Star Odyssey

Chapter 4577: All Are Traitors

Old Sixth was still roaring. "Lord Sixth is not a traitor! You forced me!"

As the toad spoke, they unleashed Anura's Star-Plucking Hands, pulling down one star after another. A powerful aura was frantically released from its body.

Lu Yin understood. Old Sixth was Wang Wen's hidden move.

Bang!

The attack struck Ruinfall and scattered the black currents hiding its body to reveal what lay inside: it looked like a white liquid.

Lu Yin was shocked. Is that the creature of the Soft Megaverse? Devouring Trace?

Old Sixth was similarly stunned. "Devouring Trace?"

Opposite them, the black currents dispersed, and Devouring Trace was fully revealed. The white liquid slowly wriggled while letting out a low, chilling voice. "That human skeleton was only a small fish. I did not expect to hook a fish as big as you, you damn toad. To think that you actually managed to become an Abyssal... But this ends here. Today, all of you must die."

Lu Yin was shaken. Ruinfall was actually Devouring Trace. This meant that they had all been toyed with by the Death Megaverse from the very beginning. In that case, where was the real Ruinfall?

100 branches of the River of Aeons and all the primal talisman materials that had been accumulated throughout countless years had been consumed. What a costly deception.

The Death Megaverse's goal was definitely not just to expose traitors like Lu Yin and Old Sixth, but also to deal with Obscura.

Since that was the case, it was possible that Thousand Machinations had known everything from the very beginning. It might have even been the one directing it all along. Allowing Lu Yin to join Obscura had merely been following the current. To the Death Megaverse, one more traitor like Lu Yin did not matter. The target had always been all of Obscura.

What a grand scheme. Everyone was the protagonist of their own life but only a supporting character in someone else's.

The same was true for Lu Yin. He had all kinds of methods and ways to obtain what he wanted, but within another's scheme, he was still nothing more than an insignificant chess piece.

In truth, even when he had openly admitted to joining Obscura, Thousand Machinations should have already been planning the current scheme in place, but at no point in time had Thousand Machinations ever contacted another Abyss. That was how Lu Yin knew that, even if he had not joined Obscura, Devouring Trace still would have made an appearance at this time, impersonating Ruinfall.

Devouring Trace seemed like nothing more than a mass of white magma. Lu Yin had encountered its fragments more than once, but this time, he sensed a terrifying aura from the mass of white magma. It was almost entirely suppressed, and yet it gave him the feeling that it was powerful enough to drown the cosmos.

"Ji, kill," Devouring Trace ordered in a low voice. Its body extended, enlarging until the liquid covered an enormous area; its area of influence was even larger.

Old Sixth thrust their steel fork forward, stabbing fiercely at Devouring Trace. But the result was like stabbing cotton—there was no reaction at all. The white magma even spread along the steel fork towards Old Sixth.

Lu Yin attacked. Given their distance from the other battlefields, he could once again freely use all of his methods however he pleased. First, he used the Duality Seal, aiming a palm strike at the white magma that was spreading towards him. The sword-testing stone reacted even faster than Lu Yin. A pinprick of sword light swept through the void, severing everything in sight before finally striking the white magma.

Just like Old Sixth's steel fork, the sword slash simply sank into the white magma. Devouring Trace swallowed all attacks that landed on it. Lu Yin's Duality Seal was swallowed as well.

Behind him, the pure black creature attacked. Lu Yin turned around and lashed out with a palm strike.

The pure black creature charged at the Duality Seal. In the instance that it was about to be struck, it suddenly stopped and moved around the attack. A strange, curved blade appeared. The weapon was massive, with the blade alone being as large as the pure black creature itself.

As the curved blade rose, Lu Yin exhaled and waved his hand: the Yan Gate's First Needle.

He would not underestimate this Ji. This creature had clashed against Old Sixth five times in the past, and it had only lost by a single move. That was enough to demonstrate its strength.

It was possible that Old Sixth had not used their full strength, but even so, Ji was definitely at least as strong as a peak one-law Immortal.

