---o---
"I don't know what that guy in black's deal is, but while we were on our way, the Eternal Night fell. It's definitely connected to him. He must know where my brother is. We can't just let him go!"
Stelle explained to Cifera and Phainon, then looked to Dan Heng. Dan Heng gave her a nod, gripped Cloud-Piercer, and cautiously moved with her in the direction Khaslana had been sent flying.
Phainon felt the two of them had a point. He drew his own longsword and said to Cifera, who was still sitting on the ground, "The three of us will go and see if we can capture him. You get on MK2000's back first. If things go south, you get out of here."
Cifera wanted to protest, but Phainon simply waved his hand, indicating the decision was final. He then followed Stelle and Dan Heng into the dense forest.
Cifera let out a helpless sigh and turned to wave at MK2000.
"Little MK, can't you see your big cat sister is hurt? Hurry up and give me a lift so I can follow."
MK2000 whimpered, walked over to let Cifera onto its back, and followed them into the woods.
---o---
Elsewhere, after being sent flying by MK2000's tail, the man in black crashed through several trees before finally coming to a stop.
Although MK2000's tail whip looked vicious, it hadn't actually caused him much damage. He was just a bit stunned.
Since when did the Dromas Titan team up with the Chrysos Heirs? In all my countless cycles of reincarnation, this is the first time I've ever encountered such a thing.
To say that Dromas wasn't a Titan... he refused to believe it. How could an ordinary Dromas send him flying with a single tail whip?
No matter how strong an ordinary Dromas was, it would be impossible to send him flying! Therefore, it had to be a Titan!
Regardless, even if the Dromas Titan had teamed up with the Chrysos Heirs for some unknown reason, the [Coreflame] must still be reclaimed!
The man in black stood up from the ground and once again took a firm grip on his straight sword. Just as he was about to go find the group, he heard the rustling of leaves. He turned his head to see Phainon and two other strangers walking over.
Dan Heng held Cloud-Piercer in front of Stelle. This man in black gave him a very bad feeling.
"Stelle, how many items did you bring?"
Dan Heng was naturally asking about the miraculous items Fu Zhu had given her. If possible, he wanted to capture the man before them without any injuries.
Stelle rummaged through her pockets. "A lot. Should I try them one by one?"
Dan Heng gave a silent nod and shot Phainon a meaningful glance.
Phainon understood instantly. Although he didn't know what Stelle was planning, based on the Totem of Undying that could grant immunity to death, he trusted that whatever she pulled out would be good stuff.
In the next second, a white bone went flying, thudding against the man in black's head before clattering to the ground.
Dan Heng and Phainon whipped their heads around to look at Stelle. She hesitated for a second, then looked back at the bone lying by the man's feet. Stelle must have had a profound reason for throwing that bone, they thought.
After all, the last thing she pulled out was something that granted immunity to death. This bone had to be special, too!
Could it be some kind of special item?
Didn't they see that the man in black, who had effortlessly beaten Cifera to near death, didn't even try to dodge it?
The man in black, however, simply looked down at the bone on the ground, a little speechless.
He had thought his opponent was about to throw some kind of lethal projectile. But when the item was thrown, he felt no threat from it at all. This surprised him, and because of that, he forgot to dodge.
On Stelle's side, seeing the bone had no effect and noticing Dan Heng and Phainon staring at her, she shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, clearly he's not a Borisin."
Dan Heng felt like he was suffocating. He took a deep breath, then sighed again.
"This isn't the Xianzhou!"
"Hehe..." Stelle followed up with a scratch of her head and a silly laugh.
Beside them, Phainon listened to their conversation. Though he didn't know what a "Xianzhou" was, it was obvious that the bone just now was nothing more than a bone. It made his teeth ache.
The man in black across from them also reacted. With a cold snort, he gripped his sword and charged forward as a blur of afterimages.
"Watch out!"
Phainon was the first to react, meeting the charge with his own sword.
But for some reason, the man in black seemed to be very familiar with his sword techniques. In just three moves, Phainon's longsword was sent flying, and he was kicked aside.
However, the man in black didn't press the attack on Phainon. Instead, he charged directly at Dan Heng and Stelle.
Dan Heng immediately moved to engage, while Stelle rummaged through her pockets with one hand and gripped her baseball bat with the other, joining Dan Heng to face the enemy.
The two had been through many adventures together and their coordination was seamless. The moment they clashed with the man in black, he was immediately put on the back foot.
Phainon took this opportunity to retrieve his weapon and rejoin the battle.
In less than twenty moves, the man in black was completely overwhelmed. Knowing he was no match for the three of them combined, he parried to push them back, intending to create some distance. Suddenly, he found that he couldn't move.
He looked down to see that his legs had been ensnared by a spider web at some point.
This spider web was surprisingly tough. He found that he couldn't cut through all of it in a single slash.
"Hehe, the stuff my bro makes is awesome, right?"
Seeing the man in black fall into her trap, Stelle gloated.
Dan Heng seized the opportunity, removing the Abyssal Pearl from the center of Cloud-Piercer. He brought two fingers together, aimed, and a fierce torrent of water in the shape of a dragon slammed directly into the man in black. Because his legs were stuck in the web, he had no choice but to take the full force of Dan Heng's attack.
"Urgh!"
With a grunt, the man in black fell to one knee. His upper body was immediately caught in the spider web's control as well. By the time he looked up, a baseball bat, Cloud-Piercer, and a longsword—three different weapons—were aimed at him.
Dan Heng looked at the man before him and said coldly, "Surrender. You have no chance of winning."
The man in black stared at Dan Heng. After a long moment, he finally spoke his first words.
"You... who are you?"
"Nameless Guests of the Astral Express."
The pupils beneath the man's mask contracted sharply.
Astral Express? Nameless Guests?
These were titles he had never once heard in tens of millions of cycles. Could it be... they were the variables in this cycle?
At this thought, an impulse surged through the man's heart. Even though tens of millions of cycles had worn him down to almost nothing, there were some things that had to be done, no matter how eroded his memory had become.
"Re-Creation... is wrong. The [Coreflames]... must be reclaimed. The cycle... must be restarted!"