Satoru Sato was furious. He might have let the Blood Moon in the sky slide, but this person was another matter. How dare they obstruct him? Was this not suicidal?
With a mere thought, Satoru Sato unleashed his formidable combat Qi, which instantly transformed into a massive sword Qi. This sword Qi, invisible to the naked eye, struck the figure before him directly. Though this attack seemed casual, it fully showcased Satoru Sato's strength. Capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, even ordinary Level 6 monarch units, unless they were specialized in defense, would find it difficult to withstand this assault. However, when the sword Qi reached the mysterious cloaked figure, it vanished as if it had entered a void, being absorbed and then disappearing entirely, only to be drawn into the figure's sleeve.
"Is that all you've got?" The cloaked figure waved their other sleeve, and the sword Qi that had been absorbed and vanished was emitted once more, this time even more condensed and powerful than before.
With a bang, the sword Qi rebounded onto Satoru Sato, who was protected by a strong aura of his own Qi. Yet, at that moment, Satoru Sato grunted, blood trickling from his nose, feeling a sharp pain in his brain.
What was happening? He had clearly blocked the attack, so why was he still injured? Satoru Sato quickly realized that the damage wasn't from the sword Qi itself but from another formless sword Qi hidden within it.
"Inner Sword Style?" Satoru Sato realized, "This is Xiu Si's Inner Sword! Damn it, I get it now, you're the one who killed Xiu Si, you're the Demon King of the Chaos Forest!"
Zhang Nu, the cloaked figure, chuckled lightly, "While I no longer care much for keeping this secret, I'd prefer it not to be widely known. Since you've discovered it, you might as well disappear from this world along with it!"
Satoru Sato roared back, "Big talk for someone who just took advantage of a sneak attack. Let me show you my true power!"
A terrifying aura instantly unfurled, engulfing an area with a diameter of ten thousand meters. The entire space was pulled into a powerful domain. Countless swords of various shapes, sizes, and auras emerged from the ground, their numbers almost beyond counting.
"Million Sword Sanctum!"
"Million Sword Formation!"
Satoru Sato slammed his hands onto the ground, and a horrifying wave of energy spread throughout the domain from beneath his feet. All the swords rose from the ground into the air, forming a formidable sword formation that locked onto Zhang Nu at the center. In the next moment, swords and sword Qi rained down like a fierce storm towards Zhang Nu. Satoru Sato thought this strike would be enough to utterly obliterate his opponent. After all, his sanctum was repelling all other laws, limiting the opponent's power. Faced with such a forceful attack, what defense could possibly be mounted?
However, the attacks all passed through Zhang Nu without causing him any harm.
"This is... spatial manipulation? But that's impossible, how can you use spatial abilities within my sanctum!" Satoru Sato showed an incredulous expression.
A sanctum of a mythic unit has the ability to repel laws, blocking all types of magical systems within its area, preventing anyone suppressed by the mythic sanctum from using any kind of magic or power, including spatial abilities. Yet, the opponent used some highly sophisticated spatial technique to bend the space around their body, making all attacks pass through them.
Satoru Sato was shocked, "You're a myth too!"
This was the only possible explanation. The biggest difference between mythic units and monarch units is that mythic beings can directly harness the power of laws themselves. Therefore, even in the environment of a sanctum, they can freely use the power of the laws they control.
Zhang Nu didn't answer this question but instead took action. The formation of millions of swords that was forming around him suddenly disintegrated like dust blown by the wind. In an instant, all the swords vanished, and the entire sanctum disintegrated into nothingness. Satoru Sato felt as if he had fallen into a dark, chaotic space. Black holes appeared all around, pulling and absorbing HP and MP, significantly limiting his movement.
"This is... a sanctum!"
Without a doubt, this was the Demon King's sanctum. The moment the Demon King's sanctum was activated, Satoru Sato's own sanctum was instantly suppressed. The disparity in strength between the two was clear and evident.
Shocked, Satoru Sato demanded, "Who are you, really!?"
Zhang Nu, now completely confident that his opponent couldn't escape, calmly revealed, "If you really must know, then it's fine to tell you. I am Zhang Nu."
Hearing this, Satoru Sato was astounded. "You're Zhang Nu, the number one on the Demon King leaderboard?"
He was utterly shocked; he had hoped to encounter a high-ranking Demon King, but never expected to meet the top one. This was the most powerful being within the Demon King faction.
