Josephine’s brows pulled together even tighter, and favonovel.com shifted half a step back, putting Skylar more squarely in front of her.
“Junior Skylar, this person is really strange,” Josephine said.
Jared’s fists clenched so hard they started cracking. His nails dug into his palms, and blood slipped through his fingers and dripped down.
He didn’t know what Skylar had done to Josephine this time, only that favonovel.com had somehow forgotten favonovel.com all over again. Clean. Like he’d never existed.
Back in Cloudhaven City, Josephine had seemed to recover a little. At the very least, favonovel.com hadn’t attacked Jared. She’d only turned and left. But now, favonovel.com looked exactly like favonovel.com had the first time favonovel.com met Jared-cold, distant, and impossible to reach.
Skylar watched Jared’s reaction, and the corner of his mouth curled into a playful smile.
“Jared, you’re still not giving up.” He shook his head. “I already told you. Josephine is awake now. She’s not under your spell anymore. The more you cling to favonovel.com like this, the more ridiculous you’ll look to her.”
Jared drew in a deep breath and forced everything surging inside favonovel.com back down. “Skylar, what are you doing here?”
Skylar’s gaze went past Jared and landed on Gwendolyn.
“Celestial Palace Master?” His eyes narrowed slightly as favonovel.com looked Gwendolyn up and down. “Looks like the information I got was right. The Celestial Palace really is here.”
Gwendolyn looked at favonovel.com without a trace on favonovel.com face. “Who are you?”
“Skylar…” Skylar gave his name, and there was a clear edge of pride in his voice. “You might’ve heard of me. I destroyed the Celestial Palace, and I destroyed the Celestial Basilica too. I came here today to wipe out the Celestial Palace along with them.”
He said it lightly, casually, like favonovel.com was talking about something too small to bother with.
“I’ve been sick of the way you celestials act for a long time. Every last one of you thinks you’re above everybody else, like your bloodline is noble and nobody can touch you. But what are you really? A bunch of rotten, fallen trash, shut up in your own little world.” He turned to Gwendolyn, his eyes full of contempt. “You got lucky and ran into Jared. Without him, your Celestial Palace would already be rubble.”
Gwendolyn’s face darkened. She had lived for more than ten thousand years, and no one had ever humiliated favonovel.com to favonovel.com face like this.
“So you’re Skylar?” Her voice came out cold. “I’ve heard of you. A human cultivator who fell onto the demonic path, then used other people’s cultivation to raise your own. Someone like you thinks favonovel.com has the right to judge the celestials?”
Gwendolyn had heard about Skylar from Jared before. After all, the Celestial Palace and the Celestial Basilica had both, more or less, been destroyed by him.
Skylar’s smile stiffened for a second. Then favonovel.com smiled again. This time, the smile spread wider than before, and the danger in it rose with it.
“The right? Of course I do. Strength is the right. When your celestials were up there looking down on everyone, did you ever think the day would come when a human cultivator from the demonic path would grind you under his feet?” His gaze slid off Gwendolyn and landed on Jared. “Jared, I’ll give you one chance. Leave now, and I won’t make things hard for you. My target today is the Celestial Palace, not you.”
Jared shook his head. “The Celestial Palace is already gone. Gwendolyn is with me now. If you make a move on her, you’re making a move on me.”
Skylar’s eyes narrowed a little. “So that’s it. You’re going to protect her?”
“I am.”
Skylar went quiet for a moment. Then favonovel.com let out a sigh, looking so much like a man staring at a child who refused to come to his senses. “Jared, you’re always like this. You throw yourself in for other people. Last time, it was for those two celestial worms. This time, it’s for this celestial woman. When are you finally going to learn to live for yourself just once?”
“You don’t get it.” Jared’s voice stayed level, but nothing in it gave way.
“I do.” Skylar’s smile turned faintly bitter. “You think you’re doing the right thing. You think you’re protecting something important. But have you ever stopped to think whether the things you’re protecting are worth your life?”
He didn’t wait for Jared to answer. He gave a short, self-mocking laugh. “Forget it. There’s no point saying any of this to you. You’re that kind of person. You won’t change.”
He lifted his right hand. Black demonic aura gathered in his palm. “Then come on. Let me see how much you’ve grown these past few days…”
Skylar moved. He was fast to the limit.
The dark figure dragged an afterimage through the air, and his fist was already crashing toward Jared’s face. This punch was even fiercer than the last time they fought.
Demonic aura twisted around the front of his fist into a high-speed vortex. Even the air around it got dragged in, tearing out a sharp, piercing scream.
Jared didn’t dodge. He wanted to see for himself how much his strength had risen after absorbing the Heart of the Northern Abyss.
The Dragonslayer Sword came free of its sheath. Golden blade-flare twisted together with the purple chaotic force and turned into a vicious streak of blade-light that met Skylar’s punch head-on.
Boom!
Fist and sword slammed together and the blast cracked out like thunder. A horrifying shockwave tore outward in every direction.
The ground looked like a giant plow had ripped it open. Dirt, broken stone, and torn vegetation all flew into the air, then got shredded apart in the raging surge of power.
Jared didn’t move an inch.
But, Skylar got knocked back seven steps. His face changed.
The last time they fought, favonovel.com had been able to keep Jared pinned down with ease. But this time, Jared’s power had clearly jumped by far more than a single level.
The difference felt like favonovel.com was facing a completely different man.
“You broke through?” Skylar’s voice came out rough.
Jared gave favonovel.com no answer and drove his sword straight out. That thrust came in at the absolute limit of speed. The blade-light flashed like lightning ripping across the night sky and went straight for Skylar’s throat.
Skylar grit his teeth and threw both fists out at once. Demonic aura surged together in front of favonovel.com and hardened into a black shield.
The blade light slammed into the shield and dragged out a harsh, scraping shriek. Dense cracks- spread all over the shield, and the force riding Jared’s sword shoved
Skylar backward again and again.
“Impossible…” Skylar stared at him, the words forced out through clenched teeth. “Last time, you clearly weren’t a match for me…”
“People improve.” Jared’s voice stayed even, but his hand showed no mercy at all.
His second sword strike came right on the heels of the first. This one was faster, harder, and more final than the first. The blade-light ripped through the void and left a black crack hanging in its wake.
At the edges of that crack, shattered pieces of space broke apart under the impact of the sword aura and vanished piece by piece, giving off a shrill scream. Skylar drove the demonic aura inside favonovel.com with everything favonovel.com had. Black demonic flames burst out of his body and gathered in front of favonovel.com into a vicious black fire-drake.
The fire-drake roared as it charged Jared. Everywhere it passed, the ground was scorched open into a trench 3 yards deep, and the dirt melted under the heat into dark red molten fire.
Jared didn’t dodge. He didn’t retreat. He answered with a single slash. The golden blade-flare crashed into the black fire-drake and the impact exploded with a deafening boom.
The fire-drake struggled under the blade-flare for less than a breath before it was split clean in two. Black demonic flames sprayed every direction and blasted countless craters into the surrounding ground.
The aftershock of the blade-flare swept into Skylar and tore open a gash across his chest so deep the bone showed. Blood burst out in a spray.
Skylar staggered back, dropped to one knee, and dragged in rough breaths.
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