Chapter 375: Goal Kept

White Tiger jumped, his feet breaking out of the asphalt path he had sunk into. While manipulating the flowers trapping Sir Jin with both hands, he made a wild swing, sending the flower flying quickly through a row of joined buildings like a wrecking ball.

Bam!

The walls crumbled, having a hole put into them.

Panting, White Tiger wiped blood from the corners of his mouth and muttered to himself, ”Nice...save...me...”

He collapsed to the ground with both hands propping himself up, throwing up another mouthful of blood.

He had blocked Lilia’s attack with Absolute Defense before, exhausting a great amount of energy. His clashes with Sir Jin further drained him.

Damn it, what’s taking Azure Dragon and War Tiger so long?!

“Hahaha! Hahahaha!”

Sir Jin’s satisfied laughter came from the ruins of the buildings.

Swoosh.

He rushed out of the rubbles.

“Keep going! Keep going!”

Sir Jin charged at White Tiger with his hands balled into fists, covered entirely in blood. Relentless quick jabs flew toward White Tiger in a flurry of movements, creating tens of hundreds of afterimages.

With a shout, White Tiger crossed his arms before his chest, fists clenched. The golden barrier he conjured with energy this time had become noticeably thinner.

Sir Jin was giving his all as well. He had wanted to preserve strength to have a fight to the death with Azure Dragon, but he underestimated White Tiger. Who would’ve thought that it would be this thrilling to one-sidedly attack a punching bag?

Theirs was the battle of raw strength in its purest form.

White Tiger took one step back after another, his energy long run out. Now, he was exhausting his vitality.

The golden barrier cracked, and powerful punches landed indirectly on White Tiger, the fierce force leaving his arms and chest torn and split, his blood staining his shirt.

It’s so tiring! It hurts!

It’s so hard, how long is this going to go on? Why hasn’t the whistle to end the game sounded?

Are you doing this on purpose, referee?

I’m not gonna be able to keep guarding the goal!

But I don’t wanna lose this game! I’m the Chief of Security of the Qilin Guild, with dozens of people depending on me for their survival, some of them elderly, women, and children!

They’re putting their hopes in me!

But I’m sorry...I’ve done my best.

Clink.

The golden barrier shattered into countless golden energy particles.

In truth, Sir Jin, having made tens of thousands of jabs, was at his limit as well. His fists were covered in blood, and the power and speed of his punches had dropped significantly.

Sir Jin lamented the fact. Were it twenty years ago, he would’ve had so much more fun. He would’ve been able to kill White Tiger and then Azure Dragon.

Now, however, it took him eighty percent of all his strength dealing with White Tiger alone.

Age caught up with everyone.

Bam!

The moment the golden barrier shattered, Sir Jin made the last punch, hitting White Tiger in the chest squarely.

White Tiger’s ribs broke, and his internal organs shattered, his back arching as the force of the punch shot through his back, the gust of blood marking his tragic end hitting the dozens of people behind him.

“Elder White Tiger!” Zhang Wei shouted, tears covering his face. “Fuck, I’m coming for you even if I’ll die trying!”

Chen Ying didn’t want Zhang Wei to get himself killed for nothing, so she grabbed him tightly.

“Uncle White Tiger...” Sha Ye’s daughter, held by her mother, hadn’t stopped crying. She had broken into tears out of fear, and now, out of heartbreak.

Half an hour before, the man with a friendly smile had given her an orange-flavored lollipop.

With blood coming out of all his orifices, White Tiger could no longer hear the voices coming from behind him. With a thud, he dropped to his knees.

Before his death, he felt a powerful gust of wind.

Finally, Azure Dragon made it here. He charged at Sir Jin like a bullet and made a furious punch at Sir Jin’s face, shattering the pride monster’s jaw. Sir Jin didn’t even get a good look at his assailant before he was thrown off his feet, hurtling into the side of the joined buildings and breaking through three walls.

Sir Jin collapsed among the ruins, sputtering blood and seeing stars, at the last inch of his life.

He struggled to stand up.

Then a dark figure descended from above, piercing his heart with a blade and twisting it for a full rotation quickly.

Two seconds later, War Tiger pulled out the Demon Blade. Sir Jin had taken his last breath with his eyes widened.

War Tiger looked at the dead pride monster at his feet, and then the plaza outside.

He said regretfully, “We’re too late.”

“Old White! Old White!”

In the center of the plaza, Azure Dragon held White Tiger in his arms.

White Tiger could no longer open his eyes. Despite all the blood filling his ears, he managed to barely make out Azure Dragon’s voice.

He spoke with blood foams coming out of the corners of his mouth, a hint of pride tinging his frail voice, “I’ve kept...the goal guarded.”

He took his last breath.

...

Meanwhile, White Lake Hotel.

The plaza was covered in dead elite monsters. Amid the bodies, two men stood by a strange giant grayish orb. It was about the size of a hot air balloon and about a meter off the ground. Tendrils of blood fog wrapped around the orb, attempting to burrow their ways in, but to no avail.

The gray orb was the realm Dragon had created with his Talent, Overlord. Inside was infinite space and time, and Dragon was the ruler of all. The target could not leave once they entered the realm.

There were only three possible ways it could end:

First, the target undergoing the judgments died.

Second, the target underong the judgments survived.

Third, the judgments were forced to stop.

The last one was a possibility, and it was easy to do. Someone simply had to destroy the realm from the outside.

Inside, the realm was strong to the point of ignoring causality and the rules of the universe. Nothing could break it.

Outside, on the other hand, the realm was as fragile as eggshell. Even a little pebble could shatter it.

Qilin and X stood guard outside in case of an accident.

X, who had been silent, paused, seemingly sensing something.

He turned to Qilin. “Can Dragon kill the pride monster?”

Qilin didn’t turn to look at him, but stared at the orb of Overlord’s realm with a strange look on his face. “I don’t know. It’s my first time seeing his power.”

“Serial number 1, Overlord, possibly the top Miracle-type Talent,” X said thoughtfully. “What a smug name.”

Qilin didn’t respond.

He was still staring at the realm before him, bemused, already picturing the scenarios in which he and Dragon came into conflict. It took two seconds to activate Overlord, which was quite a long time for him. If they ever fought, there would be no clear victor...

His thought derailed at that moment as something cold entered his chest. He parted his lips, eyes confused as he slowly looked down. At some point, X had compressed his poisonous wind into a small dagger. It pierced through Qilin’s back and protruded from his chest.

“What...why...”

Qilin turned to X with disbelief, face pale.

Hands in his pockets, X narrowed his eyes at the gray orb rather than looking at Qilin, his profile grim. “Don’t blame me. We all have our own path, and there’s no turning back once the choice is made.”

“You...”

Qilin could no longer speak as the poison burrowed into his body. In two seconds, his body began to melt and crumble into a pile of repulsive rotten meat, the flesh sticking to the clothes.

X took a step forward and lifted his chin, pulling the poisonous wind from the rotten meat and sending it to the gray orb.

He was going to stop Dragon’s judgment and save Lilia.

Suddenly, he felt a dull pain in the back of his head. He started, expression twisted.

It’s an illusion!

A second later.

X’s dazed eyes recovered their light in the real world. He felt a great pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw that a cane had pierced through his heart.