The Yang-Sovereign struck back first into the arena ground, an arena designed to withstand the most brutal of impacts. The arena ground barely broke as the Yang-Sovereign smashed into it, his body absorbing most of the impact.

Bang!

John slammed down on the Yang-Sovereign an instant later, his momentum and power so great that his legs shattered from the impact, turning into a bloody red mist as his bones pierced through his skin in several places, while his flesh and muscles ripped apart.

The Yang-Sovereigns chest shattered from the brutal impact, which was akin to an entire mountain falling directly on top of him. A burst of blood shot out of the Yang-Sovereign’s mouth, who despite being used as a meat shield to pierce through the Yang-Lotus walls, and despite crashing into the arena ground with enough force to kill a Half-Step World Expansion cultivator, was still conscious, his power still relatively intact.

The Yang-Sovereign growled at John who was mounted atop him, ready to pummel the Sovereign to death. The Yang-Sovereign breathed in deeply, drawing in a strong surge of Yang Qi from the Lotus above, restoring his power, mending some of his more gruesome wounds.

Then he opened his mouth and sneered, his mouth glowing brightly, a Yang power to rival the most powerful of volcanos emerging from within. After his attack, John’s legs had yet to fully heal, and were still quite damaged, indicating that his healing ability was almost done.

With this point-blank attack, he was as good as dead.

Che!

The Yang-Sovereign’s eyes went wide with sheer horror and disbelief as a sword suddenly pierced directly through his heart, its speed and sharpness far too great for him to notice, let alone react to in his damaged state.

His wide eyes looked upwards, then found the Sword-Saint hovering in the sky just below the opening in the Yang-Lotus that John had created. The Sword-Saint had unleashed his Divine Sword Pierces the Firmament sword art, an art that focused on absolute speed over anything else.

His heart suddenly pierced, the Yang-Sovereign’s battle art surged out of control, exploding within before it could be unleashed. A burst of Yang Qi emanated from the Yang-Sovereign’s mouth, followed by him coughing up a combination of blood and ash. At the same time, blood spurted from the sword wound in the Yang-Sovereign’s chest, followed by another burst of blood as the Sword-Saint withdrew his miles long sword, which retracted to its normal length.

Then the Sword-Saint, his face white as paper, his aura as weak as a candle, fell from the sky, his power gone, his body beyond grievously wounded and spent.

“Father!” Ji’Han roared as he raced towards the falling Sword-Saint, whose body slammed into the arena ground a short while later, rebounding off the ground with a sickening crunch.

The Yang-Sovereign, eyes wide with panic, reached out to the Yang-Lotus, his one remaining arm reaching up into the sky as if to grab the lotus itself.

“Help…me,” the Yang-Sovereign said weakly, as if speaking to the lotus itself. “I have…always cared for…you. Help…me.”

“You…enslaved me!” an almost childlike voice, both immature and ethereal, sounded out throughout the entire Yang-Sphere, coming from above. Everyone looked up in surprise, not expecting the Lotus to be able to speak, let alone converse out loud with the Sovereign.

“I…I did that for the great-”

Bang!

A fist suddenly smashed into the Yang-Sovereign’s face, breaking bones and sending blood flying in all directions.

“Hahahaha! Die!!!” John shrieked with a look of thrilling bloodlust on his face, interrupting the Yang-Sovereign before he could finish his sentence.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mounted atop the Yang-Sovereign, John reigned fist after fist down on the Sovereign’s face, each punch as powerful as a falling mountain, its power shattering both face and fist with every blow.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The blows reigned down ceaselessly, hundreds every second, each punch shaking the arena as if a monstrously powerful battle art had exploded, followed by another, and another.

The crowd, eyes wide with horror, disbelief, shock, and a million other similar emotions, watched on as the most demonic of creatures they had ever seen, one who could hardly be recognized at John anymore, reigned down a barrage of punches onto the Yang-Sovereign’s face without any end in sight.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

After several thousand attacks, John’s fists were nearly no more, replaced by fleshy masses at the end of his shattered arms. And yet, he continued to bash the Yang-Sovereign’s face as if he didn’t feel any of the pain at all, focusing on absolute destruction and carnage instead.

“Hahahaha!” his shrieking, maniacal laughter boomed throughout the arena, the sounds accompanied only by those who were still being sucked up into the Yang-Lotus, their powers leaving their bodies, their bodies used to quench the lotus’ power.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

John reveled in the feeling of obliterating the Yang-Sovereign’s face, which was now more of a mass of destroyed flesh than anything else. The Sovereign’s face was no more, his power was no more, his lifeforce was becoming weaker by the second.

And yet, John continued breaking the Yang-Sovereign apart, the impact of the Sovereign’s face caving beneath his fists too enjoyable, the sight of the Sovereigns’ blood flying too exquisite, the feeling of the Sovereign’s fleeting lifeforce beyond intoxicating.

