Chapter 1044: Max vs Twin Demons
"Where are the twin demons?" Max asked again, his voice cutting through the heavy silence that had settled in the arena.
"We are right here."
Two towering figures descended from the sky and landed in the center of the arena. Their cruel grins exposed rows of jagged teeth, and their dark red eyes gleamed with the joy of bloodshed. The moment Max laid eyes on them, the infernal energy around his body flared violently, wrapping him in a suffocating aura that made the air tremble. Yet his expression remained calm, unnervingly calm, as if rage and hatred had been buried beneath an unshakable resolve.
"Let us start the battle," he said flatly.
The sound of his words rippled outward. At once, both the demons and the humans standing on the edges of the arena floated back, retreating beyond the boundaries. The protective runes glowed faintly, sealing off the battlefield and leaving only Max and the twin demons standing within the vast stone platform. The crowd outside fell silent, knowing the clash was about to begin.
Aron, the first of the twin demons, sneered, his deep voice echoing across the arena. "How foolish can you be to accept our challenge? It was nothing more than bait to lure you out, and here you are, ready to throw away your life." His grin widened as he licked his lips.
Bron, the second brother, laughed cruelly and added, "Brother, you are right. This human truly is a fool. Just because we slaughtered a few weaklings, he thinks he can come here and challenge us. Humans really are the most pathetic creatures in the universe. They never learn."
Max’s crimson eyes flickered once, and then his figure vanished. The twins’ grins froze as the space around Bron distorted. Max appeared right in front of him, moving faster than their eyes could follow. His fist surged forward, cloaked in infernal energy and wrapped with the power of one thousand Draconic Essences. The air around his strike cracked, and space itself rippled outward from the force.
His power had risen dramatically in the days he spent within the Black Lotus Guild. Before leaving for this battle, he had requested dragon-related treasures from the Old Saintess and Razel. The Black Lotus Guild, one of the oldest powers in the Middle Domain, had indeed preserved such treasures.
After absorbing them, his Draconic Essences had risen in a meteoric leap, reaching one thousand in total. On top of that, he had secured rare chaos stones that reinforced his Dragon Scales, pushing them all the way to one thousand as well.
The result was a body overflowing with explosive power, scales that rivaled divine steel, and strength that made his fists into weapons of destruction.
Max’s fist, empowered by the strength of one thousand Draconic Essences, tore through the air as though it were ripping apart the very fabric of space. The sheer pressure of the strike bent the surroundings, its destructive intent aimed directly at Bron. For a moment it looked certain that the demon would be obliterated on the spot.
Yet, just as the fist was about to land, Bron’s figure blurred. In the blink of an eye, his position was replaced by Aron, who was already prepared with a fist of his own.
The two fists met.
BOOM!
The sound of their collision shook the arena to its core. The ground beneath them crumbled into rubble as their powers clashed, tearing apart stone and shattering layers of reinforcement beneath the surface. Almost instantly a devastating shockwave erupted outward from the clash, sweeping across the battlefield with unstoppable force.
The wave struck the barrier surrounding the arena.
BANG!
The runes embedded in the barrier flared brightly. These were no ordinary defenses but high-grade protective inscriptions carved with the combined efforts of the most skilled rune masters of the Middle Domain. The shockwave struck them, but the barrier held firm, dispersing the energy harmlessly.
Max’s eyes narrowed. ’Did they just swap places?’ His mind raced as he processed what had happened, but before he could form a strategy, danger approached.
From behind him, a crimson light flickered. A blood arrow, sharp and deadly, shot toward the back of his head. For an ordinary fighter, the strike would have been undetectable until it was far too late. But Max’s Three Dimensional Body saw everything. The instant the arrow entered his range, he perceived it clearly, as though it were moving in slow motion.
Even so, a heartbeat had barely passed since his fist collided with Aron’s. Their arms were still locked together, their clash not yet fully separated, when the blood-red arrow streaked toward the vulnerable spot at the back of Max’s skull.
Just as the arrow was about to strike, a flash of blue light cut through the air. A sword, glowing brilliantly, appeared behind Max and met the blood arrow in mid-flight. The two forces collided, sparking violently before dispersing into nothingness. The attack had been intercepted.
Max’s figure vanished in that very instant. He disengaged from Aron and teleported away, reappearing at a safe distance across the arena. His red aura surged around him like a tide as he glared at the twin demons, his mind already analyzing their techniques.
Aron turned his head toward Bron, his grin widening. "Brother, this one is strong. He took my fist head-on and did not even flinch."
Bron stepped forward and joined his brother’s side, his own aura pulsing with speed that bent the air around him.
Max’s crimson eyes gleamed coldly. ’One is overwhelmingly strong, and the other is incredibly fast. Together, they will be difficult to handle.’ He knew this battle was going to push him to his very limits. But the fire of vengeance within him only burned hotter.
The spectators outside the arena were frozen for a moment, their eyes wide as they tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed. The silence among the demons broke first, their voices sharp with disbelief.
"How could this be? How could a human match Aron in pure raw power?" one demon hissed, his clawed hands trembling.
"Aron is said to possess one of the greatest physical strengths among all demons, a monster who could crush mountains with his fists. And yet that human did not even budge when they clashed," another demon said, his face pale with shock.