The Last Gift

Baal felt the strength of his resolve and fell silent.

Yet a trace of irritation stirred within him. At first, he had clearly intended not to interfere—just to observe the end of this extraordinary human.

But at some point, without him realizing it, this human who was first in sheer unpredictability had come to matter to him as more than just a source of amusement.

The instant the green light burrowed into his heart, the ruined organ gave a violent convulsion. Its feeble, sluggish beat began to accelerate.

Thump, thump, thump, thump. The rhythm grew faster and denser, as if something were driving it from within.

Liu Xiao was locked in combat with Long Ao when, suddenly, every hair on his body stood on end.

“What did you do?”

He tried to turn around, but Long Ao’s bloodstained right hand seized the back of his collar, his knuckles digging into the fabric.

“I told you, stop looking.”

“Get off me!”

Liu Xiao exploded in fury. Purple demonic energy erupted from his body and blasted Long Ao away.

Long Ao’s back slammed into a theater pillar. He let out a muffled groan and slid to the floor, blood coating the corners of his mouth—but he was smiling.

“Too late, Second Liu.”

Liu Xiao whipped his head around.

He saw the green light seeping outward from inside the heart. Under its radiance, the black blood vessels began to swell and twist.

They grew at a speed that defied the laws of nature, bursting through their walls. New tissue poured out through the ruptures, only to split apart again the instant it emerged. Layer upon layer, it transformed the entire heart into an uncontrolled mass of tumors.

“No! Lord Astaroth’s vessel! You’re destroying His vessel!”

Chen Guan knelt before the wildly growing heart, one palm pressed against its surface. Green light continuously streamed out of his body, and his face rapidly turned pale.

“Stop!” Baal’s voice exploded inside his mind. “The backlash is here!”

Chen Guan lowered his head and glanced at his left hand. The veins on the back of it were turning black, swelling at a visible rate. They had taken on the same form as the uncontrolled growths on the heart.

Above them, the phantom of the six wings let out an unprecedentedly shrill screech. All twelve eyes turned toward Chen Guan, and the pressure they cast down transformed into naked killing intent.

A strand of purplish-black light shot from the phantom’s fingertips, heading straight for the back of his head.

An Changqing’s figure appeared in the path of the beam. He raised his long sword horizontally, and every last glimmer of starlight remaining on the blade surged into its edge.

Hum.

A dull impact rang out. His feet carved two deep furrows into the ground as his entire body was forced backward.

“Chen Guan.” Gritting his teeth, he forced the words out from between them. “Hurry. Do what you came here to do.”

Chen Guan’s left hand had already turned black up to the wrist, the dark patterns crawling up his forearm.

The heart’s remains had now swollen to three times their original size. Its surface was covered in wildly sprouting buds of flesh and ulcerated tissue. Under the uncontrolled proliferation, the black conduits connecting it to the formation snapped one after another.

The formation’s light dimmed inch by inch. The outline of the six-winged phantom flickered violently. Not only did its consolidation stop, but it even began to recede.

“No!”

Liu Xiao charged toward them like a madman.

Hong Yuan’s enormous axe blocked his path, a wicked smile spreading across her face.

“Your opponent is right here.”

Liu Xiao struck with one palm. Hong Yuan was sent flying together with her axe, the webbing of her hand splitting open.

But she got back to her feet and stood her ground, blocking the way with the Turtle Chancellor at her side.

Liu Chengjun’s flames attacked from the flank, scorching the formation’s markings beneath Liu Xiao’s feet.

“Second Brother! Stop being so stubborn!”

Liu Xiao turned his head, his pupils filled with violence.

“You’re trying to kill me again!”

Liu Chengjun’s lips trembled, but the flames in his hand did not go out.

He did not regret the wrong he had done, nor did he mind making one more mistake. If there was anything he regretted, it was hiring that unscrupulous assassin years ago—an assassin who had taken the job and then run off.

“Second Brother, you were the one who wanted to kill everyone first.”

Liu Feiyu’s frost spread from behind, sealing Liu Xiao’s feet in place.

At that moment, the remains of the heart released a muffled sound like a dying wail. Its beating became completely erratic. The wildly growing tissue had utterly destroyed its internal structure, and Astaroth’s power was escaping through the conduits that had broken apart.

At last, Chen Guan pulled his hand free.

His left hand had turned completely black from the fingertips to the elbow. Every vein bulged grotesquely, and parts of his skin had split open, leaking dark blood.

“Damn you, boy!” Baal’s voice came crashing down on him. “Take a look at that hand!”

Chen Guan lowered his eyes to the left arm that was almost completely ruined.

“It’s still there.”

“Still there, my ass! Give it three more seconds and the entire arm will have to be cut off on the spot!”

“But there weren’t three more seconds.”

Baal was momentarily speechless. After a long pause, he cursed bitterly, “You’re a fool cut from the same cloth as that Liu Xiao.”

Above them, the outline of the six-winged phantom had blurred to the point of vanishing. Eight of the twelve eyes had lost their light, while the formation’s blood-red radiance went out inch by inch.

Liu Xiao stopped struggling.

He stood there, staring at the self-destructing remains of the heart and the divine phantom dissolving above him. The expression on his face shifted from fury to disbelief, finally settling into hollow bewilderment.

“Impossible.”

His voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.

How could He… How could He…”

The six-winged phantom released one final hum. Its outline shattered completely, transforming into countless purplish-black fragments that drifted downward with a rustle.

The divine phantom vanished.

The mountain pressing down on everyone’s souls collapsed with it. Long Ao let out a long breath and sprawled directly onto the floor.

Hong Yuan planted her axe against the ground. Her legs gave out, and she sat down.

An Changqing used his sword to support himself, sweat pouring down his forehead in unbroken streams.

Only Liu Xiao remained standing where he was, his head tilted back as he stared at the empty hole in the ceiling.

“Lord Astaroth…”

His lips moved faintly, as if his soul had left his body.

Using his right hand to brace himself against his sickle, Chen Guan rose to his feet. His black left arm hung limply at his side, completely numb.

He looked at Liu Xiao.

“It’s over.”

Liu Xiao slowly lowered his head and met Chen Guan’s gaze.

The emptiness in those eyes was gradually being filled with hatred, strand by strand—hatred so intense it twisted his features.

“Over?”

The corners of his mouth stretched into a grin.

“You think this is over?”

His body began to crack, and dark purple light welled up through the fissures.

Baal’s voice rose sharply inside Chen Guan’s mind.

“Back! He’s forcing the residual demonic power into his own body! Astaroth is coming back to life again!”

Chen Guan tightened his right hand around the sickle’s handle and stepped backward, but his movements were slowed by his left arm, which had literally blackened.

An Changqing reacted half a beat faster. His wounded body swept forward, and he grabbed Chen Guan by the right shoulder, pulling him back.

“Everyone, spread out!”

Liu Xiao’s body continued to split apart. Pieces of skin peeled away, revealing the tissue beneath, threaded through with dark purple veins.

He was laughing.

He laughed so hard that the skin at the corners of his eyes split open. What seeped from the wounds was not blood, but a faint glow.

“This is the final gift Lord Astaroth left me.”