Chapter 379 - Shattering

Tang Wulin felt his mind being pulled apart like the petal of a leaf, one by one. It was an odd feeling as he felt his mind being dragged by millions of hands that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

For some reason, he couldn't find it in himself to focus, as his mind was trembling before he found himself lying on the floor.

He was on a white floor that was shining with black and white particles, every single speck shining as they swarmed him. All of them gave off the feeling of time causing Tang Wulin to blink his eyes.

It was then they started to move beyond with Tang Wulin gaze naturally following them before he saw it.

With a daze look, he saw a long river that seems to stretch endlessly from one side to the other.

He could feel the fluctuation and brilliant radiance of time surging.

'Is that time... itself?'

Yet what surprised him the most was a hand appearing out of the flowing river, grabbing on to the water and pulling itself out. The entity that pulled itself out, surprised Tang Wulin the most, as it was none other than those Arkadian creatures.

'They originated from this river?'

Tang Wulin was inwardly shaken, the river felt like the embodiment of time itself. He didn't dare to think of the implication these creatures were born from it.

'Or is it that they bathe themselves in it for some type of refinement?'

But before he could think about it, he felt himself floating.

Or more specifically he felt himself being carried away by the particles as they moved towards the long river.

Tang Wulin furrowed his brows but found himself unable to move or respond as the particles took him into the river.

And it was then that Tang Wulin fully figured out that it wasn't an ordinary river. As he felt himself hearing the echoes of voices that seem to be coming out of nowhere.

Upon closer inspection, he could feel a strange aura. Some were similar, some were different, some were foreign and some were alien. Each aura felt like it came from a distinct era, with each of the droplets flickering with the fluctuation of time.

And it was then he began to be flooded with memories.

The memory of the Arkadian was streaming into his mind, showing him how they were from a different galaxy far away.

How their realm is considered to be close to being a divine realm but only reached the Semi-Divine state. The memories kept on coming in from the Arkadian before he noticed a particular memory that made him focused on it.

#

The scene was blurry, but he was able to see their world was one of metal, with everything seeming to be made out of foreign material. The sky was the stars themselves that seemed to stretch endlessly, yet the thing that caught his attention was the cracking of the sky.

'Wait... This is similar-'

He watched as the sky shattered as a giant golden claw came down destroying the world.

But their effort was useless as the claw rigorously suppressed them all before it moved towards one of the Arkadians.

The claw touched that Arkadian's head before a black light exploded outwards, consuming everything in the realm.

Yet he could hear a deep voice ringing through the world.

"Go... Ravage the worlds."

'Did Typhoon sent them here? Could it be it also sent the Mortuus and the abyssal plane as well? Just what is this entity trying to-'

Tang Wulin was brought out of his thought as he felt something freezing him.

"Consciousness breached, fail-safe activated."

A mechanical voice rang out as the light expanded out.

"Intruder alert... Commence probing... Probing unleashed."

"Strange... Looks Like the subject... Yet doesn't seem the same person... A Parallel world it seems."

The mechanical voice rang out causing Tang Wulin to be confused but the voice continued.

"Golden one... A being who could bring an end to the universe... Subjects possess it... Danger!"

"Abyssal King... Was able to force the fusion of both planes... Must take note of this..."

"Dragon God Transformation... Power is terrifying... Only lacking the required fuel... To bring back the strongest."

"Forcing even more memories... Must stop it from awakening..."

"Strange... Cannot see the subject's present or future... The subject is too unusual..."

It felt like something was drilling into his head before halting as something began to obstruct it.

"Various Divine existences resides in the subject... Commence infinite pouring... As well as history seeing."

"Impossible... Divine existence is exhibiting unparalleled rage... It's infinite... Its rage is infinite and boundless!"

"Cut!... Must cut off connection or we will be devastated under its influence!"

"Leave subject to float!... It will simply be shattered by the rivers that flow through time! Leave him in the River of Time!"

That was the last thing Tang Wulin perceived from the mechanical voice before the wires around him shattered.

And before the scene began to change.

#

Tang Wulin found himself in a vacant state as the world around him began to clear up.

In the scene, he saw the sky was gloomy with two large armies that seemed to be waiting for something as they stared upwards. Above the army at the center were three figures, two standing on the right army side and one, standing on the left army side.

On the right side was an extremely handsome man with long blue hair that went down to his waist. He was wearing golden armor with dragon symbols embedded into them, two dragons wings that held him in the air.

