Inside the domain, the world was silent.
The very concepts of time and space had been stripped away. Saint Topman Warcury's charge, Saint Marcus Mars's dive, and Saint Jaygarcia Saturn's look of shock were all frozen in a void of absolute nothingness. In this static, black-and-white painting, Kyle was the only color, the only thing that could still move.
His figure traced a black-and-gold, Z-shaped line through the darkness, flashing past the four colossal monsters in an instant. When he reappeared at the center of his domain, deep, massive slash marks simultaneously appeared on Warcury's waist, Saturn's chest, Ju Peter's healing torso, and at the base of Mars's wings. The wounds were gruesome, yet not a single drop of blood escaped. In the domain of "Silence," even the flow of blood was frozen.
It was at that moment that the void seemed to reach its limit. A faint cracking sound echoed in the nothingness, then spread rapidly. The entire black sphere, like a mirror breaking under too much weight, was covered in a spiderweb of cracks.
The next instant, the world came rushing back.
Light, sound, heat, and air—everything that had been suppressed—surged back in a chaotic wave. The four Elders could move again, their senses returning all at once. What followed was a delayed, soul-searing agony.
"Pfft—!"
Blood erupted from their massive wounds like four crimson waterfalls.
"Roar!"
The intense pain ignited the raw fury of the four monsters. Without hesitation, at the very instant the domain shattered, they unleashed a combined attack of unprecedented power. Warcury's savage charge, Mars's black flames from the underworld, Ju Peter's sand spears thrusting from the ground, and Saturn's mental shockwave—four completely different powers merged into a single, pure torrent of destruction that sealed off any chance for Kyle to escape.
The shadow of death, for the first time, truly fell over Kyle's heart. He could feel it: an ultimate attack that would completely erase him from existence.
He took a deep, ragged breath, steeling himself. He poured every last bit of his strength into the naginata in his hand.
"Dragon Slayer!"
With a furious roar, a highly condensed, black-gold dragon of energy roared off his blade to meet the destructive torrent. Kyle himself used the unparalleled recoil to launch himself backward, becoming a streak of light as he retreated.
Boom—!!!!!!!
An indescribable explosion rocked the Red Line. The entire continent-sized landmass seemed to tremble, and the shockwave traveled for miles, causing a distant wall in Mary Geoise to collapse. Dust and debris filled the sky, blocking out the light.
When the storm of energy finally faded, only a bottomless crater remained at the center of the battlefield. The four Elders stood at its edge, all of them wounded and gasping for breath. That single blow had used up most of their stamina. But at last, they thought, they had dealt with the monster.
Just as the thought crossed their minds, all four of their eyes widened in disbelief.
From within the thick dust, a figure slowly walked out. He was covered in blood, with bone-deep wounds on his chest and abdomen, yet he was still standing perfectly straight. The reason and calculation in his golden eyes were fading, replaced by the pure, insane fire of a man who lived only for the fight.
How can this be?! they all thought. After an attack like that, how can he still be standing?!
Kyle bared his teeth in a bloody grin and vanished. Alarm bells screamed in Saturn's mind, but he couldn't react fast enough. A flash of black-gold light shot past him.
"Pfft!"
Saturn let out a piercing shriek. All six of his newly regenerated legs were severed at the base. Before he could fall, Warcury's charge followed. His massive body carried the force to crush mountains.
Kyle didn't dodge. He simply turned, taking the full impact on his left shoulder.
"Crack!"
The sound of his ribs breaking was sickeningly clear. Kyle grunted in pain, but used the immense force of the blow to launch himself like a cannonball high into the sky.
"Caw!"
Saint Mars had been waiting. He dove from the clouds, talons aimed directly at Kyle's head. In mid-air, Kyle forced his battered body to stabilize. He reached out with his blood-covered left hand toward the descending Mars and clenched his fist.
Mars suddenly stopped its dive, frozen in the air. An invisible force had enveloped its body, and the gravity around it instantly increased dozens of times, pulling it down. The massive creature began to fall uncontrollably, as if a giant, unseen hand were crushing it toward the ground.
The fierce light in Kyle's eyes grew brighter. He raised his hand to the sky and let out a final, defiant roar.
"Heavenly Obstacle Trembling Star!"
The sky answered. The thick clouds were torn apart, and a massive meteor, over a hundred meters wide and burning with furious flames, descended from the heavens. It left a long tail of fire as it aimed directly for the falling Saint Mars.
"Roar!"
Mars shrieked and spewed a river of black flames. The fire surged upward and collided with the meteor, melting it rapidly until it was less than half its original size. But it wasn't enough to stop it completely.
Boom!
The remains of the meteor still smashed heavily into Mars, slamming him into the ground and sending dust flying everywhere. He scrambled out of the new crater, scorched but seemingly not seriously injured.
But when he looked up, the pupils of his eyes shrank to the size of pinpricks.
Above the clouds, in the hole torn in the sky, another meteor was coming. No—this was a super-meteor, larger than the last, nearly the size of a small island. It broke through the atmosphere with world-ending power, roaring down upon them.
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