There was one last battle left before they could take Mount Buzhou back.
And that battle was about to begin.
But before it started, the Sword Champion of the Cangcheng quietly slipped away from the crowd.
Those ashen-white strands that spoke of age were trimmed away, revealing a face that was a little old, yet still full of heroic sharpness.
He put on a brand-new set of clothes—on him, you could faintly see the shadow of how he'd looked when he was young.
Cradling a longsword, he found a secluded spot.
From within his robes, he took out a cup that had endured the erosion of long years.
Clack.
Two cups tapped lightly against the ice. A liquor rich with fragrance filled them to the brim.
"No matter how much time passes, the liquor you collected is still this strong—this fragrant, this intoxicating."
The Sword Champion of the Cangcheng let out a sigh. Collecting famous liquors across the cosmos had been Futian's private hobby.
And now, after several hundred years, that man's stash was almost drunk dry by him.
Before the assault on Mount Buzhou…
Let me have one more drink with that guy.
The Sword Champion picked up a cup and downed it in one go—then a flush rose onto his face.
He wasn't good with alcohol. He only drank to commemorate an old friend.
That old friend hadn't left many wishes behind.
The only thing he'd entrusted to him was this: that this place would endure, long and long.
"Only, old friend… I might end up over-fulfilling your wish."
Take Mount Buzhou, then gather the power of the Flame Lord and the Dragon Lord—plus that outsider, Sora—and maybe they could escape the belly of this colossal beast.
Letting the people of this world gain freedom… compared to Futian's "endure forever," it was better by who knew how many times.
And that wish—now—was about to succeed, held right in his hands.
"Then with a mood like yours right now… you don't want to share it?"
At that moment, another figure sat down beside the Sword Champion.
He acted like they'd known each other forever—picked up the other cup and drank it down in one gulp.
"Haaah… People across the cosmos all say this kind of liquor tastes better warmed over a strong flame. But iced like this, it's got a flavor of its own."
The Sword Champion stared at him, frozen in place.
The man beside him wore a suit of ancient, battered armor—there were even holes through it, like branches had once speared straight through.
And those scorch-black marks on it were so obvious it almost hurt to look at.
For a second, the Sword Champion genuinely wondered if he'd drunk too much and was hallucinating.
Because how could this guy be here?
The one sitting before him at this very moment wasn't anyone else—
It was Futian, who had long since signed a contract with that Heliobus commander.
Even without that contract, the wounds Futian had taken back then were enough to make him fall into Mara.
So how was he here now?
Seeing the Sword Champion's stunned silence, Futian reached over and snatched the cup tucked against his chest.
He shook it lightly. The remaining liquor chimed crisply.
"Heh. Still a bit left." He popped the stopper off and tipped his head back, pouring every last drop into his throat.
The Sword Champion watched—one gulp after another—until the liquor was gone.
He still couldn't process what was happening.
Only when Futian finished did he finally understand:
This wasn't a phantom.
He was real. He was here.
"Not having to deal with the General's affairs… just drinking freely like this feels damn good."
Futian sighed, sounding satisfied.
"Being able to take one last mouthful at the very end… I can die without regret."
"Aren't you the one who signed a contract with that Heliobus commander—letting her take over your body?"
Back then, Futian had signed a contract with Xi within the engine.
And the format of that contract was the same kind of body-seizing contract the Sui Emperor and the Reignbow had once made.
Only, the way the two contracts played out was completely different.
When the Xianzhou was being overrun by Denizens of the Abundance and was on the verge of falling apart entirely, the Sui Emperor and the Reignbow signed a body-seizing contract.
But once the contract was completed—when the Xianzhou Alliance saw the Sui Emperor had fallen unconscious—they turned around and flipped their faces like they'd never known him.
They denied the contract, and kept squeezing the Heliobi dry—turning them into flames for smelting and fuel to drive the engine.
As for Futian and Xi, their contract had been carried out "normally."
Xi successfully swallowed Futian's body, and on this broken, ruined Xianzhou, created Cangyan.
Now Futian had suddenly appeared here…
That meant...
The Sword Champion realized something. He turned his gaze toward the icefield behind him.
Over there, a figure and a cluster of burning flame stood far off, watching from a distance.
If it wasn't Sora and Xi, then who else could it be?
"That's right." Futian nodded. "Xi let me out. And that kid beside her helped purge the Mara off me."
