In Dragon Ball: A brutal beating of Frieza at the start

Page 82

A red and blue energy wave struck the chaotic torrent, erupting with unprecedented light. Space itself began to collapse, forming a miniature black hole that sucked in a large amount of gray mist. The watching warriors cheered.

But the cheers abruptly ceased. The black hole suddenly twisted and deformed, and a gigantic hand composed of pure chaos reached out and slapped Jiren and Hit. The two plummeted like kites with broken strings, crashing through three asteroids before coming to a stop.

The first line of defense... has fallen. The high priest's voice was unusually heavy.

The holographic projection showed that the Chaos Legion had broken through the outer defenses and was approaching Earth. Lin Ye noticed that Beerus and Whis exchanged a glance, seemingly hesitating about something.

Prepare the second line of defense. Lin Ye activated his bracelet, and silver dragon god energy began to flow across his body. "All warriors who have mastered the mark, follow me!"

Bulma stopped him: Wait! Your dragonification level has already reached 27%, using your power any further will—

There's no time. Lin Ye interrupted her, turning to the warriors from other universes, "Remember, the power of the Dragon God is not a weapon, but a resonance. Communicate with it, don't command it."

Wukong scratched his head: Uh... what does that mean?

Vegeta had already closed his eyes, and the Dragon God Mark on his body began to glow: Shut up, Kakarot, just do as I say.

The second line of defense was set up in Mars orbit. Lin Ye hovered in space, with elites from various universes behind him. His gaze swept over everyone—the Saiyans from Universe 7, the assassins from Universe 6, the proud warriors from Universe 11, and even the Sailor Moon from Universe 2. Everyone wore bracelets, and the Dragon God's mark appeared on their bodies to varying degrees.

"Here they come," Bick said in a deep voice.

The Chaos Legion surged in like a tide. This time, they seemed to have learned their lesson and no longer attacked in a scattered manner. Instead, they coalesced into three enormous Chaos Giants, each step causing the space to tremble.

"Proceed according to plan!" Lin Ye shouted.

The warriors split into three groups to meet the Chaos Giant. Lin Ye led the team from Universe 7 straight to the central giant. As they closed the distance, he felt the four-star Dragon Ball at his waist suddenly become scorching hot.

just now!

All the warriors activated the Dragon God's Mark simultaneously. A miracle occurred—the marks resonated with each other, and silver rays connected everyone, forming a giant dragon-shaped network in the air.

As the Chaos Giant's fist slammed down, Lin Ye did not dodge. He raised his hand, and the Dragon God energy of all the warriors converged on him through the network. A gigantic phantom of the Dragon God appeared behind him, opening its maw to let out a silent roar.

Silver light collided with gray mist, erupting in a burst of light that illuminated the entire solar system. The Chaos Giant began to collapse, emitting a shriek unlike anything in this world.

"It works!" Klin cheered.

But Lin Ye suddenly felt a sharp pain. He looked down and found that his arm was beginning to mutate—the outline of scales appeared under his skin, and his fingers gradually became thin and sharp.

"Lin Ye!" Bulma's voice came through the communicator. "Retreat immediately! Your dragon transformation speed is accelerating!"

Lin Ye gritted his teeth and persisted: Just... just a little longer.

Just then, the worst happened. The Chaos Giant on the left suddenly broke through the defenses, shattering the energy network connecting the warriors with a single punch. A chain reaction ensued, and the entire defense system began to collapse.

"Retreat! Retreat!" shouted the Supreme Kais from all universes.

Lin Ye watched the rout of the allied forces and the advancing Chaos Legion, knowing that the third line of defense—Earth's defense line—would be their last hope. Before teleporting back to Earth, he noticed an unusual presence at the center of the Chaos Legion—a blurry humanoid shadow coldly observing everything.

That's no ordinary chaotic entity... Alarm bells rang in Lin Ye's mind; someone was controlling them!

