Chapter 623 - A Mere Thing In My Palm

Down in the crater, Holy Fist Evil Heart's face twisted. Scarlet veins crawled across his eyes. "You actually... know of the leader's existence..."

He sensed what was happening from Cassius’s words. The Golem Sect's master knew far more than expected. He apparently knew of the Gate Organization's leader, Xiadu. What remained unclear was whether that knowledge was scant or extensive.

"

Heheh...

" Cassius’s faint chuckle drifted through the air. "Seems you don't have that sort of trick after all. Xiadu doesn't value your generation enough? Or is he simply too busy to care?"

Cassius's broad palm clamped around Holy Fist Evil Heart's skull. An extremely dangerous power swelled in his hand like magma. Once it erupted, it would equal heaven-shattering thunder and earth-scorching fire.

"Golem Sect's master! How can you know the Gate Organization so well? Who on earth are you? I never heard of a figure like you in the entire world, through the past decade, or even past decades...” Holy Fist Evil Heart rattled off, "Silently attaining Dominator Fist. The Golem Sect's sudden fame across the Covert Martial Arts world... What are you after? What do you truly want?"

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

His jet-black pupils stayed on Cassius, Qi surging with a dying man's malice.

Cassius instantly deduced the Gate Organization's current strength.

"Looks like your leader Xiadu is still sleeping. This slumber seems deeper than that of centuries ago. He can't even project an avatar. All the Gate Organization has now is necro-revival and perhaps a few deputy leaders in hiding."

He looked down at the fiendish face before him.

"As for who I am and what I intend next, it matters little to a dead man. Even if I told you everything now, your body in the surface world would learn nothing. In five seconds, your true body will feel agony, as though part of it were forever destroyed. Your strength will wither. You may even tumble from extreme combat artist. You'll panic, guessing what happened at Black Rain Manor. That is, until I find you and erase you..."

"Five seconds are up. Farewell."

Cassius lifted his head blankly as a terrifying force burst from his palm. A waterbird clad in steel thorn feathers engulfed Holy Fist Evil Heart's body. Qi roared forth like a tsunami, plowing through an entire street. Holy Fist Evil Heart vanished without so much as a scream, leaving only fine ash at the pit's bottom as proof.

In truth, he wasn't the worst off. The worst was First General King, Shadow Crane. Shadow Crane had used a tool so Holy Fist Evil Heart's energy could seize his body. However, the foe proved too strong and Holy Fist Evil Heart's arrival changed nothing.

Shadow Crane's body and soul were blown away together. Holy Fist Evil Heart's true body might have still clung to life, but Shadow Crane died on the spot. His body and soul both dispersed, leaving nothing behind but ash. The once-famed powerhouse who had stirred waves in the United States of Yana's Covert Martial Arts scene perished without a sound.

Of course, he would not be lonely. A host of Gate Organization elites and the other four General Kings would also remain forever in the Rainy World with him. Not to mention, the two resurrected deputy leaders would be buried alongside them. Dying together was at least better than dying alone. After all, a family should stay together.

Boom! Boom!

Cassius walked slowly out of the rubble. His Qi raged like flames, twisting upward into the sky. "Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. The dead should stop stirring trouble among the living. Your only fate is destruction..."

The two Gate Organization deputy leaders were dead. Cassius sensed that the two revived deputy leaders felt far weaker than those during the Hongli Empire's fall. Could centuries of necro-revival progress have lowered the bar of the deputy leaders?

Of course, it might just be his imagination. After all, Cassius's realm and mindset were different. Back then, Blood Demon Diaz and Calamity-Soldier Alonzo had left deep impressions on him. Yet these two modern-day resurrected deputy leaders had barely registered in this battle.

"It's over. Time to finish this blood sacrifice." Cassius glanced toward the distant Baptism Chapel as the giant cloud hand clutching the sky started to form sinister streaks of blood.

Black Rain Manor's true body was being dragged down, its height falling bit by bit. It seemed the vast cluster of buildings overhead would crash down on them like a falling meteor.

Cassius turned slowly and began a one-man massacre.

"Black Rain Manor, let me see what secrets you hide..."

The Eclipse Society's three Moon God statues, the direct bloodline Blood Race's Blood of Immortality, and the Gate Organization's three deputy leaders had all been slain. What remained in the manor might be elite by worldly measure, yet they simply weren’t worthy in Cassius's eyes. They were merely small fry. Since they had entered the Rainy World and joined the manor's revival, they had to be prepared to kill or be killed. Any killer should accept the prospect of being killed. In this world, death alone was absolutely fair!

Thus, Cassius treated every faction in the manor as a punching bag. Whenever he reached a faction, he lifted the pressure that bound them. He gave the weak a final chance to roar, clench their fists, and fight for a sliver of life. If they wished to swarm him, let them enjoy their last thrill.

Dying mid-fight was surely the happiest end for them. The Eclipse Society, the Gate Organization, the direct bloodline Blood Race, and finally the Totem Temple were all brutally crushed by Cassius's fists. The weak Totem Shamans only confirmed certain suspicions in Cassius's mind.

