Chapter 78: Blood-Colored Slayer

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

Family, friends, home.

These words could be the most precious luxuries in the apocalypse, or they could be the most insignificant burdens.

For different people, these seemingly simple words containing human emotions and desires carry different meanings.

An Sheng cherished these words deeply, because he had lost them before. To him, they were treasures more valuable than life itself.

But today, he had lost so much again, far too much.

How he wished he were blind, deaf, or foolish! Then he could live in a carefree world – unable to hear, unable to see, unable to feel pain! But he wasn’t…

He heard the explosions ringing out; he saw his family members dying one by one; he could feel the heart-wrenching agony tearing him apart from within.

Why? Was it the injustice of the world? Or the wickedness of human nature? Or had this devouring apocalypse stripped all living beings of their true forms?

An Sheng couldn’t understand, nor could he possibly comprehend. Because now, all he could feel was pain, all he could feel was rage!

Su Yao was dead, killed by human gunfire; Old Zhang was dead, having detonated Liu Pengyu’s keepsake; perhaps many more had died too, as thick smoke billowed from the gates and firing ports of the Fortress Bunker.

He didn’t understand why things had turned out this way? Weren’t those rescue troops here to save them? Why had rescue turned into slaughter? Was it just because Xun Lili and he were of the Alien Race? But even if they were Aliens, what about the other survivors? Were they Aliens too?

Whose fault was it really? An Sheng searched his soul.

It was the Purifiers’ fault! If they hadn’t attacked Yushan, this place wouldn’t have become like this, his family wouldn’t have died!

It was the Virus’s fault! Without this catastrophe, he might still be a taxi driver, toiling daily to make ends meet. Though he might never have met these family and friends, they would still be living well.

It was Ye Rong’s fault! She shouldn’t have distorted the truth for revenge, then those soldiers wouldn’t have clashed with his family.

“No! All wrong! It’s my fault! I was too weak. If I were strong enough, I could have protected them! It’s my fault, I’m guilty!”

In the sky, inside the cage, An Sheng suddenly clutched his head and screamed madly. His abnormal reaction made the other three Purifiers in the cage turn to look at him.

Suddenly, a strange fluctuation appeared around An Sheng. It was a surge of life energy so powerful that even these Purifiers felt terror!

Then, An Sheng’s body began to change. The Demon State quickly faded, his originally over-two-meter tall figure rapidly shrinking back to normal human size.

But though his form had shed the Demon, that already terrifyingly surging life energy began to boil strangely once more!

The surrounding air began to fill with thick, blood-colored pheromones. As the life energy in An Sheng’s body boiled, more, denser blood-colored mist surged endlessly. Finally, it gradually condensed into liquid-like substance, tumbling and floating in the air.This was still not the end. These blood-like liquids continued to compress, becoming denser and clearer. Finally, they formed a massive, spherical, transparent crimson crystal that encased An Sheng’s body!

“Evolution! He’s evolving into a Lord!”

The three Purifiers present were extremely familiar with this scene, as it matched exactly the phenomenon described in the intelligence provided by the Emissary—the birth of a Lord!

Simultaneously, all humans battling the Alien Race in the sky above heard the alarm from their detectors!

“Warning! Warning! Detecting massive Red Tide Virus signals! Preliminary assessment indicates a Lord Level Mutant!”

Hearing this cold, synthesized electronic voice, Chief of Staff Hu Biao’s originally resolute expression darkened imperceptibly. He knew exactly what this meant—another Lord was about to emerge within the battlefield.

A single Lord had already pushed the fleet to its limits. If not for that one Lord, the three Titans would have long since subdued those Purifiers. And now another one was appearing! Chief of Staff Hu Biao knew they were in serious trouble.

Meanwhile, An Sheng’s consciousness had completely submerged into his inner sea. There, he saw that mirror again, but this time it reflected a young man with long crimson hair.

