Chapter 247: Hellfire Anti-Air

Lord Draven hovered above the courtyard, his enormous blood-red wings spread against the dark sky.

The wings beat steadily, sending drops of blood raining toward the fortress below. His robes had grown thicker, and the two curved blades in his hands were now longer and sharper than before. Dark red energy flowed through everything, from his weapons to the crystallized wings supporting his body.

The entire courtyard had become his source of power.

Blood covered the ground, filling the cracks between the bones that formed the fortress. More flowed through the pipes running along the walls, supplying Draven with a seemingly endless amount of energy.

He had turned his fortress into one huge weapon.

High above the courtyard, Draven stared down at Holden with hatred burning in his sunken eyes.

"IF I CANNOT CURSE YOUR BLOOD, I WILL DROWN YOU IN MINE!"

He raised both blades and swung them downward.

The weapons suddenly changed shape.

Their curved edges stretched outward before breaking apart into dozens of long, pointed spikes. Each one was formed from crystallized blood, its surface covered in a thin layer of corrosive energy.

Then they shot toward Holden.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Forty blood spikes came raining down from above.

They fell with frightening speed, covering the area where Holden stood and leaving almost no space between them.

But Holden had already noticed the attack.

His 10,000x processor tracked the spikes as they formed, following their positions and calculating where they would land.

Before the first one reached the ground, he moved.

SWISH!

His figure blurred to the left.

A moment later, the spikes struck the courtyard.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The floor cracked beneath the impacts, sending fragments flying in every direction. Dark red fluid splashed across the ground, hissing as its corrosive energy ate through the damaged surface.

Within seconds, dozens of small craters had appeared where Holden had been standing.

But he was already several feet away.

Holden glanced at the ruined ground before looking up.

"You’re going to destroy your own house at this rate."

Draven’s face twisted with anger.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

His blood wings beat harder, lifting him higher above the courtyard.

Both blades reformed in his hands as fresh blood gathered around them.

Then he attacked again.

Another wave of spikes shot downward.

This time, they spread across a wider area, covering Holden’s position and the ground around him.

Holden watched them approach.

Then he moved to the right.

SWISH!

The first spikes struck the floor behind him.

Others landed where he had been standing moments earlier, sending more pieces of bone flying through the air.

BOOM! BOOM!

The courtyard shook under the repeated impacts.

Draven continued attacking.

Each new volley covered a larger area than the last, forcing Holden to move farther to avoid the falling spikes.

The patriarch was beginning to understand that simply aiming at Holden wouldn’t work.

So he changed his approach.

Instead of targeting where Holden stood, Draven began attacking the places he was likely to move toward.

Spikes fell ahead of him, behind him, and along both sides of the courtyard.

The goal was simple.

If every possible escape route was covered, Holden would eventually have nowhere left to go.

Unfortunately for Draven, Holden could see exactly what he was trying to do.

Not a bad idea.

His enhanced mind followed the pattern of each attack, helping him recognize which parts of the courtyard would be targeted next.

Whenever Draven tried to cut off one direction, Holden changed his route before the spikes arrived.

Sometimes he moved sideways.

Other times, he rushed forward or stepped back at the last moment.

His Rank 3, 9-Star speed made the movements almost effortless.

SWISH! SWISH!

Another volley struck the ground.

Holden avoided it.

A second wave followed immediately.

He slipped past that one too.

Above him, Draven’s expression grew more frustrated.

"STOP MOVING!"

Holden looked up.

"That’s a strange thing to ask someone you’re trying to kill."

"YOU LITTLE RAT!"

Draven screamed and sent another rain of blood spikes toward him.

Holden moved again, leaving the attack to strike the empty courtyard.

The ground was becoming a mess.

Large cracks spread across the floor, while dark red liquid filled the damaged sections. Some of the bones had already been broken apart by the repeated impacts.

Yet Draven showed no sign of running out of blood.

Every time a spike shattered against the ground, the liquid flowed back toward the pipes and pools surrounding the courtyard.

From there, Draven drew it into his body again.

The blood continued moving between him and the fortress, allowing him to form new weapons almost as quickly as he used them.

Holden noticed the pattern.

So he’s recycling the blood.

That explained why Draven was able to maintain such a constant attack.

As long as the fortress kept supplying him with energy, he could continue sending spikes down for quite some time.

Of course, Holden could keep avoiding them.

But he had no intention of spending the next hour running around the courtyard while Draven shouted insults from above.

He needed to get closer.

And since Draven had decided to take the fight into the sky, Holden would simply follow him.

"All right," Holden muttered. "My turn."

He activated his Abyssal-Bone Wings.

CRACK!

Dark bone structures spread from his back, extending outward as strong membranes formed between them.

Within moments, a pair of enormous wings had fully opened behind him.

They stretched nearly twelve feet from tip to tip, their dark surfaces giving off a faint trace of Abyssal energy.

Holden rolled his shoulders once, testing their movement.

Then he bent his knees.

Above him, Draven was already preparing another volley.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE ME FOREVER?"

Holden smiled.

"Who said anything about escaping?"

He jumped.

BOOOM!

The bone floor shattered beneath his feet.

A powerful burst of force sent dust and broken fragments flying across the courtyard as Holden launched himself upward.

At the same time, his Abyssal-Bone Wings spread wide and caught the air.

WHOOSH!

His body shot toward the red sky.

The sudden acceleration was enormous.

Within seconds, the damaged courtyard had fallen far beneath him, while the massive bone towers seemed to shrink at the edge of his vision.

Holden kept climbing.

Straight toward Draven.