So that was how Futian had appeared.
"But even if I'm not tangled up in Mara… I don't have much time left."
He glanced at his body, already stiffening bit by bit. There wasn't much strength left inside it.
So yes—he could move. But he wouldn't last long.
Still.
It was enough.
At least he got to see this bastard was still alive.
"These past few hundred years…"
Futian's voice lowered. "I've troubled you."
Facing an old friend, the Sword Champion had a thousand things he wanted to say—yet in the end, only one line made it out:
"You know you're nothing but trouble, huh."
It sounded like a complaint, but his mouth still couldn't help curving upward.
"Hahahahahaha! If I didn't dump it on you, wouldn't my heart hurt?"
Futian bumped him with an elbow.
That familiar motion—so familiar it almost dragged the Sword Champion back into the past.
Only… time had passed, and everything that used to be felt impossibly distant.
In these hundreds of years, so much had changed. Especially people's ways of thinking.
The two of them sat at the edge of the plain, talking about all the old things. Futian listened now and then to the Sword Champion's stories of these centuries.
Until the Sword Champion lifted his head again—
And realized Futian had closed his eyes at some point.
Before him, on the icefield, Futian had scratched out a line of small words with his fingertip.
[When you die, make damn sure we don't get buried together. You're annoying—looking at you, I'd get talked to death.]
The Sword Champion sat there in silence.
But the smile at the corner of his mouth slowly spread wider.
Annoying? I'm the one who finds you annoying, you blockhead.
...
"I really didn't expect it… that this request would be something you brought up yourself."
Not far from the two old men, Sora and Xi had already drifted off to a quiet place to talk.
What surprised Sora most was that the idea of letting Futian out had actually been Xi's.
"Can't be helped. Once that old bastard said his method out loud, the one inside this body wouldn't stop getting restless."
Xi sounded indifferent.
"I got annoyed, so I let him out. And while I'm at it, I sold the Xianzhou side a favor."
Of course, whether that was the full truth… who knew.
Anyway, Xi said it like that.
So Sora believed it like that.
"Hurry up and get ready. There's not much time left—this last battle is about to start. When it does, you'll be busy too."
After saying that, Xi floated slowly toward the distant gathering point.
Sora didn't speak.
He only watched that flickering pale-platinum flame… then lowered his eyes to what he held in his hand.
A medal.
A medal taken out from Futian's body.
And because of that, Futian could meet his old friend in a posture this "normal."
This medal was called—
Sora looked at the arrow etched on it and spoke its name aloud.
"…The HUNT?"
...
The entire battlefield gave off a chilling, murderous pressure. Once the fight began, who knew how many lives would be lost here.
On distant Mount Buzhou, countless Borisin stared like wolves at the allied forces that had surrounded them.
Facing these enemies, the Borisin didn't bother hiding their fangs and claws.
At the same time, the mountain was bristling with high-tech equipment—weapons and gear Bolue had forged during the centuries he'd been hidden away.
"Borisin, surrender obediently. If you do, we may spare you!"
The pre-battle demand for surrender rang out, and the calm stepped into its final instant.
And in the face of the allied forces' persuasion, what the Borisin chose was—
Awooooo—
It was broad daylight, and yet they still threw back their heads and howled at the sky.
It was a declaration of battle, and also their answer.
"You're this stubborn and ignorant—then when the time comes, I'll grind you all to dust!"
Jin Xing's killing intent toward these Borisin was fierce and unrestrained. Without Sora, her people would've suffered countless deaths and injuries.
So facing these bastards, she wasn't about to show mercy.
"Big talk for a little mud loach. In the end, who dies first isn't decided yet!"
The Borisin weren't the slightest bit rattled by Jin Xing's threat.
Because the snow on Mount Buzhou wasn't falling normally—it was being drawn by some force, gathering onto their bodies.
The Abundance blessing wasn't spilling a single shred of fortune upon the world.
It was all being held in the hands of every Borisin.
And because of that, who would be the one left standing at the end… really wasn't certain.
"If you want to die so badly, don't blame me for not giving you a chance!"
Sora stood at the very center of the formation.
On his left, the Sword Champion of the Cangcheng and Yu Qi stood with swords in hand.
On his right, the Vidyadhara Dragon Lord and Ahri wore grim, resolute expressions.
