Chapter 635: Chapter 635

The terrifying scarlet Qi spiraled into the sky, sweeping the clouds away while dense shockwaves fanned out in every direction. The Blood Vulture's talons thrust downward, radiating sudden light as it dove at high speed. Its sharp tips glowed red‑hot from grinding against the air at extreme velocity and trailed four flickering tongues of fire.

Suddenly, the vulture's claws swelled, forming a colossal phantom. The enormous phantom talon hid the bird's massive body so that only the awe‑inspiring imprint came crashing down. A dreadful oppression, a crushing weight, and an endless domineering Will descended at once.

Even Star Horn God sensed an unprecedented danger. This sense of peril was even stronger than the life‑or‑death battle it had faced a century ago. However, it would never surrender. Star Horn God resolved to unleash its full strength.

The blue crystal tortoise armor burst as beams of light shot out from every ridge and groove as though the shell were about to come apart. Beneath the translucent plates, dazzling crystal energy, glittering like stardust, gathered to form a five‑pointed star.

The moment the star emerged, even the air began to crystallize. Rapidly growing tendrils of blue crystal spread everywhere like branches. The ground of Eternal Island turned into a crystal desert centered around Star Horn God. Countless translucent granules resembled a sea of salt.

Then, every crystal grain shone brightly like miniature exploding energy cores. They sought to annihilate everything nearby. It was Star Horn God's ability, Onefold Starburst. The heavy crystal armor it wore actually contained terrifying crystal energy within. It had been amassed over countless millennia of the creature's feeding and accumulation.

There were five layers of armor. The outermost bore one star, while the fifth bore five. The stars were called crystallized star cores, and the more there were, the greater the power. It went up till Fivefold Starburst.

Thus, each time Star Horn God shed a layer, its destructive force increased. However, its defense weakened accordingly. When it came down to the fifth layer, the resonance of five star cores could unleash horrific destructive power but the creature itself would perish in that blast, making it a mutual destruction.

As for the pair of great horns atop its head, they harbored another dreadful ability. Their importance lay above Fourfold Starburst yet below Fivefold Starburst. In the war a century ago, Star Horn God had defeated its foe with its ability, sustaining grievous wounds in return. As for the mutually destructive Fivefold Starburst, it would never be used unless all hope was lost. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel{f}ire.net

Suddenly, the creature's terrifying Will erupted. Its heavy armor disassembled furiously, releasing dreadful energy as it split apart.

"Stellar Immolation!"

A colossal phantom five‑pointed star shot skyward, expanding rapidly. A second later, the scarlet giant‑claw phantom collided with the star!

Heaven and earth shook as Eternal Island quaked wildly. The surrounding sea was all but boiled. It was as if two mountain ranges had collided, and the unleashed force swallowed everything.

Layers of wind pressure rolled out, carving dense shockwaves visible to the naked eye across the sea. Alternating red and blue halos already enveloped everything on the island's surface. But even through the blast like a nuclear detonation, one could faintly see a scarlet giant claw descending to seize a star. Its four crimson talons clenched, crushing the giant crystal star.

"Onefold Starburst actually... Then make it Double Starburst!"

Appalled yet resolute, the creature instantly shattered its translucent second layer of armor. A terrifying fusion of light flared once more. Two stars shot skyward, merging with the first to form three rotating orbs of light!

Ongoing explosions thundered from the Blood Vulture's giant claws, with bursts of dreadful flame. It was the Qi of a Dominator Fist, whistling forth to clash with and annihilate the creature's crystal energy. With each blast, a mushroom cloud puff of white vapor pierced the sky, only to be torn apart by the shockwave.

Cassius's domineering Will poured out.

"It seems you are no ordinary Ultimate Dark Form. Even with wounds that refuse to heal and in a hostile environment, you can still wield your strength. Hehehe, good! The more exceptional you are, the greater the reward you'll bring me in the end. You cannot escape disaster. Every struggle merely adds to my enjoyment..."

