Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 708 - The Final Battle: King of Qi Versus King of Calamity
The King of Qi now faced the King of Calamity head-on! It was the grandest, most terrifying clash in history! Once it began, this battle would even surpass the ancient war when the three Southern Dipper Holy Fists had sealed Xiadu. The two beings beyond the limit of perfection seemed like gods straight out of a painting.
The skies over the Blue Star Continent had clearly been divided into two realms. On Xiadu's side, countless black clouds churned with twisted limbs and howling ghastly faces. A blood moon hung high and dense thunder clapped, forming tree after tree of lightning.
On Cassius's side, the night was limpid and radiant. Tricolored auroras tore through the sky, forming a bright river of stars. The Southern Dipper Constellations became phantoms of three ferocious beasts. The two skies collided, erasing each other. Rolling explosions resounded, and a rain of black blood poured down.
All these changes arose from the standoff between Xiadu and Cassius. Two tides of Qi effortlessly stained the earth. All weather and natural phenomena moved with their hearts and followed their wills.
Two colossal silhouettes stood on either side of the altar. Xiadu's voice rolled forth from the roiling expansion of black calamity miasma like a god passing judgment in the clouds. "You killed them all?"
Cassius's crimson pupils didn’t even flicker beneath his iron mask. Even his voice was icy-cold. "Just an appetizer. Didn't taste bad."
He had simply butchered all the Ultimate Dark Forms that crossed over!
"Heheheh... hahahahaha!"
Opposite him, the giant that Xiadu had become burst into wild laughter, angered at the offense to its authority. "Those are my subordinates! Only I may rule their life and death. Only I may make them my food! Cassius... You have crossed the line!"
Boom!
Without warning, Xiadu struck!
The giant raised its black claws and plunged them into the deep Well of Sin in its chest and belly. Terrifying calamity energy poured out, hardening layer upon layer on the waves of the sea. Suddenly, a jet-black scythe wreathed in blood appeared within that boundless pool! Its five fingers gripped the haft and drew it out.
Whoosh!
It slashed through the air at inconceivable speed. A black ray streaked across the clouds, cleaving a chasm through the thunder-laced black sky. A battle weapon grew to the size of a mountain and fell from the sky.
It was the Reaper's Scythe! It was one of the top three core abilities of the Spectral Reaper, one of the Ultimate Dark Forms. It was so sharp that its edge could cut body, Qi, and spirit in one slice. Whoever was struck by it would suffer a wound that could never be healed!
It was all the more terrifying when backed by Xiadu's power beyond perfection. Before the scythe even fell, its cutting aura had already split the earth for hundreds of kilometers. The earth's crust parted down to the mantle and magma spouted forth.
"Anger me, and you will pay with death!"
Whoosh.
The Reaper's Scythe suddenly accelerated.
Clang!
A thunderous metallic clang rang out, turning into a shockwave that shattered even the hardest rock into dust!
Tens of thousands of meters in the air, the massive black scythe’s radiant edge had been stopped by a fluorescent hand-blade that had been thrust skyward.
Thorn Sonic Death Armament formed a gauntlet over Cassius’s hand. One could say his hand itself was a weapon... The strongest weapon!
The Reaper's Scythe and the Thorn Sonic Death Armament gauntlet fought in midair, throwing large gold sparks around. They seemed to be evenly matched... but was it really?
Nearly invisible hairline cracks were racing across the radiant blade like a dense network of roots. That was damage wrought by sheer force.
Clang!
The Golem's iron hand pushed upward, cleaving the night in an instant. It carved a fluorescent white arc line through heaven and earth. At the same time, the Reaper's Scythe snapped in two and a terrifying force invaded the break. By the time Xiadu withdrew its hand, only the haft remained.
"That is... Southern Dipper Force... Southern Dipper Force actually has such a destructive effect?!" Xiadu's heart stirred. It had seen the forces of the three Southern Dipper Holy Fists before. They were indeed strong, but not to this level.
Ordinary Ultimate Dark Forms certainly could not withstand Southern Dipper Force. However, beings with perfected power like the Totem King could still clash with it by relying on its origin. As for Xiadu's true body, it feared Southern Dipper Force even less.
Despite that, the Southern Dipper Force wielded by Cassius had transformed into a weapon far beyond imagination, bearing an edge that could rend heaven and earth! That faint pricking threat made Xiadu instantly wary. It had thought Cassius, who had newly broken through the limits of perfected power, would be no match for it. But that assessment was wrong. Xiadu had to go all out for every strike at Cassius!
"My turn, Xiadu! I'll kill you in the most brutal way I can!"
Opposite, the Golem's battle cloak whipped in the wind. Cassius assumed a powerful stance like a missile primed to launch.
Boom!
The mountain-sized missile erupted! In an instant, he was in front of Xiadu. His iron arm swung at Xiadu with absolute dominance.
