The moment Cyrus felt something wrong with the flow of his qi he shot up from his seat and pulled out his sword from its sheath as he quickly directed some qi to his eyes and ears to survey the surroundings. Before he could find the culprit he sensed a dangerous feeling coming from outside the tavern.
Running the Heaven-rending technique to full capacity and using his qi to strengthen his sword Cyrus let out a shout as he performed a horizontal slash to block the surge spear intent that burst through the door of the tavern heading toward him.
The entire tavern was destroyed in that one attack bringing the fight onto the street of the city with the citizens running around in fear and confusion.
After blocking the attack Cyrus immediately countered with a swift slash as his opponent was still recovering his stance as he hadn't expected Cyrus to be able to block his surprise attack. the attack was effective leaving a deep gash on his opponents sword arm.
looking at the face of the attacker Cyrus questioned with a mild surprise "Heavenly demon. I didn't think you would be able to hunt me down this well. I didn't expect you to have left such a valuable book in a dusty corner of the library. Though, I should thank you as if you had hidden it better I wouldn't have been able to reach the heights I have now."
"You dare go against me. I raised you, taught you almost everything you know about martial arts and gave you a clear path to the top. all you needed to do was give me the divine technique and the world would have been in your hands. yet you still had the gall to betray me. you have lost - no you never had any filial piety in the first place." The heavenly demon scowled as he responded.
"Filial piety my ass. We both know that if I had given you the divine technique that day that you would have killed me and kept it for yourself. Enough of the small talk we both know that values of the notes I stole from you. you wouldn't come alone to retrieve them. The rest of you stop hiding in the shadows and face me!" Cyrus spoke with a sharp glare
As he said this, 16 other figures came out of the hiding and surrounded Cyrus. He recognised most of them with 7 of them being the other demonic masters that he used to work with. he only recognized two of the other nine. namely the leader of the righteous alliance and the leader of mount hua whom he had a short encounter with as he was escaping from stealing the divine technique. judging that the aura coming from the other 7 were just as strong as the 7 demonic masters he only assumed they were the sect masters of various sect in the righteous alliance.
Looking at this line up Cyrus realized how dumb it was of him to leave hiding when he hadn't yet truly became invincible. If he had stayed in seclusion for even an extra five years then he would have been able to have reached a much higher proficiency in the heaven-rending divine body, then some damned poison wouldn't have been able to affect him at all.
Even as he thought this Cyrus showed no fear. Even if he was to fall here he would surely leave behind a scar on the martial world that would be seen for ages. Though in a way he was metaphorically fighting the entire world he knew that his training wouldn't betray him.
Snapping him out of his thought the leader of mount hua said "Demon hand over the divine technique. It's Impossible for the like of you to ever learn it."
"And what makes you think I haven't learned it already." stated Cyrus as he cocked an eyebrow.
Hearing this the leader of mouths hua's eyes widened as he yelled "Impossible! demon scum like you could never learn the divine technique in just 5 years."
"you're right." Cyrus said as he did a vertical slash with all his might toward the leader of the mount Hua sect. the leader of mount hua was caught off guard by the sudden attack an failed to block it. all he could do was direct the qi in his body to where the attack would hit and try to reposition his body.
The attack failed to kill the leader of mount hua but that didn't mean it didn't serve its purpose. The arm of the mount hua leader was now in the air.
Cyrus then went on to look at the old man in tattered white robes as he said "I learned it in three"
The violent sword aura in Cyrus' attack seeps into the mount hua leaders' body making so that if he doesn't expel it soon he'd become a cripple. at the very least he knew he'd have to sit this fight out. this leading to his humiliation in front of the other sect leader is the alliance as he lost the battle before it even started.
seeing this Cyrus scoffed as he hadn't killed the old man in front of him but he still achieved his goal so he wasn't too worried about it.
"Enough, attack that demon!" yelled the leader of the righteous alliance.
The moment the 8 martial artists from the righteous side attacked Cyrus the eight from the demonic side did the same. This wasn't some novel where the antagonist would be so arrogant they would throw away their lives. Facing Cyrus they all had some apprehension in their eyes as they watched his take out one of the strongest among them with just one attack. Even more the thought of him learning the divine technique put them more on edge. the only person who didn't have fear in their eyes was the alliance leader as he was hadn't personally took an attack from Cyrus. Even the heavenly demon was hesitating to attack Cyrus again as he lost their first exchange even though he launched a sneak attack.
