As Ye Chui’s punch landed, every member of the Dragon Battle Magic Guild stood terrified, none daring to raise a hand against him again. Yet at that moment, the newly awakened Evans suddenly attacked. Still confused, the scene he woke to instinctively filled him with hostility towards Ye Chui, and his first move unleashed his full power.
Though Evans had grown up in the Star Empire, his bloodline belonged to the Tidal Empire. His father, Sheral, came from that island nation famed for its unique combat style.
Because of their special bloodline, warriors of that island nation easily awakened talents in swordsmanship, dark-element magic, and summoning simultaneously. The fusion of these three abilities created the distinctive dark swordsmen of the Tidal Empire.
Dark swordsmen were fighters who wielded dark magic and sword skills while also summoning unique phantom beasts.
The Sheral family bloodline held particularly close affinity with the divine dragon phantom beast among the Tidal Empire’s twelve great phantom beasts. Warriors of this lineage were thus known as divine dragon dark swordsmen.
Now, as Evans charged at Ye Chui, he swung his slender sword. His body seemed to melt into shadow. A green-covered magic book appeared behind him, and the phantom of a divine dragon materialised along his blade, emitting roars of draconic fury.
Phantom beasts of the Tidal Empire were terrifying fantasy creatures born from the collective imagination of countless summoners, similar to the Church’s apostles. Dark swordsmen did not summon the entire beast but only a portion of its power to fight alongside them. One measure of a dark swordsman’s strength was how much of the phantom beast’s power he could call forth.
Evans possessed decent talent, yet he could only summon about half. Even so, that was already formidable.
Of course, not nearly formidable enough.
Ye Chui stood silently enduring the mental stampede of ten thousand alpacas when he suddenly sensed hostile killing intent directed at him. He turned to see Evans charging madly.
The overwhelming might of the phantom beast made Ye Chui tense instinctively. Then he gave a cold snort. In an instant he drew a handful of gold coins from his magic book. With a flick of his fingers, magnetic magic and golden sword qi sent the coins spinning rapidly through the air, transforming into deadly golden blades.
Boom!
The golden sword qi formed a pillar of golden light that smashed head-on into the charging Evans.
Evans shouted loudly. His slender sword swept swiftly before him, turning momentarily into a strange mirror. With a pop, part of the golden beam was deflected skyward.
But it deflected only one strand. The vast majority of the golden light crashed into Evans. With a sharp crack, his slender sword shattered. Accompanied by a scream, the golden pillar nearly obliterated half his body. He rolled across the ground.
Ye Chui frowned slightly. Beneath Evans’s mangled flesh he spotted clothing bearing cherry-blossom petal patterns that did not belong to Dragon Battle. “What is going on here?” He looked towards Dragon Baby and Turtle Baby.
“That guy was the old scoundrel’s tool to frame us!” Dragon Baby realised something was wrong and hurriedly explained, momentarily forgetting to keep acting cute.
The three of them had been lured to the abandoned house. The house had then collapsed, and Fare had thrown Evans in there too. It was clearly a setup. Turtle Baby had only brought Evans here to avoid further complications, never expecting that upon waking he would attack without warning and be casually crushed by Ye Chui.
Fare’s body trembled. On his face, filled with complex emotions, a trace of wild joy slowly emerged. Ye Chui had killed Evans!
Ye Chui had killed Evans, the second son of Sheral, president of the Flower Village Magic Guild!
This was an unexpected gift. Now Ye Chui and Flower Village were bound to fight. Countless people had already gathered to watch. With so many eyes upon them, whether for reputation or to avenge his son, Sheral could no longer ignore this!
“So that’s how it is.” Ye Chui’s brow furrowed. Things suddenly seemed troublesome.
With a wave of his hand, he swiftly conjured an area of holy light, a light-element spell that enveloped the gravely wounded Evans.
Although he did not fear the Flower Village Magic Guild, as the former number-one guild of the empire, any conflict between Ye Chui and Flower Village now could adversely affect the empire’s future. He ought to avoid it if possible.
