DD Black White [325-326] (Patreon)

Chapter 325: Lord Ravager, Phantylia

Any genius who attempts to cross that boundary and explore the mysteries beyond the "known" will ultimately face the merciless blade of that Lord of Nihility.

She is a terrifying entity who specializes in hunting down geniuses who overstep their bounds. Countless members of the Genius Society have died at her hands. She is the sharpest and coldest blade in the hands of the Erudition Aeon, upholding that despairing omniscience.

Although the current chaotic situation can be traced back to some responsibility on Herta's part, Lu Jingming is absolutely not blameless either.

Who told him not to restrict his own memory bank back then? Now, all sorts of monsters and demons have been summoned by the Holy Grail, popping up one after another.

Moreover, as an Emanator of Erudition, Herta has always adhered to the highest principle of "a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall." She loves nothing more than calling in reinforcements for a righteous beatdown or an efficient group assault.

To have her, this esteemed Emanator, face an ambush from two memory bodies of Destruction Path Emanators alone?

That would be far too undignified, completely incompatible with her noble status and her aversion to trouble.

Fortunately, this time she doesn't need to personally step in to handle that mess.

Over in Mingdu, there are Feixiao and Jing Yuan, two genuine Hunt Path Emanators holding the fort, plus Jingliu, that swordsmanship prodigy with her divine blade skills and decisive killing intent. Even if Celenova and Phantylia truly team up, they probably won't gain much advantage—after all, the arrows of the Hunt are no pushovers.

"But speaking of which, Phantylia has hidden herself so deeply. She even held back from acting when Celenova caused such a huge commotion. She must be plotting something big, with other schemes in mind."

Herta stroked her smooth chin, a glint of intellectual contemplation flashing in her eyes.

"With her nasty personality that loves toying with people's hearts and manipulating fates, that Xu Tianran is probably just a pawn she casually placed—even possibly just a decoy to draw fire. Maybe she's lurking in the shadows, plotting something... more interesting, and more dangerous..."

Nearby, Changli slowly put away her exquisite parasol, a hint of worry in her gentle eyes as she softly said, "No matter what that Lord Ravager is scheming in the dark, after this incident, the waters of the Douluo Continent are bound to be stirred even murkier and deeper."

March 7th nodded vigorously beside her, her small face filled with lingering fear.

The descent of two Lord Ravagers, even if only as power-limited memory bodies, is enough to turn an entire continent upside down and leave no peace.

"Then... Lady Herta, Sister Robin... does Shangguan Wei'er still have a chance?"

Ye Guyi's voice carried undisguised urgency. Though her heart was equally shocked by the news that the perpetrator was another Lord Ravager, at this moment, the most important thing to her was whether the increasingly faint-breathing Shangguan Wei'er on the ground could be saved.

Her mind raced through the sequence of events.

Originally, Shangguan Wei'er had been taken away by Mobius, who had an obsessive interest in the mysteries of life, in an attempt to find a way to suppress or even reverse the erosion of Destruction.

But then the Anti-Matter Legion suddenly launched a large-scale assault on Mingdu. In the chaos, Mobius evidently discovered something more interesting and worth her effort than the sample in her hands, so she decisively handed the deteriorating Shangguan Wei'er back to her.

Unfortunately, Mingdu at that moment was completely enveloped in the Anti-Matter Legion's aura of slaughter and destruction.

That dense Destruction energy spread through the city like a poisonous fog. Stimulated by this intense, homologous power, the fragile consciousness within Shangguan Wei'er—sealed at great cost by herself but already tainted by Destruction—began to rage and assault wildly, nearly breaking through the crumbling seal entirely.

With no other choice, Ye Guyi could only bring the rapidly deteriorating Shangguan Wei'er, on the brink of mental and physical collapse, back here through the spatial gate opened by Haiyuan City, pinning all her hopes on Robin for a turnaround.

After all, Lu Jingming had mentioned before that if it was Celenova's doing, Robin might be able to find a breakthrough using the characteristics of their shared power source.

But now, the true culprit wasn't Celenova at all, but another, more eerie Lord Ravager who excelled in mental erosion.

This news hit Ye Guyi like a bucket of ice water, chilling her heart halfway.

She could only cast her last hopeful gaze toward Herta, the most knowledgeable present, and Robin, with her most unique powers, her eyes full of pleading.

"I'm sorry..."

Robin gently shook her head, her stunningly beautiful face showing clear apology and helplessness.

"With my current abilities, I can only temporarily suppress the violent Destruction consciousness within her, delaying the time until complete corruption... But to cure it fundamentally, to thoroughly purify that Destruction imprint, I'm afraid..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but the implication was clear.

