Qin was concerned that Rem might have intervened to prevent the evacuation. He resolved to put his life at stake to let his clansmen escape.

Such fear never materialized. Rem waited, continuing to drift in the sky as the Phoenix Clan’s final Astral Liner took to the sky. Despite having every power to stop the powerless from running away, Rem chose to let them escape.

It was the choice that baffled Qin the Phoenix, but he had nothing but gratitude for this mercy.

“I thank you for letting the rest of them go,” Qin said to the human-born god levitating in the sky.

Rem sighed. “Don’t be. It is only proper to honor a man’s final stand.”

Rem’s response caught Qin by surprise.

This was the clan head’s first interaction with Remus Breaker. Yes, the rumors and tales of devastation this single human left in his wake were the stuff of myth. High-level divinities and high-grade transcendental mages and warriors already fell, failing to put a scratch on this man and his comrades.

There was no faction in the Astral Sea that deserved the right to brag more than True, yet its Primus Commander was almost too humble.

That was why Qin believed he would get an answer to the question plaguing him.

“Why are you doing this?” Qin said, asking the one question at the heart of it all.

Rem paused for several seconds. Realizing this joke had no punch line, he vented his misgivings out loud.

“Wow, you are only asking this now? Okay, do you want me to stick to this specific time period? Or do you prefer a date-ascending list of crap we are sick of?”

“I don’t recall anything we have done to offend you,” said Qin.

“Already forgetting the people you massacred to get here?” Rem said, raising his eyebrows. “Remember those rival clans? Remember those innocent babies you put to the sword in your younger years, old man?”

Qin frowned. “We need to pull the danger out by its root.”

“Innocent blood was still spilled,” Rem said, shutting down his opponent’s excuse. “Think of me as the karmic consequence for your actions.” Rem chuckled sarcastically. “Congratulations! Those dead kids can’t take revenge anymore; instead, you have me. Seriously, old man, you should have stuck with the kids.”

Qin agreed that he would prefer the resurgence of those old enemies to Rem himself, but he still couldn’t let it go.

"While I accept that reason, it doesn’t justify your conquest,” Qin argued. “You are burning everything the divine has fought for to the ground.”

Rem spread his hand at the planet burning down around them and said, “Isn’t it your men who did this?”

Qin couldn’t help but be indignant. “You know I am not talking about this realm.”

“So it is about the old world order,” Rem said, rolling his eyes. “Do you know there was an eight-year-old kid who happened to cross your daughter's entourage? Three guesses: What happened, Father-of-the-Year?”

Qin didn’t need to answer to know it wouldn’t help his case.

“Your daughter broke her leg and forced the kid’s family to pay the tribute,” Rem said. His eyes were colder than steel. “Your debaucherous nephew abducted an engaged woman and forced her to break her childhood friend’s heart.”

As he spoke, Rem’s voice wasn’t raised an octave, but his rage pressed itself on Qin like a cold shower.

I will die, Qin thought, knowing for certain that was the bare minimum to appease such fury.

Rem continued his speeches with cold passion.

“Your old world order encourages these atrocities. You, old man, have no one else to blame for failing to raise your own children. As divine beings, you have an obligation to protect and teach your people, and for time immemorial, you have neglected that duty. You hoard knowledge, squabble for vainglory, and become a menace to the people who count on your protection.”

Suddenly, Rem’s anger vanished. His tone suddenly turned jolly.

“You know, once-upon-the-time, I believed there was hope for you. I really do believe that, despite the bounty your friends put on our heads and interrupting our effort to save the universe at every opportunity, you can be better. Once the chip goes down, you will make the right choice. But that isn’t what happens after the Hidden Region, is it?”

For once during this entire ordeal, Qin was truly ashamed.

“It wasn’t my decision.”

Rem’s rage returned with the force to reduce the earth to charred dust and shake the skies.

“Tell that to the dead, you old fart!”

Rem rocketed toward the castle, crushing the barrier protecting Qin from the hostile environment. Now standing on the same parapet, Rem made his grievance perfectly clear.

“You hacks use the very people you should be protecting as food to lure the cannibals away,” Rem said, jabbing his finger at Qin. “Guess what? Two can play the game. All of you divinities are being ‘volunteered’ as a meat shield. You have f*ck around, and the finding out has arrived. There is no need to worry about what you left behind; we have plans for them.”

Recalling his granddaughters and the men he gave his life for, Qin turned apprehensive.

“Plans?”

Rem couldn’t believe Qin didn’t get it yet.

“Do you think those spoiled cowards can take this fall from grace? No, they are beyond self-reflection. Arrogance and apathy are their very nature. Take it a few years, and they will go back to their old ways.