And behind him was a massive force of tens of thousands.
Their goal was to crush every single Borisin on that mountain.
Now the atmosphere had dropped to freezing point. Everything waited for the command.
BOOM!
The earth split apart—and from within, an axe burst up.
And that became the final horn.
"The whole army—advance!"
"CHARGE!!"
At the call, the allied masses who'd already been itching to move grabbed their momentum and surged toward the towering mountain ahead.
Countless figures charged toward that peak that rose into the sky.
The allied army poured forward like a breached flood, so violent the whole earth trembled under their footsteps.
In the sky, starskiffs and Vidyadhara crowded together, advancing in the direction of Mount Buzhou.
At the foot of the mountain, countless people formed dense ranks, bows and crossbows leveled forward—volley after volley loosed in unison.
The Borisin on Mount Buzhou refused to be outdone. They activated the defensive facilities Bolue had built.
Streams of energy were woven and crossed by the devices, until they formed a tightly-knit net!
Attacks coming from afar were intercepted by those great nets.
At the same time, some Borisin kept squeezing triggers—remote fire howled out, a storm blotting out the sky as it swept toward the charging allied forces.
Facing that incoming barrage, Sora's choice was simple.
He slotted the HUNT coin into the battle axe, then snapped the dragon mouth shut and revealed the cannon muzzle!
'[STRAIN DOOM!]'
Come on—mid-lane snipe duel!
Vast energy gathered again and again at the mouth of the cannonfire, and within it there was even a force that made the Xianzhou people feel strangely familiar.
"That's the HUNT's power." Xi had controlled the Flame Lord for so long—she recognized that familiar sensation at a glance.
So this is the power of the HUNT!
'[PUTOTYRANNO HISSATSU!]'
The call finished, and the surging energy shot blasted out in an instant!
In only a heartbeat, the shot swallowed the enemy fire whole, then slammed into their position—
BOOM!
A tremendous pillar of flame roared up. Mount Buzhou, for an instant, seemed to shake off its snowy mantle and reveal itself as it had been.
And those Borisin… didn't leave behind even a wisp of ash.
The moment the Borisin saw that, they hurriedly pulled their ranged weapons back behind them.
The enemy's firepower was that brutal—keep trading shots and the ones dying would be them.
Besides, what Borisin were best at… was close combat!
They stopped firing at range, dropped to all fours, and sprinted like mad straight at the allied army.
Sora nodded at them, then shot up toward the sky.
Borisin tried to intercept him along the way, but all of them were stopped by Jin Xing and the others.
"King against king, general against general—you lot think you can block Sora's path?!"
That's right. What Sora was doing now was a decapitation strike.
He was going to crush Bolue first.
The best way to shatter the Borisin's defensive posture—was to take the head.
Following the map, Sora quickly found the tent at the summit of Mount Buzhou.
Snow piled thick around it, and the tent flap was open.
Inside, Bolue—wearing clothes like a scholar and gold-rimmed glasses—was handling something at the table.
Only when Sora split the entire tent open with one axe swing did Bolue lift his head, as if only just realizing.
"Welcome, honored guest. It's just that you don't look like you've come with good intentions."
Sora didn't bother with any of that. "Bolue. You ready to die?"
"Die?"
Bolue stood, baring his claws.
Those talons gleamed like superalloy with icy light—yet the first thing he did after revealing them was take off his gold-rimmed glasses.
He placed them neatly on the tabletop.
When he looked up again, Bolue's gaze was vicious.
"Who lives, who dies—don't be so sure!"
With that, he leapt into the air and launched a savage assault at Sora!
His fingers pulsed in rapid rhythm. Some kind of energy in the air seemed to fall under his control, lashing at Sora in a continuous barrage.
Sora's perception was terrifyingly sharp now—and more than that, even the drifting snowflakes in the air had taken on a strange rhythm.
Those signs made it clear where the invisible attacks were coming from.
"Is that all?!"
Sora met the onslaught by flipping his palm and sweeping the axe blade across.
Purple radiance surged forward—every one of those attacks was split cleanly in two in an instant.
Bolue was startled. He hadn't expected his attacks to be broken so easily.
"No wonder you were chosen as the Xianzhou's commander. With strength like yours, you really do deserve that title."
There was genuine acknowledgment in Bolue's tone.
But then—along the streak of radiance that hadn't yet faded—something shot straight at him!
