"You guys should leave." Emperor Zhao gritted his teeth and said, "Even if I die, I will die here."
Jiu Po sighed again and finally gave up on trying to dissuade him, simply shifting his focus to fighting the three greater gods until the last possible moment.
This wasn't to say that Jiu Po was altruistic. In any case, he himself was not under any pressure. The longer he delayed the enemies in God Emperor Heaven, the safer he himself would be.
In terms of the big picture, the later the destruction of God Emperor Heaven, the better the situation would be for the Myriad Heavens.
It was still a race against time. Everything depended on whether Gu Nan could kill all the greater gods first or whether Austin's group could deal with the Myriad Heavens' main forces first.
...
Gu Nan had already arrived at Demon King Stanley's Divine Kingdom, which was a strange plane that the mortal world called the "Demon Realm".
That's right. The World of Gods did have a Demon Realm. However, the Demon Realm was not a main plane, but the Divine Kingdom of successive Demon Kings.
When his Divine Kingdom was targeted by Gu Nan, Stanley immediately returned from the frontline battlefield.
But instead of passively defending like the Beast God, he took the rarely-seen decision of revealing himself in front of Gu Nan.
The Demon King was a Tier 13 greater god, and he was considered a senior among the greater gods. More importantly, he held great confidence in himself.
"Choosing me as your next target will be the worst choice you ever make." Stanley stood calmly in front of Gu Nan and said with a faint smile, "You will be this Great War's sinner."
What greeted him in response was naturally Gu Nan's punch.
No one could tank Gu Nan's punch with their physical body. Naturally, Stanley couldn't either. His body was instantly blasted apart by Gu Nan, but another Stanley appeared immediately afterwards.
The special characteristic of the Demon King was that as long as his power was not exhausted, he was a nearly immortal existence.
His divinity was different from that of normal greater gods and was scattered among the various demons inside his Divine Kingdom. It could be said that every demon was a source of his power.
"It's useless." Stanley adjusted his collar as he leveled a faint smile at Gu Nan. "Your strength is all in your physical body. What can you use to kill me?"
Gu Nan smashed apart Stanley's body with another punch, then took out a bead with a crimson glow.
This was the Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb he used to trap Graceful Heaven in back when he just completed the Second Round.
Now that Graceful Heaven had completely disappeared, only traces of the blood sacrifice were still inside. The Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb was once again empty, so Gu Nan could use it to deal with Stanley now.
Gu Nan pressed the Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb into the ground, then leisurely stood aside as he looked at Stanley, who reappeared just now.
This time, it was Stanley's turn to be anxious.
The Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb was just a normal item. Both the difficulty in obtaining it and its effects were basically at the level of the First Round. Under normal circumstances, it couldn't be used against greater gods at all.
In other words, during the course of a normal playthrough, this item had never trapped a greater god's Divine Kingdom before.
This wasn't a matter of the item hitting an upper limit. Rather, it was simply impossible to achieve.
Attempting such a thing would immediately attract the combined attacks of all greater gods, and the collection process would be forcibly terminated. No player could handle being besieged by all the greater gods at once.
However, with the existence of the Myriad Heavens and the Great War between the two sides, Gu Nan now had the opportunity to do whatever he wanted.
Using Gu Nan's current power to activate the Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb after it had been placed into the ground, the Demon Realm was quickly sucked into the orb at a speed that was almost visible to the naked eye.
Stanley no longer had the energy to make mocking remarks and started to draw on his laws crazily. Shadowy demons lunged at the Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb one after another, trying to prevent the Divine Kingdom from being swallowed up.
But in the end, a Demon King was a Demon King. While the scattered nature of his Godhead gave him never-ending power, it also dispersed his burst damage.
With Gu Nan in charge, no matter how many demonic shadows came, they were mere canon fodder.
To put it another way, while others had the option of abandoning their Divine Kingdoms and escaping alone, Stanley couldn't leave even if he wanted to. Because once he lost his Divine Kingdom, he would lose over 90% of his power, and he might not even be considered a greater god anymore.
Just a minute later, as Stanley gave one final miserable roar, the entire Demon Realm was swallowed up by the Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb.
Stanley originally had a chance to escape, but in the end, he did not choose to escape. Instead, he entered the orb alongside his own Divine Kingdom.
Although he would be sealed as well, it was better than losing most of his power. After all, there was still hope of breaking out of the seal.
However, what he didn't know was that Gu Nan's purpose was not simply to get him to leave the battlefield, but to actually kill them.
After trapping the Demon Realm, Gu Nan tossed the Divine Kingdom Treasure Orb up and down a few times in his hand, then gave it a sudden slap—the orb shattered into pieces without any suspense.
...
God Emperor Heaven.
The battle here was concluding. Most of the astral world had already been occupied by the three greater gods. Emperor Zhao could only hold on to the last bit of territory left.
It could be said that in this situation, it was meaningless to agonize over staying or escaping—because all living creatures in the astral world had already died. However, Emperor Zhao still had no intention of leaving.
This was the Emperor. In ancient times, the king of the human race fought his way through the barren mountains and untamed rivers, overcoming all obstacles to finally carve out a path to survival. Now, similarly, there was no path of retreat either.
"Let's go," Jiu Po said as he appeared at Lu Wen's side. God Emperor Heaven no longer had any value, and they must adjust their conditions as soon as possible to help the three greater gods' next target.
Lu Wen nodded and withdrew from God Emperor Heaven without hesitation. It was time for him to consider his own safety.
Because looking at the opponents' attitude, since he stood out to help this time, he might just be the next one to suffer. But this couldn't be helped. If he didn't help God Emperor Heaven, other astral worlds wouldn't even last as long as this one.
But one advantage Lu Wen had over Emperor Zhao was that he was decisive enough to give up his own astral world.
If it came down to it, he was ready to abandon his astral world and run to the World of Gods to kill normal greater gods.
This stage's victory was right in front of their eyes. Even Jiu Po and Lu Wen had withdrawn. Austin's group could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Destroy God Emperor Heaven as soon as possible," Austin emphasized.
Daisy and Baal nodded at the same time, but at this moment, Baal suddenly froze, an incredulous expression on his face as he said, "The Demon Realm disappeared, and Stanley also died…"
Austin suddenly turned around to stare at Baal's face.
If stalling for time was their method of dealing with Gu Nan, then Stanley's Demon Realm was a trap. As long as Gu Nan stepped into it, he would inevitably have to waste a lot of time there.
Given the complexity of the Demon Realm, even if Austin went there in person, he would definitely not be able to conquer it overnight.
But now… Just how did Gu Nan do it?
Daisy said heavily, "The Evil God is a creature from ancient times. He may know some secrets that not even we understand."
"You believe that?" Austin looked at Daisy flatly, a cold glint in his eyes. "You want to retreat?"
Daisy was silent for a while, then finally said through gritted teeth, "Retreat is no longer an option."