Raise Your Head!!

"Ahahahaha! Dead! Dead! He's dead!!!" Seeing Chen Wuming's figure completely swallowed by the lightning dragon, Tucker finally could no longer restrain his bloodthirsty excitement. Throwing back his head, he burst into wild laughter. "Hit head-on by my ultimate technique, Raging Thunder Hammer, there's probably not even a scrap of him left, huh?! Ahahahaha—"

"You seem... rather pleased with yourself..." Suddenly, a faint voice sounded beside his ear. Tucker's laughing face instantly froze. Stiffly turning his head, he slowly looked toward the source of the voice.

"Not dead?! How is that possible?!" At the sight, his pupils abruptly contracted, his huge eyes shrinking to pinpoints. Tucker trembled in disbelief. "Th-this is impossible!!!" By the end, even his voice had changed, becoming shrill and piercing—simply unbearable to hear.

"Impossible..." Chen Wuming stood quietly where he was, muttering to himself in a somewhat gloomy tone. In his outstretched right hand, which had previously held nothing, he now gripped a blade that radiated a gloomy aura. The magical rapier from before stood silently embedded in the ground by his feet. Not only was there not a single wound anywhere on his body—no! There was not even a speck of dust on him! It was undoubtedly strange, because it was far too abnormal! How could someone struck head-on by such violent magic not even have dust on him?!

Tucker had clearly noticed this as well. Though reason told him that this brat, despite knowing a little magic, was merely an ordinary and weak mage who could not possibly pose even the slightest threat to him, for some reason, his instincts kept sounding sharp alarms! They seemed to be telling him that this brat was nowhere near as simple as he appeared! He had never experienced such an extreme sense of danger in all his life! Even from those great figures, he had never felt danger so intense that every hair on his body stood on end uncontrollably!

Was this feeling pressure? That was right! Pressure! An unimaginably terrifying pressure faintly emanated from the small body before him. Though so slight as to be nearly imperceptible, it strangely seized all of his senses completely!!!

Thus, an extremely bizarre scene took shape. A youthful-looking boy stared silently at the ground with a gloomy, indifferent gaze so cold it inspired despair. Not far before him, a strong and burly brute stood frozen in place, staring at the boy in horror and uncertainty. Though beads of sweat the size of beans covered his face, he did not even dare wipe them away! It was as though the slightest movement would cause the boy before him to kill him instantly!

"Is it truly... impossible..." Chen Wuming seemed to have fallen under some kind of spell, repeating the same words over and over. Just as Tucker, drenched in sweat, could no longer resist roaring a few times to vent his nearly collapsing nerves, Chen Wuming finally slowly raised his head. Staring blankly into Tucker's eyes, he softly asked, as though questioning him and muttering to himself at once, "If Heaven has decided something, is there truly no way to undo it..."

"Ahhh!!!" Unable to endure the pressure in his heart any longer, Tucker let out a hoarse roar! Raising the enormous spiked club in his hand, he charged explosively toward Chen Wuming while bellowing with a flushed face, "You're already dead!!! Because this was decided by the master long ago!!!!!!"

"Decided? Master...?" As though those words had touched some forbidden nerve, Chen Wuming's previously calm face immediately became especially gloomy and twisted! Gazing darkly at Tucker as he rushed closer and closer, Chen Wuming roared in a low voice, "Only I can decide my own fate! What kind of bullshit master?! From the moment Achill's soul completely dissipated, from the moment my memories and the memories Achill left behind completely fused together, I had already cast it aside completely!!!"

"I am only myself! I decide only for myself! Whoever tries to change my fate, no matter who he is, I will utterly destroy him!!! Even if he is that so-called ethereal Heaven! Even if he is the god who created all things in this world! It makes no difference! No one is allowed to toy with or control my fate!!! Never! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" As if he had gone mad, Chen Wuming threw back his head and roared with all his strength, "My name is—Chen—Wuming!!!"

