Celestial Bloodline Chapter 951: Why didn’t you stop him?

When the boulders crushing him ascended into the sky, Ares lifted his gaze toward the figure whose legs stood directly in front of him. He forced a grin, though it came out rigid and menacing because of his ravaged state.

"T-Thanks... that was... really painful."

Cassian gradually lowered himself to a crouch, holding his stare. He made every effort to mirror the smile but failed to pull it off, so he dropped the attempt.

With care, he clasped Ares’ shoulder and murmured close to his ear.

"Then... allow me to finish your agony."

Shadows exploded from Cassian’s palm, swallowing Ares’s frame. Ares let out a yell as his body started dissolving. Just before Ares slipped into oblivion, his gaze fixed on Cassian’s, and he rasped out a question.

"Why...?"

Yet no reply came—merely an icy, blood-red stare boring into him.

In the end, Cassian held only a dimly shining core that housed Ares’ wounded soul. He gazed at the blood puddle in front of him for some time before rising.

"You wonder why... simply because I’m the person you encountered—the sort you never should have encountered, the merciless version of me."

Cassian had just begun to step away from the spot to keep hunting for Zami and the rest, so he could seize their souls as well, when the heavens overhead grew even gloomier, filled with an eerie, sickening energy.

He raised his eyes, spotting a gigantic, tailless emblem of a seven-headed serpent.

The emblem shone intensely in a misty mix of white and red, until a lily wove into it and the headless snake gained a tail. Every head of the serpent bore a captivating white lily, finalizing the design. Cassian blinked in surprise.

"Is this... part of Azazeal’s power too?"

He had scarcely uttered the words when a chilly, contemptuous voice resounded in his thoughts.

’How dare you think that?’

Cassian jolted at Azazeal’s voice. Composing himself, he squinted to examine the serpent emblem more intently.

He certainly sensed a known darkness emanating from the enormous seven-headed snake, but it differed from Azazeal’s essence—it bore a repulsive quality, like it was pieced together from various sources. The truth struck him as two additional emblems appeared on the serpent’s vast form: a violet bloom surfaced on its back, and a recognizable clock mark emerged over its belly.

Cassian’s eyes widened in shock. Then he burst into manic laughter, a noise more chilling than fury.

"It’s him! It really is him! Hahaha... he’s become even mightier! Why, why, why didn’t you halt him? Why! Ahhh!"

He bellowed, his tone breaking, obviously accusing Azazeal. Falling to his knees, he pounded his fist into the earth, each heavy impact resounding in the void.

"I’m carrying out your orders!"

"Then why didn’t you intervene?!"

"You understand my goal!"

Even amid his cries, the ensuing quiet pressed down like a burden. The very idea that he remained unable to confront Nathaniel—despite the strength Azazeal granted him, since Nathaniel had advanced further—pushed him over the edge.

The softly luminous core holding Ares’ soul tumbled from his grasp, landing with a faint clink. Right away, fissures spread across its delicate surface as the nearby shadows slithered closer, forming wisps that started feeding on the soul’s light.

Cassian’s breaths came in heavy gasps.

Fury, hopelessness, and powerlessness churned inside him—a savage, shadowy tempest he could no longer hold back. He snarled with menace as his energy surged, aggressively devouring the shadows nearby. In mere moments, his form surpassed the barrier and stepped into the seventh level of the Celestial rank, then swiftly hit its maximum.

He matched the might of Valance and the fellow Rulers at the top of the 7th stage.

Yet at that pinnacle, his presence ceased expanding, and the ambient shadows faded away.

Azazeal didn’t bother preventing him from drawing in the shards of energy he had spread across the domain—he didn’t even observe Cassian. After all, he recognized this marked Cassian’s utmost boundary. This was as far as Cassian could climb. The reason? He missed a Celestial emblem. Lacking that, how could he aspire to the throne of a genuine Ruler?

Cassian remained unaware of it. Sensing his fresh power, he vaulted upward and slammed into the serpent emblem with full force, intent on shattering the vision.

The emblems shattered apart, and for a fleeting, gratifying instant, he chuckled—until the shattered pieces effortlessly spun back into place, reassembling flawlessly.

Cassian’s red eyes dimmed entirely as he lunged at the emblem once more, insanity propelling his actions. But the prior event replayed itself.

The sight was wretched—a lone figure striving to demolish what lay utterly beyond his grasp.

When the emblem finally dissolved by itself, he had collapsed with a dazed expression, sprawled still among the scattered rocks of all sizes, gazing upward at the heavens.

He let out a hollow laugh as the emblem disappeared.

"It’s vanished. Hehe... it’s vanished."

"At last... hehe..."

Shadows wrapped around him as he staggered upright, moving unsteadily. His gaze was empty. All that lingered in his fractured thoughts was Azazeal’s ultimate directive—to gather the souls of all his acquaintances in the domain.

He snatched the core with Ares’ soul and brushed away the grime, damaging it more with his clumsy grip, then muttered to himself and gradually vanished into an arbitrary path.

Azazeal tilted his head, lifting his gaze as he observed him fade into the gloom.

"Just from this, you shattered your sanity? Hmm, if he hadn’t seized the shadows born from me to surge in power so rapidly, this breakdown wouldn’t have occurred."

He grumbled with scorn, then looked down at his own palms. It appeared he possessed toughness there—no matter the trials, a spark of clarity always held on.

And he understood the cause.

It stemmed from nature, relentlessly guarding that final sliver of logic in him—even though it loathed him deeply. It seemed aware that should Azazeal ever forfeit that last grip on reason, he would turn utterly untamable—to the point where nothing in creation could hold him back.

With a heavy sigh, Azazeal shifted his attention to the silhouette that surfaced once the serpent emblem dissolved. His mouth twisted into a smirk as he addressed it, his tone commanding.

"Such a theatrical method to declare your rise. You even pushed someone over the brink."