Winter has come

--- Chapter 38 ---

Hayate's heartbeat increased violently as Hercules's core reacted with [Miyabi Orochi ver.30], which caused his entire body to wriggle in pain and delight.

"NEEEEIGGGHHH!!!"

Dullahan's horse shrieked in pain because of Hayate's grips.

"Dark Spear." Dullahan impaled Hayate's chest with a shadowy spear and sent him straight into the ocean, leaving himself with the shadow horse alone in the sky.

BAM!

Hayate was falling into the ocean and watched Dullahan with a calm gaze.

"Cold-Blooded..." An indifferent voice escaped Hayate's mouth.

ROARS!

Hydra roared at Dullahan and launched several types of deathly breathes, poisons, gas, and fire.

The gas and fire reacted, triggering an explosion to Dullahan's face.

BOOM!

An enormous octopus with hideous dark skin resurfaced from the sea. It has sharp claws at the end of each tentacle, bathing in the reflection of the sunlight.

Dullahan tried to control shadowy spears to kill these Kaijus at once, but Kraken suddenly opened its mouth and sent a deep water pressure at him.

BAM!

The water pressure smacked Dullahan like a heavy sea wave and tossed him away.

A sea serpent with rough blue scales and 12 indigo eyes leaped out of the sea and encircled Dullahan's armor with its long body.

ROAR!

Dullahan couldn't even use his spatial manipulation properly because Devil-Eyed Leviathan dragged him into the ocean.

BAM!

A jolt of lightning quickly was initiated by Devil-Eyed Leviathan's body, causing the ocean gets illuminated with bright light for a moment.

BOOM!

Dullahan's body charged by a million volts, causing his dark manipulation ineffective for a moment. The bright light generated by Devil-Eyed Leviathan's charged attack somehow can overpower his darkness.

"Four years..." Dullahan watched a Sea Serpent open its mouth.

"In these four years, you didn't only create new kaiju..."

"You also strengthen the old one."

Devil-Eyed Leviatahan bit Dullahan's armor with his horse and swallowed them.

ROAR!

Another lightning charge initiated from Devil-Eyed Leviathan's body, and the ocean once again experienced a bright light.

BOOM!

Dullahan swiftly was swarmed by intense lightning, and his horse released a painful shriek.

Devil-Eyed Leviatahan choked because Dullahan sliced the sea serpent Kaiju's throat with his spatial manipulation.

"Die." Dullahan's hand drew down, causing a clean white line to appear around Devil-Eyed Leavitahan's neck.

Splurts!

The Kaiju's blood burst out everywhere, washing the seashore with a neon blue color.

"Weak." Dullahan walked out of the sea serpent's neck.

"Even the S-grade you proud off was weak compared to me now."

"I can kill-."

ROAR! BOOM!

Dullahan got caught off guard because Devil-Eyed Leivathan's dead body moved again and charged him with an intense lightning charge.

"ARRRGGGHHHH!"

The headless knight roared in pain because the lightning charge was more powerful than before.

Devil-Eyed Leviathan restored its head, but only 11 eyes remained.

The sea serpent was a powerful kaiju created by Hayate years ago and survived the suicide explosion, living quietly inside his inner world.

Yet, the former S-grade Kaiju lost its power.

In the last four years, Hayat didn't only invent new Kaiju but also improved the survived Kaiju in his inner world, giving them a chance to grow stronger without limit.

Devil-Eyed Leviathan was a small sea electric ell Hayate killed by accident in the past. He fused the core with several snakes with similar abilities, birthing a monster with manipulation over internal electricity.

After Hayate reincarnated, Devil-Eyed Leviathan gained another ability to revive itself from death through extreme physical regeneration. Twelve lives based on the twelve indigo eyes it possessed.

Of course, it's not just simply reviving itself from death.

Every time Devil-Eyed Leviathan dies, the Kaiju will become stronger and stronger. So simply put, it could reach the Divine Origin Realm after the fifth death.