“An Sheng, we meet again. I’m delighted to see you’ve finally reached this place through your own strength!”

The young man in the mirror appeared extremely pleased, his expression twisting with emotion.

“Who are you?”

An Sheng had been here twice before—once in a dream, and once when he first encountered Pighead Three. Both times, the mirror had shown his demonic transformed self.

“I am you, you fool!”

The crimson-haired youth spoke to An Sheng with mockery.

“You’re me? But I don’t recognize you!? You’re lying!”

An Sheng didn’t believe it. Had it been his previous demonic form claiming to be himself, he might have been convinced. But this crimson-haired person bore no resemblance to him whatsoever.

“You’re thinking about our previous demonic appearance, aren’t you? That’s in the past. Did you prefer that form? Hmm~~ Let me think…”

As he spoke, a pair of bull horns grew from the crimson-haired youth’s head in the mirror. What shocked An Sheng was that the other could actually read his thoughts!

“Don’t be surprised. We are one. I’m merely another aspect of your consciousness, so naturally we share thoughts. If you calm down now, you can see what’s in my mind too.”

The handsome crimson-haired youth flicked his long hair gracefully, then his tone turned cold as he continued: “You are guilty!”

These three words struck An Sheng like a plunge into the abyss. But the crimson-haired youth seemed to think this wasn’t enough. His image disappeared from the mirror, replaced by scenes from An Sheng’s memories over the past six months.

Old Zhang who delighted in helping others; gentle and virtuous Su Yao; the combative tomboy Xun Lili; the glib-tongued Butcher Wang…

The voices and faces of Yushan Fortress’s survivors kept appearing in the mirror.Suddenly, the mirror shattered, and in every fragment was a face familiar to An Sheng—except those familiar faces had become mangled and bloody.

“You are guilty!” It was Old Zhang’s voice!

“You are guilty!” It was Su Yao’s voice!

“You are guilty!” It was Little Biscuit’s voice!

“It’s all because you’re too weak—you are guilty!”

This time, it was the voices of everyone in Yushan!

“Wuuu I’m sorry wuuu I’m sorry”

An Sheng knelt amidst the shattered fragments, sobbing loudly. His originally crimson eyes now streamed with trails of bloody tears!

“What good is crying? Can it bring back the people you care about? You really are still that coward!”

The figure of the crimson-haired youth materialized once more, standing before An Sheng, looking down at him with eyes full of disdain.

“What should I do?”

An Sheng looked up through his sobs, meeting those blood-red eyes. The disdain within them gradually transformed into madness.

The crimson-haired youth grabbed the half-kneeling An Sheng, shouting hysterically at him!

“Since you are guilty, you must atone! Your sins stem from your hypocrisy, your weakness! Then you must become ruthless, become powerful! Remember, you are a Demon, the most powerful Demon! Only slaughter and cruelty befit your identity! Only cruelty and slaughter can let you protect the family you wish to protect!”

“I am guilty! My hypocrisy is guilty! My weakness is guilty! My cowardice is guilty!”

An Sheng repeated these words softly, over and over, his voice growing louder each time.

Unbeknownst to him, as he repeated them, his body underwent a tremendous transformation, until it became identical to the crimson-haired youth in the mirror!

“Not only am I guilty! Everyone who harms those I care about is guilty! They all deserve to die!”

“Crack”

A conspicuous fissure appeared on the blood-red transparent crystal. Then a second, a third…

As the cracks multiplied, the blood-red crystal could no longer maintain its form, shattering with a crash into countless particles shimmering with a bloody glow.

Amidst the particles, a long-haired youth clad entirely in blood-red metal armor floated in the Void Realm. His armor was of an archaic design, with sharp metal spikes at the six joints of his limbs and shoulders, gleaming with a cruel red light under the sun.

Most striking was the youth’s long hair, the same blood-red hue as his armor, cascading like a waterfall of congealed blood, swaying in the wind behind him, reaching down to his waist.

