Reaper of the Martial World

Book 8: Chapter 108: One (3)

The fourth [Echo] wasn’t aimed toward Eleven or Nine at all.

Suddenly, the expansive tower shield shrunk, its overflowing qi concentrating back from its five meter width back to just one meter and a half.

Before Nine and Eleven could react, [Echo] charged through a crevice in their formation and toward Ten who had just been rushing to support Eleven.

A concentrated blast of rectangular, golden light pushed the ocean currents away as they slammed into Ten’s body, sending him flying into the distance.

Blood flew from his lips as injuries he had been trying to suppress erupted from his body. What a joke. Who did he think he was trying to fool? He merely had a few strands of dragon blood yet he dared to call himself a dragon. As far as Dyon was concerned, he was just a larger than average bird beast, just how Ri described him.

A few days to recover from a near fatal strike given by an immortal puppet? As if.

Nine and Eleven wanted to go after Ten, but he had already disappeared into the endless darkness. It was their failure. Dyon had finally succeeded in truly separating them. It didn’t matter what they tried because the fifth [Echo] was already coming.

The sentinel sidestepped, blasting Nine and Eleven 90 degrees away from Ten’s direction. In this sort of situation, they might as well have been several universes apart.

A flexible spear shot forward once more, but the two women had learned their lesson. They had to dodge at all costs. Even if it meant withstanding all ten [Echos], they couldn’t easily approach that spear. In this situation, it was the reaper’s looming scythe.

In the distance, toward Ten, his silver scaled body skidded across the dense sands and wet muds of the ocean floor, pain racking his body. The wound in his stomach opened once more, and though he couldn’t see it in the darkness, it muddied the water with a gross crimson.

Suddenly, Ten’s Perception caught a shift in the waters around him.

His rage was mounting. The enemy’s schemes were like torture to him, but he looked down upon them from the bottom of his heart.

A man should fight everything head on. Could you even call yourself a cultivator if you needed such tactics to win? It seemed he had forgotten that he started this battle by hiding Nine’s true strength.

“Coward!” Ten growled dark.

‘I spent much of my life holding dao experts in high esteem… But it seems they’re only worth this much. Dragon? You’re just a sore loser. Thirteen.’

Dyon didn’t bother with Ten’s fate anymore. The moment he was pushed out of their group, his death was completely sealed.

An agile jaguar lurked in the dark, unbeknownst to Ten. After losing her Kingship, Thirteen could no longer enter her much more powerful humanoid beast form. However, she had gained much more. Though she hated being the puppet of another, she felt that Dyon’s potential was too scary. This entire time, they believed they were fighting dao experts like them. Maybe weaker than them, but still dao experts nonetheless. Who would have known that all of this was orchestrated by a young man who would be nothing more than a child in their eyes?

Thirteen’s beast form was massive. It was several kilometers long which was why a humanoid beast form was far more convenient. However, as things stood now, it was her only option.

Sleek black armor covered her enormous body. She had never felt so powerful in her life. She knew that even if she faced her humanoid beast form right now, she would slaughter it in a manner of seconds… And it was all because of this Dragon King armor!

Ten shifted. ‘There you are!’

‘Sorry Ten… But it doesn’t matter if you find me.’

At that moment, a blinding gold light appeared before Ten and he could finally see his surroundings. However, he didn’t feel relief at all. In fact… He was trembling in fear. His heart shook from its very roots as he all but prostrated himself.

It was as though the gold light was taunting him. Dragon? When had you ever been worthy of such a title?

Thirteen’s paw shot forward. Ten couldn’t even resist as he was blasted into meat paste.  

Even during his last few breaths, his bitter expression never left the golden light before him. In the final moments of his life, all he felt was endless resentment.

This golden light… It was none other than the Aurum Ancestor’s reverse scale.

Eleven’s agonizing roar shook the Dark Ocean. Fury from the depths of her soul threatened to bubble over and rip open the gates of hell.

It was just as Dyon had expected. The only way Eleven’s reaction could be so immediate was if their souls were tied to one another. Ten and Eleven had been husband and wife.

As Dyon guessed, Ten’s death pushed Eleven into madness. Unfortunately, sometimes, anger only makes things worse.

Even as Eleven burned her blood essence in hopes of revenge, she realized her mistake. When her qi was agitated, she lost an arm. But, what would happen if she agitated the whole of her circulatory system?

Her blood essence burned just how she wanted, but her thoughts of a heroic death where she could take her enemy with her fell through. The neurotoxins latched on to her raging blood, taking a ride through her body and infiltrating her mind.

Her brain became cut off from the rest of her body as everything ceased to function.

All of her muscles lost their control center, even her smooth muscles no longer functioned. Her heart couldn’t beat, her inner organs became nothing be dead meat, and her mind shut down. With her soul, she was eerily aware of what was happening to her body, but she could only watch as her corpse became her coffin.

In the end, she gave up. She no longer had the will to live anyway.

‘I’ll follow you to the afterlife… There’s nothing left for me here…’

Eleven’s body became a mangled mess of grotesque purple veins as she let go of the last thread that held her in this world.

Like this, only one remained.