Chapter 228: The Wrath of the Demon! - Stop Hypnotizing Me, Villainous Princess!

The icy voice of the young man reverberated slowly within the Moonlit Rift. His words were laden with such rage, as if they emanated from the depths of hell, sending shivers down the spine. Tiya instinctively opened her eyes, contrary to the expected pain and torment. Through her blurry tears, a tall, dark figure stood protectively before her. The voice was unmistakably familiar, yet the silhouette presented before her seemed unfamiliar. It was not a stance one would associate with a normal human being. At a glance, one could see massive, tattered wings blocking the sky, sinewy and defined muscles, and a blackened mire flowing with twisted and evil elements, all converging on this one individual. Apart from "demon," Tiya could think of no other word to describe him. She never imagined having any connection with such a nefarious entity. That’s how it should have been. Yet, the moment she laid eyes on the figure, a revelation struck her, lacing her body with a shiver from the soul. She couldn't tell if this was physiological feedback born from excitement or fear. The only certainty was that she had seen this silhouette somewhere before. It was a posture so resolute, so unreserved, that life and death seemed insignificant. In her mind, she recalled that fateful night in the Tomb of the Lifeless, where someone had similarly cast aside all doubt to shield her from harm. Though it later emerged that everything was merely a carefully woven lie by the other party. Tiya, as if lost in a trance, stared blankly at the demonic shadow ahead. She seemed to have guessed some possibility, causing her heart to clench tightly, giving rise to an intense pang from deep within her chest. "Lynn?" Tiya called softly, her voice trembling as she uttered his name. She was so cautious, fearing it was merely an illusion seen in the moments of consciousness slipping away. Before all this, Tiya had prepared herself mentally for facing everything alone, fully aware that surviving the possession of the goddess was a slim probability. In the face of predestined death, no one truly had the right to defy fate. Especially since the opponent was an actual divine being. Yet even the resolve to face death did not mean she had divorced herself of all worldly attachments. No matter what, Tiya was still a young girl with a tremendously fragile side. Despite usually maintaining a cold, doll-like demeanor, she had read operatic novels of knights and princesses, and in those quiet, solitary nights, she often dreamt of a perfect, handsome prince descending from the sky to rescue her from peril. But these were merely the fanciful dreams of a young girl. No one understood better than her how cold and unforgiving reality could be. The church that had raised her for so many years and treated her as family secretly regarded her as a mere tool, harboring deep-seated hatred for the persona of "Tiya Uhst." In the end, she seemingly had no one she could rely on. But the occurrence before her shattered her self-pity and imagination. That one individual she had only come to know recently. The one who had mercilessly exposed the falsehoods between them. The one who made her heart flutter. Even when being accused by thousands, hunted by many, with his own safety uncertain, at this desperate hour, he still appeared here, decisively standing in front of her. Tiya, oh Tiya. That person has gone to such lengths for you. What more could you want? Crystal tears glided gently down her pale cheeks. "Why... you and I..." She mumbled incoherently, trembling hands trying to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eyes, but unable to stop them from falling. Unbeknownst to her, the last shred of doubt she harbored deep inside concerning the young man dissipated like smoke. No woman could resist such a heartfelt declaration. Including Tiya herself. It needed no expression through words, yet it resonated so powerfully. For you, I would even defy the gods. That was the unspoken confession of the young man. At that moment, an emotion called "touched" arose spontaneously. Supporting her weakened body, Tiya attempted to reach out to touch the young man's back, but after several tries, she finally staggered and fell to the ground. Afterwards, she became vaguely aware of something. The young man's form was both demonic and distorted, as if enduring excruciating pain every moment, causing Tiya to bite her lip in distress as tears flowed freely. The moment of being moved and the fantasies that followed were faced with an incredibly grim and hopeless reality. She didn't know what he went through. But she could imagine the immense sacrifices required to gain such power. Yet, even with such power, facing the Moon Goddess’s consciousness bore little chance of success. It was vastly beyond the mere presence of the Cruel King, an essence directly severed from the god itself, representing an absolute difference in status. It's not possible. If it continues like this, he'll perish. Tiya's hands clenched tightly against the earth, her entire being enveloped by despair. However, the next second, a deafening explosion shook the world, engulfing the entire Moonlit Rift. "Boom——!!!" Still arrived too late. With one hand gripping Beatrice's slender neck, Lynn nearly ground his teeth to dust. A fury like never before surged within him, his gigantic demon wings unfurling a tempest that ravaged in all directions. At this moment, half of Lynn's body encased in the mire-like black fluid appeared monstrously strange. This black mire manifested from the core characteristic of the demon of creation, akin to a living entity entwined around his body, constantly gathering malevolent faces resembling tormented souls, whispering and screaming disorienting gibberish. If it weren’t for the other half of his exposed handsome face, one might have mistaken him for an incarnation of an evil deity. Having accepted Shirina's assistance, successfully using paradox to trap the essence of the wishing jar into a deadlock, he unhesitatingly absorbed the power contained within. An act of extreme madness without a hint of hesitation or bewilderment. Yet, despite this, upon barely reclaiming a sliver of self amidst the chaos and promptly rushing to the scene, some things he feared came to pass. Lynn, being a man of his word, had once pledged to Tiya, when she lay unconscious, to let her live freely as "Tiya Uhst." However, the pale, despairing face of the young girl was vivid in his memory. His so-called "promise" turned out to be a pathetic joke in the face of the Quiet Church and Beatrice. He'd heard the final dialog between Tiya and that wretched goddess, knew very well the courage this elf girl summoned to stand defiant against