Chapter 458 - Blood Vulture Kills Demon Phoenix

Screech!

A high-pitched, piercing cry burst forth from within Cassius's body, brimming with an unrivaled ferocity and majesty that could pierce the heavens. Scarlet currents of air swirled past Cassius's eyes. A crimson speck grew larger and more defined in his blue irises, finally morphing into a ferocious Blood Vulture that lunged forth in a frenzy!

In the very instant that crimson shadow touched the air, it swelled until it turned into a colossal form in less than half a breath. Its blood-red wings blotted out the sun, slicing through the air in a predatory glide.

Boom!

The Blood Vulture slammed into the Demon Phoenix that had surged from Hu Yue and Luo's bodies. Torrents of air were swept along, erupting in a blurred shockwave. Three crimson silhouettes shot skyward amid flying dirt and swirling gray dust, locked in a tangled battle all the way up.

They glided above the treetops, chasing each other like fighter jets, leaving fleeting trails of blood in the air. Repeated booming impacts rang out, accompanied by the clashing of talons and beaks that might as well have been made of steel, all amidst shrill cries filled with vicious menace.

The lush canopy of trees within a hundred-meter radius surged violently. Whenever the monstrous birds clashed overhead, the forest revealed giant elliptical impressions where the downdraft pressed it downward.

Sometimes, wave after wave of turbulent gusts caused the entire woodland to sway, transforming it into a green ocean in rolling motion.

These furious collisions took place in the blink of an eye. But the battle's outcome was decided when the Blood Vulture spread its wings wide, the ends of its savage pinions gleaming like bloodstained steel.

Its talons tore outward, prompting the Demon Phoenix to utter a final death wail. Its wings shattered as it was dragged down by a trailing crimson haze, crashing helplessly to the earth like a warplane trailing black smoke.

Boom! Whoosh...

The Demon Phoenix disintegrated fully into swirling black-and-red Qi, which trickled down like a gentle rain.

"The Blood Vulture has slain the Demon Phoenix!"

Screech!

The Blood Vulture cried out once more, circling overhead three or four times, gazing down upon the earth with all the pride of a triumphant conqueror. At last, it swooped down with a sudden rush and fused back into Cassius's body.

"Demon Phoenix? Nothing but a scraggly fowl. And they dare call that Holy Fist?! If all Holy Fists amounted to this...how could they ever contend with Ultimate Dark Forms in the underworld?" Cassius glanced skyward at the falling crimson rain, the Blood Vulture faintly reflected in his eyes.

He had personally seen the Totem King's true form, the towering bronze gargoyle, in the dark creature test site! If it fell, it might crush an entire city beneath it.

So one could imagine how mighty that Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist elder was, to be able to face such a foe at the origin of calamity and stand against it on foreign ground. That was a true Holy Fist!

Yet this Demon Phoenix that Hu Yue and Luo spoke of; how dared it lay claim to the Holy Fist title?

Even if it was just a nickname or a job title, it wasn't even close to a fraction of the real meaning. Cassius, having reached the level of an extreme combat artist and standing on par with the so-called Holy Fist Demon Phoenix, did not dare call himself a Holy Fist master. How then, did this Demon Phoenix dare?

At his current level of strength, Cassius rarely felt genuine rage, yet today, the name "Holy Fist Demon Phoenix" had managed to enrage him. As a result, there was an unsurpassed brutality in his actions.

Hu Yue and Luo instantly became mere punching bags for Cassius's fury.

Boom!!!

An arm about half the size of a normal person's torso fell out of the sky. Its muscles looked poured in cement and veins coiled around them like snakes as an irresistible giant palm pressed onto Hu Yue's head.

Crack, crack, crack...

Before he could even register terror, the colossal force rammed his entire head down into his chest. Both clavicles and then the spine crunched as his head was forced downward. Then his ribs and pelvis suffered the same fate! Hu Yue's entire sturdy upper torso was gone, brutally crushed into a gory mass tangled with shredded clothing.