It was Sora!
Sora held the axe one-handed, and behind him a dragon tail also struck out at his will.
Bolue was shocked that Sora pressed in again so fast, but he reacted immediately.
Those alloy-like steel claws snapped up into defense.
With his inhuman intelligence, he could sharply judge the point of impact—so even with Sora's double pincer of axe and tail, he could still handle it.
Clinkclinkclinkclink!
Their bodies crossed and collided, and the snowflakes hanging in the air became the true victims of their clash.
They slammed down from the sky to the ground—and the instant they touched down, two spikes shot out from Sora's shoulder armor!
What the hell?!
Bolue had fought Sora so many times. He'd thought this guy's tricks were just… this much.
But that sudden shoulder spike caught him completely off guard.
In a panic, Bolue shifted his position and barely, barely dodged the shoulder-armor thrust.
But the next instant, that purple silhouette was already in his face.
"What kind of speed is that?!"
In Bolue's stunned gaze, the axe blade came down from above—cleaving toward his chest!
Sora, gripping the Medagabryu, carved a dazzling streak of purple through the storming snow.
Splurt!
A skyful of blood burst out before him, dyeing the pure white snow a violent red—and completely blotting out Sora's view.
Across Bolue's body, a brutally rough wound had been carved straight from upper left to lower right.
Through the gash, you could even see organs inside.
The heart, thundering and pumping, sprayed blood without pause—splattering Sora in a different color.
After taking that blow, Bolue's body seemed to lose all strength. He dropped to his knees, then finally collapsed face-first into the blood-red snow.
Blood kept pouring from him, pooling into a small puddle on the ground.
Seeing Bolue fall, Sora felt a flicker of confusion.
Was he really this weak? No way.
He scooped up a handful of snow and wiped away the blood that was blocking his vision.
When he finished wiping, there was still no sign of Bolue reviving.
"…He's seriously this weak." Sora's mouth twitched twice.
He'd thought the bastard who'd squeezed the Foxians dry for centuries would be some kind of monster.
And yet it only took a few moves—he was already dead.
This was weak beyond what Sora had imagined.
Fine. Hurry up, drag this guy down, and then—
Right then, Sora suddenly felt something go wrong with his body.
"Is your body starting to feel hard to move?"
Bolue's body—still lying there—slowly pushed itself up.
The wound across him was squirming, knitting back together, and his eyes held the sly gleam of a plan that had worked.
Sora didn't even have time to answer, because strange, eerie images had already begun to appear in front of his eyes.
And all of it was because of an ability the Borisin possessed by nature, regardless of strength—simply because they were Denizens of the Abundance.
Wolfsbane!
This poison could hook the fear in a person's heart. You needed specific medicine to remove it.
"And every one of those medicines that can neutralize Wolfsbane—has been collected into my hands."
That's right. The medicinal herbs Bolue had been ordering those Foxians to gather all this time were exactly the herbs used to counter Wolfsbane.
To claim victory, he'd laid out countless strategies.
A Borisin's innate talent—of course he had to make sure there was no way to answer it.
With no antidote, how were these people supposed to face Wolfsbane?
And as Bolue spoke, the same kind of scene began to appear across the battlefield… everywhere.
...
At the foot of Mount Buzhou, on the main front.
In the melee, a Foxian—carrying burning hatred—suddenly lunged forward, trying to drive his spear through a Borisin's heart.
But this Borisin warrior was freakishly agile. With a side roll, it dodged the thrust—and at the same time, its body shuddered, triggering Wolfsbane.
The Foxian realized it and tried to pull away, but the Wolfsbane had already spread all around!
He'd actually been hit a long time ago—only the Borisin hadn't detonated it yet.
And now the timing was right. The Borisin set off the Wolfsbane still lingering inside his body in one go, plunging him straight into fear.
His movements turned sluggish.
On a battlefield, everything changes in an instant. Sluggish for even a moment means your life falls out of the world.
The Borisin snapped its claws backhanded and attacked!
Drown in your fear!
Sharp wolf claws tore through the air, slashing straight for his throat.
The Borisin could already see it—the moment this Foxian's throat was ripped open, his head flying—
Let your blood become my battle merit!
But at the very last instant before the claws hit, a tiny, feeble flame appeared on the soldier's body!
