Chapter 82: barrier

Up on the center stage, the atmosphere changed completely. Lucius, the High King of the Python Clan, stepped forward from the corner columns. He did not say another word to Menos. He simply raised his arm, and a wave of dark red spiritual energy erupted from his body, filling the entire room with a suffocating pressure that made the surrounding air shake.

“Elders of Manesi, clear the perimeter!” Lucius commanded, his deep voice vibrating through the stone tiles.

The Grand Elder did not hesitate. He instantly coordinated his core lines with Lucius, his hands projecting a golden aura that blended perfectly with the Python King’s dark red magic. The two powerhouses launched themselves straight toward Menos at the same time, their movements so fast they looked like twin streaks of light cutting through the smoke.

Menos let out an arrogant laugh, lifting his battleaxe to block the combined trajectory. “You think two leaders can stop the liquidation of this capital?! Let’s see how can you stop us!”

The three figures clashed in the center of the high platform, creating a terrifying explosion of spiritual energy that shattered the remaining pillars into pieces. The sheer force of the shockwave threw a cloud of dust across the tables, completely blinding the lower floor.

Down in the middle rows, the remaining assassins were still crowding the path, their swords raised as they tried to close the circle around me and Suzy.

“Stay behind me Suzy!” I muttered, my fingers closing around the handle of my sword.

Suzy didn’t answer with words, She stood right next to my back, her sword moving in a flawless, rapid circle to parry two incoming strikes from our flanks. Her movements were completely ruthless as she delivered a kick to an assassin’s knee, knocking him onto the floor before driving her weapon through his neck.

I used my speed to slide inside the reach of the next two attackers and I channeled my core in sword, swinging the sword in a simple horizontal line.

Slice.

The golden aura from my sword cut straight through their armor, splitting both assassins completely down the middle before their weapons could even arrive. They fell to the floor

their bodies crumbling into sand as my status screen blinked rapidly.

Up on the main stage, Menos was starting to get pushed back by the relentless combined strikes of the Grand Elder and Lucius. His dark armor was cracked in three separate places, and his breathing was turning heavy. But instead of showing fear, a cold, vicious smile appeared on his face under his mask.

“You think this is my full power?!” Menos roared, using his battleaxe to force Lucius back by an inch. “I told you you all will die here today!”

With a sudden movement, Menos reached into his private space and pulled out a small, hexagonal token made of red crystal.

“Lucius, now!” the Grand Elder shouted, realizing the danger. Lucius instantly understood the directive. He spun his body away from the stage, gathering his spiritual energy into his palms, and launched a massive, devastating palm strike straight toward the blocked outer wall of the room.

The pure physical force of the Python King’s attack completely pulverized the stone blocks, tearing a big hole straight through the side of the palace wall, revealing the open capital streets down below.

“Everyone, leave this room right now!” Lucius shouted toward the floor, his eyes locking straight onto my face for a split second. This was the exact signal he had promised through our mind link.

The remaining border kings and family elders did not wait. They stop fighting and start running toward the open hole in the wall to save their lives.

“Barry, let’s go!” Suzy called out, her hand reaching out to grab my to guide my path toward the exit.

But before our steps could even touch the exit of the new opening, Menos let out a mocking laugh from the stage. He brought his fingers together and forcefully crushed the red crystal token into tiny pieces.

Snap!

The moment the token shattered, a wall of fire erupted from the bedrock, shooting straight up into the clouds to form an absolute, impenetrable barrier dome that completely enclosed the entire capital city . The barrier did not just block our side hole; it sealed the sky, the walls, and the gates completely, trapping every single person inside a giant cage of fire.

[System Alert: Boundary Lock Detected!]

[Warning: The space has been fully sealed by a Tier 5 Imperial Isolation Barrier! Internal tracking logs confirm no physical or spiritual entity can cross this boundary from the inside or the outside! The system interface cannot bypass this encryption lock, host!]

“The exit line is completely closed,” I muttered, my face turning serious as I looked at the flaming barrier.

Menos hovered in the center of the room, his eyes full of fire as he looked down at the trapped crowd. “Today, the entire capital becomes a battlefield! Nobody enters to distribute aid, and nobody leaves alive! Let the true destruction begin!”

The red numbers on my vision line flickered. Only two minutes remained before the artificial coldness would leave my chest, and I could already feel a faint, throbbing ache returning to my heart pathways.

The entire room around us had turned into an absolute furnace, the barrier outside glowing with a violent heat that made the floor tiles burn beneath us

[System Alert: Isolation barrier remains at 100% density. The structure cannot be bypassed by defensive movement lines. Administrative Recommendation: defeat or give serious injury to ‘Menos’ to force a system reset.]

“This is real trouble,” I thought, my teeth tightening inside my jaw as I watched the high platform. “The system cannot pick the lock from the inside, which means the only business solution left is to completely destroy the man who holds the barrier.”

I adjusted the grip on my sword, my muscles gathering the absolute strength.

Suzy saw my stance and instantly reached out, her smooth hands catching my clothes with absolute desperation. Her chest was moving fast against her tight dress as she tried to pull my body away from the center aisle.