System S.E.X. (Seduction, Expansion, eXecution)

Chapter 804: Chapter 804: Fury and Devastation

Ethan appeared on the battlefield like a shadowy exhalation, catching Isabella before her body touched the stones. He held her in his arms, feeling her breath weak.

”Are you alright?” asked Ethan, his voice strained by icy tension.

”E...than...”, whispered Isabella, barely opening her eyes as blood trickled from the corner of her lips. ”I... I couldn’t stop it...”

Without wasting a second, Ethan pulled a jade vial with a divine healing potion from his spatial ring and poured the elixir between her lips. The warmth of the medicine began stabilizing her meridians.

”Rest,” instructed Ethan, gently depositing her against a protected rock formation. ”I’ll be back in a moment.”

Ethan rose and turned toward the giant mantis. His presence transformed: the rage within him was stifled by an aura of serene darkness. His pupils vanished, his eyes turning pitch-black.

”How dare you touch my woman?” demanded Ethan.

The beast locked its glowing red eyes on Ethan, sensing the mutation in his energy. It let out a guttural growl and brought down its black scythe in a vertical cleave capable of splitting the earth.

Ethan didn’t blink. He raised his sword and intercepted the colossal blade. With a twist of his wrist, he absorbed the impact and redirected the force to the side, causing the mantis’s scythe to embed deep into the bedrock.

With his Sword Heart unleashed and fused with the darkness of the Void, Ethan perceived the world at a different speed. The wind, dust, and the creature’s movements seemed to slow. His rage burned like an internal fire.

[Master, be careful!] Crul warned in his mind. [The queen’s final form is analyzing you. Its core is capable of learning and adapting to any energy. You must kill it quickly!]

”I understand,” replied Ethan in a sepulchral voice. ”Then I won’t hold back.”

The mantis yanked its talon from the ground, stunned that a human had deflected its strike so easily. Enraged, it unleashed a barrage of slashes. Scythe after scythe descended like purple lightning, but Ethan moved within its attack radius like a ghost, deflecting each impact with precision.

The strikes deflected by Ethan didn’t hit empty air—they slammed into the surroundings with destructive power. Distant mountains began collapsing, the ground cracked into fissures, and shockwaves swept across the plain.

Seeing the scale of the catastrophe, panic gripped the surviving cultivators.

”Run! The shockwaves will crush us!” screamed several youths from the sects as they stampeded away.

The blind monk, using his remaining strength and leaning on his staff, grabbed the Frost Dragon Princess by the shoulder and lifted her off the ground, fleeing the perimeter.

Noticing that the surviving prey was escaping, the giant mantis let out a roar. At its call, the remaining male drones emerged from the crevices and gave chase after the fleeing cultivators.

Ethan tightened his grip on his hilt, his eyes locked onto the monster.

”Do you think you have time to ignore me, you wretched trash?” declared Ethan.

”[Void Twilight]!” roared Ethan.

A crescent blade of dark energy sliced through space. The mantis reacted instinctively, unleashing a cross-slash with both scythes to intercept the technique. The resulting detonation created a storm of abyssal wind that forced the creature back several meters, cracking its armor.

Without giving it a second to breathe, Ethan lunged forward.

The mantis spun its torso at an inhuman speed, using the momentum to unleash a horizontal slash with its left scythe. The purple blade sliced through the air, releasing a gust of abyssal wind that split the rocks for a kilometer around.

Ethan leaned his torso back a few millimeters; the edge grazed the tip of his robe, leaving a trail of sparks in the darkness. Without losing momentum, he pressed his left palm against the ground, executed an aerial spin, and delivered a kick coated in Sword Intent directly against the monster’s elbow joint.

CRACK!

A sharp snap echoed through the valley as the joint plate cracked. The mantis let out a high-pitched shriek, and before Ethan touched the ground, it lunged with its right scythe in a direct thrust aimed at his heart.

Ethan didn’t attempt to dodge. He extended his free hand and channeled the Power of the Void, creating a small gravitational vortex in his palm. The scythe’s trajectory was yanked off course by the gravitational pull, causing the gigantic blade to embed deep into the shoulder of a mountain behind them, collapsing it into a rain of debris.

Taking advantage of the creature being off-balance with its limb stuck in the rock, Ethan surged forward like a bolt of shadow. His sword traced three lines of black light through the air: a thrust aimed at the beast’s right eye, an upward slash across its torso, and a spinning cut targeted at the base of its purple wings.

The mantis, sensing mortal danger, vibrated its wings at an ultrasonic frequency. A shockwave barrier of violet energy erupted from its body, clashing head-on against Ethan’s offensive.

BOOM!

The detonation destroyed what little remained of the bedrock. Ethan was blasted ten meters backward, sliding on his feet while carving two deep trenches into the earth. Before the dust cloud could settle, the beast emerged from the smoke with its right eye destroyed and dripping a viscous black fluid, enraged and ready to devour the youth’s body.

”Damn it...”, muttered Ethan, gritting his teeth as he adjusted his grip on his sword’s hilt. ”This isn’t working...”

[The mantis is healing, hurry up!] Crul warned in his mind, electric urgency in his voice.

At that moment, the male drones chasing the surviving cultivators halted their pursuit. Like puppets responding to a command, they spun around and rushed back toward the abomination. The abyssal mantis opened its monstrous jaws and began devouring them without mercy, crushing exoskeletons and absorbing their vitality in massive gulps. The males offered themselves up in a frenzy, happy to die for her.

Ethan watched the grotesque feast as the beast’s energy began to skyrocket to astronomical levels.

”Let’s take advantage of it being distracted...” murmured Ethan in a sepulchral voice.

Ethan dropped into a low stance, driving his feet into the cracked earth. The full power of his Sword Heart, the energy of the Void, and the destructive aura of his sea of consciousness began to converge upon the blade of his weapon.

”[Twilight Void],” proclaimed Ethan.

The space around him began to distort violently as he prepared the attack, charging it with every drop of his available energy to deliver a strike with full power.

In the Golden Sun Grand Colosseum, the crowd held its breath before the gargantuan spiritual projection screens, stunned by the sheer scale of the battle.

In the Soaring Dragon Kingdom box, the sovereign stared intently at Ethan’s silhouette shrouded in gloom.

”It seems he’s finally getting serious,” commented King Alaric, nodding.

”Indeed, Your Majesty,” answered Great General Vaelen, with a somber smile full of anticipation. ”It seems he will use that.”