Lu Chen pulled a Spirit-Locking Nail from his waist with his left hand and drove it into its shoulder blade.
The chain-forged nail touched the black runes, and they recoiled as though scalded. As the tip pierced bone, pale golden sealing power poured from the nail into its skeleton, crushing the black runes around its shoulder into ash-gray.
[Runic Shield defense decreased by 15%.]
The second nail pierced its hipbone. The Runic Shield dropped another 15%.
The third nail pierced the junction between its skull and spine.
All three nails lit up with pale golden light. Like three chains, their sealing power cinched into its bones from three directions. More than half the black runes' radiance was suppressed, and cracks began to appear in the Runic Shield.
Lu Chen gripped the sword hilt with both hands and poured all the Dragon Thunder True Essence in his body into Root Severer. The blade shifted from silvery white to golden red. Golden-red light exploded from its tip and surged through the Runic Shield's cracks. The cracks widened, multiplying from one to ten, from ten to a hundred. The Runic Shield shattered.
The sword tip pierced its chest cavity and ran through the black core.
The core did not shatter at once. The black runes on its surface continued to resist, desperately drawing together to force the sword tip out. But the golden-red radiance on Root Severer had already seeped from the tip into the core, burning it from within.
[Avatar core collapsing. Estimated time: twenty breaths.]
The thing atop the coffin lid began to tremble. It was not struggling, but convulsing before collapse. Its three ghostly green eyes went out one by one, and black powder spilled from the slit of its mouth—the powder the core had been