It was the most enjoyable sensation he had ever felt in his life, his thirst for blood, slaughter and destruction growing by the second. It was an unquenchable thirst, a desire beyond description, a craving beyond denying.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Hahaha, more! MORE!” John roared, his soul becoming stained by the Asura power creeping into every inch of his existence. The last wall of soul power he had put up to keep his sanity in check was encroached upon by the tendrils of black and red Qi, while a satisfied growl emanated from deep within the palace realm.

“Yes! Give in to your desires!” the voice from within growled sinisterly. “Destroy and slaughter all who stand before you! Embrace the power of an Asura!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

John felt his vision grow darker, tinged with a red aura he had never seen before, while his soul yearned for more. More destruction. More blood. More death! He embraced the euphoria he felt, diving headfirst into the intoxicating madness.

He finally stopped punching, his fists turned into knubs of flesh, his blood and the Sovereign’s blood staining the ground around them like the most gruesome of murder scenes. A wide, malevolent smile appeared on his face as he reached out with his right hand, which healed juts barely enough to restore his fingers with enough power to grip something.

He gripped on the Young-Sovereign’s blood-slicked hair, then yanked with his full remaining strength. The sound of tearing flesh rang out, followed by the loudest of gasps from the crowd as John tore the Yang-Sovereign’s head directly off his body, holding the Sovereign’s face, his expression one of horror and absolute disbelief, above him for all to see.

Then, his smile growing wider, John held the head above his own, and opened his mouth, drinking the blood of the Sovereign like it was the most exquisite of wines. The Sovereign’s hot Yang blood singed his mouth and tongue, but that only made John’s euphoria rise, his maniacal laughter ringing out again as he consumed more and more of the blood.

The Yang-Sovereign’s potent Yang-infused blood surged through John’s body, absorbed by his body dantian, then released as healing Asura Qi, restoring some of his more gruesome wounds. He continued to suck down the blood, uncaring of all those watching. His face was stained red by the Sovereign’s blood, his wide grinning maw the most sinister sight the crowd had ever seen.

It was as if they were staring into the depths of the most hellish abyss, and John was staring back at them from within.

The blood eventually stopped falling, the Yang-Sovereign’s lifeless head spent of the blood that had been flowing through it. A frown appeared on John’s face as he shook the head, then frowned as no more blood came from it. He sneered and stored the head away, then suddenly looked to the side, his eyes locking onto a figure on the far side of the arena.

“You!” John growled, standing up slowly, his blood red eyes locked onto the unconscious Sword-Saint, and Ji’Han who stood over him protectively, stopping him from being sucked into the Yang-Lotus above. 𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Ji’Han felt John’s gaze fall upon him, a deep grimace appearing as he saw John step off the Yang-Sovereign’s lifeless corpse, then begin to walk over towards them. It was as if the most terrifying of demons was approaching, instilling a terror Ji’Han had never felt before in his life. And yet, Ji’Han remained in place, moving in front of his father, sword drawn and pointed towards John.

“You will not have him!” Ji’Han said firmly and coldly, his face grim as his aura began to rise within, the same aura as the Sacred Sword Domain the Sword-Saint had used in their battle.

While Ji’Han’s use of the domain was rudimentary in comparison, it did restore a portion of his strength, although not enough to stop John, even in his current condition. Step by step, John approached the two of them, his malicious smile widening by the second.

At that moment, John felt something touch his shoulder, the object soft yet firm. John roared with fury as he spun around and reached out, grabbing the neck of the one who had appeared behind him and touched him. His grip tightening around the neck, he lifted the person up in the air, his hand’s trying to squeeze the life out of the one who had dared interrupt his next meal.

Crystal blue eyes looked into his blood red eyes, no hint of panic or fear in them. Instead, there was only warmth and love in those eyes, enough to shatter his current state of mind. John felt as if his soul was being peered into at that moment, the eyes of the one he held in his grip more than familiar to him.

Like the weight of a mountain hitting him, John felt clarity appear in his soul, the face of the one in his grip clawing his mind back towards his true self, pushing aside the Asura consuming him. That sliver of room was all the remaining portion of his soul, defended by the cocoon of soul-power he had set up before his battle, needed to burst alight with power.

His soul flared like a white sun, pushing aside the darkness that had been encroaching on his very existence. Those tendrils vanished like shadows during the rising sun, his soul slowly but surely returning to his control. Those tendrils were not completely washed away, lingering like barely visible stains on his pure-white soul, but their influence was washed away by the face of the one before him.

John’s aura began to fade and his Dragon-God Shift and Asura Transformation vanished as well, his bloodline ability finally running out. A wave of exhaustion and pain unlike any he had ever felt before washed through him as he collapsed to his knees, unable to support himself any longer.

Two arms caught him and drew him into a warm embrace, one that felt more comforting than any he had felt in his life before.

“Welcome back,” Lilian whispered softly in his ears, a sad yet proud smile on her face as she drew him into a tight, loving embrace. “You did well. You can rest now.”

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