Yet Evans had suffered a direct hit from the Golden Railgun. Half his body was pulverised, flesh and blood a mangled ruin. Most organs were destroyed, only his heart still weakly beating, clinging to a thread of life. With injuries this severe, how could he possibly be saved?
Then Ye Chui’s eyes blazed with fury as he turned towards Fare.
If a trace of guilt had briefly appeared in his heart earlier, now only pure rage remained. With a slight movement of his fingers, he cast the spell [Goddess Aquia’s Blessing] upon Fare, followed immediately by the spiritual spell [Intrusion], forcibly accessing Fare’s memory space.
He used the idiot spell to temporarily turn Fare into an idiot, drastically lowering his mental defences and making it far easier to read his memories.
Soon Ye Chui finished reading the article titled “Methods to Frame Ye Chui and Make Him Enemy of Sheral.” When he was done, his expression had turned utterly frigid.
Fare had schemed meticulously to drive a wedge between Ye Chui and President Sheral. He had intended to use Evans to stir up hatred all along!
“What… what did you do to me…” Fare clutched his head, feeling his mind affected.
“Evans, my son!!!”
A furious roar suddenly rang out from beyond the guild grounds.
When Ye Chui looked over, an elderly man in a white robe was descending rapidly from the distant sky. Pink cherry-blossom petals adorned his robe. Long white hair and a flowing white beard whipped chaotically in the wind, making his appearance terrifyingly ferocious. He landed like a thunderbolt not far from Ye Chui, his gaze filled with concern upon the broken body of Evans wrapped in Ye Chui’s light magic.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Dark figures suddenly emerged from all directions like ghosts. Dressed in tight black clothing, they carried long swords on their backs and floating magic books before them. On their chests were the petal emblems unique to Flower Village Magic Guild.
These were the distinctive dark swordsmen of Flower Village, special warriors who combined dark magic and swordsmanship.
…
Ye Chui’s furious arrival at Dragon Battle had naturally drawn huge attention. Countless onlookers gathered. Flower Village had long been aware. Sheral had been watching from afar, never expecting Evans to appear and be instantly killed by Ye Chui.
He knew Fare’s sinister plot and that his son’s death was Fare’s fault. Yet as both father and guild president, he could not simply ignore his son’s horrific demise!
“You killed my son!!!” Lightning seemed to flash in Sheral’s eyes as he ground out the words at Ye Chui.
“President Sheral, I am truly sorry…” Ye Chui said helplessly.
“Regret cannot restore a life, President Ye Chui!” Sheral advanced step by step. The roar of a divine dragon began rising around him.
His divine dragon phantom beast was many times stronger than Evans’s. He could summon at least seventy per cent of its power!
A divine dragon phantom slowly materialised around Sheral, coiling and writhing. The so-called divine dragon phantom beast resembled the oriental dragons of Ye Chui’s previous world but was far more ferocious and retained more traits of true dragons. Its body was enormous, its head crowned with countless sharp bony horns.
Dragon Baby’s expression grew solemn. Though not a true dragon, the divine dragon shared similar power characteristics with the dragon race. He prepared to transform once more.
Ye Chui became fully alert. From Sheral he sensed power even greater than Percy’s. A genuine half-step Saint Magister!
Yet at that moment, wildly inappropriate laughter suddenly rang out.
“Hahahaha… they’re fighting! They’re finally fighting!”
Faced with the scene he had long plotted for, Fare could not help letting out furious mockery. “President Sheral, hurry and kill President Ye Chui! President Ye Chui, don’t hold back either! Hahaha, it would be best if you both end up crippled! Then our Dragon Battle Guild can rise! This is perfect! Fight to the death!”
Sheral stared at the idiot-like Fare. “…”
Ye Chui silently cheered for Aquia in his heart…
Upon reflection, among all Ye Chui’s spells and trump cards, [Goddess Aquia’s Blessing] absolutely ranked among the most powerful.
