Chapter 468: The Truth Behind the Beast Riot

The Truth Behind the Beast Riot

Among the crowd, Selena slowly stepped forward.

Her long white-silver hair flowed behind her in the wind, and her blue eyes were fixed upon the strange black aura.

Her fitted snow-white robe fluttered around her body, the pale blue sash at her waist swaying with every gust.

But there was no elegance in her expression now.

Only killing intent.

Cold.

Sharp.

Unmistakable.

No one reacted more intensely than Selena when she saw this strange aura.

Her fingers slowly curled into fists.

"So he was the culprit behind the beast riot?"

Her voice was cold.

Almost trembling.

The enemy she had searched for all this time had been hiding right beside them.

Immortal Mountain.

This ancient orthodoxy that everyone had once respected.

This place had been hiding the source of the darkness.

Selena’s eyes became colder.

Back then, Dario had possessed this strange power.

And now Gareth possessed it as well.

There was an important difference between the two.

Unlike Dario, Gareth seemed to have completely refined the Strange Origin.

There was no obvious backlash.

He had already turned that terrifying power into something that belonged to himself.

The realization made Selena’s heart sink.

Rias also understood something when she saw Selena’s intense reaction.

She quietly moved closer.

"Senior Sister, don’t worry. Master will definitely kill him."

Rias didn’t know what else to say.

So she chose the simplest words.

Words of comfort.

Words of faith.

Selena didn’t answer.

Her emotions had already begun to unravel.

Her mind returned to that day.

Her parents.

Their final moments.

The tragedy that had carved itself into her heart and refused to fade.

For months, she had carried that hatred.

For months, she had searched.

And now she finally knew who had been behind the beast riot.

Her eyes slowly became wet.

Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

She stared at Gareth in the sky.

Hatred burned beneath her calm expression.

She wanted revenge.

She wanted to do it herself.

But she knew the truth.

Her current strength was not enough.

If she rushed forward now, she would only throw her life away.

So she could only place her hopes on Leon.

Her Teacher.

The man who had once promised her that he would avenge her.

Selena clenched her fists tighter.

She believed him.

She had to.

Above them, Gareth was already undergoing a terrifying transformation.

The black aura wrapped around his body.

Layer after layer of darkness entered him.

His robes whipped violently around him as his presence began to rise.

His eyes slowly turned red.

A frightening smile appeared across his face.

"Ha ha, Leon! Have you ever thought that I still have a trick up my sleeve..."

His laughter echoed through the sky.

The moment the black aura was completely sucked into his body, Gareth’s strength suddenly exploded.

Boom!

An invisible wave of power erupted outward.

The lightning domain shook.

The clouds were torn apart.

Gareth’s cultivation surged rapidly.

Pinnacle Realm.

And then—

The aura continued climbing.

It vaguely touched the threshold of the Martial sovereign Realm.

Everyone below stared upward in disbelief.

The power contained within that strange aura was truly terrifying.

It was impossible to tell where it had originated.

Leon watched silently.

He had encountered this power before.

He remembered the barrier crack in the uninhabited region.

Back then, he had discovered the existence of the Strange Origin there.

But he had never found its true source.

That power was strange in every sense of the word.

It could greatly increase a cultivator’s strength.

It could stimulate the deepest potential hidden inside the body.

But there was a price.

The more one absorbed, the more unstable the mind became.

The power did not simply strengthen the body.

It awakened something violent inside the cultivator.

It made the heart restless.

It made reason weaker.

It made the desire for destruction stronger.

In some ways, it resembled the forbidden techniques of the Celestis Academy.

The Celestis Academy’s forbidden arts and Blood Drinking Technique could also forcefully increase one’s strength.

But those techniques came with a clear price.

They burned blood essence.

The Strange Origin was different.

It seemed to devour one’s restraint instead.

Leon stared coldly at Gareth.

His expression gradually hardened.

Then he remembered the beast riot from a few months ago.

The destruction.

The countless lives lost.

The blood that had soaked the land.

The beasts that had gone mad.

Everything suddenly connected.

Leon’s voice became cold.

"Where did you obtain the Strange Origin? Were you also the one who caused the riot a few months ago?"

Gareth laughed.

There was no reason for him to hide anything anymore.

His strength had already risen dramatically.

At this point, either Leon would die—

Or he would.

There was nothing left to fear.

"Haha, you’re right. I was the one who caused the riot a few months ago. I sacrificed my body to the darkness and drank millions of blood energy to refine my Strange Body in order to break through. If I don’t cause a great chaos, how can I sacrifice to the darkness and successfully master this strange power?"

His voice carried madness.

Yet beneath that madness was something else.

Years of resentment.

Years of humiliation.

Years of obsession.

Gareth had already stepped onto a path from which there was no return.

After admitting everything, he seemed almost relieved.

There was nothing left to hide.

Only victory mattered now.

Or death.

He looked toward Leon.

His eyes gradually became darker.

"Back then, during the competition on the path to immortality, I was originally a peerless genius that everyone paid attention to."

His voice slowed.

The battlefield around him seemed to quiet.

Even the wind became distant.

"Ever since I was born, I have been the center of attention. Among my peers, I have never tasted defeat. At the Eternal Principle Summit, I, who was the center of attention, had a chance of winning."