Next to the man was an exceptionally beautiful voluptuous woman who had long silver hair that went down her back. She was wearing a silver-purple armor with wings that had gems embedded in them. In her hand was a silver spear that gave off a violet light as she glared at the being in front of her with her violet eyes.

Even while dazed, Tang Wulin still felt shocked as he recognized those two people standing in the air.

It was him and Gu Yuena!

Or well he thinks it was him, as he doesn't recall this fight at all. He didn't ever recall him having armor like that and pure blue hair. He had a feeling it wasn't like what the Spirit Monarch did, where he just copied his look.

As he could see the Sea God Trident in his look-alike's hand, which he knew couldn't be copied or used as a trick.

It was then that his look-alike began to speak.

"Let's end this war. It's about time we call it quits."

He watched as they glanced at each other before stretching out their hands towards each other and grasping it. As they did this, the color of gold and silver burst forth from their body, illuminating the sky as they moved towards each other.

He watched as a gigantic dragon that was covered in diamond-shaped golden scales with pairs of blood-red eyes appeared. Its incomparably powerful aura had the feel of a dictator's overbearingness.

He knew from just a glance what these two dragons represent.

The Golden Dragon King symbolized power, wildness and negative emotions. While in contrast, the Silver Dragon King symbolized intelligence, control, and positive emotions.

He watched as they fused, with nine colors expanding outwards, these two dragons forming a yin-yang symbol.

As a colossal, giant dragon covered in nine-colored scales appeared, passively giving off the aura that was filled with boundless overbearingness. All of its scales looked like nine-colored jewels, a nine colored robe appearing on it with a crown on top.

Tang Wulin knew this was the Dragon God transformation Gu Yuena told him about, something they could achieve if they ever fused.

Then he saw the dragon raising the trident before the world began to shake and the laws began to tremble.

In the next moment, the world turned dark as his look-alike's voice resounded out.

"End it."

"Forbid One World!"

"Dragon Emperor Shine!"

He watched as a vast expanse of white shot through the world, enveloping everything before it passed through the enemy on the opposite side. The enemy only stared at the colossal dragon before her eyes went vacant.

The dragon then released an earth-shaking roar that as the world returns to normal.

#

Then the next scene came instantly.

This time he saw his look-alike or technically him he think and Yuanen facing a handsome man with a halberd in his hand. He had a long black robe with a cape that flowed behind, stretching back endlessly.

The man was staring at his other self and Yuanen in amus_e_m_e_nt, speaking to them, with Wulin being able to hear bits of what he was saying.

"I've exhausted all my abilities and finally managed to connect the abyssal passage to your Douluo Star. After the passage was formed, we launched the first exploratory attack six thousand years ago"

As the man kept on talking, Tang Wulin was able to figure out that it was the Sage King, who seemed to have taken over the body. Of the person that his other self and Yuanen was fighting before, called the Demon Empress.

Who to his slight shock was the Demonic Whale King that was in the Sea God Trial. Then the Sage King continued talking before his other self and Yuanen once again underwent the Dragon God transformation.

Yet the Dragon God transformation wasn't enough as the Sage King simply healed his wounds after their all-out attack.

"I said before that both of you aren't real Gods yet. Even if you were a real God, how can you possibly hurt me without the power of a rank-1 Godhood?"

Then he watched as the Sage King gripped their halberd before instantly appearing in front of the Dragon God transformation and hacking out.

He watched as his other self got their heart shattered as they began to fall. He couldn't help but feel a phantom mark in his heart.

#

Then it changes once again.

He saw it, he saw himself fighting against his friends and girlfriends.

They were all on the opposing side, all of them except Gu Yuena, Mu Xi, Dai Yun'er, Liu Yuxin, and Wu Siduo were there.

There were also some new faces, a buff man and a guy with black hair and golden-black battle armor with a saber.

He watched as they all charged towards him, all of them coming at him with killing intent, forcing him to defend himself.

While also being careful to not kill them.

He watched as his other self hacked out with some of his strongest moves before finally defeating this friend after he fused with the saber.

Yet he could see the sadness in his other self eyes, as he brought down his friends... But he felt it wasn't just from them.

The scenes continued going, he watched as he fought against top-level people of the Douluo World before he was faced against Gu Yuena.

"Oh..."

Tang Wulin muttered as he began to grasp what this was, what he was seeing.

He watched as they charged at each other while their pleasant memories of each other played in the background.

Their glittering spears and trident clashed against each other, seven-colored bombs and hoops smashed into each other.

