Volume 23 Chapter 18.4

As the body flew towards team China, several arrows from Yanwei punched a few holes in it as soon as it exited the grass. He had still had a little life in him before, but he was now completely dead. It didn't end there as Honglu had at some unknown point taken out a wooden staff, sending a fireball slamming into the corpse with a few muttered incantations. The corpse turned into flying ash with a boom.

Both sides were risking their lives now, and a moment's distraction could lead to death. Only a few seconds had passed, and there was no time to talk. Both sides only wanted to take the other's lives.

As the dragon wailed tragically, a giant shadow suddenly appeared high up in the air. It was a metal humanoid, which immediately sent a punch at Tom who was behind the metal wall as soon as it made its appearance. The punch caved the metal wall in, and still viciously hit Tom despite the punch weakening by seventy or eighty percent, which sent the man flying.

"Obelisk the Tormentor!" This was Liu Yu's special move, a summon that could only be controlled when all his psyche force energy was focused on it. The psyche force expended on it was ridiculous. He could only rely on Lan providing psyche force through a Soul Link to summon this awesome Obelisk the Tormentor, which was even massive than the one he summoned in God's dimension. It was even more powerful than before, and it was no exaggeration to say that even a hundred Toms would have turned into a meat paste if that punch had connected solidly. It wouldn't have ended at being sent flying with heavy injuries.

"How? Isn't that metal? WHY CAN'T I CONTROL IT?????!!!!!" Tom spat out a large mouthful of black blood. His ribs were nearly all broken, some even piercing his lungs. His internal organs had all suffered differing amounts of damage, and it could be said he couldn't be injured any further. If he wasn't using Domain, it was completely possibly he would have fainted away already.

This was something Honglu had considered in his scheme. Team China needed an overwhelming power in order to tie team Devil down here and not completely die out before the time ended. Liu Yu's summon was one such special troop! It had to be paired with Lan's Soul Link, and the psyche force it would deplete from Liu Yu had to be ignored for a while. Liu Yu also had to focus his entire mind on thel Obelisk. If it went on a rampage, none of the ones from team China here could withstand a single punch.

"Awwwwoooooo!" When Obelisk sent Tom flying, Kampa howled and transformed into a giant werewolf that pounced at team Devil. The two remaining from team Devil only snapped out of it now. They were both shocked at how Tom killed someone to use his corpse, as well as at the power of the various members of team China. They immediately shouted as they both unleashed their individual skills.

Tom had killed the short yellow-skinned man just now, and one man and one woman was left. Points of light immediately began to encircle the woman's body, with some balls of electricity appearing as well. This was obviously plasma, and the balls of electricity had power rivaling a small scale explosive. The black youth swung his hands toward the ground, a totem pole having appeared in it at some unknown time. He inserted it into the ground, and a four to five meter humanoid formed from clay appeared in front. It looked rather impressive, but it was like a rat before a human when compared to that over twenty meter tall Obelisk. It hadn't ran forward for very long before Obelisk sent it flying with a kick, making it disintegrate in mid-air into fragments of clay.

Kampa and the rest of team China were advancing right behind Obelisk. Seeing that the three of team Devil were now within Obelisk's attack range, the woman screeched sharply, and a lightning bolt two or three meters thick crashed into Obelisk's chest.

Thunder seemed to rumble right besides everyone's ears, making them feel slightly dizzy. The explosion of the lightning actually forced Obelisk to land on its butt, landing the three of team Devil a brief respite. However, Obelisk wasn't injured. When it stood up, a punch and a kick would make those of team Devil deader than dead.

"DIE! Let's die together!" Tom had gone insane from his anxiousness. His body slowly floated up, blood spurting out endlessly from his capillaries and orifices.

The blood that flowed out continuously lightened in colour, until tiny spheres of metal appeared in the blood. Tom actually had the freakish level of control to directly manipulate the metal in blood. The black youth that was closest to him began to scream tragically as his blood started to spurt out more severely. He was close to becoming a dry corpse within a second, as the slightly further woman began to spurt out blood as well, as well as the rest of team China.

(Adam! Let's see what you do now! The Light of the Soul of the strongest few here will vanish when we die! Let's see how you find more Light of the Soul then and how you go against Zheng and Xuan. So, come! Come closer to us, to this location I've chosen! Hurry!)

Honglu no longer cared about his blood that was flowing out, or Tom's frenzied pre death counterattack. He cast his gaze at the distant Adam as well as a black dot in the distant horizon that was becoming more and more distinct. His scheme and mission only had this last step left. He had staked oh so many lives of his comrades for this, staked all of their belief... How could this last step fail after all that!

As he had hoped, the far off Adam was speedily nearing them. Adam's Instrumentality wasn't complete, so he was unable to cover the entire planet like how true Instrumentality would. His strange was more like a domain, where it would be stronger the closer you were to him. Thus, if he wanted to absorb them who had powerful mental capacity and willpower within a short period of time, he would need to get closer to them. He also had to get here quickly, at least before Tom killed everyone present. Thus, the most important step of Honglu's plan was about to arrive...

(Am I about to die? Will I die like how I predicted once the final step of the scheme is complete? So... I'm going to die?)

Perhaps it was some illusion, but Honglu suddenly felt as if his past experiences were flashing past his eyes continuously. Although only a second or two passed, everything in his ten odd years of life, from his birth, entering the hospital, being researched on and becoming lonely and resentful, to meeting her... then that fire and despair, and entering God's Realm, as well as its battles and his comrades... Everything flashed past his eyes. It seemed like he truly was about to die.

So why didn't he feel scared? Was it because she had been revived? Or the comrades by his side and that warmth in his heart?

"... Yes. I admit I've been afraid of death since a long time ago. When being researched on in the hospital, when making schemes in the past, I was utterly terrified of death. Because, I had nothing worth treasuring apart from life. Strange, isn't it? The reason I feared death happened to be because I wanted something worth treasuring so I wouldn't be lonely after death. Only then would I be able to face death peacefully. And now I have it. Something I can treasure dearly. So, this is my victory! Adam! With my life as the bait, you lose!" Honglu roared.

His eyes were being covered by the blood that was seeping out, making it look like the whole world was dyed red. Even so, he looked at the black dot in the horizon that was flying closer, about to reach...

He had won, but...

RIP!

"Kam...pa...?"

Kampa who was in his werewolf state had appeared at some time in front of him. For some reason, Kampa had thrust his claws into Honglu's chest. While Honglu was stunned, the claws had already reached his heart. The little boy's world went dark, then he felt nothing ever again...

Team China Fallen: Xiao Honglu

Remaining Survivors: Zheng Zha, Chu Xuan, Cheng Xiao, Zhang Heng, Zhao Yingkong, Luo Yinglong, Imhotep, Anck-Su-Namun, Lan Feng, Zero, Kampa, Ming Yanwei, Liu Yu, Lin Juntian, Qi Tengyi, Dragon, Wangxia