Chapter 214: Battle Between Emperors (2)

The Scarlet Heart had immediately opened with a killing blow. Goncourt sighed as he tossed the skull of the Tattooed Rau into the air. The skull expanded on its own as it flew through the air, opening its maw at the oncoming wave of death. The countless Death Withering Snakes entered the skull’s mouth, which contained a separate isolated void. As soon as the two forces collided, a chaotic mix of green and black Origin Energy began to fight against each other.

The Scarlet Heart sighed, “You opposed me previously in life and now in death. I suppose I should allow you to rest.”

A red light shone from the tricolored staff, and a wave of destructive flames surged forth.

The Tattooed Rau controlled wood- and earth-type energy, allowing it to counter the Scarlet Heart’s elements of water and darkness. The Scarlet Heart had then mastered the use of fire in order to defeat it, but before he was able to do so, he had learned that the Tattooed Rau had died at the hands of the Ravagers.

As such, these flames were the kryptonite of the Tattooed Rau.

The Scarlet Heart had unleashed his most powerful fire, the Azure Dragon Flames. These flames did not have any spectacular visual manifestations, and yet they burned with an incredible power. The flames burned so intensely that they melted the nearby mountain rock, and moments after it was brought out, a large sea of flames had enveloped their surroundings.

The Tattooed Rau couldn’t withstand this frightening onslaught of energy.

However, Goncourt could.

“Yah!” Goncourt suddenly cried out with a strange inflection.

“Yah!” All of the Ancestors standing behind Goncourt chanted back in unison.

At that moment, an ancient chant rose to the sky. As it reverberated through the air, the surging flames actually began to dissipate.

“Hou, An……” More of the primal chant was uttered, turning into something with an actual physical form in the air. This was an incredibly strange sight, ineffable with just words alone. Sound had actually taken on the physical form of a cage, trapping the flames within.

“Sound Prison,” the Scarlet Heart muttered to himself. “But there’s no point in using something like that against me.”

His hand then trembled slightly. The very fabric of space itself rumbled violently in response.

This was another aspect of the Dark Blue domain’s influence.

All of the Ancestors caught within this domain immediately felt a vast pressure push down on them, greatly hindering them from continuing to support the chant.

Actually, this secret chanting technique was also related to the application of Origin Energy. It could restrict the flames precisely because Origin Energy was the best at combating Origin Energy.

But as long as the Ancestors were within the Dark Blue Domain, this kind of situation was bound to happen.

It had been fine before the Scarlet Heart had activated the Dark Blue Domain, but once it was activated, all of the Ravagers immediately felt the powerful restrictions burdening them.

“Hiss!”

The rhythm of the chant started to slow down. This rhythm was related to the power of the chant; when the power of the chant was suppressed, then the rhythm of the chant would begin to slow down.

Bang!

A massive explosion rang out.

The flames had broken through the sound cage.

Flames were constructed of energy, but this energy acted as if it were moldable dough when it was caught between the hands of these two opponents. If they wanted it to be round, it was round; if they wanted it to be flat, it was flat; if they wanted to tear it in half, it was torn in half. If sound could become a cage, then the flames could break out of that cage, transforming into a long flaming dragon and charging forward, its strength not diminished in the slightest.

The Origin Energy in the surroundings was once again depleted, but this time, no turbulent flows of Origin Energy appeared. Instead, the Origin Energy was being replenished by outside Origin Energy from a continually expanding radius; it all poured into this attack, causing it to grow stronger and stronger.

This was the attack of an Emperor-level existence.

The power of his attack could be set at its onset, or it could increase through a process of accumulation and compression.

At the same time, eighteen Ancestors simultaneously increased the volume of their chants, growing even more intense and frenzied. The hundreds of Ravager Imperial Guards beside them charged out to attack.

As the Emperor’s personal guards, their whole purpose for existing was to challenge powerful individuals.

