Alex threw Arthur into the wall of the mountain cave, sending him crashing into the rock, where he created a vast crater, and then disappeared without a trace.
"Is it over?" someone asked, their jaw dropping. "Arthur is incredibly powerful, so how could he have been defeated so easily?"
Everyone stared blankly at the enormous hole, unable to believe what they had seen. They had expected the battle to last longer, but it had already ended.
"How could someone so powerful be defeated so quickly?" someone asked in a hushed tone, but then he stopped talking, worried about attracting attention.
Alex waved his hand and summoned the celestial staff once again. He then stabbed the staff through the enormous hole that Arthur had just created.
"Is he going to smash Arthur into pieces?" someone asked incredulously. "Hasn't he done enough already?"
Some of the crowd felt they couldn't bear to watch any longer, but they were curious about the outcome, so they forced themselves to keep looking.
"You damaged my mountain!" Alex yelled. "So now you'll help repair it." He jabbed the staff at the hole, attacking again and again. Each collision shook the mountain.
Everyone whispered to each other, horrified at what they were witnessing.
"Isn't that going a bit far?"
"They can't be human!"
"Of course they're not! They're gods!"
Alex hammered at the rock, and with each strike, the ground shook. Over and over, he pounded at it, ignoring the violent tremors.
The entire Lion Ridge echoed with the sound of Alex hitting the rock.
After a few more blows, Alex pulled up the celestial staff, and everyone stared at it. They couldn't look away, but there was nothing to see.
"It ended just like that?" one man asked, flabbergasted.
"Arthur was a true warrior," someone said in a shocked tone. "And yet he only lasted for a few moves. Is he really dead?"
Alex lightly tapped the celestial staff in his hand, brushing off pieces of debris as he focused his gaze on the mountain cave.
At the cave entrance, a wisp of red smoke suddenly floated up, splitting into several streams. Each one looked like Arthur, and they were all moving in different directions.
"You've destroyed my body," Arthur screamed, his voice coming from several directions at once. "You will pay for this! I will kill everyone around you to vent the hatred I feel for you."
"Be quiet," Alex said. Then he glanced at the pieces of Arthur's soul and smiled, summoning his power.
Seconds later, several purple flames surrounded Alex, and then, one by one, they leaped away and chased after the parts of Arthur's soul.
The purple flames engulfed the pieces of soul, burning them away to nothing.
"Alex, stop!" Arthur's voice rang out, a little quieter than before and from fewer directions. "You're going to destroy me!"
He screamed as several more parts of his soul burned in the purple flames, causing him extreme pain.
"You threatened me," Alex said, his tone bored. "So, of course I won't let you go. You've left me no choice, and now you must die."
"Do you think that you can kill me with only those flames?" Arthur asked scathingly. "You're underestimating me. I'm much more powerful than that."
As soon as he finished speaking, several pieces of his soul quickly leaped away, evading the attack on them. They rushed together, coalescing into a single soul.
The purple flames chased after it, but they were forcefully dispersed by a layer of white light that suddenly shot out from the soul.
"Arthur has a divine bone!" someone called.
"Do you think you can escape with just a piece of a saint's bone?" Alex asked, laughing.
If Arthur had been an actual saint, then Alex would have been nervous, but Arthur only had a fragment of a saint's bone, so Alex didn't care at all.
He put away the celestial staff and chased after Arthur's soul at lightning speed.
"You think you can run from me?" Alex taunted him. "Even if I have to follow you to the depths of hell, I will find you and destroy you."
He was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, he had caught up to Arthur.
Arthur was terrified, and he didn't know how he was going to withstand Alex. He forced himself to focus, calling on the power from the saint's bone, and then he dashed away, heading straight for the desert.
"Where do you think you're going?" Alex asked, sounding a little amused.
He was also surprised by Arthur's speed. The man had risked his life to call on the full potential of the saint's bone, making his speed comparable to that of a much stronger warrior. For a while, Alex was unable to catch up to him.
But the bone only contained a trace of a saint's power, so it wouldn't last for long. Alex had plenty of stamina, so he was determined to chase after Arthur, knowing he would catch him eventually.
Arthur and Alex streaked out of sight, leaving everyone blinking after them, stunned at how quickly the two men had disappeared.
Alex chased his prey through uninhabited areas and into the desert.
The area was enormous and seemed desolate. Oases and countless hidden ruins were scattered over the landscape, but it was a barren, lonely place.
The desert was truly mysterious. Few people were aware of its existence, and satellites never detected it. Even for those who knew of it, the area was difficult to find.
Not even the most powerful warriors dared to enter it without permission. In the past, many had visited this place, and their souls had been destroyed, giving this place the nickname the Tomb.
No one who entered the Tomb came out alive, and now Alex had chased Arthur all the way up to the edge of it.
"Alex, the Tomb is right in front of us!" Arthur yelled. "If you don't want to die, then we should part ways here. You go one way, and I will go another. We can let go of any grudges we have against each other. We're even, so there's no need for this."
His soul hovered in the sky above the Tomb, and he didn't dare go any closer to it. He knew he wasn't powerful enough to survive this place, so if he entered the Tomb, there was no doubt he would die.
He had only intended to use the Tomb to scare Alex, hoping that just by getting closer to it, Alex would be forced to give up his pursuit and allow him to escape.
But Alex wasn't afraid. No matter how small his chance of survival was, it was still better than Arthur's, and he was willing to take the risk.
Alex looked at Arthur's soul and sneered. "This place can bury gods, but it can't do anything to me. I told you that I would kill you, and I'm a man of my word. No matter where you run, I will hunt you down and destroy you."
As he spoke, his celestial staff exploded and turned into numerous crystal daggers, shooting toward Arthur's soul like a meteor shower.
"No!" Arthur screamed in anguish.
He was indignant as he watched the daggers streaking toward him. A moment later, he cursed and rushed straight at the Tomb, hoping to get close enough to deter Alex, but not so close that he could die.
Alex stepped forward and extended his arm, reaching for Arthur before he could escape.
Just as he was about to grab Arthur, a strange suction force suddenly emerged from the Tomb, pulling Alex down toward it.
Shocked, he knew his current strength was enough to resist the force. But to do so, he would have to stop chasing Arthur, and he wasn't prepared to do that.
Arthur laughed wildly. "You've failed to kill me, and now I will slaughter your entire family!"
"I'm an Ambrose," Alex said. "And I vow by my family's name that I will kill you right now."
With that, he used his speed to lunge at Arthur's soul, catching up and grabbing him.
"What are you doing?" Arthur demanded, clearly terrified. "This is the Tomb! You're going to kill us both!"