the legend.
---
"With the level of the legendary second level and the strength of the legendary fourth level, I think it is enough to deal with that guy."
In the island palace of Black Wing City, a huge Black Dragon over eighty meters long stretched its body, and my red vertical dragon pupils shone with a frightening light.
The Black-Winged Angel can only be resurrected once in a short period of time. If it is resurrected continuously within a short period, the soul will easily collapse.
But in the next battle, I won't need the Black-Winged Angels.
Silently, I transformed into a gray Void Dragon form and then disappeared into this space.
The stretching battlefield of the volcanoes had gone through a war for more than half of the Blood Moon and was almost littered with corpses and rivers of blood.
These corpses are all abyss demons from Duolun City, and not even a single Black-Winged Angel can be seen.
"I finally got through it."
On the Duolun City side, the Night Elf general finally relaxed his tense nerves when he saw that the number of Black-Winged Angels on the battlefield was getting smaller and smaller and no more reinforcements were being made.
However, when he saw the number of troops on their side, the corners of his mouth could not help but twitch, feeling a little pained.
In this war, they gathered nearly 50 million abyss demons in Duolun City, but now only less than 5 million are left.
Of course, these low-level abyss demons will die as soon as they die. They are cannon fodder after all, and it will take some time to regroup and recruit them.
However, the demons in the middle and high levels suffered heavy casualties, so it would not be possible for them to recover in a short time.
Gathering low-level cannon fodder does not require training or benefits at all.
However, it is impossible for Duolun City to enslave all the intermediate and advanced-level demons and dark creatures. It still needs to consume some expensive resources and costs to recruit and train them.
"Even if this war is won, it will be quite troublesome in the future," the Night Elf general thought in his mind.
Explosive Flame City, who is watching eagerly from the side, will not let go of this opportunity to attack their Duolun City. Wait—that's not right. Black Wing City's foundation is even weaker. If Explosive Flame City takes this opportunity to launch a war against Black Wing City, then...
"Has Lord already thought of this step? Let Black Wing City and Explosive Flame City go dog-eat-dog?" The Night Elf general was slightly shocked.
"It's even possible that the power of Explosive Flame City is lurking somewhere!"
The Night Elf general's guess was correct.
In a remote corner of the volcanoes, five legendary demons with powerful auras were lurking there.
The leader was none other than the Lord of the Balor Fire Demons from Explosive Flame City.
"The Lord of Black Wing City is really calm. Almost all his soldiers have been killed, and he still hasn't come to an end," one of the legendary Balor Fire Demons among the other four couldn't help but sigh.
In their eyes, Black Wing City undoubtedly lost this war.
Of course, Duolun City also suffered a tragic defeat.
It can be said that both sides suffered losses.
"Sir, if the Lord of Black Wing City doesn't show up, what should we do?" one of the four legendary demons, a legendary horned demon, asked Lord Balor, who stood upright not far away and closed his eyes silently.
'Explosive Flame' opened its golden-red, lava-like pupils and glanced at the legendary horned demon. The powerful aura made it lower its head slightly, not daring to offend. Seeing this, it nodded with satisfaction and grinned.
"If he doesn't come out, we just keep waiting. He can't possibly be as good at hiding as the Night Lord, right? That guy's been hiding in the Abyss City for ages and never comes out. Haha."
The Lord of Explosive Flame said this with a somewhat mocking tone. Obviously, he had long been dissatisfied with the Lord of Darkness.
As a demon and a member of the Balor clan with a bad temper, Explosive Flame was extremely eager for war, violence, and battles with strong opponents.
In this area, the Night Lord is the only one who has the strength to fight it, but the opponent has been hiding for thousands of years. Even though the Lord of Explosive Flame sent troops to harass Duolun City every once in a while—killing the Night Elves several times—not even once could he force that guy to come out.
"It's simply tolerable to the extreme!!
The Explosive Flame Lord was extremely frustrated by the Night Lord's forbearance.
Therefore, when he learned that Black Wing City was going to start a war with Duolun City, he became extremely excited and personally led four second-level legendary demon generals to ambush here.
In fact, even if Black Wing City had not gone to war with Duolun City this time, the Explosive Flame Lord still would not have let Black Wing City go. He would have definitely chosen an opportunity to attack and test its strength.
While Baoyan and his four demon generals surveyed the distant battlefield, their eyes locked on the chaos below, a monstrous claw—vast and ashen-gray—ripped silently through the void, faster than thought, swifter than a divine decree. With the suddenness of lightning, it clamped around Baoyan, the Lord of Explosive Flame.
The moment that void-born claw emerged, I unveiled my full draconic form—in the huge Void Dragon form, crowned in starlight and cloaked in oblivion. My wings stretched across the sky like eclipses, and in my gaze burned a storm of cosmic fury.
