Returning to the Mysterious Era-Chapter 670 - Judgement Day

With a tearing hiss, the blood gushing from the wound turned to mist. It fanned out in a spray over a wide area. A third of Demonic Blood Tyrant's body was ripped off by the Golem's steel hand, as if tearing a strip of leather. The mangled bulk fell to the ground, squishing the mud beneath it.

"Roar!"

A howl of terror mingled with immense pain rang out. Demonic Blood Tyrant's eyes were blood-red, its trunk squirming like a grotesque worm. Cassius, who had just torn it in two, watched it calmly. He was like a butcher sharpening his blade while watching the fish on the board thrash to death. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes as terrifying Southern Dipper energy roared from his body.

"Enough, I won't torment you anymore. Die."

Demonic Blood Tyrant exploded on the spot. Only its complete head remained clutched in a steel hand. The abyssal pit shook as a huge silver figure shot skyward.

Cassius looked at the ring of defeated foes around him and his steel fist tightened slightly. After choosing his target, he was ready to kill again.

Suddenly, the two moons across the World of Calamity's sky underwent a bizarre transformation. They swelled like red giants, casting red light over every corner. Filaments of black, like strands of hair, were faintly visible at the edge of the overlapping moons. It was as if the moons had grown fur.

Clang!

A bell-like peal reverberated through the cosmos. The concentration of calamity in the air climbed exponentially. A visible haze of calamity fog formed in the distance. It was an ominous sign known to trigger beast tides. The red moonlight grew so thick it seemed to dye the land into hell.

One after another, hulking Ultimate Dark Forms bathed in the glow, roaring terribly as their auras surged. Additionally, a quarter of the sky was smothered by the two huge moons, squeezed together like colliding planets. The black "fur" wriggled around them, as if weird monsters rioted within.

Three words came to mind: disaster, despair, and terror.

That scalp-numbing aura howled. The seeds of madness spread across the land, throwing all into chaos.

Cassius saw the outline of a pitch-black giant hand slowly rising at the intersection of the two moons. The palm opened as if to hold something up. There, a hazy dark shape was coming together. It had the form of an infant, curled in a placenta. However, it lacked any of the charm and innocence of an infant.

It was pure evil, seething with mad stray thoughts and countless babbling mutters, all coalescing into a single will.

"Holy heart, be extinguished... holy heart, be extinguished... holy heart, be extinguished..."

Layered whispers carried a strange demonic charm, like a sacred hymn.

"Xiadu..."

At the pit's rim, flames blazed fiercely around Cassius. Xiadu's influence in the World of Calamity was more direct and dreadful compared to the last time-travel. This was its home field. Though its body hadn't descended, even its Will projected terror. Yet, Cassius felt not a shred of fear.

He was the one who had shattered Xiadu's body with his fist in the last time-travel, even if it took burning everything. Having beaten it once, fear no longer existed.

What was there to fear about a defeated foe!?

Thus, amid the grand hymn and bloody light bathing the land, Cassius raised a hand to the heavens. His massive armored frame seemed to grow higher, shoulder to shoulder with the sky.

Bang!

His steel palm clenched hard and Demonic Blood Tyrant's head exploded on the spot.

"Come, descend! Let me defeat you again!"

Rumble.

Black demonic flames burned higher from the Golem body, scorching the surrounding land. Cassius's aura suddenly began to climb. Earlier, he'd absorbed some life vibration energy when killing Wild Coiling Bull, but was soon interrupted.

Now, having slain Demonic Blood Tyrant, he had taken the chance to absorb its life vibration energy. Seizing the chance, he poured it all into his technique progress.

At the upper-right of his vision, the progress bar displayed.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 75.2% (Final Stage)]

As the life vibration energy flooded his body, a blazing current swept through every part of the Golem. At Cassius's current stage, which was over three-quarters through Holy Fist, each further noticeable rise was extremely hard. Even one percent might take decades or centuries if he relied on cultivation alone. It was time he wasn't willing to wait. Plundering fit Cassius's path of progress better. Thus, the necessary "feeding war with war" forged his boundless bloodlust.

Cassius was born to oppose dark creatures. Or rather, he was born to oppose all supernaturals who weren’t human. He would always be humanity's sharpest blade. In a sense, Cassius was even more reliable than the three Holy Fists of the Southern Dipper.

If the Southern Dipper three Holy Fists were humanity's shield, then Cassius was their serrated blade! Whether or not he wished to protect humans, his actions did in fact serve human interests.

This meant Cassius fit the Holy Fist realm exceedingly well. He was the pinnacle of humanity. Thus, the Holy Fist's usual confusions and bottlenecks simply didn't exist for him. He needed only to stay true to his own interest. That itself was the fiercest affirmation of his human identity.