The unique Demon-Defying Totems they possessed allowed them to resist blasts of Origin Energy, and the secret techniques they possessed allowed them to unleash attacks at the cost of their own life force that even Emperor-level experts were forced to respect.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Three handaxes whistled through the air, aimed at the Scarlet Heart. At the same time, the bodies of the three warriors who had thrown the axes began to disintegrate. This was an attack that had the power of their entire life force behind it. Perhaps these attacks would only slightly wound the Scarlet Heart, or perhaps they might not even wound him at all. But at the very least, they posed a threat to him, and that was enough!

This was the fate of an Emperor’s Imperial Guard!

The Scarlet Heart’s left hand, which had remained motionless the entire time, flicked out with three fingers. The three handaxes shattered before they could get anywhere close to the Scarlet Heart’s body.

However, even more Ravager Imperial Guards charged forward in response, stirring up a violent wave of energy. Their barbaric anger and rage boiled over as even more flying axes flew through the air, each one threatening to rip open a hole in the fabric of space.

At the same time, the volume of Goncourt’s chanting also began to increase.

A massive black silhouette appeared behind his back. It also wielded a handaxe that it used to hack at the Scarlet Heart. Even though the silhouette was obviously illusory, its attack was filled with a real, peerless strength.

“A Guardian Soul! You’ve really got a lot of treasures on you!” the Scarlet Heart said with some astonishment in his voice.

This Guardian Soul was refined from the soul that the founder of the Inferno Tribe, Alexander Inferno, had offered up after his death. This would allow him to continue protecting the Inferno Tribe even after his death.

While he was alive, this person had been an unparalleled general. After he died, he had become an equally incredibly powerful spirit.

As the axe descended, the Scarlet Heart felt for the first time that it was impossible for him to dodge this attack.

He sighed.

“Oh well.”

As he sighed, the Dark Blue Domain suddenly erupted, and vibrant blue light scattered everywhere.

Under the intense glare of the blue light, all of the axes became incredibly slow.

At the same time, the Scarlet Heart closed his fist. The flame dragon actually flew back into his hands, howling as it circled in the air like a real dragon.

The black gem on the tricolored staff shone once again. This time, however, the target was not the Scarlet Heart’s opponent but rather the flaming dragon itself.

The flames on the dragon began to darken, and the once vibrant, red flames took on a deep black luster.

“Go and destroy them!” the Scarlet Heart howled madly.

A scarlet, flaming light once again surged through the sky.

The black lightning had mixed with the scarlet blood, turning into a frightening nightmare that began to attack wildly. Anyone who saw it felt an unexplainable wave of nausea and dizziness wash over them.

Even a few of the supporting Ancestors were affected, and their chanting became slightly sluggish. The dark-scarlet wave took advantage of the lapse in their attention to enter their bodies.

Boom, boom, boom! Their bodies exploded on the spot, sending chunks of flesh flying all over the battlefield.

“Hiss!” An eardrum-piercing hiss boomed in the sky.

The Tattooed Rau furiously attempted to swallow the dark-scarlet energy, stubbornly resisting the influence of the Dark Blue Domain. The massive Guardian Spirit also continued to attack with its axe, exuding a mournful, fierce aura.

The Scarlet Heart finally made a move personally.

This was the first time he had moved this entire battle. He faded from view, then mysteriously reappeared at a different location.

At the same time that he shifted, even more axes came hurtling in his direction.

The Imperial Guards charged forwards without any regard for their own lives. They exchanged their own life force for a mere opportunity to wound the emperor.

These attacks were the weakest between the attacks of the Ancestors and the Guardian Spirit.

That was the reason, however, that these attacks were actually able to hit the Scarlet Heart — because the attacks were so weak, they were allowed to pass because he didn’t want to divert too much of his attention to them.

Pu!

One of the flying axes shattered the Scarlet Heart’s barrier, drawing a small thin line of blood from his elbow as blood sprayed from the wound.

The wound was so small that it had virtually no effect on him, and it closed up almost immediately.

