Chapter 145: Conversation and Trial

Yes, to shoulder the responsibility of the Emperor of Shadows!

Having made up his mind thoroughly, Gen Chisaki was the reason why the situation had changed so drastically within the two hours following the sweep of the storm!

Gen Chisaki was no fool. The moment the violent storm sealed off the entire island, and the elements between heaven and earth surged explosively, he understood what was likely to happen next.

Those ambitious individuals hiding in the shadows, attempting to challenge and even kill the leader of Heaven, had chosen this place as their battlefield and were inviting the man who deemed himself invincible under heaven to come.

Without this realization, enhanced by his growing power and the evolution of his five senses, Gen Chisaki—who had noticed through details ordinary people could never perceive that every ten days or half a month, Tachibana Masamune was replaced by a different person—would never have found the resolve to seek out the truth hidden behind Tachibana Masamune, whom he regarded as a father.

The origin of this matter was entirely thanks to the unhinged Kazama Ruri!

After acquiring the power of Current Drive, Kazama Ruri killed the Wangjiang countless times, forcing Dr. Herzog—who had disguised himself as Tachibana Masamune from the collapsed experimental base in the far north—to repeatedly replace the shadow warriors playing the role of 'Wangjiang' within the Purgatory Association.

At the same time, the overwhelming power of Current Drive displayed by Kazama Ruri forced Herzog to reluctantly read the *Sea Tiger* manhua he had never looked at before. By the time he discovered that Magnetic Field Rotation power naturally granted telepathy once it broke through one hundred thousand horses, it was already too late.

Those fully modified, thoroughly hypnotized shadow warriors had been completely depleted. Discovering that Gen Chisaki possessed equally formidable power and was growing stronger at a speed far exceeding Kazama Ruri's, Dr. Herzog—fearing that one day Gen Chisaki might attain one hundred thousand horses of Magnetic Field Rotation power and the ability of telepathy—was forced to deploy semi-finished products.

To ensure the stability of these semi-finished products, he had to replace substitutes every few days, which ultimately led the sharp-sensed Gen Chisaki to detect anomalies.

With so many replacements, different individuals exhibited the exact same small habits and identical personalities. Such a glaring loophole made it impossible for Gen Chisaki to deceive himself any longer.

Yet even so, Gen Chisaki had continued to drift along as usual, indulging in the illusory dream game of filial piety and paternal love, until the storm swept in. No longer able to run away, he finally decided to shoulder the responsibilities of the Emperor of Shadows.

To eliminate hidden dangers!

Compared to the difficulty of getting Gen Chisaki—who had always been indecisive, self-tormented, and possessed eightty thousand horses of Magnetic Field Rotation power on this island yet could do nothing—to make up his mind, searching for the truth behind the scenes was effortless, especially with the help of his younger brother, Gen Chinyu.

However, by the time Gen Chisaki completely made up his mind and nailed Tachibana Masamune, nailed Herzog to Tokyo Tower, Gen Chinyu had already slain the Yamata no Orochi, obtained the divine weapon Heavenly Congyun, and the White King skeleton that could enable his own evolution.

If not for Liu Tian's uninvited intrusion, after killing Herzog, a Gen Chisaki with one hundred thousand horses of power would have been absolutely unable to survive under the hands of Gen Chinyu, who could use multiple Word Spirits—unless Gen Chinyu deliberately held back to commit suicide.

This was also the reason for Liu Tian's intrusion.

How utterly meaningless. What was there to watch in a battle that had long since been destined to end in mutual destruction?

"The responsibility of being an emperor? It's not an incomprehensible notion. I originally thought you were just a mother-in-law-style worrywart, but now I see you're more like a maiden-style worrywart?" Liu Tian nodded, lifted his foot from Kazama Ruri's body, and asked, "How many people have you killed?"

The legendary vitality of the Yamata no Orochi—capable of growing two heads once one was chopped off—was vividly manifested in Kazama Ruri, who claimed to be the newly born White King. Especially with the elemental concentration increased by several hundredfold, his increasingly activated cells displayed robust vitality. His crushed spine returned to its original position, and his injuries healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Although this was partly because Liu Tian had not destroyed the core source of this abnormal resilience—the skeleton left behind by the White King—this regenerative capacity was already no inferior to Odin's back then, trailing closely behind his own immortal divine body of the Heavenly Clan.

Clearly, relying as it did on the elements for its lineage, the richer the elements, the stronger the power the dragon bloodline could manifest.

"..."

Soon enough, having suffered three heavy suppressions, Kazama Ruri regained his mobility once more. But this time, he understood the attitude he ought to maintain in front of Liu Tian and made no further resistance. The life-and-death battle between brothers had become utterly meaningless after this madman's forcible intervention.

Kazama Ruri raised his head, meeting Liu Tian's gaze—a look that regarded him as mere roadside grass—and knew clearly that his life hung entirely by a single thought of the leader of Heaven.

Yet Kazama Ruri had no wish to answer. How could a normal person possibly remember how many grains of rice they had eaten?

This Asura evil ghost, whose mind had been obsessed with revenging himself on his elder brother, found his hopes receding further and further until he suddenly felt like a fish drained of its bones, utterly incapable of stirring. Scenes of the past flashed before his eyes. Suddenly, Kazama Ruri realized what on earth he had done, and understood why Gen Chisaki had made that choice.

