“I won’t let you complete that attack!” Dustin roared. His gaze hardened, and he no longer held back. The mystical pure energy inside him surged like a raging river as he channeled it into his longsword.
The sword let out a sharp hum as cyan light flared along its edge. A massive 100-foot-long spectral blade materialized above his head, condensing to a tangible solidity.
“Cut it down!” With a sweep of his fingers, the massive energy blade descended with devastating force toward the beast still charging its energy sphere.
Before the sword came crashing down, its overwhelming sword aura locked down the space around the beast, leaving it with no room to escape.
The flying beast sensed the lethal threat, and its single eye widened in terror. The energy sphere in its mouth hadn’t reached maximum power, but it was forced to spit it out early to meet the massive cyan energy blade.
An even more devastating explosion erupted. The entire canyon trembled as if on the verge of collapse.
The black energy sphere held against the cyan energy blade for barely a heartbeat before being split cleanly in two. The remaining sword momentum, without the slightest pause, slammed mercilessly onto the beast’s horn.
A crisp crack rang out, and its solid horn snapped. The energy blade continued downward, splitting the beast from head to tail.
The beast froze in midair, and the light in its eye rapidly dimmed. The next moment, its body split cleanly in two. Blood rained down as both halves crashed heavily to the ground. It twitched twice, then lay still.
“Is… Is it over?” one guard stammered, eyes locked on the severed carcass in disbelief.
Grace let out a sigh of relief, though her eyes never left the carcass. Something about it unsettled her. It had been too strange and too unnatural to die so easily. A faint dread stirred in her chest, warning her that this wasn’t over. Moments later, her unease proved right.
As the second form’s carcass began rapidly losing its luster and turning ashen, another transformation began.
The split body didn’t bleed much. It began to disintegrate like a dried sand sculpture, dissolving into wisps of black smoke. Instead of dissipating, the smoke rapidly converged and compressed toward the center.
An energy wave far more horrifying and suffocating than either of the previous forms-like an ancient demon awakening from eternal slumber-began to stir. Wherever the black smoke gathered, space itself distorted.
A blurry figure about the height of a man gradually took shape. It was no longer beast-like. Now it resembled something humanoid. But its body was covered in dark crimson armor that looked forged from molten lava and bone fragments.
Beneath its helmet burned two points of leaping scarlet flame. In its hand, it gripped a spear made of pure dark energy that constantly twisted and shifted form.
This third form of the “ferocious beast” radiated a restrained yet bottomless energy wave.
Those scarlet flame eyes coldly “looked” at Dustin. They held no emotion, only the purest will for slaughter and destruction. It just stood there, looking like the absolute master of darkness and death in the entire canyon.
Dustin felt the overwhelming pressure radiating from that figure. It was far beyond the previous forms, nearly matching the elderly man they met earlier.
The ease on his face finally faded. He slowly raised his sword, its tip leveled toward the dark, armored figure. His gaze became razor-focused.
Without a sound or warning, the dark-armored figure suddenly moved and thrust its twisted black spear forward. The movement seemed slow, yet it instantly crossed dozens of yards. Wherever the spear passed, the air itself split open, leaving a faint black scar in its wake.
A death intent refined to its essence-freezing and absolute-targeted Dustin, arriving soundlessly yet lightning-fast. The thrust discarded all flourish, leaving only the purest speed and destruction.
Dustin’s pupils contracted. The power behind this blow far exceeded anything he had felt before.
He didn’t dare be negligent. The mystical pure energy within him circulated at an unprecedented speed, and the cyan condensed sword aura around him flared violently.
Dustin exhaled sharply and roared, “Break it!”
His blade didn’t retreat or dodge, but struck with flawless accuracy straight at the dark spearpoint.
The sound was sharp enough to pierce the ear, a single note that split the air as light and darkness exploded at the point of impact.
The cyan condensed sword aura and dark energy frantically eroded and consumed each other. There was no billowing shockwave. All the energy was compressed into that infinitesimal point, making it all the more deadly.
Dustin felt a cold, deathly force laced with intense corrosion creep along his blade toward him. His arm grew slightly numb. The hard, rocky ground beneath his feet silently turned to dust and sank half a foot.
However, the dark crimson armor figure stood perfectly still. The scarlet flames beneath its helmet flickered once, as if somewhat surprised Dustin had managed to withstand the blow.
Still, it pressed on. With a flick of its wrist, the dark spear snapped back like a striking viper. Then it split into a storm of spear shadows that came crashing down on Dustin from every direction. Every shadow was impossibly solid, carrying a soul-rending chill.
Dustin’s eyes sharpened as he moved with blinding speed within the confined space. His longsword weaved a dense, impenetrable curtain of cyan light.
Rapid impacts erupted like hail against stone. The sword light and spear shadows clashed madly, scattering fragmented energy that carved the surrounding rock walls.
They fought at a speed the eye could barely follow, where the streaks of light twisted and collided, shaking the entire canyon with every clash. The battle had reached a level far beyond anything that had come before.
