Isaac arrived above the Chaos Forest, releasing his psychic power to envelop the entire Darkness Woods. He could clearly sense a powerful force lurking within Darkness City, one that made him feel a surge of excitement.
The intelligence was indeed accurate---there was a divine being here, just like himself.
After the battle at Thunder Highlands, Darkness City had rapidly developed in just a few short days. The buildings and facilities were all renewed, and the progress of the various troops and legions was astonishing, far beyond what one would expect. Under these circumstances, even a divine being would find it difficult to launch a successful frontal assault in a short time.
As Isaac hovered over the Chaos Forest and unleashed his psychic power, Darkness City immediately seemed to detect his presence. Tens of thousands of abyssal dragons began to rise from all directions within the forest. The sheer number was overwhelming. Just the number of abyssal dragons taking to the skies was in the tens of thousands, including five thousand Level 6 Dragon Elders, three hundred Dragon Kings, and at least ten Dragon Emperors. Such a terrifying dragon legion had the power to crush and incinerate any empire on the planet's surface.
However, even when faced with such a formidable dragon legion, Isaac remained unfazed. He slowly began to condense his form, releasing a massive black fog from the void. This black fog gathered together, eventually forming a giant beast massive enough to shroud the entire Chaos Forest. This beast's appearance wasn't fixed; at first glance, it resembled a colossal, monstrous bird. But this was not Isaac's true form, as Isaac, being a pure psychic entity, did not possess a physical body. What appeared above the Chaos Forest was actually Isaac's projection.
In other words, this super colossal beast, entirely composed of black fog and resembling a giant bird, was merely Isaac's mental projection. Although not his true body, the mental projection of an Evil God was still an incredibly powerful force. Ordinary people, without any protection, would instantly be driven mad or turned into monsters if they even approached the Chaos Forest, overwhelmed by the all-encompassing, frenzied psychic power.
Nonetheless, the entire Chaos Forest was guarded by the power of the World Tree. Under its protection, the plants, animals, and inhabitants of the forest were not significantly affected.
At that moment, the wings of the nightmare beast flapped, and thousands, even tens of thousands, of monsters were released from its massive body. These were all powerful Evil God creatures. One of the most potent abilities of the Formless Black Nightmare was creating monsters through nightmares.This Evil God could create various nightmare creatures with mere thoughts, materializing his delusions and madness into reality.
During his countless years of being sealed, the Black Nightmare's deranged mind and imagination had already created innumerable nightmare creatures. Now, under Isaac's control, the Evil God began to unleash these nightmare beasts stored in his mind.
Unquestionably, the number of these creatures far exceeded anything most people could imagine. In an instant, the nightmare beast released tens of thousands of them, and the rate of unleashing didn't slow down. Before long, the skies above the Chaos Forest were filled with an inked sea of nightmare monsters.These nightmare creatures, each one a spawn of the Evil God's long slumber, were born from nightmares and, once materialized in the real world, became powerful Evil God monsters. The types of these monsters were incredibly diverse---almost none were alike, and nearly each and everyone of them had different abilities. However, all were infused with the essence of the Evil God, spreading corruption wherever they went.
Soon, the dragons of the Chaos Forest clashed with these Evil God monsters. Despite their formidable strength, the dragon legion of Darkness City could barely hold back the nightmare army. The Evil God, by sheer will alone, had created a force powerful enough to challenge the might of Darkness City.
Such power was truly terrifying---a testament to the divine nature of Isaac.
Isaac sent out a powerful telepathic wave that resonated throughout the Chaos Forest, affecting every living being within it: "Stop wasting time. You know full well that no army or defense can stop my invasion!"
At that moment, an overwhelming aura erupted from the direction of Darkness City, like a volcano that had been suppressed for millennia finally exploding. A dark aura spread across the sky, plunging the entire Chaos Forest into pitch-black darkness, where one could not even see their hand in front of their face.
"Has he finally appeared?" Isaac could clearly sense a powerful aura, one that was on the same level as his own. From the nature of this aura, it seemed that the opponent was also an Evil God.
So that's it, he thought. The so-called no.1 Demon King was just someone who absorbed the power of an Evil God? Isaac sneered inwardly. Although both were Evil Gods, they were fundamentally different.
The Demon King had gained his power by collecting Evil God fragments, eventually inheriting the full strength of an Evil God. However, power obtained through inheritance was never as potent as direct merging. Even after inheriting the Evil God's power, there was still a period of adjustment; it was impossible to fully harness the Evil God's strength immediately.
Isaac, on the other hand, had directly merged with the Evil God's body in a manner akin to soul possession, instantly gaining all of the Evil God's memories and instincts. While the side effects were significant, this method allowed Isaac to fully access the Evil God's entire power, including its experience and innate abilities---something that couldn't be achieved by merely absorbing Evil God fragments.
Then, the endless darkness swirled and eventually coalesced into a figure. This figure was entirely shrouded within what appeared to be a black hole, making it impossible to discern its true form from the outside.
"So, you are the First Demon King?" Isaac sneered. "How disappointing!"
He had clearly misunderstood. Although the being before him radiated the aura of a divine entity, it was obvious that this was not the Great Demon King Zhang Nu. The one who had emerged to confront Isaac was merely Zhang Nu's subordinate, Han Kexin.
Having obtained eight fragments of the Evil God "Ruler of Eternal Night," Han Kexin had now inherited all the power of this Evil God. As a result, although her own power had not yet reached divine-class, she could temporarily wield god-like strength by channeling the Evil God's power. Moreover, by acquiring the Evil God's divine essence and physique, she had laid the groundwork for her own future advancement to godhood.
At this moment, Han Kexin had fully unleashed the power of the Eternal Night Evil God. Hidden within the black hole, she had transformed into a manifestation of endless darkness, as if capable of devouring everything in existence.
