Titan King: Ascension of the Giant

Chapter 1665: Avatar of Decay

"If they were that easy to catch, I would have bagged one years ago!"

Commander Thresh wasn’t surprised by Kaidric’s mania; he had once shared the exact same thought.

"Did the ancient, cocooned freaks of the swarm make a move?"

In Kaidric’s eyes, the only things capable of stopping Commander Thresh were entities at the absolute pinnacle of the demigod stage—apex powerhouses lacking nothing in territory, raw strength, or Demigod Artifacts.

"Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter," the Commander said, shaking his head. "Those things are bound by bloodline and racial laws. Unless they offer it willingly, you can’t cultivate those law-worms."

He didn’t answer Kaidric’s question directly, but the implication was clear.

"So you have to possess an insectoid body? Steal a shell or be reborn as one?" Denied one path, Kaidric instantly pivoted to another.

"Possession and body-snatching won’t work. Rebirth might be worth a shot. Certain secret arts and inherited memories can’t be passed down without an insectoid soul."

The Commander spoke with a straight face, but Kaidric gave him a weird look. You didn’t learn secrets like that without getting your hands dirty.

"So, did you get the law crystal?" Kaidric pressed, eager. No demigod faction would ever turn down a law crystal.

"No."

The blunt answer caught Kaidric off guard.

"It’s extremely difficult. Try it yourself if you want. The swarm has already entered the fray. Insect Kings, broodmothers—the battlefield is crawling with them."

While they debated how to harvest law crystals, the battlefield beyond the world shifted again.

The Four-Faced Beast, gnawed upon by the law-worms, finally snapped from the primal pain. It raised its Demigod Artifact, the God-Slaying Ballista, aiming dead at The Progenitor Swarm. In its other hand, the black hole—its source of divine power—pulsed violently.

Crack!

A black-and-gold bolt wreathed in dark lightning tore through the void. It shredded the laws of space and obliterated everything in its path, slamming into the Void Progenitor at the speed of light.

The progenitor let out a horrific, agonizing shriek. Bathed in the destructive flash of lightning and divine light, the progenitor was ripped apart. Its massive body was completely annihilated.

"Friends, I have cast the first stone. I can only reveal the Four-Faced Beast’s strength up to this point. The rest is up to you."

As the progenitor’s body vanished, an emotionless voice bypassed the cosmic laws, ringing directly in the ears of the Commander and Kaidric. Without the strength of a sixth-stage demigod, one wouldn’t even have the right to hear it.

"See? They aren’t stupid. Being the vanguard doesn’t mean you have to face the worst of it." The Commander shot Kaidric a look that clearly called him an idiot.

Kaidric shrugged it off. Whether others were fools was none of his business.

"Are you stepping in, or am I?" He was itching for a fight. Foes like the Four-Faced Beast were rare even in the Abyss.

"Patience. Someone else cares about the Titanion Realm far more than we do."

The moment the Commander spoke, another terrifying presence descended beyond the world.

"There. An Abyssal aura. See if it’s someone you know," the Commander said. His senses were razor-sharp; he detected the presence before it even fully manifested.

"This is a law older than death!" Kaidric stared at the battlefield, a muscle ticking in his jaw. "It’s Decay!"

Old memories resurfaced, and Kaidric’s eyes went wide with disbelief. "It’s the Abyssal Demon of Decay! Why is he here?"

Kaidric couldn’t suppress his shock. The entity descending possessed the strength and status of a Chieftain. To Kaidric, the arrival of the Demon of Decay felt like the Death-Soul Race Chieftain descending in person.

"Careful. He isn’t just about rot and ruin," Kaidric warned. "His law is the absolute regression of all things. Matter decays, memories decay, even space and time wither around him. The worst part is that his decay is contagious. Touch it and turn to ash. Only laws can stall the regression. Anyone below a demigod dies just looking at him!"

Kaidric looked grim. Even the Death-Soul Race avoided provoking an entity like this unless absolutely necessary.

"Rumor in the Abyss says he’s a top contender for the next Divine Mantle." He laid out everything he knew, emphasizing the Demon’s sheer power.

"What good does talking about his power do?" The Commander remained calm, completely unaffected by Kaidric’s panic.

He didn’t know the Demon of Decay personally, but before his slumber, he had fought his fair share of Abyssal heavyweights of the same caliber. He stayed completely unfazed.

"Let’s see if he can tank a shot from the God-Slaying Ballista. I hope he isn’t just for show. Legends are just legends. They sound scarier than they are."

Honestly, it was only now that the Commander felt a spark of anticipation. A powerhouse like the Demon of Decay entering the fray in the Titanion Realm was a good thing. It would push the realm’s growth.

"By the way, what is this Demon’s true name?" the Commander asked. "Is that monster his actual physical form?"

It wasn’t that the Commander didn’t understand Abyssal Demons. He knew them well. A name like "Decay" was usually earned when a Demon ascended to demigod and manifested their governing law. Before that, the Demon definitely had another name.

"No idea. Nobody does," Kaidric replied. "Anyone who knew his true name died to the decay of time. Even time reversal can’t uncover it. Try it, and you’ll just get infected by his law of decay. In the Abyss, this guy is like a plague. Nobody wants to mess with him."

Kaidric stared at the Demon’s physical manifestation. It was a beast wreathed in flowing shadows and magma. Bone spikes erupted from its spine. It had no facial features, save for two deep, intersecting fissures forming a cross across its visage.

Looking directly at the monster warped the ambient light. Space corroded around it, and a heavy fog seemed to rise in the observer’s vision. Staring into that fog induced an immediate sense of aging, a visceral feeling of time slipping away.

"If we fought face-to-face," Kaidric muttered, "I’m not confident I could beat him."