Back at Earth command center, casualty reports continued to pour in. The first line of defense was completely wiped out, with Jiren and Hit seriously wounded; the second line of defense suffered more than half its losses. On Bulma's screen, the dragon transformation warning flashed incessantly.

"How is the third line of defense being prepared?" Lin Ye asked, enduring the pain in his arm.

Bulma pulled up a map: all cities had been evacuated, and the protective shield covered the main continent. She hesitated for a moment, but without new tactics, they wouldn't last 24 hours.

Beerus suddenly appeared in the command center, his expression unusually grave: "It's time to tell you the truth." He looked at Lin Ye, about Chaos, about the Dragon God, and... about you.

Lin Ye felt the Four-Star Dragon Ball heat up again, as if in response to Beerus's words. Outside the window, the Earth's twilight was as red as blood; the final battle was about to begin.

Chapter 218: Counterattack from Desperate Circumstances

Blood spilled from Lin Ye's mouth, splashing into tiny droplets on the scorched ground. He knelt on one knee, his right hand pressed tightly against the deep, bone-revealing wound on his left shoulder—the flesh around the wound was torn open, revealing even the white of his shoulder blade. In the distance, the roar of metal tracks crushing the earth grew closer; the third wave of enemy armored forces surged across the horizon like an inky tide, the rubble kicked up by the tracks mixing with dark red blood and mud, adding another layer of crimson to the ruins. What they had just repelled were merely mechanical hounds scouting ahead of this steel torrent.

Damn it... these guys are relentless! Klin wiped the blood from his forehead; his tactical goggles were shattered, and his exposed eye sockets were surrounded by bruises. He stood panting beside Lin Ye; the indicator light on his energy wristband had turned from red to gray. Our defensive line had retreated from West City Park to the abandoned power plant—a full three kilometers! At this rate, once the energy core is breached—

"Shut up!" Lin Ye suddenly looked up, his hair sticking to his pale forehead with blood and sweat, but a golden glint flashed in his eyes. He stared at the enemy formation gradually becoming clearer on the horizon, a suppressed growl escaping his throat: "As long as I can still move, this isn't over!"

He struggled to his feet, his kneecaps cracking. As he formed hand seals, his knuckles turned white from the strain, and the blood seeping from under his fingernails was no longer red, but a viscous liquid with a golden sheen—a sign of the backlash from the Dragon God's power. As the ancient incantation was uttered, the sky suddenly darkened, lightning crackling through the leaden clouds, and a hundred-meter-tall dragon-shaped phantom slowly emerged behind him. Golden lightning crackled from its eyes, tearing through the clouds; each flap of its wings stirred up a hurricane, and molten lava-like flames flowed along the edges of its scales. This was the third time today that he had summoned the Dragon God's projection, each time as if burning with the very flame of his life.

Lin Ye! You can't summon anymore! Piccolo fell from the sky, his green skin scorched with countless marks by the energy, his left arm hanging at an unnatural angle. Your meridians were already broken inch by inch after the last summoning. If you force it now, the power of the Dragon God will tear you apart!

"Enough with the nonsense!" Lin Ye gritted his teeth. On his bare arm, bluish-black veins spread like a spider web, and scales were spreading from the wounds at a visible speed, covering a third of his forearm. "Look over there—" He gestured with his chin toward the enemy ranks. "Those mechanical beasts' armor can absorb energy blasts. Tien Shinhan's Solar Flare was blocked by their optical filters. Krillin's Destructo Disc can't cut through their alloy skeletons. Now, besides using Dragon God's physical crushing force, what other way do we have to stop them?"

The phantom of the dragon god let out a deafening roar, the sound waves transforming into tangible golden ripples that spread outwards. The mechanical hounds in the enemy's front ranks instantly exploded into a rain of parts under the dragon's might, while the armored vehicles in the rear continued unabated, their cannons simultaneously glowing with a ghostly blue light. Lin Ye's pupils contracted, forcefully controlling the phantom of the dragon god to dive down. As its dragon claws tore through three vehicles, golden blood seeped from his nostrils, and the scales on his skin began to tremble uncontrollably—a warning sign of excessive depletion of his life force.