"Die!" Isaac unleashed an overwhelming surge of psychic energy. The moment this psychic power was released, it rapidly materialized, transforming into tens of thousands of nightmare creatures that swarmed toward Han Kexin.
Han Kexin, hidden within the black hole, made no move to resist, allowing the countless nightmares to invade. As these nightmare creatures, born from the Evil God's psychic energy, approached the black hole, they were instantly swallowed up, shredded, and absorbed by the immense power of the black hole.
However, despite this, Isaac did not relent. The Black Nightmare's formidable power continued to pour forth, seemingly inexhaustible, as it relentlessly invaded the domain of the Eternal Night.
This level of combat had long surpassed the understanding of ordinary people.
The two forces were locked in a stalemate. Although the Black Nightmare 's psychic energy was immensely powerful, it could not easily break through the domain of the Eternal Night. Meanwhile, the black hole created by the Eternal Night was constantly being eroded by the Black Nightmare's psychic power. Both were divine-class entities, fully capable of posing a threat to one another.
Han Kexin could clearly feel it. Every moment, Isaac was unleashing hundreds or even thousands of nightmare creatures to invade her domain of Eternal Night. Although this process consumed a significant amount of Isaac's psychic power, her domain was also rapidly being eroded.
Each time a nightmare creature was crushed, it left behind traces of the Black Nightmare's psychic energy. In a matter of moments, Han Kexin suddenly realized that her domain was already filled with the Black Nightmare's energy, and this residual energy was beginning to coalesce and gather."This is...?!!" Han Kexin realized the danger and quickly summoned the Demon King's Tome, attempting to further enhance her power using this divine artifact.
However, by then, the countless fragments of the Evil God's psychic energy had already converged, finally forming a black-cloaked figure in front of Han Kexin.
"You've lost!" Isaac's maniacal psychic wave echoed as thousands of Evil God tendrils extended rapidly toward Han Kexin.
These tendrils appeared to be physical attacks, but they were, in fact, manifestations of psychic energy. Fortunately, Han Kexin was no ordinary person. Not only did she possess the power of the Ruler of Eternal Night, but she was also a top-tier psychic and soul manipulator, with the strength of a demigod. Under these circumstances, and with the added support of the Demon King's Tome, she barely managed to resist the Black Nightmare's further psychic invasion.
However, the difference in their strengths was becoming increasingly apparent. Though the battle had not yet been decided, it was clear that Isaac, the Formless Black Nightmare, had been suppressing the Eternal Night from the very beginning. Han Kexin's power was evidently inferior to Isaac's.
"It's useless! Stop your futile resistance! No one can stop the nightmare; your fate is to be eternally devoured by it, and your psyche will become new fuel for the nightmare!" Isaac taunted.
Han Kexin felt her energy depleting rapidly. She was struggling more and more, with no chance to counterattack.
"I can't defeat him!" After about an hour of stalemate, Han Kexin could no longer maintain her Evil God form. Since she hadn't evolved to the divine level herself, she was relying purely on the Evil God fragments to unlock this power.
As her energy and stamina were exhausted, Han Kexin finally lost the ability to sustain her Evil God form. The black hole she had created instantly disintegrated and vanished, and her figure emerged from the abyss of darkness.
She looked pale and was almost completely drained of strength.
The Black Nightmare, Isaac, let out a triumphant psychotic laugh. In truth, it wasn't easy for one Evil God to defeat another. Though the power of the Eternal Night was somewhat weaker than his own, her ability to devour and absorb energy was incredibly strong. Isaac had to create and release at least a hundred thousand nightmare creatures just to successfully infiltrate her domain with his psychic energy and manifest within it. Only by doing so did he gain a chance at victory.
Throughout the battle, the Ruler of Eternal Night continuously absorbed and utilized energy, operating like a perpetual motion machine, endlessly drawing power. This process drained a significant portion of Isaac's own strength. Yet, despite the effort, it was all worth it. Devouring another Evil God's psychic energy would surely make Isaac's nightmares even stronger!
But just as victory seemed certain, something unexpected happened.
Dozens of Isaac's nightmare tendrils were about to pierce Han Kexin's mind when suddenly, a flash of sword Qi appeared out of nowhere, severing the tendrils in an instant. At the same time, a presence far more powerful than the Eternal Night Evil God descended upon them.
Isaac's expression changed drastically. "Another divine entity!"
Zhang Nu had not transformed into his Dragon God or Evil God forms. He stood there in white robes, with black hair and dark eyes, looking entirely human as he appeared abruptly in the midst of the battle between the two Evil Gods.
It was well known that ordinary beings could neither gaze upon nor approach an Evil God. Even getting close to an Evil God would lead to madness or sudden death, and in the worst cases, their bodies, souls, and minds would be corrupted, twisted beyond recognition. Yet here was Zhang Nu, in human form, casually walking into the fray.
Though Zhang Nu appeared to be just a normal human, Isaac could sense the overwhelming power emanating from him.
Zhang Nu spoke calmly, "The fact that you could defeat my subordinate is indeed impressive."
"Subordinate?" Isaac was stunned upon hearing this.
Under the immense power and psychic energy of the Black Nightmare, Isaac could easily gauge the strength of his opponents. It was clear that this individual, who had suddenly appeared, was far more powerful than the Ruler of Eternal Night.
Isaac asked, "Who are you?"
"Zhang Nu," came the reply.
At that moment, Isaac realized the gravity of the situation. After expending so much effort to finally overpower the Eternal Night Evil God, he discovered that she wasn't even the rank one Demon King, Zhang Nu!
A being so powerful, who had already stepped into godhood, was merely one of Zhang Nu's subordinates!