Chapter 2403

2403 - Behemoth's Power

The Wretched World Array is completed by torturing every creature on a planet, draining the power of their souls while they are still alive. The extracted Soul Power then blends with those negative emotions—terror, regret, and other impurities.

Each one of those Arrays that elevated the Cursed Behemoth to that standing is worth the death of at least one planet.

And now... Hedrick was struck on the forehead with the Life Force of fifteen planets.

*WHOOSH*

Hedrick was pushed back dozens of meters, yet no pain showed on his face, nor any mark from the blow.

Instead, his brows were slightly furrowed as he watched the wound in Darvion's heart closing rapidly.

With a quick sweep of his eye, he began observing the rest of the sons working to surround him at that moment, and immediately revealed a small smile.

All of them were alive—breathing and moving—but their skin had turned slightly pale, and one of them was nearly bleeding from his nose.

"Is this what you've been doing with your pathetic encirclement? Taking blows on behalf of your father?" Hedrick turned toward one of them and lunged at him. "Then I'll kill you first."

"Stay where you are, Hedrick!" Darvion shouted, then raised both hands.

*HUMMMM* A Black Sun appeared above his head and began to rise until it vanished into the blackness of space.

Then Darvion shouted, "Planet's Gift – Soul Weather – The Storm!"

*WHOOOOOSH*

"...?" Hedrick suddenly felt as though he were mortal in the middle of a tropical storm—tremendous winds appeared out of nowhere and forced him to change course.

"Hah!" Hedrick waved his hand forcefully, halting the fierce winds, but he was already a bit off from his target, so he chose the nearest son to his position and advanced toward him.

"Soul Islands!!" Darvion shouted and pulled his direction.

*HOOM* The stars above emitted a dark gleam, then began pulling Hedrick backward as if a small black hole were behind him.

"What?!" Hedrick cried out at the sudden change.

Then he heard a voice from in front of him: "Let your vision weaken."

And from his left: "Let your energy consumption increase."

And from his right: "Let your liver twist."

And from behind him: "Let your attention scatter."

Hedrick began looking around him with hostility. The Thirteen Sons all started muttering curses in an incomprehensible language, empowered by the Wretched World Array, and the long curse would end with simple, audible words that struck Hedrick's soul domain from every direction.

"..!!" Hedrick indeed began to feel some effect—a certain blurriness in his eyes, a certain unsteadiness; he started feeling physical impact both internally and externally. "Damn this cowardly way of fighting!"

Then *zzzz* the Five-pointed Golden Seal appeared on his forehead, and instantly all of that vanished.

But they did not stop; their tongues did not relent, moving at a suspicious speed, and the amount of curses hurled every second was so terrifying that he began to feel the Seal repelling dozens of curses each second.

"How annoying!!" Hedrick pointed his left palm at the nearest Son and muttered: "Pulse of Destruction."

*Droom*

The force drawn from the Planet Spirit and the torrent of curses were not enough to stop the Path of Destruction from doing its work.

*Crack*

"IIIIIIIIIIII—" That unlucky Son began screaming in agony as he felt his entire body disintegrating and his cells bursting apart one after another.

Then *bam* a burst of power-light erupted from within his body, and he instantly exploded into dust.

One fell, and twelve remained.

And immediately, without shouts, wails, or hesitation, the twelve began readjusting the distances between them, forming a perfect circle once again as if nothing had happened—indeed, they even started muttering in unison.

"Oh, so damage-sharing really is exclusive to you, Darvion, and the link in that array can't be severed by destroying the array and killing one of its foundations." Hedrick chuckled, "No matter, this will be easy. All I have to do is kill half of your sons so the rest can't bear the burden of what's befallen you, right?"

"You won't stay alive until then!" Darvion raised his voice, then lifted both hands slowly and heavily, clearly doing something.

"I doubt that!" Hedrick stomped his foot hard *Bang*, momentarily breaking free from the tide of force pressing on him, and lunged toward another son.

*Ba*

At that moment, the twelve brothers clapped forcefully, completing the curse they had been preparing, and muttered: "Curse of Power."

"Ugh!" Hedrick was forced to halt mid-charge.

The curses that had been raining down on him and deflected by the Seal suddenly grew stronger—the blows hit harder.

Not only that, but with every passing second, they grew stronger and stronger!

He could feel them almost physically after several amplifications; now they seemed like a nest of hornets attacking the crystalline bubble surrounding his Soul Domain—tens of thousands of them, and their size was still growing.

"What the...?" Hedrick began to look around at them. Each one of the sons was now using five Wretched World Arrays, all of them feeding this particular curse—the Curse of Power.

"This curse was tailored specifically for you." The eldest of the sons spoke with a heart full of hatred. "The more you resist our curses, the stronger they become. The stronger you are, the greater our effect... It is a curse that turns your own power against you."

"...?!" Hedrick's expression clearly showed his distress. He could feel the Life Force of those twelve sons diminishing—clearly, the Wretched World Arrays were not enough... but judging by the rate of their decline, he might fall first!

Were it not for the protection of the Fivefold Seal, which placed a dome of power around his Soul Domain, he would have already died... The thought that he had been planning to attack Darvion after breaking through and becoming a mid-level Monarch now seemed utterly pathetic.

But there was a problem—he was not the source of the Fivefold Seal's power. It was power borrowed from the Lord, and it had limits... How much longer would it continue to defend him?!

So this was the true Behemoth's Power? Even after unlocking his full limits, eliminating one within his galaxy was still this difficult?

*Crack*

The Planet's Gift struck from above, the powerful currents pushing him downward as if they were gravity itself. Then he felt an intense soul power and Natural Energy assaulting him like lightning—each strike capable of felling a Guardian!

Then, under these conditions, *BAM*—Darvion clapped his hands above his head with tremendous force. Finally, the circle he had been striving for was complete.

Then he opened his black eyes, the veins of his body bulging to the surface more clearly.

*HOOM* *HOOM*

The heads of the planets around them began to glow with a constricting dark light.

Then Darvion spoke in an audible voice: "The Curse of the Final Witnesses."