Chapter 454: Scheming

Void?

Chaos?

Could this be an alternate space?

Just after arriving at this so-called dark dimension for a brief moment, Helusi sensed something was off; it seemed that the Duōmǎmǔ spoken of by the Ancient One was no longer the actual ruler of the dark dimension.

Adding to that, his father's long-term teachings, and Artemis leading him and the OriginalBody brothers in hunting mid- and high-level demons and great demons, among other things, all told him that this dark dimension had been corrupted and assimilated by an alternate space.

「Boom—! 」

Sensing this, Helusi immediately released a visible Spiritual Shock.

Only seen emitting a blinding golden-yellow light, intertwined with twisting, jumping black lightning, centered on Helusi, it rapidly radiated throughout the dark dimension.

Judging by its momentum, it seemed Helusi intended to, by his own power, prepare to inversely 'purify' and 'expunge' the entire dark dimension, helping the 05 Universe completely destroy this threat.

But…

「Hum!!! 」 like a cruise ship's horn, it actually echoed throughout the dark dimension.

Looking far into the boundless distance, it turned out to be a ring simultaneously emitting an alluring purple light and a chilling yet yearned-for blue light barrier, successfully blocking the pure Spiritual Energy released by Helusi.

?!

Seeing and sensing the barrier's aura, Helusi directly filled his Spiritual Energy Claw with Spiritual Energy, and the three Infinity Stones set on the back of the claw also began to gleam brightly.

Moreover, Helusi extended his right hand to take and steady the Worldbreaker War Hammer, then a swing made the Worldbreaker become a long-shaft war hammer like a spiked club.

Immediately afterward, this omnipotent OriginalBody looked left and right, maintaining high vigilance, as if entering a 'first-level alert' state.

Since arriving at the 05 Universe, Helusi had never mustered spirit or interest; why did he adopt a posture of strict readiness? It was due to his father, and Artemis had also told him and his brothers that all the eldritch gods of the alternate space each have their own symbols and favored colors.

While purple and blue, as well as the incomparable chaotic Spiritual Energy they contain, represent the invading eldritch gods of the dark dimension as Sèniè and Jiānqí.

As for Duōmǎmǔ?

No need to think much; surely he was 'scammed' by those two eldritch gods to the point of having nothing left.

The Ancient One also emphasized that Duōmǎmǔ is a will, a concept, extremely hard to eradicate completely; yet when facing the two eldritch gods lacking physical bodies, Duōmǎmǔ could be considered utterly destroyed, or perhaps absorbed by those two eldritch gods, eaten clean.

To be frank, Helusi could rely on the Space Stone to instantly retreat to the New York Sanctum, return to the physical universe, and avoid direct confrontation with the eldritch gods.

But…

Helusi cannot guarantee that his arrival here is not part of Sèniè's or Jiānqí's plan; if he rashly opens a portal, it might give the two eldritch gods an opportunity to directly corrupt the still-unprepared 05 Earth.

If his speculation and guess are correct, it truly allows the newly emerged Helusi, who has just left his father's side, to gain a clearer insight into the various schemes of the eldritch gods and demons.

「Hahaha—! 」

Just as he thought of these, Helusi heard a sharp, gender-indiscernible wanton laughter echoing throughout the dark dimension.

Only seen was a 'beautiful' yet extremely twisted and depraved colossal figure appearing not far from the front of the asteroid on which Helusi stood…

Though said to be not far, it might be that the figure is so enormous—at least tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of kilometers, or even an immeasurable actual height—that it makes the distance between it and Helusi's position not seem far.

Looking closely, that figure is indeed the source of the gender-indiscernible laughter; it has graceful, moving lines, purplish-white skin, various strange, twisted bones and tissues entwining its body, covering the chest and other private parts.

Just from this appearance, Helusi knew the counterpart was Sèniè.

「Little thing, hehe…」

At this moment, Helusi also heard another hoarse, low-pitched wicked laugh coming from behind him.

A slight turn of his head revealed another enormous being, its body covered in glazed-colored feathers, yet also bearing numerous tentacles studded with suckers and eyes, forming an indescribable eldritch god.

Indescribable; merely making eye contact with it would disturb one's thoughts, its overall hue leaning blue, clearly the Jiānqí that jointly invaded the 05 Universe with the bewitching Sèniè.

As for Helusi's speculation that Jiānqí was the first to bewitch, the reason is simple: after all, that entity is called Jiānqí.

