The Demon Empress pleaded bitterly, her voice choked with sobs as endless sorrow and anxiety filled her eyes.
Although her clan carried an indelible stain of slaughter, and her husband, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, had always harbored the ambition of devouring every living creature in the ocean so that he could eventually ascend to Godhood, none of those facts could erase the love she held for him.
The Demon Empress loved her husband deeply.
That was the simplest truth.
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King was an incomparably powerful existence who had severely disrupted the ecological balance of the entire ocean through his excessive consumption of marine life.
Countless creatures had died wherever he hunted, while the power he gained from devouring them had continued increasing until he became a threat to the peace of the entire ocean.
Yet the Demon Empress knew him better than anyone.
She knew that the only remaining conscience within that brutal whale might very well be the affection he held for her and their daughter.
Therefore, she was willing to pay any price for him.
Even if that price was her own life.
She simply wanted to save her husband.
“No, my power cannot control the Mortal World.”
The Sea Princess repeated Godzilla’s meaning to everyone before continuing.
“If he had merely bitten you, perhaps I could have intervened and stopped him, but he swallowed the Mortal World directly into his body.”
The Demon Empress’s face immediately became pale.
The last trace of hope in her eyes seemed to collapse.
“A small amount of the Mortal World can indeed accelerate a creature’s evolution, but he swallowed far too much of it at once.”
The Sea Princess’s expression became increasingly solemn.
“His evolution was accelerated beyond what his body could withstand, causing his physical structure to begin collapsing.
This is a projection of the Universe’s Origin power, and even if a God King personally descended into this world, there would be no way to save him.”
Her voice was low.
Every word carried the weight of an irreversible fact.
After hearing those words, the Demon Empress felt a sharp pain in her heart.
She finally understood why her husband had always been so cautious.
The Ocean Holy Beast had not attacked him.
Her husband had attacked first.
He had swallowed that mysterious flesh himself.
And the energy contained within that flesh had been powerful enough to make even the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, a creature that had survived by devouring others for hundreds of thousands of years, face the collapse of his own body.
Suddenly, the Demon Empress’s thoughts returned to the ancient legend that had circulated throughout the ocean.
Poseidon, the Sinner of the Sea, had once waged wars everywhere for his own selfish desires, causing countless ocean races to suffer beneath his rule.
Then the Ocean Holy Beast had appeared.
The beast had eliminated Poseidon and restored peace to the ocean.
Could all of this truly be Heaven’s punishment for her clan?
Could this be fate finally demanding payment for the countless lives they had taken?
The Demon Empress’s gaze gradually became distant.
Her heart was filled with grief, confusion, and a faint sense of helplessness.
“Big guy…”
Lan Fozi’s voice suddenly trembled.
“If it can increase your power, can you save my dad?”
Her eyes contained a desperate light.
It was the helpless longing for strength possessed by a child who could do nothing to save the person she loved most.
Godzilla slowly shook his head.
His tail had been devoured.
His body had lost more than thirty percent of its energy.
To recover that enormous amount of energy and reach the level required to save the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, he would need an astronomical quantity of power.
With his current evolutionary stage, there was simply no way to accomplish it.
The Sea Princess translated Godzilla’s meaning for everyone.
The atmosphere instantly froze.
The Demon Empress’s face became even paler.
Despair seemed to swallow her entire expression.
Then something changed within her eyes.
A flash of determination replaced the despair.
The Demon Empress slowly lowered herself.
Then she knelt before Godzilla.
“I can sacrifice myself to you.”
Her voice trembled violently.
“Please, save him!”
The moment those words were spoken, the members of the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan fell completely silent.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then several courageous members of the clan stepped forward.
“I will save the Clan Chief!”
The voice was steady despite the fear hidden within it.
“And me!”
Another Deep Sea Demon Whale immediately followed, its voice echoing through the ocean like thunder.
“Without the Clan Chief’s protection, our Deep Sea Demon Whale clan would have been slaughtered by Poseidon two thousand years ago!”
More than a dozen elderly Deep Sea Demon Whales responded together.
Their voices were filled with grief and determination.
“No matter what happens, we cannot give up.”
One of the older Demon Whales spoke quietly.
“The Clan Chief has sacrificed too much for our clan.
How can we abandon him at this moment?”
The Demon Empress listened to the voices of her clansmen.
Their support did not lessen the pain inside her heart.
Instead, it made her understand the situation even more clearly.
There was no easy solution.
There was no miracle waiting around the corner.
At this moment, retreating or avoiding the problem was meaningless.
She had to do everything within her power.
Even if saving her husband required her own life, she would accept that price.
“Thank you all.”
The Demon Empress lowered her head slightly.
A flash of gratitude and determination appeared in her eyes.
“We will never give up, even if we have to pay everything we possess.”