The First Needle was formed from Lifeforce. One needle shot by and pierced Ji's body. It instantly stopped moving.

Lu Yin took the chance to step forward. "Devouring Trace is yours for now."

Old Sixth tightened their grip on the steel fork. "Who the hell are you talking to? I only want it to apologize to me."

"Traitor!" Devouring Trace's body expanded even more, and wave after wave of invisible force cut through the void: Void Ninth Heaven.

The sword-testing stone did not move. It seemed that it would only move to protect Lu Yin. As long as Lu Yin was not attacked, it would not take the initiative.

Lu Yin arrived in front of Ji and struck out with both hands: Duality Seal.

Suddenly, Ji dodged, but as Lu Yin gaped in astonishment, the massive curved blade flipped around to slash at the toad.

Lu Yin glanced back. Why had his First Needle had such limited effect? Was he not being attacked because of the sword-testing stone?

With Devouring Trace in front and Ji behind, Old Sixth immediately grew anxious. The toad swung their steel fork about, and Stillness surged out in an endless torrent, shooting straight upwards.

This was the toad’s Stillness gathered after becoming an Abyssal, and it far surpassed what it had previously possessed.

Lu Yin quickly chased after Ji.

Suddenly, his movements slowed, and an indescribable chill fell over him. He turned his head and saw two points. Not good!

That was Final Age. Did Ji know even this technique?

Final Age appeared as a line connecting two points. It swept towards Lu Yin, and after he managed to avoid it, it continued on in a straight line, towards Devouring Trace.

Lu Yin stared blankly as Final Age struck Devouring Trace and split its body in two.

Lu Yin was stunned. Old Sixth was also dumbstruck. Just what was going on?

Ji was not stunned. Beneath the streams of black energy, the curved blade swept past Old Sixth and slashed directly at Devouring Trace.

Old Sixth's eyes nearly bulged out of their head. Another traitor?

Let alone the toad, but not even Devouring Trace had expected Ji to be another traitor. Damn it. Why are there traitors everywhere?

This battle had been forced out by using Ruinfall as bait, and the entire goal was to force the traitors within the Death Megaverse to expose themselves while also ambushing and attacking whichever members of Obscura arrived. Now that Obscura had suffered no small losses, it was precisely the time to fight.

Originally, there had been five guardians for the fake Ruinfall: the newly advanced Abyssal—Old Sixth, the strongest expert under Ruinfall's command—Ji, Lu Yin from Thousand Machinations’ Abyss, the sword-testing stone from the Nethersea, and the blood-stained skeleton that had been Devouring Trace’s follower.

In the end, the skeleton had been taken away by Hong Xia, but that meant that all four remaining guardians were traitors.

Not even whoever had arranged everything could have possibly expected such a situation.

Especially Ji. That creature had followed Ruinfall for a very, very long time, and yet it was actually another traitor to the Death Megaverse. That was completely unimaginable.

Devouring Trace suddenly laughed, the sound low and hoarse. "Good, good! Truly wonderful! This entire scheme was absolutely worthwhile! So many traitors were forced out at the same time. Once you are dealt with, the Death Megaverse will enjoy some peace for a while.

"All of you, die!" After it finished speaking, the void was completely ripped open. The Void Ninth Heaven enveloped everything.

Old Sixth struck out with both hands, and Anura's Star-Plucking Hands instantly shattered Void Ninth Heaven. "Devouring Trace, you are finished!"

"You are the ones who are doomed." Devouring Trace's body touched the cage formed from Dead End that imprisoned them all. As soon as contact was made, the Cage melted and fused into Devouring Trace's body, turning the Abyssal pitch-black.

Lu Yin suddenly thought of Great Golden Wings' Black-Clad Bones. "This is bad! Hurry and stop it!"

