"This should've ended long ago," he muttered as his eyes locked on Fenix and Anya. "I underestimated you both."
Anya gulped down air, her heart still pounding from prolonged combat. She cast a sideways glance at Fenix, sensing how close he was to collapsing.
She saw his knuckles whiten as he leaned harder on his remaining sword. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly.
"Stay behind for a mont," Anya said in a low voice. "You're in no condition—"
Fenix gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I can still fight."
Yet behind that bravado, she saw the flicker of doubt in his eyes.
Before either could speak again, Old Yan flicked his wrist. "What are you waiting for? Attack!"
At Old Yan's command, the Dark Earth user sprinted in, slamming his foot into the ground. A new row of stone spikes burst from the soil, each tip glowing with a faint blackish aura.
anwhile, the Dark Fire user flanked wide, creating a column of swirling flas that shot forward in a broad arc.
Anya moved first in response. She gathered what little foxfire she had and shaped it around Fenix to form a Foxfire Shield. But she had to divide her focus due to the intense assault coming from two sides.
She could only shield him from the dark stream of molten flas to a certain extent. The extre strain caused her shield's edges to flicker, indicating that it almost collapsed.
"Fenix, watch your—"
A stone spike shot up behind her words, nearly impaling Fenix's calf. The tip cut a minor gash as he dodged. He limped backwards as pain erupted in his leg.
Fenix gritted his teeth and summoned Ember Veins, pouring burning energy into his muscles to keep going.
Anya launched a counterattack, creating a little Foxfire Explosion with her free hand in a tight circle that crashed into the Earth user.
Looking at the incoming attack, he raised his arms to shield his face, causing him to stumble back and molten rock fragnts flew in all directions.
Suddenly, Old Yan charged through the haze of debris. His hands were encircled by poisonous mist that was ready to strike.
Noticing the attack from the old man, Anya turned as she intended to face him.
However, the old man's reflexes were quicker than she had expected; after making a low feint, he struck her shoulder with a vicious palm punch. A poisonous residue stuck to her armor, corroding the tal every second, and a sizzling hiss rose.
Anya let out a cry and had to take a few steps back. The Dark Fire user took advantage of the situation to attack Fenix.
Fenix noticed the blade encased in flas coming at the last second. His battered body struggled to move. Nevertheless, he lifted his blade and used the attacker's blazing weapon to cut through steel.
It rained embers and sparks. For an instant, They were in a desperate situation for a mont. Fenix's knees began to give way under the constant pressure.
"Hnnngh!"
Summoning a final burst of Flareblade Technique, Fenix shoved the Dark Fire user off balance, reversing montum.
Fenix cut at the man's torso as he stumbled. A deep cut opened, causing blackened blood oozing forth.
But just then, Old Yan appeared at Fenix's unguarded flank as his hand glowed with an eerie greenish-black aura.
"Got you," Old Yan sneered, plunging his hand into Fenix's side.
Fenix's eyes widened. Ti seed to slow as a sickening wave of agonizing heat and cold flooded his body.
Old Yan twisted his hand like a dagger, ripping flesh and spreading venom in a concentrated burst. A strangled gasp tore from Fenix's throat as he dropped his sword.
"No—!" Anya scread. She propelled herself forward, but the Earth user intercepted, crossing her path with a spire of rocky shards. By the ti she shattered them with foxfire, she was too late.
Fenix crumpled to the ground, blood pooling beneath him. He tried to speak, All that ca out of his mouth was a wheezing hiss. As the poisonous corruption slithered through his veins, his vision grew hazy and twirled with stars. An open wound gushed scarlet as Old Yan wrenched his hand free.
Anya's heart was hamred. She sent a savage slash of foxfire at Old Yan, forcing him to dodge away. Ignoring the tears that threatened to cloud her vision, she dropped to her knees next to Fenix and raised his shoulders.
"Fenix, hold on…" she whispered, panic twisting her voice. She pressed trembling hands over the hole in his side, her foxfire sputtering uselessly against the lethal poison that now ravaged him. "Fenix…!"
"I can't," Fenix's lids twitched.
Fenix let out a rattling sigh and went limp, closing his eyes.
