Chapter 362 - Very Despicable!

Clang, clang, clang! Clang, clang, clang!

The crisp and melodious metallic sounds echoed like spring water falling. Strands of metal wires scattered like droplets, covering half the park. The wire tips plunged fiercely into the surroundings like fishhooks, firmly anchoring into the landscape. Some nailed into concrete, others burrowed into tree trunks or wrapped around flower beds, benches, and street lamps.

In the darkness all around, countless wires had woven dangerous nets, enveloping their prey.

The dim streetlights occasionally illuminated small areas, revealing wires flickering mid-air like a swarm of fireflies. Their number had already exceeded a hundred.

Beside the fountain, the Eye Devil stood with legs apart in an archer's stance, body slightly angled. Holding a large cross-shaped sword vertically before his chest, rolling black flames obscured most of his body.

His cloak had been blown off by the fierce wind, revealing a mane of blood-red hair wildly dancing. A black bandage covered his eyes, making it impossible to observe the surroundings with the naked eye. Yet, there always seemed to be an elusive, icy gaze fixed straight ahead, directed at Amos.

Dozens of meters away, the boy who had been hovering three meters in the air transformed into a young man. His stature shot up to 1.8 meters, revealing a lean and well-proportioned muscular build. His medium-length black hair was tied back with metal wires into a ponytail. Due to the angle, his round-framed gold-rimmed glasses reflected the moonlight, appearing completely white.

Amos stood with feet apart on two slightly gleaming metal wires. Leisurely adjusting his white gloves, he gazed down at the Eye Devil below. "I can sense killing intent from you. Do you wish to kill me?

Heh heh heh

, but reality will be the opposite of your desire..."

Eye Devil seemed to smile almost imperceptibly. "Of course I want to kill the famous Reaper. In your prime, you gave our Gate organization a lot of trouble—hunting down five core members in ten years, quite impressive. But unfortunately, you're old now. Can that body of yours still sustain entering the third stage? I'm afraid it'll collapse as soon as you come down," he said, gripping the hilt of his sword. "Moreover, the Spiral-Eye Sword is in my hands. You know how much an ancient martial treasure enhances the power of an opponent at the same level as you, don't you..."

Zing zing zing!

A sudden metallic shriek sounded in the air when Amos attacked without warning. He leaped down from three meters high, both hands in front of his chest, suddenly flinging them like wolf claws.

"Secret Technique, Silver Rain!"

Silver metal wires shot forth like torrential rain, carrying immense cutting force. Slicing through the air, they fiercely flew toward Eye Devil! It was enough to slice apart a house!

"Secret Technique, Scarlet Flame Flower!" Eye Devil suddenly stepped back, his slightly raised heel bursting with force. His entire body swayed and spun like he was dancing, the large cross-shaped sword in his hand swinging along.

Above his body, a spiral-shaped flower formed. It was made of flames as black as ink. Each petal was a cold blade slicing through the sky. When gathered densely together, they formed a flaming flower.

As for why the name is "scarlet" when the color is clearly black—it's because, under normal circumstances, when Eye Devil's "Scarlet Flame Flower" strikes, the enemy would be instantly dismembered by the frenzied sword attacks.

Flesh, tendons, and blood would explode into a mass of crimson mist. Clearly, it was an extremely lethal move.

Clang clang clang clang!

The Spiral-Eye Sword and hundreds of metal wires collided rapidly, producing a series of teeth-gritting friction and slicing sounds. In a trail of exploding golden-red sparks, dense sword attacks clashed and neutralized with the incessant metal wires. The formidable cutting force entangled with the eerie black flames.

Eye Devil seemed enveloped in golden fireworks as his hands slashed rapidly, drawing arcs in the air and leaving afterimages. He emitted a sharp whistle that tore through the air, suddenly lunging forward in an arrow step, shattering several paving stones underfoot.

His entire body turned into a black line, piercing straight toward Amos, who was controlling hundreds of metal wires.

"Secret Technique, Bone Devourer!!!" Eye Devil's spine curved during the sprint, like a taut, resilient bowstring that was accumulating immense power.

Whoosh!