“Are… you… An Sheng?”

Xiao Xiao trembled as she questioned the youth, uncertain if this person was still her ex-husband An Sheng. The energy emanating from the figure before her was too terrifying—so terrifying that merely flying near him made her body tremble uncontrollably.

The youth slowly turned his head toward Xiao Xiao’s direction, his previously closed eyes gradually opening.

“I am An Sheng, and I am not An Sheng! My name now is An Sheng the Slayer!”An Sheng didn’t waste words with Xiao Xiao, instead turning his gaze to the two other Purifiers behind her. With just one glance, the two Advanced Purifiers felt their bodies enveloped by a powerful force that continuously compressed them.

“You are guilty! Therefore, you shall die!”

An Sheng’s tone was icy cold, as if emanating from a demon god of the deepest hell.

Unseen by all, he had already activated his ability against the two Purifiers. This ability somewhat resembled that of the gravity-controlling Purifier, naturally derived after absorbing Baldy the Purifier.

The two restrained Purifiers instantly underwent Energy Transformation, bursting forth with powerful Deification Factors to resist An Sheng’s invisible attack.

Simultaneously, Xiao Xiao realized something was wrong. Although she had promised Medusa she wouldn’t harm An Sheng, the current situation was beyond her control.

Xiao Xiao’s body instantly transformed into a golden stream of light, launching an “Aurora” attack at An Sheng!

However, when the dust from the explosive attack gradually dissipated, An Sheng’s demon-like figure remained completely unscathed! One of his hands was still raised mid-air, with a solid-looking black energy shield extending beyond his palm!

An Sheng turned to look at Xiao Xiao, saying coldly: “For the sake of our past relationship, I’ll forgive you one last time. If there’s a next time, I’ll kill you!”

Xiao Xiao felt her heart racing wildly. Even though she was now a powerful and arrogant Purifier, facing An Sheng like this still filled her with immense fear and helplessness.

An Sheng ignored Xiao Xiao and addressed the two restrained Purifiers: “You may atone for your sins now!”

After speaking, An Sheng’s body flashed, and the next moment he appeared beside the Androgynous Man. The armor on his body seemed to possess consciousness of its own, writhing and transforming until dozens of red metal tubes emerged, all inserting into the Androgynous Man’s body.

Normally after Energy Transformation, Purifiers couldn’t feel pain. But this time was different – the Androgynous Man clearly felt tearing, excruciating pain.

He screamed and cursed in agony, but it was all in vain. Besides his mouth, he couldn’t move any other part of his body.

In just over ten seconds, the Androgynous Man’s body reverted from Energy Transformation to human form, but this wasn’t the end. As time passed, his body rapidly withered and dried up until it became a desiccated corpse, at which point An Sheng withdrew the metal tubes from his body.

“Not enough, still not enough!”

An Sheng murmured quietly.

He said it wasn’t enough because he needed energy to break the spherical cage. Absorbing just one Purifier naturally wasn’t sufficient. So his body appeared beside Murata Koichi once again.

“You are very powerful. Could you grant me a warrior’s dignity and let me fight you properly!”

Murata Koichi was a martial arts fanatic. He didn’t care about life or death, but hoped to spar with a strong opponent – even if the outcome was death, it would be a fortunate event in his life!

“No time for that. You’re really annoying.”

An Sheng completely ignored him, directly inserting the dozens of metal tubes into his body!

Author says:The inspiration for this chapter comes from “Tokyo Ghoul.”

When the white-haired Kaneki appeared, I was completely stunned.

He said:

“All unfavorable circumstances in this world are caused by the incompetence of those involved.”

“I don’t want to remain that powerless version of myself anymore.”

“Sometimes, you have to sacrifice one side to protect the other.”

An Sheng finally abandoned his hypocrisy and cowardice, transforming into a true Demon!

Volume One “The First Year of Calamity” is about to conclude. Volume Two “Flames of Vengeance” is coming soon!