Volume 1, Chapter 134: Defeating Tartarus

Behind them, Tartarus and Carmilla were evenly matched in speed.

But how could they possibly let Tregear have his way?

The two attacked almost simultaneously. A terrifying storm of energy erupted behind Tregear, sending him hurtling far into the distance.

Immediately afterward, Carmilla turned her spearhead toward Tartarus. “You damned outsider. My strength hadn’t recovered before, but now I’m going to make you pay!”

Before her words had even faded, frightening dark energy exploded against Tartarus’s chest, tearing open a series of spatial fissures.

Tartarus reacted just as swiftly. The power of destruction instantly gathered in his hand, compressed, and burst forth!

Boom!

The two torrents of energy collided violently, unleashing a thunderous explosion that caused even the space surrounding the Eternal Core to tremble.

Caught in the violent blast at the center, the two figures were forced backward together. Then, with remarkable tacit understanding, they charged toward the Eternal Core once more.

“Don’t even think about it!”

Two overlapping voices exploded simultaneously beside their ears.

As they raced toward the Eternal Core, Carmilla and Tartarus unleashed attack after attack at each other.

For a time, neither gained the upper hand.

But Tregear, ever observant, noticed that Carmilla was clearly at a disadvantage.

After all, Tartarus was an Ultimate Life Form, possessing an inexhaustible supply of power.

As for Carmilla, it seemed she was already fighting with everything she had.

She was prepared to face death without fear.

If she could not succeed, she would die trying!

“Cough, cough…”

Tregear coughed up two mouthfuls of blood and slowly rose to his feet.

He had already been struggling after forcibly withstanding one of Tartarus’s attacks of destructive power. Now, after enduring the combined blow of the two, his injuries were no less severe than those he had suffered after battling the King of Ultra and Reiga.

It seemed he truly had no choice but to activate Plan B.

A bitter smile curled across Tregear’s lips, but his eyes gleamed with resolute determination.

Unless one was driven into a desperate corner, how could one ever know whether a miracle might occur?

“Heh heh heh. I never thought there would come a day when even I would believe in miracles.”

Tregear gave a self-mocking laugh. At last, he stopped hesitating, closed his eyes, and reached for the final power hidden deep within his body.

It was the power of chaos, forcibly unleashed at the cost of burning his soul.

“Carmilla, don’t forget our agreement.”

The two figures in his vision gradually blurred. Tregear’s consciousness sank into darkness, yet a surge of energy erupted from his body—one so terrifying that both Tartarus and Carmilla could not help but turn toward it in shock.

For it was a fluctuation of power no weaker than that of the Eternal Core.

“...!!”

Tartarus turned around in horror and cried out, “What’s going on? Wasn’t Grimdo inside your body sealed away by the King of Ultra and Reiga?”

Tregear did not answer. He merely raised one hand.

The chaotic power pouring from his body seemed to have found an outlet. It rushed toward his fingertips, gathering into a dark celestial calamity that radiated an aura of death.

And its target was Tartarus.

Tregear’s consciousness grew heavier and heavier. Summoning every last ounce of strength, he finally forced out a voice so weak it was almost inaudible.

“Carmilla... don’t forget our agreement... otherwise... you will never be able to...”

“You will never be able to see Trigger again...”

The soul-whisper from that day echoed through Carmilla’s mind. She froze for an instant, an extraordinarily complicated expression flickering in her eyes.

The Trigger Tregear referred to was the Trigger she knew—not Kengo Manaka as he was now.

Tregear had told her that he knew where the true Trigger was, and that he knew how she could find him.

Thus, he had made an agreement with her: so long as she kept him alive, he would tell her how to meet Trigger.

She had agreed, but she was not certain whether Tregear’s words were true.

After a brief silence, Carmilla lifted her beautiful head and replied, “I haven’t forgotten!”

“Good.”

Tregear smiled, and the weight in his heart finally lifted.

Because he had been lying to Carmilla all along.

But that no longer mattered. So long as he could survive, he would ask for nothing more.

“Tartarus, you’re still too inexperienced to control me.”

His final thought enveloped Tartarus, while Tregear’s voice grew weaker and weaker.

His body, meanwhile, began to crystallize at a speed visible to the naked eye, transforming into the shape of a stone statue.

It was a sign that his energy had been completely exhausted.

Yet the dark star at his fingertip shone ever more brilliantly.

At last, Tartarus panicked beneath the shroud of death.

“You lunatic!”

With an enraged curse, he opened the Narak dimension without hesitation, preparing to escape.

But how could Tregear let him have his way?

His finger moved slightly, and the star formed from his final strength shot out like an arrow. It pierced through space and locked onto Tartarus’s chest.

Crack!

The instant its power erupted, Tartarus’s chest was torn open. Accompanied by a pained growl, a vast spray of golden blood and flesh burst outward.

Within the blood mist, a golden heart was exposed. It pulsed slowly, emitting a rhythmic heartbeat.

It was none other than the Absolute Heart.

“Tregear!!!!”

With a voice that roared like a demon from the depths of hell, Tartarus suddenly raised his head. Terrifying golden fury blazed from his eyes, while the energy around his entire body fluctuated wildly.

But before he could unleash his power of destruction, another cloud of blood exploded from his chest, blasting straight through his torso.

“Gaaahhh!”

Tartarus’s features twisted horribly in agony, and his body convulsed violently.

Even so, the dark star embedded in his chest still did not fade. It continued to flicker with dazzling auroral light, gathering strength for the next wave of destruction.

“Die!”

How could Carmilla let such an opportunity slip away?

She brought both hands together before her chest, then suddenly spread them apart, releasing an immense surge of dark power.

Even her beautiful eyes had turned black as night, seething with an intensely violent darkness.

“You...!”

Tartarus roared furiously, but as his mouth opened and closed, what poured from it was not coherent speech, but two mouthfuls of golden blood mist.

At the same time, the power of Narak fully unfolded behind him, transforming into a world of glittering golden light.

But before Tartarus could react, Carmilla’s dark power had already struck. It slammed him directly into the Narak dimension, and he vanished within it.

Yet Tregear’s power had already burrowed deep into his body like a bone-devouring parasite. The instant it erupted, it would completely devour his life.

For a moment, the entire space fell silent.

As she gazed at the Eternal Core before her and began walking toward it, Carmilla did not forget to cast out a strand of power and inject it into Tregear’s body, which had completely transformed into stone.

As she stared at the Eternal Core, her heart surging with excitement, Carmilla likewise did not forget to send a stream of power into Tregear’s petrified body.

This power could protect him temporarily, preventing him from losing his life once his remaining energy had completely dispersed.