Thus, his Golem Covert Martial Arts always advanced smoothly.

[Golem Covert Martial Arts: Mental Unification 75.2% (Final Stage)] → 79.3%

A 4.1% rise wasn't bad at this stage since he hadn't fully absorbed the life vibration energy of Wild Coiling Bull and Demonic Blood Tyrant. With powerful foes encircling him and a great enemy about to descend from the sky, snatching even a moment to advance was no small feat.

"It's coming!"

A blood-hued figure flickered to his side from afar. Blood Vulture appeared in human form, his hands faintly dripping blood.

He glanced at Cassius. "Your aura, it's stronger again... At this rate, you might wield perfect energy even before your own Covert Martial Arts path reaches perfection. It's hard to imagine what terrifying gains you'd have if all three Covert Martial Arts paths reach perfection. After this battle, I'll do everything to aid your Ultimate Fist cultivation until you succeed..."

The elder's Will surged, tinged with an unnamed emotion that almost seemed like relief. A junior who could glorify the Southern Dipper arts was truly a great fortune!

"Good! But first, we win this fight." A deep, steady voice came from beneath the Golem helm.

In truth, Blood Vulture's expectations were too small. Cassius wanted more than perfected Southern Dipper Three Fists. He aimed to unify the three fists! Three Fists as One!

That would be an ultimate realm no one had ever reached. In the last time-travel's final battle, Cassius had briefly tasted a watered down version of the Three Fists as One power.

It was that time that made him resolve to seize it for himself.

"I truly look forward to it..."

The Golem's fearsome body slowly turned. Thick gray-black calamity fog veiled its sight, but the bright blood moons sketched many shapes in the mist.

Thump, thump, thump...

Heavy footsteps rang out as Ultimate Dark Forms closed in from every side.

"Besides them, there's also the one overhead. Are you afraid?" Wreathed in crimson radiance, Blood Vulture stood upon the Golem's shoulder, asking offhandedly.

"Afraid? Do you fear the food you eat every day? Heh..."

"Hahahaha..." Blood Vulture laughed as well. He had referred to Xiadu forming in the blood moons, the ultimate calamity whose body had slipped past its seal. In ancient times, only the Southern Dipper three Holy Fists had dared face Xiadu. Thus, Blood Vulture worried that Cassius might be affected. However, Cassius seemed even calmer than him.

Blood Vulture raised both arms, slowly settling into a fighting stance. "Good! Then let our Southern Dipper line... weigh their worth..."

"Killing is my utmost delight!" Cassius answered in return. Steel arms spread as his black cloak flapped.

Boom!

The battle was at its peak. The twin moon projection of Xiadu was still forming, but the Ultimate Dark Forms on the ground were already charging toward them. Deafening roars shook the world under the clash of such dreadful forces. Ring after ring of shockwaves swept nearly a thousand kilometers.

Ultimate Dark Forms wielded their own authorities, raising wind and rain with a hand or striking thunder with a step. They were beings fit to serve as the nemesis for religious tales. Here, such beings were numbered in the double digits!

Thump, thump, thump!

In the gray-black calamity fog, a ferocious flaming vulture surged skyward. As its wings flared, several Ultimate Dark Forms were blasted away.

On the ground, the steel Golem charged and blasted off a punch. Parts of an Ultimate Dark Form's limbs blew apart as it reeled back screaming.

The two Southern Dipper Holy Fists flaunted their combat abilities, expounding the art of battle. They were the distilled essence of humanity's Covert Martial Arts across millennia! At that moment, they fought to the fullest.

Clang!

Three heavy blades smashed into the Golem armor, sending golden sparks flying. However, Cassius stood unmoved, his two silvery steel arms striking out like snakes. The weapons were twisted apart and even the Ultimate Dark Form's limb was torn off as it fell screaming.

He dipped his metal helm, noting the three slashes on his chest. Hot energy coursed through his body and the cracks began to knit.

"If it's only at this intensity, I'll remain at my peak for centuries..." The Golem threw another punch, colliding with a massive claw from the mist and smashing it back. He snapped his head up to gaze at the two blood moons.

"But the main act seems about to begin..."

The overlapping moons filled half the World of Calamity's sky, seemingly touching the earth. In truth, it was that protruding black hand at their intersection that was reaching for the land.

Its fingers extended, blooming like a lotus. The fetus-like shadow in its palm had risen with its arms raised at some point, as if concluding a sinister rite. Endless calamity fog drew toward it, forming a giant vortex like a black hole.

The shadow slowly descended through the vortex's core. It cocked its head, watching the madness of the battlefield.

Then, a vast voice sounded.

"All returns to darkness at the end... Only calamity is eternal... Xiadukala... It's Judgement Day!"