Chapter 644 - As Long As I'm Alive, I Won't Give Up!

Golden Might's lupine claws tightened on the staff. It kept retreating until its pads touched the rim of the origin of calamity. The Southern Dipper successor who had appeared was no fledgling Holy Fist, but an ultimate being with devastating combat power.

When Cassius had torn the Devil Python apart, Golden Might sensed a hazy omen of imminent death. Though its towering bulk was iron‑hard and layered with countless totems, it still felt a sharp cutting force and a dull ache beneath its hide.

It felt as though a clash with Cassius's fists would bring about a wound beyond repair, just like the Devil Python had been ripped to shreds within moments. Behind Golden Might, the origin of calamity spewed dense calamity energy in the form of a black mist. Yet that endless, abundant, ferocious reservoir of power did not give it the slightest sense of safety!

The foe before it was not a normal Holy Fist!

Myriad thoughts flashed through its mind, but Golden Might dared not shrink back. If it wanted to flee, it first had to repel the Golem and buy time. Hesitation was impossible. It had to go all‑out to halt Cassius's momentum.

Clang!

The massive staff struck the ground. At once, every branch on the fifth tier glowed, spewing dreamlike golden dust. Golden totems swelled in the air, turning into ferocious golden beasts. Each totem possessed a unique ability, and each was a formidable dark creature.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Ultimate Dark Forms had been around for endless ages, and so had Golden Might. It had met many era‑defining creatures and mutants across those long eons, and even witnessed bizarre beings come back to life.

All of those creatures had been recorded by Golden Might and forged into golden totems. The fusion of every golden totem had then formed his staff. The staff was an enormously powerful war engine, divided into five tiers. A mere shake could summon a sweeping army.

However, against a single entity like the Golem, quantity meant nothing. Only the fifth tier was worth showing. As such, it unhesitatingly unleashed every fifth‑tier totem. Grotesque and terrifying golden fiends charged madly at Cassius.

There were flame‑winged firebirds, mountain‑sized rhinoceroses, and two‑headed crocodiles, each more dreadful with Golden Might's energy powering them. However, the Golem's advance was unstoppable! Metallic feet gouged pits in the calamity mud, crushing thousands of black cocoons nurturing dark creatures into pulp.

Boom!

Its right foot stomped down on the two‑headed crocodile. The Golem raised its right arm, bringing it down to slice the air. A silver blade extended like a sabre and instantly cleaved the dark sky in two!

The firebirds' wails vanished as bisected bodies fell and swiftly disintegrated. They were gone within mere breaths.

Boom!

The Golem stomped once and threw a mountain‑shattering straight punch. The rhinoceroses froze mid‑charge as the Golem's arm pierced clean through its armor. The rhino trembled and detonated, turning into a shower of blood.

Golden Might grew frantic as it stood before the origin of calamity. Even the strongest fifth‑tier totems could not harm Cassius in the least! The foe's offensive might was terrifying, but his defence and survivability were likewise clearly Ultimate Dark Form level. Perhaps it was even beyond the common Ultimate Dark Form!

Had it been any other Holy Fist, Golden Might would not be so battered, for most Holy Fists would yield briefly to avoid harm. However, Cassius harboured no such scruples. He neither dodged nor flinched. His armor would crack, but the cracks knit shut again with a few breaths.

Golden Might lacked the Southern Dipper means to counter Ultimate Dark Forms' immortality. Thus, it couldn't even halt Cassius's march and soon found itself in peril.

Golden Might made the painful choice.

"I must force him back for a moment, or I have no chance... I can only use the Golden Totem Tree!"

Golden Might's staff, the Golden Totem Tree, was a war weapon that was the vessel of all other golden totems, but it was a colossal totem itself. It was the core ability of Golden Might, its final trump card. Once used, the Golden Totem Tree would be destroyed. However, it would erupt with a force rivaling an Ultimate Dark Form's self‑detonation. No being dared make light of such power.

Wummm...

A loud hum came from from the Golden Totem Tree, like a wheel that spun at differing tempos. Veils of golden energy, gauzy as silk, wafted down, speckling the earth with shining dots. The calamity mud, mountains, and even the air were dyed by that golden energy.

One could see the energy twist into totem‑like lines in midair. They quickly formed a gigantic phantom of the Golden Totem Tree. It was as though the original staff had ballooned into a super‑projection.

The Golem was likewise enveloped in the phantom.

Crack, crack, crack!

Massive energy slammed down on Cassius. It was as if the tree had laid its mountain‑thick limbs one after another upon the Golem's shoulders. The incredible burst made even Cassius's stride hitch.

