Chapter 83: Heavenly Punishment: Divine Annihilation

“Barry, no!” Suzy cried out, her voice shaking with pure panic and care. “You cannot join that fight! Your core lines are leaking, and your energy pool is almost dry! Let me go with you, or let’s find a place to hide behind until the Grand Elder finishes the fight or we can find a way to escape from here!”

I turned my head to look straight into her eyes. My face remained completely calm as I reached down, gently but firmly removing her fingers from my coat.

“Listen to me carefully,” I said, “In the entire journey of our, you have listened to every single thing I have told you. I know you want to protect me, but please… listen to me one last time today.”

“Stay here and keep the floor tracking lines clear of any remaining assassins,” I said, a smile showing on my face. “I am going to help Lucius and the Elder. Do not follow me into the center.you will listen to me right?!”

“Barry…” Suzy whispered, her fingers clenching into skirt ribbon as she looked at my chest. She wanted to yell, to argue, and to force me to stay, but seeing the absolute certainty in my eyes, she knew she couldn’t break my determination. She let out a ragged breath, her lower lip trembling as she nodded her head. “If you don’t come back safe Barry… I will never forgive you.”

“Don’t worry,” I murmured. Without waiting another second, I launched my body straight forward, using my speed to slide past the burning debris of the floor.

Up on the stage, the battle had reached at a brutal point. The Grand Elder and Lucius, the King of the Python Clan, were pushing their core energy to the absolute limits, throwing massive waves of combined magic straight toward the center. But Menos was holding his ground with terrifying resilience. The armor around his frame flared with a chaotic aura that completely absorbed their strikes, his battleaxe swinging in an unhurried, lethal circle to keep both sector leaders from landing a fatal blow.

“Your combined output is nothing but scrap material to me!” Menos roared, his axe cutting through the air to force Lucius back. “You don’t have enough power to rewrite my boundary!”

I stepped onto the base of the high platform behind his blind spot, my step planting firmly into the cracked ground.

[System Notification: Countdown Timer: 1 Minute Remaining!]

[Warning: Channeling the technique right now will drain 70% of your remaining energy pool, leaving you with exactly 0% core reserves upon completion! Host framework will enter a temporary state of absolute exhaustion!]

“I don’t need a reserve pool if the target is completely injured,” I thought, my teeth grinding together as the throbbing pain in my heart grew more.

I held the sword with both hands, focusing every single drop of my power directly down my right arm into the sword. The sword did not hum or glow with magic; it held a silent pressure that caused the air directly around my hands to ripple.

“[Heavenly Punishment: Divine Annihilation]”

The moment Menos brought his battleaxe down to strike the Grand Elder, I unleashed the full, true power of my signature technique, swinging the sword upward in a straight, absolute line.

A terrifying wave of pure golden light erupted from the sword, shooting straight across the platform with the speed of a falling star. The light was so dense and overwhelming that it completely blinded Menos’s eyes instantly, cutting through his defense barrier.

The wave hit his right shoulder armor directly, the sheer physical force of the strike shattering his dark casing and carving a deep wound straight through his upper torso framework. Menos let out a painful, shocked scream as his battleaxe was thrown from his grip, his body flying backward through the air until his body crashing palace wall, leaving a massive web of broken bricks behind his head.

The leader stumbled down onto his knees in the group ,blood pouring out from his broken shoulder as he looked up at me in total, absolute disbelief. He had never expected a low-level manager to possess a hidden execution strike.

My sword went quiet, the energy pool inside my chest turning completely dry as the system screen flashed zero. The five-minute stasis fluid vanished from my veins at the exact same second, and a sudden agonizing wave of pain from the core chest wound rushed back into my brain, making my vision go totally black as my knees tilted toward the stones.

“BARRY!”

Suzy said , She launched her body straight onto the high stage, her dress flowing wildly as she ran through the smoke. She dropped onto both knees right beside my helpless body, her smooth hands instantly sliding under my shoulders to lift my head onto her lap.

Her face was completely pale with “You idiot! You used up your entire energy pool! Why did you throw away your life lines like that?!”

” We can leave this place, they can defeat him now,” I whispered weakly, my voice sounding incredibly low and slow as I felt the warm touch of her skin against my neck.

Four assassins saw my exhausted state and rushed toward the platform with their weapons raised to eliminate us. Suzy’s eyes flared with a murderous fury , She didn’t let go of my head; she kept me cradled tightly on her lap while using her right hand to raise her sword ,channeling the absolute maximum of her mid-stage Ascendant power into a single, desperate defensive shield.

Clang! Clang!

She parried their weapons with flawless, ruthless speed, her breathing frantic as she protected my body from them.

Right across the stage, Lucius the Python King did not waste the opening my ultimate strike had created. Seeing Menos slumped against the wall, Lucius lunged forward, his eyes glowing with a deadly intent. He gathered a massive sphere of spiritual energy in his palm and drove it straight into Menos’s fractured chest armour.

“This is the end of your , Menos!” Lucius roared.

BOOM!

The force of the Python King’s strike completely pulverized the remaining pieces of Menos’s armor, throwing his body into the center of the stage. The isolation barrier enclosing the capital city began to shake violently, its lines flickering as if the magic was about to collapse completely.

But before the capital guards could enter the field, a terrifying laugh erupted from Menos’s throat as he lay in the earth.

“Hahaha… you think a low-level sword strike can terminate me?!” Menos shrieked, his voice changing into a guttural roar that did not sound human at all.