Not to mention every Kaiju summoned at the moment is powered by Primordial Energy, giving them more energy and strength compared to the normal summons.

ROAR!

Hydra's fourth head breathed ice breath and sealed Dullahan inside thick ice.

Kraken swayed its tentacles and bashed them against Dullahan's dark armor, breaking it slowly with enormous force.

Dullahan couldn't fight because of the endless combination of attacks from three Kaijus.

He tried to retaliate by using spatial manipulation, but Devil-Eyed Leviathan would quickly grab him and put him back in confinement.

"A PERSISTENT SNAKE!"

"DIE!"

BOOM!

A spatial cut swept over Devil-Eyed Leviathan's body and killed it again.

"DIE!"

"DIE!"

"DIE!"

"DIE!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The entire sea erupted because of Dullahan's spatial cuts, and Devil-Eyed Leviathan was nowhere in sight.

Kraken and Hydra drowned themselves underwater and waited for Devil-Eyed Leviathan to revive itself for the sixth time.

BOOM!

A sea serpent with three pairs of indigo eyes materialized from a piece of meat.

ROAR!

Devil-Eyed Leviathan charged powerful lightning from its body and launched them at Dullahan. It was a fast attack, faster than the headless knight could react.

BOOM!

"ARRRGHHHH!"

"Divine Origin Realm..."

"You, what are you?" Dullahan watched a hole on his armor in disbelief.

BAM!

Kraken took advantage of Dullahan's confusion and grabbed its body from the sea with the tentacles.

"My power..." Dullahan clutched his armor and sensed the energy leaving his body.

"KRAKEN, YOU BASTARD!"

BOOOM!

Dullahan created shadow blades and incapacitated Kraken's tentacles, stopping the annoying Kaiju from absorbing his energy.

"Heh..."

A burst of laughter escaped Kraken's mouth, causing Dullahan's armor to twitch in annoyance.

Kraken was created by Hayate two years after he gained Kaiju Creation, which was also one of his earliest developed S-grade Kaiju.

Hayate used Octopus as the base and fused several other sea creatures, creating an enormous lifeform with menacing limbs that could destroy an island instantly.

Kraken also can generate and manipulate a whirlpool, making it one of the strongest Kaiju in his past life.

With the addition of the profound beast's power, Kraken now has a more powerful body paired with several sharps claws.

Not to mention devouring ability that could suck an Emperor Profound Realm's energy dry in a second. The energy itself could cause Kraken to gain the unique attribute of his victim.

Kraken threw black water pressure at Dullahan.

SWOOOSH! BOOM!

Dullahan's body tossed again and scowled because Kraken's attack wasn't ink. "You absorbed and used my darkness against me..." The headless knight trembled in anger.

"KRAKEN!"

Hydra appeared in front of Dullahan with two heads opened mouths.

ROAR!

A fusion of wind blast and ice breath submerged the headless knight into frozen prison.

Dullahan is currently on the ocean, making it easier for Hydra to trap him.

Hydra was about to send another ice breath to burry Dullahan into thicker ice, but several shadowy spears appeared in the sky and stabbed its nine heads.

ROARS!

Nine Heads of Hydra fell onto the ocean, and the twelve new heads grew back.

"Shadow Void..." Dullahan's voice echoed on the ocean.

He covered the entire seashore with darkness, and three Kaijus felt weakened. They cannot move their bodies because the seawater weirdly becomes mud-like consistency.

Hydra could feel an eerie sensation from Dullahan and released a bright light from its body.

The primordial energy inside the twelve-headed Kaiju heated quickly, and a pure energy ball revolved in the seawater.

Hydra is not a weak Kaiju.

Even though not as impressive as other Kaiju, it possessed a formidable ability to cause a massive destruction outbreak.

At first, Hydra could breathe poison and gas, which later could

triggered an explosion through a chemical reaction.

