Theodore's voice rang across the sea.
But the colossal shadow slowly rising from the black abyss below showed no reaction at all.
It was like an ancient iceberg surfacing from beneath the ocean. The buzzing of a single mosquito could never hasten or delay such a process.
That shadow from the ancient age continued to rise at its unchanging pace, until the whole sea seemed to fall beneath its darkness.
The already-shrieking wind now sounded like a world in agony.
The black seawater surged in violent waves, hammering the jagged reefs.
Overhead, the heavens darkened with storm clouds. Sickly white lightning split the sky, but instead of illuminating the world, it only made the shadow below seem even blacker.
A solemn look entered Theodore's eyes.
The pressure and madness emanating from the depths were on a completely different level from Flint. They were also far beyond anything Theodore had felt in any of his prior encounters with the hidden horrors.
An Old One acting in person—even if only by projection or avatar—really was incomparable to those previous hidden, half-concealed monsters.
But after a moment, Theodore's expression relaxed and his gaze turned proud.
The only ones who had changed were not those horrors.
He had changed too.
With a flick of his hand, he pushed the Purple-Gold Crown of Auspicious Clouds.
A beam of spiritual light descended at once, and layers of auspicious cloud-mist dropped down from above, shielding Theodore and everyone on the beach.
Then Theodore fixed his gaze on the massive shadow still rising from below and threw a punch.
The howling, wailing winds over the beach were instantly shredded by the force of that fist.
Wave after wave of punch-force tore reefs apart, smashed through seawater, and plunged toward the deep, driving up mountains of black spray.
Yet the same power that could have reduced Flint to blood mist with ease now seemed to do almost nothing.
It was as if Theodore were punching an eternal abyssal sea.
And how could fists alone truly overcome an ocean that old?
Theodore slowly exhaled.
"Well then…"
"Warm-up's over."
The next instant, terrifying power exploded out of him.
Origin Sea force surged and transformed into the primordial divine art of Three Heads and Eight Arms.
At once Theodore was wrapped in a savage aura. His bones cracked and shifted as he grew into a towering giant.
His handsome features turned fierce and wild, like one of the legendary Witch race of the primordial age.
Two more heads burst forth from his shoulders.
Six more arms grew from his body.
All eight arms moved at once, as if seizing hold of the sea itself to rip it open.
Then, as Origin Sea force flowed, the five elements bent to his will.
Water was no exception.
The miracle of parting the sea descended once more into the mortal world.
With all eight arms pulling outward, Theodore tore open a chasm in the sea. Water split to either side, forming a vast marine cataract, as though waterfalls had risen in the middle of the ocean.
And yet—
the descent of Dagon's projection did not slow in the slightest.
The immense shadow continued rising at exactly the same speed as before.
Theodore raised an eyebrow.
Then a silver lotus of thirty-six petals bloomed behind him.
Above the lotus stood a blurred figure of chaos—
Pangu.
And compared with the phantom summoned through his Patronus before, this image was now far more solid. In its hands, the Heaven-Splitting Axe gleamed with cold light.
A single fine line of flame shot out.
It carried endless light and heat and followed the parted sea straight down toward the abyss.
The light illuminated the dark waters.
The depths frothed with bubbles, as if the sea itself were beginning to boil.
And yet, in the next moment, that streak of blazing power was swallowed once more by the eternal blackness below.
If it had caused any disturbance at all, it was only in the form of roaring seawater and crashing waves—and, faintly, a vast ancient voice, as though carried from the coldest floor of the deep.
It seemed that Theodore's struggle had finally stirred the interest of Dagon, who was descending here in projection.
From ancient times until now, Dagon had seen many humans who claimed to wield the power to part seas.
Moses, who claimed to have received divine strength.
Odin with Gungnir in hand.
Even the gods of Olympus itself.
Dagon had looked upon all of them.
Yet every one of them, without exception, carried the blood of the Old Ones.
Only Theodore—with such a faint bloodline—had managed to explode with such strength.