On the other side of the battlefield, blood is spreading.

"Trunks! Watch out to your left!" Vegeta's voice boomed through the communicator, a metallic, grating crackling sound. Trunks whirled around, the energy beam already upon him, the scorching shockwave whipping his bangs across his forehead. In the nick of time, a purple figure hurtled towards him like a cannonball. Vegeta took the blast head-on with his back, his battle suit instantly charred, the exposed flesh riddled with honeycomb-like holes.

"Father?!" Trunks' voice caught in his throat. Vegeta staggered, but turned the instant he landed, blasting the attacker to dust with an energy wave gathered at his fingertips. He wiped the blood from his mouth, his tactical boots grinding deep grooves into the ground, his eyes sharper than ever: What are you daydreaming about? Focus during the battle! But before he could finish speaking, another mouthful of blood gushed out, dripping onto the scorched earth.

Trunks stared at the bleeding wound on his father's back, its charred edges still smoldering—the enemy's energy blasts had been coated with a corrosive agent. "But your wound..." his voice trembled, his hand hovering over Vegeta's wound, yet he dared not touch it.

Vegeta didn't answer, his gaze sweeping across the ravaged battlefield: Goku was entangled by three powerful enemies with energy wings, each punch sending the air blasting; Piccolo was using his last bit of energy to protect the wounded Dende, the green energy shield already as thin as a cicada's wing; Krillin and Tien Shinhan lay in the ruins not far away, their fates unknown... The situation was worse than he had anticipated, the enemy's main fleet had already deployed in the sky, their cannons aimed at the last line of defense on the ground.

"Listen, kid," Vegeta suddenly spoke, his voice as deep as a rusty gear. "If the fleet starts focusing fire, I'll use the Final Flash to create an opening, and you can take the opportunity to evacuate with the wounded."

What? No! I won't abandon everyone! Trunks jerked his head up, his blond hair whipping wildly in the blast of air. Saiyans never run away! You taught me that!

Vegeta, unusually, didn't get angry; instead, a bitter smile appeared on his face. That smile lacked his usual arrogance, only weariness and a barely perceptible tenderness: Foolish... but truly like my son. He paused, looking at the flashing lights of the ship's cannons in the sky. Then let's fight to the last moment—Saiyans have no tradition of fleeing, only the glory of dying in battle.

Before the words were even finished, a giant nearly three meters tall broke through the defenses. The energy cannons on its shoulder armor glowed with a ghostly blue light, and each step it took cracked the ground—this was the enemy's siege beast force, whose armor could absorb conventional energy attacks. The giant roared and swung its massive alloy fist, the resulting sonic boom causing Trunks' eardrums to ache.

"Get out of my way!" Vegeta unleashed his last burst of energy, the golden flames no longer raging, but instead flowing into a gentle light that coiled around his body. He charged at the giant, and the instant their fists collided, the air was compressed into transparent ripples, and all the rubble within a fifty-meter radius turned to dust. Trunks was thrown back by the shockwave, landing to find Vegeta kneeling on one knee, a horrific wound piercing his chest, his ribs clearly visible, while the giant was reduced to fragments, its core energy still crackling with electricity.

Father! Trunks scrambled over, frantically trying to stop the bleeding wound, only to find his hands trembling even more than Vegeta's body.

Vegeta grabbed his son's wrist with astonishing force, as if trying to inject his last bit of strength into him: Listen... I might... not be able to hold on... With each word he spoke, blood and foam oozed from between his teeth. Go find Kakarot... tell him... it's time to use that... His gaze turned to the sky, as if piercing through the smoke of battle, and he saw a distant being.

Trunks, tears streaming down his face, stubbornly shook his head: No, you'll be alright! Uncle Piccolo said that Saiyans become stronger after recovering from near death! I'll take you to him right now! He tried to pick up Vegeta, but the other stopped him with a look.