He thrust his sword forward, as if turning into a meteor. At the moment his body rebounded, Eye Devil's entire arm, along with the Spiral-Eye Sword in his grasp, transformed into an arrow.

Clang!!!

A dense metal mesh blocked ahead. Regardless, the Spiral-Eye Sword continued forward. A piercing metallic screech that almost ruptured eardrums resounded throughout the park.

Nearly a thousand wires from all directions were simultaneously pulled taut by a tremendous force, trembling violently as they retracted toward Amos's central position. The ground was plowed with long, deep grooves. Street lamps and benches were dragged out of the ground as half of the white stone fountain was destroyed. Water gushed out and a dozen trees snapped simultaneously.

In a remote corner, Simone, hiding in the shadows, was watching with constricted pupils. Just over ten meters ahead of him, a wire was wrapped around a flower bed with a diameter of two meters. In that recent collision, the metal wire had sliced the flower bed horizontally into two halves. The upper and lower parts were misaligned, like staggered platforms.

To the left, two more wires were pulled back, directly slicing a black car parked by the roadside into three large pieces.

Concrete and metal seemed as fragile as tofu. If it were to cut a human body, it would be even easier.

Yet, this was merely one percent of the destructive power dispersed from their clash. It was hard to imagine the terrifying combat strength of the two who were bearing the full force on the front lines.

"Is there really such a vast difference between a combat artist and those below? I've sparred with combat artist elders in the sect before, and the gap didn't seem like the insurmountable chasm I'm seeing now. So there are only two possibilities..." Simone completely set aside any trace of arrogance in his heart. "Either the elders held back because of my status, or these two are the elite among combat artists. The cream of the crop..."

"Judging by past experiences, it's clearly the latter." He suddenly looked up and saw the two entangled figures flying backward from each other, as if they had just exchanged a move.

On the left, the black-robed man glided low, like a meteor skimming the ground. His longsword stabbed downward abruptly, sinking a third into the ground to provide immense resistance. Even so, Eye Devil still flew back over twenty meters. The Spiral-Eye Sword plowed a long, narrow trench in the concrete floor.

On the other side, Amos was caught by a large metal net behind him, the wires stretched to their limits. Two tree trunks serving as anchors couldn't hold and were directly snapped.

Zing!

The Spiral-Eye Sword was pulled out from the ground, pointing obliquely to one side. Eye Devil stood tall, walking step by step toward the opposite side.

"Reaper Amos, you've truly aged over these years. After fighting me for so long, you still refuse to enter the third stage. I wasn't wrong—you can't sustain it anymore! Once you try to return to your peak state, you'll collapse!" He walked forward slowly, his unusual eyes fixed intently on Amos. From head to toe, thick black mist steamed off him.

That was the rich Qi of a top-tier combat artist, expanding in all directions like water, displaying an unrestrained nature. As fellow combat artists, one could easily sense the other's emotions from their Qi. Currently, Eye Devil's Qi conveyed three messages: impatience, excitement, and killing intent.

"Amos, today, let me send you on your way!" As his words fell, he charged forward fiercely. The longsword in his hand traced a black arc through the air.

Thirty meters away, Amos's body was pulled up by countless wires. His head was slightly lowered, and there seemed to be a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. It appeared that in the clash between the Reaper and the Eye Devil, the incomplete Reaper was at a disadvantage after all.

One side was injured, weary and struggling; the other was brimming with killing intent and soaring momentum. The outcome was about to be decided.

Simone held his breath, watching the scene excitedly.

The Eye Devil charged toward Amos like a black ball of light.

Suddenly, Amos's mouth curved into a slight smile as he raised his head. "Your analysis is not bad but next time, don't bother analyzing..."

His entire body hunched over at a speed visible to the naked eye. In an instant, he transformed into an elderly man with a face full of deep wrinkles. His body was thin and frail and his hair grayed. He appeared to move with difficulty as his hands pulled the wires ever so slowly.

Despite this appearance of being at death's door, alarms rang in Eye Devil's mind, and all his muscles tensed up.

"The Reaper's third form! The peak state of the Black Ops Agency's butler! He clearly can enter it—why didn't he use it in the earlier fights? Something's off, there's a trick!" At this moment, a sense of crisis surged from the depths of the Eye Devil's heart. Unease and danger were approaching rapidly.