Hayate improved Hydra frequently and gave the Kaiju more abilities, strengthing it to S-grade. It's one of the most loyal creations he has inside his inner world.

Hydra would do anything for Hayate, even sacrificing its own life.

"Hydra, Stop." A calm voice appeared inside Dullahan's Shadow Void.

"Who's that?" Dullahan questioned while drawing his weapons.

BAM!!!

The headless knight couldn't even react one time because his entire body suddenly was destroyed to pieces with a single punch.

"Wha-."

Dullahan's body pieces fell into the ocean and slowly merged back. The headless knight couldn't die without destroying his head.

"What was that?"

"How come I can't feel it with my spatial awareness."

"I'm more powerful than all of them."

Dullahan's body shook a little because his spatial sense finally grasped the final Kaiju that Hayate had summoned.

It's not an enormous Kaiju like Hydra, Kraken, and Devil-Eyed Leviathan. This creature barely reaches 3 meters in height with an insect-like appearance walking on two somewhat muscular yet lean feet.

Cocytus is a creature that seems to be a fusion between ant and mantis, but there are also sign of other crustaceans' feature like a hard blue ice-like exoskeleton and jointed limbs.

This Kaiju has four strong arms covered with a thick armor-like shell. Each of it armed with different weapons.

While the front arms possessed gauntlets fused with the crystal glove, the other two held a spear and scythe.

Hayate hasn't summoned Cocytus more than once in his entire life. It possessed a high level of intelligence and mastery of martial arts that rivaled even Coach Mei.

Cocytus was able to massacre the entire rainforest filled with dangerous wild animals in 5 minutes. She could easily survive a nuclear bomb and shrugged off the aftereffect like it was nothing.

The ultimate lifeform. One of Hayate's hidden cards and masterpieces.

Cocytus's only weakness is Hayate.

Since Hayate's reincarnation opened another branch of improvement for Cocytus, the Kaiju might have reached an unknown level beyond S-grade.

"Who are you!?" Dullahan roared in irritation.

Cocytus stared at Dullahan with her blue-gem eyes and jumped toward him. They stared at each other silently.

"You're strong," The ultimate lifeform commented. "How unfortunate you weren't Master's anymore."

"I have to annihilate you here."

Dullahan was agitated by Cocytus's statement and tried to attack the insect-like Kaiju with shadowy spears.

"How uncreative." Cocytus slowly stretched one of her fronts arm away, gathering primordial energy there.

"Master named me Cocytus because I was created based on the river of wailing in the underworld."

"That means he was sure of my abilities to keep every rebelling Kaiju under a death sentence." A cold mist came out of Cocytus's body.

"How laughable-." Dullahan laughed loudly, but his entire body instantly was destroyed to pieces again.

.

.

.

BAM!!!

The shockwave destroyed everything on the seashore, including Dullahan's shadowy spears, and parted the sea into two parts.

"Well, you seem to not know about Mantis Shrimp."

"A little creature that packs quite a punch."

"Now imagine that little creature gained a powerful physical body to exert an even more powerful punch."

"Hah... Why did I even explain it to a definitely dying Kaiju?"

Cocytus walked on the seawater and froze everything below her feet into ice slabs, moving swiftly to Dullahan.

Dullahan reformed his body and quickly summoned the shadow horse, running away because he was trying to make a distance between himself and Cocytus.

Cocytus nodded a little and surfed through the sea waves with ease, approaching the headless knight with another charge punch.

"Spatial Cut." Dullahan sent a wave of spatial blades at Cocytus.

Cocytus dodged Dullahan's attacks and moved with unfixed patterns, which means he couldn't easily hit her.

Dullahan attempted to devour Cocytus with spatial rift beforehand but failed because the space became harder to control.

'Maybe, that damned snake and octopus's ability affect my abilities?' He thought solemnly.

'No, that can't be...'

"Sky Fissure: Shattering Space." Cocytus arrived in front of him again.

The primordial energy inside Cocytus's core revolved like a spinning ball and charged her punch with an enormous force.

