Above the bone tail, dark red blood lightning hissed and coiled around [Kong]'s pierced body like a living venomous snake.
That was no mere electrical burn, but destructive energy imbued with magic power.
They bored into his pores, invaded his blood vessels, and spread frantically along his neural pathways; everywhere they passed, cellular structures were forcibly dismantled and annihilated, turning into the finest charred dust.
"Ugh, aaaaaah——!!!"
A shrill scream, sounding barely human, squeezed out of [Kong]'s throat.
He wanted to struggle, wanted to activate his talent to escape, but under Lilith's tangible crimson killing intent and the dual blockade of the Blood Domain's energy, the energy inside his body felt like a frozen quagmire.
His talent felt as if it were being held in a death grip by an invisible hand; he couldn't stir even the slightest ripple.
He could only watch helplessly, feeling with absolute clarity as that blood-colored lightning slowly devoured every inch of his body.
Flesh carbonized and peeled away, bones shattered into powder, and internal organs turned into charred filth.
The process was cruel and precise, like a demonstration of lingchi—death by a thousand cuts—targeted at the very structure of life.
A thick, nauseating smell of blood mixed with the stench of scorched protein permeated the entire courtyard, weighing heavily on everyone's noses and hearts.
Dead silence.
Only [Kong]'s screams, growing weaker and more desperate with each cry, served as the sole background noise for this brutal execution.
The representatives of various factions, whether they were peak powerhouses with SSS-Level Talents or the elites accompanying them, stared at this scene in silence.
Some had solemn gazes, some were expressionless, and some had a flash of pity in their eyes, but for most, there was deep apprehension.
It wasn't that they hadn't seen death; in dungeons and factional struggles, deaths even more tragic than this were common occurrences.
But right now, the executioner was a girl who looked so young, so delicate, and even possessed a hint of inhuman beauty.
And what she was doing was executing an SS-Rank Hunter in a manner of torture that was almost a performance, right in front of a small group of the world's top elites.
This intense contrast of cruelty brought an impact far greater than simple violence.
It silently proclaimed a type of coldness and absolute control that transcended common sense.
A disregard for her own power, for the life and death of her enemies, and for the psychological bottom lines of everyone present.
America... or rather, the emerging American power represented by this [Ye], possessed a strength and dominance that even surpassed the impression of that global hegemon from the old era.
She didn't rely on aircraft carriers or dollars, but on the most primitive and naked power of individual destruction to carve the words 'inviolable' onto everyone's retinas.
Finally, [Kong]'s last faint whimper cut off.
With a gentle shake of the bone tail, that broken husk, which no longer resembled a human form, completely disintegrated.
It turned into sticky fragments and charcoal, hitting the stone floor in front of Lilith's combat boots with a splat, pooling into a startling mess of filth.
Lilith expressionlessly cracked her tail like a whip; the air exploded, and the shockwave blew against everyone's faces, as if declaring her absolute hegemony.
Lilith then flicked the blood on her bone tail onto the ground.
She didn't even spare a glance at the remains beneath her feet as her crimson vertical pupils calmly swept over the people in the courtyard.
Her gaze finally landed on Luna of the Dragon Country delegation and Xuan Wu, whose expression remained unsightly.
In those eyes, there was no victor's arrogance, nor was there provocation; there was only a bottomless icy chill, as if she had just crushed nothing more than an ant.
The air in the courtyard remained stagnant, but the tense killing intent slowly dissipated with [Kong]'s demise, replaced by an even more complex and indescribable atmosphere.
"Ahem."
The brief silence was broken.
A white man coughed lightly, looked at the awkward atmosphere, and spoke up.
"Everyone, I believe our primary purpose for gathering here is not to watch the settlement of personal grudges. The agreement still needs to be signed."
His words pulled everyone's thoughts back to reality.
Indeed, while [Kong]'s death was shocking, the real theme today was establishing the rules of the game for the scramble for strange artifacts.
The subsequent process became exceptionally concise, one might even say perfunctory.
The previously drafted restrictive agreement was placed before everyone.
There were only a few core clauses, and the content was very simple.
Mutual restraint: if any party uses thermal weapons, then the remaining parties have the right to immediately use the current most deterrent thermal weapon—nuclear weapons—on that party's homeland.
Any party that does not use nuclear weapons against them will be considered of the same ilk and treated as a target for attack.
This single restriction cleanly limited the use of thermal weaponry, forcing the struggle to rely purely on raw strength.
It was like the Sword of Damocles, hanging high over every nation's head.
The top powerhouses of every major country were gathered here; once thermal weapons joined the fray, it would only escalate, eventually spiraling into a world-class total war.
Nuclear weapons, which were the final trump card in the old era, had become a crude shackle to maintain a minimum level of order in the new world.
It ensured that no party would dare to easily escalate a conflict into a full-scale hot war, because that would mean mutual destruction, the end of humanity.
No one was in the mood to argue over this restriction.
The overwhelming individual martial force Lilith had just displayed, along with the suddenly tense yet subtly restrained relationship between America and Dragon Country, made everyone understand.
The core stage of this scramble would inevitably belong to the monsters at the top of these two giants.
Perhaps that always silent, deep-auraed Indian representative—Brahma, ranked third on the Hunter leaderboard—had the ability to intervene.
But other countries could mostly only act as witnesses or seek a minuscule opportunity in the cracks.
The signing process was silent and swift, as representatives of various countries signed one after another, leaving their nation's mark.
There were no pleasantries, no formalities.
Once the agreement was signed, the representatives quickly led their respective teams out of the courtyard, as if escaping some suffocating pressure field.
Everyone's heart was heavy; the scene of [Kong] being tortured to death intertwined with that cold nuclear deterrence agreement, outlining the cruelest undertones of this new era.
Individual power could reach the pinnacle, but the shadow of collective destruction was never far away.
Meanwhile, the eyes of some quick-witted Western faction representatives flickered as they departed.
Dragon Country couldn't have been unaware of [Kong]'s situation, yet they brought [Kong] here anyway.
There was only one reason: Dragon Country wanted to borrow someone else's blade to kill, resolving internal troubles!
But Dragon Country's concession today and the internal issues exposed by this matter—regardless of the truth—would be excellent weapons for public opinion.
With just a little guidance, the status Dragon Country had accumulated would plummet.
Now that America had shown a new, sharp edge centered around [Ye], perhaps it was time to reconsider alliances.
Just like in the old era, forming a Western alliance around America—this thought quietly sprouted in many people's minds.