Vegeta suddenly smiled, blood staining his teeth, but the smile was so gentle it made Trunks' heart stop. He remembered many years ago, outside Bulma's lab, secretly watching Trunks learn to walk; that gentleness was hidden beneath a proud exterior, never revealed. "Silly boy..." His voice grew softer, like a candle flickering in the wind. "I'm so glad I could protect you in the end..." His fingers suddenly loosened, and the light in his eyes dissipated like a candle flame extinguished by the wind.

No—!! Trunks's mournful cry tore through the battlefield, tears falling onto Vegeta's increasingly cold face. At the same time, Goku, who was fighting a powerful enemy, suddenly froze, as if his heart had been clenched by an invisible hand. The invisible connection between him and Vegeta—the tacit understanding forged through years of battle—suddenly snapped.

Vegeta... Goku's expression froze instantly. He could even see the fatal wound on Vegeta's chest and feel that familiar, arrogant energy rapidly dissipating.

"Distraction during battle can be fatal, Sun Wukong." A chilling voice came from behind. Wukong instinctively dodged, but the energy whip still grazed his back, leaving a deep, bone-revealing gash. He was sent flying hundreds of meters, crashing through three dilapidated buildings before finally slamming into a pile of twisted steel bars.

As the dust settled, Goku struggled to his feet, each breath straining against his broken ribs. He looked up at the sky; the enemy's main fleet had completed its recharge, the beams of their cannons illuminating half the heavens. On the ground, Lin Ye's body was half-dragon, scales covering his neck, each summoning of the Dragon God causing him to tremble violently. Piccolo, protecting Dende, had been pierced through the abdomen by an energy blast, his green blood staining the earth. Now, even Vegeta...

Is this how it ends...? Goku murmured to himself, an unprecedented sense of powerlessness washing over him like ice water. He remembered the days he spent with his grandfather on Mount Paozu when he was a child, the way Bulma held a gun when he first met her, the night he and Krillin were pranked by Master Roshi while training at Master Roshi's house, the first time Vegeta awkwardly called him Kakarot, watching Gohan grow from a baby into a teenager... Those images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, only bringing deeper despair.

Just then, his mind suddenly went blank. Not the blankness of exhaustion, but a blankness of utter tranquility. He closed his eyes, no longer thinking about the number of enemies, no longer thinking about the casualties of his comrades, but only feeling the flow of every bit of energy within his body. Strangely, the closer he was to the brink of despair, the clearer his senses became—the sound of the wind whistling through the ruins, Trunks' suppressed sobs in the distance, the chaotic rhythm of the surging Dragon God power within Lin Ye, even the trajectory of every speck of dust in the air, all became incredibly slow and incredibly clear in his perception.

Is this... the aura of a god? Wukong murmured to himself.

When he opened his eyes again, his pupils had turned a pure silver-white, without a trace of any other color. A soft, silver-white light emanated from him, not the ferocious aura of a Saiyan, but a divine aura flowing like moonlight. He took a step forward, his movement seemingly slow, yet he precisely dodged the energy blasts launched simultaneously by three enemies, as if he had anticipated their every move.

Ultra Instinct... Divine Form. Goku's voice was as calm as a deep pool, yet it carried an undeniable power.

The three powerful enemies exchanged a glance, simultaneously increasing their energy output, unleashing a barrage of colorful energy projectiles at Wukong. However, he merely shifted his body slightly, raised his hand, and turned, each movement fluid and natural, without the slightest waste. The energy projectiles grazed past him, just centimeters away, without even touching the hem of his clothes. Even more astonishingly, his fingertips traced a silver path through the air; this seemingly effortless counterattack sent the three powerful enemies flying as if struck by a heavy hammer, crashing into a broken wall and losing consciousness.

This unexpected turn of events brought the entire battlefield to a standstill.

That's... Mr. Goku? Lin Ye, now in his half-dragon form, stared wide-eyed, an expression of disbelief on his scale-covered face. He could sense the terrifying power contained within that aura—a realm beyond the limits of Super Saiyan, a realm belonging to the gods.

