The End Part 4 & 5 Liang Yu's choice

"What is going on here?" An Xueyun watched in awe of the tornado like most of the others did. They kept a safe distance from it of course. One person actually was swept inside and burned to ash before getting even close to the actual flames. "How horrible!"

"Ye Xinghe..." Xia Yuning said just loud enough for them to hear her. "..I am so sorry."

"Sorry.. for what?" Ye Xinghe looked around trying to spot his parents. But a lot of people were missing so he assumed they had just escaped. "Have you seen my parents?"

"They.. they didn't make it." Xia Yuning said sadly. " A lot of people died in the fighting. I don't know what happened to the remains."

"They will not be recovered." Xia Xun said. He walked over to Tianyin. Only stopping a good distance from her disciples. "Who is inside the tornado?"

"Ling Tian is inside. The attack has been going on for quite some time." Tianyin said simply. "All that was left was just us two to fight him. Everything in the area.. was swept away."

"Swept away! They could have still been alive!" Ye Xinghe shouted. A few looking at him with pity. A grief-stricken young teen was not something they wanted to deal with at this time. "He murdered Shagguan... I can not stand by!"

Liang Yu's arms finally stopped moving. They were devoid of any flesh and fell to his sides limply. The blue-white bones caused a few to look at him oddly. He walked forward where a husk of a humanoid could be seen. It started to crumble right before everyone's eyes.

"Still alive though..." Liang Yu wrapped some flames around a little small purple speck that floated. Ling Tian had condensed his soul to a small dot. ".. a brilliant escape method." The remnant soul was sucked inside and joined the Steele for refinement.

*Woosh!* Ye Yue was released from his Internal Space. She was ready for combat while staring at all the people gathered around. Liang Yu forced his Flame Vortex Core qi to push his healing. No being able to move one's arms was pretty freaky.

"Now that this has been dealt with... we have other matters to deal with." Xia Xun spoke gravely. "Who will lead the empire? The Emperor and the majority of the royal family died."

"Don't know.. don't care." Liang Yu was walking away but was stopped by a pointed weapon. "Seriously?"

"Did you kill my parents?"

"Umm no, but I did see them die. It was like... they really didn't want to live since they were here and all and not somewhere else. Crazy thing. I could swear someone told them at one point to escape." Liang Yu rolled his eyes and sidestepped the weapon. A block of ice appeared stopping him next. "Seriously?"

"Why.. didn't you help them!?" Ye Xinghe said in furry. His eyes glowing golden.

"Not our job." A voice came from behind everyone. Liang Jian walked over with a few thousand people composed of the Dark Moon Family as well as the Academy. "The other matter has been taken care of cousin. This is the only one that remains."

"Then let's get out of here." Liang Yu felt a bout of dizziness but pushed it away. Then he felt it like a freight train. "The entire South... just vanished." Gold qi swirled around his entire body for a moment. The same as before, no one noticed it. "We need to move!"

"You are not going anywhere!" Ye Xinghe actually picked a fight at this time. The frost Halberd came around quickly but was stopped instantly. "Lil sis!"

An Xueyan stopped his attack. The little girl stared with anger that was almost adorable. If not for the intense flame surrounding her.

"Back off... now!" The little girl was not joking at all. "Bigger things are at work then you!"

"Little one, come on." Ye Yue called the girl. "We can't say more without making things worse."

"Come with us sis.. please." An Xueyan pleaded with her sister. But her sister only looked at at Ye Xinghe. "Haaa... maybe you will forgive me one day. Grandpa .. do it."

*Schup!* Old Xu sent a strike to the back of An Xueyun's neck. She dropped like a sack of potatoes and was scooped up.

The North Lord's Mansion people started to vacate the area as well. Ye Xinghe was the only one currently left behind. Trapped in his self-loathing and unconsolable.

"I will make them pay for this!" Ye Xinghe said with blood tears. His cultivation started to climb in response. "Mother.. Father.. this son will fix this!" But his declaration was for nothing.

*Pew!* A condensed beam of fire shot through the air puncturing Ye Xinghe in the heart. He dropped down dying completely alone. No friends, no family, and no companions. The flame ate away at both his flesh and soul.

*Shine!* The only thing remaining after moments was a tiny speck of light. The remains of his soul protected by the "Steele" that existed inside of him.

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Sometime later Aftermath-

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Liang Yu deployed the towers to everyone across the place. The Dark Moon family pulled back from everything going on in the country. The Entire area was self-sustaining as medicine with a large crop yield made them a central point for trade.

Liang Yu manned the central point of a large Rune setup. Only having two to three hours to actually relax before starting again. Each Steele had tons of energy but not like he could ever use it himself. He was still refining it along with what was found in the other towers after all this time.

The high-level demons had to be carefully killed inside his Flame Vortex Core. Not releasing a single one was the easy part. The hard part was the toll it took on his mind and soul.

