Divine Emperor of Death-Chapter 4478: A Portal Cracks Opens

*Bzzz!~*

The sky split apart.

A violent crack echoed across the heavens as a rift opened above a place called Cloudveil Citadel. It wasn’t lightning, nor was it thunder. It was something far worse. The air itself groaned, twisting as a jagged black portal tore through the sky, its edges glowing with runes that pulsed like infected wounds. Darkness bled from the tear, thicker than fog, heavier than smoke.

It was none other than nether haze.

"Grarararha!"

Nether Devils poured out, first as writhing shadows that hit the ground like rain. The smaller ones looked vaguely human, except their limbs were too long and their faces too ghastly. Behind them came different types of nether beasts. They were dozens of meters tall, hulking forms wrapped in armor made of bones and dragged in chains, their eyes burning with resentment.

The city’s grand defensive formation activated immediately. Golden light erupted around the citadel in a dome of protective energy. For a second, it looked like it would hold.

Then the largest devil, a thousand-meter-tall Nether Devil, raised its arm and hurled a spear of pure darkness straight into the formation.

*Bang!~*

The barrier shattered like it was made of glass.

Panic surged through the city. It was all so sudden, but bells rang. Cultivators leaped into the air.

"Form up!"

"Defend the city!" echoed through the chaos in order to rally.

The City Lord rose first. Level Three Autarch aura reverberated across the city. Those who possessed a good perception and experience could also tell that his prowess was two levels higher. Countless cheers erupted when he made his move.

His sword gleamed with lightning as he launched toward the enemy. He slashed cleanly through a devil’s neck, severing its head in a burst of black mist. For a brief moment, hope returned.

Then, the devil’s body twitched and repaired itself. The head regrew.

"Ghehe~"

The City Lord’s eyes widened just before he was struck across the chest by the devil’s claw. His body flew through the air and slammed into a pagoda, reducing the entire structure to rubble. Blood spattered across the stone floor.

"Ghh... Nether Devils... so powerful..."

"Master!"

From the distance, magical beasts arrived and joined the battle. They actually appeared to be at Grand Saint Beast Rank.

A green roc descended from the clouds, wings crackling with thunder. It screeched and tore into the devils below. A golden-furred apedragon charged forward, roaring, its fists creating shockwaves with each strike. It seemed to be a beast that carried the blood of a dragon and an ape.

They put up a good fight against the Nether Devils. However, they didn’t last long.

One giant devil caught the roc mid-flight, pulling it from the sky and impaling it with a black halberd. The apedragon’s fur caught fire, and its body was encased in purple-black flames that consumed it from the inside out. It fell, twitching and screeching, until it collapsed in a pile of ash.

Screams filled the city. People ran through the streets and not through the air since they would be just snatched by a hand. They were trying to escape. Mothers clutched their children, only to have shadowy tendrils rip them away. Elderly cultivators tried to protect their sect disciples but were cut down one by one. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Cleavers sunk into flesh, and netherflames burned the body, but nothing stopped the onslaught.

On the highest balcony of the central palace, the city’s strongest sect’s Sect Master, a woman stood tall. Her long robe fluttered as she summoned her sect’s Divine Technique, Moonfall Judgement. A cascade of pale crescent blades fell from the sky, slicing into dozens of Nether Devils.

It wasn’t enough.

For every one Nether Devil she killed, more crawled out of the portal.

A massive figure stepped through the gate. Its body was wrapped a tower of bones and chains, with a dozen skulls floating around its head. Every step it took crushed the buildings below. Its presence alone made the air hard to breathe.

The Sect Master stared at it, her eyes trembling. She knew what it was.

"A Nether Devilarch of the legends... it’s young..."

Something far beyond their current power. She took a step back, blood slipping from the corner of her mouth.

"The citadel is lost, perhaps even the entire region..." she whispered, but her voice resounded through all the people’s minds, "Flee, now!"

But it was already too late.

A low, deafening gong echoed across the land. A strange artifact seemed to be at work as its waves reverberated across the city. The sound came from nowhere and everywhere, reverberating through every bone in every person still standing. One by one, people dropped to their knees, clutching their heads as their souls were ripped from their bodies.

Spirits screamed as they were devoured mid-air by the devils.

Even cultivators at the Immortal Emperor and Sovereign Stage began to fall, their life force draining away before they could defend themselves. The extravagant mansions and luxurious palaces all collapsed. Fires raged uncontrollably throughout the core region. Blood flowed through the streets like rainwater in a flood.

Far beyond the city, standing on a distant mountain, a young man watched with trembling hands. He was the last of the City Lord’s sons to make it out. He was together with his family, watching as their Cloudveil Citadel burned, as its people were slaughtered while the sky was swallowed by black.

The portal still remained, still open and still pulsing with hunger.

"It’s over... our city with a four million year history... gone just like that..." Blood drained from their faces.

"Will no one help us?" A girl cried as she knelt on the ground.

"No... There are High-Level Empyrean Nether Devils and even a Nether Devilarch... we can only hope that the Heaven’s Warriors who is on the Divine Emperor of Death’s tail will-"

The elder’s words were abruptly cut short when he saw the Nether Devil’s heads abruptly cut down by something insidious and deadly one by one. Knitting his eyes, he saw a scythe-like silhouette flying across the Nether Devils.

"...!" His heart churned with disbelief, "It’s- It’s the Divine Emperor of Death!"

The Divine Emperor of Death’s terrifying scythe slipped through the army of Nether Devils and repeatedly cleaved them into mincemeat. They were simply unable to regenerate and easily met their ends. Moreover, his soul force simply locked the area and made the Nether Devils stand like they were non-moving targets.

They could all feel the pressure, even from this distance.

At that moment, they felt they were looking at some kind of deity who brings death to all, their eyes wide with fear and reverence. Even the savage Nether Devils didn’t seem as scary as him in their eyes.

*Bzzz!~*

Finally, after ten whole minutes, exactly twenty minutes after the portal to the Nether Dimension suddenly opened, the Heaven’s Warriors finally arrived. And one among them seemed to be a young woman who stared at the Divine Emperor of Death, both having the same blonde hair.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