Lava and planetary fragments, erupting into the sky like fountains, spat the life essence composing the planet out into the universe, like a fish that had been gutted, its organs and blood spilling freely into the sea. After a period of time, the universe would strip the heat from this magma until it turned into cold rock, becoming nourishment for other celestial bodies or drifting as dust throughout space.
Arthas was blasted away by the explosion when the planet ruptured. His body was struck skyward by a terrifying force, yet Arthas's expression remained as calm as ever.
Arthas held Frostmourne horizontally in front of him. The cold air surrounding the sword became a natural barrier, isolating the scorching heat wave outside. The high temperatures, enough to turn all carbon-based life into ash, felt as gentle as a breeze to him.
The cold air and the heat flow collided in the air, stirring up a large amount of mist that concealed Arthas's figure.
But such a distraction was completely ineffective against Sargeras, because his size was immense, and the cover Arthas created was entirely within his strike range.
A red, majestic light first severed the clouds, and only then did a bursting sound travel through the thin air.
The cloud mass covering several hundred meters was directly dispersed by Sargeras, but when the surging energy gradually faded, Arthas had completely vanished from Sargeras's sight.
Sargeras could not sense Arthas's aura at all, as if he had been annihilated along with the cloud just now, but the Dark Titan knew that Arthas would not be harmed by an attack like that, not even a single hair.
Sargeras, having lost his target, stood tall in the universe. The scattered planetary debris around him was drawn in by his body. Although his body was only about a hundred meters tall, the gravity he exerted standing there was as heavy as a star.
More and more rock fragments obstructed Sargeras's vision, and the chaotic energy field left behind by the planet's rupture also limited his perception to a certain extent.
He could no longer remember how many planets he had destroyed since he started fighting Arthas. If they continued fighting like this, it wouldn't be long before a vacuum zone completely devoid of stars appeared in the Surrounding Star Sector centered on Argus.
But Sargeras didn't care about such things. Even if he had to smash and pierce the entire universe, he absolutely had to destroy Azeroth. If that planet existed, the universe would eventually face the same fate, so it was better for him to end the universe with his own hands. Thus, his battle would never cease.
Yet, right now, there was someone trying to stop him.
"Why! Why is Azeroth unwilling to accept this destiny?! Why is this planet, which shouldn't even exist, constantly being protected?!"
Sargeras roared, unable to comprehend. It was as if an unseen force had been protecting Azeroth all along. Every time the planet faced a crisis of life and death, strange "accidents" would occur to prevent Azeroth from meeting its end.
First, it was the Pantheon, and then a group of mortals who didn't know their own limits. Now, an existence like Arthas had directly emerged.
As the angry Titan roared, he slammed his massive hand against space. That terrifying power caused ripples even in the solid space-time, and the invisible waves struck the surrounding debris, grinding them into fine powder.
But Arthas's trace still did not appear, and an increasingly intense ominous premonition coiled around Sargeras.
Just as the vibrating space began to slowly settle, an indescribable surprise flashed in Sargeras's eyes—he saw a bright spot suddenly emerge in the blackness before him.
The instinct honed by countless battles caused Sargeras's body to instinctively begin retreating, but even so, he was still a step too late.
Accompanied by two grating sounds of tearing metal, Sargeras's massive body violently "retreated," and this was clearly not by his own will. He spun like a top that had been fiercely whipped, completely unable to control his direction, scattering a large area of debris and wreckage.
When Sargeras stabilized himself, he looked down in astonishment at his chest. There, two intersecting sword marks, one blue and one gold, were etched onto his body, which was hundreds of times harder than any metal.
The deep blue sword wound continuously emitted cold air. When Sargeras's flames surged toward it, attempting to repair the wound, a ruthless, Deadly Cold would rise up, suppressing all vitality attempting to reorganize.
The golden sword wound, meanwhile, burst with Holy Light Flames that seemed almost tangible. The heat of these light flames was so intense that Sargeras even felt it slowly melting the flesh around the wound. Furthermore, the fel energy inside his body reacted violently with this Holy Light; if he didn't exert effort to suppress the spread of the Holy Light, the impact generated by the collision of fel energy and Holy Light would constantly harm him.
What was even more fatal was the center point where the two sword marks intersected. The power Arthas left there was slowly forming a Rune. If Sargeras was not mistaken, if he didn't quickly stop the formation of this Rune, once it fully adapted to the environment inside his body, this thing would spread wildly throughout his body like a plague.
As for what this Rune did, a look at the grasp of the damned chain floating around Sargeras was enough to explain it.
What puzzled Sargeras the most was that he had no idea how Arthas had suddenly vanished, or where he had slashed out these two swords from.
Soon, not far from Sargeras, a distorted doorway gradually opened. The dark purple Void Power was almost fused with the universe itself. Arthas tore open the Void Gate with one hand, gripping Frostmourne, and stepped heavily onto the Void Doorway, which resembled burning Shadow Flames.
One of his eyes had been completely stained purple by Void Power, and the Void energy, so dense it was nearly tangible, drifted out from his eye socket. Dark purple markings crawled across one side of Arthas's cheek like veins.
"Void Power... This is truly unbelievable..." Sargeras looked at the opponent before him and fell momentarily silent.
Holy Light, Death, and Void—these three completely different powers appeared simultaneously on the same person. What puzzled Sargeras the most was that Arthas could still wield Holy Light even after activating Void Power to such an extent.
The balance between Light and Shadow was extremely difficult. A slight mistake could cause the user to suffer the consequences: either the Holy Light would ignite the Void, turning them into a humanoid Holy Light Torch, their consciousness filled by an endless Sea of Light, or they would fall into complete Darkness, consuming all Light entirely.
However, when Sargeras saw the Void markings on Arthas's cheek throbbing like real veins, he suddenly understood, "It seems you cannot fully master these two powers either... Although you are incredibly powerful, you are ultimately still a mortal of flesh and blood."
Sargeras realized that Arthas was not a Giant Deity like the Titans, naturally possessing a physique as massive and heavy as a planet. His human origin limited his potential. At this moment, Sargeras also understood that if Arthas were a Titan like himself, then he, the First Champion of the Pantheon, probably wouldn't last more than a few rounds against Arthas.
But now, how long could Arthas's body endure when he activated this forbidden energy combination?
Sargeras sneered. It seemed they had reached the final moment... otherwise, Arthas wouldn't have resorted to such a dangerous method first.
However, even though Sargeras had found a weakness in his evenly matched opponent, he still felt a strange sense of unease. But Arthas had already ripped open the starry sky and slammed the crushing weight of the Void onto Sargeras. The Dark Titan had no spare capacity to continue thinking; a victor would soon be decided between them.