"You..."
"Don't forget... your opponent..."
"Is me..."
Xich Nhan Hac Long glared at Van Thien. He brought a hand up to his face, bursting into a crazed, manic laugh.
"Ha ha ha!"
"You really are a stubborn piece of work, aren't you?"
As he spoke, the red-and-black aura swirling around his body erupted with surging intensity, twisting and distorting the very space around him.
"In that case... I will slaughter you first!"
Yet, Van Thien's gaze did not waver for a single fraction of a second. Instead, it burned with unyielding, fierce determination. He raised his hand, clenching his fingers into a fist as rigid as solid stone. Dropping his center of gravity, he slithered into a combat stance.
"Then come at me."
Over by Hung Dao Dai Vuong's side, Bao Uyen looked down below. The Tran military and Xich Nhan Hac Long's forces were locked in a brutal, chaotic clash; the battlefield was utter pandemonium. Her eyes then drifted into the distance, locking onto where Van Thien stood. A deep, consuming anxiety clouded her eyes as her fingers tightly gripped the now-extinguished necklace resting against her collarbone.
"Brother Thien..." she murmured under her breath.
With his gaze still fixed on the raging warfare below, Hung Dao Dai Vuong suddenly spoke, his voice steady and resonant.
"Do not worry so much, young lady."
Bao Uyen jolted slightly, reflexively turning her head toward him.
Despite standing amidst the relentless clashing of swords and spears, His Highness remained as tranquil as a motionless lake. His eyes never left the brave soldiers fighting down below. He added in a calm yet resolute tone:
"The spirit of our lands and mountains has chosen him. The citizens of Quang Yen are shielding his back. This battle will undoubtedly end in absolute victory."
Hearing those steel-hard words, a wave of relief washed over Bao Uyen's racing heart. Yet, a trace of worry for Van Thien lingered within her; after all, his body had been severely battered by the continuous fighting. She turned her eyes back toward him. Though her fist remained clenched around the necklace, a fierce, unwavering faith ignited inside her—Van Thien would absolutely win this.
Between Van Thien and Xich Nhan Hac Long, the surrounding air suddenly turned suffocatingly thick, and the wind sweeping across the river ceased entirely.
Xich Nhan Hac Long thrust his hand straight toward Van Thien. Instantly, chains of crimson-and-black energy shot forward like homing missiles, their dense dark fog ripping through the atmosphere and leaving vacuum trails in their wake.
When the incoming chains were mere inches from impact, Van Thien's eyes flashed. He ducked low, letting the projectiles streak past. For a fleeting moment, it seemed he had evaded them, but without warning, the chains snapped backward, redirecting their trajectory straight at his blind spot.
"What the...!"
Van Thien gritted his teeth, tilting his body sharply sideways to dodge. However, the chains didn't just move in straight lines; they undulated wildly like violent waves. He forced his body as close to the ground as possible, but a stray chain imbued with dark aura clipped his right shoulder. The searing heat from the corrupt energy caused a patch of fabric on his shoulder to hiss and sizzle, instantly burning away into black smoke.
A sharp, stinging agony flared across his shoulder, radiating down his entire arm. He winced, but his eyes remained glued to the shifting mass of iron before him. In that split second, a bright sapphire hue ignited within his pupils. The crimson-and-black chains surged forward again like a gale, but this time, they didn't converge from one direction—they fanned out, weaving a net of death that completely enclosed Van Thien.
Yet, Van Thien did not panic. It was as if he could perceive their trajectories before they even moved. He subtly tilted his head, rolled his shoulder to the side, and took a half-step back. Each and every chain scraped past his body, missing him by mere millimeters.
Xich Nhan Hac Long's eyes narrowed—not in anger, but in pure astonishment.
"Hmm..."
The chains whipped at him relentlessly, refusing to give him a moment to breathe. Even though he could read the movement of the iron links, they kept coming at him like a pack of ravenous wolves pouncing on their prey. He managed to evade one, only for two or three more to instantly crash inward at blinding speed. One link grazed his right leg; another tore past the center of his forehead. The radiant heat from the red-and-black energy left his leg and forehead burning fiercely.
Beads of crimson blood welled from the wound on his brow, dripping straight into his eye and forcing him to squint against the stinging discomfort. He could feel the raw, scalding burn as sweat mingled with the open cut. His breathing grew heavy and ragged from the non-stop evasion. Pressing his hand against his chest, he could feel his heart hammering violently against his ribs, thumping harder and faster with every passing second.
In that momentary lapse of focus, a chain materialized right before his face. Before he could react, a blunt, thousand-ton force slammed squarely into his left flank. The sheer, crushing impact caused his body to bend backward like a violently overstretched bow. His entire form was blasted backward, sent flying through the air like a torn leaf caught in a hurricane.
Boom!
His back collided brutally with the reinforced metallic bulkhead of the starship's hangar. The collision was so immense that the thick steel plating deformed, denting deeply inward. Clusters of electric sparks erupted from the ruptured internal circuitry, bursting and spraying wildly into the dark.