a deity she had long worshipped. Realizing this made Lynn want to slap himself. When they shared a bed, he had casually asked Tiya about it. Her response was preferring death over becoming someone else's puppet. Days spent together inevitably stirred his sympathy, making him defy the Witch’s orders. Coupled with the girl’s mindless occasional invocation of Xiya’s name in her dreams, leading to the decisions he made—rending the ties between him and Tiya with harsh truths, meticulously cutting off their mutual path. All was done to return her to her original destiny, to experience the life that should belong to her. He thought afterward they would be even, and forget each other's existence. But ultimately, he realized the weight of a beauty's kindness. Only now did he understand his folly. Terribly mistaken. Despite the absurd encounters, the remarkably brief time they spent together. Just as Yveste said. Love is indeed the most irrational thing in the world. Hence, the overwhelming fury nearly bursting forth from his chest was extraordinarily vivid. At this moment, the hand clad in black mire transformed under his will into a sharp and sinister beast claw, brutally grasping Beatrice's slender neck within its grip. Perhaps swayed by the demon’s power or maybe it was his true natural impulse and desire. In any case, Lynn abandoned all reason, intent on razing everything to the ground. "How do you wish to die?" The young man's crimson eyes fixed upon the shadow of the Moon Goddess. All these events happened in the blink of an eye. When Beatrice finally comprehended what had taken place, it seemed as though she might explode. Feeling the proximity between them, compounded by his filthy, monstrous demon form, the fragment of humanity within the Moon Goddess shrieked in terror. "Get away, foul demon!!!" A burst of pure white light erupted from the area around the Moon Goddess, unleashing a violent storm and spatial distortion that swallowed everything within a hundred-meter radius in an instant. At that moment, having finally escaped from the grip of demon Lynn, the Moon Goddess manifested expressions of unprecedented rage and discomposure. Her silver teeth clenched, her visage laced with an ominous gloom. For a god exalted and distant, the actions just committed were undeniably an act of utmost impudence. Realizing that he regarded her simply as a mere plaything to be toyed with, Beatrice's fury erupted. Currently, she couldn't even spare a thought to the origin of this vile entity before her. Merely for the offense committed moments ago, even if she tortured him ten thousand times over, it wouldn't suffice to quench her searing wrath! Instantly, the entirety of the Moonlit Rift began to tremble and hum, echoing the impassioned rage of the Moon Goddess. Mere moments later, the dazzling white orb of energy dissipated, revealing the dilapidated remnants of the godly battleground once more. The bold young demon had vanished without a trace, as if he had evaporated from existence. Dead? Beatrice panted heavily to vent her murderous intent, her eyes scanning her surroundings with a stern countenance. "Where are you looking?" In the next moment, a somber voice, akin to the proclamation of the Grim Reaper, resounded by Beatrice's ear. Faster than her divine intuition could detect?! Her form flickered, appearing thousands of meters away, her expression dark with displeasure as she glanced towards the source of the voice. Yet the silhouette of the young demon erupted into motion, streaking through space as a black glimmer, reaching her in the blink of an eye. His sharp, sinister grin stretched to his cheeks, the dichotomy of handsome and evil lent Lynn a unique oppressive presence. "Boom——!!!" The fist wrapped in black mire, akin to a war drum, descended with tremendous force towards Beatrice's abdomen, unleashing a resonant sonic boom. In the split second, Beatrice shifted again, narrowly evading the hit. The punch, imbued with overwhelming demonic energy, transformed into a shockwave descending from the sky! In an instant, the ground fissured, the earth and rock crumbled, manifesting an apocalyptic scene before her eyes. This strike paralleled the might of divine power, carving a deep crater into the earth as spider web-like cracks sprawled outward! "Boom boom boom boom boom" Deafening detonations, interspersed with the cataclysmic collision of forces, continued to echo through the Moonlit Rift. Winds raged, a dazzling black-and-white flurry of luminescence clashed and entwined with overwhelming speed in the sky above. Damn it!!! This blasted demon!!! Realizing the explosive power residing within her adversary, the Moon Goddess gritted her teeth almost to breaking point. Even though she wasn't a close-combat specialist amongst the pantheon of gods, most gods- including herself- excelled in conceptual combat, which didn't mean she would be overpowered by a thief wielding the power of a sealed artifact. If not for her current weakened state, how could this wretched creature dare to act wildly before her eyes?! As a deity, though her status wasn't complete, she could still wield some of her divine authority. To use this against the impostor shell brandishing brute strength would be akin to a divine smackdown. Moreover, she discerned that the entity before her was already overfilled with chaotic fury and power. Each punch thrown with all his might reduced the pressure within him, preventing his body from inflating like a balloon and eventually bursting apart. Yet, infuriatingly, he appeared aware of her vulnerabilities, clinging to her like a fly, ceaselessly interrupting her actions with relentless assaults, forcibly dragging her into a combat style she wasn't adept at. "Surprised?" While delivering a punch potent enough to shatter space, Lynn sneered, "Can a god appear so flustered?" "You—" Beatrice's momentary distraction resulted in a heavy blow to her chest, dimming the lustrous form of the Moon's consciousness, sending it falling to the ground like a meteor. "Or perhaps... can a god tremble in fear?!" The young demon lunged forth, seizing the opportunity as she lay amidst rubble and dust, arms spread wide, bellowing into the heavens. "I wish—for my power to be infinite!!!" Instantaneously, the core trait of the wishing jar responded to his wish in the most distorted manner. His right arm, swathed in black mire, ballooned in size by dozens of times, and an unstoppable torrent of force descended from the sky. For everything Tiya had endured, he felt sorrowful and incensed. These emotions were anything but false. If that was so, the path was simple. Unfurling his demonic wings, he transformed into a dark meteor, diving toward the Moon Goddess. Simultaneously. He twisted his torso, launched a punch. "Boom——!!!"