And the Desolate Heavenly Emperor's followers...
"Roar!"
A deafening roar, filled with savagery and wild delight, exploded among shattered mountains steeped in smoke and the stench of blood.
The roar came from an enormous ant covered in vicious-looking dark-gold bone armor, with three pairs of curved horns on his head.
This was the Heavenly Horned Ant, who had become a Dark Creature after cultivating the Kindling Flame Technique.
Long before the great battle began, the Desolate Heavenly Emperor had passed down the Kindling Flame Technique.
By now, his most trusted veterans had all refined Strange Blood and become strange creatures in every sense.
Bloodthirsty scarlet light danced in the Heavenly Horned Ant's compound eyes. A dense ominous aura pervaded his body, making him the very image of a terrifying fiend that had crawled out of the depths of Calamity Land.
A figure was clamped firmly beneath his massive mandibles.
That figure was bathed in blood, his golden light dim, his aura faint. He was already at death's door, though his features were still vaguely recognizable.
It was the Ten-Crown King!
"Hahaha! So you've come to this!" The Heavenly Horned Ant laughed wildly. "Some fucking Ten-Crown King you are! You still ended up beaten by me! Today, I'll take your head to the Plateau to claim my reward!"
Of course, this was not the real Ten-Crown King, but a flesh-and-blood clone formed from a wisp of his true spirit and a portion of his flesh.
At that moment, the real Ten-Crown King was thrashing the "Banished Immortal," grumbling incessantly to himself as he did so.
So you're the fucking uncrowned king, huh?! Did you get permission from me, the real Ten-Crown King? Huh? Who do you think you are, calling yourself the uncrowned king in front of me!
Elsewhere, the Banished