Trunks looked up, his vision blurred by tears, and saw the figure radiating a silvery-white light slowly approaching. Vegeta's chest was still rising and falling slightly in his arms; that faint sign of life gave him his last hope.

Uncle Wukong...

Goku approached Vegeta, crouched down, and placed his hand on his chest. A silvery-white light flowed from his palm, seeping into the horrific wound. Vegeta's body trembled slightly, and his previously unfocused gaze seemed to sharpen for a moment. He was still alive, but his injuries were too severe and required immediate treatment. Goku's voice was calm yet powerful: "Trunks, take him to Piccolo. His Senzu Beans might be able to stabilize his injuries. Leave this to me."

Trunks opened his mouth, wanting to say, "Let's fight together," but was stopped by the unwavering determination in Goku's eyes. There was no worry in those eyes, only a confident promise—"I will end all of this." He gritted his teeth, nodded, carefully picked up Vegeta, and turned to run towards the rear area of ​​wounded soldiers.

As Trunks' figure disappeared into the ruins, Goku slowly stood up and turned to face the main fleet in the sky. His gaze swept across the battlefield: Lin Ye was struggling to maintain his half-dragon form, preparing to summon the Dragon God again; Piccolo was using his last strength to gather an energy wave; and in the distance, a few scattered warriors were still fighting.

"Everyone, hang in there a little longer." Wukong's voice wasn't loud, but it resonated through the energy, reaching everyone's ears. The counterattack begins now.

Before he finished speaking, his figure vanished from the spot. The next instant, a blinding white light erupted from the center of the enemy formation, like a second sun rising. Dozens of fighter jets disintegrated in the silvery-white energy storm, and a huge rift was torn open in the hull of the main fleet. The flames of the explosion illuminated Wukong's silvery-white figure.

Lin Ye stared at the light and suddenly burst into laughter, though the action caused golden blood to spill from the corner of his mouth again. He shouted, his voice hoarse but filled with a desperate resolve: "See that? That's Goku! Looks like we haven't lost yet!" He formed hand seals again, even though the scales on his arms had begun to fall off and the phantom of the Dragon God became extremely unstable. "Charge! For the living, and for the fallen—Vegeta!"

Piccolo struggled to his feet, gathering his last bit of energy at his fingertips, a green aura swirling in his palm. He looked at Lin Ye's manic smile, then at the silvery-white light in the sky, a helpless yet relieved smile playing on his lips: Really... these reckless lunatics... He took a deep breath and unleashed a powerful energy wave, but... count me in!

The surviving soldiers, gazing at the godlike figure and their comrades fighting valiantly beside them, felt their despair ignited by an even stronger fire. They regrouped and, following the silvery-white light, charged towards the seemingly invincible enemy ranks.

On the smoke-filled battlefield, the desperate counterattack finally began. And at the horizon where sky and earth met, a silvery-white light, like a bolt of lightning of hope, tore through the darkness that shrouded everything.

Chapter 219: The Core of Chaos

Lin Ye's palm pressed against the twisted and deformed metal hatch, the friction between his scale-covered skin and the corroded metal producing a piercing sound like shattering glass. Each dragon scale vibrated at a high frequency, like a tuning fork being struck, conveying the malice of some ancient being behind the door. Behind him, five assault team members gripped their weapons tightly, their tactical goggles reflecting the eerie blue light seeping from the hatch's cracks—their captain's left side had completely transformed into a dragon, with grotesque bone spurs protruding from his shoulder blade, his left eye becoming a vertical pupil, liquid gold patterns flowing in his iris, and the scales on his right cheek spreading towards his temple at a visible speed.

The system's last location was here. Lin Ye's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper polishing an iron plate, a low, inhuman growl emanating from his throat. The Chaos Core... was behind this door. His fingertips embedded themselves in metal, the sparks that flew off falling onto the scales and instantly extinguishing, as if swallowed by some force.