He collapsed to the floor, his knees buckling heavily. A piercing, agonizing pain tore through his left flank and shot straight up to his brain, turning his vision into a blurry haze for a fraction of a second. He could distinctly hear the dry, hollow crack of his ribs fracturing beneath his flesh. His lungs felt as if they were being suffocated in a vice grip; the breath was violently forced out of his chest, leaving him unable to draw a full breath. A thick, metallic taste of bitter blood welled up in his throat. He coughed violently, and a mouthful of warm blood spilled out, staining his chin.
With a trembling hand, he wiped the blood from his lips and forced his bloodshot eyes forward. But the enemy granted him no time to recover. Amidst the swirling smoke and the relentless flashing of the red warning sirens, the ominous, whistling roar of rushing iron chains echoed once more. This time, they did not split apart; instead, they fused together, manifesting as a colossal serpent that plummeted straight down toward the crown of his head.
K-Boom!!!
An explosion rocked the deck. Up above, Xich Nhan Hac Long smirked, his face glowing with smug satisfaction. But as the smoke gradually dispersed, the arrogance in his eyes instantly froze.
Van Thien was still there, sitting on his knees. His bare hands were locked in a death grip around the colossal chain hovering right above his head. The veins on his arms bulged like thick green cords, his facial features contorted in pure strain. Blood dripped steadily from his lips, splattering onto the starship's deck plating. Though his hands remained firmly anchored to the weapon before him, his head bowed down, and his lips parted in a low whisper:
"Still... not enough."
He let out a breath. Though his respirations were heavy and labored, he consciously regulated his intake, forcing his muscles to relax. The necklace around his neck began to vibrate intensely, and then—
"Eight percent."
The moment the words left his lips, his entire body erupted in a brilliant aura of sapphire light. The necklace on his chest flared with a blinding azure luminescence. The surging energy from the artifact cascaded downward, rippling across his torso, flooding into his shoulders, his forearms, and finally his wrists. Within that brilliant blue radiance, a deep, vibrant magenta hue began to interweave. The pupils of Van Thien's eyes shifted into a deep jade green, laced with flecks of bright magenta.
Van Thien's gaze locked entirely onto Xich Nhan Hac Long. His muscles tensed as he began to forcibly lift the massive chain. Inch by inch, the heavy iron link was pushed upward. Seeing this, Xich Nhan Hac Long threw his hand down, exerting all his might to force the chain back down. The iron links groaned under the opposing pressures, beginning to descend.
Van Thien bared his teeth in a snarl. The deck beneath his boots began to crack and splinter under the downward force of the chain. Gritting his teeth, he channeled even more power; his aura flared violently. He drove his arms up, pushing the mass higher. Shifting his foot to the side to lock his posture, he threw his entire weight and the full explosive force of his legs into a massive upward heave.
Xich Nhan Hac Long's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
"Impossible!"
Before the demon could break from his stupor, Van Thien snapped his arms back, twisting his entire body to hurl the chain high into the air. Without breaking momentum, he balled his hand into a tight fist. As he gathered his strength, the mixture of azure and magenta light coalesced directly into the palm of his hand.
As the massive chain came crashing back down toward him, Van Thien's vision tunneled. The moment the iron links were a mere hair's breadth from his face, he unleashed the full magnitude of his power, driving an devastating uppercut straight up.
The instant his fist collided with the chain, the surrounding atmosphere detonated. A violent shockwave tore through the air, sending shattered debris and loose stones hurtling outward. Even the waters of the Bach Dang River rippled and churned violently under the sheer pressure. After a tense moment, the chaos subsided, settling into a dead, eerie silence. Nothing happened.
Seeing this, Xich Nhan Hac Long's eyes crinkled as a mocking laugh escaped him.
"Ha ha!"
"And here I thought what your eight percent power would look like."
"Turns out, it amounts to nothing more than this!"
But then—
Crack.
A dry, sharp fracture echoed through the stagnant air. Xich Nhan Hac Long's laughter died instantly, replaced by utter confusion.
"What was that sound?"
Crack.
Crack.
The sound echoed again, sharper and more distinct this time. His gaze snapped toward the source of the noise. In an instant, absolute, paralyzing horror gripped his eyes. His colossal chain... was fracturing.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Fissure after fissure spider-webbed across the massive iron links, spreading rapidly across the entire structure. And then—
Clang!
A deafening metallic shatter—like a sledgehammer striking an anvil—echoed through the hangar. The massive chain exploded into countless fragments, the broken shards raining down through the air like a flurry of white snow. Xich Nhan Hac Long stared, utterly stupefied by the sight.
"No... This cannot be... It's impossible!"
Before the words could fully form in his throat, a streak of blue light flashed before his eyes. Van Thien lunged forward, driving a heavy, axe-like kick straight into the center of Xich Nhan Hac Long's abdomen.
"Gah!"
The raw majesty of the impact blasted the demon backward. He skidded violently across the sandy shore, leaving a deep trench in his wake before rolling to a stop, motionless.
Van Thien lowered his leg, his icy, piercing gaze fixed firmly on Xich Nhan Hac Long, never wavering for a single breath.