My dragon eyes were excited and ferocious. A dragon claw seized the unprepared Explosive Flame Lord. Then terrifying draconic power, void energy, psychic energy, magical power, and many other forces erupted at once. Four legendary-grade items worn on my dragon claw were activated after consuming a vast amount of energy, releasing four legendary auras of different colors.
My claw, adorned in legendary armaments pulsing with arcane glyphs, clenched tighter around the unprepared Baoyan. Four legendary-tier artifacts ignited, consuming colossal energy to unleash an orchestra of destruction— and void-warped psionics, each aura screaming in its own apocalyptic hue.
The weight of that strike—concentrated into a single claw—reached the might of a mid-tier Legendary Fourth Rank.
Baoyan, for all his pride and glory, was still trapped at the pinnacle of the Third Rank. He was no weakling: blessed by infernal bloodlines, forged in endless war, his gear was flawless, his reflexes godlike. But before that claw, he looked like a child reaching out to stop a collapsing star.
Explosive Flame Lord was incredibly talented, possessed super-level combat ability, and wore a complete set of legendary equipment—his comprehensive combat power being extremely close to legendary fourth rank—he was still overwhelmed with terror under that dragon claw.
He tried to scream, but the pressure crushed the sound in his throat.
Crack.
His legendary armor groaned… then shattered.
Crack.
His hardened demonic carapace, sculpted from molten abyssal rock and infernal essence, splintered like dry bark.
Then came the flood.
Bones shattered. Flesh tore. His body exploded like a ruptured volcano—fragments of charred muscle and lava-soaked sinew splattered across the burning ground. Blood, black as void oil and glowing with molten light, sprayed in every direction, coating the stunned generals who stood paralyzed with horror.
By the time the four demon lieutenants moved to react, it was already over.
Baoyan's twenty-meter-tall form was torn cleanly in half.
But he didn't die.
No… not yet.
He was a creature of the Star Worlds, a being who had survived three soul evolutions. His body, once flesh, had long begun its metamorphosis into a living conduit of energy and willpower. His consciousness didn't reside in his brain or heart anymore—it was diffused, immortalized.
Advance into legendary beings, their bodies begin transforming and evolving into energy-based forms. Many weaknesses of their original bodies gradually disappear.
As a powerful demon at the peak of legendary third rank, Lord Explosion had already undergone three transformations. Even if his brain was destroyed, he wouldn't die—let alone from just having his body torn apart.
Even obliterated, he refused to fall.
But then came the true terror.
He felt it. An unfamiliar, alien energy had slithered into his broken form—something corrosive, insidious, and absolute. It wasn't just damaging him; it was unmaking him. Draining him not just of blood or power—but of existence itself.
That... was Void Infection. The curse of my kind.
A certain energy flowing from the dragon claw was frantically eroding and devouring his strength, making him weaker and weaker by every blink of an eye.
If this continued, he would definitely die.
He panicked. He tried to activate dimensional escape tokens, to summon infernal portals, to warp across planes.
Nothing worked.
My eighth-tier spell—Anti-Magic Field—had already anchored the battlefield. There would be no escape.
Though eighth-tier spells are normally insufficient for battles at the legendary third or fourth level, some special ones can still have surprising effects.
Baoyan's thoughts spiraled into desperation. Was this how it ends? Me, a Lord of the Infernal Flame, consumed like carrion?
Then, my voice echoed—deep, resonant, merciless.
"Balor Fire Demon… if you wish to keep your soul from the eternal grave, hand over the Heart of the Abyss." the void dragon roared, a cold and cruel look flashing in its eyes.
The words weren't a request. They were prophecy.
Baoyan, half-dead and wholly terrified, trembled. Yet within those words, he saw a flicker of salvation. I could have consumed him… but I didn't. Why?
Because I didn't need to.
The void already owned him.
Baoyan, who was already in despair, couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope.
The opponent clearly had the power to kill him outright and take the Heart of the Abyss. But instead, he wanted to spare his life.
So what was there to hesitate about?
His lips quivered. His remaining arm reached to his cracked chest. There, fused to his core, the Heart of the Abyss pulsed—dark, crystalline, ancient. With effort, he ripped it free, blood gushing like a geyser.
"S-sir… I relinquish my claim…" he gasped, offering the crystal with both fear and reverence.
I took the Heart, felt its trembling weight in my claws, then gave a low growl of satisfaction.
After examining it, I confirmed the Balor Fire Demon wasn't lying. I smiled with satisfaction and released my grip.
The grip of death loosened.
And then, like a ripple vanishing into the stars, I vanished into the void—my colossal form folding into space itself, leaving only echoes behind.
I had what I came for. The seed of the Void was already planted. No need to linger. Soon, a Black-Winged Angel at the peak of the Third Legendary Rank would descend upon Black Wing City.
The battlefield was silent.
Baoyan, now a butchered shell, collapsed as the void's erosion faded. With no outside force to consume him, his regenerative fire reawakened. Flesh knit, bones twisted back into place, magma flowed like blood once more.