In the next moment, however, even more flying axes came crashing down upon him.

The Scarlet Heart was forced to dodge yet again. As long as he was within the Dark Blue Domain, he could move as he pleased, but the cost was that the Dark Blue Domain’s restrictive power would weaken, naturally resulting in…...

Boom!

When the Scarlet Heart reappeared yet again, a massive black shadow enveloped him almost instantaneously.

“ROAR!”

The Scarlet Heart howled in pain. The Guardian Spirit’s powerful axe had landed right on top of him. It hadn’t chopped him in two, but his consciousness felt like it was being torn apart. Though, he would rather have had his body be chopped in two, since he could recover from that due to his Demonic Emperor strength. However, this feeling of having his consciousness torn to shreds was difficult for him to endure, and it had dealt him a heavy blow.

Another dark-scarlet wave appeared, crashing into the Guardian Spirit and sending it flying. At the same time, a different black wave appeared. All of the Ancestors caught in the Dark Blue Domain were struck by this new wave.

The Scarlet Heart had opened with a killing move, but now after being struck so viciously, he began to use restrictive skills. By relying on the Dark Blue Domain and the Black Wave of Death, he was able to ignore the effects of the chants and envelop everyone within his domain with that wave.

The bodies of the Ancestors began to decay. Even Goncourt was no exception.

He immediately ingested seven or eight medicines to help him deal with the effects of the Black Wave of Death, but all that did was stop the decaying effects for him. The other Ancestors quickly rotted away into skeletons. In contrast, the Imperial Guards were able to effectively ignore this attack — after all, they died as soon as they attacked, so even the strongest attacks were of no great use against them.

Whoosh!

Another vast wave of attacks descended from the sky, seemingly able to split clouds and break rain.

The Imperial Guards charged forwards, each filled with a heroic valor, one after another, madly unleashing their life force to attack the Scarlet Heart.

Flying axes rained down from the sky!

Bang, bang, bang, bang! The Imperial Guards exploded one after another as they killed themselves.

The Guardian Spirit’s attacks were also still descending. Goncourt had taken out twelve additional skulls by now. As the Head Ancestor of the Divine Shrine, he had quite a few tricks up his sleeves.

The Scarlet Heart was once again faced with a decision, caught between facing one attack or the other multitudes of attacks swarming towards him.

He could only choose to face the flying axes.

The thunder-infused axes rained down like meteorites on the Scarlet Heart, causing blood to spray everywhere from his body.

“No!” he howled.

The flaming dragon grew longer, sweeping its body in all directions. In an instant, the flames covered an area a thousand feet in diameter, and thousands of Imperial Guards were burned to a crisp almost instantaneously.

However, the Guardian Spirit had managed to hit him yet again, causing his consciousness to feel like it was splitting even more. The pain almost caused him to go insane. He could only try to dodge away yet again. At the same moment that he reappeared, however, the Tattooed Rau’s skull had given up on consuming the Origin Energy and instead flew forth, charging right at the Scarlet Heart. Its two razor-sharp teeth sank into the Scarlet Heart’s body. At the same time, the Tattooed Rau shattered, detonating a powerful burst of energy deep into the Scarlet Heart’s body.

“AH!” The Scarlet Heart tilted its head back and howled bitterly with pain.

“What a pity. There goes the skull of one emperor,” Gucha murmured. “But it’s fine if we get another one, I suppose.”

“I…… will remember you!”

The Scarlet Heart gnashed his teeth as he bitterly spat out these words. The staff in his hand shone radiantly for a brief moment before it shattered.

In that instant, the red, blue, and black lights shone piercingly all at the same time, forming a tidal wave of energy that surged in all directions.

“ROAR!” The Guardian Spirit similarly slashed out with its most powerful strike yet as Goncourt similarly attacked with his Universe Reversing Finger.

Boom!

Heaven and Earth alike were swallowed up indiscriminately by the colossal waves of energy crashing in all directions.