His warning was unnecessary, as Old Sixth and Ji had already attacked. Even so, Devouring Trace's defenses were absurd, and it was impossible to interrupt its attack at this point. Lu Yin hurriedly stabbed the Abyssal with the First Needle, wanting to stop Devouring Trace, but the First Needle was also unable to accomplish anything. It was not an invincible attack, and it could not counter everyone.

Once Devouring Trace was entirely pitch-black, the pressure it gave off caused Lu Yin and the others' expressions to change.

That was the Stillness user to power Nethersea Suppression’s Dead End that had previously swept through everything. It was a shocking amount of power, and it had previously forced Hong Xia, Furball, and others to retreat simultaneously. When combined with Devouring Trace’s own Stillness reserves, no one could guess just how much power the Abyssal might be hiding at this moment.

"Void Ninth Heaven!" Devouring Trace shouted, and darkness swept across the cosmos, dividing the void into nine sections.

Old Sixth held their steel fork upright as they were immediately knocked back.

Ji's curved blade was simply shattered.

Lu Yin lashed out with a Duality Seal. The unimaginable power of the void being destroyed slammed down upon him, forcing him to continuously release his own Stillness. The stars of the Cosmic Art shattered one after another. He clenched his teeth, and the Three Deaths Art appeared in his palm. It released a vast amount of Stillness as he also released Dead End.

The Three Deaths Art blasted out a black beam that shot at Devouring Trace. The liquid body was smashed by the beam.

There was a boom, and darkness clashed with darkness. All light was covered at this moment. It was an exchange of pure darkness. Black and black fought for control of the cosmos.

Lu Yin continuously released more and more Stillness from his Three Deaths Art while Devouring Trace clashed with him with its own Stillness.

The two became locked in a stalemate.

Lu Yin wanted to absorb the Stillness that Devouring Trace was releasing, but that was not easy. Unless he could suppress it first, it was nearly impossible to absorb anything given the intensity of their exchange.

While Lu Yin and Devouring Trace tried to exhaust each other's Stillness, Old Sixth, Ji, and the sword-testing stone all attacked Devouring Trace. Attacks fell upon the Abyssal like raindrops, but nothing had much of an effect on Devouring Trace. Its defenses were terrifying, giving Lu Yin the impression that they surpassed Death's Dominion’s defenses.

That giant skeleton had possessed powerful defenses, a terrifying amount of Stillness, and extremely powerful attacks.

Devouring Trace did not possess similarly vast reserves of Stillness. If not for the Stillness of Nethersea Suppression’s Dead End, Devouring Trace’s reserves absolutely would not be a match for Lu Yin’s. As for offensive might, that went without saying. Devouring Trace was able to capture Immortal beings simply by relying on its defensive and immobilizing abilities.

Ultimately, this Abyssal only had two true abilities: impressive defenses and numerous fragments.

It fell far short of the other Abyssals, but everything changed when Nethersea Suppression’s Stillness merged with Devouring Trace.

Only at this moment did Lu Yin understand why earlier, when the main battlefield had grown so intense, Nethersea Suppression had divided its attention to unleash Dead End. It had not been an attempt to kill Hong Xia, Furball, or any of the others, but rather to provide Devouring Trace with a vast amount of Stillness. This moment had been the goal all along.

The Death Megaverse had planned every step very carefully.

Lu Yin gritted his teeth. No matter what, his own Stillness was enough to consume most of Devouring Trace’s.

Old Sixth and the others kept landing attacks on Devouring Trace. The now-black magma was soft and supple yet impossible to break. They felt utterly helpless while attacking.

Stillness was continuously released from Lu Yin's Three Deaths Art. Already, nearly half had been consumed.

Across from him, Devouring Trace was more shocked than anyone else present on the battlefield. It had never expected Lu Yin to possess so much Stillness. The moment it had recognized the Three Deaths Art, it had known that Lu Yin's reserves must be abundant, but it had guessed them to be equal to its own at best. Even if this human skeleton surpassed the Abyssal, it could not be by much.

However, Devouring Trace knew that this skeleton had already consumed far more Stillness than its own reserves, and yet the exchange showed no sign of abating.