The Dawn Of The New World

1345  Creeping in

Four souls were just obliterated into nothingness as if they didn't matter...as if they weren't living breathing people at some point.

Jin Wang already expected to see something like that but the brutal nature of the spell and its mechanism left him appalled.

Killing a person was not nearly as bad as destroying their soul. They could still be reborn after death and have a chance to atone for their sins or suffer in purgatory until they were washed clean.

But to destroy a soul meant that you would be eliminating all of their possible futures, everything they could have done or achieved was now forever lost. It was a sin greater than any, one that would leave its mark for eternity.

As soon as the soul dust settled, another four souls were automatically pulled in and turned into dust for the magic circle. This process not only continued but was also sped up tens of times.

In less than a minute hundreds of souls were destroyed and their essence deposited on Hao Xuan's shoulders.

Their heart-wrenching screams filled every corner of the chamber, making it that much harder for Jin Wang to focus. But perhaps what was even more shocking was that the Emperor did not seem the least bit bothered by it. In fact, it looked like he reveled in their misery and fed on it since his own power continued to grow alongside the magic circle.

Looking at Jin Wang's ugly expression was enough to know how he felt about it but even so, he wanted to let the Emperor know.

"Look at yourself, even the Devil would not fall so low."

[There is no corner of my heart I would not turn over for a chance at victory. That is what sets me apart from all the others that stood in my place before me. And once it is done, you too will understand]

Seeing as he could not even see the error in his ways anymore, Jin Wang closed his eyes and tried to focus on the spell in hopes that it would be able to pull off a miracle.

Another minute or so later when more than a few thousand souls had been sacrificed, the magic circle began to activate. Three golden circles materialized on Hao Xuan's body. One on his head, one on his chest, and the last on his abdomen.

There were a couple of inches apart, hovering over his skin but stuck in place at the same time.

The Emperor raised his right hand into the air to summon the hammer once more, orating his intentions and inner thoughts to both Jin Wang and Hyde. Whether that was a tactic to distract or something much simpler, that remained to be seen.

The halo of golden aura around him began to increase in intensity to the point that even the chamber could not hide its resplendent light. It leaked outside to the pyramid, and to a point even further beyond that.

When the Emperor spoke his voice could be heard by anyone gifted enough or strong enough to peer through the curtain between the realms. It moved freely and without restraint, unhampered by time or distance.

He spoke to the cosmos, to all of the Greater World and the ones beyond it, [On this day a new future begins]

*BAAAANG*

The hammer struck down, creating a shockwave so powerful that it shattered the planet's outer surface in half.

The world shook back and forth as the storm crept in through the cracks and lifted the better part of a continent into the atmosphere.

Dai Zhi who was still standing outside of the ruins along with a few others was the first person to notice the change.

As powerful as he had become, in this fight he was nothing more than an ant and by the time he realized that he had been caught in something far beyond his control, it was already too late.

The sky had opened up and swallowed swathes of land around them. As he peered into the eye of the storm he finally understood what terrible power lurked within its muddy depths.

He pulled at the cross hanging from his neck and quickly shattered the red crystal in its center. A torrential blood ripple materialized behind his back to surround him from all sides. But when it tried to shrink away into nothingness something got in the way and he was spat out in tatters.

"NOO!! HOW COULD THE SPACE BE LOCKED DOWN?!" he screamed hysterically.

The elite guards around him finally reacted and pulled out their weapons, unsure of where to point them.

Within seconds the storm had surrounded the entire landmass and it was slowly beginning to pull in. One of the soldiers ran up behind him, "My Lord! We have lost all communication with the Mountain City!"

"What is going on?!"

"The winds...when did that storm appear?!"