The Foxian who'd been moving slowly suddenly looked as if some blessing had dropped onto him—his speed jumped, faster than before!
Fear scattered. Clarity returned to the Foxian's eyes.
He flashed aside, slipping the strike—then drove his spear straight into the Borisin's chest!
Splurt.
The Borisin was still reaching out with its claws when the spear pierced its heart clean through. It coughed up two mouthfuls of blood.
But pain couldn't cover the shock on its face.
"How is this possible? The medicines that can neutralize Wolfsbane should've all been controlled by the Khan!"
There shouldn't be a single dose left anywhere in Cangyan.
So why—how—could this Foxian…?!
"Heh-heh-heh. That's because of yours truly, obviously."
A Heliobus, wreathed in flame, slowly surfaced beside the Foxian.
That's right.
The reason they could ignore Wolfsbane… was these Heliobi.
Every one of them fed on emotions. If you wanted to mess with emotions, you had to ask them first.
The Foxian Elder had written everything down in the intel long ago.
So naturally, Sora and the others had worked out a solution—use Heliobi to balance out the emotions.
"Die, scum!"
Against an enemy with blood debt, the Foxian had nothing to say. He yanked the spear back out of the heart.
Under the heart's pressure, blood sprayed nonstop from the gash, and the Borisin collapsed bonelessly to the ground.
And scenes like this were playing out all across the battlefield.
A Borisin released Wolfsbane, thinking victory was already in the bag.
But then a massive heavy warhammer appeared from behind!
The hammer smashed down viciously onto the Borisin's head!
It never could've expected that blow.
Even with the helmet absorbing some of it, it was still knocked flat—helmet shattered, blood spilling out.
After the soldier finished off the enemy in front of him, his gaze turned uneasy.
Because the number of Heliobi was limited. There was no way everyone could be assigned one.
For example—
Sora had outright refused the Heliobi's help.
"Feng Liqi, you just focus on helping Ahri. I've got my own way on my side."
As for Sora's method…
...
Mount Buzhou's summit.
Bolue's body was gradually restoring itself completely.
He looked at Sora and shook his head.
"My Wolfsbane has undergone special evolution. Go on—savor it properly."
Back when he'd been at the Intelligentsia Guild, this had cost him every last friend he had.
Only after he'd come into contact with Dr. Primitive did he finally bring this talent under control.
Yes—control, not elimination.
With Dr. Primitive's help, the Wolfsbane in his body that could provoke fear was all condensed into his blood.
And because of that, the Wolfsbane in his blood kept concentrating, the effect growing stronger and stronger.
After testing it, the fear created by a single drop of that concentrated poison had once even driven people's minds into collapse.
And that was only one drop.
But just now, Sora had been splashed all over with the blood that burst from Bolue's body.
A mind collapsing might already be the lightest effect.
That thing might even reach the point of erasing a personality.
"When it gets to that… maybe you can even become one of my subordinates."
Bolue savored the future in his head—and then, right then, he heard a strange sound.
He turned around, and only then saw it:
Sora's body—briefly knocked unconscious by fear—was now moving on its own, for no apparent reason.
This is…
"ROAR!!!"
As Bolue hesitated, Sora suddenly threw his head back and let out a massive, sky-shaking roar.
With that roar, even the snowflakes began to jitter in irregular patterns under the shockwave.
Bolue's brows knitted tight.
Just what the hell is this guy…?
Before he could make sense of it, the roar ended.
"You weren't affected?" Bolue asked.
But unfortunately, there was no reply.
Crack—
Sora rolled his neck, bones popping with a crisp sound.
Still no response to Bolue. He only bent down, as if nothing mattered, and picked up the axe.
After picking it up, "Sora" paused, as if momentarily blank.
He swung it twice, apparently puzzled why this thing was so short—why it didn't feel quite right in his hand.
But… whatever.
"Sora" twisted his neck, eyes locking onto Bolue, who had been watching like it was a show.
Bolue suddenly felt a cold shiver rise from somewhere deep in his body. He couldn't help taking a step back.
That feeling—like running into a top-tier predator…
Just what kind of thing is this guy?
And then the next instant, Sora spread his wings and brought the axe down at him!
---
T/N: WOAHHHHHHHHHHHH also COMMENT!!!!!!! OR DROP!!!! I NEED TO SEE IF THE WAY IM TRANSLATING RN IS WORSE THAN BEFORE