Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

”He developed absolute control authority over all professionists. Any professionist who changed class via the Exchange Stone Pillar, and even mutant creatures contaminated by the professionist system—their life and death are all decided in a single thought of the Dominator!”

”So the outcome is actually very simple...”

Lin Haifeng kept talking, but his voice grew colder and colder.

”Right after the Augus incident ended, another Lin Haotian appeared. There’s no way the Dominator didn’t notice something wrong, but he held back... until Lin Haotian fully grew up and came before him, only then did the Dominator use his final Deadly Weapon.”

”He used the lives of all professionists in the world, even Lin Haotian’s own life, to threaten Lin Haotian, forcing him to betray the Demon Lord! And note this: although the Demon Lord reincarnated Lin Haotian, it’s very likely he didn’t set up any countermeasure. In other words, Lin Haotian’s betrayal came at no cost.”

”If it were you, what would you do?”

Hearing Lin Haifeng’s question, Wen Yu let out a sigh.

”I’d choose betrayal.”

One side costs nothing, the other side everyone dies...

This is the kind of choice you can make with your ass, okay?

”So what happens next is simple.”

Lin Haifeng continued.

”Lin Haotian smashed the Demon Tribe’s Supreme Council, war broke out again, the situation fell into deadlock, and a few years later, the Dominator summoned Lin Haotian...”

”With this summons, Lin Haotian basically had no ability to refuse—first, he is Sequence Number 1, the common ruler of the world, so of course he has to care about all living beings. Second, his own little life is also in the Dominator’s hands.”

”Just like the Immortal Emperor and Heart Lock: the Immortal Emperor had a way to slip free of the Dominator’s control, so he launched a head‑on counterattack against the Dominator. My guess is, he must have gotten some promise from the Demon Lord at that time—the Demon Lord gave him a better escape route. As for Heart Lock and Philip Gus, I don’t know if they had that kind of ability, but the fact that they cared about all living beings was already a huge threat. Add in the Dominator’s absolute military Suppression... there was basically no reason not to go.”

Wen Yu more or less understood the logical chain inside this.

The former Immortal Emperor, how overbearing he had been, how invincible he seemed—but as long as he was still bound to the Universe of Immortals and Heroes, he could never break free of the Dominator’s compulsory control!

He had the ability to Conversion his race, his son had the ability to Conversion his race—but what about everyone else? What about the Universe of Immortals and Heroes?

Anyone able to become Sequence Number 1, someone who climbed to become a Level 11 powerful expert through normal channels, was chosen by the planet’s will, a person whose heart was tied to all living beings.

All this pressure, all these choices, piled up on the Immortal Emperor’s shoulders. That may well be one of the reasons he sighed, ”In all eternity I’ll never again be Sequence Number 1.”

Of course, about caring for all living beings, there might be exceptions...

”What about you?”

Lin Haifeng’s sudden question made Wen Yu jolt. He pretended to be puzzled and asked:

”What about me?”

”Forget it, nothing. Let’s keep pushing the deduction.”

”Keep pushing? Didn’t we already reach the result? Lin Haotian betrayed him, didn’t he...”

”This is far from over... Didn’t you want to know what the Dominator wanted these Heavenly Prides to do during that final summons?”

On the electronic screen, Lin Haifeng’s smiling face, in that moment, looked dazzling in Wen Yu’s eyes. He straightened his back and asked with forced seriousness:

”You’ve got a result?”

”After looking through Lin Haotian’s file, yes, there is a preliminary conclusion.”

”What conclusion?”

”Reverse manhunt! The Dominator launched a reverse manhunt against the Demon Lord—using the exact method the Demon Lord had used to hunt the Dominator!”

”This line of thought was personally handed to the Dominator by the Demon Lord!”

...

The name Lin Haotian was like a curse, causing even the Demon Lord’s aura to fluctuate violently.

The Dominator gazed into the distance. From his omniscient vantage point, light instantly flared on the Demon Lord hidden deep within the Demon Palace.

The light was a blaze of colors, dazzling to the extreme, but paired with the Demon Lord’s hunched, withered figure, it looked like some kind of bone‑gnawing, heart‑piercing poison.

And so, the Dominator laughed.

He parted his lips and spoke leisurely.

”Lin Haotian—that one you reincarnated, personally nurtured, an ultimate powerful expert not even inferior to Tongtian... Doesn’t feel too good, does it?”

The Demon Lord looked at the scars on his body...

The crisscrossing scars tormented him every waking moment.

He seemed to recall that day when Lin Haotian roared, broke down, howled as he struck at him.

Level 11... and Level 12...

One in his prime, the other bearing the weight of an entire world, his old wounds yet to heal.

In the end, that child of heaven still couldn’t escape the Suppression and crushing weight of the higher level.

But...

The Demon Lord didn’t bother to hide his weakness before the Dominator. He nodded lightly and gave a faint, self‑mocking smile.

”The feeling is actually quite good.”

”It’s just a pity that the next few hundred worlds were all such letdowns—none produced another guy like Lin Haotian. I’ve always wondered: if Lin Haotian and Tongtian had appeared within ten worlds of each other... maybe in that case, you wouldn’t even be around anymore.”

”You’ve got quite the imagination...”

The Demon Lord’s sarcasm didn’t bother the Dominator; instead, he brought up Tongtian.

”There’s still one thing I haven’t figured out: that guy Tongtian—was he your doing, a reborner you created?”

The Demon Lord fell silent for a moment, then finally gave an answer.

”He wasn’t... His emergence, I can only call a miracle. But along the way, I did bet heavily on Tongtian.”

...

”You’ve been to the Demon Realm, you’ve entered the Demon Palace. See? Even you can go in and out of the Demon Palace, so the Dominator definitely has ways to send those Heaven’s Pride level Sequence Number 1s into the Demon Palace.”

Wen Yu agreed with that.

”So the result comes out: right now the Dominator is selecting Sequence Number 1 in order to send them to the Demon Palace to kill the Demon Lord. The real goal should be that Celestial Gift Stone which split in two. As for the details, I can’t guess them.”

”And these Sequence Number 1s are graded too. Just like you reasoned earlier: if the Sequence Number 1 is mediocre, the Dominator just pretends he never existed—this round of the game was a wash, everyone packs up and we start the next round. The Dominator’s lifespan should be infinite anyway. Once one good enough does appear, a Heaven’s Pride level Sequence Number 1, the Dominator will threaten them with the entire world and even their own lives, forcing them to head into the Demon Palace and hunt the Demon Lord.”

”To quote your earlier words again—’It’s not his own life on the line anyway. If they succeed, great; if they fail, he just waits for the next one.’”

”Each of these worlds provides Origin Energy that lets the Demon Realm continue, and also provides the Dominator with one fat, strong pig after another. Tsk tsk, what a brilliant abacus...”

”No, something still doesn’t add up... The balance of power between the Dominator and the Demon Lord has already flipped. So why doesn’t the Dominator just go to the Demon Palace himself and finish off the Demon Lord?”