That's how the weak think!

"No! That's how the weak think!

I'll tear him into bloody pieces while Flowing Red Scale is active!"

Taking advantage of the opening before Kamo Xiansheng could recover his blade, Qingxiao closed in, driving an elbow into his opponent's chest with the full force of his body.

"Man!"

Bang!

Another heavy crash rang out.

Even with Blood Armor protecting him and Flowing Red Scale enhancing him, Kamo Xiansheng staggered backward under the elbow strike. Blood surged in his chest, and a faint, metallic sweetness rose in his throat.

But Kamo Xiansheng's offensive showed no sign of faltering. Instead, it grew even more savage and violent.

Knowing he was cornered, he began pushing Flowing Red Scale at the cost of overtaxing his body. The remaining blood inside him boiled furiously, surging throughout his body in an unending stream. He squeezed Flowing Red Scale's enhancement to its limit, and his speed and strength soared once more.

Every slash Kamo Xiansheng delivered was vicious. Abandoning defense, he attacked with everything he had, trading injury for injury in a desperate fighting style that instantly reversed his flagging momentum.

Delighted to see that his opponent actually had a third phase, Qingxiao advanced rather than retreating. His fists repeatedly clashed with the Blood Blade, leaving cut after cut.

Countless exchanges of last-second dodges, blocks, and counterattacks turned the battle into a complete deadlock.

The two darted past each other through the ruins at blinding speed. Bloody blade light repeatedly collided with heavy, bare-fisted blows, metallic clangs and dull impacts ringing out one after another. Shock waves swept up layers of rubble and dust, filling the entire battlefield with smoke.

The more perilous this fight to the death became, the clearer Qingxiao's state grew.

The panic and stiffness of being thrown into battle faded completely. He fully adapted to Kamo Xiansheng's attack speed and rhythm, every exertion and every dodge becoming smoother and more natural.

Heavenly Motion's instinct to temper his body awakened. The combat experience gained from countless offensive and defensive exchanges rapidly merged together. The longer he fought, the hotter his touch grew, and the more effortlessly he fought.

What startled and excited Qingxiao even more was that he could clearly sense the abnormal rhythm of the Cursed Energy surrounding him.

The Cursed Energy inside him kept battering against a critical threshold. Every punch and every bodily collision made space tremble faintly. The sensation of compressing Cursed Energy to its utmost limit, of being about to break through the threshold of the rules, grew ever clearer-he was only one perfect opportunity away from landing a Black Flash.

In this state, Qingxiao's fighting strength continued to rise, but Kamo Xiansheng's desperate counterattack still kept the battle locked in place. Although Qingxiao now held an absolute advantage, Kamo Xiansheng's reckless fighting style put considerable pressure on him, leaving the fight at a stalemate.

Kamo Xiansheng's eyes were filled with madness and resolve. He knew his blood was nearly exhausted, and even the last Blood Pack at his waist had long since been drained dry. Weakness washed over his consciousness like a tide, but he still refused to accept his fate. He swung the Blood Blade with the last of his strength, hoping to find an opening that would let him turn the tables.

Activating the Blood Blade at high frequency while maintaining Blood Armor's defense was recklessly draining his body and blood reserves every second.

Less than two minutes of close combat had consumed far more blood than the preceding several minutes of ranged maneuvering.

Kamo Xiansheng's heart grew colder and colder.

At range, he would exhaust his blood and inevitably lose.

In a close-quarters fight to the death, he was still outmatched and certain to lose-even faster!

Kamo Xiansheng had committed every trump card to his all-out assault, yet the results were pitifully meager. Instead, his blood reserves were rapidly running dry. From the moment he had chosen to close in, this duel had become a dead end.

Although victory was already assured, Qingxiao could not finish Kamo Xiansheng off anytime soon. After all, he still had plenty of blood in his body, enough to sustain him for a while.

Just as the battle remained deadlocked and the two were about to clash again, two figures slowly appeared at the edge of the battlefield.

It was Shoko.

She entered the ruins supporting Suguru Geto, whose face was deathly pale and whose breathing was weak.

Suguru Geto had regained consciousness, but his entire body was weak and powerless. Most of his weight rested on Shoko, and all that remained was frail exhaustion.

Their arrival instantly broke the deadlock.

By now, Kamo Xiansheng was utterly immersed in the fight to the death, his entire attention fixed on Qingxiao before him.

With his blood depleted and his vision swimming as well, he had no attention to spare for movements at the edge of the battlefield and never noticed their arrival.

Watching the battle with a clear head, Suguru Geto had already seen through the stalemate. He precisely caught the opening left by Kamo Xiansheng's tension and inability to look elsewhere, and decisively activated Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

A small, pitch-black, bird-shaped Grade 2 Cursed Spirit quietly appeared. Light-bodied and with a faint presence, it swooped in silently at low altitude, heading straight for Kamo Xiansheng's face.

Fully focused on close combat, Kamo Xiansheng had never expected this sudden ambush. His concentration shattered, his rhythm broke, and even his Cursed Energy stalled for an instant.

He instinctively raised a hand and formed a Thin Blood Layer to block the attack on his face. A fleeting gap instantly appeared in the Blood Armor that had covered his entire body, exposing a small patch of completely unprotected flesh on his chest.

Qingxiao, who had been waiting for an opportunity all along, instantly caught the opening when Kamo Xiansheng's attention slipped.