Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 104: Exploding head

Tiber’s head exploded!

Pieces of flesh and dark blood flew everywhere, and the man sighed as the monstrosity swayed. "I should have come after you in the first place," he said bitterly.

"Is that so?" Tiber’s voice sounded amused.

The man flinched and looked down in horror—the monster wasn’t just swaying! It was balancing on one of its legs, the right one, because the left one had suddenly turned into a long neck and head!

The man stumbled back and fell, looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

Tiber’s head curled around like a snake. "Thank you, though. Being so close to death made me understand the abilities of this nightmare body even better. I can modify my body in ways I didn’t know before, even interchanging parts... Honestly, I’m starting to like this body... how I wish...

"I suppose you don’t care about all that."

Then his head snapped forward, jaws opening to the widest, and he swallowed the man’s head, tearing it off with a brutal jerk.

"Ugh!" Tiber spat the head out, but his black tongue darted out and licked the blood on his lips. His black eyes darkened, and he shook his head. "Even my taste has changed."

Then his body squirmed and molded into the shape of a hairless, dog-like form with a narrow, lizard-like head. He bounced toward the place where his corrupted ones were fighting, his legs growing claws. "Time to fight!"

Meanwhile, on the other side, Vale was thinking of the best way to finish off Varyn. Every attack he’d been using was just getting shrugged off by the man. "Can you just stay solid?"

Varyn grimaced, his eyes dark. His body was outlined in a white translucent glow as he floated like a ghost. Frost covered the ground, and the air was brisk with cold.

But with each step Vale took, he dispelled the cold. "Is that power from the Dark Order? You’re imitating a ghost or is it a wraith?"

"A wraith," Varyn said. His eyes shifted to the side, then lit up. He extended his hand and gestured, as if pulling something toward himself.

The ghosts of the recently dead floated toward him with a woosh, their passage marked by a chilly fog. They howled silently as they swirled around Varyn.

The man straightened, then began to chant quickly, his hands weaving, fingers moving in quick succession. The ghosts combined and formed the shape of a gate.

The gate solidified into a black door covered in ancient writing. Varyn looked at Vale, his eyes shining with glee. He finished his chant, and his body rippled.

The door opened, and thick white fog billowed outward. Inside was darkness a hollow, consuming kind of darkness that made Vale take a step back. ’There’s something... very strange about this door’

Without waiting, he blasted it with roaring red fire, intense and blistering, but just like attacking Varyn, the flames passed through as if they weren’t there, leaving only scorched ground.

"It came faster than I expected," Vale said. He had known he would eventually face enemies that his fire had no effect on, but he hadn’t expected it to happen in this battle!

He quickly considered his options as something began to emerge from the door. It was something Vale instinctively knew he didn’t want outside.

He thought fast. ’I can’t use fire or brute force, but I should be able to use the other technique tied to my infernal fire’

He opened his mouth, holding the formation tightly in his mind. He poured essence into it, inhaled deeply, then exhaled in a roar of fire that shaped into a demon’s head.

Then the two of them roared together. It sounded like thousands of metal blades screeching at once, like claws digging into the mind and soul, tearing them apart.

Demon’s Inferno Roar!

He tried to control it, to narrow it down to just the door, but the wave was uncontrollable as it swept through the entire room.

The fighting stopped as everyone clutched their ears. The walls of glass shattered, and even the shield outside trembled as if it would collapse.

The target of the attack suffered the worst. Whatever was coming through the door paused, and then Vale felt its presence retreating, quickly.

The door shook and shuddered, flickering between reality and translucence.

Then, suddenly, it collapsed, shattering like glass.

The roar ended.

Vale staggered backward, his face tensed. The attack had a slight rebound effect on his mind, leaving his mood heavy. He saw that Varyn, now solid, was trying to return to his translucent state.

But he was slow. Blood dripped from his mouth and nose.

Vale raised his hand to finish him off then he paused.

He reached down, picked up a small stone from the ground, and threw it at Varyn. The man subconsciously caught it, surprise etched on his face.

’Why is he throwing a harmless stone?’

Vale smiled coldly as something clicked in his mind. "The condition has been met. You now possess something that does not belong to you. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Chains of the Damned!

Orange-red fiery chains appeared in the air and grew from the ground like tentacles. They wrapped around Varyn’s limbs and then yanked him downward.

The one around his neck pulled him up while the chains around his hands forced him to his knees, locking him in an awkward position. He spluttered and choked.

Vale gestured, and the chain around his neck loosened, sending him tumbling down. His body was fully returned to normal solid and powerless.

"Let me live," Varyn gasped as soon as he could speak. He coughed, gripping his throat. The chains had blackened the flesh around his neck and hands, imprinting their shape onto his skin.

Vale crouched in front of him. "Maybe. But first, tell me how you were able to summon that door. It’s not your own power. An artifact?"

Varyn had recovered a little and tried to use his abilities but they were blocked. His eyes widened as he looked at the chains.

"Huh?" Vale asked again.

Varyn bowed his head and slumped. "I’ll tell you... I’ll tell you everything."