Narrating Death

How many versions of herself had she killed to successfully survive until today? Li Yue didn't know the answer, and she no longer cared. Perhaps this was a question Clo would consider for her, but Li Yue herself was indifferent.

She looked around at her surroundings. Within the lush, dense forest, she could vaguely see traces of structures built from piled branches.

“Traces of nesting... is this already a territory for magic beasts?” Li Yue crouched down to examine the area. The surrounding scent was somewhat unpleasant; she still preferred the smell of blood.

“What kind of civilization would these tribes, lacking in much wisdom, possess? Forget it, I shouldn't have high expectations. After all, they aren't human.” Li Yue pinched the bridge of her nose, not remembering how many foolish magic beasts she had crushed along the way.

“Nomadic tribes likely wouldn't have any grand architecture. Why do I find myself inexplicably fond of those massive palaces? Is it desire... a desire for vanity?” Li Yue murmured softly as she walked briskly along the path she sensed.

The presence of living beings grew heavier. Li Yue could feel the number of large magic beasts beginning to increase significantly. These massive creatures generally possessed a decent level of intelligence and a fairly strong sense of territoriality, yet they seemed to have no major objections to Li Yue’s intrusion.

“In their eyes, am I a magic beast... or a human?” Li Yue glanced at the surface of her skin, which was covered in fine, dense, transparent scales. “From a purely sensory perspective, the difference between me and a human should be quite vast.”

Li Yue slowly came to a halt before an open space. She reached out and touched it gently. The space before her rippled like the surface of water, and a forest composed of extremely dark, withered branches appeared before her. A pure white moon hung in the sky, casting its light upon her.

A faint chill drifted over her, yet it carried a hint of unreality. Li Yue didn't hesitate for a single moment, stepping inside. The pitch-black, withered branches danced eerily, exuding a strangely sinister aura.

“I thought I would be lying quietly in some palace, or perhaps sealed away by a collection of massive formations.” Li Yue raised an eyebrow and let out a small yawn, seemingly already a bit weary. As for the environment, compared to the River of the Dead with its constant wailing or her domain Witnessing Death, which had lost the very colors of life, all of this was far too cozy.

“Is all of this... a bit too simple?” Li Yue looked at the “Key” not far away, suspended in mid-air and wrapped in a large cluster of withered branches. She felt an inexplicable sense of unease. She had originally prepared herself for a fierce battle, but it seemed this was literally as easy as taking something from a pocket.

“How about... you all just show yourselves first? No matter how I look at it, this is a trap.” Li Yue sighed wordlessly. The surroundings remained deathly silent. “Fine, I'll fall for it then. But it's going to make you look really stupid when you show up afterward.”

Li Yue slowly rose into the air, her fingertips reaching out to touch the withered branches. In the next instant, those withered limbs instantly snaked along her fingers and bound her hands. Her body was then rapidly trussed up. The phantom of the key slowly vanished, and the pitch-black branches began to form a humanoid creature on the open ground nearby.

Li Yue watched this “King” with a sense of helplessness. She didn't rush to break free from the restraints. As they tightened further, she watched the environmental changes around her with emotionless eyes.

The forest under the moonlight was much larger than she had thought. She feigned a struggle, and immediately, several extremely powerful auras appeared within the surrounding space.

“It seems you've all placed the highest bids for my life...” Li Yue sighed. The withered branches around her were instantly shattered by her blood crystals, and her blood-red figure began to move rapidly through the vast space.

In the sky, a pair of giant eyes slowly opened, seemingly watching her from afar. A flaming hoof crushed through the layered clouds, stomping down fiercely toward Li Yue.

“Do you feel no fear at all?” A weathered and distant voice drifted over. It spoke not in a human tongue, but in the ancient language once used by the last of the gods. However, it was different from the one Li Yue often spoke; perhaps it had degraded under the influence of time.

Culture is like that, and living beings are the same. To Li Yue, there was no difference at all.