Anya froze as fear gripped her. No pulse. No heartbeat. Fenix's chest was still, silent, and covered with blood. With tears in her eyes, Anya gritted her teeth. "Dead. He is…"
Old Yan's mocking laugh cut through her horror. "You made it difficult. But in the end, you're outmatched." He turned to the Dark Fire user, nodding. "Finish the fox. Earth user, flank her."
anwhile on Cain's group side, chaos erupted as they saw Fenix's lifeless body of Fenix, who had been fighting to protect them.
"Wahhhh! Big Brother Cain… Uncle Fenix, he is—he." Ayla cried out the loudest as she thought that this happened because she mocked Garran before.
She then looked up at Cain with a pleading look, "Is it possible for you to bring Uncle Fenix back to life? Because Uncle Fenix said that you can do things that seem impossible, despite you're not as strong as him."
"Will you be a good girl who wouldn't cause any trouble if I can bring him back to life?" Cain asked with a smile while ruffling her hair as he thought that he might as well take this chance to discipline Ayla so that she would behave more in the future.
"Yes! Ayla will be a good girl." Ayla nodded her small head eagerly as she wiped her tears and snob.
Everyone in Cain's group was surprised when they heard it as they hadn't expected that Cain could bring soone back to life.
Naturally, this conversation could be heard by everyone, causing different reactions.
Lucan and his protector sneered as they thought that it was impossible for Cain to bring soone's life back unless he had an extrely broken talent or an extrely precious treasure from the phoenix tribe that the current phoenix tribe themselves might not even have.
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Which either side was impossible as they watched Cain's action as if he was a clown.
Draven's reaction was one of overjoyed since he believed that he would finally be able to accomplish this extrely important mission.
Garran knitted his eyebrows as he was confused with Cain's words because even though he didn't doubt Cain's words for so reason, the reality was indeed almost impossible to bring soone's life back.
However, everyone was shocked when they saw what happened to Fenix's body after Cain made a gesture with his palm that resembled a gun and moved as if he was firing a bullet at him.
"Dor!" Cain said with a smile as he tid it perfectly.
When a suffocating hopelessness descended on Anya as she hadn't heard everything around her because her focus was solely on Fenix, she sensed sothing stirring in Fenix's body—like a spark catching tinder.
Faint wisps of warmth curled around Fenix's motionless form. A primal hum whispered at the edges of her senses, reminiscent of a heartbeat made of fla.
She stared down, her tears catching in her throat. "Fenix…?"
A faint rumble travelled across the air. The temperature surrounding them rose sharply. Trails of flas-like energy flared over Fenix's wounds, whirling with a brilliance like molten gold. Before Old Yan or his n could react, a blazing crimson fla erupted from Fenix's breast.
Anya reflexively shielded her face as waves of heat rolled over her. A radiant glow flooded the battlefield, making it seem like dawn had arrived on the burnt battlefield.
Fenix's body levitated an inch off the ground as his limbs slack down. The wounds on his flesh closed one by one, the black venomous lines lting under the ferocity of this phoenix-like inferno. Charred pieces of his clothing flaked away, replaced by an aura of living fire.
"Impossible…!" Old Yan blurted, shielding his eyes against the light.
Slowly, Fenix's eyelids fluttered open, revealing irises that glowed like molten suns. In that instant, [Infernal Rebirth (SS Rank Talent)] announced its presence in full grandeur. A pair of fiery wings manifested in a blazing fan behind him, reminiscent of a phoenix in flight. His torso seed wreathed in living fla, the gaping wound now gone.
Standing straight, Fenix lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the remaining enemies. His presence radiated raw power—an intensity that outweighed his usual ferocity. For a mont, he seed unstoppable.
The Dark Fire user, still recovering from his injuries, stared in terror. "He was dead!" he gasped. "How—how is he…?"
Nobody responded to his question. Fenix took one, resounding step. The heat fused the dirt beneath his feet, transforming it into crystalline slag.
Anya could sense an almost magnetic pressure pouring off him, indicating a brief but towering increase in his stats. Despite her own triple increase, she'd never felt Fenix like this.
Old Yan sneered and refused to cower. "Kill him again," he barked at his n, his voice trembling. "Whatever this trick is, it won't save him."
The Earth user and Fire user exchanged unsure glances but obeyed. The Earth user slamd his palm into the earth, causing a spiraling bombardnt of stone spikes.
The Fire user then drew arcs of black fla between the spikes, forming a fatal synergy of earth and fire that converged on Fenix.
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