Viktor first reunited with Yue’s followers before going off to help. They had continued until they found some of Lian Bai’s subordinates and helped them but they hadn’t found Viktor and it had been a few hours so they were concerned. They were even more concerned when Viktor returned with messy, bloody clothes.

 

“Please take care of them. I have to go to Yue.” Viktor told Lian Bai and disappeared without giving anyone a second to argue.

 

Viktor was suddenly very close to the fight against Hundun. He almost felt a bit light-headed when he realized what he’d just done. He hadn’t intended to warp there but it just sort of happened. 

 

His vision was still messy, he could see many cores everywhere but he couldn’t really tell who was who.  

 

He could tell where Hundun was though and that was all he really needed to know. 

 

-

 

Yue finally arrived at the center of Malaysia. He rushed to where Hundun soldiers were running  to get swallowed up by Hundun. He tried to get rid of them all by cutting them down but even when he succeeded…the body parts that were cut off slowly slithered all on their own toward Hundun.

 

Yue was disgusted by the sight and tried everything to at least keep them still. He used his control over nature to force vines to grow through the lifeless soil of the land and keep them from moving but the soldiers would drip black fluid from their mouths and eyes like acid and burn them away. The wind would also not force them to stay, it would only cut them up and force their fluids to travel.

 

Frustration ran through all of them. They just didn’t know what to do.

 

‘It’s a risky move but what if we try filling it with divine power? If we overwhelm it we could win.’ Elena suggested.

 

‘But if it keeps absorbing all these people he could just as easily lose our power to it!’ Huy responded worriedly.

 

Yue chewed his lip, how can they deal with this…?

 

-

 

Viktor warped right above Hundun and began falling down toward it at a high speed. He was very aware of how little he knew about Hundun and about his own new powers but he had an idea. 

—

 

Everyone suddenly became very confused. All of the Hundun soldiers stopped moving. They all finally were affected by magic and swordsmanship and their blood suddenly became normal again. And Hundun stopped moving.

 

The battlefield was covered in blood but everything stood perfectly still for a few moments. Huy, Elena, and Yue were incredibly anxious, what was going to happen now?

 

Andrei and Fei Xiang had gotten much farther away. Elena had asked Andrei to get to safety and warned Fei Xiang that Yue was coming so they watched from afar for now.

 

“Mai. Get off and fly as far up as you can…” Yue warned.

 

Huy squatted down, signaling for Mai to do as she was told. Mai would’ve argued but she could feel it too.

 

In the center of Hundun…something was growing stronger and stronger and Hundun was getting smaller and smaller as a result.

 

Elena, Yue, and Huy immediately thought of the worst…Hundun was changing the way it materializes…meaning things just might get a whole lot worse from here.

 

“…How is it that the three of us can’t beat one of them…something is really screwy here don’t you think…” Elena murmured under her breath, a nervous smile on her face.

 

Hundun got smaller and smaller and Everyone tried to prepare themselves for whatever might happen. And then suddenly it got so small it disappeared.

 

No one moved, they all stayed in position, and then suddenly, BOOM!

 

Like an explosion, a burst of power went through the air again.

 

“Huh…”

 

Yue was shocked to see Viktor standing in the middle of the field where Hundun was.

 

He had his sword in hand and his clothes had signs so significant blood splatter.

 

Yue felt an intense sense of Deja vu and as he walked closer to Viktor he recalled exactly from where the feeling stemmed. This was from the prophecy he had when he first met Viktor.

 

“Viktor?”

 

Yue wanted answers to all the questions he suddenly had but the words escaped him when he saw Viktor’s eyes. There was a tinge of fear inside him but the rest was uneasiness as he looked at Viktor's blood-red pupils. He could also feel that Viktor had suddenly become much more powerful than him.

 

“Or…Vikentiy?” Yue murmured again unsure what the right answer was.

 

“No no no! It’s me, It’s Viktor.” Viktor immediately denied it. He had been mesmerized by Yue’s core now that he saw it so clearly in front of him. He had seen it before but never like this.

 

A beautiful vibrant Mythic core surrounded by a dragon floating all around it… 

 

“Your eyes…” Yue murmured.

 

“…Vikentiy gave me his powers and then ceased to exist... So now I’m like this… I was able to absorb Hundun from the inside.”

 

Yue was shocked but Viktor couldn’t quite tell, as much as he tried he couldn’t focus on anything other than the cores of the people in his line of sight. Everyone else was also shocked but Elena was more worried than shocked.

 

“What if you get some sort of side effect from absorbing that? You shouldn’t have—“

 

“I feel fine, I had worse side effects from absorbing Vikentiy’s powers,” Viktor assured Elena he was fine. He hadn’t felt any negative energy enter him at all. 

 

He also hadn’t heard or seen a lot inside of Hundun while he was there. At first, he just saw all black and then all of the space that touched him slowly became bright white as he absorbed it. It was like his power had purified it in a way.

 

Elena didn’t seem to really believe that but other than the new pupil color and all the dried blood on his clothes Viktor looked like he was just fine and she couldn’t sense any impure energy on him either. She sighed with a bit of relief and looked around. She could kind of tell that Malaysia had no magic energy now.

