"Skree..."
With a clear phoenix cry, the Fire Phoenix swooped down toward the Eye of Rules.
The gray-white pillar of light thundered down, colliding squarely with the Fire Phoenix.
Boom...
Heaven and earth fell silent.
Everyone felt as though something had plugged their ears.
All they could see was that mass of scarlet-gold flames exploding amid the gray-white light.
Like fireworks blooming, it was breathtakingly beautiful.
Flames scattered, and the pillar of light was forcibly deflected a little.
But the Fire Phoenix's phantom form also grew somewhat more transparent from the blow.
A large hole appeared in its wing, scarlet-gold flames falling steadily from it like blood from a wound.
"Skree..."
He let out a pained moan, then beat his wings and charged at the pillar of light again.
Lin Shisan struggled to rise, but his legs no longer obeyed him. His vision blurred, and all his internal organs burned.
"Don't... Little Nine... come back..."
His voice was so broken it was barely recognizable.
But Little Nine did not stop. He swooped forward again.
He shielded Lin Shisan with his body, using his battered phantom form to withstand the Eye of Rules' annihilation head-on.
Boom...
The second pillar of light descended, even more violent than before.
The Fire Phoenix's wings shattered inch by inch within the light, turning into a sky full of fiery rain that scattered over the Demon-Slaying Platform.
His body shrank rapidly.
From over a hundred feet, it shrank to several dozen feet, then to ten feet, until only a fist-sized ball of light remained.
"Go... Little Nine, I don't want you to save me..."
Holding back his grief, Lin Shisan mustered his last ounce of strength.
He grabbed a broken stone brick from the ground and hurled it at the pillar of light.
Before the brick