Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 653 - The Final Boss Enters While Clapping

The top powerhouses of the supernatural world charged into the basin. Their lively, boiling Qi burned bright as torches in the night.

Figures in tight gray combat suits leaped over jagged rocks, each chest bearing a silver cross-sword emblem. Light flared from their hands as they clashed with members of the Gate Organization.

On the other side, a troop of fully armored knights barreled straight through any obstacle. An arcane energy user's ability gave each member of the Steel Knights a phantom giant warhorse. The steeds converged, forming a powerful cavalry charge.

However, Gate Organization members cloaked in black rushed in from all sides at unbelievable speed. They met the Steel Knights' charge, instantly turning the battlefield into a tangled vortex of silver and black.

People were slain constantly in that bloody battle while a youth's wild laughter rang over the battlefield, brimming with cathartic delight.

"I've waited so, so long for this day! Exhilarating, truly exhilarating! Hahahahaha..."

Dense silver wires danced out, weaving a steel spiderweb above the field. A finger in a black fingerless glove plucked a strand, and the whole web thrummed violently. Then, the cutting force of Amos's Violent Storm's Three Limits exploded outward!

"Die! I am Reaper Amos! Remember my name, then go straight to hell!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The youth in a black and white suit clenched his five fingers into a fist. Steel wires sheared shut, and the many Gate Organization figures who were caught screamed. Limbs flew as heads geysered into the air. Bloody hands and feet lay everywhere.

He strode through the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, feeling unspeakably exhilarated. Unlike other Black Ops Agency seniors, he hated the Gate Organization to the bone. The torment of those experiments back then... He would repay it in full today!

Swish!

Suddenly, a figure sprinted out of the darkness. It slammed into Amos like a cannonball and bounced off. The figure retreated three steps while Amos staggered back more than ten.

Amos’ numbed palm trembled as he examined his opponent. A brutally savage muscle-freak over two meters tall stood opposite him. He was mostly naked, with only a black leather brief covering his crotch like some kind of exhibitionist. Studded leather collars circled his neck, ankles, and wrists.

It was the Gate Organization's Sixth General King, Dark Sculpture Zabi. His eyes swept the Gate Organization's mangled corpses without the least pity or rage. Instead, a cruel and delighted smile crept over his jowled face.

Zabi drew a deep breath of the blood-soaked air as a suspiciously enraptured flush bloomed on his face.

"The taste of death, how exquisite. Mm~"

A hand even crept toward a certain part of his lower body. However, this was a battlefield so Zabi couldn't go too far. Only after killing his foe could savor it properly!

Zabi cackled like a night owl howling in a dark wood.

"Brat, I'm going to twist your head off and use it!"

He stomped the ground, suddenly flashing before Amos. A punch packed with Qi crashed down, colliding with the dense wires!

Ding...

Elsewhere, Golden Sun Andrea, Skull Knight, and Ghost Serpent Knight each met their match. They carved through the Gate Organization's lines, felling foes one after the other, only to be stopped by the General Kings.

Three small battlefields thundered with destruction. Any who tried to approach were torn apart by the aftershocks.

Halfway up a slope, Ghost Serpent Knight's scaled armor writhed under the moonlight like a steel python. Each lash of his steel whip tore through the air and ripped apart the ground.

Opposite him, a towering golden lion stood upon a boulder. Upon closer look, the lion was a phantom condensed from Qi, with a wild, blond figure within. Clad in leopard skin, he pounced with feral eyes!

It was a life-and-death struggle between Ghost Serpent and Golden Lion!

Skull Knight's battle was equally fierce. His white skeletal hands gripped a grim bone sword, green ghostfire seeming to burn beneath his helm. Opposite him, the Third General King took a stance, his surging Qi forming a killer whale behind him!

Golden Sun Andrea, whose Qi was already roaring, faced the First General King. The First General King wasn't burly, but lithe and draped in a black leather coat. When his terrifying Qi flared, his coat hem and silver hair whipped wildly. Bronze rings at his collar clinked and chimed.

"Daring to face me alone... You have courage! Send Black Sword Dixie, that would be more of a fight. You? You're not qualified!"

***

On the stone altar, the Arcane Stone Tablet spun faster and faster. The blood-red phantom eye on the ground was about to form completely.

Holy Fist Skyfall dragged his gaze away and looked toward the surrounding chaos. His cold eyes skimmed the fierce fights as if he was already looking at corpses. Then, he suddenly turned.

In the distant night, two formidable auras thrust through the battlefield like twin arrows. The Gate Organization's perimeter around the altar was being chiseled through layer by layer.

"Heh..."

Before his deep chuckle could even fade away, Holy Fist Skyfall vanished, leaving an afterimage.

Bang!

Hundreds of meters away, the sound of metal clanging suddenly rang out. The charging Black Sword Dixie slashed fiercely, tracing a black crescent through the air. However, the arc was shattered as a fist tore through it.

Dixie was hurled sideways with a thud. His feet ploughed into the earth, leaving two long trenches in his wake. A formidable foe stood where he had once been. Holy Fist Skyfall stood there, allowing the wind to howl around him. His scar-laced domineering body didn't budge, his Qi towering to the sky.

"The greenhorn from the Black Ops Agency? Heh, I remember now. I killed your master." He bared his pale teeth. "What? Your master's death wasn't enough? Did you come to die too?"

Rage blazed in Dixie's eyes. His five fingers tightened on the hilt of his sword. "Skyfall! Today you will pay blood for blood!"

