Inside the dimly lit room, the King of Slaughter held a goblet filled with blood, his blood-red eyes fixed on the blood pool before him, where the reflections of Oscar and Dugu Yan appeared.
The King of Slaughter frowned slightly as he watched the Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King being suppressed. "I spent a year cultivating this Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King to reach near the hundred-thousand-year level, yet it still cannot kill you?"
He indeed did not dare to openly kill Oscar and Dugu Yan, these two super-geniuses, but using some tricks was still possible.
His true form was a Crimson Bat Emperor with cultivation exceeding three hundred thousand years. He had spent decades parasitizing this powerful human body in secret. Now was the critical period of his plan, yet two prodigies had suddenly appeared in the City of Slaughter.
Outside, there were already two uncontrolled Slaughter Gods who could disrupt his schemes at any moment. If two more Slaughter Gods were to emerge, he naturally did not want such a situation to occur.
So, a month after Oscar and Dugu Yan revealed their talent and strength upon entering the City of Slaughter, he had already begun arranging his countermeasures.
He had sacrificed countless blood bats and vast quantities of blood to barely cultivate a powerful subordinate. However, the strength of this Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King was still slightly short of the hundred-thousand-year level.
For their blood bat race, before reaching the hundred-thousand-year threshold, they could not be considered top-tier soul beasts. Only upon breaking through would they undergo a true metamorphosis.
Originally, he believed a Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King close to a hundred-thousand years would be enough to finish off Oscar and Dugu Yan. After all, he knew clearly that they were only at level seventy. Within the City of Slaughter, where soul skills could not be used, he saw no need to let the bat break through.
A true hundred-thousand-year Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King would surpass his control. Now that he was parasitizing a human body without fully mastering it, once the bat broke through, it might betray him. So he had always suppressed its breakthrough.
Now that Oscar and Dugu Yan seemed ready to finish off his subordinate, the King of Slaughter weighed the pros and cons.
Which was the greater threat? Two future Slaughter Gods, or a subordinate that might stab him in the back?
In just a moment, he made his choice. Two Slaughter Gods who could destroy the City of Slaughter were far more dangerous than a subordinate with the potential to betray him.
"In that case, I shall lend you a hand." His blood-red eyes gleamed as he made his decision.
...
Oscar and Dugu Yan spread their wings, flying at full speed.
Yet, beneath them, a golden halo chased closely, keeping pace with their speed.
Oscar and Dugu Yan frowned. Could their opponent actually move so swiftly within that magma-like blood? Not only that, but they could clearly sense the aura of the golden glow below growing rapidly stronger at a terrifying rate.
Sensing this ever-increasing surge of power, Oscar suddenly halted. From his soul tool, he produced two black-gold sausages, swallowing one and handing the other to Dugu Yan.
This was Oscar's sixth soul skill: Limit Surpassing Black-Gold Sausage, which maximized a soul master's ultimate power.
Dugu Yan understood Oscar's intent. The bat already placed enormous pressure on them, and if it succeeded in breaking through, escaping would become nearly impossible.
The two swallowed the sausages simultaneously. Their soul power exploded, rising beyond their former level seventy.
Although without a seventh soul ring they could not manifest additional levels, the increase still fully translated into their combat ability.
Oscar and Dugu Yan exchanged a glance, then dived straight down at the golden glow below. Better to strike first.
As Oscar dove, six elements gathered in his right claw,wind, lightning, evil, darkness, time, and space. They collapsed and reformed in his palm.
At the same time, his left hand gripped a cyan jade sword. Soul power wrapped around its blade, its sword aura surging. Though his second martial soul had no soul rings yet, the attached external soul bone, transformed into a martial soul, multiplied his swordsmanship.
Back when he had broken through level sixty, Oscar had comprehended his own unique sword intent, a sword path forged by himself.
After over a year of tempering in the City of Slaughter, bathed in blood, his sword path had grown. Now he could truly be called a sword master.
The sword's aura soared to the heavens, making Oscar seem like a sharp, domineering blade himself.
With his right claw's terrifying energy fully condensed, he struck downward.
"Evil God Annihilation Thunder Claw!"