Cassius glanced disdainfully at him and threw a fierce kick. Hu Yue sailed into the distance, slammed into a giant tree, and exploded into pieces.

In that hazy instant, a figure in the forest frantically fled deeper into the mountains. But Cassius did not charge after it immediately. He merely brushed away the bloodstains on his clothes, turned, and exchanged a glance with the Evil Mother standing in the manor.

They both moved at once, dashing after him in quick bursts. Since Luo was still fleeing, it meant there must be something nearby he thought could save him. That meant there might be more Gate Organization members waiting...

Cassius relished the prospect of new opponents coming one by one like this. It was much more convenient for them all to come one by one and spare him the trouble of searching them out. Cassius felt no fear about the number of enemies that awaited him. So long as the Gate Organization's leader Xiadu was not there, he was confident in having a proper battle. Even if he couldn't win, he was confident in safely retreating.

On the night he successfully fused Sonic Fang Force, Cassius had gazed at the stars and realized he stood amongst the world's highest echelon.

Aside from Holy Fists and Ultimate Dark Forms, an extreme combat artist was a tyrant who could act with impunity. A certain sense of unstoppable conviction had taken deep root in Cassius's heart.

***

In the forest, a disheveled figure fled in miserable haste. At this moment, Luo was a far cry from the confident man chatting with Hu Yue on the villa balcony. He realized now he had been dreadfully and wildly wrong.

Since that mysterious force had dared assault the dark creature test site in Florence and even go so far as to capture Yang Yan and Zhu Hun, they must have known the Gate Organization existed and long prepared themselves for retaliation.

Daring to act so meant they understood the consequences in advance. Which further implied that they quite likely possessed the power to counter the Gate Organization. For instance, they had a monster that three veteran combat artists together could not defeat! Even employing the deputy leader's Demon Phoenix Qi had proven futile, leading to the Demon Phoenix being felled on the spot!

That blond, blue-eyed man's strength had reached a level least on par with the organization's seven General Kings. Moreover, the dark creature that arrived earlier appeared just as strong, meaning two experts at the level of General Kings!

Could the Northern King, alone in the incomplete dark creature test site in these depths, handle the pair? Fear and worry gnawed at Luo's heart.

But he had no choice; he was utterly panicked. Before Hu Yue died, Luo might have entertained the thought of dying honorably, but seeing Hu Yue crushed into a gory lump by that man's palm shattered his courage. Instinct had triumphed over resolve, prompting him to flee and pin his hopes on the Northern King.

Swish!

A figure raced through a gap in the woods, snapping leaves underfoot. He was moving fast, yet two dark silhouettes kept a constant distance behind him. Cassius's face showed no emotion as he pushed off with his feet, the ground silently cracking beneath him.

Nearby, the tough roots of an old tree snapped instantly. He became a flickering afterimage as he crossed the distance in a flash.

Slash!

"Aaargh!"

Ahead, Luo let out a pained scream, stumbling but clinging to his forward momentum.

Yet his mangled left arm told the story of what had just occurred, along with the blood spattering the tree trunks and ground. A faint iron tang of blood drifted through the gaps in the forest. Behind him, Cassius casually cast aside the severed arm and continued the pursuit.

Though he was moving quite swiftly, he seemed unusually calm and leisurely. Each of Cassius's strides carried him far forward, so his footwork itself was not frequent. However, his leg strength was overwhelming, making his running style resemble flight!

He spent most of his time airborne, lending a strangely comfortable air to his chase. This pursuit resembled some southern hunters going after wild boar. They would wound one boar and let it flee. Then, they would follow the blood trail with keen-nosed hounds to the whole group.

In certain perilous moments, humans were not so different from beasts.

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

Luo burst from the forest into an upward-sloping grassy hillside. He knew there was an entrance at the summit leading to a natural cavern where the incomplete dark creature test site was being built. The Northern King, one of the organization's seven General Kings, waited within.

Tap. Tap.

Behind him, two distant sounds echoed as the same pair emerged from the woods.