 

“So…it’s over?” Yue murmured, he wasn’t quite sure how to feel at this moment. 

 

“Well…Yes. Hundun’s back in the scale so it’ll probably take a very long time for it to get back to the amount of power it needed to come out here.” Viktor said, rubbing his eyes trying to see if it made any difference.

 

Viktor was a bit startled when Yue suddenly jumped at him and hugged him. He chuckled and held him close.

 

Viktor hurriedly pulled away after a few seconds, he had felt like he was absorbing mana again and got worried that he was absorbing mana from Yue. He was going to try and get farther away but Yue didn’t let him go.

 

Viktor froze after a second and realize he had managed to turn off the ability that made him only see people’s cores. Now he could finally see Yue’s lovely face again.

 

He almost completely forgot what he had been worried about and kissed Yue with a bright smile on his face. Finally, it was like everything was right with the world.

 

—

 

Viktor ended up having to explain a lot of things but they decided to wait until they got to Vermillion bird temple to have him explain. They also had Natasha come meet them as it pertained mostly to the Ivanov family.

 

Viktor explained everything Vikentiy showed and told him.

 

“…If the scale is meant to keep things balanced…then why was Vikentiy left alone in the outside world for so long?” Natasha asked.

 

“It’s because of the dungeons. Vikentiy tended to avoid dungeons, he rarely entered them after he got back to the outside world because the more time you spend in the dungeon the more control the scale has on you.” Viktor explained.

 

“ The scale is what caused Vikentiy to be able to control me. And after  Yue, Huy, and Mother gained more power, Vikentiy had to lose power for it all to be balanced. And because the four were more powerful, Hundun had to become more powerful.” 

 

“Then how did you get away with getting Vikentiy’s power?” Mai asked.

 

“When Yue purified Ivanov island, he didn’t destroy Vikentiy. Vikentiy and his immense power still existed; he just couldn’t get even more powerful by using my body to affect the living world. Now, Vikentiy does not exist, but his power does. Except now it’s my power…and because My core type is mythic and I was always supposed to reach Mythic level with or without interference…the scale can’t affect me.”

 

This caught everyone’s attention very quickly. They hadn’t seen Viktor’s core level. Yue and Elena in particular checked it almost immediately.

 

“…wow.”

 

“This is unfair,” Yue murmured, he was a little upset now. He and Viktor had been sort of fighting for who would reach Mythic first but Viktor…was now already at legendary because of Vikentiy.

 

Elena laughed a little, “At least he hasn’t made it to mythic yet Yue, legendary is the hardest to level up from, you have plenty of time.” 

 

“…I can’t believe it’s over like this…We would’ve never beat it otherwise…” Huy murmured.

 

“Well…yes but we also would’ve never lost. It was bound to be an endless battle otherwise. But this just confirms that the rest of the four fiends have not come to this world… which means, for now, we will be mostly at peace.” Yue murmured.

 

Everyone found some comfort in that and everyone kind of finally felt like they could relax. 

 

—

 

Yue and Viktor returned to the Azure Dragon temple and Yue took the time after he told the followers to go home and rest to talk to Viktor alone.

 

“...I have a question about the Scale.” 

 

“What is it?” Viktor asked, resting his chin on Yue’s shoulder.

 

“You said that when Vikentiy went to the scale for the first time…there were no islands other than those of the four… how did Vikentiy make Ivanov island?” Yue asked.

 

“The scale made Ivanov island. Anything that exists in the scale cannot exist anywhere else–or at least that's how it should be. So the scale takes people who have died–usually those with immense reality-defying powers–and places them on islands…to ensure they cannot affect this world.” Viktor explained, “Avelina was unable to get there until now because her eyes were missing though. Every part of the person must cease to exist in this world in order for them to go there.”

 

Yue stayed silent for a while after that, and then he asked, “What time is it?”

 

“Almost midnight,” Viktor responded.

 

“... It's early enough, he should still be awake,” Yue murmured.

 

“Where are you going?” Viktor asked.

 

“...I need to put Guiren and Meixiu to rest.”

 

—

Yue and Viktor used the teleport pad in Azure Dragon Temple to teleport to the Xia family home. They both wore hats to cover their heads just in case.

 

As Yue thought, Xia Lijun was still awake.

 

“Why are you here so late?” He asked calmly.

 

Yue didn’t respond and just handed him a decorative box he had found to store the two cores.

 

“Miss Chunhua’s was never stolen because she was not a cultivator but I finally got these two back… They deserve to finally rest in peace.” Yue murmured.

 

Xia Lijun was not one to cry in front of others but he was moved to tears when he saw the two cores. 

 

“I won’t be using the Xia name for much longer but thank you, for everything you’ve done for me.” Yue got down and bowed to him.

 

Yue knew Xia Lijun had words to say to him but he would’ve preferred to not know. He left with Viktor soon after and simply walked along the nightlife in the nearby city.

 

“...I don’t know if there is an Island out there for the ‘friends of the four’ but I hope they’re together there,” Yue murmured.

 

Viktor smiled, he was certain that a weight had been lifted off Yue’s shoulders and It made him very happy to see him like that.

 

“Now we can get married!” Yue exclaimed with a big smile.

 

Viktor just chuckled, “Yes, finally.”