The moment his words fell, a strange magical power that gripped the soul suddenly erupted from Chen Wuming's small body! Like a howling gale, like raging ocean waves, it burst forth from his body in wave after wave, wild and unrestrained!!!

"The Miracle Flower that cannot bloom can only quietly open for one who possesses eternal faith..." Chen Wuming's face returned to calm once more, as if the person who had just screamed madly had never been him. Looking at Tucker, who had already reached him and was even swinging his enormous spiked club at him, Chen Wuming's right hand holding the blade began to tremble slightly. It was not the excitement of killing an enemy with a blade, nor the fear of an enemy drawing near. Rather, it seemed to be a strange, sorrowful despair that made one's scalp crawl, born from the imminent battle and slaughter...

"After endless prayers, hopes, and countless desperate wishes, it finally granted me a hope that could bloom within my heart. Let me show you my miracle, Tucker..." For the first time, he spoke the name of the man he loathed beyond measure. Gently holding the long blade straight before him, its tip pointed directly at Tucker less than two meters away, Chen Wuming slowly breathed in a gloomy, gentle voice, "Let the wondrous blooming of this Miracle Flower erase every trace of your existence... Now, raise your head—"

"Wabisuke!!!"

It changed! The instant his words fell, the shape of the blade in Chen Wuming's right hand silently changed! The black blade seemed to have been stained with a layer of deep ink, black enough to make one tremble, black enough to make one's heart pound! Its originally upward-curving tip now bent strangely, making two consecutive straight ninety-degree turns beneath the edge. The entire blade resembled a large inverted "7"! Against the black blade body, the snow-bright edge occasionally reflected threads of chilling light that made the heart quiver! Its bizarre shape, the sharply contrasting black-and-white blade and body, gave it an indescribably strange aura!

That feeling was despair!!!

Clang— With a crisp clash of metal, the enormous spiked club, swung with all its owner's strength, slammed heavily into the strange long blade in Chen Wuming's hand.

"It's over..." Chen Wuming softly uttered those words, then immediately withdrew his blade and slipped to Tucker's side.

Seeing this, Tucker was just about to swing his spiked club sideways and attack Chen Wuming again when a tremendous force suddenly transmitted through the enormous club in his hands! Caught off guard, Tucker immediately lost his balance and crashed down onto one knee on the solid ground!

Boom— The head of the spiked club pressed heavily against the ground, immediately crushing the sturdy earth into a depression!

"Hmph—" Tucker let out a muffled groan, and his right knee slammed heavily into the ground as well. His body seemed to have become heavy from the force of the spiked club, pressing grotesque and conspicuous cracks into the ground!

"Wh-what is going on?!" Tucker stared at the spiked club in his hands in horror! He could clearly feel that its weight had increased by at least twice its original amount!!!

Wh-what the hell is happening?! Tucker roared inwardly.

"I told you, everything is already over..." A faint voice sounded beside his ear. Tucker tried in horror to raise his head and look to the side, but at that moment, a sudden change occurred! He abruptly felt his body weight increase severalfold! It was as though a mountain had suddenly been placed atop him, the tremendous force far exceeding the limit his body could withstand! In an instant, it crushed him heavily into the ground!!!

Bang— With a heavy muffled impact, Tucker's body smashed hard against the solid ground! The terrifying force even pressed a large human-shaped crater into the earth!

"Sp-spare me—" Struggling to raise his head, Tucker looked up at Chen Wuming with a face full of terror and begged for mercy.

"From the moment you decided to attack me with magic, your life..." Ignoring Tucker's pleading expression entirely, Chen Wuming lightly raised Wabisuke, which he had secretly placed against Tucker's back while Tucker was distracted by the spiked club's doubled weight. Then, walking behind Tucker, he stepped on his back. Wabisuke gently hooked Tucker's head, which was raised high in supplication. In a voice devoid of all emotion, Chen Wuming softly said, "...was already over." With that, he gently pulled his right hand backward.

Psh— Amid a spray of blood, a massive head flew into the air...