From the moment Arthur appeared, they had only one choice: kill him.
If they were already surrounded by the powerhouses backing Arthur, then there was no way out at all.
If it was only Arthur alone, then he had to be killed all the more, ideally in a single blow, before he had any chance to raise an alarm.
Because there were simply too many powerhouses in Sun Moon. If they were discovered, escape would be impossible.
Black soul power, wrapped in a bone-corroding stench, struck at Arthur's face like a bolt of lightning tearing through darkness.
Within that soul power, countless wailing spirits seemed to shriek faintly.
The figure hidden in the shadows moved even faster, several black streaks lancing out straight for the weakest points of the body, forming a perfect pincer with the bartender's frontal assault.
The two of them coordinated without the slightest hesitation.
But to avoid drawing too much attention, neither held back much strength.
In their eyes, no matter how gifted Arthur was, he was still just a wet-behind-the-ears boy. Against a casual strike from two Titled Douluo, there was only one road ahead: death.
After all, in Sun Moon, a Titled Douluo might show up at any moment. They had to end this in an instant, and could not give Arthur any chance to cry for help.
"Then you two can die."
The youth's voice rang out clear.
Before coming here, Arthur had already used his soul skill, Fate, to draw the surrounding citizens away.
Now, he unleashed everything, holding nothing back!
Soul power surged out!
Vast, golden-red soul power seemed like a sleeping dragon jolted suddenly awake, roaring out of his body without the slightest restraint, sweeping outward in every direction.
That soul power was not defensive.
It carried an unstoppable, overbearing force, and the instant it collided with the combined strike of the two enemies, it let out a deafening peal like thunder.
"BOOM!"
The instant the explosion tore open, the bar collapsed along with it.
The golden-red soul power swept out in every direction like a tsunami. The buildings along the street crumbled in whole sections, countless fragments of stone hurled high into the sky, then crashing back down like a storm of rain.
Wherever the shockwave reached, dozens of towers crumbled floor by floor like building blocks crushed by an invisible giant hand, the roar of destruction shaking the entirety of Sun Moon.
Smoke and dust shot straight up into the heavens, blotting out half the sky.
A moment later, a pillar of golden light rose up, streaking straight into the sky!
The sky above Sun Moon was torn open with a visible rift.
In every corner of Sun Moon, whether it was the powerhouses in the soul master mansions, the patrol squads of the city guard, or the soul-guiding arrays atop the Spirit Pagoda, all of them, in that same instant, sensed that overwhelming, dragon-like golden might, and within it, the faint, twisted presence belonging to the Holy Spirit Cult.
"What is that?!"
"Such powerful soul power fluctuations!"
"There's the scent of an evil soul master too! At least a Titled Douluo!"
Cries of alarm rose one after another. Formidable presences shot up into the sky from every direction of Sun Moon, every gaze locking instantly onto the source of that eruption of soul power.
Arthur stood high in the sky, Excalibur in hand.
He pointed his sword at the two evil Douluo below.
Fighting Titled Douluo was, admittedly, still a stretch for him. But that didn't matter.
The Douluo world was giving him a cheat code.
The Radiant Crimson Dragon appeared over the skies of Sun Moon, ley line energy pouring endlessly into Arthur's body, pushing his strength up to the very limit he could currently withstand.
"Damn it!"
Neither of them had expected Arthur to be this strong, let alone that he could stir up a storm on this scale.
Sensing the presences converging from every direction, they knew there was no getting away now.
And this was only what they themselves could sense.
There was no telling how many Super Douluo, ones they couldn't even detect, might already be closing in from the shadows.
"Let's go all in!"
"Come die with us!"
Evil soul masters were never short on ruthlessness. The two of them went straight at Arthur with everything they had.
Both of them donned their Battle Armor in an instant.
Well, most of it was two-word Battle Armor, with only one or two pieces at the three-word level. The boost it gave against a Titled Douluo was, frankly, better than nothing.
There was no helping it. That was simply how evil soul masters were.