All while they stared at each other, countless emotions flashing through their eyes as they clashed again and again.

"Did it really have to come to that?"

He saw his other self-unleashing his attacks, matching Gu Yuena who held the Dragon God core in her hand.

Then as it reached its climax, both of them fully dishing out their strongest attack, he noticed something about his other-self.

He saw the sad smile on his face, those sunken and tired eyes as he thrust out trident and spear, rushing towards Gu Yuena. To anyone else, it might look like his other self was feeling regret at fighting Gu Yuena.

But to him?

He could see it plain as day, a look that he saw on the faces of the other Dragon Slayers back in Fiore during the war.

The look of a person who was tired, too tired from the burden they were carrying... Wishing to have someone end it, so they can finally rest.

"Is that how far you have been pushed... To the point, you are willing to die... At even her hands?"

He expected it to play out as he thought, with his other self-stopping the attack and allowing Gu Yuena to pierce through him.

Yet it didn't happen that way, as Gu Yuena diverted her attack, towards those on the side, Cao Dezhi, and Chen Xinjie.

"Oh... I see."

This enraged his other-self, allowing the Golden Dragon King to influence him enough to charge furiously towards Gu Yuena with madness.

"You really are a stupid idiot..."

He watched as Gu Yuena stopped her attack just before it reached them but his other self didn't see this as he rushed forward.

"Always so selfish... That you're willing to die when no one asked you to."

He watched as the golden spear punctured through Gu Yuena's heart, he watched as she grasps it, holding it in place. He didn't need to see or wonder how his other self must feel, as he could already feel a deep and sharp pain inside of his c_h_e_s_t.

"Had I not fixed them... Would this be the future?"

He didn't seem to get an answer as another scene appeared next to him.

#

The scenes seem to be constantly changing, showing him parallel worlds or himself while he was in a daze. Every so often it would show scenes that didn't have anything to do with him.

He was a bit stupefied. Just what kind of place did he end up in? How did he end up seeing these things?

He tried to examine the scenes that were in front of him closely. But he found out his thoughts were completely scattered, not being able to focus on the scene in front.

Tang Wulin wished to understand the truth, but he saw the scenes were starting to become blurrier. They also continued to come, appearing side by side with the other scenes before, making it hard for him to see all of them.

Yet they never stopped coming, constantly filling his mind, to the point it began to severely hurt his consciousness.

He released a loud cry, struggling frantically and resisting as he felt more and more scenes being poured into his mind.

"What is this place!"

He had a feeling he came upon a place that was far too dangerous, something, not even the gods themselves would willingly go to.

The sharp pain in his head kept on increasing, more and more scenes kept on showing up. It got to the point he couldn't keep up anymore!

After the millionth, one streamed into his mind as he felt himself going blank, as he felt himself witnessing all of them at the same time.

Too much...

It was too much!

It was far too much!

Tang Wulin could feel neverending scenes flooding into his mind, if this continued, his mind won't be able to process it all.

"Wait... They called this the River of time?"

"Is this why Yggdrasil felt fear when Nexus mentioned the river? Because if one fell into it, they would be flooded with scenes of the past, present, future, and even parallel worlds?" Muttered Tang Wulin as millions of millions of voices rang out around him.

But Tang Wulin didn't even know how he got here unless the Arkadians are really born from this place.

"Is there mind connected to this place-"

Tang Wulin couldn't speak anymore as the pain became even more severe causing him to grip his head. The voices became louder and louder, the scenes grew more and more, and the emotions from them started to affect him.

While also making him feel the urge to scratch, rub, or tear through his skull to stop the pounding in his head.

He tried to see if he could stop it, trying to utilize his powers but to his helpless horror found nothing was working.

His father seals weren't acting up, the Golden Dragon King madness wasn't spiking up, not even his Slayer Arts was helping.

His divine weapons and Ultra Divine Weapons weren't able to appear to help him. He couldn't even hear Yggdrasil or his other spirit soul presence anymore, he was without options here.

For the first time, since he came to this world, he found there was nothing that could be done.

In the next moment, he felt as if he was experiencing an eternity. As his mind began to process countless scenes of him, that extended to a different life, era, and world.

Yet oddly enough, he never once saw a scene of when he was in Fiore. But he couldn't think much about that as his eyes started to tragically lose their color and fade away.

It was then his mind began to give up, cracks began forming on his spiritual sense and mind. No longer being able to withstand the information that kept coming.

And then his consciousness completely shattered.