It Was You All Along, Looking Down on This Old Man, Huh?!

[Emotion Points from Matt Murdock +577]

[Emotion Points from Frank Castle +579]

[Emotion Points from Luke Cage +583]

[Emotion Points from Jessica Jones +599]

[Emotion Points from Danny Rand +699]

The Defenders stood there with their mouths agape, their hearts pounding in terror, completely stunned by Fire Cloud Evil God's overwhelming presence.

But—

"Elektra—!!"

Alexandra's scream snapped everyone back to attention. A glowing red crystal was embedded in Elektra's forehead. With a blade in each hand, she left behind a string of afterimages as she brought them down heavily upon Fire Cloud Evil God.

Pfft—!

Blood sprayed.

Even Fire Cloud Evil God had not expected such a turn of events. Caught off guard, he gave his enemy the opening to severely wound him in one stroke!

"Hehehehe~"

Blood spurted from his chest as he let out a loud, icy laugh. With a sweep of both arms, the six people present shuddered all over and simultaneously vomited blood as they were sent flying.

".You've got guts."

He stomped heavily, kicking up a cloud of dust. Though he moved later, Fire Cloud Evil God arrived beneath Alexandra first.

In midair, Alexandra glared venomously and pulled out the detonator, intending to die with him. But Fire Cloud Evil God snatched it away with a cold expression and crushed it. Then he slapped her across the face. With a sharp crack, her neck snapped, and she was pronounced dead on the spot.

[Emotion Points from Alexandra +787]

The remaining four leaders did not escape the pursuit either, dying one after another in miserable fashion.

[Emotion Points from Murakami +778]

[Emotion Points from Bakuto +779]

[Emotion Points from Sowande +781]

[Emotion Points from Madame Gao +777]

"Huh? This is... a Killing Stone Fragment?"

Gripping Elektra by the throat, Fire Cloud Evil God carefully examined the red crystal in her forehead, surprise appearing on his face.

"This trip to America has really been lucky."

Rarely allowing himself a sigh of emotion, he reached out. No matter how Elektra struggled, he forcibly dug it out.

In the distance, the Defenders watching this scene finally could not hold back any longer.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out as Frank and Chun-Li fired at the same time.

Matt's baton followed close behind, hurled viciously at Fire Cloud Evil God's arm.

"Let her go—!"

With a shout, Luke Cage led Jessica and Danny in a charge.

To Fire Cloud Evil God's dynamic vision, the bullet speeding toward him was unbelievably slow. He casually raised his left hand and caught the two bullets aimed at his forehead between his fingers.

"A fire lance? Hehe~"

With a flip and flick of his hand, one bullet knocked aside the incoming baton and struck Daredevil Matt squarely in the right arm.

The other bullet curved through the air and pierced through Frank's right palm.

Matt had barely let out a cry of pain when two loud thuds rang out. Luke and Jessica came flying back, vomiting blood.

But they had not come away empty-handed. At the very least, Jessica had created an opening for Luke. His fist slammed into the wound on Fire Cloud Evil God's chest, dealing a second blow.

Only Iron Fist Danny, the dim-witted fool, fell for Fire Cloud Evil God's deliberate bait and punched the wall covered in seal script with his glowing right fist.

The wall was strange indeed. The Hand had previously used explosives on it to no effect, yet Danny shattered the entire wall with a single strike, revealing a hole behind it.

"Cough, cough."

A huge slash wound ran across his chest and abdomen. Fire Cloud Evil God spat out a mouthful of blood and hurriedly circulated his inner energy to suppress his injuries.

"I was careless. The other two are nothing worth mentioning, but that black man's defense and strength are truly unreasonable."

In Fire Cloud Evil God's martial arts understanding, anyone who wished to become powerful had to cultivate martial arts and strengthen their inner energy, just like the Hand's leaders from before.

But Luke followed no path of East Country inner-energy cultivation at all. Not only was his defense unmatched, rendering Fire Cloud Evil God's ordinary attacks ineffective, his strength was also astonishing. One moment of carelessness, and a fist carrying more than ten tons of force would come crashing down on him.