Yet despite this sudden enlightenment, Kazama Ruri felt not the slightest shred of remorse; his resentment only swelled higher. *Why, why did you not choose me, elder brother?*

*Were they not merely classmates who once went to school with us? Were they not just delicate, pampered young beauties? Were they not simply toys?*

*Why must you kill me for the sake of some toys?*

*Why, why, elder brother, did you not choose me?*

Violent resentment swelled crazily within his heart, but what good was swelling? His previous breakthrough had already cashed in all his accumulated potential, and now, no matter how drastically his emotions fluctuated, he could only grow from fifty thousand horses of magnetic field power to fifty-five thousand horses.

Whether dust is slightly larger or slightly smaller makes no difference whatsoever.

"I see."

Liu Tian nodded. Although the man beneath his feet had said nothing, he already knew everything. Without Occlumency, without the realm of one hundred thousand horses of Magnetic Field Rotation, how dared anyone think in his presence?

"So he's just a blue dreamer? How disgusting. Why are the Four Heavenly Kings everywhere?"

Having read through the minds of Gen Chinyu, Utsugi Yue, and Utsugi Eriyi via the telepathy he had just activated, combined with the intelligence he had casually gathered before coming, Liu Tian basically understood the whole picture.

"Hey, are you interested in a battle to the death with those guys waiting for something?" Liu Tian suddenly asked, and very quickly, he obtained the answer from Kazama Ruri's mind—the moment he was released, he would kill Gen Chisaki, and then commit suicide.

"In that case, your existence would lose all meaning."

Holding back no longer, an ultra-fast kick directly sent Kazama Ruri to the Western Paradise. Casually tossing the half-evolved withered bone—which had transformed from a scorpion-like shape to a snake-like one—from hand to hand, Liu Tian considered how to deal with these three individuals.

A half-immortal super half-breed, Utsugi Yue.

A mother-in-law-style Gen Chisaki who possessed one hundred thousand horses of Magnetic Field Rotation power, having just made up his mind to awaken, shoulder responsibility, and execute justice.

A, well, young girl transforming into a Dead Servant, Utsugi Eriyi.

As early as the establishment of Heaven, Liu Tian had decided that before the battle ended, exits were permitted, but no new entries allowed.

Unlike Old Tang, who had Lu Mingfei's recommendation and the dragon king power to cancel Word Spirits, even though Gen Chisaki seemed quite talented in the path of Magnetic Field Rotation, he could not make an extra exception for the leader of Heaven.

Not to mention that Gen Chisaki was not alone; if he were accepted, how should the vast group of people behind him be handled?

Liu Tian was actually a quite decent superior and generally preferred not to leave his subordinates in a dilemma.

As time ticked away, the atmosphere gradually grew silent. Finally, Liu Tian slowly spoke, though his question was neither directed at the strongest Gen Chisaki nor at their father, Utsugi Yue.

An invisible force pulled the father away from shielding his daughter, and Liu Tian asked, "Does it hurt?"

Utsugi Eriyi nodded, then shook her head. Without her memo pad, she could only express her feelings this way—after all, if she spoke, her bloodline, which was hyper-elevated to an unstoppable transformation into a Dead Servant, would cause whatever she uttered to trigger the ultra-high-risk Word Spirit: Judgment.

That was a super Word Spirit that turned everything into a weapon, slaying everything within its domain.

Precisely for this reason, the young girl had learned very early on that, for the safety of other people's lives, she could not speak casually—though the four people present would not care if she spoke anyway.

"Why do you want to join Heaven?" Having received his answer, Liu Tian asked again, "Why haven't you joined before?"

"Because of Tachibana Masamune and the obstruction of my subordinates," Gen Chisaki did not conceal it, saying, "Because I was indecisive."

"Although I had long wanted to join Heaven in exchange for the ability to stabilize my sister's bloodline, too many matters held me back and made me hesitate, causing me to waste time meaninglessly."

"Ten million!" Liu Tian raised a finger. "I actually don't like this place of yours, nor do I like the people from these places."

"However, considering the Ogre Battle Mark, I will give you a chance—you should know what this place will become next, right?"

"It will become a battlefield," Gen Chisaki replied. "Several Dragon Kings and several entities surpassing Dragon Kings will fight here without restraint. The entire Honshu Island might overturn beneath this battle."

"Ten million population." Liu Tian shrugged. "You currently have a little over a hundred million people in total—didn't you want to shoulder the responsibility of being the Emperor?"

"When the battle ends, if the four islands combined can still have ten million survivors, I will permit you and the remaining people to join as ordinary residents of Heaven."

"Of course, you must remember—only those I acknowledge can be considered human." Liu Tian smiled somewhat maliciously. "Go ahead and guess my definition."

"As for this meaningless trinket, let it vanish just like that." Liu Tian slowly raised his hand, and a bolt of thunder crashed down. In an instant, the thing that had stirred up countless disasters over countless past years turned to flying ash. "Now, the battle shall begin."

Liu Tian raised his head. That distant super-city was trembling amidst the howling wind and pouring rain. Countless elements were crazily converging toward Tokyo, and a creature resembling a right whale magnified several hundredfold was 'slowly' flying through the city at the speed of sound, with a god-king riding an eight-legged steed standing atop its back, holding a long spear.

Amidst the gale and rain, countless murderous intents seemed to lie hidden in ambush.

Gently flicking a drop of golden-red blood to suppress the Dead Servant transformation in Utsugi Eriyi, Liu Tian suddenly asked—

"Aren't you guys going to run?"

"The battle has already fucking begun!"