Even the Super Douluo of the Holy Spirit Cult could barely scrape together three-word Battle Armor as it was; these two ordinary Douluo could only make do with two-word sets.
The bartender let out a fierce roar, the nine black soul rings around his body pulsing wildly, and finally the seventh soul ring erupted with a blinding black light.
He clasped his hands together in a seal, and out of the black mist rose a soul-devouring idol several hundred meters tall, wielding a massive scythe, its body wrapped in tens of thousands of chains of the dead, each chain glimmering with a faint, corrosive light that ate away at the soul.
"Soul-Locking Purgatory!"
The eighth soul ring flickered, and the chains of the dead shot out through the air like venomous snakes, instantly sealing off a hundred zhang of space around Arthur, the chains clashing against each other with a shrill, grating ring.
The other shadowy figure was not to be outdone. He threw his head back and let out a savage howl, every bone in his body cracking and popping, and his whole form transformed into a bone dragon.
Its bony wings spread wide enough to blot out the sun and sky, dark green venom coiling around its pale, bleached claws, ghostly green flames flickering in the depths of its dragon eyes.
It let out a hoarse roar toward the sky, then spat out a pillar of pitch-black light from its mouth, hurling it toward Arthur, and wherever it passed, even the air rippled and shuddered under the pressure.
Arthur gripped his sword in both hands, raising it high above his head.
At the same time, faint starlight rose around his body. Pieces of Battle Armor materialized one after another.
The starlight converged, arm guards, shoulder guards, chest plate, and every other piece of armor locking together, each click of the joining metal marking the silver-white armor as it filled with intricate patterns, the entire set fitting together seamlessly.
Streaks of golden-red light traced along its edges.
The glow of elemental energy all around wove itself into the armor.
Though it was only single-word Battle Armor, it seemed to come alive, radiating a pressure that set the heart racing.
In truth, this single-word Battle Armor added little to Arthur's current strength, the power it granted was practically negligible.
But damn, it looked good.
Finally, as the helmet dropped into place, it sealed shut with a sharp snap, covering Arthur's holy-blue eyes, which had gone utterly, coldly still.
Single-word Battle Armor, Holy grade!
Then.
The third soul ring flickered.
"Collapse!"
The soul power all through his body surged violently backward, the golden light twisting into a dim, blackish red, the air thick with a suffocating stillness.
Then, the black-red torrent of soul power gathered and compressed along the blade of the sword!
He swung with all his strength!
"Release!"
The instant that final, world-ending roar fell, the black-red pillar of light poured down like a flood!
Collapse Release: an attack that bypassed the Roundtable Council entirely, fighting for no one and nothing, seeking only destruction!
"BOOM!"
The pillar of light collided head-on with the idol and the bone dragon, and the terrifying shockwave of energy spread out in an instant.
The clouds above Sun Moon were shaken into complete dispersal, and even space itself seemed on the verge of shattering.
The soul-devouring idol's body cracked apart inch by inch, and the bone dragon's skeleton was covered in spiderweb fractures, but in the end, the two of them withstood the blow!
The black-red light slowly faded, and Arthur's body swayed slightly.
The bartender gasped for breath, his face pale as paper, and yet he still forced out a savage grin. "Hahaha! Impressive! Very impressive!"
Within a few breaths, Arthur steadied himself, recovering fully as if nothing had happened.
The bartender's laughter caught in his throat.
What the hell?!
"Impossible! How could you possibly recover this fast?!" The bartender's grin froze on his face, twisted into pure, disbelieving horror.
Ley line energy was still pouring endlessly from the shadow of the Crimson Dragon into Arthur's body, the golden-red patterns on his Battle Armor blazing bright, the soul power he'd spent replenished in an instant.
He didn't even need to catch his breath; the hand gripping Excalibur was as steady as bedrock.
Black-red light gathered again along the blade, wilder and more blazing than the strike before.
Then, Arthur struck again!
"What are you still standing there for? Move!"
The bone dragon shook its head and shoved the bartender aside.
The beam of light shot straight through the gap between them.
"Close the distance! Don't give him another chance to use that move!"
(End of Chapter)