Chapter 219: Farewell.

"Fuck."

Kael had no way of dodging. The monk was already too close, his descent too fast and the attack too immediate. There wasn’t enough time to use Shadow Between Steps.

His only option was to defend. Kael crossed his forearms in front of his chest just as the monk’s palm came down.

BOOOOOOM!

The impact felt like a collapsing mountain. A violent shockwave exploded through Kael’s body as the force of the palm strike crashed into his crossed forearms, then dispersed outward into the surrounding battlefield.

The ground beneath his feet shattered immediately, his boots carving two deep trenches through the earth as his body was driven backward.

The armor covering his forearms split apart with a sharp crack. Something inside his chest snapped as a rib gave way under the pressure. Pain shot through his body, but he barely had time to register it before the monk followed up with a second palm, then a third, then a fourth.

The monk’s golden wings remained spread behind him as his body moved through the air, his palms becoming a storm of strikes descending from every direction. Kael blocked, dodged, twisted, slipped past what he could, but there was nowhere to retreat.

Every time he managed to evade one attack, the monk was already there, his speed cutting off any path before Kael could create real distance. Every block drove him deeper into the earth, and every impact cracked another section of armor.

The damage beneath it was even worse. His injuries reopened under the constant punishment, blood seeping from wounds across his body and staining what remained of his armor.

Kael gritted his teeth as another palm slammed against his forearms, sinking him several inches into the ground. Another came from the side and he twisted away, only for the monk to already be there. A knee, which he blocked. A palm, which he raised his arm against. The force nearly broke his stance.

There was no time to breathe, no time to recover, no time to think. He could only endure.

"He’s too much."

The thought flashed through Kael’s mind as another strike crashed into his defense.

"I’m literally a corpse standing.’

If this continued, there wouldn’t be anything left to defend.

He needed an opening, anything.

Just then another punch came descending toward his head and Kael ducked beneath it, and in that same instant, his hand quietly brushed against the shattered ground.

Something small slipped from his palm. He sent it several feet away, burying it beneath the broken earth, pushing it just deep enough to conceal it from sight while keeping it close enough to keep track of it.

Then he began counting mentally.

He didn’t know whether he would live long enough to use it. But it was something, and right now, something was better than nothing.

The monk came again. A loud bell suddenly rang through the battlefield.

GONG!

The sound wave struck Kael directly, causing his vision to blur and blood to burst from both of his ears.

He staggered, and then golden light flooded the battlefield once more.

His eyes widened as the Buddha image reformed above the monk, smaller this time but far denser.

The enormous golden figure condensed its radiance into a much more concentrated form as the monk’s palm moved forward, a golden palm the size of a carriage materializing before Kael could react.

The strike slammed into his chest.

BOOM!

His body was launched backward, the world spinning as he tumbled across the bone-filled battlefield. His broken armor scraped against the ground as he rolled again and again before finally crashing into the exact spot where he had planted the seed.

His body stopped as silence followed, and for a moment, Kael couldn’t move.

His armor was almost completely ruined, cracked and flayed open across his torso. Blood covered his body, and his left arm hung uselessly at his side. He couldn’t feel it.

The monk slowly walked toward him, golden wings folded behind his back, the hundreds of talismans covering his body still blazing with light.

But even then, he wasn’t completely unharmed, his breathing had grown heavier, his movements no longer quite as effortless.

The battle was taking its toll on him too, whatever technique was maintaining his current state clearly placing a burden on his body.

Kael watched him approach, then reached for his remaining trump card. Six shadows peeled away from his body, emerging like black phantoms, each carrying a fragment of his own fighting style.

They attacked at once, one seizing the monk’s ankle, another driving toward his kidneys, a third slashing at his golden wings, a fourth thrusting for his throat, the remaining two striking from opposite sides.

The monk didn’t even flinch. Golden light erupted from his body.

BOOM!

A wave of radiant energy exploded outward.

Two of the echoes were instantly vaporized, and the remaining four were thrown back, their bodies battered by the blast. Yet they didn’t stop, pushing themselves back toward the monk again and again.

One attacked, and the monk raised his palm.

CRACK!

The echo was crushed, but another came from behind, and the monk turned and struck with his elbow, breaking its body apart.

A third tried to pierce his chest, but the monk casually caught the attack and smashed the echo into the ground.

One after another, Kael’s echoes were destroyed, until only one remained. The final one charged. The monk raised his palm.

BOOM!

At that moment, Kael’s mind filled with everything the final echo had experienced during its brief existence, the movements it had made, the attacks it had attempted, the moment it had been destroyed. His already battered body trembled, and silence returned.

The monk lowered his hand, his attention shifting back toward Kael, and he continued walking, step by step, until he finally arrived before him.

The monk stood over Kael, breathing heavily. Kael remained on his back, barely able to move.

"Amitabha." The monk’s voice had returned to its familiar calmness. "As you have witnessed, the Way prevails, Benefactor. Your stubbornness has only delayed the inevitable."

The monk raised his palm. Golden light gathered within it, the radiance rapidly condensing into a sphere that swelled until it became a blinding mass of power capable of reducing Kael’s battered body to nothing.

"This poor monk will bring you peace."

Kael stared upward, blood pooling beneath him. His body was almost completely ruined, his mana dangerously low, the Aura of Destruction already collapsed on its own, his echoes gone, and his health barely hanging on. There was almost nothing left.

Almost.

The monk stood before him, directly above the Null Bloom seed, and Kael’s eyes shifted slightly as the countdown neared its end.

His lips slowly curled upward. A smile appeared, and he looked back at the monk.

"Fuck your Buddha." His voice was weak, but it carried clearly through the battlefield. "And your entire temple."

The monk’s expression twitched, but Kael’s smile widened as he continued.

"And your bullshit senior."

The monk’s face hardened, but he remained focused as he brought his palm down, golden light erupting from it.

"Farewell."

Kael’s eyes gleamed as he watched the palm descending toward him, and a small smile played across his lips.

"No."

The seed beneath the shattered earth reached its final second. Kael looked directly into the monk’s eyes.

"You farewell."