Chapter 2518 Theseus

"Perish."

Time resumed.

As Red Lotus came to the first thing he instinctively did was complete and activate his strongest defensive Killer Move, "I have no idea if Spectral Soul followed through, betrayed me or both!"

Just as he was bracing for the worst…nothing happened.

Even the World Shaking Kamehameha that would have severely, if not fatally, wound him did not happen.

Red Lotus surveyed the surroundings, "I detect an intense Killing Path Aura, I guess Spectral Soul followed through after all."

Much to Red Lotus's surprise, Spectral Soul had pulled through and completed the mission.

As Red Lotus turned towards Spectral Soul, he saw an odd clarity return to his eyes.

"It seems Wu Shuai was controlling or at least manipulating Spectral Soul in some way, thankfully Spectral Soul managed to overcome it." Red Lotus thought to himself.

Meanwhile,

Spectral Soul's mind was no longer under Wu Shuai's influence,

"Son of a bitch! That Wu Shuai was able to prevent me from thinking critically the entire time! He made my desires takeover, thankfully my instinct to be cautious was higher than my desire to be savage."

Spectral Soul decided not to reveal his unfortunate state and just chalked this up to a favourable fortune.

"Should we investigate the remains?" Spectral Soul asked, "Thinking about it, this was too easy, but I still rather be sure that is or isn't him."

Red Lotus thought for a minute and nodded to continue.

The pair cautiously walked towards the Colossal, crumbling apart and returning the Elements to their natural state.

Without a pilot, the Colossal had nothing to hold it together but due to the sheer size of it, there was no doubt that it would take some time for it to fall apart naturally.

The pair entered through a crack in the legs.

And upon entering they immediately furrowed their brows.

The first thing they encountered was a corpse, but not just the one.

"There must be hundreds of them!" Red Lotus looked up and down the hallway, which was completely littered with corpses.

Spectral Soul took a deep whiff of the air, "Thousands actually."

The pair made their way up through the collapsing body of the Colossal.

"Quite ingenious of Fang Yuan to setup his Killer Move in a way that would make use of Mortals." (I'm using the word mortal here to describe anyone below Rank 9)

Spectral Soul remarked he was quite impressed by the magnificent and efficient usage of Mortals, "Each one is strategically placed so that they can produce a resonance effect, making their contribution greater than the sum of their parts!"

No one had close to the number of Heaven Path Dao Marks that Fang Yuan possessed, and thus, nor did they have a body that could host non-conflicting Dao Marks, hence, a Killer Move on the scale and strength of the Colossal was unwielder by anyone other than Fang Yuan!

But! One could mimic the effects of having an unconflicting Dao Mark body, by dividing up the work amongst hundreds or thousands of people.

Red Lotus also admired Fang Yuan's efficient use of manpower, "Not a single person's contribution would be wasted, nor would anyone person be overtaxed, there seems to have been overhead room built in as well to ensure that there would be no burden that could cause fatality."

Though Red Lotus doubted Fang Yuan's seemingly 'kind' intentions, "Most likely he rather a smooth operating machine rather than one that was on the precipice of breaking down at any moment."

"Indeed," Spectral Soul cackled, "Too bad he encountered me!"

A grin spread across Spectral Soul's chest, "Before you stopped Time I wasn't able to sense the Life within the Colossal but as soon as their sensing arrays were blocked I could smell it…the Living Beings held within."

Spectral Soul's smile as he recalled the battle had a devious, malicious and bloodthirsty savagery hidden within.

"He's becoming more and more unrestrained with his desires," Red Lotus thought to himself, "His desires are leaking out."

Red Lotus wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Damnit," Spectral Soul cursed in his mind, "What's wrong with me?"

He too had noticed the abnormality that was plaguing his mind.

"My desires keep growing further and further out of control, I don't know if this is a result of the body or of the battle with Wu Shuai."

The pair soon reached the head,

Upon entering they saw a few bodies scattered around a singular chair at the center.

It was obvious that Wu Shuai would have sat at the center and piloted the colossal from there.

The chair had its back turned towards the 2 Venerbales.

Cautiously the pair began to approach the chair, but not 3 steps,

"Congratualtions!" the chaired immediately spun around revealing…

"You!" Red Lotus exclaimed, "How can it be you!?"

Sitting on the chair a Red Mechanical Suit was staring back Red Lotus and Spectral Soul.

It was 'Peng Da' but Red Lotus knew he didn't have such capabilities even with Thieveing Heaven's Inheritance.

"So you're still scheming something huh," Red Lotus squinted his eyes as he stared daggers at 'Peng Da', "Thieveing Heaven Demon Venerable!"

The face mask on the Red Suit lifted off, revealing Thieveveing Heaven's smirking face.

"Welcome Red Lotus Demon Venerable and Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. I am not Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, but rather a collection of Will, Intelligence and Memories.

The 2 Venerables gave a slightly confused glance at each other,

"You're probably wondering how that is any different from just being Thieveing Heaven." Thieving Heaven interjected before their combined thoughts could be vocalized.

"I guess the field of idenity metaphysics hasn't made an ounce of progress in the last couple millenia," 'Thieveing Heaven' shook his head "I am not Peng Da nor am I Thieving Heaven, you can call me Theseus."