**Chapter 346: Bai Yu’s Final Strike, the d*ath of Nightmare**
Honestly, everyone could see that Nightmare’s impressive skills weren’t entirely her own. It was clear she was tapping into the power of some existence, evident from the massive Ghost Gate in the distance and the staff in her hand. Without those two, she would absolutely be hanging from Doctor’s punching bag!
But hey, borrowing someone’s power still counts as her skill, right? If she can summon strength to k*ll, then props to her!
The kicker is that, in her current state, Nightmare couldn’t hold a candle to Bai Yu. The question was whether she could pay an even greater price to summon an even mightier force.
Like, say, fully opening the Ghost Gate behind her and turning the moon in the sky into a bl**d moon?
Sure, the bl**d moon would only cover this area, much like a barrier Nightmare created while borrowing strength. But imagine if the moon turned into a bl**d moon without needing a barrier? Now that would be something!
But that wasn’t what they were considering. All they could do was watch and pray Bai Yu would win.
If Bai Yu lost, they’d forget all about missions and just focus on saving their hides.
During this precious time, Bai Yu didn’t just sit around watching Nightmare recover.
She took the opportunity to do two main things.
First, she tried to seal the Ghost Gate so Nightmare couldn’t borrow its power any longer.
Second, she worked to annihilate the three Evil Gods left behind by Li Tianan after he kicked the bucket, while also devouring the corpses and Evil Ghosts around her.
Attacking Nightmare’s main body wasn’t very rewarding; as long as she wasn’t fully obliterated, she could throw up a moonlight barrier in less than half a second.
That punch earlier definitely made her more cautious. She might sacrifice some attack power to increase the number of barriers she could throw up.
She was using the power of the Dark Moon God, which was leagues away from the actual deity, so both her offense and defense were somewhat diluted.
Her peak limit was about two or three barriers making up a suit of armor.
Gambling on whether she could take another shot sounded risky; it was better to play it safe and disrupt her formation instead.
She wiped out two of the Evil Gods, and in no time, she had devoured nearly a hundred Evil Ghosts.
If the Dark Moon God’s power was about assimilation, hers was all about devouring, and boy, had her powers skyrocketed after consuming those spirits!
It proved her judgment was spot on—after losing all that strength, the once solid Ghost Gate now looked like a mirage, and the bl**d moon in the sky had dimmed significantly. This was a serious blow to Nightmare.
Let’s not even get started on that punch earlier. As long as she held her ground now, Nightmare’s defeat was all but assured.
Not to mention, her recent upgrades were definitely on point.
As useful as bl**d Threads and Tentacles were for support, they were useless against the Dark Moon God. The God’s assimilative capabilities were too strong; anything attacking her would turn into moonlight and be absorbed, boosting the enemy instead.
So against the Dark Moon God, those tools were only good as one-time counters.
Like Nightmare’s armor—breaking through would require a trade-off. Nightmare’s attacks would work the same way—exchange a bl**d Thread for a hit, while her main body looked for an opportunity.
So the main body was crucial; if she could swap powers one for one, her main body would find a chance like this.
Using the Dark Moon God’s power? She’d match it with a one-on-one bl**d Thread counter.
Once she found the opportunity, Nightmare would be in for it.
When it came to ultimate showdowns, she had a thousand ways to squash Nightmare like a bug.
Put simply, the Dark Moon God’s power was potent on both offense and defense, with massive attack strength and formidable defensive abilities. This meant that using bl**d Threads only traded blows—it’d enhance Nightmare’s strength after attacks were assimilated.
Nightmare’s instant moonlight assimilation was massively over-the-top, making even the strongest defensive gear evaporate like it was made of paper. Both physical and magical defenses were toast.
The Dark Moon God’s power was on an entirely different level. At least among the strong Bai Yu had encountered, none could hold a candle to it. Those who could even brush against the Dark Moon God were usually just as strong but risked being one-layer deeper in the assimilation.
This is why she had to pull out her sword, “Night Bright.”
With the backing of another deity, Night Bright was no slouch against the Dark Moon God.
After being enhanced with that deity’s entire soul, Night Bright could at least withstand the Dark Moon God’s assimilation, but even then, it’d take a severe toll on its durability.
