Jared thumped his chest once, bold as dawn. "Open those mongrel eyes wide. I''m standing right here. You promised to peel my spirit, to burn me well,e collect!"


    "I''ll face you with nothing but Human Immortal Realm Level Six cultivation-and one hand tied if that helps your pride. Should I so much as frown, I''ll dly take your name as my own."


    The brag rattled even the Draconians; scales clinked as they exchanged uncertain looks, while behind them, Soul Devourer''s fury rose like a blood moon over ruin.


    Coall edged closer, his rough whisper trembling over the torn gstones. "Mr. Chance-aren''t you pushing confidence a touch too far?"


    After all, the creature across from them was a relic of the abyss, an ancient terror that had brooded for tens of thousands of silent, murderous years.


    "Excellent-splendid how deliciously foolish!" The Soul Devourer let out augh that scraped like talons across te. "Since you are so hungry for death, allow me to serve it to you myself."


    "All of you, attack together if you wish. By day''s end you will learn what it means to insult a sovereign of the heavens."


    In that moment, the fiend vowed to break Jared cell by cell, savoring every scream until his own rage cooled.


    Jared lifted a hand, stopping Coall and the warriors who bristled for action behind him. "Hold the formation and steady the field. One toothless cur is hardly worth a crowd, and I''m more than enough to cage it."


    He rolled his neck-the joints popped like splitting timber-then called the Dragonyer Sword into his palm. The de answered with a low metallic hum as he pointed its tip at the dark throne. "Come on, old mutt. Die where you stand!"


    Power raged through him in bright, unchecked rivers. His aura shot skyward, a banner of raw intent. Inside, strength hammered against his veins he felt as though a single punch might shatter stars.


    With chaos energy, woven Heavenly Laws, and hidden cards yet unyed, he believed he could overstep realms and break this soul remnant with ease.


    "Ignorant whelp! I will show you the weight of a celestial lord''s power!" the Soul Devourer roared.


    The skeletal throne exploded behind him. His condensed soul twisted into a ck torrent that split the sky, dragging with it the hatred of the entire Soulgrave Abyss and sweeping toward Jared like a tide meant to erase worlds.


    "Perfect timing! Five Elements Sword Domain, open! Time Deceleration!"


    Jared''s shout rang like steel on steel as he hurled himself into the oing night.


    Color red. The Five Elements Sword Domain blossomed in an instant, its radiance folding both time and distance, tugging the Soul Devourer toward Jared''s chosen rhythm.


    The battle ignited in a single breath.


    At first, Jared fought like living thunder, every stroke of Dragonyer Sword fused withyered Heavenly Laws. des of multicolored light cut from impossible angles, forcing the soul-torrent to split and recoil.


    Time stuttered around the fiend, motions jerking half a heartbeatte. Warped pockets of space rose like ssy walls, turning many assaults aside. For several glorious exchanges, Jared''s momentum felt unbreakable.


    "Is that it, you mangy cur? Some celestial lord-you''re all bark and no bite!" Jared taunted, a sun-bright sh of sword intent nearly ripping through the fiend''s core.


    The Soul Devourer grunted, soul fire flickering as the near-miss shaved away a shard of darkness-and Jared''s confidence surged all the higher.


    A muffled snarl escaped the abyssal torrent; its inner fire pulsed, wounded but far from extinguished.


    That minor victory fanned Jared''s resolve into a ze.


    Yet as the minutes bled on, a subtle wrongness crept under his skin-the rhythm he had set now felt heavier, slower, as though some unseen undertow had begun to drag him toward depths he had not nned to visit.


    ет


    Soul Devourer''s tide of soul energy felt bottomless, an ink-dark ocean that only grew deeper the longer Jared stared into it. He wielded that power with the ease of a concert maestro. Every ripple, every current, every unseen undertow responded to his slightest whim.


    Jared''s sword light-brilliant arcs drawn from the Five Elements Sword Domain-kept scoring the phantom physical body in front of him, yet each cut merely shaved off a wisp of gloom that the


    surrounding sea of resentment refilled in a heartbeat.


    Not even attacks aimed solely at the soul could touch the monster. Soul Devourer swallowed such assaults the way wildfire swallows dry grass, turning them into more of his own strength.


    What unsettled Jared most was the man''s experience. Soul Devourer anticipated every feint, every hidden


    thythm stipping aside with insulting


    economy while looking for the one seam in Jared''s Heavenly Law he had not yet patched.


    When the counterblows came, they were in, almostzy swats—yet each one probed a soft spot in Jared''s divine soul, a hairline crack in thew weave he relied on for bnce.


    Boom!


    The next collision rattled the heavens. Jared''s Five Elements Sword Domain shuddered like stained ss struck by a war-hammer, its multicoloredttice veining with spider cracks that promised to burst at any second.