“But things are different. We have thoroughly shattered your illusion of inviolability. True has immunized those heartbroken men and crying girls with a way to rise and win against your weakened old order—the Phoenix Clan included.

“After that triumph, no more tears will be shed because of the evil you spawn. Those people will finally be free.”

It was then that Qin realized the magnitude of the crisis. This was no longer about him. It was about his children and descendants being herded into a punishment game with no way to win.

Victory was impossible. Multiple choices Qin let transpire ensured divinities as a whole have become the target of resentment. Every debtor they owed was about to come collecting, and the Cosmic Tree of Virtue taught them how to accomplish just that.

Because each person possessed power, the vision to inspire and unite those people took precedence over power itself. It was a world where the Phoenix Clan were no longer special.

In such environments, the formerly divine’s arrogant nature would be the end of them.

Against certain destruction, the only thing Qin could do was brandish the Imperial Nirvana Blade at the architect of this strategy.

[Dance of Rebirth]

Cloaked in purifying flames, Qin slashed down at Rem’s neck. Employing one of the three world-carving techniques of the Phoenix to perfection.

Instead of decapitating Rem’s head in a flaming cut, the attack stopped before landing. Like every single strategy thrown at this man, the Phoenix’s highest technique failed.

Rem tapped the flaming blade with an amusing smile.

Sensing it was not something good, Qin immediately let go of his prized sword that had accompanied him for his entire lifetime, but it was too late.

The Imperial Nirvana Blade cracked. Dangerous concentration of energy condensed inside the sword’s microstructure, surpassing the critical stress the celestial metal could take. The sword erupted in a conical, volatile release of energy in Qin’s face.

The rampaging ocean of light knocked Qin tumbling into the air. In his disjointed travels, Qin lost count of how many times the sky and earth flipped over.

Rem’s counterattacks continued, not giving his elderly opponent the luxury of landing. Appearing above the tumbling Qin, Rem angled his fist and unleashed the punch that shook the heavens. Powering that strike was a mighty technique that hunted gods and terrified devils. Countless tyrants fell beneath this single meteoric punch that lit the sky in an unparalleled sunset.

Qin couldn’t help but recall the legend of the Sword of Symphony as he stretched his palm outward to defend against the metaphorical mountain crashing down upon his immortal soul. Many of his colleagues called Remus Breaker an unrivaled monster, and Qin could see why with the thirsty smirk for violence on his face.

[Demon Art #58: Demon Blood Fortress]

Improved from [Demon Art #12: Panel] and [Demon Art #24: Fortress], the [Demon Blood Fortress] represented the most philosophical bulwark of all [Demon Art], built from interlocking protective shells further bulked by the celestial power of demonic blood. Although varied in strength depending on the user, Qin the Phoenix's [Demon Blood Fortress] held the standard for once easily brushing aside a meteor capable of sinking the continent the size of Europe and wiped out every life on the planet.

Impressive was a fitting word for Qin, but it wasn’t enough against the revolutionary breakthrough in [Resonance] technology wielded by the inventor himself.

[Resonance: Sunset Glow]

Considered the ultimate anti-reality-altering technique, [Resonance: Sunset Glow] generated a destructive interference pulse on the target’s existential frequency. It deliberately weakens the [Resonance] protection of the object as well as undermining its integrity before landing the punch infused with maximum amplification.

Once properly unleashed, it created a beautiful painting.

A resplendent tapestry of twilight, adorned with sparkling shades of gems gleaming in rubies and topaz, beheld the gaze of the planet.

Under the reverential torrent of force, Qin’s defense unraveled, and the fist that cowed evil and depravity turned his entire arm into a morbid assemblage of crushed bone and flesh. The law of conservation of momentum then took its turn on the long line of tragedy to bully Qin the Phoenix to submission by rocketing his flailing body to the ground with the force behind Rem’s fist.

Terrain rumbled from the collision, soils rising in tidal force, heralding the transmission of fault line impact. Once even landscape undergoes a breathtaking metamorphosis, transforming into fantastical cities of peaks and ravines straight from the dream of valleys and ashes.

In the crater his body made, Qin the Phoenix lay in a bloody mess, but Rem wasn’t done.

In a streak of light and velocity comparable to accelerated particles, he hurtles down from the clouds and smashes into his bloodied target. Qin was a broken mess, spewing blood like a fountain by this point, but Rem still wasn't done.

[Boundless Field: Swept]

Qin felt the cause-and-effect warp, forcing his body through brutal kilometers of bedrock and into the pool of molten.

It should have been overkilled in terms of the forces displayed, but Qin's body still didn't stop sinking at hypersonic velocity.