books44 Chapter 150 The Rise of the Emperor (eight)
Chapter 150 The Rise of the Emperor (eight)
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
This is a space composed of countless uniquely shaped clocks.
The white dial of the clock has only seven markers, with different colored gemstones inlaid in place of the numbers. On some clocks, the seven markers are almost completely dim, on others they flicker with varying brightness, and on still others they all shine with dazzling brilliance.
The hands rotate, pointing from one extinguished mark to the next lit mark, until all the marks are extinguished. Then, the hands and marks break and disappear along with the clock, and a new clock fills the empty space.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
Clocks are constantly being created or broken, with the number of new clocks far exceeding the number of destroyed ones, causing this special space to continue to expand at a relatively stable rate.
Many figures of all shapes and sizes appeared and disappeared in this space, some vanishing instantly after appearing, while others lingered for a while before choosing to leave.
A man dressed in distinctly Egyptian style strolled across a floor paved with clocks. The light reflecting off the white dials made his coffee-colored skin appear even darker. As he moved, the gold jewelry on his body jingled and clinked together, its clear notes echoing in the space, only to be quickly drowned out by the ticking of the clock hands.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
He rubbed his chin with his right hand, looking around as he pondered which clock on the ground to choose.
Just as he selected one of the clocks, another entity intruded into the clock space and appeared not far from him.
"Cough cough cough! How many clones have died? Finally, they've escaped..."
The disheveled, black-haired beauty coughed violently. The folding fan she had been holding was broken, her once gorgeous red cheongsam was now tattered, and her smooth, long black hair was now completely messy.
Before she could finish speaking, a bolt of red psychic lightning shot out from a clock face, striking the black-haired beauty with earth-shattering force.
"%x&*∮+#＊＊、∑%#!"
The black-haired beauty let out an indescribable, shrill scream and curse in a language incomprehensible to humans. Most of her body was shattered, and bloated tentacles and slime kept gushing out from half of her body, attempting to repair her broken flesh and maintain her human form. However, the extremely destructive red psychic power did not stop its attack. It clung tightly to her remaining body, continuing to destroy her life force, and began to spread further to other parts of her body.
The black-haired beauty gritted her teeth, choosing to sacrifice the pawn to save the king. She swung her folding fan, which was already broken in half, and sliced off most of her body, which was wrapped in red psychic energy. The red psychic energy immediately annihilated the severed part of her body, and then, having lost its target, wandered aimlessly among the clocks for a while before dissipating into the clockwork space on its own.
The commotion caused by the black-haired beauty attracted the attention of many people. Among them, the man closest to her walked to the side of the exhausted black-haired beauty, squatted down, and jokingly teased, "Oh, were you being hunted down by all the [Ranks] of that universe? How come you're in such a sorry state?"
As he spoke, he looked at the clock from which the red psychic attack had appeared. Six of the hour markers on the clock face had dimmed, with only the red gem on the fourth hour marker (the fourth one clockwise) still shining.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
The man was even happier.
"The original body only granted us [Rank] level strength, how dare you provoke the [Primordial]?"
Each clock leads to a different universe, and the endless expanse of clocks in this space represents an almost infinite number of universes. The seven marks on the clock face reflect the state of that universe. The fourth mark on that clock, with its significantly different brightness compared to the other marks, clearly indicates the presence of the "Primordial One."
(The lower limit of the "Primordial" is the single-universe level, and the upper limit is the multiverse level. Here, the "Primordial" is at the single-universe level and cannot yet escape its own universe.)
Seemingly having regained some strength, the black-haired beauty rolled her eyes at the man and pouted.
"Tch, damn it, all I did was tell Him a few hellish jokes, is it really necessary to hunt me down like this!"
The black-haired beauty was targeted by a 4th-order being in her original universe. To avoid being tracked, she fled to other universes for fun, only to be discovered and locked onto by a [Primordial] being in that universe as soon as she arrived.
She caught the attention of [Despair].
