Chapter 998

"....!!!"

The entire battlefield was plunged into a state of debilitating shock as Devan’s massive frame crashed into the earth with a thud so resonant it shook the very foundations of the terrain.

Both ally and enemy alike—the Dawn forces and the Behemoth Clan—watched in stunned silence as Grey hovered in the air.

In his grasp, he held a mangled portion of Devan’s heart like a gruesome trophy, torn and violently ripped out as if it were nothing but scrap parchment.

Blood rolled down Grey’s hand in thick rivulets as the dust finally settled, revealing Devan lying in an ever-expanding pool of his own crimson.

He was alive... but barely.

His mind could only ponder one question: How?

Everything had transpired with such sudden, overlapping violence that he hadn’t realized who was where or what was happening before it culminated in his current broken condition.

But the most staggering realization was how Grey had bypassed his legendary resilience.

Devan’s specialized Ki technique allowed him to not only grow in stature but to amplify every physical aspect, most notably his durability.

No one had been able to truly injure him in decades; he had cemented his status as a global powerhouse by making his body as unyielding as a dozen mountains combined.

He had tanked strikes that would have vaporized lesser warriors.

So, how?

"... You lost the moment you even entertained the thought of going against me," Grey declared, his voice carrying the weight of finality.

He slowly glided toward the ground, landing on one knee for a moment as he struggled to steady his ragged breathing.

The Kian Mega Blast had extracted a significant toll from his reserves.

He was actually surprised his entire arm hadn’t been shredded or that he wasn’t in worse shape compared to the previous times he had unleashed that particular technique.

Before Han and Dan had even descended from the clouds, Grey had already devised the blueprint for Devan’s defeat.

Since the giant was too resilient—an annoying, persistent piece of tough meat—Grey knew he had to "chew" through the man’s defenses.

All he had to do was weaken that durability by pumping continuous tons of energy into him.

By bombarding his skin with a relentless flurry of elemental attacks, he had managed to erode the Ki coating without the giant even realizing the protection was thinning.

Then, with Han and Dan’s intervention, they had stretched Devan’s endurance to its absolute limit, creating the opening for Grey’s most potent kill-strike.

He could always rely on the Kian Mega Blast to finalize a confrontation, as it combined his Ki, mana, and every element into one decisive, singular punch.

Devan stared into Grey’s eyes, fury consuming him as he weakly punched the earth beneath his broken chest.

"Fool! You missed! You should have finished me off entirely with that petty attack of yours. A partly torn heart isn’t enough to slay a powerful Stage Nine warrior like me!"

With a visible strain, Grey staggered to his feet and began a slow, methodical march toward Devan.

The giant was attempting to rise as well, struggling up to his knees.

His chest bore a massive, hollow cavern, but a closer look revealed his skin knitting back together at a sluggish pace.

Before Devan could even rise to one foot, Grey was standing over him with a devilish smile.

"And you think I couldn’t have finished you? Why would I endure all that pain to not end my enemy immediately, unless there was a specific task that required them to stay alive?"

Devan’s expression flickered with confusion.

Before he could process the mage’s words, the earth surged violently.

Stone moved like liquid, hardening into heavy chains that bound the man to the ground like a prisoner of war.

Glancing at his restraints, Devan prepared to shatter them as he always did, but a net of white-hot flames immediately weaved into existence, trapping him within fiery strings.

That still wasn’t enough for the Supreme Magus.

As he watched the net force the giant’s massive frame lower, Grey waved his hand.

Lightning crackled fiercely from the heavens, and massive links of electrical chain and cuffs descended swiftly to finish the containment.

They locked the man from his shoulders downward, forcing his massive frame to press lower toward the dirt.

The electrifying and paralyzing effects of the lightning affinity bore into his flesh, causing the giant to let out a sharp, pained yelp.

Han and Dan appeared a few meters away from Grey, watching with confused expressions.

They couldn’t quite fathom what the Supreme Magus was hoping to achieve with this elaborate capture.

A wide, sinister smile spread across Grey’s face as his hand shot forth like a striking viper.

"Thank you for serving yourself to me on a golden platter."

His palm crashed onto Devan’s head, and almost immediately, cold horror crept into the man’s heart—his partly destroyed heart.

His Ki was being siphoned away by Grey at an astonishing, unnatural rate.

"No, no, no, no! What are you doing? Let me go! Now!"

Of course, the elemental bindings held with surprising durability.

Grey closed his eyes, relishing the tidal wave of Ki surging into his pathways with incredible speed.

It was as if a massive storage tank had been breached, gushing with stored water that had no choice but to flow into him.

Seeing Devan tug fruitlessly at the chains and noting the way his bulging muscles were shrinking at a visible pace, Han and Dan quickly figured out what was happening.

"How much more powerful of a warrior will he be after this? He is already at Stage Eight after father gave him all his Ki," Dan whispered, twirling his sore wrist which was still aching from absorbing Devan’s earlier punch.

Han’s face grew dark, his eyes fixed on the spectacle. "Who knows."

Devan was now roaring angrily, furiously pulling at the bindings with every ounce of his remaining strength as he tried his hardest to shove the mage away.

All Grey did was lift his second hand and place it on Devan’s head, effectively doubling the intake.

Soon, twice the amount of Ki surged toward him, moving as if the energy couldn’t wait to join the Supreme Magus.

Devan’s frame began shrinking rapidly, his skin sagging as his hair swiftly changed color, turning a brittle, aged gray.

’I see... this process used to take significantly longer when I was just a Stage Three warrior. Now, it has become much faster since I reached the lower levels of Stage Eight. Interesting.’

A soft, cold smile curved his lips as he cracked one eye open to look at the screaming, diminishing Devan.

"Now your years of power and cultivation... will become mine."

"NOOOOOOO—!"