Clang!
Xiadu thrust out two scaled hands that wrapped around the iron arm like pythons. Massive explosions went off as arm smashed into arm. Countless gold sparks sprayed as mushroom clouds swelled into the air. Each spark that struck the ground blasted a crater a kilometer wide.
Swoosh!
Xiadu threw a punch wreathed in spiraling black Qi. As the fist neared Cassius's flank, it suddenly swelled threefold, blasting five punches in succession at Cassius!
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...
A chain of explosive collisions rang out as the air itself was annihilated. Cassius's iron fists were reinforced by the strength of his silver Golem form, and left deep fist imprints onto Xiadu. Each imprint embodied countless fist techniques and Covert Martial Arts.
Clang!
Southern Dipper aura exploded as iron fists and claws clashed, sending ripples reverberating across their chests.
Boom!
After a violent explosion, the two terrors staggered back. A second later, they met each other’s eyes and vanished, smashing into each other again. A searing mushroom cloud bloomed as rain and clouds alike were swept away. Only ash and sand fell from the sky, the remnants of mountains that had been hurled upward.
The debris was soon swept clean again by more shockwaves. They raced outward, scouring nearly a thousand kilometers around the battlefield. Deep valleys, grassy plateaus, grand cities, and great rivers were all destroyed. This battle was enough to end the world!
Devastation was everywhere. The earth was scarred by deep trenches with scalding magma welling up. Black toxic fumes corroded away at the wildlife in the area, altering nature itself. Horrific fist marks, giant footprints, and omnipresent Southern Dipper Force and calamity turned the place into hell.
No humans would ever be able to live there again. Even godlike Ultimate Dark Forms might die from a misstep.
Clang!
The two vast beings continued to collide, bringing out their own killing moves that caused one explosion after another. As the Well of Sin, Xiadu's calamity energy was near infinite. As such, it bombarded Cassius with the core abilities of many Ultimate Dark Forms as if there was no cost!
It used the Totem King's triple totems, Annihilation Disaster's runes of deathly stillness, True Progenitor of Blood's Blood Codex, and more. It cycled through the abilities of the top ten Ultimate Dark Forms, empowered them with its higher realm, and combined them in battle. Some combinations synergized and spiked in power to the point where they could injure Cassius's Golem body. They were definitely not to be underestimated.
Xiadu was indeed strong, but Cassius did not fall behind. He had reached the realm of the King of Qi, and was only one step from the God of Covert Martial Arts. He did not use any gaudy tricks and relied only the Golem Covert Martial Arts' terrifying physique, the Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritance in close combat, the distinct traits of the three fist arts, and the Thorn Sonic Death Armament!
Defense, technique, offense... The three principles of battle had all been pushed to the limit. Once they were all in concert, Cassius was the strongest war machine! He bombarded Xiadu with unimaginable threats again and again until he was even slightly gaining the upper hand.
Far from the battlefield, a crimson figure hovered in the sky, watching Cassius and Xiadu battle. The two godlike figures were contending a battlefield as bright as the sun. Black calamity tendrils traced through the air behind Xiadu. Meanwhile, tricolored divine light like lightning engulfed all behind Cassius. Their clash seemed less like two individuals and more like two planets duelling!
Excitement flashed in the aged eyes of the Blood Vulture Dominator Fist. "Is this the path beyond perfected power? Is this the supreme might of combining the Southern Dipper three fist arts?!"
He did not join, since he was unwilling to weigh Cassius down. His current task was to block any Ultimate Dark Forms from crossing through the rift. He would prevent them from ravaging the world while Cassius and Xiadu were locked in battle.
Another fearsome shockwave swept through the clouds. Blood Vulture felt the cutting wind blow across his face and inhaled sharply. "Cassius, I see it... I can see it! You will certainly win!"
At the heart of the battlefield, the two combatants clashed together again. No one knew how many millions of blows they had exchanged.
Boom! Boom!
Two iron hands and two scaled claws grasped each other, giving off a primal savagery. The moment their energies peaked, the Well of Sin in Xiadu's chest roared in resonance. A world-swallowing surge of calamity poured out, blasting Cassius at point-blank range.
Clang!
Pure, vicious force crashed down. Calamity engulfed Cassius in a torrent of black smoke, destroying everything for hundreds of kilometers behind him. Standing within the miasma, Xiadu frowned and peered ahead.
One hundred and ninety-eight tricolored stars flared at once in the black fog. At the same time, the bright tricolored Southern Dipper Constellations in the night sky formed a waterfall of stars that looked like the Milky Way. The massive tricolored cataract of light coiled around Xiadu and pinned it tight.
Then, Cassius lunged headlong out of the miasma and rammed straight into Xiadu. "Today, you will certainly die by my hand, Xiadu!"