The power of a Lord Ravager is inherently tyrannical and absolute, especially since Phantylia's strength and rank far surpass hers.

That imprint, deeply embedded in the soul and marrow, clings like the most stubborn parasite, inextricably intertwined with Shangguan Wei'er's soul essence and bodily functions, inseparable.

If it were a mark left by Celenova, she might have some ideas using the faint connections and traits of the Harmony Path. But facing Phantylia's pure and malevolent Destruction mental power, she truly felt powerless.

"She won't die just yet."

Herta glanced at Shangguan Wei'er on the ground, whose breathing had weakened but stabilized, and tossed out the words in a flat tone. Her figure began to fade gradually amid subtle spatial fluctuations.

"Let this little bird who's good at harmonizing reinforce her seal and keep her alive. Wait for Lu Jingming, who always pulls off some surprises, to come back and figure something out."

Marked personally by an entity like Phantylia and implanted with a Destruction imprint—if discovered early enough, before the mark took deep root—Herta might have some confidence in attempting treatment.

But Shangguan Wei'er had been tainted and suppressing this Destruction power for far too long, long enough for it to permeate every inch of her flesh, every strand of her spirit, ingrained to the bone, becoming part of her very existence.

In such a case, even the well-traveled Herta had no full guarantee of perfectly stripping it without damaging the core.

After all, Phantylia is an Emanator of the same rank as her, and the insidious methods she leaves behind are far trickier than imagined.

Moreover, Phantylia originated from the Heliobus, a pure spiritual energy entity, a grandmaster at manipulating souls and mental forces. The Destruction imprint she leaves isn't something that can be easily cracked and removed.

Besides, delicate operations and treatments at the soul and mental level aren't Herta's core expertise anyway.

If it were Ruan Mei, obsessed with life creation, perhaps there could be some clever ideas. As for Herta... she could only offer the most realistic, rational assessment.

Not directly saying "She's beyond saving, prepare for the funeral" was already the greatest courtesy she could offer, considering Ye Guyi's anxious look and for Lu Jingming's sake.

"Don't worry, things haven't reached the worst yet."

Robin reached out and gently patted Ye Guyi's slightly trembling shoulder from tension. Her tone was as gentle as a spring sun, yet it contained a peculiar power that could directly soothe the soul and calm the heart.

"Xiao Ming... he always creates miracles. Since he said he'd find a way, let's believe in him. He'll definitely have a solution."

As she spoke, the Harmony power emanating from her became even softer and purer. No longer attempting forceful purification, it flowed like a warm, resilient stream, carefully wrapping and reinforcing layer by layer the mental seal within Shangguan Wei'er that was on the verge of complete shattering.

Gentle light flowed quietly between the two, temporarily suppressing the restless Destruction aura that was trying to counterattack. Shangguan Wei'er's pained brow seemed to relax a bit.

Ye Guyi carefully supported the unconscious Shangguan Wei'er. Under the dual comfort of Robin's Harmony-infused words and power, she finally managed to suppress the immense anxiety in her heart.

Right now, she truly had no better options and could only pin her last hopes on Lu Jingming, expecting him to bring a turnaround upon his return.

Otherwise... perhaps she could only lament that it was Shangguan Wei'er's fate.

…

"Phantylia? It's actually her!"

Far away on the Mingdu battlefield, Lu Jingming received the information from Robin almost immediately through a special communication method.

He immediately raised an eyebrow, showing a bit of surprise, his gaze subconsciously turning toward the core area of the energy storm at the Mingdu imperial palace.

That was the most intense and chaotic zone in the entire city, without exception—Karna's brilliant radiance like the sun descending clashed wildly with Long Xiaoyao's thousand-meter shadow of the Dark Holy Dragon.

Behind Ye Xishui, the Death God Tower wreathed in vengeful souls emitted a chilling deathly aura that devoured life.

The hundred-meter-tall emerald giant transformed by Du Busi carried terrifying poison capable of corroding space with every punch.

Kong Deming's Silver Moon Divine Light Barrier flickered violently and erratically under the continuous energy impacts...

Various overwhelmingly powerful forces, each capable of easily destroying cities, collided and annihilated madly here. The once-glorious palace had long been reduced to a scorched wasteland under such immense forces.

Yet that Lord Ravager, Xu Tianran's Servant Phantylia, had never shown any trace throughout this chaotic battle.

Lu Jingming's thoughts raced like a processor at maximum speed.

As fellow Lord Ravagers under Nanook, Celenova had no reason not to know of Phantylia's existence; she might even have been fully aware from the start.

This perfectly explained why Celenova had been so eager to cooperate with Xu Tianran earlier.