Suddenly, medic Jasmine grabbed his wrist, which was covered in golden scales, as the life detector emitted a sharp, continuous alarm. "Wait! Your organ failure index has exceeded the safety threshold by 372%! The dragon-transformation neurotoxin is eroding your cerebral cortex. If this continues, you will become a mindless beast!" Her fingertips pressed against the scales on Lin Ye's wrist, where a black, viscous liquid was seeping out, turning into wisps of blue smoke upon contact with the air.

"I said, there's no time!" Lin Ye abruptly shoved her away, his dragon-transformed arm carving three deep, bone-revealing gashes into Jasmine's power armor. As alloy fragments flew, they condensed into ice crystals. Everyone froze in place—the instant the claws lashed out, Lin Ye himself saw the blood dripping from between his fingers evaporate into red mist in mid-air, like a burning soul.

The communicator suddenly blared, a sharp, urgent whistle blaring, the background noise mixed with the roar of energy explosions: The front lines can't hold out! The enemy's mass-produced androids have breached the western defenses, and Goku's divine form is experiencing energy turbulence. You have a maximum of seventeen and a half minutes left! Repeat, seventeen and a half minutes!

Lin Ye's human pupil in his right eye contracted violently, and fine blood vessels seeped from the white of his eye. He turned and gathered his strength, the muscles in his dragon-transformed right arm clenching like steel bars, and golden veins throbbing beneath his skin. As his fist slammed into the hatch, the phantom of the dragon god solidified into a tangible dragon head at the tip of his fist. With a deafening roar as fangs tore through the air, the three-meter-thick alloy door shattered like paper. The flying fragments traced burning trails in the void, but froze and corroded the moment they touched the scene behind the door, ultimately turning into dust.

What greeted them was not a mechanical hive, but a distorted void filled with floating stellar debris. The assault team froze at the entrance—they stood on a mantle fault line of a shattered planet, beneath their feet the exposed, still pulsating, crimson core, with rivers of lava meandering and fragmented star maps floating in the steam; above them, the sky twisted into a Möbius strip, countless celestial bodies like crushed glass spheres, black energy umbilical cords intertwined between the fragments, pulsating rhythmically.

This is... the debris of Universe 7? Sniper Case trembled as he pulled up his holographic recorder. The projected image perfectly overlapped with the scene before him, exactly the same as what was recorded in the Big Bang files! But how could it be here? His voice suddenly stopped as he saw the remnants of the North Kai's Temple on a floating piece of stellar debris.

Lin Ye's scales suddenly stood on end, a jolt of electricity shooting through his spine. Memories flooded back like a burst dam—the destroyed starry sky, the silent wails of billions of lives disintegrating in the turbulent energy currents, and the cold, mechanical voice of the system's first activation: [Host binding successful, current universe salvation progress 0.0001%]. He clutched his head, his dragon-like claws digging deep into his temples, where countless fragments of memories not belonging to him were pouring in: on a blue planet, a black-haired boy raised an energy wave amidst the ruins; in a purple star system, a group of warriors shielded each other amidst the wreckage of a spaceship... all hosts the system had once bound to, their final moments playing back to him through the Chaos Core.

"All on alert! This is not an illusion!" Before Lin Ye could finish speaking, the ground beneath his feet suddenly writhed as if alive, and black slime gushing from the cracks in the rocks instantly engulfed two team members. The recruit Roy's screams abruptly ceased, and Lin Ye only saw countless familiar faces emerge from the black tide—the elders he couldn't save on Namek, Tien Shinhan who sacrificed himself in the Earth defense war, and even his sister who died in a car accident in his previous world. Their eyes simultaneously turned to him, their lips moving in unison: Why didn't you come to save us?

Fire! Shoot those faces! Lin Ye's arms swelled and transformed into a dragon, bone spurs bursting from his elbows, ancient golden runes emerging from beneath his skin. As the energy cannon swept across, scales on his arms shattered in pieces, splattering blood and flesh—each scale turning into black slime upon landing, merging back into the tide. The black substance struck emitted a shrill cry like an infant's wail, yet split into more tentacles, weaving a constantly shrinking web of death in the void. The tips of the tentacles were condensed with crystalline venom, crystallized resentment left behind by their hosts.