Totem King Kassares had been severed from the surface world. Something special must have happened to it in the World of Calamity, leaving it unable even to split its energy. The only possibility Cassius could imagine was Blood Vulture Dominator Fist, the being that had faced the Totem King for millennia.

He could only make a vague guess that the Blood Vulture Dominator Fist was slowly losing ground in their endless standoff. After all, Totem King Kassares had an unending well of calamity and the advantage of terrain. That edge couldn't be ignored. It was objective and, as time passed, only grew clearer.

When that advantage grew overwhelming, Blood Vulture Dominator Fist might have caused a mutual destruction. The Totem King's broken connection with the surface world's Totem Temple likely lay here. However, that meant the balance had been broken. Just then, Cassius thought of the Blood of Immortality and Yumila.

Hopefully, Sonic Snake Ultimate Fist still held Yumila in check within the great volcano . The Blood of Immortality was only one means by which Yumila sought to flee that stalemate and seal.

White Bird Holy Fist had burned out during the Hongli Empire's fall, and Blood Vulture Dominator Fist's fate was unknown... The situation was sliding toward disaster. If Xiadu awoke and the Totem King recovered, the balance would tip wholly to the dark creatures' side.

"Looks like I can't slow down... Continuing to raise my strength is imperative. First, push my body to Ultimate Dark Form level for optimal stamina, defense, and survivability. Next, seek the Heart of the Holy Fist and the Heart of the Ultimate Fist for the best path to unite all three fists..." Cassius muttered as he walked back toward the Baptism Chapel.

He felt both confidence and urgency. Cassius could not gamble his safety on foes remaining dormant or ignoring him. That would be like the foolish behavior of an ostrich. Wishful thinking and hiding in a corner were taboos on the road to success. Cassius would never be such a fool.

"Let's begin by dragging Black Rain Manor's true body completely out of the sky..."

Standing before the chapel, he ordered the Golem Sect members to leave the manor at once. That way, they would avoid any mishap involving the true manor. As for the one-way invisible membrane of the manor's projection, Cassius would break it for them.

Soon, Golem Sect withdrew swiftly. Meanwhile, the neo-humans who had been shivering atop the rooftops began retreating as well. They saw the Golem Sect men exit the manor's zone and their master ripping the membrane apart. Thus, the neo-humans realized this was their chance to escape the deadliest area.

They had just witnessed the entire battle. They had seen, with their own eyes, a single Golem Sect's master slaughter all the top forces they knew. Any resistance was futile when the opponent beheld champions strong enough to sweep the neo-human alliance alone.

They all felt a chill. An unprecedented sense of danger shrieked in their minds as their limbs trembled. This revival of Black Rain Manor felt almost surreal.

A mantis stalks the cicada, the crow behind the mantis, and the eagle circles above them all. It seemed the only consolation was that the mantis never caught the cicada, and the flock of crows behind it were pecked to death one by one by a vicious eagle. Thus, no one cared what became of the mantis.

The neo-humans sprinted for their lives using every ounce of strength. What they once thought a land flowing with milk and honey now felt like a bone-grinding jaw behind them. One misstep and they would perish.

"Run! Faster! Avoid those Decaying Knights! Don't get tangled with them! Better to be hurt than caught, trust me, keep moving!" A neo-human shouted, realizing doom was upon them.

Rumble...

The sky suddenly shuddered as though supreme calamity descended. Thunder roared through the sky, sweeping across the Rainy World. Clouds surged outward in a visible expanding ring.

"It's gone dark!!!" A neo-human stood in the street, staring blankly up. A mountain-sized maze of buildings was slowly descending on them as a giant hand of cloud hauled it inch by inch toward the ground. The scene was unimaginably shocking.

"Drown in endless dominance, this will be your eternal home..."

A terrifying Will swept over all, like a god's decree. At the manor's center, the glowing crimson figure atop a spire slowly retracted its arms. The shriek of a raptor rang out as the overwhelming aura of a sole overlord orbited the throne.

Black Rain Manor was doomed regardless.

Hiss...Aaaahhhhh...

Ghastly faces twisted across the manor's surfaces, mouths gaping wide as they emitted hellish wails of pain.

Boom!

The true manor sank slowly, belching black smoke as its dreadful shadow engulfed the projected manor below. Neo-humans sprinted madly in its shadow. They were racing for their life. If they wished to live, they had to flee. If they stopped to look at this myth-like horror, the sheer terror would strike them all at once and bring death.

"Go, go, go! Don't look back, run!!!" Silver Gun Soro shouted from the rear. He didn't want any neo-human to die by accident beneath the falling manor. So though he could have gone first, Soro stayed with the last ranks. Only five or six remained, running for their lives. From afar, they looked like a few ants.

"Hurry!!!" Soro screamed one last time, sensing the massive shadow of death cloaking the surroundings.

Swish! Thud!!!

Soro lunged forward, finally darting beyond the manor's boundary at the critical moment. A second later, the colossal manor hit the ground and a savage gust shoved Soro nearly a hundred meters. He tumbled several times and got up, shaken.

Gasping and coughing, he looked back at the manor. A gigantic ghoul face hovered in midair, but a black giant hand clamped down on it. Five fingers closed like iron pincers, leaving the face unable to break free.

"A mere thing in my palm dares to dream of overturning the heavens?"