Rivers of the Night

Chapter 836 836: Remember

Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi. Chi.

Kenton's eyes went wide, quickly letting go of his sword when he realized Theron's physical prowess was off the charts. He didn't have time to think about why an Elemental Mancer had such strong strength as he quickly let go.

But it was a moment too late.

He had certainly suffered injuries in this battle, but they were minor and shallow. Nothing like this.

The beads of blood riddled him through like the shrapnel of a bomb. They were relentless, but it was worse than just the holes that formed themselves.

They lodged themselves into his body…

And then exploded.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

Kenton's body shook as though he was being sprayed down by the machine guns Theron had read about.

Theron knew exactly this would happen. The moment the battle started, he hesitated to use the Dagger Call Platform even after he saw how strong Kenton was. That wasn't just a matter of pride, but because it was incredibly risky.

Technically speaking, because Theron wasn't a Soul Mancer, his treasures weren't as perfectly tied to him as they would be to a real Soul Mancer—or more accurately, one who specialized in treasure control.

It was clear to Theron the moment Kenton separated his sword and silk tails that he had a very strong treasure-controlling path in his repertoire.

Theron had run into a Soul Mancy Beast in the wilderness, and he had learned the hard way that that could lead to a lot of problems if his own soul wasn't strong enough.

He barely managed to get out of that situation with the Luminescent Tower, but he couldn't easily use that treasure here. So, he had taken a different approach.

The pressure that Kenton put on his blood was very high. But once Theron started tapping into his Heated Path, he could mitigate that a great deal. If he used both the heat of his Water Mana and the anti-cold of his Dark Mana, the potency was orders of magnitude greater.

Theron only used one path during the battle until the last moment.

Then he sprung not only his Blood Control, but also his second path at the same time. That turned the molten state of his Water Mana to star-like temperatures in a single instant of time the moment they embedded themselves in Kenton's flesh.

In that moment, they went from frozen temperatures to furious heat. The rapid shift in temperature caused them to explode on impact, ripping Kenton's flesh from the inside out.

Theron took deep breaths. Without a single change to his expression, he pulled Kenton's sword out of his chest after sheathing his dagger, throwing it to the side.

With a simple motion, he unsheathed his dagger once more, walking forward with slow steps.

Undefeatable Spirit? He didn't know what that was, nor did he care.

There was only one thing he cared about in this moment.

Kenton coughed up continuous mouthfuls of blood, his vision blurry. He had barely managed to protect one of his eyes, but the other was nothing but a blooming sphere of flesh that looked as though it had imploded from the inside out.

He couldn't remember the last time he had suffered such a loss.

"Blood… blood…" Kenton muttered, struggling to his feet. He had had such a perfect upper hand in this battle, only for it to reverse in a single instant.

His body was trying to rapidly heal itself, but Theron's blood was still inside of him, festering and boiling.

By comparison, the wound in Theron's chest was rapidly healing. The only thing it seemed to cost him was a rapidly paling face. But even that, after an instant of time, had returned to a rosiness that made no sense at all.

Kenton barely managed to make it to his feet to his credit. Honestly, Theron didn't expect that such a devastating attack at such close range could possibly be withstood by him.

There was almost certainly another treasure that Kenton was relying on.

"You want to escape?" Theron asked.

Kenton felt himself trapped in the boiling violet of Theron's eyes. They felt like they contained an abyssal hell.

After a long moment, it was actually Kenton who laughed.

"Undefeatable Spirit, indeed. You are sharp, intelligent, but so self-reliant you never thought of the obvious way out of this."

Theron's eyes narrowed, but it was already too late.

The world of ice collapsed into a beam that pierced through the night skies.

In an instant of time, not even the span of a single blink, Theron sensed several Transcendent auras moving with speed too great to counter.

By the time one finished that blink, a pair of beautiful middle-aged women appeared in the skies. Theron had never met them before, but Kenton recognized them instantly.

The Timeless Fairies Messo and Chezx. In a single day, Theron had met all four of the Timeless Fairies. That was certainly a record in itself.

BANG.

Alpha landed in a heap right next to Theron, breathing so shallowly if Theron didn't know better, he would have thought the latter was half-dead.

The snow fox landed deftly by Kenton's side, only the slightest hints of blood along the jaw of its lush coat. And it was clear that this blood wasn't its own.

Theron's gaze was locked onto Kenton. It didn't move for a long while, the contradictorily chilling heat within them making him feel unsettled. But he had already prepared for what might happen when he chose to go for the head of someone with an Undefeatable Spirit. Things just had not gone his way this time.

"What is going on here?" the voice of Chezx echoed out, a sound so gruff and hoarse one could have almost mistaken it for having come from a man.

Theron ignored the words and turned to Alpha, bending down and placing a hand on his coat. It was torn and shredded to pieces in several locations. He had forgotten just how long it had been since Alpha ended up in such a state.

He would remember this.