Chapter 216: Keep Cutting
Myles didn’t slow down after he killed the elite down. The moment the man’s body hit the ground he had already moved again. His two blades killed through the nearest enemies with the same relentless precision as before.
His steps carried him deeper into the battlefield, but his mind no longer focused only on the immediate fight. A thought formed clearly as he continued cutting through another opponent after another. His movements never break rhythm.
"The other elites must’ve seen that..."
The realization settled heavily in his mind as Fangblade carved through a man’s neck and Noctiryx dagger followed through another man’s ribs without pause.
"They’ll come for me next. That’s not good."
It wasn’t fear that shaped that thought. It was a calculation. Facing multiple elites at once wouldn’t prove anything. It would only waste time, and time was the one thing he didn’t have right now. Red still stood at the center of everything, growing stronger by the second.
"I don’t need to fight the elites... I need to finish killing the troops faster."
His jaw tightened slightly as he made his decision. He would thin their numbers first. Cut down everything that could interfere. Then go for Red. That was the only way this could still turn.
SLASH.
SLASH.
SLASH.
His blades moved in a continuous flow, never stopping, never hesitating. His motions carried clear killing intent and every strike landed where it mattered most.
Heads fell cleanly from shoulders. Throats opened before screams could happen. Hearts were pierced before their owners even realized what had happened.
Bodies dropped around him in rapid succession, each one was dead before it even touched the ground.
When he pushed further forward, he caught sight of a familiar figure. Victor.
The man stood surrounded by enemies, his massive greenish cleaver swinging in wide and brutal arcs that slashed through anyone who got too close. His swings carried enough force to separate heads from bodies in a single motion, blood spraying into the air as his presence carved a space around him.
Myles closed the distance quickly. Victor reacted on instinct.
The cleaver came swinging toward him with full force driven by pure killing intent, but it stopped just in time when recognition caught up with motion.
The blade halted inches away, the wind from it brushing against Myles’ face.
"I almost killed you!"
"No. You don’t." Myles smirked.
Victor let out a short laugh, the tension easing slightly despite the chaos around them. He knew that Myles wouldn’t be killed that easily.
"Heh. You’re right." His grip tightened again as he turned back to the enemies closing in. "So what happened over there?"
They moved back to back without needing to coordinate it, their bodies adjusting naturally as they fought side by side while continuing the conversation.
"Bad," Myles answered flatly as his blade cut down another attacker. "Red evolved. Stronger than before. His aura... it’s worse than the black mutated human we fought."
Victor clicked his tongue in annoyance as he split another man in half. "Goddamn... then what now?"
"We’ll cut their numbers down as much as possible first," Myles said, his tone steady despite the situation. "Then we focus everything on Red."
"Not a bad idea," Victor replied while stepping forward and killing another enemy that tried to break through. "What about Lilian and Seraphina?"
Myles’ expression hardened slightly. "They’re not coming. I can’t feel them anymore."
Victor didn’t respond immediately. The meaning behind those words was clear enough. That made everything worse.
"I’ll tell the others," Myles added.
Victor gave a short nod. "Okay."
Myles moved again without delay.
He broke away from Victor and surged back into the crowd, his blades resuming their deadly rhythm as he carved a path forward. He reached Daniel first, then George, then Kade, Clara, Ethan, and Samantha one by one, cutting through enemies as he moved between them.
To each of them he delivered the same message through brief exchanges amidst combat. Red had evolved. The situation had worsened. They needed to reduce the enemy numbers and regroup their focus.
Their reactions were immediate and consistent.
None of them liked it.
The absence of Lilian and Seraphina weighed heavily on all of them, especially now when Red had become something far beyond what they had expected.
But even with that realization, none of them hesitated in fear. They continued fighting and pushing harder despite the pressure.
Myles moved again.
Then...
BOOM.
A massive explosion tore through the battlefield.
The force of it shook the ground beneath his feet as a surge of fire erupted from the direction where Red stood. The flames expanded violently, rising upward into a towering pillar that stretched toward the crimson dome above and illuminating everything in a blazing inferno.
Myles turned his head sharply, his eyes narrowing as he stared at it.
"What is that...? Red?" The thought lingered for only a short moment. He clicked his tongue. "Doesn’t matter."
He turned away and moved again.
He needed to be faster.
SLASH.
SLASH.
SLASH.
His blades cut through flesh relentlessly. Blood sprayed into the air as bodies fell around him in rapid succession. He didn’t slow down or hesitate. He didn’t even allow himself even a second to think beyond what needed to be done.
They were enemies. That was all that mattered now.
Old men. Women. Survivors.
It didn’t matter.
"I just want to survive too."
The thought came cold and firm as his blade cut through another throat.
He could have held back. He could have spared them, incapacitated them instead of killing them outright.
But the risk was too high.
"What if they warn Red?"
If that happened, the consequences wouldn’t fall on them.
It would fall on him and on his friends.
And that was something he refused to allow.
—
At the center of the battlefield, Michael stood with his body leaning slightly forward. His breathing heavy and uneven as a low snarl twisted across his face.
His spear remained gripped tightly in both hands. The surface engulfed in dense dark burning flames that radiated intense heat into the surrounding air.
The earlier explosion had come from him.
He had sent a massive fireball that had erupted from his spear and detonated upon impact, leaving behind a towering inferno that still raged violently. Flames climbing upward as if trying to consume the sky itself.
Bodies around them had been caught in it.
Michael didn’t know who they were. He didn’t care.
His focus remained fixed ahead.
From within the flames, something moved.
A figure stepped forward slowly, emerging from the heart of the inferno. It was none other than Red.
His body was charred black, cracked and broken as if it had already crossed the line of destruction that no living thing should survive. Flesh had burned away in places, exposing deeper layers that should have turned to ash long ago.
Yet he walked. And as he did, the damage began to reverse.
The cracked, burned surface squirmed. The charred flesh peeled and reformed at the same time, layers rebuilding over one another as new skin replaced what had been destroyed.
The glow beneath those fractures pulsed steadily, feeding the regeneration as his body restored itself in real time.
Within seconds, the ruin disappeared.
Red stood there again with his whole body.
His grin returned, stretching across his face despite the lingering heat.
"I can see that you also awakened something, Michael," he said, his voice rough and uneven, the sound distorted as his damaged vocal cords struggled to recover even as they healed. "That is awesome."
His fingers tightened around his sword as he fully unsheathed it, the blade catching the crimson light as his aura flared.
"Let us make this fight more memorable, shall we?"
Then he moved.
Red charged forward, his speed explosive as he closed the distance toward Michael in an instant, his blade ready to attack.
—