Godzilla quietly watched this scene.
He did not immediately respond.
Instead, he began calculating.
Normally, a hundred-thousand-year Deep Sea Demon Whale could possess an astonishing amount of accumulated cultivation, potentially reaching two or three hundred thousand years through its unique racial abilities.
If he consumed enough of them, replenishing the thirty percent of energy he had lost should not be particularly difficult.
In fact, it would probably be considerably faster than hunting around Sea God Island or waiting for Spirit Bone compensation from Spirit Hall.
The more Godzilla thought about it, the more reasonable the arrangement seemed.
Forget it.
Considering all this energy…
And considering the little whale…
Letting them bite off his tail was acceptable.
After all, he was Godzilla.
He possessed a compassionate beast’s heart.
So he would forgive them.
Of course, he would also accept the compensation.
Godzilla’s golden eyes flickered.
Wait.
There was one problem.
Don’t translate this part!
Godzilla suddenly opened his enormous mouth and released a low roar toward the Sea Princess.
The Sea Princess immediately understood what he meant.
“Ahem.”
She cleared her throat before speaking.
“For the sake of your daughter, Lord Sea God has agreed.”
The Demon Empress’s eyes widened.
A moment later, immense gratitude surged through her expression.
“Many thanks to the Sea Princess for conveying his will.”
Her voice still carried traces of grief.
“Our family will definitely repay the losses caused by this attack.”
The Sea Princess merely nodded.
Her expression remained indifferent.
She did not expect much gratitude.
The ocean was ultimately a cruel world where the strong preyed upon the weak.
Between life and death, there were rarely opportunities for emotional considerations.
Even powerful Spirit Beasts with extremely high intelligence did not necessarily possess the same concepts of life, death, gratitude, and hatred as humans.
The Sea Princess herself was no exception.
She possessed six hundred thousand years of cultivation and stood among the strongest beings in the ocean.
Yet even she had never expected that one day she would become the target of the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan.
If the Ocean Holy Beast had not appeared at the critical moment, the Mermaid clan might already have been buried beneath this frozen sea.
The intervention of the Sacred Beast had not only saved her life.
It had also protected the most precious golden bloodline of the Mermaid clan.
The Mermaid race had therefore been pulled back from the edge of extinction.
The Sea Princess quietly looked toward Godzilla.
Her feelings were complicated.
But she knew one thing with absolute certainty.
The appearance of this gigantic beast had completely changed the balance of power within the ocean.
The Demon Empress released a quiet sigh.
The grief within her heart had still not disappeared.
She lowered her head, and several complicated emotions flashed through her eyes.
Then she suddenly raised her head.
A deep whale call erupted from her throat.
The sound spread across the seabed like thunder.
It was an order.
Stop attacking.
The members of the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan immediately understood what their Empress meant.
The Demon Whales surrounding the Deep Sea Demon Whale King stopped fighting.
Then, without hesitation, they began sacrificing themselves.
Bright red light rapidly spread throughout the seawater.
One Deep Sea Demon Whale after another began refining its flesh and cultivation.
Their enormous bodies gradually transformed into brilliant red Spirit Rings.
The sacrifice contained an astonishing amount of energy.
One.
Two.
Three.
The number continued increasing.
Before long, more than a dozen hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings appeared throughout the deep sea.
Each one contained terrifying energy that made the surrounding seawater tremble.
The Deep Sea Demon Whale clan had chosen to sacrifice their own cultivation without hesitation.
Not because they were naturally noble.
Not because their history was clean.
But because the existence they were protecting was their Clan Chief.
The one who had sheltered their race for countless years.
Godzilla stared at the enormous collection of red Spirit Rings.
His golden eyes gradually became brighter.
Then his enormous body began absorbing them.
One after another, the hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings were drawn toward him.
The surrounding ocean erupted into violent currents.
The red rings entered Godzilla’s body and were immediately converted into enormous quantities of energy.
His enormous body trembled.
Then—
Boom!
A low explosion echoed through the ocean.
Countless red arcs of electricity suddenly erupted across Godzilla’s back.
His dorsal plates shone with increasingly terrifying energy.
The red electrical arcs jumped from one plate to another, illuminating the surrounding darkness.
Godzilla’s golden eyes also became covered by a layer of enchanting crimson radiance.
The energy inside his body continued rising.
The thirty percent of energy he had lost began rapidly returning.
But that was not all.
Something deeper was changing.
The energy was accumulating beyond his previous limit.
His cells were trembling.
His bones were resonating.
His blood was boiling.
The enormous body that had remained stagnant for so long was finally beginning to break through the invisible boundary separating one evolutionary stage from the next.
Godzilla’s second evolution was beginning.
And this time, the entire deep sea could feel it.