From Blood Mage to Styx Ancestor

Chapter 401 Superposition of Neither Living nor Dying

Demons and gods gathered, and deathly energy rose; even the great vortex projected from subspace could not completely conceal it.

The Deathbird hovered above, like an old general reviewing his troops, looking down at the various demon gods below, and nodded in satisfaction.

Then He looked to the other side, closer to the direction of the whirlpool.

Because it's close to the warp, there aren't many demon gods sitting here, except for the four newcomers who came from the warp.

His gaze fell on one of the red figures, and he tilted his head in confusion, asking, "Are you injured?"

In His eyes, the red figure seemed to have some disordered aura. Although it was very small and almost invisible to others, He still noticed it.

"No," Mordy denied immediately, "It won't affect the battle."

"I see." The Deathbird remained noncommittal, then teased, "Did you do something exhausting these past few days?"

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If you say so, then so be it.

He didn't bother to argue or explain the reason to others; he simply said, "You called us here because you must have something important to say. Stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us clearly."

"Well, now that everyone's here, I'll get straight to the point."

The Deathbird cawed twice, as if clearing its throat, "All eyes are on me, I have something to say."

As a figure akin to the supreme commander among the demons of death, no one dared disobey him. The demons of death present all gave him face and quieted down, turning their heads to look at him in unison.

Under the gaze of so many eyes, the Deathbird nodded in satisfaction.

"The next battle will determine the fate of the Abyss for the next 50,000 years. If we win, the Abyss will still belong to the Realm of Death until the conflict breaks out again 50,000 years later."

"If we lose, half of the Abyss of Death will be taken away by those metal lumps, and the Domain of Death will be much weaker. What the next 50,000 years will be like depends on your performance in this battle."

He delivered a speech resembling a pre-battle mobilization speech, and the Deathbird flapped its wings and slowly descended from the sky. But at that moment, a discordant voice interrupted.

"We know that without you saying it, but I have one more question. Do you have anything to say about the deaths of those three?"

The sharp questioning broke the silence, causing a commotion within the Demon God of Death.

They resumed their conversation, their whispers echoing throughout the room.

"If these whispers were sensed by ordinary people, who knows what kind of trouble they would cause," Modi joked.

"You still have the mind to joke?" Paradise looked at him in confusion. "That guy is clearly coming for us. Aren't you thinking about how to deal with him?"

"I think I vaguely remember that guy who just spoke." The tampered Heaven narrowed his eyes and began to search through his memories.

Modi spoke first: "I remember Him. He's the guy who was staring at me just now. He didn't dare look at me again after I glared at him."

Usurper shook his head, indicating, "The impression I'm referring to isn't this one, but rather something from earlier..."

"Got it!"

A series of images flashed through His eyes, finally settling on a scene shortly after His ascension.

Shortly after the mechanical gods withdrew, the warp recorded a wisp of energy captured by the vortex, whose characteristics were highly similar to those of this demon god.

"What does this mean?" Elysium sensed something was amiss, and the light emanating from the demon god's gaze took on a dangerous hue.

Modi rested his chin on his hand and casually said, "Either He has something going on with the mechanical god, or He was attracted by the commotion we caused, just like the others who arrived later."

Zhifu Tian then proposed another possibility: "Is it possible that He had some connection with those three guys we killed?"

"So, you think He wants revenge for those three guys, or for one of them?"

A small tributary branched from the sea of ​​blood, coiling around Modi's fingers. As he teased the blood serpent, he asked the usurper, "Well? Have you found any clues?"

A series of symbols flashed in the eyes of the tampering emperor, as if he were performing some kind of calculation. After a long while, he finally spoke: "Why don't you go and find it yourself? I remember you also have the power of change... But I did find some things."

""

Those who wield the power of change can detect even the slightest changes and can even find buried traces in history.

"I found some contradictions that had been deliberately buried. They are like boulders in a riverbed, causing the river of time to split and creating two completely different timelines."

He compressed the information and transmitted all the intelligence to the other three gods.

