# 1866
Chapter 1859: Light and Shadow Sword
So far, Lin Qiye had only witnessed two Laws with his own eyes.
One was the golden thread that had come to him of its own accord after Michael's death—that was the Law of Miracle now residing within Lin Qiye's body. The other was the black mass shaped like a fruit before him.
Unlike the scorching holiness of the Law of Miracle, the darkness before him constantly emanated an asphyxiating sense of despair.
That was the dark side of the world, the shadow of light, the most ancient fear rooted in the hearts of primordial beings.
At this moment... Lin Qiye firmly gripped this fear in the palm of his hand!
The instant he grasped the Law of Darkness, a cold divine power flooded madly into his body. Almost simultaneously, the Seraph divine power flowing through his body seemed to boil, clashing violently with the incoming dark divine power.
Intense agony filled Lin Qiye's entire body as the darkness surrounding him exploded outward. From a distance, his entire figure appeared torn apart by light and shadow—even his pristine white wings had begun to take on a dark tint...
"This is bad..." Lin Qiye felt the two divine powers within him warring like fire and water, and his heart sank.
The splitting pain gnawed at his consciousness, and everything before his eyes blurred. He took a deep breath, forcibly restoring a shred of clarity, and looked up toward the distance.
Between the densely packed starlight tentacles, two divine figures had fought their way through blood, already reaching the vicinity of the black sphere where Nyx resided. But countless starlight tentacles erupted madly from beneath their feet, nearly engulfing them both.
The Gate of Truth had long detected the danger, and protecting Nyx—this inexhaustible source of divine power—was its final bottom line.
Seeing Athena and Artemis about to be entangled by the endless tentacles, Lin Qiye raised his A-me-no-Murakumo with ragged breaths, pouring both divine powers into it. Then, using his last strength, he hurled it forcefully in their direction!
The next instant, darkness descended before his eyes, and he lost consciousness in the excruciating pain.
Endless darkness rippled out from beneath his feet, wrapping him like a sun. Golden light intermittently burst forth from within the darkness, resembling solar flares traversing the black sun's surface.
"Damn it! How do we kill these tentacles?!"
Athena smashed a starlight tentacle before her into fragments with one punch. As she was about to sweep her spear across, she discovered she couldn't swing it—several starlight tentacles had coiled around the spear's surface, constantly pulling it inward.
The continuous battle had drained nearly all her divine power. But just as they were about to reach the black sphere where Nyx was located, the number of these tentacles had drastically increased, trapping the two of them死死. It was as if this had been a trap set by the Gate of Truth from the very beginning.
With her spear locked, Athena directly released her grip, engaging the tentacles in close combat with bare fists. But when she looked back, Artemis's form had nearly been submerged by the tentacles.
Artemis's greatest strength was still long-range attacks. Faced with this situation, the combat power she could exert was extremely limited. Those tentacles had attached themselves to her body surface, continuously sucking, draining her divine power, causing Artemis's resistance to plummet.
Seeing this, Athena gritted her teeth and turned to rescue her. But just then, she found her ankle had been bound by another slender tentacle. As she tried to break free with force, more and more tentacles came surging from all directions, continuously compressing the space she occupied.
Sensing her divine power draining away frantically, Athena's heart had sunk to the depths of the valley.
But even so, she still gritted her teeth, struggling madly among the tentacles, because she knew that if she gave up now, both she and Artemis would become nourishment for this gate.
Just then, Athena suddenly felt the surroundings darken. The tentacles coiled around her wrists and ankles seemed to loosen slightly.
She turned to look, and her pupils contracted slightly.
A sword was screaming across the sky. Where it passed, light and shadow cleaved the entire world apart.
Even though its body had not yet reached this area of tentacles, the shadow of the sword sweeping across the land had instantaneously sliced through a dozen tentacles!
"That's..." Athena watched this sword hurtling toward them, finding it somehow familiar.
The starlight tentacles coiling around them seemed to have all sensed the threat of this sword, surging toward its direction of flight. But as a blade edge that cleaved light and shadow flashed past, their forms suddenly froze in mid-air.
The next moment, a thin line of blood appeared neatly in the center of the tentacles, its trajectory completely consistent with the streak of light and shadow that had just passed.
The light and shadow were like a sword—invincible.
In an instant, the light and shadow on the sword severed all tentacles in its path. Athena felt her entire body lighten as the tentacles that had still been clinging to her body absorbing divine power turned into countless rotting debris, shattering onto the ground.
She and Artemis had fought for so long yet never broke through the tentacle predicament, yet this single sword had effortlessly sliced it all to shreds.
The A-me-no-Murakumo broke through the tentacles, streaking across the sky like a rainbow of light and shadow, and instantly pierced the surface of the black sphere!
As the blade entered the sphere, fine cracks spread across its surface. Perhaps due to the sword having expended too much power along its path, these cracks only spread for a moment before stopping.
Athena struggled to stand, pulling Artemis from the pile of tentacle fragments. The latter's divine power had already been completely drained, her eyes somewhat unfocused, her face deathly pale.
"Athena... you... succeeded?" Artemis, lifted by Athena, seemed to regain some consciousness, speaking hoarsely.
"No, no it wasn't me—it was Lin Qiye. He struck..."
Athena turned to look in the direction the sword had come from, and froze mid-sentence.
The Lin Qiye who had been standing there was gone. In his place was a massive black sun, golden streams of light flashing across its surface. A terrifying fluctuation of divine power rippled outward, but it was unstable, as if it might explode at any moment.
Just as Athena stood frozen in shock, a low rumble came from beside her. She turned to see that the tightly closed Gate of Truth had begun to slowly open...
"The gate opened?" Bewilderment appeared in Athena's eyes. "Why now..."
As the portal opened a crack, a glimpse of the world beyond was revealed. But出乎意料的, behind the door was not the safe passage they had come through...而是陈列着无数巨石的，迷宫最深处的那块时间碎片。
The gate opened, but the direction it opened was the opposite.
"Hmm?"
Above the countless boulders, Vishnu seemed to sense something, turning to look back in confusion...