After some hesitation the martial artist of the demon cult also attacked more than doubling the pressure on Cyrus. storms of blades were going toward Cyrus causing him to be on the defensive for most of the fight. His qi was so strong that normal martial artist wouldn't be able to hurt him even if he didn't block the attack but against 17 of the worlds strongest his qi couldn't compare as most of them had equal to or more qi then him. luckily for him the Heaven-rending divine body was doing its part protecting his body as even if their attacks landed as long as he directed his qi to the spot the attack would land then he would only have a light wound.
on the other hand the demonic and righteous martial artists that were attacking Cyrus had to be careful with every step as just one or two attacks from him could cripple them. This proving to them how strong the Heaven-rending divine body was as they felt they were only taking a beating while doing nothing to him. But this was far from the truth. The poison in his body was still making it difficult for Cyrus to move his qi causing him to barely be able to reinforce his body with qi in time when they landed an attack.
Right when Cyrus was about to make a move to turn the tables he felt a dangerous aura coming from behind him. He moved to the side and turned around in an attempt to dodge and block the attack. The first thing Cyrus saw as he turned around was a purple snake curve around his sword and bite him on the chest. immediately after he killed the snake snake with a flash of his sword but the damage was already done.
"Poison king!" yelled Cyrus in anger.
He knew the Poison king was participating in this besiegement so he kept his eye on him to prevent the Poison king from using any of his trick but in the end he still couldn't avoid the poison king's surprise attack while under the pressure of the other martial artists.
Cyrus felt that his already slow qi was slowing down further and soon it would reach a standstill. when that time came he would be like a sitting duck.
In that moment the anger Cyrus felt got to his head and in a fury he gave up all defenses and attacked the Poison king. He left his defense to the Heaven-rending divine body to handle. The Poison king saw Cyrus coming for him and threw as many venomous insect and animals he had on him at Cyrus in order to stall him so he could get to safety. Cyrus responded with one ruthless slash killing everything the Poison king threw at him. following up with a diagonal slash of his sword to cutting the poison king in two. a terrified expression still on his face.
Now Cyrus was on the clock. He needed to end the fight soon or he would die under the blades of the people besieging him. In order to end the fight faster he did it again. He gave up on his defenses and went all out. Every attack of his had astonishing power leveling streets.
He kept this up until the city was destroyed and there were only five left in front of him. At this point his qi had come to a stand still and he was heavily injured. only the Heavenly demon, the alliance leader, and three others were still standing. they were all injured but still in better shape then Cyrus.
"I didn't want it to come to this" said Cyrus.
the five in front of him were confused by what he meant but didn't take it to heart as they prepared to end the fight there.
Suddenly a burst of energy came from around Cyrus as he guided that energy to take the form of a flame and finally a spear that shot at the last standing demonic master with frightening speed. the Result being the entire upper body of the demonic master becoming charcoal.
"hows that master? I only achieved this with the notes I found in your damn library. I call it spiritual energy."
hearing this the heavenly demon scowled and attacked again. He had to kill Cyrus now or they would all die.
The fight dragged on and eventually it was just the heavenly demon and the alliance leader against Cyrus. It was almost over Cyrus thought as he used the last of his spiritual energy to kill the heavenly demon but not with fire. it was a blade of condensed air that cleanly cleaved the heavenly demon in vertically in half.
now out of spiritual energy and unable to use his qi Cyrus was bound to lose against the Alliance leader so as a last ditch effort, stay true to his words before even if he had to die he'd take them all down with him, he burned his true qi the root of his life to use all of it in one slash. a forbidden technique that many know but none are willing to use. This attack alone felled the alliance leader as it hit him square in the abdomen cutting off his legs.
But the Alliance leader wasn't dead yet and Cyrus no longer had the strength to move. he was just proud that they would all accompany him into the afterlife.
The alliance leader slowly crawled to Cyrus's body that was now sprawled out on the ground and said in a raspy voice as the lights slowly left both their eyes "Demon you were stronger then expected but soon you will die and feel the wrath of the gods for the evil you have commited"
looking into the alliance leaders eyes Cyrus said his last words "I am a demon. I will face god and walk backwards into hell."
hearing this the alliance leader stabbed his broken sword into Cyrus heart. and so they both died and the grand battle was over.
That day left a mark on both history and the world.
History knew it as the death of the heaven-rending demon.
The world knew it as the death of the first cultivator.