Chapter 279: Fighting at the Peak
A lone leonine stood in the sky over a shattered land and a ruined jungle. The breeze was cool and dry, and his mane fluttered in it, each hair a proud piece of art. His face was carved of majesty, while his body, its top half bare, seemed sculpted in marble. There was not one muscle on this leonines body that wasnt well-formed.
The moment he appeared, an air of supremacy covered the land. Every surviving animal within a dozen miles bowed their heads low, disregarding their injuries. Even Jack felt inside him the urge to respect and obey this man, who had appeared in the heavens like a wild but dignified barbarian king.
Thank the System I made it, the leonine said calmly. If we let you escape, the other factions would mock our Animal Kingdom.
Maximus Lonihor, Shol replied, narrowing his eyes. Though this leonine was one person and they were three, the experienced monk seemed wary. They had you chase us personally?
There was little choice after what you did to Sapasun. You have killed two hundreds of my Kingdoms immortals, some of them at the late and peak D-Grade. The damage you have caused us is far too great to ignore. You will die here, and the Exploding Sun will answer for your actions.
We no longer belong to the Exploding Sun, Shol declared proudly. Inspect us for yourself. Jack and I have left the faction. We only answer to ourselves now.
Of course, and Hell is made of candy. The leonine laughed, a deep, booming sound. If you think its that easy to trick the factions, Shol, then youre even dumber than you look.
Should I take out the starship? Jack asked telepathically.
Only if you want it broken, the monk replied. Let me handle this, and prepare to run.
Who is this arrogant kitty? Dordok asked. His manner of speaking irritates me. Perhaps we should knock out a few of his teeth.
You sure are feisty today, captain, Jack noticed.
Look, kid, Ive been a prisoner here for months. If I dont beat up a deacon or two on my way out, Ill eat my own club.
The leonine laughed again, not at all fazed by Dordoks bravado. Very well. Lets see if you can match your words, ogre.
Care Shol tried to warn him, but it was too late. The leonine winked through space to appear before Dordok, throwing a simple punch. Dordok hurried to raise his club and defend.
The impact was deafening. A crack appeared on the steel weapon, which was undoubtedly hardened by magic, and Dordok himself was blown backward with such speed that he quickly became a dot in the horizon.
Looks like you cant, the leonine said. Prepare yourse
Shol was already there. A miniature sun blossomed above the leonine as a heavy palm headed for the top of his head. The leonine blinked away, appearing behind Shol. Expecting it, the monk copied his teleportation mid-strike, still aiming for his opponents head. The leonine crossed his arms to defend, and the strike pushed him down a hundred feet.
When he raised his body to its full height again, the only visible injury was a handful of burnt hairs.
Youve gotten faster, he noticed with a smile. Good for you.
Jack, Shol said, run. He then charged again. The leonine disappeared. Jack felt space warp behind him, and he barely teleported away in time to dodge a fiery fist heading for his back. Shol appeared in his spot immediately, catching the fist and returning a backhand which slapped the leonines chest, pushing him back.
Shol did not relent. He stayed on his opponent, pummeling him with a storm of kicks, punches, and palm strikes. His orange robes fluttered wildly as Shol unleashed everything he had.
Not bad! the leonine laughed mid-battle. His limbs moved as blurs, but he still found time to speak.You can use teleportation already. Thats an excellent achievement. If you agree to receive the Wardens mark and join our Kingdom, I might let you live.
RUN! Shol roared again, doing his best to pressure the leonine so he couldnt teleport after Jack.
Run my ass! Jack shouted back. Theres no way in hell Im running. We got this.
NO!
Hell yeah!
He could already see Dordok rushing over. Besides his slightly cracked club, he seemed fine. Jack himself was confident in enduring at least a couple of the leonines strikes.
He already suspected that this person was the Animal Kingdoms Head Disciplethe equivalent of Li Qian in the Exploding Sun. But Shol wasnt too far from that! There were three of themthey could win!
Most importantly, he would be damned if he let a friend sacrifice himself while he ran. Not again. Not when the last person to sacrifice himself for Jack was right here.