The patriarch noticed the movement almost immediately.

His eyes widened.

"WINGS?"

For a brief moment, he could only stare.

Then he realized Holden was approaching him at tremendous speed.

"WHAT?"

Draven beat his blood wings harder, desperately trying to climb higher.

But there was a problem.

His wings were powerful enough to keep him airborne and move him around the battlefield, yet they weren’t built for the same kind of speed as Holden’s Abyssal-Bone Wings.

And Holden was already closing the distance.

The gap between them disappeared rapidly.

Draven looked down, panic flashing across his face.

"STAY BACK!"

He swung both blood-blades.

This time, the weapons stretched into long, flexible whips that curved through the air around him.

CRACK! CRACK!

The whips crossed in front of his body before sweeping outward, forming a moving barrier of sharp crystallized blood.

Each strike carried the strength of a Rank 4 cultivator.

A direct hit would have been devastating to an ordinary Rank 3 opponent.

But Holden wasn’t an ordinary Rank 3 cultivator.

His processor followed the movements of the whips, identifying the openings that appeared whenever Draven changed direction.

The weapons were fast.

Their movements were also carefully arranged, making it difficult to approach from the front or sides.

However, Holden noticed one opening.

Whenever the whips crossed in front of Draven, they left a brief gap behind his upper body.

Holden waited for the right moment.

The blood whips swept toward him again.

CRACK!

Just before they reached him, Holden activated Void-Step.

SWISH!

His body vanished into a brief swirl of dark mist.

Both whips tore through the space he had occupied a moment earlier.

Draven’s eyes widened.

"WHERE DID YOU GO?"

A sudden chill ran through him.

He sensed someone behind him.

Above him.

Far too close.

The patriarch began turning, but Holden had already reappeared in the air just behind his shoulders.

The Eclipse-Sun Sword was raised.

Its dark blade gleamed beneath the red sky as crimson flames began gathering along its edge.

Holden tightened his grip.

"Found you."

Draven’s head snapped backward.

His eyes widened when he saw the sword.

"WAIT!"

Too late.

Holden activated his technique.

Hellfire Cleave. Perfect Tier.

FWOOOOOSH!

A brilliant surge of white fire erupted along the Eclipse-Sun Sword.

The flames spread across the blade, growing hotter and brighter as Holden poured his energy into the attack.

Within moments, the dark weapon was surrounded by a blinding white glow.

The heat was so intense that the air around the sword began to distort.

Draven felt the heat approaching.

For the first time since the fight began, genuine fear appeared on his face.

He tried to move away.

His blood wings spread wider as he attempted to turn.

But Holden was already swinging.

The Eclipse-Sun Sword came down.

SWOOOOSH!

The white flames struck Draven’s left wing first.

TSSSSSS!

The crystallized blood that formed the wing couldn’t withstand the heat. Its hardened surface softened before turning into steam, while the remaining liquid scattered into the air.

Within a heartbeat, half of the wing had disappeared.

Draven screamed.

"AAAAARGH!"

He tried to pull away, but the attack continued.

The blade swept through the base of the second wing, sending another burst of white fire across its surface.

TSSSS!

More blood evaporated.

The remaining parts of the wing broke apart, leaving Draven without anything to keep him airborne.

His body lurched sideways.

The blood weapons in his hands immediately dissolved as he desperately tried to gather enough liquid to form another pair of wings.

But Holden didn’t give him the chance.

The Hellfire Cleave was still moving.

The burning blade passed through the remains of Draven’s defenses and struck him across the back.

SHHHK!

The white flames tore through his blood robes.

The thick liquid covering his body boiled away almost instantly, exposing the gaunt, grey flesh beneath.

Draven screamed again.

His remaining blood armor broke apart, leaving him completely exposed to the attack.

For months, the blood covering his body had been his greatest protection.

It had served as his armor, his weapon, and the foundation of almost every technique he possessed.

Now it was disappearing before his eyes.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The Eclipse-Sun Sword continued downward.

Its burning edge cut through Draven’s back and chest, leaving a deep, glowing wound across his torso.

The force of the strike carried through his body, destroying the flow of energy that supported his cultivation.

His Rank 4 core shattered.

For a brief moment, Draven’s entire body went rigid.

The blood surrounding him lost its shape.

The remaining fragments of his weapons dissolved, while the dark red streams connecting him to the fortress broke apart.

The energy that had filled the sky only moments earlier suddenly vanished.

Draven’s eyes widened.

He tried to move his arms.

Nothing happened.

He tried to summon more blood.

Again, nothing.

His cultivation had been destroyed.

And without it, the man who had controlled an entire fortress with his blood was helpless.

His body began falling.

The red sky rushed past him as he dropped toward the courtyard below.

For the first time, Lord Draven had no way to stop himself.

He looked down.

The damaged courtyard was getting closer.

Much closer.

Then he hit it.

CRAAAASH!

The impact sent broken pieces of bone flying across the ground.

A cloud of dust rose from the center of the courtyard as Draven’s body struck the floor with tremendous force.

The remaining blood scattered around him.

Then everything went still.

High above, Holden watched the impact before slowly spreading his wings.

The white flames surrounding the Eclipse-Sun Sword began to fade, leaving the blade covered in its usual black and crimson glow.

He looked down at the ruined courtyard.

Draven wasn’t moving.

But Holden didn’t lower his guard immediately.

He waited for a moment, watching for any sign of another attack.

None came.

The powerful Rank 4 energy he had sensed earlier was gone.

Only a faint trace remained.

Holden folded his wings slightly and began descending.