Without a weapon to withstand the assimilation, things could turn sticky really quick.
Fighting against Nightmare had already led to multiple weapons being rendered useless.
Then Nightmare fell silent. Suddenly, she raised her hand, forming a short blade of moonlight and stabbed it into her own heart.
If her physical form wouldn’t help, then she’d switch to her spirit form.
Her soul was quite strong; after her body died, her spirit still lingered, not much weaker than an Evil God’s body.
The only reason she hadn’t done this sooner was that she still had family; she couldn’t just live around them as a ghost every day, could she?
Centered around Nightmare, it was like the moon was crashing down. A radius of almost a kilometer was engulfed by moonlight, resembling a field that had been plowed.
All the life force Bai Yu hadn’t had the chance to absorb was gobbled up by Nightmare.
If she didn’t push back now, she’d lose her chance for good.
She hadn’t anticipated how thoroughly Bai Yu understood the Dark Moon God’s powers.
She even knew just how terrifying Bai Yu’s strength was, calculating she had at least a seventy percent chance of winning.
Too bad life likes to play pranks. Without familiarizing herself with the Dark Moon God’s powers beforehand, Nightmare confronted Bai Yu, who was a master in that area, flipping her odds upside down.
She wanted to stall for time and use her life force to open the Ghost Gate using Li Tianan’s daughter, but Bai Yu wouldn’t give her that luxury.
“You use the Dark Moon God’s power, and you will face backlash.”
Now that the battle was in full swing, Bai Yu finally spoke up.
With the Dark Moon God’s nature, it was impossible for her to simply lend out her power. Even if she did, there would surely be a catch involved. Those who borrowed power had to pay back multiple times over, even risking their lives to the Dark Moon God.
Bai Yu honestly preferred Nightmare to use her own strength. That way, no matter how the fight turned out, the Dark Moon God could gain nothing.
At this point, Nightmare couldn’t take in another word. All she wanted was to take Bai Yu down.
Transforming into a ghostly form, Nightmare was unaffected by this transition. Holding her staff, she flew into the sky, her body radiating a faint glow. Combined with the brilliant moonlight, she looked like a flawless crystal figure.
In contrast, she looked far more like a proper deity, a “righteous” one in stark contrast to the Evil Gods.
Raising her staff—this was the key to tapping into the Dark Moon God’s power.
At that moment, the bl**d moon in the sky deepened in color, as if it were about to drip bl**d down, while the pure moonlight cascaded with hints of crimson.
Moonlight poured down like a torrential rain; she couldn’t believe Bai Yu would manage to evade it.
While single-target damage would hardly faze Bai Yu, going for a wide-area attack made a lot more sense. In fact, continuous area attacks were even better!
Bai Yu whirled her long kn*fe, slicing through every bit of moonlight that fell upon her. Still, her weapon quickly faced assimilation, forcing her to use bl**d Threads to form a semi-circle in the air to block attacks, buying time to conjure more long knives behind her—one broke, so she’d just swap for another.
From the outside, Bai Yu looked quite messy, but in truth, she wasn’t panicking.
Nightmare’s current state couldn’t last long at all.
The issue wasn’t just the moonlight downpour; it was what happened when that moonlight hit the ground, assimilating it into moonlight and forming a formation.
This formation was actually suppressing her power—it was specifically designed to deal with Evil Ghosts!
The ground was pockmarked from the assimilation, and the glow of the formation could be faintly seen amongst the dirt.
Nightmare’s eyes became wild—since she couldn’t beat Bai Yu head-on, she would outlast her!
Bai Yu looked as though she hadn’t taken a scratch, but that was far from the truth.
The bl**d Threads she had burned through didn’t just come from thin air—they were part of her body! The more she used, the weaker she became!
This was a severe drawback of an Evil Ghost’s body, something Bai Yu couldn’t escape regardless of how strong she was.
Growing stronger with an Evil Ghost’s body meant shouldering its inherent weakness.
She could choose to fight without the bl**d Threads, but without them, she’d be helpless against the moonlight.
Bai Yu had already recognized this problem. If she continued this way, she would indeed fall into a passive position.