The leonine laughed. You have balls! he shouted. Crossing his arms, he then threw them open, shoving Shol off-stance. His Dao Domain sprang out unbidden, a torrent of heaven-descended supremacy. The domains of Jack, Shol, and Dordok instantly rushed out to meet it, clashing in the sky and forming a four-way war.
The supremacy bore down, heavy like the sky itself, while the three of them pushed up. Jack was shouldering only a fraction of the leonines domain, and already he felt his own domain struggling, tettering on the edge of collapse. Shols domain was a bright orange like the rising sun, while Dordoks was a formless domain of inexhaustible strength, roaring with the strength of a thousand elephants.
As the domains clashed in mid-air, they reached a stand-stillno! Slowly but surely, they were slowly pushing the leonine back! Jacks lungs were instantly filled with hope.
Descending Valor! the leonine shouted, bringing down both his arms. Instantly, the sky turned holy. Winged knights in golden armor emerged from the clouds and flew around Maximus like specters around their king. At his gesture, they were unleashed at his three opponents, each knight cradling a heavenly sword and flying down tip-first.
They broke out of his domain and into theirs, their power deteriorating by the second but easily enough to fight. Jack was assaulted by a dozen knights. Each possessed the strength of a weak early immortaltheir swords whistled in the sky, and their auras carved the clouds. Though these warriors were nothing but conjured phantoms, the strength of their combined assault was equivalent to twelve Old Man Spirits charging Jack at once.
But, of course, he was much stronger than he used to be. Brutalizing Aura blasted out of him, tinging the already purple sky around him an even deeper color and weakening the knights. He felt a trickle of power roll from their bodies into hisa small current that may or may not become significant over time.
The knights were still coming, so Jack roared and raised his fists to defend. The sky was sucked into them, then blasted out in an explosion. A torrent of power swept the warriors and destroyed three, rendering them nothing but golden smoke, but the rest fell on him. Jack struggled to fight back. He danced in the Iron Fist Style, dominating his opponents and striking back when he could, but they cared about neither injuries nor exhaustion. Their unending assault weighed on Jack. It distracted him from the Dao battle overhead, making his domain lose its luster. The leonine pressed him down slightly harder.
In the corner of his eyes, Jack saw Dordok swinging his club wildly, destroying multiple soldiers with each swing, while Shol was engulfed in a tremendous, glowing orange ball that disintegrated them before they could even approach. The monks entire body was burning, covered in flame and sunlight, and his entire attention was focused on pressing his domain against his enemys.
But where was the leonine?
The second Jack had that thought, a cold, uneasy feeling grabbed his heart. He unhesitatingly teleported away. Without any warning, a palm emerged from space to cleave the spot where hed been standing. The rest of the leonines body followed soon after.
Coward! Shol yelled from inside his sun. You dare attack the weakest first!
This is war, Shol! the leonine laughed. If you want a duel, let me kill your friends first.
Over my dead body!
Shol hurtled downward, using the entire sun around him as a shell to attack the leonine. As he passed by, Jack felt a surge of tremendous heat assault him. The very air was burning. Yet, the leonine only laughed, charging straight into the sun.
The very edges of his fur began to turn singedand that was it.
Such weak flames are useless against me, Shol! the leonine shouted, laughing, while he pressured the monk. Shols attention was split between maintaining his sun and fighting hand-to-hand, so he was less effective then before. The spectral winged knights were still assaulting his sun, but it seemed like the leonine didnt need much of his focus to keep them coming.
They devolved into a melee again, but this time, Shol was pressured heavily. He kept falling back, conceding small strikes to keep himself in combat. Dordok finally took care of the knights assaulting him and jumped into the fray, heedless of Shols sun. However, he was not as resistant as the leoninethe moment he came in contact with the orange flames, Jack saw his visage twist into a grimace and his skin turn red, but he still pressed on.
Shol dissolved his sun, welcoming Dordoks addition to the battle, but even the two of them struggled to match the leonine. Knights fell on them from all directions, disrupting their coordination and forcing them to face Maximus one at a time, greatly weakening them.