Seeing this, Golden Might turned without hesitation. It was its sole chance to escape. The price was the war weapon it had spent many years forging. It was impossible not to feel heartache. However, if it could escape, hope remained for the future. It might be able to reform the tree or seek other mighty Ultimate Dark Forms to avenge itself on the Southern Dipper heir.

Bam, bam!

Golden Might sped into the depths of the mountains. Yet after two steps, a huge binding force arrested it, almost toppling it. Whipping its massive head around, it saw the Holy Fist it had utterly ignored!

The man, whose oil was almost spent, had seemed irrelevant in the fight. Yet when Golden Might fled, the only idea sustaining the Holy Fist's eroded Will would not allow it!

Hold fast, stand eternal, cease not until death's very end...

Rumble...

The Holy Fist's once‑dim body now blazed like the sun, his remaining Qi transforming into roaring flames.

"Stay... stay! Stay... You cannot leave! As long as I live, I won't give up!"

The murmured, mantra‑like will rang out in Golden Might's ears.

Stubborn, unyielding, never shaken—that was Golden Might's verdict on the fool who had opposed it. To come hold it here at an origin of calamity... Surely only a hopeless fool would do that!

Yet now, that fool's trembling hands were clamped around its throat like a mad animal dragging it back!

Golden Might's totems flared. Dreadful energy filled every inch of its body.

"Get off, get off me!"

It threw itself forward as though hauling mountains in a mad rush. However, that force could not shake the weakened Holy Fist's final resolve. The harder Golden Might battered them, the taller the holy flames grew, and the brighter the sacred light shone! At last, it became a gigantic torch thousands of metres high!

Originally, the Holy Fist could have lasted decades but all his energy was being burned at once. His sole mission... was to hold Golden Might!

That was his final thought.

Crack! Boom!

"Damn it, damn it! Cursed thing!"

Golden Might was wrapped in chains burning with white flame. The chains tightened around it and the Holy Fist's body. They were life shackles. Unless the Holy Fist completely disappeared, the chains would never break!

Elsewhere, beneath the Golden Totem Tree's phantom, the Golem lumbered forward. The Golden Totem Tree had no branches left. It had piled nearly all its weight upon Cassius.

Even so, it could not halt the Golem. His steps were slow but inevitable. The Golden Totem Tree's last resort was to pour out its remaining energy in a blast! To release millennia of accumulation in one instant.

Boom!!

Dazzling golden light swept like a shockwave, draping the dark mountains in golden gauze.

Rumble...

The earth turned over and magma spurted from its cracks. Black mountains toppled and rifts formed. Only the origin of calamity's core zone, swollen with erupting calamity energy, was spared from the blast's force.

"Let... me... go!!!" Golden Might's roar shook heaven and earth. Totems flickered across its body, then suddenly blazed. It lunged like a wild bull!

One flame chain snapped!

Crack...

One chain gone meant a breach in the binding. Golden Might tried advancing again. Another chain broke as expected.

"At last, at last!"

Its shoulders shook as only one chain remained.

"The final chain..."

Crack!

A cracked black armoured hand landed hard on Golden Might's shoulder. A smoking armoured giant loomed behind it like the devil's shadow!

"That's a mistake. It's your final journey. Allow me to send you off.

Hehehe...

" The Golem's muffled chuckle sounded like the summons of death itself.

The Ultimate Dark Form cried its own name as it unleashed every golden totem within.

"Golden Might!!!!"

A trace of fear appeared on its face, mixed with the madness of a final struggle.

Bam!

A punch went through its heart! A steel arm bored through Golden Might's back and chest. The fist, clad in the Thorn Sonic Death Armament, jutted from its chest, shedding bronze ash.

"Nooooo-" Golden Might's final roar was cut short as an incredulous gleam left its eyes. A crack split its face. Cracks spiderwebbed across the body like a shattered clay doll.

Crash!

Golden Might's body collapsed into a pile of fallen rubble. The Golem's outstretched arm slowly withdrew. Holy flames blazed, sweeping from the arm over every corner of the body. When the flames died, the Golem had returned to its pristine silver.

Only, both arms had fine cracks creeping up toward its shoulders. It was the unavoidable side effect of wielding the Thorn Sonic Death Armament repeatedly. The weapon's destructive power was immense but it was a double‑edged sword that harmed its user.

Cassius could only keep fortifying his body to bear the backlash.

"The first hunt is finished."

The voice beneath the helmet was deep and forceful. He glanced at Golden Might's corpse but did not step forward to deal with it.

Instead, he turned to the origin of calamity where the remains of a human burned to ashes rested silently.

White embers glimmered faintly, then went dark forever.

"An unshakable Will to never abandon his mission... As long as life persists, there will be no giving up... What a Holy Fist!"