"Eye Domain!" He instantly unleashed the Spiral-Eye Sword's greatest power. The eyeball-shaped metal sphere at the end of the sword hilt emitted an eerie red light. Massive, terrifying energy expanded like a mushroom cloud, engulfing a large surrounding area.

The night instantly plunged into emptiness. The moonlight faded, leaving only pure darkness. It was as if they had entered the void of outer space. There was only a crimson pupil suspended mid-air.

That was the eye of the Spiral-Eye Sword, and also the Eye Devil's eye. Under the gaze of this illusory pupil, everything around moved in slow motion and all noise was filtered out.

Rolling gravel, rustling leaves, swirling air currents, colliding wires—all these vanished in an instant. Only one sound grew louder—the heavy, muffled footsteps.

It was as if an elephant was fiercely galloping across the open field. Each step seemed to bring an explosion to the ground.

The crimson eyeball in the sky immediately looked in that direction. Because it was overseeing everything, Eye Devil could see the full scene. The park's perimeter wall at the far edge had a huge hole smashed through it, and the entire grove looked as if a bulldozer had violently carved a straight tunnel. Soil splattered wildly, trees toppled, and footprints left pits as large as millstones.

Because time was slowed in the Eye Domain's perspective, he could clearly see the splashing soil and fallen leaves, along with the howling air currents forming a human-shaped cavity. Following this cavity all the way, the Eye Devil saw himself and, fifteen meters away, a raging muscle Golem.

That person whose entire figure reached a terrifying height of 2.5 meters was making a full sprint. His whole body was covered in perfectly contoured rock-white muscles like heavy armor. Its limbs resembled four sturdy marble pillars.

In slow motion, the giant's wild golden hair danced chaotically, and the air inhaled and exhaled from his nostrils formed two long white beams whistling through the air, producing the sound of elephant trumpets.

He had already locked his gaze on Eye Devil not far away with seemingly spouting flames. His facial expression was a peculiar smile, with an arc at the corner of his eyes suggesting an unquenchable thirst. His mouth was wide open, revealing white fangs.

It was clearly the expression of a beast eager to devour a person! Excitement, joy, and a morbid hunger!

Eye Devil watched him charging like a tank, his burly body leaning to the right and his strong arm compressing backward like a bowstring. The massive muscles around his shoulders were tightened to the extreme, and the vein-like black lines looked like black snakes crawling around.

It was the most simple and unadorned punching posture, without any variation. A straight punch!

However, Eye Devil knew that if he were hit, his body would explode on the spot. Just like those who were hit by dozens of "Scarlet Flame Flowers," their skin, muscles, and even bones would be utterly obliterated.

"Amos didn't enter the third stage, instead choosing to fight with me using the weaker second stage even at the cost of injuries. It turns out he was stalling for time! The Black Ops Agency has another top-tier combat artist rushing here! How despicable!!!" The Eye Devil cursed madly in his heart.

He took advantage of the Eye Domain's time dilation to rapidly analyze the current situation. A top-tier combat artist's attack was ready to be unleashed, and Amos over there seemed to be brewing a killing move. No matter how the Eye Devil calculated, he couldn't figure out how to survive the pincer attack.

From all angles and factors, he was almost certain to die!

Unless... Unless he really died once! However, that would mean he would virtually hand over a Gate fragment to someone else! Furthermore, he would have to truly experience death!

He was unwilling and couldn't bear it. Eye Devil felt he could still fight once more, gambling on the chance of mere survival. He must find the escape route with the highest possibility, then use his techniques and give it his all. There might still be hope.

If it really didn't work, he could use that Secret Technique at the last moment. In any case, survival was most important!

Buzz!

The Eye Domain suddenly contracted from covering almost half the park into a single point, instantly retreating into the cross-shaped sword. The eyeball-shaped metal sphere on the sword hilt emitted a surge of crimson light.

Eye Devil instantly raised his sword and lunged forward. The Spiral-Eye Sword in his hand emitted a terrifying black brilliance, rotating as he slashed forward.

A beam of devouring light over ten meters long swiftly glided forward.

"Ultimate Secret Art, Dark Abyssal Annihilation!"