Even Dagon, for all its ancient indifference, felt a trace of interest.
It was much like a human looking down at ants and suddenly spotting one that was stranger, brighter, and faster than the rest.
Such a thing might at least merit a pause.
From within the deep, two vast eyes opened inside that shadow—eyes like twin suns or moons beneath the sea.
Yet there was not the slightest ripple of emotion in them.
Nothing could truly change here.
For no matter how interesting an ant might be, it was still an ant.
To use power stolen from the Old Ones and try to resist an Old One—even a mere projection—
that was absurd.
Magic meant nothing before the Old Ones.
Under the gaze of Dagon's projection, the cloud-mist falling from Theodore's Purple-Gold Crown swayed violently.
Theodore's pupils narrowed.
Every method he had employed so far seemed to have achieved almost nothing.
The Abi Hellscape Sword trembled in his hand, killing intent seething from it. It longed to plunge into that abyss and drink the blood of Dagon.
But after a brief thought, Theodore did not unleash it.
That sword was his only merit treasure, and it was bound up with the very future of his Slaughter Sword Dao.
If it were lost or damaged in this sea, he would have nowhere to cry.
After another moment of thought, Theodore's gaze landed on the divine ability he had only just obtained from Neville:
Wu Earth Divine Light.
Dagon seemed to be an Old One ruling the deep sea.
In primordial terms, that meant a water-aligned horror.
And among the five elements, earth was the element that most strongly restrained water.
The Wu Earth Divine Light he had just acquired was among the most formidable of all earth-based divine arts.
Perhaps it would finally have an effect on Dagon's projection.
Without hesitation, Theodore ran through the secret art in his mind.
His hands formed one mysterious seal after another.
Origin Sea force poured into the technique, and strands of heavy yellow qi began winding around his body.
Each thread looked weightless—
but in truth each one carried the force of ten thousand mountains.
Then Theodore brought both palms together, divine light flaring in his eyes, and a beam of yellow-brown radiance burst from between his hands and struck downward.
Dagon's projection showed no special response.
Across endless ages, it had watched countless wizards attempt to fight the Old Ones with stolen fragments of their own power.
It had seen every kind of magic imaginable.
All of it was meaningless.
This boy's struggle would be no exception.
A mere beam of yellow light—what possible—
The next instant, Dagon's projection was struck with the force of an immeasurable mountain crashing down upon its skull.
If one had to describe what a mindless Old One felt in that moment using human language, then the only words would be these:
blinding dizziness.
The world spinning.
Stars exploding in vision.
Among the Five-Colored Divine Lights, the Wu Earth Divine Light was foremost in suppression and peerless in crushing power.
And against a water-aligned demon of the deep, its elemental advantage became even more absolute.
At once, Dagon's ascent stopped.
That enormous shadow was actually being forced downward again into the black sea under the weight of the Wu Earth Divine Light.
A roar rose from the abyss below—deeper and more terrible than any storm.
For perhaps the first time, Dagon felt true anger.
How could a wizard possess a method capable of shaking the Old Ones?
Across all the ages and all the years, that had never once happened.
At that moment, however, a cold gleam entered Theodore's eyes.
Seeing Dagon's projection temporarily suppressed by the Wu Earth Divine Light, Theodore's hand flashed—
and a weathered ancient banner appeared in his grasp.
"Old One?"
"Die."
He shook the Grand Celestial Constellation Formation Flag.
At once, stars fell.
Heaven and earth overturned.
The System screen erupted with blood-red chaotic text.
[You battle a Saint's avatar until heaven and earth lose color and the Great Dao trembles.]
[Saints are forever invincible. A single avatar is enough to suppress the cosmos and the primordial world.]
[Yet unexpectedly, the host has invoked the lingering power of the old Golden Crow Heavenly Court. The aura of the Grand Celestial Constellation Formation appears. The stars tremble and descend to attack the Saint's avatar.]
[The host's expression is cold.]
[What if it is a Saint's avatar?]
[Today—even a Saint must bleed!]
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