The strange fleshy vine receded into the ground immediately after swallowing Wrath.
Tian Yang acted without hesitation. Under the combined effect of his burnt blood vitality and extreme law comprehension, he enveloped Damien and every nearby Cloud Plane soldier in his mana and teleported them away from the central area.
But even after reaching the outskirts, his frown didn't lessen. The rumbling of the earth only became fiercer, the hole created by the fleshy vine expanding into a sinkhole and swallowing more and more of the ground below.
Damien stared into the sinkhole with trepidation. He could feel it. Below that area, there was a terrifying aura, the aura of something that was closely related to his own.
"We need to leave." He muttered. "We need to get off this world immediately."
It was an instinctual feeling that couldn't be explained with words, but after hearing it, Tian Yang's expression became dignified.
He'd known for a very long time that Damien's body hid a massive secret. Now that Wrath had clearly delineated that he was the Seed, Tian Yang was somewhat aware of this secret's origin.
Damien's instincts weren't the same as a normal person's. A practitioner's instinct was already an ethereal sixth sense that was usually never wrong, but for Damien, this was even more exaggerated.
It could be seen from the current circumstance. He could feel something inexplicable that even Tian Yang, with his insane strength, couldn't sense at all.
Without hesitation, Tian Yang spread his awareness and forcefully took hold of space. It was just a shame that his burning blood vitality couldn't last much longer. Transporting such a massive swathe of people into the starry sky and protecting them from the chaotic space wasn't something he could do.
[Heal]
At that moment, Damien's body began shining with greenish-white light. He already had a rough understanding of the situation after sensing Tian Yang's obviously chaotic aura, and healing his blood vitality was one of the first tests he did when he first received [Heal] from Alaric.
His power level wasn't anywhere near enough to help with the transportation process. He could only assist Tian Yang as much as he could.
His hands landed on his master's back, his mana flowing freely through Tian Yang's meridians. With Void Mana's all-encompassing properties and Damien's thorough understanding of how meridians functioned, this process was even more efficient than usual.
Tian Yang gave Damien a deep look but didn't say anything more. His mana flared out, dyed with black and white from the various effects Damien was providing him.
People began disappearing from the battlefield in droves, however, these were only the Cloud Plane's forces.
"If you can, help Shadow Garden as well. If it wasn't for them, things wouldn't have proceeded so easily on this mission.
Damien was aware of the grace Lynn had shown him. Even if he had already paid her back by initiating this chaotic war that essentially collapsed Niflheim and Asgard's fighting strength, even causing Wrath's death, he still held some goodwill towards her and Albeus. He wouldn't let them die here.
"Mm." Tian Yang nodded simply. With Damien's help, he could almost endlessly burn his blood vitality. Although this state wouldn't last long, it was more than enough time.
As the two continued arduously working to transport all their allies from the unnamed world, the sinkhole in the ground continued to expand as well. In but a few seconds, the entirety of the battlefield was caved in.
Droves of people fell into the hole. Even if they could fly in usual times, the strange and powerful attractive force coming from within disallowed them from doing so, forcing them to helplessly plummet to their deaths.
Only those who were locked on by Tian Yang's mana were able to survive this catastrophe.
Damien's body shivered. He'd seen plenty of cataclysms in Alaric's memories, but this was the first he'd seen in person. Even in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, he'd only seen the aftermath.
'This isn't good. Our forces won't be able to survive with the current rescue speed. If the battle—' Damien's thoughts halted. His face paled.
Right, why was he only thinking about the battlefield? Aside from those here, the Sun and Moon Squadrons, including Bai Xieren, were still fighting their own battle in Asgard!
Tian Yang seemed to realize the same thing long ago, but the ugly complexion of his face clearly showed his powerlessness.
Even he was locked down by the powerful gravity inside the sinkhole. How could he possibly think about saving those that were far away?
When Damien was in the 3000 Beast Mountain Range, he'd burnt his blood vitality to transport millions into the Sanctuary, but that was an extremely different circumstance.
For one, Damien shared an intrinsic connection with the Sanctuary, making transporting living beings into it far easier. Secondly, those individuals were mostly mortals. The cost of forcefully pulling someone was exponentially greater the higher their power level was.
In any normal situation, Tian Yang's Demigod-level strength could easily teleport these thousands of 3rd and 4th-class beings. But this wasn't any normal situation.
Tian Yang wasn't just teleporting these people under the intense pressure of the sinkhole's gravity, he was teleporting them almost a hundred thousand kilometers away into the starry sky!
And to make matters worse, he had to set up a layer of protection to keep them from being ripped apart by the chaotic Spatial Essence present there until he arrived to personally do the same.
To say Tian Yang was exerting his capabilities to the extreme was an understatement.
Damien's eyes hardened. If he could Warp…
Just like Tian Yang only moments before, Damien began furiously burning his blood vitality.
Warp was a strange skill. It was teleportation, but it worked with far more ease than usual teleportation. Damien didn't have to consciously move through the spatial layers, he only needed to understand his destination and a portal would form connecting him to it.
As long as he could force that portal's formation, even if he didn't move, he'd still be teleported.
"Can you handle this without me?" He asked solemnly. He knew it was a stupid question to ask to someone so much more powerful than him, but Tian Yang had burnt so much blood vitality in the past few minutes, his fatigue was obvious.
Still, Tian Yang merely nodded his head. "Go. I'll meet you in the starry sky. Don't worry about your wives and friends, I'll make sure nothing happens to them even if I die while doing so."
Damien looked deeply at Tian Yang. This master of his…really liked making him owe favors.
Slowly, a portal formed around Damien's body. At this point, 30% of his blood vitality had been burnt. For him to be able to rapidly recover to perfect fighting form, he could only spend double that amount at most.
By the time 50% of his blood vitality was burnt and the portal finished forming, the sinkhole had expanded for tens of thousands of kilometers. It wouldn't be too long before it enveloped the entire world.
Faintly, a large black shadow could be seen within. It was a blackness darker than black, creating a terrifying imagery.
And that was the last thing Damien saw as he vanished from the battlefield.
Unfortunately, he'd never personally been to Asgard's headquarters, so he was forced to Warp to Niflheim. Regardless, he knew the approximate location.
It only took 30 seconds to reach by teleporting like a madman with the boost of his burnt blood vitality.
Damien's awareness spread as far as it could. He identified Bai Xieren's aura immediately. Looking at the expression on her face, she was already aware that something major was about to occur.
"Come with me. We have roughly a minute, so guide me to every subordinate you sense unless you're okay with their deaths."
Bai Xieren nodded without hesitation. Even if she didn't have Damien's intuition, she was a powerful practitioner in her own right. She understood that for Damien to be speaking to her so demandingly, the situation was extremely serious.
Following Damien's order, she joined him and pointed him towards the Moon Squadron members nearby.
By the time the roughly 500 people were gathered together, the gravitational pull from the sinkhole could already be faintly felt.
"And the Sun Squadron?"
Bai Xieren shook her head. "Don't worry about them. Those cowards are relaxing in an underground prison right now."
"…relaxing?"
"Senior Drunken Old Immortal already freed them. They are staying of their own volition."
"I see."
Their conversation was succinct, but even then, it took time. Damien had no choice but to wrap the 500 present in his mana and rapidly activate Warp, transporting them to the starry sky.
At the same time…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The world could no longer handle the pressure of the sinkhole. The earth was sundered, the atmosphere torn to shreds.
The world was truly being destroyed.
