Chapter 88: I was curious to see how long you could keep going at it. I guess Tier 41 is your limit!

Boom—!!!

Kaelen’s fist clashed with the Emperor’s, sending golden sparks flying and sweeping the clouds with a crisp shockwave.

And before the clash could be registered, their fists had already connected more than a hundred times in that second, and each time, the Emperor hit harder than the last as his strength and evolution realm spiked at an abnormal rate, pushing Kaelen back.

This made him even more confident in his blows and relentless in his attacks, not giving Kaelen any breathing space.

While on the other hand was Kaelen, who felt his strength and stamina drop rapidly with every blow. Not because the Emperor had the upper hand, but because he had greatly underestimated the power of [Shadow Merge]—especially after absorbing the Supreme Elder Dragon.

Kaelen felt like he had the power to raze the entire stronghold to the ground with a swing of his coat, but at the same time, he felt like over 5,000 people were using his body at once, which drained his stamina at an alarming rate.

This was why he wasn’t using his full power to fight, because that would only drain him faster, and if he eventually took out the Emperor, he’d be vulnerable to the demonic fox in wolf’s clothing.

That’s right.

Kaelen was fully aware the governor of Stronghold 3 should have arrived already with the stronghold’s strongest army under his command, but for some reason, neither the man nor any backup had arrived. That was when Kaelen finally understood the name the system had given him.

Demonic Fox in Wolf’s Clothing.

The man played his role so perfectly that he allowed himself to be killed just so he could be sent back to his stronghold, which was Stronghold 3 and the only stronghold where humanity’s strongest awakeners were trained in the military.

Stronghold 3 was almost an impregnable fortress, unlike Stronghold 1, and Kaelen might not be having it easy if the reverse were to be the case.

The governor’s plan was simple: to wait out the battle between him and the Emperor, only show up with his army after Kaelen had killed the Emperor and had greatly burned himself out, and have an easier time taking Kaelen out with his forces, making Stronghold 3 the number one stronghold and himself the next Emperor of the now seven strongholds.

What a scheming bastard.

No matter what happened, he was never going to let the man off the hook. He wasn’t going to sit around and wait for the governor to arrive with his army any longer. He was going to go look for him and find him in Stronghold 3, and he wasn’t leaving until the man was out of the picture for good.

But first, he had to end his battle with the Emperor.

It was time to wrap things up with him.

Kaelen suddenly stopped exchanging blows and dropped his arms to his side as the Emperor charged at him like a bullet train.

"Giving up now? It’s too late." The Emperor roared as he drove his fist into Kaelen’s exposed chest, then several more in quick succession that distorted the air around them and left the spectators from across the stronghold bewildered and in shock.

This was the first time they were seeing the Emperor in battle, but they never expected him to be so overpowered. Even yet, their question remained: why was his opponent no longer fighting and taking the devastating blows head-on?

That was when they all saw it.

Kaelen Cross was taking the Emperor’s crippling blows head-on, but not once was he knocked back, nor did he display any signs of pain or weakness. It was basically like the Emperor was punching an indestructible dummy.

The Emperor seemed to realize this and roared in rage as his evolution realm began rising with every punch. After advancing from Tier 21 all the way up to Tier 31 in the short span of the battle, the Emperor dumped more evolution points into upgrading that even further like a madman.

[You have reached the strength cap for Tier 32 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to ascend?]

"Ascend!"

[You have reached the strength cap for Tier 33 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to ascend?]

"Ascend!"

[You have reached the strength cap for Tier 34 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to ascend?]

"Ascend!"

[You have reached the strength cap for Tier 35 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to ascend?]

"Ascend!"

[You have reached the strength cap for Tier 36 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to ascend?]

*

*

*

[You have reached the strength cap for Tier 41 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to ascend?]

"ASCENNNNNDDDDD!"

[INSUFFICIENT EVOLUTION POINTS]

[INSUFFICIENT EVOLUTION POINTS]

[INSUFFICIENT EVOLUTION POINTS]

The Emperor’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. He’d completely burned out his evolution point reserve stockpiled for years. Yet...

His eyes slowly lifted to meet those of the man whose expression was as cold as a mountain peak and who barely reacted to all of his attacks all the way up to Tier 41.

His pupils shrunk to the size of pinholes.

"My attacks have no effect on you. How?!"

Kaelen’s lips curled up.

"I was curious to see how long you could keep going at it. I guess Tier 41 is your limit," Kaelen calmly said but didn’t explain.

He didn’t need to explain that there were 5,000-plus Tier 20s and a Tier 45 Supreme Elder Dragon residing inside him.

Though the evolution realms didn’t stack, they provided Kaelen with enough of a buff to outmatch the Tier 41 Emperor, more so when he was using a percentage of the Supreme Elder Dragon’s indestructible scales’ power.

"I could’ve killed you ten times over already, but I was scared you’d run away at some point and was only buying time to figure out how to ground you to a spot. But since it won’t be so easy and I’m running out of time, I’ll have to resort to killing you ten times over now," Kaelen said calmly.

The Emperor stared at Kaelen with a terrified expression for a moment before he lowered his head and began chuckling softly. Then he transitioned into soft laughter before he threw his head back in a maniacal laugh as his face twisted into something unrecognizable.

"You think you can kill me? You really think this is all I’ve got?!" He roared at Kaelen. "Just you wait, I’m gonna show you the power of the Holy Commander." As the Emperor screamed at the top of his lungs, a sharp light suddenly spilled through the night as the sun appeared in the sky and began covering the moon in a solar eclipse. Except the sun came hotter and brighter than usual.

"I’m gonna show you the power bestowed upon me as the Emperor!!!" He yelled as a golden sword materialized in his hand, and he immediately raised it above his head as a hot beam shot out of the sun and descended upon the blade.

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief as they watched the scene unfold before them. What they were witnessing was beyond what any human or awakener should be capable of doing.

He was absolutely breaking the laws of reality with his mind-bending abilities that even shocked his own daughter—Black Rose—to the core.

"I SHALL KILL YOU!!" The Emperor yelled as he brought down his sword, extended to the sun.

Kaelen was as surprised as everyone else that the Emperor could pull off such a thing, but his expression remained unchanged as he dumped trillions of evolution points into advancing his evolution realms, so much so that the system had barely registered what was happening when Kaelen’s evolution attribute level hit the benchmark for Tier 41, and so did his evolution realm in that instant.

Just as the sword was about to descend on him, Kaelen’s lips parted, and only a single word escaped his throat.

Spark—

"Die."