Inside the meeting room at the central tower in the MoonStar Sect, Jackob and Anastassia gazed at the rising mushroom cloud. The sheer size of this black-ish cloud is so big that it could be seen from any location on Astria. It covered the whole Human Continent, or what remained of it, and even stretched a thousand miles in the ocean surrounding the deserted land.

The shaking only quietened a bit after a minute or so but that didn't mean the dread the people were feeling was gone.

"I guess the Human Continent is no more. Good riddance if you ask me."

Jackob spoke half-jokingly as he saw the razor sharp invisible wind blades that were appearing on all the buildings. They weren't particularly destructive but they still caused some damage.

"There's no telling if it'll be us next or not. For the aftereffect of that attack to even reach here, I cannot even imagine the intensity of the fight."

Anastassia"s eyes were lost in thoughts as she spoke without giving much thought to what she's saying. Seeing her in this state, Jackob consoled her

"Don't be so pessimistic. Perhaps the fight has already ended, no one can tell."

In response to what he said, the woman bitterly retorted

"Exactly... no one can tell."

.....

"I must say, that's some terrifying thing you created there."

The copy complimented Arthur as it also witnessed what happened. The area around them was already covered with dark fog that blocked their view, Arthur's eyes shone with a dim blue light as they tried to see through this fog but it couldn't as he massively overworked their abilities earlier.

A bunch of notifications were appearing in front of Arthur only to be dismissed immediately. The grey-ish bullet not only was it constructed using countless miniature bombs, but these bombs also had a lasting poisonous effect. Arthur was currently possessing a green mantis' body, it was the body with the highest poison resistance amongst all his arsenal.

More than fifty passives that resisted the chemical poisoned of the bomb were activated, protecting him from being killed.

"Even if it survived the blast, it can't remain alive for long, the radioactivity is too strong and suffocating."

This place has already become a place of ghosts, any living being that enters this fog will be inflicted with the poison and the intense radioactivity.

Even he, wasn't an exception, he may be able to survive for some time as he's able to resist the poisons but the radioactivity is another thing, sooner or later, his physical body won't be able to hold on any longer.

With a speed slower than a turtle, Arthur dragged his body as he headed West, trying to break off this enormous fog. He only wanted to get away first then wait for things to calm down and recover for a bit before entering again because currently, he had no strength to use, he used every bit of Mana, Nether Energy, and Mental Power he got. His physical body was heavily injured, he was mentally exhausted and the accumulated stress is making him feel as if he'll fall unconscious at any second.

"Wait! Something is not right..."

The copy's voice rang in his ears but Arthur still didn't stop, he pushed his body to its limits, the thin and fast wings of the Mantis flapped intensely as he transformed into a green light that pushed the fog in its way.

"This is madness, you've truly angered them. They are dead set on you now, it even sacrificed itself!"

The copy sighed as he relayed its thoughts to Arthur, who suddenly halted mid-air and said

"Sacrificed itself? Why?"

"I mean it literally! It sacrificed itself to resurrect its three comrades instantaneously, it seems they have become much stronger too."

Unlike his usual, the copy seemed a bit panicked as it spoke to Arthur, normally it was pretty nonchalant even if he was close to death's door, just like against Rozak, but this time, it truly was worried, which made Arthur uneasy too.

For a second, Arthur didn't know what to do in such a situation. Running away won't solve this problem since they were deadlock into killing him, fleeing to the West would only lead to the destruction of that continent too.

Staying here will result in his miserable death, there's nothing he could do at such a situation.

The ARK suddenly appeared from within his chest, it rotated with incredible speed and flashed with a red light. The next thing Arthur saw was three distant silhouettes flying straight towards him. At such a speed, they'll surely arrive in twenty seconds at most.

"There's no choice but to escape right now. I can hold them off for some time but you must immediately head to the Nothern Continent and teleport back to the Green-Leaf World, they can't chase you all the way to that Realm."

The copy spoke urgently as he urged Arthur to act hastily without wasting any second. However, Arthur just stood there, motionless and soundless as if he didn't hear what his copy just said.

The copy wasn't stupid too, upon noticing Arthur's strange behavior, he let out a long and helpless sigh and added:

"So this is the end of the road for you?"

"I never said that, we still have one more choice."

Arthur left the Mantis' body and stretched the chains around his body, they crackled as he moved them but upon a closer look, one would notice that they seemed weaker than before.

"You know that breaking them is basically assuring your death, right?"

Arthur shrugged and retorted

"I don't have a choice."

"No, you always have a choice."

Arthur remained silent, not having any good reply for his copy.

"Even you break them, the powerup will not occur immediately and you'll be very preoccupied, I assume those three won't simply watch as you become stronger."

"I will handle them."

A serene and majestic voice rang inside Arthur, a bright light flew out of his chest and materialized itself as a valiant knight with a golden armor and handsome features.

This was none other than Curtis, the one who pushed back the Earth Spirit last time. He didn't contribute in the fight earlier and remained passive but at such a critical time, he appeared at last.

Seeing this, the copy snorted and said

"You're going to join in too? You know this is suicidal so why are you making things harder for me? It is not a shameful thing to run away."

As he gazed at the dark fog, to the direction of the three incoming Divine Beast, the knight said

"Life is all about resolve. Outcome is secondary."

After he said that, Curtis stretched his left hand and drew a golden symbol on the air, which duplicated itself two more times. The three symbols shone with a golden radiance and when the three Divine Beasts finally arrived, ready to attack Arthur, three white and thick chains appeared from the symbols, shooting at the three beasts.

The chains were unstoppable as they penetrated the abdomen of the beasts without any means of resistance. And the victims, as if shot by lightning, froze in mid-air, only wriggling painfully, trying to shake off the chains that entered their stomach.

"I cannot hold them off eternally, you have to begin now."

*****

Mournful cries and blissful smiles, did they come

When the falling chains were undone

What did the man has become