Tianyin actually visited daily and helped man the Rune Protection. The two became close in a weird way. She observed the relationship that grew between him and Mingye with interest. It was more heartbreaking for her when the young woman died stopping an infiltration that tried to steal food.

The members of that little incursion caused their entire family to be wiped out. It was the best outcome instead of Liang Yu, nuking as he put it an entire city. Unable to enjoy his life during this time, he looked forward to every visitor that came through.

It came to know one's surprise when the Tianyin Guardian, as she was called asked to marry him to keep his spirits up she said.

Liang Jian, Linlin, and Lin Yu turned into perfect rulers and had no trouble easing tension with the outside countries. Slowly, under their leadership, the area remained stable. With only few attacks from people needing food. The population didn't grow much due to birth restrictions.

Lei Hong married An Xueyan when she became of age. Presiding over the Dark Moon Academy in the area teaching ethics and several other courses of study. The soul of Shangguan had disappeared to who knew where.

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Desperate Measures-

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"Have to hurry!" Liang Yu felt his body was getting stretched to the limit in every way. His Internal Space was breaking down infusing into the area around the Dark Moon Compound. The more he pushed, the less he felt ok but the more the Dimensional Collapse slowed down. "Damn It!"

He had been at it for hours already. Consuming every medicinal plant and elixirs available. A glow around his body appeared as memories of his original life started to resurface.

"You have to stop!" Shango's voice called from the distance. It was muffled and barely reaching Leroy at this juncture. "Focus less on the outer area..."

The God Towers shined in several locations around the Compound. Key points as they made a rune in the sky channeling qi from the surroundings. The people looked on in horror, as outside the wall, large sections of space started crumbling.

They were use to the reports over the years about this happening but other reports stated that it was pushed back several times with the area returning to normal.

With the broken section turning into a type of energy. Mostly that of qi itself made most of them terribly frighten. No one wanted to break down like that. Well.. no sane person.

Tianyin, Liang Jian, Old Xu, Linlin, Lin Yin, Lei Hong, and the others were outside the central point tower guarding Liang Yu. Unable to go inside, they continued to provide as much support as possible to help.

Channeling their qi along with most of the populace who were trained enough on the matters to do so.

"I.. can't keep it togethor!" Leroy grunted in pain. His Astral Sense condensing a little bit more as he felt his dantians cracking a little. The Steele's were crushed inside of him to provide additional energy, no point in keeping them for study when everything was collapsing. "This has to work!"

*Ping!* The Flame Vortex Core erupted in power. Flooding the dantians with additional energy as it also started to suck in qi from outside the setup.

His very soul reaching out to anyone listening for help. Shango was to far away but the deity that actually presides over this Dimension heard the cry of his soul.

A hand reached out of the void of the Dimensional Collapse and grabbed hold of him. Flesh and blood breaking away as he provided power to the runes even further but his soul was snatched away. The only thing left was a shell of his blue-white Skelton that still did it's task.

It looked to the sky defiant with a haunting look. The hands moving about continuously operating the Rune Protection. As per the will of Leroy itself.

The entire Dark Moon Compound was bathed in light as it moved through its Home Dimension. The turbulent energy on the outside pushing against the Pavilion Protection but not breaching it.

From the soul of Leroy,a few other items left from him. They shot into the void heading to different Pantheons as payment. Even Deities needed an offering to help a hopeless situation.

A lone figure appeared in the void draped in gold robes. Destiny looked out at the result and smiled. A dimension that was Fated to fail, had more survivors than thought possible.

"Ah Leroy, such promise. The same as the others. It is best matters are moving forward more. I can only wonder what would have happened if they all would have come before that one year." Destiny muttered into the void. A golden light filling the void as a tiny Darklight started to grow. A planted seed to allow a new Dimension to grow in its place. "As per the rules, none may interfere in the development of this place."

As the words left Destiny's mouth, translucent energy stretched to the very corners of the collapsed dimension. Blocking members of any Pantheon and the Unending Army for stepping into the place.

All but one. The Dimension was afterall the jurisdiction of the Goddess Xiwangmu. The goddess hands outstretched and she recreated a copy of the entire Dimension. Placing it right at the border of the new one.

"Just a piece to see what he will do here." Xiwangmu reached into the distance grabbing a piece of Leroy's soul before she moved it to far. "He may not be Rexford or Hector, but I want to see how he fares this time around."

"Do as you will." Destiny said neutrally. The hood from the robes so low not a single bit of the facial features could be seen. If Xiwangmu had seen this look, she would have had second thoughts. 'Enough to cause a change in his soul later! How delicious!' Destiny licked its lips. Somewhat the way Rexford was none to do at times.

