Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 706 - Welcome to Hell!

"No... no... no!"

Annihilation Disaster had no desire at all to merge with Cassius. It had no desire to follow in the Totem King's footsteps! Right now, Annihilation Disaster wanted nothing more than to flee far away from Cassius. Whether it was slipping back to its lair in the World of Calamity or hiding behind Xiadu, the farther away it was from the monster before it, the better. Preferably, it never wanted to meet this predator again.

Boundless fear had seized its heart. It had gone from the top of the food chain to meat upon another's chopping block. As brutal as Mineto had once been, it was equally as terrified now. It knew better than anyone the despair of having one's life held in another's hands.

"Life only feels real when you fear death. The more your heart fears something, the more likely it is to occur. Mineto, I can feel your fear!" Three sonorous voices overlapped in the clouds like a solemn verdict from heaven as Cassius pronounced Mineto's fate.

Regardless, how could Annihilation Disaster simply sit and await death? It would flee to Xiadu's side, flee to the World of Calamity! Even if its origin were drained and its lamp nearly out of fuel, it would still run!

"No one can kill me! Not even you!" Mineto roared. The pale bestial skeleton beneath its black cloak flared with light that was the color of molten lava. Its origin erupted, fueling its outburst to the utmost. Its entire form seemed to become a huge sun.

The black Book of Deathly Stillness rustled as a vast tide of energy poured into it, triggering its strongest move. A huge phantom of the book enveloped Mineto and swelled rapidly. It seemed ready to sweep across the entire continent and detonate all life within.

"No one will kill me! No one!" Mineto madly proclaimed.

"You disappoint me too much, Mineto... You came to fight without the resolve to be killed. You boasted without absolute strength. You aren't even equal to an ordinary soldier among mortals!"

Cassius's Will swept heaven and earth, making the very sky of the region quake. He took a heavy step and appeared before Mineto as if he had teleported, blotting out all light.

"Feel the reality of death!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The three masks of the Golem shone with divine radiance, locking onto Mineto. Six arms of crimson, white, and purple formed stances and seals representing their respective fist paths and pressed down. The hand seals traced arcs that blew the air apart as they slammed down on the rapidly expanding phantom of the Book of Deathly Stillness.

Bang!

That final move unleashed with all Mineto's might was equal to all its runes erupting at once. Yet, it was like a fragile bubble as it was pierced by six overpowering arms in less than a second!

Crack!

The Golem's six unmatched hands suddenly seized Mineto's body from multiple angles. It looked like a pack of beasts locking onto a prey's vitals, and about to enact a grisly dismemberment. Mineto struggled madly in its tattered black cloak but it was all in vain. A purple-scaled giant python coiled around it, raising a bloody maw to bite down on Mineto's head. At the same time, a crimson beak tore into its left shoulder like a bloodthirsty dragon. Finally, a pair of holy white claws gripped its right shoulder. The three dreadful beings were cruelly strangling an Ultimate Dark Form!

"Are you going to..."

Staring at the terrifying Golem at arm's length and sensing the pain of its body being torn, Mineto realized something. A powerful wave of despair and fear shuddered through its body.

He's going to dismember me alive!

"No... no! No!!!"

Rip!

The three beasts exerted force in three directions. Mineto's massive body could not bear the strain and split apart. Its head and spine were yanked out by the purple python while its left half was mashed into pulp by the vulture. Its right half was also torn off bloodily by the white bird's beating wings!

The supernova-like radiance that had just risen upon Mineto's body vanished in a flash. All its unwillingness and regret turned into a single sound...

"Aaaaah!!!"

Whether mortal or Ultimate Dark Form, their screams sounded the same on the brink of death.

***

Annihilation Disaster had fallen! The killer was none other than Cassius, who had broken through to achieve Three Fists as One!

"Heheheh... Hahahahaha!" At the center of the battlefield, Cassius let out an unrestrained laugh. The bloody traces of Mineto still dripped from his huge body, telling of savage brutality. He had slain two Ultimate Dark Forms of perfected power in a matter of moments. This sent Cassius's excitement boiling.

Three Fists as One was an achievement only one person had managed to accomplish through the ages. It was a mythic feat, and thus needed to be celebrated in blood! The Totem King and Mineto made perfect opening trophies. With their deaths, he would proclaim the advent of the Southern Dipper's King of Qi!

No... Perhaps Cassius could not yet be called the King of Qi. After all, the progress of his Golem Covert Martial Arts was still stuck in the ninety-plus percent range. Only when the final stage is perfected would his strength reach its peak.

Each Southern Dipper fist art, upon reaching perfected power, bestowed a terrifying state upon Cassius that acted as an outrageous boost in power. Cultivating the three Southern Dipper fist arts together meant three boosts at once! His strength would be unimaginable!

"Time to eat... My Golem Covert Martial Arts only becomes harder to progress the further it advances, especially the last few percent. I would need many ordinary Ultimate Dark Forms to fill it completely. However, perfected power is entirely different. The Totem King and Mineto ranked in the top ten. Their life vibration energy should be enough!"

Cassius was not satisfied with his current level, for Xiadu had already opened one Gate of Heaven and the last was about to open. If its true body fully returned, judging by the prior clashes, Xiadu's true form would likely wield the abilities and powers of all Ultimate Dark Forms.

