“Jared, you’re taking it too far!” Varek roared, madness flickering in his eyes. He knew death loomed. Snarling, ignited his own blood essence. Black energy exploded outward, his aura ballooning until the very air trembled.
The bone sword swelled to over fifteen meters, trailing demonic energy as it scythed toward Jared in a wide, annihilating arc. Where it passed, the sky itself blackened, as though space were being devoured by demonic energy.
Jared’s gaze iced over. “Such petty skills… And you dare play them before me?!”
The Power of Dragons surged through his veins, the flames along the Dragonslayer Sword roared until they seemed molten metal made alive.
“Dragon Fire Thrust!” thundered, lunging. A fire dragon burst from the blade, maw yawning wide. It devoured Varek’s demonic energy, then slammed headlong into the swollen bone sword.
Crack! The weapon snapped in two, the break charred a deep, death-black.
The fire dragon did not stop. It plowed into Varek’s chest like a falling star. A wet, guttural spray-black blood spattered the ground.
Where the droplets landed, bone fragments sizzled and pitted beneath the corrosive gore.
Varek flew like a severed kite, slamming into the cliff wall so hard the stone cradled before letting slide to the earth, aura shallow, life ebbing fast.
Jared advanced in measured, echoing steps. The Dragonslayer Sword’s point touched the man’s throat, his eyes were winter-cold. “Speak! Where are the Flaxseed clan’s stolen divine souls?”
Varek doubled over, a wet cough spraying dark blood across the cracked tiles. Yet even as the crimson spatter gleamed against his chin, his lips twisted into a warped, triumphant grin.
In a voice scraped raw by madness, rasped, “They were refined long ago! Distilled into the purest of Divine Soul Pills, and I swallowed every last one. Your friends are gone, forever! Hahaha! You will never ever find them!”
Jared’s reply came like a thunderclap. “You want to die? Fine… Die!”
The Dragonslayer Sword arced through the air in a single cruel sweep.
A sheet of golden light flashed, impossibly bright, and Varek’s head spun sky-high, his manic triumph frozen on a mask of disbelief. The moment the head left the body, both dissolved into fetid black energy, scattering on the palace wind.
Jared exhaled once, turned on his heel, and fixed his gaze on the far side of the hall where Flaxseed waged war of his own.
Flaxseed’s hands danced through seal after seal, each gesture crisp as flint striking steel.
Charms burst from his palms like an endless storm, Needle Rain Charms that whistled down in silver curtains, Vine Charms that writhed into living chains, Thunder Charms that bloomed with raw lightning.
In mid-air, every charm detonated, gold, violet, and emerald radiance intertwined, boxing Dioz into a shrinking cage of light.
Flaxseed murmured an unbroken litany under his breath, his spiritual energy swelling until gusts spiraled off his robes. Behind him, a vast net woven from countless charms unfurled like the wings of some sacred beast, its holy glow bleaching the surrounding demonic energy to nothing.
“Dioz! Your life ends now!” Flaxseed roared, voice ringing like a bronze bell.
He thrust both palms forward. The net of charms snapped toward Dioz, sealing the space around him. At the same instant, a blood-red charm flared between Flaxseed’s fingers, runes leaping like tongues of fire.
“Sky Incinerator Charm!”
The charm became a roaring inferno, merging with the charm-net and closing into a fiery crucible.
Flames gnawed at the surging demonic energy, crackling and spitting while Dioz’s screams shrilled from within, a sound that sliced through stone and soul alike.
Though Dioz had rebuilt his physical body and clawed his way to Earthly Immortal Realm Level Eight, against Flaxseed, already at Earthly Immortal Realm Level Nine and armed with charms that devoured demonic energy, was a cornered beast.
Cuts latticed his body, black energy oozing from every rent, each breath a struggle against the inevitable.
“Enough! I’ll take you with me!” Dioz howled, the roar thick with despair. Black energy exploded outward, prying a jagged breach in the flaming net.
Dioz shot through the gap like an obsidian arrow, a bone dagger, its edge slick with venom, materializing in his hand as lunged straight for Flaxseed’s heart.