“I do not fear death, nor do I know what fear is.” Li Yue smiled faintly. The scenes of the Twilight were still vivid in her mind. She hadn't felt a shred of fear before the multitude of gods in the sky, let alone before a few Calamity-class magic beasts.

“Come then. Let's see if you have the right to avenge them.” Li Yue’s smile grew more radiant. She violently pulled the blood crystal from her chest, and a blood-drenched long sword appeared in her hand. The revolver named Death appeared in her other hand. The pitch-black Death Abyss covered the entire ground, and a giant black snake poked its head out from the depths.

In terms of presence and pressure, she had never lost.

“Then there is no need for conversation between us. Use your blood and death to tell me your demands and regrets.” Li Yue let out a long sigh. The nine Calamity-class auras in the space had not yet made a move, seemingly waiting for an opportunity.

An inexplicable sense of familiarity swirled in Li Yue’s heart. This strange, alien sensation gave her a vague feeling of unease.

“The second authority... they've hidden it...” Li Yue’s eyes lowered slightly. She swung a fierce, blood-red slash toward the distant void, cutting through the moonlight.

Prisoner

The range of the Witnessing Death domain continued to expand. Just as its name suggested, after Li Yue had witnessed countless deaths, she finally constructed this domain that completely negated the meaning of “existence.” Within it, even the use of magic was suppressed.

All colors would be stripped away until life itself vanished, and the husks turned to dust, disappearing into the withered land.

“Magic beasts these days don't even like to name their moves when they fight.” Li Yue delivered a heavy cleave, splitting apart a breath attack that had been compressed to the extreme. “One against eight... it seems I can't quite win this. Should I run? Forget it, the price will just be a bit higher.”

A heavy, flaming kick landed near her. Blotting out the sun, withered branches attempted to hinder her movements but were held back by the Death Abyss. Frost-chilled claws were parried by her long sword. Feathers fell continuously from the sky like a rainstorm, and these magical attacks uniquely targeted her with significant damage.

She glanced at the sky. The wings of a giant bird covered the entire firmament, and pitch-black feathers poured down toward her position. She dodged to the side, and a towering mountain appeared above her head. It seemed a mountain from the Western Continent had been moved directly over her through some strange magic.

The surrounding magic beasts were instantly whisked away by teleportation magic. It was a figure Li Yue hadn't even seen clearly; it seemed to be pure, absolute teleportation.

“Truly fascinating—like a maggot-ridden corpse in the heat of summer.” A golden glint flashed in Li Yue’s eyes. The giant snake within the pitch-black abyss raised its head. To it, the mountain looked like a hat that was several sizes too small, and this was only the scaled-down version within the Death Abyss.

An extremely fast blood shadow gave chase through the air, while another pale white figure continued to perform rapid teleportations. She tossed the blood sword, which symbolized the authority of death, high into the sky. A physical manifestation of divine authority intimidated the Calamity-class beasts for a split second. In the next instant, Li Yue closed in on the white shadow with a speed impossible for the naked eye to capture.

“Releasing magic requires imagination and thought, so sooner or later, I will catch you.” Having shed her naivety and adapted to her divinity, Li Yue was extremely powerful in combat techniques. The most terrifying point was that she did not fear death and knew no fear.

“Caught you.” Li Yue’s fingertips touched the back of the white shadow. At that exact moment, the cycle magic successfully activated. Before he could reach his next destination, his body was frozen for a heartbeat. In that heartbeat, Li Yue seized the pale-skinned creature.

He was even wearing human clothes—a white robe with golden patterns. He had the appearance of a human male with pitch-black pupils, but his limbs were exceptionally powerful, and his feet were shaped like dragon claws. Li Yue had some vague memory of this creature; he likely wasn't a pure-blooded dragon, but one of the evil fruits produced by the sinful breeding of those maddened gods.

“You first.”

