This kind of melee brought with it its own kind of madness the longer it dragged out.
It began with a simple clash between Lionheart and Grimhead. Fueled by fury, neither of them held back. Every strike was a lethal blow aimed at taking the opponentâs life.
Anger spread like wildfire at such lack of restraint. Not long after, many titan demons threw themselves into the fray. Not to be outdone, the monster demons swarmed the battlefield with their superior numbers.
A great, chaotic melee ensued.
Lionheart and Grimhead were evenly matched, so neither of them suffered injuries this early on despite the intensity of their head-to-head.
But with the battle at large, both the monster demonsâ number advantage and the titan demonsâ individual prowess manifested themselves, and casualties appeared almost at the first blow of the explosion of violence.
Some bled, some died, others were beheaded, and some dismembered.
Titan demons had strength to spare and fought ferociously. Their defensive ability was almost equal to the golden demons, and their offensive power even greater.
Monster demons were weaker individually, but they were famous for their savagery. Once in combat, they held nothing back.
Biting, scratching, nothing was too despicable. For them, the end justified the means, causing their enemies great distress with their primal and bloody methods.
Two diametrically opposed styles collided in a mad frenzy.
Oakhead and Ironclad watched their tribesmen fall around them, their faces increasingly icier as their rage flared.
âOld Freak Ironclad, you openly defy the celestial demonsâ decree and cause infighting, so donât blame me for answering in kind!â With an angry roar, Oakhead spread his enormous arms in the air. A giant hammer fell into his grasp, spinning at dazzling speed in his giant palms as it shed a cruel light.
âWatch yourself!â
He smashed the hammer at Ironclad with a momentum that could overturn mountains. The strike instantly fissured the void, giving rise to ripple after ripple that turned into gusts of wind blowing in Ironcladâs direction. All of the monster demons in his vicinity were sent flying, no matter how they struggled.
Ironclad narrowed his eyes. His opponentâs power was a little above his. It wouldnât be smart to fight head-on.
So his figure spun, cold light cascading from his armor as he shot into the sky like a pillar of light and vanished without a trace.
Oakheadâs hammer ultimately failed to find its mark, but he grinned nastily, having expected no less. âDo you think thereâs anywhere you can hide from my Giant Spirit Hammer?â
Before the last notes of his words sounded, he struck the empty sky eighteen times in succession, as if hammering a nail. Eighteen pillar-shaped streams of air emerged around the area and sealed the space within.
As if possessing unlimited demonic energy, the hammer transformed into a strange mountain that fluttered in the air as fast as the wind, searching for the trapped enemy.
The hammer possessed a formidable sensitivity. At the slightest perceived movement, it would transform into a divine sealing mountain to crush its target.
Somewhere else on the battlefield, the fight between Lionheart and Grimhead was also nearing its climax. The two were roughly evenly matched, but after two successive transformations, Lionheartâs increased vigor was starting to suppress Grimheadâs momentum. However, thanks to the latterâs formidable physique and his aggressive fighting style, he still managed to trade blow for blow.
In his present state, Lionheartâs overflowing vitality emanated an aura that shot up to the sky. The power of his bloodline was currently at its strongest.
He howled at the sky, creating fearsome sound waves that transformed into innumerable tangible blades to slash at Grimhead in a tempest of metal.
The blades transformed in mid-air into all sorts of fantastical shapes suffused with a somber killing intent. Once surrounded by this attack, even a titan demonâs resilient physique was bound to suffer wounds.
But spurred on by the flames of battle, Grimhead fought back with reckless abandon.
Muttering an incantation, his body also transformed. Titan demons possessed a technique titled the Runic Stonescale. Akin to turning flesh into skin, it increased defenses manyfold.
Every titan demon cultivator could more or less cultivate it, but only those in the divine realm could make full use of it.
Case in point, Grimheadâs proficiency had reached a tremendous level. It wouldâve been difficult for him to endure Lionheartâs storm of sharp blades, but Runic Stonescale added an extra layer of armor on top of his skin that was almost impossible for cultivators of the same level to penetrate.
Of course, the technique wasnât without flaws. Namely, its duration was limited. It couldnât be maintained for long, and certainly not for the full duration of a prolonged fight.
Lionheart wasnât unfamiliar with Runic Stonescaleâs toughness. He grit his teeth and clutched the air, his arm striking down as if waving a huge lionâs paw.
As ghastly as a divine saber, each claw overflowed with killing intent. The slightest graze could cleave someone in half.
But Grimhead wasnât that easy of a prey. He poured all his power into the Runic Stonescale and summoned a flail in hand.
The instant the giant claw grabbed him, he used the fully powered Runic Stonescale to weather the blow. Meanwhile, his flail turned into a ray of light that cut through the distance, viciously flying at Lionheartâs forehead like a meteor harrying the moon.
This would be snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. He wasnât all that hopeful his attack would hit, but he could at least delay the titan demonâs assault and prevent the next strike, giving him enough leeway to prepare his next move.
But then, something strange and unexpected happened.
Lionheart watched the flail fly his way with a contemptuous smile playing on his lips. He didnât think much of the attack. It could be easily dodged with a simple, small sidestep.
But when his figure moved lightly to evade, his body suddenly stiffened, as if bound by a strange power around him.
In that short instant, he was struck immobile while the flail crashed his way with star-crushing momentum!