CHAPTER 282: TWO-WAY PORTAL

"What is he doing?!"

Lilya stared in disbelief at the calm Avia beside her, feeling as if something had exploded in her chest.

Wang Yu had thrown her sister into the Void. Not only had he failed to save Mira, he had trapped himself in with her. Lilya simply could not comprehend why he would make such a choice.

"Aunt Lilya, please trust Wang Yu," Avia said softly. "He's... different. I'll need your help—and the help of the wizards of the cursebinding spire. He can enter the void, but I can only keep the two-way portal open for a limited time. If he doesn't return soon, he'll be lost."

Her words were coldly logical and devoid of excess emotion. It was clear that she was entirely focused and had cast aside all pointless distraction.

In her hand appeared a certain vial—the Wishing Coin elixir. Without hesitation, she invoked her will. As magic gathered around her, she drank the potion and made her wish.

A Gate of Phases opened up. A rift appeared in the room like a door torn open in the fabric of space.

The strange phenomena and taint of the void that had saturated the room had vanished with Wang Yu's plunge into that endless abyss. Yet now, as the rift widened, the breath of the void returned.

Beyond the gate was a stark and terrible scene: an endless expanse of starless darkness, through which Wang Yu could be seen plunging downward, dragging Mira and three devils with him into the abyss.

"My wish," Avia murmured, "was to temporarily open a two-way portal connecting the void and the material world."

It sounded simple—but in truth, it changed everything. A two-way portal meant that, for once, the material world could exert influence on the void, not merely be shaped by it. Of course, that influence was limited and suppressed.

"Just what are you?!"

The devil Five stared in disbelief at Wang Yu, who gripped him tightly. An invisible force choked the devil's throat. For the first time, he could feel his true, voidborn body being immobilized.

That was impossible. The man before him was a creature of the material world. And yet he had not been assimilated. He had entered the void with no protections and yet somehow still remained intact.

"..."

Wang Yu offered no answer. His only reply was a clenched fist that crashed into the devil's featureless face, a material blow laced with the power of the Chariot.

The devil's head snapped aside, his neck grotesquely twisted.

"Damn it, how did you touch me?! Get off!"

Five roared in fury at the pain radiating from his body. How long had it been since he last engaged in physical combat?

Snarling in disbelief, Five lashed out with a kick that connected solidly with Wang Yu's chest, sending him staggering backward.

The other two devils moved at last, choosing not to engage in close combat. Instead, they summoned the power of the void.

From the abyssal dark surged a torrent of violet light, pure void energy, directed straight at Wang Yu.

If he could touch them, then by the same logic, they could hurt him.

The blazing current of chaotic energy swallowed Wang Yu whole. Before their eyes, he vanished completely.

"Just what is he...? How could a being of flesh and bone touch us? Without mental energy, no one from the material realm should be able to lay a hand on us."

Five stared, unsettled. Within the turbulent aftermath of the blast, he caught glimpses of a twisted, shattered figure—Wang Yu, torn apart.

Never had he ever witnessed anything like this. A mortal human entering the void and punching a devil in the face—how could that possibly happen? Was he some sort of evil god?

"I can no longer sense him," murmured Three. "He must be gone. Just now, I think he created a shell of pure matter within the void, one where void energy could not enter. But I've expended too much of my reserves—between that and the Tree of Life, I can't call on the void again for a while."

"This changes everything," snarled Four. "That man destroyed our leverage. With Mira in the void, those mortals won't dare negotiate.

"Fine. We'll simply have to devour her soul. Otherwise, I'd be bound by the pact to prevent her body from being corrupted by the void."

Wang Yu's actions had destroyed any chance of their obtaining Avia's soul now. If they wanted to acquire her salivating void affinity, they'd have to start their plans anew after devouring Mira's soul.

But just as Four prepared to exploit loopholes in his contract with the Svein family to hasten Mira's death, all three devils froze. That choking sensation had returned, stronger than ever.

Three pairs of shocked eyes turned toward the heart of the dissipating storm of void. There stood Wang Yu, unharmed, his right hand raised.

Invisible power stretched forth. And with it, he grabbed the devils.

"This—this is impossible!"

"!"