From the robes of Destiny, little specs fell down. Each spec containing countless souls that would receive a new chance of life. Not a single one from the Dimension that use to be here. All from different places which would then bring new ideas and different laws with them.

Xiwangmu's power of Creation was something that borderline on blurring the lines of certain Deity class restrictions. Her plan was something only she knew and Leroy would help her break to new heights. Rewards were plentiful with her after all.

After they developed of course.

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Un-determined Amount of Time-

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(Everything in this chapter so forth is the first chapter of the Tales of Demons & Gods first chapter)

Liang Yu felt something odd happening to him all of a sudden. He remembered establishing his pavilion deep in the wilderness with his forces before things went black. He defintely remembers the man god Shango saying something in a whisper about the Dimension Collapsing or something.

The Deity at least gave a small notice before things happened. Not having reached God/Titan Level of power, the Champion Liang Yu could not resist what happened.

But he knew the pavilion that was set up survived. Which contained the strength to grow into its own Dimension given time. It was smart for himself and those he was Connected with to create safeguards just in case.

It was easy to tell this place was a little different. As well as his overall characteristics weakening some.

His soul felt off. Looking inward he tried to relax a bit. This allowed the owner of the body Shen Yue to regain control. Senses spread out a little to quickly against others. Checking if anyone else came with was better to be done for later.

A feeling of vertigo hit the moment he looked around. A change in body height and senses for one. It started the moment he looked at an orange-haired boy. He rembered that boy all too well. He was Nie Lie.

Nie Lie. He swears he saw an older version of Nie Lie breakdown into particles of energy and enter the younger one. Which was something that happy only when "Destiny" was at work or someone was using "Time" based abilities.

Nie Lie looked all around the classroom confused as can be. As he made sense of what happened to him, he missed something happening to someone else in the room.

"Ughh." Shen Yue groaned. His head starting throbbing in pain. As if lighting shot across it with the stabbing of an otherwordly force. Rubbing his temples did nothing as he focused on the cause of it. 'Why is my "Soul Realm" causing me so much pain?!' Looking in on himself did not end well. "What is that?!"

Inside Shen Yue was a Flame Vortex of epic proportions. It expanded burning away inside his soul. Otherworldly essences mixing with the structure of the young man's soul. The burned residue was pulled into the "Core" of the vortex of blue flame.

A dragon slowly appeared out of "Star Energy" from the core. The light was as bright as a star in the sky. It outstretched itself with the wings pushing on the boundaries of Shen Yue's weak little body and soul.

Each area it touched sent a boom Thunder into the meridians and neuro network of the young cultivator.

"Kuff!" Shen Yue coughed up Spiritual Blood. The injuries were severe as can be. Considering the strength differences in the souls involved. Luckily, his classmates and the teacher who happened to be his aunt were paying attention to other matters. An argument between her and the student Nie Lie drew everyone's attention. 'Can't they see I need help here!?'

His pleading thoughts went to know avail. As the man-god Shango was at work. Rewarding his Champion Leroy (Liang Yu) for a job well done in the last Dimension. Shango allowed events to play out undisturbed as Leroy dealt with the soul of Shen Yue.

"They are preoccupied," Leroy said. His hand grabbed the young teen by the throat destroying it in the process, with a toss Shen Yue was sent towards the Flame Vortex. "It will be over soon! Well for you anyway!" He gave pursuit as the flames started spinning. 'I have the feeling this is gonna hurt just as bad as all the other times!'

Leroy was right. His soul was extremely powerful and the process of refining it this time was different compared to usual. Especially with the Star Dragon that was added to his soul from the last Dimension. He just had to use the resources of all those dead Star Martial Artists in his Internal Space for later. Couldn't let them go to waste. Who knew this would have happened.

Well, a few Deities knew but they had no reason to tell a Champion of his status that.

Shen Yue's cultivation was completely abolished as this process unfolded. Which really was nothing at all. His mind and memories were devoured into Leroy who took much longer to break down. The souls merged in a way.

The same as before in the previous Dimension, Leroy was stripped of his name, the name he was accustom to Liang Yu was also muddled a little and he would go by Shen Yue. Which helped to respond to the right names when moving about.

Which was good, since he would most likely write down his name as Leroy on paperwork and whatnot.

As Shango had fun on the outside, Shen Yue went over the differences of the martial ability in this Dimension from the current memories available. Which helped refresh the information he knew from the series itself. It had been a very long time since he read it over. Or viewed any of the adaptations.

Small gaps would slow down work but that was to be expected. Improvement and support was something the Flame Vortex Core reveled in. He would have to focus on those matters before even thinking about Aspect setup.

"Gotta get through the pain!" Shen Yue groaned. The breakdown was just taking to long for his taste. He could swear Shango needed to add Torture to his Aspect list! "Back at the White Realm, which is the first one. Won't take long for me to get through that really. My residual energy will take care of that easy enough once I have the time. But I need to use the other leftover energy to increase the Soul Realm of this body to the highest level. Or pretty high up anyway."