His scarlet eyes overlapped with the vulture's savage pupils.

"Even stars can fall! So how could beings or beasts that borrow energy from stardust not?! There is no true immortality, no absolute invincibility, and no eternal supremacy. Even the Gate of Heaven that embodies the world's origin was smashed, and the so‑called origin of calamity, the root of all disasters, can be shattered by my fist! My ever‑ascending domineering Will can set even heaven ablaze..."

At that moment, Cassius gained an insight. He realized that his own Will soared to its peak with each battle against an Ultimate Dark Form, clarifying his true heart. The fifth time-travel had long passed, yet the afterglow of that great war still lingered.

Cassius differed from ordinary Dominator Fists. The Dominator Fist's domineering Will was an ideal Qi, a force that never retreated. In the final phase of the fifth time-travel, he had fused three fists into one and cracked the true body of Xiadu returning from the Gate of Heaven.

The residual Qi and the peerless momentum had sunk after his return to the real world. However, confronted now with a Holy Fist‑level battle, that momentum was reactivated.

Wave after scarlet wave rolled behind Cassius, surging like tornadoes into the sky and dyeing everything red. Star Horn God felt Cassius's Qi growing stronger, and the scarlet giant‑claw phantom ever more solid.

Meanwhile, the three rotating stars cracked.

Ting! Boom‑boom‑boom‑boom‑boom...

Amid the horrific clash, another earth‑shattering explosion erupted. Twisting air currents and howling winds obscured one’s vision as great clouds of dust ballooned like mushroom clouds. A blue crystalline beam shot through the air, only for a rapidly flickering red silhouette to evade it. The beam streaked across the sky, skimming a vast stretch of ocean before finally crashing down.

Whoosh! Ting! Crack...

Over a hundred kilometers away, the beam struck the sea, instantly crystallizing a large area of the sea. The crystallized surface lay flat and glossy, reflecting sunlight like a mirror. On the outskirts of the aftermath, sailors aboard a freighter sailing its scheduled course were aghast. The blue streak that had just torn through the sky looked like a falling meteor.

Had it plunged into the sea and raised a giant wave, everyone aboard would have been doomed. Strangely, though the impact point was close, it caused no great commotion. Only a faint crackling was heard, muffled by the waves.

Everything seemed calm and relatively safe. Yet seconds later, sharp‑eyed sailors at the stern noticed something amiss. The crystal sea surface shone brightly and was spreading outward. It was as if a mass of luminous matter was closing in from all sides to swallow the lone freighter.

"Full speed ahead, full speed ahead!"

The freighter accelerated desperately, racing against time. They escaped in the nick of time with their hearts still pounding in fear. Just moments earlier, they had seen a flock of waterbirds diving into the sea, each turning into a blue crystal statue the instant it touched the luminous mass. They resembled life-like works of art.

Had the freighter been overtaken, it too would likely have become a statue. But before the crew could think further, sudden wind arose and waves propelled them forward. The heavy clouds overhead moved swiftly, forming vortex after vortex like the circulator eyes of a demon. The weather changed faster than anyone could imagine.

The tin hull rang with clangs.

"A storm? A sea storm?! But why are there stones, logs, and soil?!"

Abnormally, clods of earth, stones, and even broken tree trunks were mixed in the roaring wind on the open sea.

A boulder the size of a house hurtled down, striking the water with a tremendous crash. A towering wave rose and slammed against the freighter's side. But that was not the end.

"My god, by the heavens!"

"It must be an illusion... A mountain is flying in the sky!"

"Spirit protect us, please protect us!"

The sailors knelt on the deck, praying incessantly. They raised their heads, eyes filled with terror as they looked toward the sky.

A hill‑sized boulder swept overhead, trailing a long, heavy arc before crashing into the distant sea. Back on Eternal Island, the battle between both sides had reached the climax. They no longer maintained their gigantic forms, instead shrinking to relatively normal sizes.

