Chapter 487

Roar!
The instant the Blood Demon clenched his hand, the world around them twisted violently. Heaven and earth drained of color, collapsing into a domain of pure crimson that swallowed Leander whole.
As the Blood Demon’s wild laughter echoed outward, scarlet energy sealed the space in every direction, like an entire world shaped between his fingers.
“Half-King?”
Trapped in the blood-soaked realm, Leander didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. Didn’t even blink. He simply murmured the words softly, almost as though he was absent-minded.
“Yes,” the Blood Demon said proudly. “A Half-King.” He lifted his chin, voice dripping superiority.
“The Transcendent Realm suppresses the world through transcendent power. Your inner strength becomes innate vitality. At the peak of Infernal Crown Transcendent, to step further, your inner vitality must be compressed, refined, elevated, until it transforms into something purer, which is Primordial Energy.”
“Reach that threshold, and you earn the title of King Phase.”
A bead of blood-light danced at his fingertip as he lifted his hand.
“The conversion from innate vitality to Primordial Energy is no simple feat. Usually, for someone of the Infernal Crown Transcendent to transform, three successive refinements are required. These are called the King’s Triple Turn.”
“Those undergoing this process stand far beyond all ordinary Infernal Crown Transcendents. The gap is staggering. This stage is what the ancient Martial Practitioners called ‘Half-King.’
“And I currently stand at the first turn of the King’s Triple Turn. A single-turn Half- King.
“In my eyes, every Infernal Crown Transcendent is a mere insect. Even a horde of peak Transcendents would die beneath my hand. That is why I am so certain of crushing you.”
The blood orb on his fingertips burst, exploding into a drifting mist, thickening the realm into a heavy sea of scarlet.
“Although I’m just a Half-King,” he said coldly, “my power is beyond your imagination. With a flick of my finger, I lock heaven and earth. With a thought, I decide life and death.
“Jeff Ashcroft, savor your final moments inside my blood coffin!”
From the outside, the viscous wall of blood closed fully, sealing Leander within a massive crimson coffin.
Below Swallow Hill, nighttime walkers paused, gazing at the sky where a streak of scarlet cut across the darkness. They marveled at the sight, unaware it was forged by the hand of a single man.
Two sharp currents sliced through the night. Christopher Gardner and Jimmy Wilder arrived in a mere second.
The moment they saw the blood-colored domain and the man hovering beside it, their expressions hardened.
“Second on the Assassin Leaderboard, a Heaven-tier killer of the Netherweb… Is that the Blood Demon?” Their voices overlapped.
When they’d learned the Netherweb had moved against Leander, they expected a top-tier killer to strike, but not so soon. And certainly not the Blood Demon himself.
“Astria’s Shadow Division?” The Blood Demon’s gaze lifted lazily, disinterest etched deeply on his face.
With his power, even if the two of them fought together, they wouldn’t last a heartbeat.
“You came here to save Jeff Ashcroft?” His voice curled with mockery.
Inside the blood coffin, the blood energy would soon unravel into countless threads, devouring vitality, stripping flesh, draining blood, until only a withered skeleton remained. “Is General Ashcroft inside?” Christopher and Jimmy’s faces darkened.
Jimmy roared in anger. “Blood Demon! You dare trespass into Astria and attempt to kill our Wyvern Blade General? Do you think Astria stands empty?”
The Blood Demon chuckled. “Just the two of you?”
Jimmy’s face flushed at the stinging truth. This monster had reached the Infernal Crown Transcendent decades ago. He’d once hunted a true King Phase, too. All of
this information had been clearly stated by the Shadow Division’s intel. Even together, they might not force him to exert half his strength.
Christopher’s tone remained level, but his eyes cooled to steel.
“Blood Demon, this is Highcliffe. This is Astria.
“You may be powerful, but if you cross the line, someone from our Shadow Division will intervene. You know exactly what that means.”
At those words, the Blood Demon’s expression finally shifted. A faint shadow crossed his face. He lowered his voice. “You speak of the Shadow Division King?”
The Blood Demon had lived for more than a century. Rising to fame in the 1990s, he’d survived long enough to span two centuries. And in that time, he had come to know the hidden giants of the world by heart, even the old King Phases were no strangers to him.
As Astria’s Shadow Division, the enforcement arm of Astria’s martial world, it naturally housed figures capable of suppressing the entire realm. Foremost among them was the first Division Chief, the one the world hailed as the Shadow Division King.
Back during the legendary War of
the King Phase, he had been one of the deciding forces. Though
ultimately pushed back by the Westeria King Phase, he remained a true King Phase. And after more than a century, his cultivation could only have grown deeper, darker, and far more unfathomable.
Even as a Half-King, the Blood Demon knew he could not challenge a true King Phase.
If the Shadow Division King personally moved, he, the Blood Demon, would have no path to survival.
Christopher gave a cold nod. “Correct.”
Christopher’s cold confirmation hung in the air like frost. The night froze with it, with silence tightening until even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
After a long moment, the Blood Demon’s expression eased back into its usual indifference.
“So what if he’s the Shadow Division King?” he said, voice dripping with disdain.
“Even if he knows I’m in Highcliffe, would he dare strike?
“If he does, it means the Martial Practitioners of Astria openly defies the King Phase Accord. That is a price even he cannot afford.
“Trying to frighten me with the King? Ridiculous. Jeff Ashcroft’s life belongs to me.”
Christopher and Jimmy’s faces shifted again, but no words came. The Blood Demon was right.
More than a century ago, during the
War of the King Phase, the great
powers had forged the King Phase
Accord covenant no King Phase
had dared late since. And the Shadow Division King, one of the original signatories, would never be the first to cross that line?
If he truly took action now, the Eastern King Phase would be the one to break the
pact. The Westeria King Phase would descend in unison. The world would plunge back into chaos.
That was a weight even the Shadow Division King could not carry.
As the blood coffin shrank,
tightening around its prey, panic crept across both their faces. Leander Ashcroft was Astria’s greatest treasure, its national pillar.
They couldn’t bear to
watch him bë
devoured alive by the Bloor Demon. Yet, before a Half-King’s sealed domain, they were utterly powerless.
Just then, a strange tremor pulsed from within the blood coffin. All three snapped
their heads toward it. On the surface of the crimson coffin, a pale, long-fingered hand pushed outward, then drew sharply to the side.
Rip!
The blood coffin tore open midair, fracturing like shattering glass, dissolving piece by
piece.
Through the collapsing shards, Leander stepped out, black hair whipping in the
rising wind, eyes calm and absolute. His voice rang across the mountaintop, cold, and unshaken.
“So this is a Half-King? That’s it?”