Satoru Sato was overwhelmed with shock and fear. He immediately proposed, "I didn't realize this was your territory. I'm willing to negotiate and collaborate! There's no need for us to fight to the death."
Zhang Nu laughed at the proposition, "Look at yourself. Do you really think you're in a position to fight me to the death?"
"Damn you!" Satoru Sato was furious. "Do you really think you've already won?"
Zhang Nu closed his eyes without speaking, but the moment he did, a third eye opened on his forehead, revealing a blue and white eye known as the Eye of Domination. As soon as he was under the gaze of this eye, Satoru Sato immediately felt his mind descend into chaos, overwhelmed by a powerful will attempting to take over his body.
Simultaneously, a crimson pupil and a verdant green pupil slowly emerged within the third eye, gathering alongside the Eye of Domination to form a cloverleaf-like shape, signifying the fusion of the three eyes of the Evil God.
This new ability, obtained by Zhang Nu after collecting three eyes of the Evil God, showcased that despite the varying attributes, powers, and capabilities of each eye, they did not repel each other. Even the Eye of Death, symbolizing the power of death, could harmoniously merge with the Eye of Regeneration, associated with the force of life, defying all conventional understanding. But then, it's challenging to explain such extraordinary entities like Evil Gods with mere human comprehension.
Once the three eyes merged, the eyes of the Evil God resonated with each other, generating an even more formidable force. Zhang Nu concentrated his mana to gather his psychic Qi, and with the enhancement from the merged eye, he fiercely launched it towards Satoru Sato.
"The Inner Sword Style again!" Satoru Sato displayed a look of horror, recognizing that this attack was yet another psychic Qi strike aimed directly at his spirit.
Under normal circumstances, such an attack wouldn't pose a threat to him. After all, as one of the Seven Sword Saints, Xiu Si's strength and realm were far inferior to his, and the potency of a psychic strike depends largely on the caster's psychic strength, willpower, and the total amount of psychic Qi expended.
However, the attack at this moment was enhanced and launched by Zhang Nu through the Eye of Domination. The Eye of Domination, having absorbed the powers of the Eye of Death and the Eye of Regeneration, was capable of producing a terrifying amplification effect. Coupled with Zhang Nu's own Level 6 legendary strength, the outcome of this strike was beyond doubt.
The formless slash hit Satoru Sato without causing any physical harm, yet he collapsed, eyes wide open. His soul and spirit were utterly destroyed, leaving nothing but an empty shell behind. The prestigious leader of the Sunset Empire's Seven Sword Saints, the formidable Hero ranked 499th on the Hero Leaderboard, was effortlessly vanquished in such a manner. If other Heroes were to witness this, they would undoubtedly be terrified beyond measure.
At the same time, Zhang Nu received a notification:
[You've slain a Level 6 Hero. Hero's soul +1, Skill stone +8, Mythic crystal +1, Hero leaderboard chest +1!]
Upon seeing the notification, Zhang Nu was quite surprised by the bounty. Among these, what surprised and seemed most valuable to him was undoubtedly the "mythic crystal." Its effect is similar to that of a monarch crystal. However, while a monarch crystal creates a unit with monarch potential, an mythic crystal creates one with epic potential. Unlike the monarch crystal, which can be used on targets of any rank, the mythic crystal requires a minimum strength of Level 5 overlord.
Though there was a threshold for its use, it wasn't much of an obstacle. There were plenty of candidates under Zhang Nu's command to choose from. He quickly stowed the spoils of war and then opened his player information panel to take a look:
[You've slain a Level 6 Hero. Hero's soul +1, Skill stone +5, Monarch crystal +1!]
[......]
[You've slain the Thunder Empire's Western Grand Duke. Gold +30 million!]
[You've slain the Thunder Empire's Eastern Grand Duke. Gold +30 million!]
[......]
[You've slain the Thunder Empire's Chief Knight. Gold +10 million!]
Various kill notifications kept popping up like a stream. What shocked Zhang Nu was that not only had the Blood Moon defeated the empire's elites, but all the empire's military forces sacrificed during its formation were also counted as Zhang Nu's kills, since he was the one who initiated the ritual.
This was terrifying! An entire army of over a million, all elite troops, yielding such a massive amount of gold. Zhang Nu had merely intended to test the effect of the Blood Moon altar. He hadn't anticipated such a successful experiment. It was like a super city-slaying weapon! It's a pity that the Blood Moon altar is a one-time-use item. Otherwise, with such a tool, albeit somewhat inhumane, sweeping through the empire's major strongholds would be a piece of cake!"