At present, Cassius could easily kill the Totem King and other Ultimate Dark Forms with Three Fists as One. However, it was hard to say whether he could crush Xiadu's true body. After all, it was a being fallen from the very concept of calamity. Without certainty, there was only one way forward—to continue raising his strength!

In any case, Cassius was still far from his limit.

"Come, let me see where my limit truly lies!"

The Golem began absorbing the remains of the Totem King and Mineto, extracting the surging life vibration energy within. Two perfected corpses were quite potent. A steady stream of searing energy was drawn into Cassius's body. The progress bar was displayed as always at the upper right of his vision.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 93.2% (Final Stage)]

Cassius had been through so much since the Golem Covert Martial Arts had been forged. His hands were stained with blood from endless slaughter. But finally, his Golem Covert Martial Arts would finally reach perfection!

Cassius recalled all he had experienced through his six time-travels as he absorbed the life vibration energy. There were no sighs, no laments, no loneliness, or sorrow. Everything he experienced had only deepened his resolve.

He was walking the right path. It was the road he most wished to walk. When his path was so aligned with his heart, why would he get lost? Whatever blocked his path, be it the Totem King, Mineto, or Xiadu, all would be mercilessly crushed by his footsteps!

Cassius had united the Southern Dipper's three fist arts. Next would be to unify Holy Fist, Dominator Fist and Ultimate Fist. What could stand against such crazy ambition? In the end, a thousand words were reduced to one line. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"I am too strong!"

Swish...

The last wisp of life vibration energy was drawn out by Cassius's life magnetic field. He slowly clenched his fist, feeling the incredible energy within. He was about to drive the Golem Covert Martial Arts forward.

Suddenly, from the southeast of Blue Star Empire, a vast ripple arrived from the direction of the altar. Cassius snapped his head toward it, his gaze spanning thousands of miles.

There, upon an ancient altar on hills of white bone, a pillar of light was firmly locking the last Gate of Heaven in place. A black smoky figure hovered quietly in midair, arms crossed before its chest.

A scaled giant had replaced the black mud giant behind it. Two scorched claws wormed into a crack in the Gate of Soul and pulled outward bit by bit. Wave after wave of the Gate of Soul's backlash slammed into the scaled giant, yet only slightly hindered its motions. It was nothing like the force that had shattered the black mud giant before.

Xiadu's true body was a Well of Sin connected to the calamity. How could it be easily destroyed? Now that the Gate of Physique's seal was lifted and two-thirds of Xiadu's body had returned, opening the last Gate of Heaven's seal was almost a foregone conclusion. Moreover, it was proceeding faster than before.

Crack...

The faint crisp sound was almost inconspicuous amid the huge rumblings. Xiadu paused slightly. The black smoke on its face shifted into a ferocious mask of ecstasy.

"Succeeded... succeeded! The final seal is fully opened!"

As if to confirm Xiadu's words, an even louder creak overwhelmed the Gate of Soul's resistance. Ten scaled giant claws latched onto the door and started to pull them apart. A thick door appeared alongside a beam of golden holy light.

"Return... return... return to me! My supreme body!"

Boom!

A massive impact rang out from within the Gate of Soul. With Xiadu coordinating his body inside and outside, the Gate of Soul swung open several times faster than before.

Rumble!

A huge body wreathed in terrifying black fumes suddenly burst from the Gate of Soul. Like a fledgling returning to its nest, it met the body outside and a terrifying fusion began.

Xiadu was complete.

An unspeakable evil stood with its arms outstretched as dense smoke tendrils unfurled behind it like roots burrowing into the world.

Its head was a mysterious vortex without features. Its chest and abdomen contained a black hole that yawned open to spew endless calamity. It was a source hundreds or thousands more intense than other origins of calamity. Where Xiadu's true form passed became the World of Calamity!

In a moment, the region around it was wholly tainted and connected to the World of Calamity.

Roar! Caw! Clack!

One dark silhouette after another descended from the World of Calamity into reality through the rift between worlds. Summoned by Xiadu, the Ultimate Dark Forms would destroy the entire world.

"So this is the surface world? Wonderful, wonderful! It will become our race's new farming ground!"

"Excellent, we’ve finally stepped into the surface world! Next I will revel in slaughter! All humans will be my food..."

The varied yet equally terrifying Ultimate Dark Forms vented their excitement, letting their manic emotions run free.

"This place is simply paradise! Hahaha!"

At a rift between worlds hundreds of miles from the altar, an Ultimate Dark Form spread its four arms and laughed madly. It could not wait to savor flesh!

Suddenly, a deep voice rang out behind that Ultimate Dark Form. "Paradise? No, for you, this is hell..."

A terrifying figure had, at some unknown moment, set an iron palm atop the Ultimate Dark Form's head. It lightly lifted its hand, and the head was plucked off with a spray of blood.

A hard iron mask leaned in, staring at the instantly slain Ultimate Dark Form as he growled, "Welcome to hell!"

At the upper right of his vision, the technique status bar flickered faintly in the corner of his eye.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 93.2% (Final Stage) ] → 100%

Golem Covert Martial Arts perfected! Divine art accomplished!

Next, destruction will... shatter everything!