If not for his profound inner energy and solid foundation, allowing him to sense the danger in time, that last hit would have sent him straight to the grave.

"Cough, cough. He may be tough-skinned and thick-fleshed, but he took a palm strike of my soft force just now. His internal organs should be shattered. He won't be getting back up!"

Though he continued coughing up blood, Fire Cloud Evil God did not lose the poise of the world's greatest killer. He tidied his disheveled hair and calmly analyzed the situation.

He watched the black man get flung far away, roll across the ground, and let two drops of blood trickle from the corner of his mouth—then, as if nothing had happened, pat his butt and charge at him again. The sight nearly made his jaw drop.

Fire Cloud Evil God: "."

To one side, having failed to hit anyone, Danny's expression was terrible.

"I am Danny Rand, protector of Kunlun, the sixty-sixth Iron Fist!"

He angrily adjusted his martial arts stance and desperately tried to channel the power within him, but his glowing fist refused to cooperate, flickering on and off like a faulty lightbulb.

"So it was you who looked down on this old man earlier, huh?!"

Fire Cloud Evil God did not indulge him. He strode over to Danny, who tried to resist, only to be slapped flat onto the ground. Then Fire Cloud Evil God planted a foot on his head and forcefully stomped him into the earth.

It was only when Luke rushed over to help that Fire Cloud Evil God took the opportunity to withdraw and step back.

[Emotion Value from Danny Rand +888]

As for Elektra?

After the red crystal between her brows had been dug out, she had lost all value. Her neck was broken, her eyes lifeless, and she had been casually tossed aside.

[Emotion Value from Matt Murdock +999]

"Elektra—!!"

His eyes nearly splitting with anguish, Matt hurried toward Elektra. Several companions reached down and dug Danny out, warily watching Fire Cloud Evil God's movements.

"Cough, cough."

Clutching his chest, Fire Cloud Evil God spat out another mouthful of blood. His face turned pale, but he had no time to deal with them. With several flashes, he leaped into the cave.

At the deepest point within lay a massive skeletal dragon!

He stepped forward and pressed his palm against the dragon bones, carefully examining them.

"Cough, cough. So these are the dragon bones Madame Gao and the others were searching for?

There really is a mysterious energy inside. There isn't much of it, but its quality is extremely high!"

With enemies surrounding him outside and severe injuries within, Fire Cloud Evil God did not dare delay. He immediately activated Six Treasury Immortal Thieves to devour the residual power in the dragon bones.

Golden streams of light flowed from the dragon bones, entering his body through his arm.

His body felt as though it had been nourished by sweet rain. The wound on his chest began to itch as it slowly healed.

Even his internal energy was undergoing some unknown change. The sensation was too wonderful to stop; Fire Cloud Evil God closed his eyes, nearly crying out in pleasure.

Outside Dragon Bone Cave.

Luke nervously shook Danny's body. Seeing his fingers twitch, he let out a deep sigh of relief.

"He's fine. He just passed out."

At those words, Jessica and Chun-Li smiled.

On the other side, Matt held the corpse of his ex-girlfriend Elektra, grief-stricken.

[Emotion Value from Matt Murdock +1099]

Frank walked over and gently patted his shoulder in comfort.

[Emotion Value from Frank Castle +733]

Frank had experienced too many scenes of life and death. They did not have time to waste here now.

"Matt. Take Elektra with you. Once we're out, we blow this place up!"

That had been the original plan. Elektra's death was regrettable, but that made it all the more necessary to carry out the plan now—let The Hand and Fire Cloud Evil God be buried with her!

"I can sense it. Fire Cloud Evil God hasn't escaped. He's still inside that cave!"

Standing up with Elektra's body in his arms, Matt felt deeply uneasy through his radar senses.

Deep within that cave, Fire Cloud Evil God's heartbeat was growing stronger and stronger. That was a very bad sign. Something must have happened in there!

Even so, explosives were clearly the wiser choice. Matt did not refuse. Carrying Elektra, he and the others quickly took the elevator out.

Inside Dragon Bone Cave.

"Just a little more, just a little more..."

His eyes bloodshot, Fire Cloud Evil God had reached the most critical stage of absorbing the power within the dragon bones.