"One path continues to develop and is known to us, while the other was not so lucky; it was cut off by human intervention as soon as it formed."

"Did He do it?" Bliss looked at the demon god of death, whose outward manifestation was a giant serpent, each scale symbolizing a world.

"What is He trying to hide?" Zhifutian frowned.

"We'll find out soon enough." Only Modi seemed unconcerned. "The Death Birds definitely have a way to deal with this. Oh, they might start fighting."

While the four gods were talking, the Deathbird was not idle.

Two clusters of spiritual fire flickered in the empty eye sockets, reflecting the true appearance of the serpentine demon god.

Just one glance was enough to make every scale on the serpentine demon's body bristle, as if it were startled and its fur stood on end, and the entire snake went into a panting state.

The existence of the Deathbird is its natural enemy.

"You might as well be more explicit," the Deathbird's skull said with a half-smile, "There's no need to be so cryptic."

The giant snake flicked its tongue, a hint of hesitation and regret creeping into its heart, but the arrow was already on the bowstring and had to be released.

All the other demons were watching Him. With so many people watching, the Deathbird couldn't possibly use force against Him on the spot.

Then, he slowly spoke: "The one who died without life, the one who pieced together the corpses, and the one who steered the boat and rang the bell—you, or the other parties involved, must give an explanation for their deaths."

The snake's eyes unconsciously shifted to the other side, its gaze landing not far in front of the whirlpool.

The four gods sat upright on their thrones, returning indifferent gazes.

Their gazes were devoid of any warmth, simply fixed on the giant snake, which stirred up nameless rage within them.

"You want to demand an explanation for them?" The Death Bird's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Have you consulted the three parties involved?"

"I made it very clear after that battle that anyone with opinions should speak up. I remember you were there too, but you didn't offer any opinions."

The giant snake argued, "At that time, I hadn't grasped the whole picture, so naturally I couldn't offer any effective advice."

"So you're going back on your word now? Are you really getting arrogant, or do you think I'm just an old man?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Deathbird's gaze suddenly turned dangerous.

"Apophis, Apophis," He murmured the name, the spiritual fire in His eyes flickering violently, "What have I done to deserve such contempt from you?"

The forked spear burst into blue flames, along with the bone wings behind its sleeve.

The divine fire wove feathers, casting shadows that blotted out the sky and sun.

"Do you really think I can't lift a spear?"

Things took a completely unexpected turn. After exchanging a few words with the Deathbird, the giant serpent Apophis launched an attack without hesitation.

The Fiery Spear pierced out in an instant, scattering sparks of fire. The spearhead easily pierced the serpent scales forged by the world, broke through flesh and blood, and plunged into the giant serpent's body.

The giant serpent hissed in pain, its sleeves thrashing violently and writhing, causing the collapse of the material universe near the vortex.

A pair of enormous snake eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, looking at the other demons present, as if asking them for help.

But when a demon meets His gaze, He either looks at it coldly or simply turns his gaze away, refusing to meet His eyes.

In their eyes, he was already a dead man.

"There are always some fools who think they're special," the Deathbird sneered. "What do you think?"

With the spear in his sleeve, he kept repeating the same action, stabbing countless holes in Apophis's body.

"What kind of power do you have? You dare to demand an explanation from me? Do you really think this is a place of democracy?"

Apophis was almost powerless to fight back under the pressure, and was constantly being beaten down from beginning to end.

Some of the demons around couldn't bear to see such a cruel scene, so they silently closed their eyes, choosing to avoid the sight and the pain.

Before the great whirlpool, atop the divine throne, the four gods stared wide-eyed, each holding a different snack, enjoying this grand spectacle.

"Good, that's how it should be! No, that's the only way!" Mo Di cheered, pumping his fist. "Let's show that spicy snack what the dominance of the food chain really means."

"The Death Bird insulted the Great Serpent; the Death Bird is invincible!"

"Quack, this is exactly what I want to see!"

The four gods immediately transformed into bloodthirsty spectators, cheering for this spectacular bloodbath.