Seeing the two eldritch gods front and back completely surrounding the extremely 'tiny' him, Helusi turned around, pointing his left-hand Spiritual Energy Claw at Jiānqí and aiming his right-hand Worldbreaker War Hammer at Sèniè.

Three-way standoff.

And Jiānqí continued with its hoarse voice, using its hundreds of millions of eyes to stare at Helusi, saying: 'It seems that as long as you break free from your father's protection, no matter what, you will fall into our palms; your fate is destined.'

We have long noticed this universe, but humans are too few and intelligent races relatively boring; yet your arrival has sparked interest in me and my friend…

「Hah, who is your friend? 」

Hearing Jiānqí's words, Sèniè could no longer restrain itself, interrupting him and extending one pair of its arms and hands to make a cross-armed chest-hugging gesture, likewise lowering its head to look down at Helusi.

Yet Sèniè stuck out its purple tongue to lick its lips, its eyes revealing an undisguisable ardor, saying:

「Eating that arrogant, overconfident guy (Duōmǎmǔ) made me feel nauseous; now I need little brother you to soothe my spirit~hehe~, come~」

While saying this, Sèniè extended another hand, actively approaching Helusi standing on the asteroid, its tone turning extremely seductive:

「Throw yourself into my embrace again, and I will grant you unparalleled power and status, moreover making you comfortable and delighted at all times…」

「Delight your mother! 」

Not knowing where he learned such profanity, Helusi meanwhile used Spiritual Energy to amplify his cursing, while filling the Worldbreaker War Hammer with Spiritual Energy, and swung it at Sèniè.

Whoosh!!

In an instant, a 'size', 'dimension' expanded to nearly match Sèniè's upper body, and a war hammer formed of pure Spiritual Energy smashed toward Sèniè at extreme speed.

?!

Sèniè seemingly misjudged Helusi's current capability, taking him for the 03 Universe's traitor war marshal that they had schemed, deceived, lured, and gradually led into depravity and chaos.

Seeing the huge hammer swinging at it, Sèniè had no choice but to cease teasing and 'jesting', immediately raising its two empty arms to block.

「Boom—rumble—! 」

At the instant the hammer's peak touched Sèniè's arms, it burst forth a violent reaction that made the entire dark dimension tremble.

At the same time, Helusi's left hand was not idle, also using Spiritual Energy to release a 'heaven-covering, earth-covering' giant claw, slapping at the octopus-like Jiānqí.

Moreover, Helusi also manipulated the Mind Stone to steady his own emotions, attempting to boost Spiritual Energy, and had the Time Stone place a 'shackle' upon himself.

That is, 'if he unfortunately dies, or is invaded by the eldritch gods in his body, then time will rewind back to the moment he first stepped into the dark dimension.'

If it were in the physical universe, Helusi would have absolute confidence in resolving any great demon, while the eldritch gods could not manifest in the physical universe; but in this dark dimension almost corrupted by the alternate space, steadiness is best.

Even if his body and soul theoretically ignore chaos and are immune to eldritch god corruption, adding such a 'shackle'-like insurance does no harm.

Boom!

Boom—!

At this moment, the seemingly "minuscule" Helusi swung his hammer and strike simultaneously with both hands, forcing back the two colossal beings.

Immediately after, he gave the evil gods no chance to catch their breath, continuing to unleash Spiritual Energy with all his might, repeatedly performing the unsightly yet effective hammer strikes and slaps.

"Enough!!"

But a roar mixed with endless chaos interrupted Helusi's shameless, even lowly attack pattern.

Only seen, the lustful one, whose appearance showed little damage, directly crushed the Spiritual Energy giant of the World‑Breaker War Hammer, then opened his mouth, spewing an alluring purple light outward, intending to intuitively suck Helusi into his "body" and then attempt to corrupt this OriginalBody.

"You wretched thing, don't be greedy!"

Meanwhile, the Schemer, unable to approve of the lustful one's actions, hurled insults while using his countless tentacles to easily restrain the giant‑formed claw of Helusi.

At the same time, the Schemer released his own Spiritual Energy, blocking the lustful one's attempt to claim Helusi for himself.

"You…!"

The lustful one was just about to unleash a torrent of curses, but recalling that he and the Schemer had agreed to split Helusi's soul, he found himself at a loss in the verbal clash and thus grew lazy to curse further…

Wait for the right moment, then snatch Helusi away—done.

In contrast, Helusi, the focus of the two evil gods' contention, now had cold sweat beading on his forehead, his breathing noticeably strained.

It seemed that relying solely on himself to contend with two evil gods at once was indeed overly taxing, his Spiritual Energy draining far too quickly.