"Don't waver your attention on something else," Cocytus commented while punching Dullahan's horse.

Dullahan's instinct jolted in surprise. He changed his position with the shadow horse and received space-shattering damage.

BOOM!!!

"ARRRGHHH!"

"You're only 1st level of Divine Origin Realm..."

"How could you generate such a powerful attack?!!"

Cocytus ignored Dullahan's questions and bombarded him with punches, destroying the beach into the deep cliff.

Dullahan suddenly was trapped in a weird situation where his attacks and Cocytus's attack repelled each other.

They were on the same level of strength, but with the weakness of his shadow horse's presence, he couldn't attack Cocytus freely.

Shadow Horse possessed Dullahan's head, which was his Kaiju Core. He couldn't let Cocytus's attack pierce through his defense.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Huh?" Dullahan suddenly couldn't move.

"Got you." Cocytus's punch landed on Dullahan's horse and sent them straight onto the frozen ocean.

SWOOOSH! BAM!

"ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!" A blood-curdling scream escaped Dullahan's Horse.

Dullahan tried to escape with spatial manipulation and noticed the space around him was so tight as if it was frozen solid.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

A casual footsteps sound approached Dullahan.

"Y-You..." Dullahan watched Hayate standing in on the entirely frozen ocean.

Hayate appeared with a completely different presence than before. He was very desperate a moment ago, striking him with several effective yet weak attacks.

However, the current Hayate doesn't even have a single emotion on his face. He possessed a pair of cold golden eyes, lacking any life.

The bloody torn robe Hayate wore was covered by a thin layer of white ice, signifying uses of profound art.

"Master." Cocytus kneeled in front of Hayate.

Hayate stared at Cocytus and emotionlessly patted her head gently, giving the Kaiju somewhat awkward treatment.

He would pat someone with warmth usually, yet the current himself could only give his creation a cold pat.

To think, Hayate used a modified Frozen Heart Art he once despised from Frozen Cloud Asgard. It is such a weird state for him because he couldn't sense any feelings anymore.

Cold Blooded is an inner-self skill Hayate invented when he was under Chu Yueli's tutelage. Since she taught Hayate the Frozen Cloud Art, Frozen Heart art is obviously in her teaching.

Hayate won't use both techniques usually.

Regardless, Hayate deemed Profound Light Energy too weak to be effective against Dullahan in his current state. He has to use other profound arts to enhance it.

Hayate's cultivation has skyrocketed because of Kaiju Creation: Limitation Off. The boundless energy from his innate ability got released at once, enabling him to reach the 5th stage of the Divine Origin Realm.

"Dullahan..." Hayate walked to his former Kaiju.

Dullahan gradually raised his head in fear, matching Hayate's cold gaze.

"Are you angry...?" He asked the headless knight.

"Or Afraid?"

"No, it's not important..."

"Just disappear..." Hayate's hand released an intense cold light.

[Mystic Art of Body Cultivation] and [Frozen Cloud Art]'s Hayate version complemented each other, generating pure energy that possesses Cold Yin and Light Yang.

"Absolute Zero."

Dullahan's eyes widened because a flash of cold light swarmed his entire being. He couldn't feel anything and slowly lost his consciousness.

However, it wasn't just Dullahan who experienced Hayate's absolute zero.

The entire profound sky continent experienced the same flash of cold light, causing the early spring season to change.

A rain of beautiful white snowflakes fell onto the continent and started the winter again.

--- Divine Phoenix Empire ---

On a beautiful lake, a young lady played with water ripple cheerfully.

The young lady was fifteen or sixteen and as beautiful as a little fairy.

She possessed snowy yet creamy skin and beautiful eyes like a gentle sea. Her appearance is on par with Jasmine in terms of complexion but still inferior to Xia Qingyue in beauty.

"This is..." The young lady raised her gaze.

She caught a snowflake and continued, "Eh, Snow?"