Surging arcane energy within him burned like magma as he readied himself to pour out his fury in the next instant.

Holy Fist Skyfall flashed a savage grin, unfazed by Dixie's threat. "If you're so eager to die, I'll send you off!"

Today was not his day to pay. Rather, it was the day he would soar! The ritual was in its final stage. Once the ultimate seal opened, the leader's reward was his to claim. This operation would likely be his last in his current realm. When he returned, he would emerge as an Ultimate Dark Form!

Bang!

He struck out in a flash. Dark-red Qi gushed from his pores and condensed like crystal armor over his right arm. His punch blasted forth, spinning like a drill toward Dixie.

Buzz...

Unceasing Qi gnawed at everything. Dixie's face was dead serious. He gripped his sword with both hands without hesitation.

"Absolute Sword Waltz!"

He flickered seven steps. The black sword in his hands brightened and sharpened to a razor’s edge as his Qi built. He stamped back and leaped, slashing his blade thrice in midair.

It fell like a gorgeous yet deadly waltz of blades!

Clang! Clang...

A black blade and drilling Qi collided, sending bright golden sparks flying. Trails of fire streaked through the air.

"You are stronger than your master.. but only by a sliver!"

Holy Fist Skyfall strode forward, seeming poised to strike lethally. However, he suddenly pivoted as something rammed savagely into his side. A figure in heavy plate armor crashed into him like an iron rhinoceros.

Holy Fist Skyfall flew back with a tremendous bang, plowing a long furrow in the groun. At that instant, Dixie finished his aerial waltz, leaped forward, and thrust straight for Holy Fist Skyfall!

Squelch!

The tip had been aimed at his temple but a heavy palm blocked it. The black blade pierced the palm and drew blood, yet bone clamped it shut. A cruel smile split Skyfall’s face.

His wounded hand closed around the sword as terrifying Qi surged and cracked Dixie's black sword. He tightened his grip, causing the cracks to widen. Then, the black sword shattered entirely!

Bam!

He kicked with enough force to shift mountains.

Knight Commander grunted as he flew back to the mountainside. Holy Fist Skyfall simultaneously slammed into Dixie, sending him into the air spitting blood.

A second later, Knight Commander burst from a hole. Dust and haze parted as he swung his giant warhammer down. The hammer accelerated thrice in midair, easily breaking the sound barrier.

Dixie whipped out a spare cross-sword and rushed in. He gritted his teeth, not paying any attention to the bloody taste in his mouth. The three figures fought ever faster. The ground started to crack with deep footprints.

It was starting to look like Knight Commander and the Chief Mechanist together could fight Holy Fist Skyfall to a standstill.

However, in the next second...

Bang! Bang!

Two figures flew back, coughing up blood, and were buried into peaks impossible to pry out of. Only a black-robed, tattered figure with a bare torso remained standing. White steam drifted from his shoulders.

Holy Fist Skyfall slowly let his fists hang at his sides.

"An extreme combat artist is still an extreme combat artist. Two top-tier combat artists can't challenge me. If I hadn't left much of my energy in the altar to start the ritual, you'd have died the first moment you saw me!"

His face was arrogant and his words confident.

"Next, time to send you... Hm? It's done!!"

He whirled around, heading straight for the altar. Dense bloody red lines spread madly along the huge altar's rim. They were racing upward toward the Arcane Stone Tablet. By the time he returned, the blood threads had fully sunk into the Arcane Stone Tablet.

The ritual had succeeded!

The Black Ops Agency and Steel Knights' interference and sabotage had fallen just short. Especially with the two leaders defeated by Holy Fist Skyfall!

Rumble...

The Lotak mining area seemed to shake as a vortex manifested overhead. An origin of calamity, steeped in extreme evil, descended. A second later, countless torrents of calamity black mud mixed with dark creature cocoons fell like a waterfall!

Ding, ding...

Innumerable blood-red eyes lit up, seeming to lock onto something underground.

Crack!

In an instant, the earth swelled at the basin center as soil sprayed upward. A marble temple as vast as a small city emerged! The Miracle Garden had been bound by countless blood-red eyes!

Buzzz...

Phantasmal eyes madly defiled and corroded the hazy, fog-like mysterious energy sheathing the Miracle Garden. Finally, a breach appeared and the ancient seal unraveled. A huge, bloody eye peered out from the Miracle Garden.

A peak Will erupted as a terrifying peal cowed heaven and earth.

"I am the Lord of Flooding Light!"

Layered voices left all present reeling. Holy Fist Skyfall stood upon the highest point of the altar. He beheld the scene in fanatic rapture, arms flung wide, letting the wind and that dreadful Will billow his cloak.

He seemed like the lead character on stage at the end of a performance, bathed in the spotlight as the final victor. His ecstasy and delight were at an all time peak.

The Black Ops Agency and Steel Knights stared with eyes tinged with bewilderment and despair. Wedged in the mountainside and coughing blood, the Chief Mechanist and Knight Commander cast complex, unwilling looks at him. At last, they shut their eyes in resignation.

"Hahahahaha..." The man on the altar laughed insanely.

Clap, clap, clap...

Suddenly, applause rang out in the basin. A black-clad figure emerged at a leisurely pace, applauding.

"Splendid... Among the Gate Organization deputy leaders I've met and killed, you're the most gifted. I think I've come to rather appreciate you..."

Holy Fist Skyfall's laughter abruptly cut off.