Sheral of course knew Fare’s plot and that his son’s death was inextricably tied to Fare. Yet for now his rage was entirely focused on Ye Chui. He had no intention of dealing with anything else first; he only wanted to vent his fury. However, Fare’s spectacularly idiotic taunting instantly redirected every ounce of Sheral’s anger onto him.
You are the one who got my son killed!
“Fare…” Sheral growled lowly.
Fare froze.
The other Dragon Battle members had been thrilled that Sheral was finally attacking Ye Chui, but their own president’s sudden idiocy left them choking. Truly a god-tier brain-dead manoeuvre.
“Flower Village Guild, hear my command!” Sheral’s deep voice rang out. “Raze Dragon Battle to the ground!”
As his words fell, the surrounding dark swordsmen drew their strange slender swords and melted into shadows, slaughtering every Dragon Battle member present.
Screams immediately rose in endless succession.
As a six-star guild, Dragon Battle’s members were far from weak; several ranked among the empire’s top experts. Yet after enduring Ye Chui’s punch, most were physically and mentally exhausted. Added to that, the dark swordsmen’s unpredictable attack patterns and the sudden assault turned the scene into instant hell.
Turtle Baby hurriedly covered Her Majesty the Queen’s eyes. This was definitely not for children…
Fare’s face filled with panic. He stared helplessly at Sheral. “Wh-what are you doing attacking my guild? Ye Chui is the one who killed your son! Attack him! Go attack him!”
“Fare, I never imagined you could be this stupid!” Sheral said coldly and ruthlessly, raising a hand to point at him.
Amid the divine dragon’s roar, a cyan dragon phantom surged from his body, jaws wide, and charged straight at Fare.
Fare shouted loudly and cast a wind spell to flee, but it was far too late. His body was swallowed instantly by the dragon and reduced to ash amid agonised screams!
Fare himself had not been weak, but after expending so much power earlier, he was utterly helpless before the enraged Sheral. A peak expert thus died in the most idiotic way possible!
The divine dragon phantom seemed unsatisfied and continued soaring above the guild.
Boom! Its massive body slammed into Dragon Battle’s castle, instantly reducing the once-magnificent structure to rubble!
From this day forth, the Dragon Battle Magic Guild ceased to exist!
And Dragon Battle’s destruction… began with a single piece of pastry…
Having dispatched Fare with a wave, Sheral ignored the surrounding battle and turned his icy gaze back to Ye Chui.
Regardless of anything else, his son had died by Ye Chui’s hand.
Killing Fare could not quench the rage in his heart!
Seeing Sheral approach, Ye Chui hurriedly spoke. “Wait… President Sheral, your son is not dead yet!” He had no wish to start an all-out war with Flower Village over a misunderstanding. He bore Flower Village no grudge. This entire incident stemmed from Fare’s meddling. Moreover, with the empire’s current third-ranked guild already destroyed, any fight with Flower Village now, win or lose, would be a loss for the Star Empire.
Sheral paused and looked at Evans’s broken body. Evans indeed still lived, but with more than half his body destroyed, living might be worse than death. Wounds this severe could not be healed by any spell. Powerful healing magic could restore lost limbs to an extent, but regenerating nearly an entire missing half of the body was impossible.
“Though he is gravely injured, give me some time and I guarantee I can restore him!” Ye Chui promised quickly.
“You guarantee it?” Sheral asked with overwhelming pressure.
“I guarantee he will be jumping around lively again!” Ye Chui nodded, mind racing through possibilities.
Injuries like Evans’s were indeed almost impossible to heal conventionally. Holy Word of Healing, light magic, or even Afia’s Heroic Spirit healing would probably be ineffective. But if magic failed, Ye Chui still had technology. Modified technology was still technology. His movie collection contained countless cyborg and robot themes. Robocop, Terminator, everything imaginable. Turning Evans into a half-human, half-machine entity to keep him alive should not be difficult at all.