Star Horn God stood over five meters tall with its body wrapped in vast swirls of crystal energy like a desert of stardust. Opposite, Cassius retained merely an ordinary human stature. However, behind him loomed a ferocious Blood Vulture phantom, condensed from a Qi so dense that it was almost tangible.

One could see a faint layer of blue crystal shards on Cassius's hands being erased by the scarlet force on his palms.

The creature, on the other hand, looked far more troubled. Dense red fangs clung to its third armor layer, drilling down as they decomposed it. Perfected Death's Fang Force burrowed madly into a crack on the armor's surface, causing Star Horn God unimaginable agony.

It had fallen completely into a disadvantage. The real world could not replenish its strength, its old wounds had been exploited, and the Southern Dipper lineage's lethality remained as fierce as ever.

In an instant, the creature thought of the only solution. Fourfold Starburst, plus Moon Annihilation from its horns. If even that could not force the foe back and buy time to flee to the inter-world passage, the creature could only self‑destruct, dying together with him with its Fivefold Starburst.

I must bring word back to the World of Calamity so the other Ultimate Dark Forms learn that the Southern Dipper line has birthed another Holy Fist heir! If he reaches his peak form, he may overturn the future... The creature thought, its body blazing with splendor. Its fourth layer of armor disintegrated without hesitation.

Four sparkling stars blasted out together, completely engulfing Cassius. The creature charged like a meteorite. Its two huge horns, which were a third of its body length, glowed as seething hot energy boiled within.

This time, what flew forward was not a beam but Star Horn God's horns themselves. The crystal horns spun through the air, carving an arc while their wailing shook heaven and earth. Crystallization, explosion, and annihilation were the creature's final trump card.

Once the horns were thrown, it would enter an unprecedented state of weakness with its combat ability sharply reduced. It would remain frail in the long years to come until a second pair of horns matured. In exchange, it gained the terrifying effect of the Moon Annihilation.

The horns hovered in the sky like the moon, pouring amber‑blue moonlight that was crystallizing the entire world. The sky, sea, island, air, and rocks alike all came into contact with the moonlight and inevitably turned to crystal.

Where the four stars resonated and burst, crystallization was worse. A visible crystal mountain rose, trapping Cassius deep within. When the crystal mountain fully formed, the horns would detonate and obliterate him!

Even a Holy Fist opponent would be gravely wounded and near death from this move. If the foe was already weakened, it might even be a kill.

While controlling Fourfold Starburst and Annihilation Moon, the creature sped to the cave entrance. It gazed at the distant, translucent blue crystal mountain.

It had meant to teach Cassius a bitter lesson, buying time to flee to the inter-world passage. Yet before it could detonate, the blue crystal mountain was already tottering. Beneath the translucent crystal, a sturdy blood‑red figure punched upward with a bizarre gauntlet covering his hand.

Thorny cracks spread from the gauntlet's core through the mountain, with scorching light piercing through.

A second later, the crystal mountain exploded into shards. A figure swept out like a vulture, punching relentlessly. The four crystal star cores shattered on the spot! The horns in the sky were likewise seized by a giant hand and crushed to stardust.

Horrified, Star Horn God turned and dived at full speed. Yet somehow, a figure had appeared on its back, its palm pressing down on its crystal skull. The creature felt a chill of terror. Cornered, it had only the mutually destructive Fivefold Starburst left.

As soon as it thought it, five brilliant stars on its last armor layer were about to ignite. Magma‑like energy boiled within its body.

At that moment, an irresistible invading force stabbed into the creature's body. It was utterly overbearing, fiercely savage, and carried a sharpness capable of cutting anything. In an instant, it destroyed the star cores, severed the creature's Will, and completely halted its final self‑destruction.

It was Thorn Sonic Death Armament empowered by the perfect Rune of Life!

Even transformed into a gauntlet, its effect remained unchanged.

Unstoppable and Indestructible...