Chapter 356
With a deafening bang, Elkins—the man who had nearly swept through all of
Astria’s top young elites—suddenly exploded into a mist of blood before everyone’s eyes. It happened so abruptly, without warning, as if the heavens themselves had crushed him.
Ethan, Daphne, Eira, and even the badly wounded Tycen turned toward the source in shock. Leander stood there with one hand still clenched in midair, his eyes calm and distant as starlight, his expression utterly unmoved like a man who had simply crushed an insect.
“Leander?” Ethan’s face shifted between disbelief and awe, his voice trembling.
Only those who had fought Elkins understood how terrifying his strength truly was. Even with Ethan’s current power at the Martial Sovereign level, he had been far beneath him. Elkins had reached the Intermediate Sovereign stage-perhaps even nearing the Advanced level-and alone could have crushed the Nine Geniuses of Astria.
Yet now, in an instant, he had been reduced to blood mist by a single motion from Leander’s hand.
Ethan refused to believe what he had just seen. He could take Elkins dying at the hands of anyone else, but Leander? The same man who had once been stripped of his martial powers and cast out of the Ashcroft family? The same man everyone— including Ethan himself—had thought doomed to die in exile?
When Leander had reappeared in Highcliffe years later, Ethan had been overjoyed, but deep down, he believed his elder brother’s glory belonged to the past. A man who had lost his martial power couldn’t possibly wield true power again.
Yet now, with Elkins’ blood still raining down, Ethan finally understood how wrong he had been. And for the first time, he understood what Leander had meant when he said, “No matter where we are, I’m always your big brother p>
Daphne’s eyes flickered wildly, disbelief, wonder, and joy chasing each other across her face.
Since their reunion, Leander had never once revealed his strength to her. She had touched him more than once-yet never felt even a trace of martial energy within him. She had thought his brilliance had faded, that he had fallen from the heavens and become someone she needed to protect.
But now, as Elkins’ body burst apart in a crimson haze, she realized how wrong she had been. Leander was still Leander-the man who once stood above them all.
Eira and Tycen could only stare in stunned silence.
Nine years ago, Leander had already dominated Highcliffe, but back then, he had only been a ten-year-old boy. Though he had outshone every young genius in Highcliffe, the difference between them hadn’t been insurmountable.
They hadn’t known his martial power had been destroyed, but even assuming his talent remained, they thought at best he might still be slightly stronger than them. Now, however, to see him kill Elkins with a single move-it was as though he stood ten realms above them.
Only Claire and Emma saw the truth. However powerful Elkins might have been, he was still merely a Martial Sovereign. Someone like that could never hope to survive against the undefeated Iron Sovereign-a man who had slain even Ember Transcendents.
“Ander… your martial power… It’s still there?!” Daphne hurried forward, her voice trembling with disbelief and hope.
Leander’s lips curved in a faint smile as he reached out to gently brush a strand of hair from her face. “Dani, don’t assume that losing my martial power means I lost my strength. To me, martial power or not, it makes no difference. In this world, I will never lose to anyone p>
As his voice faded, he lifted one hand and flicked his fingers lightly. Two streaks of blue light shot forth, sinking into the crowns of Ethan’s and Daphne’s heads, flowing through their meridians and straight into their cores.
Ethan had been gravely injured by Elkins’ hidden energy, but at that moment, he felt a warm current spreading from his core, coursing through every meridian and bone. His wounds began healing at an astonishing pace, the pain melting away as his strength returned.
Daphne, too, felt her disrupted inner flow stabilize completely. Her energy smoothed out, surging back to its peak condition. Both of them were stunned. Daphne opened her mouth, wanting to ask Leander something, but before she could speak, a thunderous explosion shook the sky.
A figure came tumbling backward-it was Corwin. He crashed through the air, his outfit fluttering violently before he barely managed to steady himself. His opponent, an Ember Transcendent from the Arbitration Office, stood unharmed, his power calm and vast like the sea.
Corwin was strong-his cultivation
infinitely close to the Ember
Transcendent level-but he had not yet crossed that threshold. Holding out this long was already remarkable. His opponent hadn’t even used his full strength, yet that single palm strike to Corwin’s chest sent a surge of innate vitality crashing through him. Even after channeling all his energy to resist, Corwin was heavily injured, his aura fading fast.
Another dull impact followed. Anton was stomped straight into the ocean by another Ember Transcendent. The water erupted upward in a towering column more than 30 feet high.
Then came a streak of crimson across the sky-Raphael took a hit to the shoulder from yet another opponent. The force pierced through his defenses, breaking his vitality barrier and sending energy tearing into his organs. He spat blood and fell onto the sand with a dull thud.
Among the four elders, Reginald was the strongest. But even his power fell short before an Ember Transcendent.
His foe pushed forward with both palms, forming a massive handprint of energy, Reginald met it head-on his own strength surging-but the gap between them was too vast. The overwhelming power numbed his arms, sent his blood boiling a and hurled him out of the sky His body crashed onto the beach, carving a long trench more than ten meters across.
Meanwhile, Gareth was besieged by the four Kindling Transcendents from the War God Sanctum. Though he fought with all he had, his strength was barely enough to hold the line.
As the fight dragged on, his enemies began to overwhelm him. The man wearing metal gauntlets seized an opening and slammed a fist into Gareth’s ribs. Blood spattered through the air as Gareth coughed violently, his body twisting before he fell from midair. The once-invincible Grandmaster of Astria was left bloodied and breathless.
In one night, all five Transcendent Realm masters of the four major elite families were defeated. Reginald, Gareth, and the other patriarchs all suffered heavy injuries. Their auras flickered weakly, their battle power nearly gone.
Nearby, Wesley, Teion, and Jack—the current heads of their respective families— could only stand rooted in place, watching helplessly. Before opponents of this level, even they had no right to speak.
“Hahaha!” The man wielding a long
spear floated high above the sea, pointing his weapon downward as his laughter boomed across the
shore Back then, the four major elite families formed the Martial World Coalition and forced our War God Sanctum out of Astra-how glorious that must have felt! But tell me, did you ever imagine this day would come p>
Murder gleamed in his eyes, cold and savage. “Today, you all will vanish from history. Gareth, once Astria’s number one grandmaster and the brightest of your generation, you’ll be the first to die p>
He spun the spear in his hand and hurled it forward. The air split with a violent hiss as the weapon tore across the sky, moving so fast that even the naked eye couldn’t follow. In a heartbeat, it was already within feet of Gareth’s chest.
Gareth’s gaze hardened. He gathered what little strength he had left, preparing to take the hit head-on if he had to. But before he could, a shadow flickered between him and the spear—a figure appearing like a ghost.
The spear’s deadly momentum stopped dead in midair. A slender, pale hand had caught it cleanly by the shaft, holding it motionless.
The entire battlefield froze.