Moreover, the already corrupted Dark Dimension was harsh to a certain degree, truly leaving every side in a passive state.

Of course, mainly Helusi's personal strength remained insufficient, making it difficult—or rather impossible—to oppose the lustful one and the Schemer among the myriad evil gods.

One‑on‑one is already a struggle, let alone facing two at once.

From the brief clash just now, he sensed that the lustful one's and the Schemer's Spiritual Energy depth and volume were like an unfathomable abyss beneath the sea, impossible to see or discern; Helusi thus knew the evil gods were on the same tier as his father.

Furthermore, these two evil gods, who could not reach an agreement, also held the home‑field advantage; a head‑on clash would surely end in defeat…

I don't know whether his father has noticed his predicament, or whether, being trapped in the corrupted Dark Dimension, he has temporarily severed contact with his father?

In any case, using the Space Gem to return to Earth‑05, letting seven billion humans die a miserable death and halting the main universe's expedition—such a cowardly, timid flight—would absolutely be something Helusi's temperament would never do.

If he fled, he could preserve his life, but as the OriginalBody, he would cast the entire main universe's humanity—and his father's reputation—into utter ruin.

As for using Spiritual Energy to teleport back to Arcadia, or directly heading to the subterranean world of Terra's Shield…

First, Helusi is uncertain whether he can complete the transfer; second, if he does return to the main universe and it falls within the Schemer's and the lustful one's calculations, then Helusi would once again become the sinner of all humanity.

After all, those two have seen through his very character.

So, since he cannot meet force with force, he might as well, in this Dark Dimension belonging to Universe‑05, accompany the lustful one and the Schemer to the bitter end using the Time Gem.

He would rather choose self‑sacrifice than bring shame upon his father; thus Helusi put away the World‑Breaker, lowered his Spiritual Energy claw, lifted his head toward the temporarily ceased‑fighting lustful one and Schemer, and loudly questioned:

"You have painstakingly schemed to obtain my soul and body—what exactly is your purpose?!"

"Merely to possess you, nothing else." The lustful one spoke, wearing an expression of insatiable desire.

"Naturally, it's for fun…" the Schemer, however, explained solemnly: "Imagine seizing the OriginalBody offspring of the Master of Humanity, then cultivating him into our loyal servant, sparking another rebellion—wouldn't that be a highly anticipated, ever‑changing game? Hehe."

"Exactly…" the lustful one said, then slightly bent over, exposing his indescribable parts without concealment, and added mockingly: "Blame your hypocritical father—for being utterly rude toward me and toward all the gods…"

"Hah!" Upon hearing this explanation, Helusi snorted with full confidence, cutting off the lustful one's words and retorting mockingly:

"I understand now—after all that you've said, the meaning is simply that you can't beat my father, so you've shifted your target to me, his son?"

"..."

Upon Helusi's words laying bare the truth, the entire Dark Dimension fell into a hush, and the two evil gods likewise sank into silence.

Fortunately, the evil gods have no bottom line, no face to speak of; their cheek thickness is simply greater than an energy shield, or even α‑grade titanium alloy armor.

Thus, the Schemer ceased his explanations and let his innumerable disgusting tentacles lunge swiftly at the solitary Helusi.

The lustful one likewise burst forth with purple‑light Spiritual Energy, preparing to join his "old friend" in seizing the OriginalBody's soul and flesh.

At this moment, without external aid, Helusi's fate is only death, and due to the "shackle" of the Time Gem, he would fall into an endless "load‑save" mode.

But…

How could Sui Bian, who can wrest the souls of rebellious, fallen OriginalBodies from the evil gods and, by his own power, intimidate the entire extradimensional space, possibly lose contact with his offspring merely because of a single Dark Dimension?

Even if Sui Bian wished to train his son, he would never truly let Helusi face death's risk, nor let him fall into the Time Gem's "shackle‑load‑save."

"Boom!!" A flash of golden light burst forth.

Blinding and icy, the radiance illuminated the Dark Dimension, dispelling considerable chaos and corruption, while simultaneously halting the two evil gods' movements.

!

Helusi's face showed delight, for this golden radiance represented his father.

!

The two evil gods were somewhat startled, evidently not expecting their covert meddling to still be thwarted by Sui Bian.

"Sizzle~———la~———!"

At that very moment, the outer wall of the Dark Dimension was forcibly severed and split apart.

"Howl~!!"

Moreover, a roar like that of an eagle mixed with a lion began to reverberate throughout the Dark Dimension.

(End of Chapter)