Probably from the beginning, these two emissaries of Destruction had already reached some unspoken agreement or pact in secret.

Chapter 326: Black Abyss White Flower - First Rated Power

But now, Mingdu had already turned into a hellscape, with war flames sweeping the entire city, yet Phantylia remained motionless, hidden behind the scenes.

And Celenova was only continuously dispatching seemingly endless Anti-Matter Legion forces for mad slaughter. Aside from that abrupt sneak attack on Feixiao earlier, she herself had made no further major moves.

"What... are they waiting for? Or rather, what are they preparing for?"

Lu Jingming frowned slightly, sensing something amiss.

Earlier, he had speculated that Celenova wanted to use the Anti-Matter Legion to destroy Mingdu and harvest massive lives and negative emotions, thereby absorbing vast negative energy to boost her own strength.

But now it seemed that absorbing energy was perhaps just the surface-level, incidental goal. Their true, deeper plot was likely using this massive battlefield and the gathering of countless powerhouses to firmly pin nearly all of the Douluo Continent's top combat forces here.

Mingdu at this moment was like a gigantic quagmire vortex, assembling at least seventy percent of the continent's top-tier forces on the surface.

The Sea God Pavilion elders from Shrek Academy, the top experts from the Body Sect, the elite soul engineers from the Mingde Hall, the titled Douluo from the Heavenly Soul and Star Luo Empires, plus the forces invested by Haiyuan City, and the various Servants summoned by the Holy Grail War.

The core combat power and highest-end might from all factions were almost all trapped in this burning besieged city, mutually restraining and exhausting each other.

Such a bizarre situation boiled down to two major possibilities.

First, they aimed to wipe out the Douluo Star's core resistance forces in one fell swoop here.

As long as they could successfully eliminate these top-tier forces, the entire planet would lack sufficient power to effectively resist the Anti-Matter Legion's advance, making ultimate destruction inevitable.

Second, it was the classic tactic of luring the tiger from the mountain.

With the powerhouses and main forces of the major factions deeply mired in Mingdu's war quagmire, their rear bases, important cities, and heritage sites would inevitably be in an unprecedented state of vulnerability.

This would give the enemy a perfect opportunity to execute some truly fatal plan.

"It looks like ninety-nine percent it's luring the tiger from the mountain."

Lu Jingming calmly analyzed while manipulating the hundreds-of-meters-tall massive wooden figure, once again condensing a earth-shattering giant fist to hammer the stubbornly struggling Titan Giant Ape deeper into the pit below.

A flash of insight crossed his eyes, his thoughts becoming crystal clear—since it was basically confirmed that Xu Tianran's Servant was Phantylia, and this Lord Ravager most adept at stirring up trouble had remained unseen, the answer was simple.

Either she was still in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment, or... she wasn't in Mingdu at all.

Lu Jingming leaned toward the latter.

Phantylia has always loved toying with hearts and destinies, excelling at guiding mortals down paths of self-destruction, dragging civilizations into irredeemable abysses.

And Xu Tianran's current actions—decisively abandoning his Mingdu foundation, coldly sacrificing millions of subjects, making deals with tigers... undoubtedly stepping step by step onto the path of utter self-destruction.

If his Servant truly was Phantylia, all these abnormal, insane behaviors made perfect sense; there must be Phantylia's inducement and push behind it.

According to the basic rules of the Holy Grail War, the Master Xu Tianran's existence is itself the foundation for Servant Phantylia's manifestation and her most obvious weakness.

With Phantylia's wisdom and deep cunning, she couldn't possibly ignore this fatal flaw; she must have made arrangements.

So, where exactly is she now? And what is she doing?

Suddenly, a temporarily overlooked keyword flashed through Lu Jingming's mind like lightning.

He thought of the one thing on this planet that could attract an entity like Phantylia—even possibly help her break free from the Holy Grail's restrictions and completely shed her Servant form.

His expression changed abruptly.

"The plane core, or rather... this world's manifestation of 'life'—the Golden Tree!"

He couldn't help licking his somewhat dry lips, a wave of helplessness and self-reflection rising in his heart.

He had still underestimated these cunning Lord Ravagers who had lived for untold ages.

Whether Celenova or Phantylia, from the very beginning, their target probably wasn't that seemingly wish-granting Holy Grail that could actualize memory bodies at all.

With their pride as Destruction Emanators, they wouldn't believe in something of unknown origin; they only believed in the absolute power they themselves possessed.

So, they must be plotting to use their own methods, exploiting some unique trait or treasure of this world, to break free from the Holy Grail's shackles, completely shedding their Servant identities, and thus more fully enacting their path of Destruction in this universe.