Gritting his teeth, Luo sprinted on. But then he caught unusual activity in the woodland out of the corner of his eye. On his right, towering silhouettes bigger than the treetops rumbled closer, while to his left, a black speck hovered in the sky.

A massive vortex spun at high speed beneath that dark spot, surging rapidly forward.

"Their reinforcements!? It's over—it's all over!" Luo nearly lost it, certain from even this distance that these two new formidable forces were terrifying.

However, a second later, his panic changed to wild joy. Apparently, the newcomers were not after him but were rushing straight toward the two behind him. Their hostility was palpable and only growing stronger!

"This is my chance!" Luo instantly re-evaluated the situation. True, those two behind him were fearsome, but these newcomers also looked savage and powerful. Furthermore, they had numbers on their side!

If he could get the Northern King, one of the General Kings, to join the siege, their enemies would be in dire peril even if they were at the level of General Kings!

Luo ground his teeth in hatred as his left arm throbbed painfully. Recalling how Hu Yue and Xue Shi had been slaughtered right in front of him only stoked his fury further.

The Gate Organization hadn't suffered a blow like this in nearly thirty years! It had been more than a decade since he had become a combat artist, but he had never been toyed with like prey in a cat-and-mouse game. How could he not be enraged?

Luo found a new burst of energy as he sprinted toward the slope. Splatters of blood dotted the ground as he passed.

Behind him, Cassius and the Evil Mother had paused to examine the newcomers coming from the forest. The Evil Mother recognized them immediately. "They're from the Totem Temple in the Ten Thousand Mountains; those damned totem shamans! They venerate and worship the Totem King, effectively serving as that being's dogs in the surface world... But they’re faithful dogs of considerable power."

Cassius's expression did not shift as he slowly scanned both directions,. He could clearly sense the presence of the Gale Shaman and the Thousand-Beast Shaman. Then he glanced at the Evil Mother. "They do seem strong. Could the Totem King empower them the same way it empowered you last time?"

"Hard to say. Last time was a special case," the Evil Mother responded quickly. "Two of the Gate Organization's people used the Arcane Stone Tablet to temporarily open a channel between the surface world and the underworld, allowing the Totem King to supply an unceasing flow of energy. Under normal conditions, these totem shamans can't connect with the Totem King in the underworld during combat, unless the Totem King had already bestowed some measure of power on them, like a formidable totem or something..."

Cassius gave a slight nod, conceding that her reasoning was correct. No matter how mighty the Totem King was in the underworld, it could not bypass the rules to affect the surface world, beyond bestowing some power beforehand.

Hence, these totem shamans likely posed the greatest threat they could muster in the beginning of the battle. There was no chance of them abruptly surging in strength mid-battle, as if someone had poured power into them.

Of course, they might still harbor dangerous trump cards, and Cassius would not be careless. The Totem King, after all, was an Ultimate Dark Form...

Whoosh!!!

The air started to gust as razorlike flurries coalesced, spiraling into a hurricane. A black-robed totem elder hovered in the air, the markings that covered his body glowing like magma as he exerted his full might.

He stretched out both arms, controlling a towering, hundred-meter whirlwind with his totem power, growing ever more perilous.

Swish

.

The hurricane shaman's eyes snapped open, streaks of blue light filling them like searchlights. He thrust both hands forward!

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!

The hundred-meter whirlwind roared forward, dragging in air and debris, uprooting entire trees in the process.

Dirt, timber, rock—everything fused into the storm!

It emitted a sonic boom that made the sky tremble. It hurtled straight for Cassius like a colossal white pillar reaching the heavens!

Cassius did not evade, standing in the open. His expression grew ever colder until, at last, it appeared devoid of emotion altogether. His pupils turned black, reflecting utter indifference.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him began to quake, trembling with a near-maniacal intensity.

Earth cracked as webs of fissures opened up, and a purple radiance glimmered from within.

Rumble-rumble!

The earth under his feet gave way as a colossal serpent draped in purple scales burst from the ground and soared skyward!