"Captain! Nine o'clock!" Case's shout trembled with fear. Lin Ye turned his head and saw a huge, beating heart floating in the center of the void. Each vein was connected to fragments of different universes: some veins ended with the burning Saiyan home planet, others were wrapped with the frozen Frieza spaceship. The worlds that had been devoured flickered like tumors with each heartbeat, and with each throb, black mist gushed out, from which the faint wails of billions of people could be heard.

[Warning: Chaotic core detected, system assimilation rate 17%...18%...neural link stability dropped to 32%] The system's cold notification sent chills down Lin Ye's spine. He looked down and saw the golden scales on his arm turning black, like rice paper soaked in ink. Black lines spread along the blood vessels toward his heart, and wherever they passed, the dragon-transformed muscle tissue emitted a faint dissolving sound.

"Jasmine! Give me the rest of the Holy Light Bullets!" Lin Ye ripped open his tattered combat suit, revealing black patterns spreading across his chest—patterns that had formed a twisted, grinning face, the corners of his mouth stretching to his collarbone. "You cover me as I charge through!"

"Are you crazy?" Jasmine pressed down hard on the ammunition box, her tears condensing into crystal-like droplets in the zero-gravity environment. "When the assimilation rate exceeds 20%, consciousness will begin to fragment! At 40%, even the neural anchors of the system will dissolve, and you will become part of chaos!" Her fingertips traced the black lines on Lin Ye's chest, where the skin temperature was as low as ice.

When Vegeta shielded the energy cannon with his body, did Goku ask him if it was worth it? Lin Ye's vertical pupils narrowed to slits, his golden irises reflecting the pulsating core. Now, execute the order! His voice carried the oppressive power of the Dragon God, causing Jasmine to involuntarily release her grip.

Three holy light bullets exploded within the black wave, forming three channels burning with holy white flames. The moment Lin Ye rushed out, he heard Case scream inhuman agony over the communicator. He didn't turn around, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Case's body melt like a candle, viscous black substance gushing from his seven orifices, condensing in the void into countless hands reaching for Lin Ye. His dragon-transformed legs unleashed terrifying speed, each step creating golden ripples in the void, within which incomplete dragon-shaped runes emerged—the battle mark of the first Dragon God, awakening within his bloodline.

Fifty meters from the core, the black slime suddenly solidified. Lin Ye slammed on the brakes and looked up, his pupils contracting in fear—it was his own face, covered in perfect black dragon scales, with a core fragment embedded in his forehead, a chaotic, ghostly blue flame burning in his left eye, and a grin that stretched to his ears, revealing writhing black tentacles within.

"We meet again, host." Chaos Lin Ye's voice was exactly the same as his, but with a metallic, abrasive quality. "Why do you think the system can travel through time and space?" He raised his hand, and a black beam of light shot from his fingertips, striking Lin Ye's shoulder. The dragon scales instantly carbonized and peeled off, revealing the rotting muscle tissue underneath.

Lin Ye's right fist had already struck his opponent, the phantom of the dragon god condensing into sharp claws. But the instant of contact, black matter, like a living thing, burrowed into his fist bone, the bones emitting a teeth-grinding dissolving sound. He was horrified to discover that his dragon-transformed arm was being devoured, a faint blue light emanating from beneath the golden scales—a sign of the erosion by chaotic energy.

"We've planted seeds in every system." Chaos Lin Ye stroked his cracked cheek with his icy fingers. Where his fingertips touched, black lines immediately appeared on the skin. "You really think you can defy the laws of the universe with the power of the Dragon God? From the very first host, your battles, growth, sacrifices... have all been fertilizing Chaos." He opened his mouth, and countless black tentacles flew out, wrapping around Lin Ye's neck.