The devils reeled. Not only could he touch them, he could even resist the void as well?

"Get away from him! Don't let him touch us!" Five shouted in panic. This man, Wang Yu, had accomplished too many impossible feats in too little time. What other surprises did he have in store?

The devils tried to flee. The void surged as they attempted to break the force binding them and tear themselves away from that nightmare of a man.

Then, as if realizing the devils' fears, another unexpected event occurred. Just as they were about to break free from that formless energy, four Gates of Phases suddenly appeared behind the devils and Wang Yu.

And as the Gates fell upon the human and three devils, all four beings were transported elsewhere.

Back in the cursebinding spire, Avia stood transfixed as she observed what was happening beyond the Gates. As the devils attempted to escape, without hesitation, she used the Gate of Phases through the two-way portal created by the Wishing Coin elixir.

It had worked. She and Wang Yu had talked about this possibility before during their desperate flight—a hypothesis that was simple yet absurd, and now undeniably true.

The soul was the bridge between matter and void. Without a soul, one could not interact with the void—but the void would corrupt the soul, shatter it, and simultaneously twist mind and body into madness.

But Wang Yu... had no soul. That was why he could enter the void unscathed.

As for his ability to touch the void? That came from the power of the Chariot. It was a force projected from his flesh that was able to affect matter—and, somehow, also the void.

With the Chariot active, Wang Yu was able to interact with void entities. And if he were to disable that power, he became untouchable. Void entities couldn't directly interact with material existences like Wang Yu.

To the devils, he had become a dangerous threat: a man who they could not harm, but could harm them in return. Within the void, Wang Yu boasted a set of unique defenses.

If he merely wanted to protect himself, the devils could hardly do anything against him. But that wasn't Wang Yu's objective. His goal was to slaughter them all and rescue Mira in the process.

The void was too vast. If the devils escaped into its depths, he would never find them again.

He needed a battlefield. A place where he could bring his full strength to bear—even in the void. But did such a place really exist?

Surprisingly, it did. They even knew where it was located: Roland's hidden vault, that ancient fortress of stone floating in the void, surrounded by a domain where matter and void coexisted.

Wang Yu had once traveled there before, and that was where Avia had reclaimed the virtualized part of her body. She knew the coordinates to that hidden location.

Her role was to send the three devils and Wang Yu there by means of her Gates of Phases.

"Where... is this? Why is there a material domain here?!"

"Wait! This is Roland's vault! Only he could've created a domain like this in the void."

"The stairway is broken. Someone has already reached the vault... That woman, Avia Dovan! Her void affinity, the aura of the Key—she must have inherited it!"

Five took in his surroundings and discovered that they were standing atop some sort of stone structure.

The devils' bodies had manifested physically, and there was even the aura of the material world around them. The devil Five, with the wisdom and experience of an immortal, quickly came to a conclusion. There was only one place there could be: Roland's hidden vault in the void.

And when he noticed that the stairway leading to that treasure had gone missing, Five understood what had happened at once. The treasure had been claimed.

And who else could have done so other than that young woman whose affinity for the void tempted even these immortal devils? Who still gave off the aura of a Key?

And this man—this thing that had hurled itself into the void—was clearly the product of her making. A soulless creation, yet one that could interfere with the void itself!

This perfectly reasoned chain of logic—entirely divorced from the truth—led Five to one inevitable conclusion. His gaze locked on Wang Yu, who now stood firm in the distance.

Above Wang Yu's head hovered a pitch-black halo—the portal forged by the Wishing Coin elixir, anchoring Wang Yu in both realms.

"..."

Expressionless, Wang Yu fixed his gaze on the three devils—and on Mira's body, now possessed by Four. He could feel battlelust surging through his limbs, his fighting spirit and vitality boiling within. He took a deep breath as he prepared for the fight of his life.

Roland's vault was now an arena, a battleground where void and matter intermingled, where every technique could be used. Either he would slaughter the three devils, or they would kill him.

In his grip was the shattered starsteel blade. His blood, infused with fighting spirit, surged like a storm. Muscles exploded with power. With a thunderous step, Wang Yu charged, his halo gleaming like a black sun as he hurtled toward the devils.

"Stay away from him!"