The Soul Realm was equivalent of the mindscape, mind space, soul space, however, you wanted to call it. A different dimension within oneself. In Star Martial God Technique the Dantian could be accessed this way. In other places, A Palace of energy and whatnot could be. As well as a type of spirit point that coincided with meridians or the pathways in a martial artist.

The bottom was the Red Soul Realm. It was the weakest and most common of them all. Next was the Orange Soul Realm, which only had a slight improvement than the former. Soul was a little more durable. But barely so.

Yellow Soul Realm actually had a significant increase in its abilities. Soul more durable and the recovery to it improved.

The Green Soul Realm increased one's natural learning speed. Giving them a bit of an edge in understanding corresponding techniques that went with their soul. Demon Spiritualist that fused with a compatible Demon Spirit found their growth a little better.

The Cyan Soul Realm allowed one to cultivate faster as well as take in medicine better. The mind tended to be better but the emotional state was weak. Prone to depression due to their view on matters.

The Azure Soul Realm contained everything the previous contained. As well as an increase to the mentality in doing certain acts. Can be confused with being extremely goal-oriented at times by others.

As for the Indigo Realm, no one alive currently had one and records were scarce about it.

"The Azure seems just perfect." Shen Yue grinned. "I mean, it is a type of blue and my fire and dragon are blue. Match made in heaven!" As his Qi was broke down and collapsed to fit with the current Dimension, he felt the change in his soul realm take place.

Red turned to orange then to yellow. With a flicker of his Flame Vortex Core, the area started to shimmer. His Soul Realm went to green then to Cyan in an instant. With a simple nudge, it changed to the Azure Soul Realm with no real signs of stopping.

"Un un!" Shen Yue put a stop to the next change right then and there. "Not tempting things and wasting that energy. That is just dumb." The energy was then pushed around to reinforce his Soul Realm altogether. "Have to protect against prying eyes and shit. Plus..."

Shen Yue turned to the Metal Seed that floated in his Internal Space. It served him well developing that in the last Dimension. One of the best defensive techniques he knew that improved his body. And as memory served, there was this thing called the Thunder God Meteorite Sword perfect for the picking to make it even better.

"Thunder Aspect will be easy thanks to this. Or should I really just call it Sound?" Remembering about time, energy started to swirl around once more.

The energy was sent that way to the Metal Seed as it spun in place. He would not cultivate this with the body in class. That would be crazy. He had a plan for that later, that was a long shot but would work just fine.

As this went on, Nie Lie picked an altercation with Shen Xiu again after she said something that set him off. The anger from his previous life clouding decision-making skills, which technically was this life since he travelled through time,

This resulted in him having to stand at the back of the class. Then a few more students joining him in that regard. Something about a bet or something. A total of six kids were there now. Only two of them actually containing any relevance as far as Shen Yue remembered.

"Well.. that is just something else." Shen Yue blinked at them before looking at his "aunt" Shen Xiu. "It is what it is I guess."

His mind dived into what happened the first time he went through this process. Remembering the different choices made.

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Another Life Recap-

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Hello Champion, I am Shango. A human ascendant God." The proclaimed man-god said. "Your arrival was an accident as you can tell. As well as that of all your friends. You were not supposed to end up here."

"Well send me home then." Leroy said quickly. That was his actual name. Not really mindful that the individual before him was supposed to be a god. A small part still thought he was hallucinating a bit. But a good portion of him was wary about the floating man-god blatant response. "That frown is telling me that won't happen."

"Correct." Shango said. "Your friend Nguyen was supposed to come here. You were supposed to go to..." The man-god stopped talking and listened to the surroundings of the soul. The waves from the Flame Vortex inside Leroy was growing quickly from his influence. ".. you have cultivated already as well as removed the soul of the original from Destiny. You can not leave anymore."

"To be fair.. it was him or me. But would I have really been able to go home just like that?" Something said that was not the case. Well more to it really.

"Once becoming a God or a Titan, yes." Shango's eyes looked really sad for some reason. Looking at Shen Yue as if he was a long loss family member. 'Haa, we could not protect them but this is better than death. At least I believe so. Maybe the other Deities are having better luck helping their Champions. We didn't even have the benefit of stopping in the Waiting Area before sending them all to the next Dimension. The Unending Army can not be making a move so soon. Every Deity is falling in line for now. Right?'

Shen Yue stopped reminiscing. Thinking how he already took the soul here and ate it. Thinking about those he left behind was a little saddening. But it faded quickly. The same as last time.

Which was the thing about every Champion, theirs souls were just different in that regard. Some did need a little help to make it easier. Such as Shen Yue (Leroy) who needed personal parts suppressed from making mistakes.