From the start, the greedy and dangerous gazes of these two Lord Ravagers hadn't truly lingered on the "farce" of the Holy Grail War but were cast toward a more distant, more fundamental goal.

"Clashing with these Lord Ravagers is truly full of surprises; you can never guess what they'll do next... Interesting."

A glint of excitement flashed in Lu Jingming's eyes, mixed with a touch of wariness.

The danger and trouble-making ability of these Destruction agents from the Honkai universe lived up to their reputation.

If not for his own special true authority, allowing him to break conventions at any time, call in reinforcements, and mobilize far stronger forces from beyond this world, facing the scheme laid by these two Lord Ravagers might truly risk a wipeout.

Given Phantylia's essence as a Lord Ravager, if she successfully seized this world's Golden Tree and used the Douluo Star's plane core as a foundation to reshape a perfect body, she could at least immediately recover and stably exert terrifying combat power at the level of a first-class deity.

If given more time to freely absorb the massive negative energy from Mingdu and even the entire continent's war and destruction, enacting more destructive acts, her power could soon climb to god-king level without bottlenecks.

Forget god-king; even if Phantylia merely recovered to first-class god level, with the God Realm preoccupied by other matters and unable to intervene, she could single-handedly destroy the entire Douluo Continent with ease, spreading scenes of carnage to every corner of the world.

And if both Phantylia and Celenova achieved their goals, successfully destroying the entire Douluo Continent, the immense energy from a planet's total annihilation would be enough to elevate Celenova as well, causing her strength to surge.

They might even forcibly open the black hole channel connected to the "Tomb of the Gods," absorbing the near-infinite death and negative energy accumulated over eons, truly transforming into cosmic darkness that devours light, bringing thorough, irreversible ultimate destruction to this universe.

In other words, if Lu Jingming messed up here, even if only memory bodies of two Lord Ravagers had arrived, the chain reaction they triggered could topple the first domino, ultimately leading to the complete collapse of this universe.

True powerhouses, even without their true bodies descending and with most of their power restricted, can always find unique ways to grow stronger suited to the world, steadfastly enacting their pure and extreme ideologies.

Lu Jingming could even clearly envision, if he failed this time, how the Anti-Matter Legion would ravage the entire universe in the future, with countless stars extinguishing one after another in despairing destruction.

"Sorry, big guy."

Lu Jingming lowered his head, gazing calmly at the Titan Giant Ape in the deep pit, still roaring defiantly and struggling to rise, his tone indifferent yet laced with killing intent.

"Though there's no personal grudge between us, and I even admire your toughness... unfortunately, our stances differ. For my plans, I must ask you... to meet your end here."

He no longer had spare time to tangle with this thick-skinned Titan Giant Ape.

In his hand, the peculiar holy spear formed from the perfect fusion of the Black Abyss and White Flower martial souls began to emit a low hum.

The ultimate black of decomposition and the pure white of creation intertwined like two coiling dragon-snakes on the spear body, finally merging into a black-and-white stream containing the dual extreme laws of annihilation and birth.

"Roar—!"

The Titan Giant Ape suddenly raised his head, his massive pupils already filled with frenzied bloodshot veins. He glared fixedly at Lu Jingming suspended in mid-air.

Even after being repeatedly pressed into the ground and crushed by the massive wooden figure, with his soul power and vitality continuously eroded by the withering domain, leaving him battered and bruised, he still wore the most ferocious, unyielding expression. With his last strength, he roared, "Come on, kid! If you've got the guts, try it! Killing your Titan Grandpa won't be that easy."

In his view, as a level 98 Super Douluo and a fierce beast, his physical body was unparalleled in toughness, his brute strength could shake mountains, and his defense was top-tier.

Even with his current state greatly diminished, he wasn't someone a young man who hadn't even reached titled Douluo level could easily kill. He still had one last fight in him.

"Declaration—"

Lu Jingming's expression became utterly indifferent and sacred, softly reciting the incantation to unleash the true power of this holy spear.

"I am the black that devours all, I am the white that nurtures all. I was born before creation, I exist after annihilation!"

The increasingly vibrating holy spear in his hand slowly rose, its black-and-white intertwined tip steadily aiming at the mountain-like giant ape in the deep pit.

"Black Abyss White Flower · First Rated Power—Holy Spear, Bloom!"

The moment the words fell, an extreme, pitch-black radiance that seemed capable of devouring all light and matter surged from the spear tip.

Wherever that radiance passed, air was instantly decomposed into basic particles, dust and moisture in the air vanished into thin air, and even the stable space itself rippled with violent distortions, as if torn apart by this terrifying decomposition force.

This black light that erased all existence moved at a speed surpassing thought.