The dark-haired beauty tried to lighten the mood by telling hellish jokes, but it seemed to touch a nerve with "despair," as the other party began hunting her down across tens of thousands of light-years.
Space twists into a cage, time solidifies into chains.
The lifeless stars crumbled into crimson, their countless magnificent gates connecting to form roads. It shattered the concept of speed, and before the light could even begin to move, the execution cross-dimensionally descended.
Even though she had already glimpsed the realm of the Primordial (the upper limit of the Rank is the single universe level, which is the lower limit of the Primordial), she hadn't even had a thought of resistance before she faced her first death: a violent burst of psychic power crushed her into dust.
Just as her existence was about to be erased, the [Rank] authority: [Twisting] was activated. Her death was twisted into the death of a temporary clone she had created.
Her original location was taken by a clone, and she had the idea of escaping, and then her second death came.
[Twisting] was activated again, and another clone died.
She prepared to escape, she turned around, she began to run, she prepared to open the "door"... and what followed was the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth death...
After distorting reality countless times and causing the deaths of countless clones, the black-haired beauty finally managed to open the "door" through the distortion of reality and escape back to the special space built by her original body. Time then moved to the next moment when the light began to move.
But His attack still crossed the "door" and struck her; His psychic power, weakened several times by the "door," nearly killed her again.
Fortunately, the space created by the main body restricts entry to only His clones; otherwise, no matter how many times the black-haired beauty distorted reality, she would not have been able to prevent the true arrival of death.
From beginning to end, the opponent's true form never appeared; only their telekinetic power mercilessly killed her, over and over again.
"Ugh! This is so annoying! I can't get any fun anymore!"
The black-haired beauty scratched her scalp in frustration with her remaining right hand and tentacles. The final attack, coupled with the cost of initiating several distortions, had reduced her from [Rank] to [Fellowship]. The distortion that reversed the degree of life and death could no longer be activated; if she returned to her original universe, she would likely be found and killed by a fourth-rank ruler in no time.
She risked everything to get back here so she could live and see Lezi again, but now that Lezi can't see Lezi anymore, what's the point of living?
"Hmm? Where's the fun?"
Men get excited at the mention of new fun.
The black-haired beauty opened the three eyes on the top of her broken head and scanned the dense array of clocks around her. The tentacles extending from the cracks in her face weakly pointed to one of them.
"Look, it's a similar universe to the one we just had, except the time dimension is different."
The first, fifth, and sixth marks on the clock face were off, while the third and fourth marks were slowly flashing, their light faint but still present.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
Unlike the previous clock, this clock's fourth mark is green.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock..." x∞
……
"Arces Duel Academy vs. Gloadi Duel Academy, Match 6, Arces Duel Academy goes first!"
Standing on the dueling platform, Sera was somewhat dazed.
"Uh, my turn."
Although I don't know why the teacher asked her to go on stage, things have come to this point, so let's have the duel.
Ampri did not lower his guard because of Sera's clear eyes (Sera was thinking about how to play her deck). Daisy was a case in point; she looked harmless, but who knew how cunning her deck could be.
"Discard one Normal Trap Card from your hand to activate the Normal Spell Card 'Insect Temptation', and draw 2 cards from your Deck."
The phantoms of the Heavenly Emperor and the Underworld Emperor appeared, releasing an invisible aura, attempting to use the same trick to influence Sera's card draw.
Xing Liang, who was in the lounge, saw this scene on the live broadcast and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
"Once or twice, but not a third time."
Sudden changes occur.
Fire, big fire.
A raging fire suddenly broke out between Serra and Ampri.
Sera had no idea what had happened; she just glanced at the two cards she had drawn and felt that she had a good run of luck.
Ampri was on high alert. In his vision, flames formed a protective shield around Sera. He tried his best to control himself, but the slight pressure emanating from the shield still made his left arm holding the duel disk tremble slightly.
what is that?
"Normal Summon [Ranca's Trap Hollow], when this card is successfully Summoned, add 1 'Trap Hollow' monster from your Deck to your hand: [Gino's Trap Hollow]."
