Chapter 545: Battle
Yet Cassius seized that fleeting moment of distraction, pressing the attack as he dove again in a short burst, arriving behind the abyssal dragon.
"Swish—"
Accompanied by the sound of air being torn apart, his muscular arm flexed, and his sharp claws slashed through the air.
Cassius plunged his claws deep into the flesh on the abyssal dragon's back, clinging to Him entirely, viciously biting into the back of His neck.
Immediately, dark red scales were torn away, and purple-black blood and shredded flesh splattered through the sky.
"Aaargh—
Cassius, you foolish reptile! How dare you grapple with me in close combat!"
Jezal Slak raised his head, letting out a furious roar, His massive body writhing.
A deep glow appeared across His body, blazing flames ignited on His form, and a torrential pressure erupted, producing a thunderous roar.
He released the divine power of Karrikex!
—It was the remaining power of Karrikex, which Jezal Slak originally intended to reserve for the gods. But now, under Cassius's relentless pressure, He was forced to play His trump card.
Jezal Slak panted heavily, a piercing shriek rising from deep in His throat: "Cassius! Did you think you had already won? You're rejoicing far too soon! This is true power!"
Blasphemous Chapter!
The abyssal dragon's screech filled the air, layered and overlapping like the wails of millions of vengeful souls, shaking all creation and rattling the soul.
Flames infused with divine revival ignited at the abyssal dragon's severed arm and wounds, making His regeneration terrifyingly rapid.
In just a few breaths, the severed arm had fully regrown, and the deep gashes on His neck healed at an astonishing speed.
"Swish—"
Accompanied by a piercing howl, winds infused with destructive divine power buffeted the red dragon's back, trying to tear apart the hundred-meter-long dragon body.
A normal mortal would be instantly annihilated upon contact with these destructive gales, leaving not a trace.
But Cassius existed within the Imperial Domain—on this land ruled by the red dragon, he was like a descended god!
Invisible forces of order surrounded Cassius's body, forcibly resisting the destructive winds' invasion.
Cassius pulled out his claws embedded in the abyssal dragon's flesh and blood, flapped his wings, and hovered above Him.
"True power? Heh, on this stage I poured everything into, I am the embodiment of power!"
Cassius bared his fangs in a ferocious grin, his light-golden pupils glowing with starlike silver radiance.
At once, under immense pressure, a force akin to the laws of the world descended slowly with his will.
[Imperial Domain: Seal]
In an instant, the winds halted, all things fell silent, even the most basic elemental particles ceased to move, and Karrikex's divine power vanished.
The world around him fell into complete silence, and even the abyssal dragon's blasphemous screech was extinguished instantly.
"Swish—"
"Swish—"
Cassius swooped repeatedly past the abyssal dragon's body, continuously ripping large chunks of scale-covered flesh from His enormous and sluggish frame.
Originally, due to its divine essence, this body was nearly indestructible—even Cassius found it difficult to damage.
But once the Imperial Domain sealed its divine power, Karrikex's corpse was no more than a long-dead relic.
"Aaargh—"
With a deafening roar, the red figure swept past the abyssal dragon once more, his sharp claws tearing through a vast portion of wing membrane, leaving a sixty-meter-long gash.
"Roar!"
The abyssal dragon let out a pained howl, turning his head and snapping madly, yet the red dragon flapped effortlessly through the air, dodging with ease.
Finally, Cassius hovered above the abyssal dragon's head, looking down upon the three-hundred-meter-long, wounded titan.
At this moment, the red dragon's body was also stained with dark blood and broken scales—but they belonged to the abyssal dragon, not himself.
Cassius took a deep breath, savoring the scent of blood in the air, a hint of satisfaction gleaming in his eyes: "Jezal Slak... I have tasted the sweetness of revenge, do you understand? I have waited far too long for this moment."
Jezal Slak's pupils shrank sharply as He looked up at the red dragon, surrounded by law-bound energy, a godlike figure, muttering constantly.
"No...
This can't be, this can't be..."
For tens of thousands of years, this vengeful demon had grown accustomed to controlling everything. Every time, He found a "lucky one" on the material plane, turning them into fodder for His great plan.
Even occasional "rebels" would fall to greed, eventually becoming extensions of the abyss.
But now, this red dragon who had descended only a decade or so ago had completely broken free of His control, even placing Him in grave danger.
Jezal Slak roared at the red dragon above.
" Impossible! Cassius, you are just a lowly red dragon born barely over a decade ago!
Everything you possess was part of my plan from a hundred years ago. Your fate was the path I meticulously designed!"
Finally, under relentless provocation, Jezal Slak tore off His mask, revealing the madness and chaos of the abyssal demon in full.
The abyssal dragon thrashed His head wildly, opening His rotten, bloody jaws to mutter in manic whispers.
"Yes...
As long as I eat you, as long as I devour you, everything will end, everything will be under my control again, and the abyss's great plan will not fail..."
At this moment, the fabricated "humanity" of the vengeful demon had been completely eroded, leaving only the purest, most chaotic will of the abyss.
Now, He was the abyss incarnate.
The voice grew louder and more piercing, eventually turning into a frenzied and deafening roar.
"I will—eat you!"
The abyssal dragon flailed His wings chaotically, ignoring the wounds across His body, and lifted His three-hundred-meter-long form to charge madly at the red dragon in the sky.
He staggered like a complete beast, all reason lost.
But in Cassius's eyes, which saw through all things, the abyssal dragon had become a mass of chaotic black mist, its soul a twisted, stitched-together aberration.
Hovering in midair, Cassius whispered, "So this is the true nature of the abyssal demon? Well, that saves me the effort. Let it all end here... Jezal Slak, I grant you a grand finale."
The red dragon beat his wings mightily, tearing through space and soaring directly into the sky tens of thousands of meters high.
Cassius looked down upon the crazed abyssal dragon, extended his neck, tucked his limbs, and spread his immense wings. Flames burst from the vents on his elbows and tail.
At last, the red dragon let out a long roar and began a tremendous dive toward the abyssal dragon like a crimson meteor tearing across the heavens.
"Roar—"