The two figures overlapped in the air. The blood sword she had thrown earlier had not yet returned to the ground. Several portals appeared before Li Yue, likely more of the creature’s magic, but they seemed useless against such terrifying close-quarters combat.

Li Yue’s delicate-looking fists were wrapped in death magic. Each punch was not only powerful but also carried the “negation of existence” effect of nullifying magic. Even magical defenses were completely ineffective.

The shadows of their fists overlapped in the air as they crashed from the heights toward the ground.

“How is this possible... she’s faster than me...” the white creature murmured softly in the ancient language. He had originally been able to strike back, but the moment his body touched the ground, he could only curl up, his arms blocking his chest in a helpless defense.

His pale gold eyes were filled with terror, while Li Yue’s face remained indifferent. She hammered her fists into the pale body one after another. Azure-gold blood flew along with the dust. The deep crater created by the violent punching wordlessly narrated the terrifying scene that had just occurred.

Li Yue’s final punch landed. The face of the white figure was completely caved in. Upon that face, flattened like a pancake, a massive explosion occurred with a thunderous boom. His head burst apart, and golden blood soaked the deep pit.

Drenched in blood, Li Yue caught the falling blood sword. The other magic beasts slowed their movements; they all seemed to be confirming the death of the pale-skinned creature. He hadn't even been able to use his strongest magic before being caught in a melee and beaten to death.

Li Yue wiped the blood from her face, looking inexplicably disgusted. She thrust the long sword into the ground. She couldn't deal with so many Calamity-class beasts at once; she could only use that move within the Witnessing Death domain to finish off those who were heavily wounded.

“Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust.” Everything within the area began to slowly collapse. The ground turned pitch-black inch by inch and began to crack. The giant bird was suppressed from the air back to the ground. In the air, pitch-black particles began to fly upward, looking like a rainstorm falling from the ground toward the sky.

“Breath, maximum limit, amplified 100 times.” Li Yue froze for a moment. A voice from outside the space spoke these words. A gap appeared in the moonlit forest space. Just outside of it, an incredibly massive magic dragon was brewing a breath attack in its mouth. Its body was taut, covered in dense cracks.

“It wasn't within the range... this is bad.” Li Yue murmured. In the next instant, the violent breath arrived before her. The intense blast covered half of the space, its overwhelming power shattering the moonlit realm.

“You actually foresaw this future, didn't you?” Li Yue frowned, looking at the elder whose withered branches she had destroyed by half. Her face still held no expression.

A blue fireball with a radius of several thousand meters exploded in the center of the forest. For a moment, this pitch-black night became as bright as daylight. The powerful shockwave blew away trees for several kilometers around. The dissipating energy shattered the clouds in the sky, and a small mushroom cloud rose into the air.

The dragon vomited bright red blood, a volume like a small river. It seemed to have severely overextended its life force. Colors slowly began to return to the surrounding area. According to their agreement, these “Kings” contributed a portion of their essence to the dragon, while the dragon swallowed the dead King in one gulp.

“How... pathetic...” Amidst the thick smoke, Li Yue, whose injuries were slowly healing, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. She coughed several times, spitting out fragments of severely damaged internal organs. The clothes on her body were torn, yet her blood-red eyes remained remarkably clear, even amidst the soaring flames.

“This was our final trump card. We did not dare to be the least bit negligent toward you.” The elder said slowly. The liberated Key appeared before Li Yue, flickering with a faint, deep blue light.

“What?” Li Yue was stunned. A bronze door slammed open behind her. Countless spirits grabbed her body, dragging her toward that world of “death.”

“Then, let us say goodbye for now.”

Li Yue’s brow furrowed deeply. In the next instant, the door before her slammed shut. A sensation of sinking washed over her. Her vision went pitch-black, followed by a faint, deep blue glow.

“Ah... I'm back again... the Underworld... the place that imprisoned me for thousands of years...” Li Yue’s voice was ethereal and distant. She was the sovereign of this place, and also its greatest prisoner.