Hearing the cheers of the audience, the defendant, Dead Bird, seemed to beat the snake with even more force.

"Did you hear that? It's not that I want to kill you, it's that this world wants to kill you."

He squeezed out two drops of spiritual fire tears, but the force did not decrease but increased. Judging from his posture, he would not stop until he killed Apophis.

"Why press this on?" Apophis said as he backed away. "Do you really intend to eliminate dissidents in front of everyone?"

""

"Why not?" the Deathbird uttered chilling words. "Do you think I would allow an enemy spy to act with impunity?"

...What do you mean?

Apophis's actions were clearly out of control, and his words also carried a hint of panic.

Not only him, but the demons watching also changed their expressions, no longer relaxed as if it were none of their business, and their expressions became dangerous.

They stared intently at Apophis, as if to say: You're the one who betrayed us, kid?

"See, I told you the Deathbird knew how to deal with it."

Mordy shrugged, drew his sword, and stepped onto the field. Together with the others, they surrounded Apophis, forming an octagonal cage for the two to fight.

"Apophis, tell me what's going on here," a demon asked with a grim face.

"No, you, you all, did you really believe His words?"

The serpent Apophis was driven to desperation, and even its speech became incoherent.

"He is now my enemy, and naturally he will try every means to slander me. How can you believe his one-sided story?"

Upon hearing this, a demon scoffed, "Compared to you, the Deathbird is more convincing; at least it never speaks without reason."

""

"At least the Deathbird's record is verifiable, but what about you?" another demon god chimed in, making no attempt to hide his disdain.

Some people were more interested in what the Deathbird had said and urged, "Alright, Deathbird, stop keeping us in suspense and tell us what He did wrong."

The Deathbird smiled, then plunged its bone claws into the void, from which it pulled out a ring-shaped object with an ethereal texture.

"This is... a fragment of a timeline?"

The surrounding demons only needed to glance at it to understand what it was.

This section of the timeline clearly records evidence of Apophis's collusion with foreign enemies.

"I see, so you were the one who cut that timeline out."

Upon seeing this scene, Modi suddenly realized the truth and saw through the secret at a glance.

Just as they thought, after the War of Ascension, the Great Serpent Apophis did indeed make contact with the mechanical gods and even provided them with a passage to avoid the Death God who came upon hearing the news.

"Hmm?" He continued reading and saw another surprising scene.

In that severed timeline, the Deathbird had already attacked Apophis.

He had already killed Apophis in that timeline, and then buried that timeline deep within it, concealing the fact that Apophis had died.

This fact was only confirmed when this timeline was revealed to everyone, which also meant that Apophis... was not far from death.

The demons reviewed the timeline one by one, and all looked at the giant serpent with strange expressions.

"What, what did you do?"

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Before Apophis could even catch his breath, he was told that the dead bird had grabbed his vital spot with one claw and was forced to read the entire timeline.

In an instant, He understood everything.

"So, I was already dead..."

""

He murmured, and a ring of blood appeared out of thin air on his body. Then, the huge snake head separated from his body.

After realizing that He was dying, He died.

"How was it, everyone? Not bad, right?"

The Deathbird let out a hoarse but cheerful laugh, clearly very pleased with the scene.

Even the assembled demons of death who were watching had to nod in agreement.

They are indeed the gods of death, but even they could hardly replicate the act of putting a person in a state between life and death.

Perhaps only the Deathbird, with its profound mastery of the path to death, could be confident of achieving this.

"But why are you going to all this trouble?"

"To set a trap for those metal lumps, otherwise why do you think I'd keep it alive?"

"That's true."

Mordy stared at the dismembered Apophis, not joining the gluttonous feast, but thinking about something else.

Perhaps, maybe, he can learn the Deathbird's trick.

Although he doesn't choose the path of death, he wields the power of killing, so killing someone without letting them die might not be that difficult for him.

The only problem is that this move doesn't seem to be very useful for the situation going forward, since it's a life-or-death struggle between the two sides.