Amidst the storm, Bai Yu’s gaze shifted.
While defending, she charged toward the Ghost Gate.
In the sky, Nightmare sneered. This ghost gate wasn’t a solid entity; it was like an input station supplying her power. As long as Bai Yu didn’t find Li Tianan’s daughter, she wouldn’t be able to affect the Ghost Gate at all.
By the time Bai Yu did find her, she’d be weakened significantly.
What she didn’t realize was that Bai Yu didn’t seem concerned with the Ghost Gate; she was simply trying to put some distance between them.
“You dolt.”
Nightmare saw that Bai Yu just wanted to escape the grand formation. As for the moonlight storm? There was no avoiding that; no matter how fast she moved, it wouldn’t save her.
This rain-like moonlight was controlled by her will; with just a thought, she could ensure it followed Bai Yu even if she darted off a few kilometers in a second.
And strangely, she felt like Bai Yu’s defenses had weakened a bit. Her movements seemed slower, her black armor had become somewhat translucent, and her attacks visibly lost power.
But even in this state, she could keep up with Bai Yu; yes, the number of those “raindrops” was massive, but their strength had waned significantly.
Nightmare initially thought Bai Yu looked weak because the bl**d Threads had been assimilated too much, overwhelming her body and trapping her in a fatal cycle. Yet, something felt off, and she couldn’t quite pinpoint the source of her unease.
Successfully increasing her output against Bai Yu, she decided to crush whatever tricks Bai Yu might be contemplating!
After all, with the Dark Moon God’s “absorption” ability, she was effectively invincible.
All she needed was sustenance! Even the starlight radiating from the ground Bai Yu stood on could be absorbed, especially the bl**d Threads—those provided the most power.
Bai Yu was being drained, and that drained power was restoring Nightmare. So as long as she could stall, victory was a lock.
Just then, as Nightmare pressed her attack, she caught sight of Bai Yu flinging her long kn*fe away. It exploded in midair, dispersing into a mass of bl**d Threads, buying her a fraction of a second.
It was in that almost nonexistent moment that Bai Yu’s body transformed into black mist and merged into the ground.
Only then did Nightmare suddenly realize something was amiss.
But it was far too late—the ground beneath her morphed into a pitch-black void, from which a massive dragon head, over twenty meters long, burst forth. It resembled a fish leaping out of the water to catch its prey. The enormous dragon head clamped down on Nightmare and refused to let go.
The sheer intensity of that dragon’s head was staggering; Nightmare’s enhanced barriers and defenses couldn’t assimilate even a fifth of its power in their mutual dissolution.
In that darkness, nightmare felt a chill in her chest.
Almost translucent from weakness, Bai Yu plunged a blade deep into her chest, slicing away the staff she held in her hand as if it were nothing.
This sleek blade surged within her, ravenously consuming the life force she had just swallowed, along with her essence.
Without her physical form and the Dark Moon God’s powers backing her, Nightmare was at best on the level of an Evil Spirit. While not weak, she was no match for Bai Yu in a one-on-one situation; the power disparity was simply too vast.
“So this is how it ends.”
They were nearly touching, though separated by just that kn*fe.
Nightmare’s voice was weak; even she had to admit that Bai Yu was a crazier gambler than she ever was.
She finally understood Bai Yu’s strategy—she had only pretended to be weak. Bai Yu had cleverly conditioned the battlefield, relocating all her bl**d Threads to gather at her feet.
Her earlier distance was just a cover for her attempt to break the Ghost Gate and search for Li Tianan’s daughter. As everything converged, she had bought just enough time to shift her main body and launch a thunderous strike.
In this process, Bai Yu had borrowed two significant risks.
First, her main body, without the protection of those bl**d Threads, could have been seriously hurt by the moonlight. Secondly, she gambled everything on gathering her bl**d Threads—if Nightmare figured it out and turned her moonlight against her, she’d suffer serious damage.
So, it was all or nothing—a true gamble.
But then again, it was totally Bai Yu’s style.
Others might prefer at least an eighty percent chance of success, while Bai Yu considered fifty percent stable, forty percent a chance worth taking, and even thirty percent a shot worth attempting!