A massive claw print fell, formed of six elements, its annihilating force able to crush all resistance.
The bloody sea below was torn apart, and the Bat King's dark-golden body was exposed.
It had reached a critical point, about to break through into a hundred-thousand-year beast.
Oscar's jade sword gleamed coldly as he slashed.
"Sword Path,Imperial Sword Unrivaled!"
His sword intent was domineering, vast, absolute. One strike to destroy all things.
The slash descended like a rainbow, but at that instant, the bat spread its wings, its left head screeching, its body glowing with dazzling golden light.
The central head opened its maw, releasing a dark-gold wave that surpassed ordinary ten-thousand-year beasts, reaching the level of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
Oscar's sword strike was halved in power, blocked by the golden glow without leaving a mark. The dark-gold wave continued toward him.
In that instant, Oscar's silver-white eyes flared.
"Wisdom Skull Skill,Godlight of Annihilation!"
A silver beam struck the central head, stunning it instantly, halting its attack.
Even though the bat had broken through, Oscar's spiritual power had already reached level ninety-two in strength. His Godlight could still injure it.
Without slowing, he continued diving, determined to suppress it before it could endanger Dugu Yan.
He infused his jade sword with eight elements,lightning, wind, darkness, evil, space, time, ice, and fire.
"Imperial Sword,Evil God Annihilation Slash!"
The blade tore space itself, the strike vanishing then reappearing beneath the bat with unstoppable force. Time and space left it no chance to react.
The sword qi ripped through its golden aura.
But then, its right head bit down, splitting the sword energy apart as if it were nothing.
Oscar's eyes narrowed. He now understood,this bat was no longer within his ability to defeat. The difference between ninety-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-ninety-nine years and a hundred-thousand was not mere time but an essential transformation.
Yet so what?
The bat sneered with its three heads, six scarlet eyes mocking.
Oscar charged, his scorpion tail's deadly hook flashing. The bat sensed the danger but still chose to bite down with its right head. That bite could sever any physical attack.
But instead, the moment the hook touched, a strange light flared, and a black hole appeared, pulling both man and beast inside.
From above, Dugu Yan raised her brows. She knew exactly what Oscar had done.
His attached soul bone, the Dark Evil God Tiger's spine, granted him two abilities. One was Evil God's Protection, an absolute defense. The other, the god-tier killing skill: Life and Death Arena.
The terror of the Life and Death Arena lay in this: once struck, the enemy would be dragged into a special space. Inside, the enemy would revert to their juvenile form. While their skills and experience remained, their power diminished drastically with age.
Oscar, however, was unaffected. His power remained intact while his enemy was endlessly weakened.
This was truly a divine skill, but it had one major limit,it could only be used once per year.
For Oscar, it was an ultimate life-saving trump card. He would never use it unless absolutely necessary.
But this time, he had no choice. Even with everything, he could not defeat the bat otherwise.
...
Dragged into the black hole, the bat found itself in a dark arena. Only a hundred-meter-wide platform shone in the center.
The power it had just gained vanished. Its body shrank, its strength drained away.
In just one breath, the enormous bat with wings over ten meters wide had become a two-meter-wide three-headed blood batling.
It screamed in disbelief, not understanding what had happened. From a newly-ascended hundred-thousand-year beast, it had fallen back to its juvenile state.
Even as a juvenile, it was stronger than most hundred-year beasts and could fight some thousand-year ones.
But its opponent was not a mere beast. Before it stood a three-meter-tall black giant with dark wings and a long scorpion tail.
Oscar's wings, spanning over eight meters, flapped once, sending the tiny batling crashing onto the arena floor.
His black eyes fixed on it coldly. Without a word, he flicked a finger.
A wind blade shot forth, slicing off its three heads in one strike. The batling twitched briefly, fear still frozen in its eyes.
The creature that Oscar could not defeat outside had been killed in an instant here.
The rules of the Life and Death Arena were simple. Only one side could leave.
But even after killing his opponent, Oscar did not leave.
It was not that the arena malfunctioned,he had chosen to stay.
Because above the bat's corpse, a blood-red soul ring was slowly forming...
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