Chapter 124: The Vile King’s Hammer and the Spatial Rift

"You want me to pay the price? Come and try it then. Vortigern: Hammer of the Vile King."

Black, negative energy surged rapidly, coalescing into the black Excalibur held in Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s hand. As she swung, the immense energy followed the motion, manifesting as a colossal greatsword that seemed to have been magnified a thousand times, slashing down toward the Imperial-rank Evil God.

"How is this possible? After unleashing such a powerful strike, how can she still command such vast reserves of energy? Is this her true strength?" Seeing the giant blade filled with dense, dark light heading toward him, the Imperial-rank Evil God was struck with profound shock.

He had already overestimated the suddenly transformed Zhuang Xiaoyuan in his mind, yet he had still underestimated her in the end. Still, defeating him would not be so simple. He was the "strongest" Imperial-rank, having devoured countless guardians and claimed their power. How could he fall here to his own prey?

The Imperial-rank Evil God narrowed his eyes slightly, mobilizing the energy within his body that he had not yet fully mastered. In an instant, he vanished, reappearing behind Zhuang Xiaoyuan. His right hand, crystallized with red energy, reached out toward her. Although she could absorb crystallized energy from the outside, if she were completely frozen, she would be unable to break free.

"Naive... I was waiting for you."

The black light gathered on the greatsword suddenly shattered, transforming into a multitude of black tentacles that lashed out, piercing the Imperial-rank Evil God’s body and limbs in his stunned gaze, pinning him firmly to the ground.

"How? How could you have known..." The Imperial-rank Evil God’s eyes widened in disbelief. He could never have imagined he would meet such an end. His space-time ability had only just been acquired; no other Evil God knew of it, let alone Zhuang Xiaoyuan, who had been a human until recently. Yet, judging by her preparedness, she had been waiting for him to walk right into her trap.

"Vortigern: Triple Slash."

There was no need for a reply. Zhuang Xiaoyuan was not the type of idiotic boss found in novels who would spout nonsense only to be escaped or killed by the protagonist. She would not kindly explain the concepts of battle intuition, tactical strategy, or the importance of being prepared to the Imperial-rank Evil God. The moment she had him pinned, black light converged once more upon the black Excalibur in her hand.

"I have failed this time. I always thought you were just a cat with claws, never expecting you to be a ferocious lion. But even in defeat, I won't let you have it easy, ha ha ha." Facing an inescapable predicament and the imminent, fatal blow, the Imperial-rank Evil God laughed miserably, his face etched with the regret of misjudgment and the confidence in his final trump card as he welcomed his end.

Three massive, interlocking arcs of black light directly obliterated the once arrogant Imperial-rank Evil God. This result did not surprise Zhuang Xiaoyuan. From the moment she generated this character, she had been certain of her victory, for this character represented the glorious King of Knights—Artoria Pendragon.

Due to the black, negative energy, the resulting card was not the noble King of Knights, Artoria, but the tyrant King Artoria, corrupted by the evils of the world during the Holy Grail War. Even the Excalibur, which once represented nobility, had fallen into a cursed sword. Yet, for the current Zhuang Xiaoyuan, this was exactly what she desired. Zhuang Xiaoyuan, filled with dark, negative energy, and the blackened Artoria were a perfect match, two hundred percent compatible.

*Crack, crack.*

The final, maniacal laughter of the Imperial-rank Evil God seemed to still echo in her ears when suddenly, a sound like glass shattering emanated from the surroundings. It was a sound she felt she had heard before.

Coming to her senses from the euphoria of unleashing her ultimate move, Zhuang Xiaoyuan looked up, and her expression changed drastically. With no time to worry about anything else, she lunged forward, scooped up the unconscious Wen Hui, and dived into her battered vehicle.

Although the blackened Artoria had lost her Riding skill, Zhuang Xiaoyuan herself knew how to drive; starting the car was no problem. But it was already too late.

The surrounding space began to tremble violently, and fine cracks appeared in the air—these were spatial rifts. In his final moment of death, the Imperial-rank Evil God had detonated the spatial energy within his body, triggering a violent spatial tremor and creating numerous rifts across the area.

As Zhuang Xiaoyuan started the car, intending to flee, the dense web of spatial rifts shattered, forming a massive spatial void. The car, having just started, could not escape the suction of the void and was pulled directly into the tear in space.

When Hua Ze, who had finally managed to slay the Earth-grade Evil Spirit, arrived, there was nothing left of the area. Only the lingering aura of spatial energy remained, along with a massive, crater-like void in the earth. Faced with such an apocalyptic, disaster-like scene, Hua Ze could only pray that Zhuang Xiaoyuan and the others were safe, though he himself did not believe they could have survived such a catastrophe.

Inside the tunnel created by the spatial void, the battered car floated rapidly. Strands of passing spatial energy left unrepairable gashes on the vehicle; with every flow of energy, a piece of the car vanished.

Inside the car, a black cocoon of energy enveloped Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui, preventing them from being sliced to pieces by the spatial energy. However, as time passed, the constant resistance against the spatial force significantly drained the negative energy within Zhuang Xiaoyuan.

This energy originated from the darkness deep within Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s heart—hatred, resentment, sorrow, self-reproach, and more. It was a darkness brewed from all negative emotions, an energy entirely opposite to the crystallization of positive emotions known as divine power. Ultimately, Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s nature and her long-standing moral education were rooted in kindness; her hatred was only temporary. Especially after destroying the Imperial-rank Evil God, the dark energy within her had already begun to wane.

A surge of spatial energy flowed past, carving a wound into the black cocoon and revealing the two figures huddled together inside. Although the wound on the cocoon repaired itself instantly, something else floating within the spatial void sensed the aura from this side.

At the moment the spatial energy struck the cocoon for the second time, a streak of five-colored light shot directly into the cocoon, merging into Wen Hui. Neither the unconscious Wen Hui nor Zhuang Xiaoyuan, who was fully focused on resisting the spatial energy, noticed the fleeting, iridescent light.

It was unknown how long they had been drifting, but just as Zhuang Xiaoyuan was about to reach her limit, they finally arrived at the exit of the spatial void. With a dizzying spin, the dilapidated car, carrying the two of them, tumbled into a wasteland. Forcing herself to stay alert, Zhuang Xiaoyuan roughly checked that the surroundings were temporarily safe before her exhaustion, both physical and mental, finally overwhelmed her, and she sank into a long darkness.

As Zhuang Xiaoyuan lost consciousness, the black energy upon her body retracted rapidly, funneling back into the center of the nebula vortex in her chest, as if nothing had ever happened. Days passed, and the sun rose once more the following morning.

"Mmm...?" With a drowsy murmur, the young girl slowly opened her eyes.