The devils reached a unanimous decision. They drew upon void energy and bolted toward the edge of the stone platform, desperate to return to the domain of the void. Now that they believed Wang Yu to be the creation of the one who claimed Roland's legacy, they wanted no part in testing his power further.

"You're not getting away..."

Words spilled from Wang Yu in a low, frigid murmur. From the black halo above him, torrents of frenzied magic and void energy poured out, spreading like wildfire across the battleground.

Back in the cursebinding spire, though many were stunned by the spectacle unfolding in the void, the experienced wizards began taking action under Avia's calm command.

Dozens of spellcasters—wizards, grand wizards, and wizards who doubled as magicians—began channeling their strength through the two-way portal.

Though their power was severely weakened in the void and their precision all but lost, neither was necessary for their objective.

They were building a vast, sorcerous cage formed of countless overlapping spells and woven together into an impenetrable wall.

That prison closed in around the devils, cutting off their escape. Flight was no longer an option, at least for the moment.

"We'll have to fight that monster head-on. Three—you don't have enough power left. Focus on breaking the barrier. Four and I will either hold him off... or kill him."

Five turned to face Wang Yu, who charged toward him like a comet streaking across the battlefield. Loathe as he was to fight Wang Yu, it seemed as if he had no other choice.

Thankfully, even in this mingled realm of matter and void, they could still muster a vast quantity of void energy.

The void twisted the space around them. Under Five's will, dozens, then hundreds, of steel spears were conjured from thin air. They crashed down like a storm to impale the approaching man.

Wang Yu's blade danced in a blur. Each falling spear was deflected, shattered, or turned aside. Not a single one could penetrate his defenses.

He didn't slow. If anything, his momentum surged. The power of the Chariot extended from his body like invisible limbs, snatching spears from the air and hurling them back at the devils.

In response, Five raised a stone wall from the floor, thick and reinforced. The returned spears embedded deep into the stone, but none pierced through.

He stared at the still-charging Wang Yu and the rain of steel from high above. Spear after spear, each one useless. Then his eyes narrowed.

With a snap of his fingers, void energy converged around Wang Yu. The spears nearest him twisted, their shape and nature shifting until they became alchemical bombs in the shape of lances.

The resulting explosion swallowed Wang Yu in a torrent of flame and force. Even the falling spears were hurled away by the shockwave.

Then, a silhouette burst forth from the smoke—bloody, burned, but unbroken.

Wang Yu tore through the blaze like a beast. His chest had been blown open, layers of flesh torn away to expose sinew, muscle, and bone. His lips were gone; his mouth was down to teeth and gums. But he did not falter.

The blood in his bloodpool churned and boiled. Fresh blood surged forth from nowhere, brimming with life force and spreading over his wounds. Rather than heal him, the blood rebuilt him anew.

Like a storm in motion, Wang Yu charged forward, heedless of his injuries. He howled and shot toward the devils in a rain of blood.

At last, Four unleashed the energy he had been gathering. A massive serpent of mithril and adamantium descended from high above.

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes. Wizardry was as unfair as ever. What could he do against such a massive metal serpent?

He couldn't cleave it by force. Not with flesh, nor even with the razor edge of his shattered startsteel blade. Not unless...

He exhaled once, then invoked the power of the Chariot to slow the descending serpent just enough.

Then, he drove his blade into the halo above his head. When it emerged again, the sword had changed. It was black as night and imbued with the void.

Once, when Avia was just a magician-in-training, she had cast this very spell on a dagger to shatter the projection of a dark god. But it had never been used again; the original dagger had broken from the strain.

And Avia had since grown into a mage and full wizard.

Wang Yu's weapon, remarkable solely for its durability, served as the perfect vessel for such a spell. Resistant to both void and magic, Wang Yu's shattered starsteel blade bore the Voidsong enchantment with ease.

He recalled the Chariot's power and let the serpent fall. The blackened blade flashed. With no resistance, the massive construct was cleaved clean in two.

Wang Yu's feet struck the stone. Blood twisted around his body, forming unnatural limbs that clawed at the earth to drive him forward. Like a rabid hound, he hurtled toward the devils. He had come to kill; nothing would get in his way.