Lanka's Trap Demon ATK1500
The others didn't notice anything unusual. From the audience's perspective, Sera simply activated a spell card and then Normal Summoned a monster. It was an ordinary playthrough, and the monster was quite cute.
But why does Ampri's face look so bad?
"The required materials are 1 'Trapika' monster other than a Link Monster. Set a Link Arrow on a Lanca Trapika and Link Summon 'Sera Trapika'!"
Seraphim Bewitching ATK800
"During the Main Phase of both players, if I control a 'Trapika' monster, this card can be Special Summoned from the hand."
Gino's Trap Demon DEF1500
Gino raised his hand, and silk threads, radiating a pale blue light like beads, quietly hung in the back of Serra's court, arranged neatly to form layers of curtains that looked beautiful yet fragile.
"Sera's effect: If the effect of one of my 'Trapika' monsters, other than this card, is activated, I set 1 'Hole' Normal Trap Card or 'Trap Hole' Normal Trap Card from my Deck to my field, and set 1 'Hole' Normal Trap Card: [Trapika of Lutia's Hole]"
Anpri suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his mind, calmed down, and composed himself.
The duel must be completed at least first.
"Activate the Normal Trap Card [Infinite Impermanence] from your hand, and negate the effects of any Seraphim Trap on your field until the end of the turn."
"Pfft!"
Sera laughed, but not as the human Sera holding the Duel Disk, but as the Trap Crypt Lord Sera in the extra area of the field.
"I'm unaffected by Trap Card effects when I'm Link Summoned!"
The atmosphere on the field became somewhat awkward for a moment.
"That is, [Trap Card of Lutia] can be activated by discarding 1 Normal Trap Card from your hand during the turn it is set."
With that, Sera tossed a card from her hand into the graveyard.
"I discard a Normal Trap Card to activate [Trap Card of Lutia the Hollow]. After activation, this card becomes a Normal Monster (Plant/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 400/DEF 2400) and is Special Summoned in Defense Position in the Monster Zone (not treated as a Trap Card)."
Lutia hid herself under the leaves, cautiously peeked at Ampri across from her, and then quickly retreated back into the shadows of the leaves.
Torn Lutia's Trap Demon DEF2400
"Sera's effect activates when a Normal Trap Card is activated. Special Summon 1 'Trap Monster' monster with the same name that is not on my field from my Deck. I then Special Summon 'Trap Monster of Tio'."
In fact, Sera could have chained this effect when Amprie activated Infinite Bubble, but she chose not to activate it to save face for Amprie.
You tried to stop the opponent from activating their effect but failed. Instead, you helped them achieve the activation conditions for another effect. Just thinking about it made Sera so embarrassed that she dug a three-bedroom apartment into the ground with her toes.
Theo's Trap Demon DEF1100
"When the card 'Tio the Insect' is Special Summoned, you can target 1 'Hole' Normal Trap Card or 'Trap Hole' Normal Trap Card in my Graveyard; Set that card on my field."
After greeting Sera, Theo waved his vines and reached into Sera's graveyard to retrieve a trap card.
"Target the Normal Trap Card [Bore's Pitfall], which was just discarded as a condition for activating the Trap Card [Broken Lourdes], and set it to my field."
"I stacked a level 4 Tidehunter of Theo and a Tidehunter of Ruthia to perform an Xyz Summon!"
A giant Rafflesia bloomed on the field. Fricia lay lazily in the center of the flower and yawned. Theo pulled the socially awkward Lutia out from under the leaves where she was hiding, and they lay down together in the shade of the Rafflesia.
"A bewitching trap filled with the stench of decay, it summons its insect companions to gather, then sows the seeds of evil throughout the world, devouring its prey! Xyz Summon Rank 4, [Fricia's Trap]!"
Fricia's Insect Bewitching Demon DEF2500
A strange floral fragrance filled the air, refreshing and invigorating, but Ampri's mood worsened, especially after seeing Sera's next move.
"I will place three more cards face down and declare the end of my turn."
(The author's final exam week is coming to an end, and I will resume regular updates.)