CHAPTER 71: BOMBSHELLS

’That’s our Spark Fist, right?’ one of the disciples behind Joric asked, as their group scrambled on the ground, narrowly escaping the debris falling from the sky.

Despite them all moving quickly, not all were lucky, as from time to time, the pained screams of disciples could be heard.

Joric said nothing, as he even forgot to close his wide-open mouth.

There was no mistaking it. It was their family’s famous skill. It was the same skill the great Kaelen used when he sacrificed himself in the Whisperwoods.

That image was still clear in his mind: the sky brimming with brilliant red flames which brightened the entire province.

After that, some people perfected the skill, but none of them could release it with the same brilliance as that time.

But now, someone had used it, and its power even dwarfed that one. Who was this? Suddenly, the image of the red-eyed man came into his mind.

Joric recoiled, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"It’s the young master. He has perfected the Spark Fist."

In his mind, he never considered the possibility of other people perfecting the skill, as there was no way anyone from the great families would dare to learn each other’s skills.

This was mostly because of the silent laws and understandings among them and the difficulty of mastering the skill without a fire trait or fire-element bonding.

Also, as it was a low-quality, mortal-grade skill, no one wanted to offend the Ashtons for secretly learning it.

Joric never even considered the possibility of that strange man using it.

"Has the young master come to get our revenge?"

"Look, the typhoon has also disappeared."

"There are no monsters, either..."

The disciples’ depressed mood turned to excitement, despite the dire situation they were in. The islands were swaying, seemingly about to go down.

But the happy disciples ignored that, as they all cheered.

A satisfied smile graced Joric’s lips as he glanced towards the direction where the sky burned red.

In the Azure camp, things were quite strange. Daemon never moved an inch, as a light barrier surrounded him, defending him and his people from the falling debris.

But his mood was far from glad.

’How did that bastard Kaelen become this strong? Damn it.’

Kaelen was a name that sent shivers down the spines of every generation of the Azure family, be it the older or the younger. But the owners of this reputation were different people.

For the current older generation, it was Kaelen the Great; for their new generation, it was Kaelen the Fake.

’Is that name the reason?’ For a moment, Daemon considered changing his name, then rejected the idea, imagining his father’s outburst if he knew.

’Sigh,’ his shoulders slumped. ’Still, the Ashtons only have him; the rest are all trash. How far can a single person go? Anyway, it’s better to build a good relationship with him for now; no need to offend him.

First, let’s check if that man was killed by Kaelen. I really want to see the man who scared all the heirs, even if he is dead.’

From afar, Lysander stared at the central island, then shook his head as he turned around, followed by the disciples of the Crestfall family.

He was not curious to know what had happened there. Either way, it would not affect their family.

He had already abandoned the idea of fighting for the final rewards of the Labyrinth. Taking a step back from obvious failure was not cowardice. It was smartness.

He accepted his weakness.

Anya Sterling shook her head with a smile that was not a smile. What no one else saw, she could see. It was not the young master of the Ashtons taking action; rather, that man had used the Ashtons’ skill.

’That means he either stole the skill from the Ashtons, or he is one of them.’ She looked down at her wrist.

There was one dot that was not from the great families, which meant the man was not from the Ashtons.

She was curious. Curious to know about the man for whom her heart yearned every time she imagined him.

That was why she gritted her teeth and forced her fear away, as she led her obviously dissatisfied team towards the central island.

Aiden was the happiest of all, and he and the Thorne disciples celebrated by dancing. They were under the protection of a formation, so the debris never reached them.

"Let’s go there... let’s see if we can finish off that fucker ourselves."

Unknown to them all, Rhys was on his knees, panting as smoke escaped from every pore of his body. The forty-second countdown had begun as the islands started to tremble.

Large chunks of the crystal ground broke away, falling silently into the endless void below. The very fabric of the Sanctum was unravelling.

Rhys ignored his exhaustion. He slammed his hands on the ground, now covered in the Behemoth’s ashes.

[Burning a considerable amount of lifespan to summon...]

’Arise...’

The ashes responded. It swirled together, a reverse nebula forming in the centre of the plaza. The form of the Celestial Behemoth was reborn from its own remains, but it was different.

Its hide was no longer a shifting star chart but a deep, uniform grey: the colour of his Vindicators. Its eyes, once galaxies, were now burning silver points of light.

[Summoning completed...]

He burned his lifespan once more to double-evolve it to Knight, the maximum evolution it could reach.

Type: Knight

Race: Ashen Behemoth

Trait: Stellar Gravitas - Can manipulate local gravitational fields to anchor, crush, or repel targets.

Cultivation: Fake Stage 3 (Mid)

The newly born Ashen Behemoth turned its massive head to look at Rhys, then lowered it in a gesture of absolute submission.

The tremors intensified. The island on which they stood groaned, a massive fissure cracking across its surface.

"Stop this!" Rhys commanded, pointing at the crumbling world around them.

The Ashen Behemoth obeyed. It stamped its four feet, and a wave of calm, stabilising gravitational energy flowed from its body.

The shaking stopped. The fissures ceased their spread. The falling islands froze in mid-air, then slowly began to drift back into place. The Sanctum was saved.

Sera was jumping around, amassing a massive amount of biomass as she shape-shifted into the same appearance as the behemoth, but unlike the behemoth’s vacant third eye, hers held a shiny gem.

Rhys finally allowed himself to collapse, his energy completely spent. Sera, in her new, adorable Behemoth form, trotted over and nudged his hand with her stellar nose.

The battlefield was silent once more.

That was when they heard it.

A slow, deliberate clapping sound echoed from the shadows of the ruined colosseum.

A figure emerged. He was tall and lean, with a wild mane of crimson hair. His head was tilted at a strange angle, as if his neck was broken, and his left arm was missing, replaced by a writhing tendril of pure, crimson blood.

A bloodthirsty, manic smile was stretched across his face.

More and more footsteps could be heard as the disciples of the Azure, Sterling, Thorne, and Ashton families converged from different directions.

All of them froze in their tracks at the sight of the terrifying monster now bowing before Rhys.

’Young master...’ Joric shouted in anxiety, looking at the strange man who seemed to be maimed by monsters.

[WARNING! UNCLASSIFIABLE ENTITY DETECTED!]

Name: ???

[Race: Blood Demons]

[Trait: Bloodline Stalker]

[Cultivation: Body Tempering (Peak)]

Rhys was taken aback. The young master of Ashton—his ex-family and the son of the current patriarch, his uncle—was a demon?

Had his uncle been made a cuckold by a demon?

He almost laughed aloud, despite the warning from the system.

"Not bad, my dear stranger..." Kaelen continued, making Rhys’s lips twitch. How obsessed did someone have to be to give his brother’s name to his own son?

But Kaelen’s following words changed his expression a bit.

"Or should I call you my dear cousin... Oh, I don’t know your name at all. Because my memory can’t hold names of unimportant people."