Jack also had some winged knights after him, but while he fended them off, he took some time to study the leonine.
He wasnt as strong as he appeared. Truthfully, their combined domains were stronger than his, and he didnt seem able to fight Shol and Dordok at the same time, let alone the three of them.
However, he was a master of combat, completely the opposite of what Rufus Emberheart had been. Rufus had raw power. This man excelled in technique. The odds were stacked against him, but he manipulated the battlefield in such a way that he was the one applying pressure on his opponents. Shol and Dordok were constantly one step behind. Everything they tried was countered perfectly. The leonine was in complete control of the battle.
He had come here not with extra-large muscles, but with mastery and confidence.
I need to disrupt him, Jack thought. He ducked under a knights swing, planted a fist in his armored torso, and watched the armor and knight both dissipate into motes of light. He then twisted his body to dodge two swords at the same time, grabbing one knights wrist to smash him into the other before throwing a Meteor Punch and destroying both of them.
As another knight flew at him, he disappeared.
He reappeared behind the leonine right as Shol assaulted him from the front. The monk drove a sunny palm into the others abdomen. Bright Sky! he shouted as he had against the night wizard, birthing a sun in his palm.
Meteor Punch! Jack shouted, summoning his strongest strike against the leonine, who no longer had time to teleport away.
Unbreakable Bulwark! the leonine shouted, turning sideways and stretching out both palms. One met Shols strike, burned by the sunlight and forced to buckle at the elbow. The other met Jacks meteor, enduring the explosion with only a slight bending. The momentums of the two attacks canceled each other out, and the leonines hand closed around Jacks fist. His fingers were strong and hard like steel pliers.
Shit, Jack thought.
He was pulled in faster than he could react. An elbow dug hard into his chest, shattering his ribcage and launching him high into the sky. Shol managed to sneak in a kick during this opening, cracking the leonines knee, but it was damage he could endure.
Jack! he shouted.
Jack was flying. His world alternated between black and white, and his ears screamed with the wind. When he regained himself, hellish pain filled his torso. He couldnt breathe. Thankfully, he didnt need to, but he was suffering heavy internal bleeding. He needed some time to
Lean back, a voice reached him. It was neither Shols nor Dordoks, but it was familiar, though he struggled to place it. Without the slightest hesitation, he ignored the burning pain and leaned backward. The heel of a foot crashed through the space hed just been occupying, sending Jack flying by the mere shockwave. His wounds were agitated, but it was much better than having his skull shattered.
How did you dodge that? the leonines voice came surprised as he stepped out of thin air. And you survived my direct strike, too If you keep going like this, I may not be able to kill you before reinforcements arrive.
Shol flashed before the leonine, instantly leaning into a storm of strikes. Dordok flew in as well, shooting at the leonine like a missile and keeping him occupied. Jack, he screamed in rage, fucking run already!
Both fighters fell on the leonine at once, pressuring him and forcing him on the back foot. More winged knights streamed from the sky, dogpiling on Shol and Dordok. The sun came back on. Dordok screamed, but the knights evaporated. The two of them kept pressing the leonine, unleashing their strongest strikes one after the other, and all he could do was defend.
This was their chance. If they could take him down now, they would
An explosion of golden light erupted around the leonine. Jack caught a glimpse of white wings, golden armor, and a proud helmet. In the next moment, the illusion dissipated, as did all of the winged knights, but Shol and Dordok had been pushed back.
Their opportunity was gone. The leonine grinned at them. Is that all you got?
Jack was still flying away, gritting his teeth while Neutron Star Body was working in overdrive to patch him back together. Slowly but surely, his ribs were repaired, his punctured organs were healed, and the lost blood was replaced.
But even after he fully healed, it wouldnt help much against this beast that called itself Maximus Lonihor.
Suddenly, space cracked next to Jack. A person slipped through, meeting Jacks astonished gaze with a smile. Hey Jack, he said. Missed me?
What the hell are you doing here? Jack replied.
The Sage grinned. Just hanging around.
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