He rose—barely.
But the world around him had changed.
The Heart was gone. His honor shattered. His generals…?
He turned.
Gone.
They had fled the moment they saw death descend from the void.
"A bunch of trash," Baoyan muttered angrily.
But he no longer had the will to pursue them. Though he had lost the Heart of the Abyss, he had narrowly escaped with his life. Now, he just wanted to hide and wait for the storm to pass.
And he understood now.
He was no longer a Lord of Flame. He was just another soul who had looked into the abyss—
—and learned that it stares back.
---
Meanwhile, I had already arrived at Explosive Flame City.
I needed to reclaim control over the city's energy. Otherwise, the Heart of the Abyss could not be used as the activation core of the Gate of the Abyss.
Suspended high above, the gray-white dragon overlooked the massive city sprawling below.
After so many years, the small abyssal city of Explosive Flame City had been cultivated to its limits by the Explosive Flame Lord.
The city covered nearly 800,000 square kilometers. It resembled a small world.
With a thought, I took out the Heart of the Abyss obtained from the Explosive Flame Lord and began refining it.
Silently, I established a connection with this explosive city.
The residents of Explosive Flame City also passed the city's information to me.
"Approximately 120 million residents."
"One second-level legendary aura, eight first-level legendary auras, and over 5,500 great demon-level auras."
I quickly grasped all the relevant details.
"They are all excellent Void Army material," I said with a grin.
The dragon's shadow flashed, and I silently entered Explosive Flame City.
I didn't rush to recover its power. First, I needed to plant void seeds in all of its residents.
I continuously infused large quantities of void energy into the city. Explosive Flame City then used various methods to quietly spread the void's power.
However, this method only worked on those below the legendary level. Those at the legendary level still needed to be planted manually.
---
Two days passed. The abyssal blood moon overhead dipped slightly.
I had already planted void seeds in every high-level resident and above, and in millions of intermediate-level residents below them.
The short-term, high-output use of void energy left me utterly exhausted.
"Forget it. No need to rush," I murmured, stopping the output of void energy. I decided to proceed slowly.
While I labored like a diligent farmer in Explosive Flame City, the outcome of the war unfolded on the volcanic battlefield.
---
Ozzy stood atop a ridge of charred stone, his obsidian wings folding behind him like the cloak of a fallen god. Below him, the remnants of his army—barely 100,000 mid- and high-level Black Winged Angels—staggered across a battlefield drenched in blood and bathed in the fading embers of war. Behind him, hundreds of master-level angels, each cloaked in scorched robes and blood-slicked armor, waited in grim silence.
His expression was impassive. Cold. Absolute.
He raised a hand—wreathed in ash, blood, and fire—and spoke a single word:
> "Retreat."
There was no hesitation, no argument. A master-level angel, a mighty spellweaver, stepped forward and tore a hole in reality with a single incantation. The portal—Any Door—groaned into existence, flickering with unstable energy, its frame made of light and black iron.
One by one, those who had not fallen marched through, leaving behind the dead, the shattered, the damned.
Ozzy was the last to pass through, his boot sinking slightly into the soft pile of broken twisted limbs that now coated the blackened earth.
None of the top leaders of Duolun City's night elves moved to pursue.
They stood along the ridge, silent as sentinels, their bodies covered in grime, ichor, and burns, their eyes hollow from what they had witnessed. They didn't cheer. They didn't move. They merely watched the last of the Black Winged Angels vanish like ghosts fading with the dawn.
A night elf general stepped forward, gazing down upon the volcanic hellscape below. The battlefield was no longer land—it was a grave.
Mountains of corpses—winged, horned, human, beast—rose like grotesque sculptures, black smoke curling from the craters where void and abyssal spells had collided. Rivers of blood had carved their way into the rock, forming crimson trenches that boiled and fumed.
Where once stood a proud army of nine million Black Winged Angels, only less than 100,000 remained.
They had been obliterated.
On their side, Duolun City's abyssal legions, which had numbered over fifty million strong, now limped as a shadow of their former glory. Barely two million survived—most maimed, many too injured to fight again any time soon.
Among the elite—the hardened mid- and high-level abyssal troops—more than 800,000 lay butchered, their broken armor fused to their burned flesh, their weapons scattered like forgotten relics of a lost age.
The core of their command—the master-level warriors—had fared better. Only twenty-seven had fallen, but over three hundred bore wounds so severe, they teetered on the edge of life and death. Severed arms. Split torsos. Smashed skulls held together with bandages and magic.
The general's voice cracked as he whispered, "This... is a victory drowned in sorrow."
He turned to the legendary warriors standing behind him—beings wreathed in abyssal flame and scarred by a thousand wars. Some held severed heads. Others leaned on blades chipped from too much use.
> "Finish it," he commanded. "No quarter."
*****
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