Chapter 789: Courting Death
As for Leon, compared to Duncan, taking Duncan out was clearly the priority.
Black Dragon Warlord was wreathed in swirling black smoke, constantly churning. Torrents of fire rain and meteors appeared overhead, crashing down on Duncan in relentless waves.
Duncan couldn't hear a word anymore. In just a dozen seconds, all that was left in his eyes was pure rage.
One of Duncan's arms had already turned into a jet-black bone, not a trace of flesh remaining. His other hand, at that moment, left the surface of his heart.
Seeing this, Leon finally felt relieved.
Just as I suspected. I'd guessed before that the heart itself wasn't all that powerful—it just had a peculiar allure. It's growing, constantly devouring power to get stronger. But faced with the deranged Black Dragon Warlord, the heart could be damaged. That's Duncan's fatal weakness. No matter what, Duncan would never let the heart suffer even the slightest harm!
Both of Duncan's hands left the heart, and the flesh on his body began to wither rapidly—from his limbs to his torso, then his head.
In an instant, all the flesh on Duncan's body turned to ash and vanished. He became a jet-black skeleton, with only a heart still pounding in his chest. With every beat, black smoke spewed from the heart, shrouding the skeleton completely.
"Damn bastard, I'll make you pay for this!"
Watching the Black Dragon Warlord's berserk spells explode around the heart, Duncan snapped. Flames danced in the eyes of the skeleton, burning like a wrathful undead. His heart thudded faster and faster in his chest.
Duncan raised both hands, releasing countless runes. Black smoke surged, and in midair, twelve swirling vortexes of black smoke lined up in a row.
In an instant, boundless Abyssal Magic erupted from all twelve vortexes—green Venomfire, black Frost...
The raging Abyssal Magic converged into a terrifying flood, surging straight toward the Black Dragon Warlord.
The Black Dragon Warlord lifted his arms, and endless black smoke extended from them, morphing into two massive demonic arms over thirty meters long. The demon arms spread wide, forming two colossal shields in front of him.
At the same time, black scales rapidly condensed across the surface of these gigantic demon hands, making them appear even more menacing.
A torrent of Abyssal Magic slammed into the demon arms, producing a shrill clash of metal—an endless barrage of clangs. Every spell was blocked outside.
Some streams of Abyssal Magic were forcibly diverted, crashing behind the Black Dragon Warlord.
Countless spells became a flood of Abyssal Magic, scouring the ground. In an instant, the jagged terrain was sliced clean—every ridge, whether ten meters high or just a few, was shattered to pieces...
Suddenly, a stretch of perfectly flat ground, hundreds of meters long and dozens wide, appeared on the earth...
A terrible power surged from Duncan, his berserk aura exploding outward. In an instant, every spell within hundreds of meters was annihilated, collapsing into black smoke that streamed into the giant heart.
Black smoke began to drift from the heart, curling around Duncan's bones like living things. In the blink of an eye, his skeleton turned jet-black.
In the distance, a flicker of astonishment flashed in Leon's eyes.
Duncan's gone mad!
He's actually letting the Heart of Constantine assimilate him—he's throwing his life away! Once assimilated, there's no turning back, no hope of recovery!
Now he can fight at full strength, with no time limits, but in the end, the heart will devour him completely. He'll die, erased without a trace.
High above the Abyss, after Duncan's bones turned jet-black, strands of black thread appeared between him and the giant heart, linking to every part of his body. He was already more than halfway assimilated by the heart.
If before, he had even a slim chance of risking the heart's power to reach Sky Rank, now that chance was gone for good.
Up till now, it was a relationship of mutual exploitation—the heart lured Duncan, Duncan fed it more power, and in return, the heart made Duncan stronger.
Now, Duncan was letting the heart assimilate him. Once the process was complete, he'd be reduced to ash, just like the other Abyss-corrupted creatures.
But if Duncan can't fight at full strength now, the rampaging Black Dragon Warlord will grind him down anyway.
As the black threads entwined every bone in Duncan's body, he howled in agony. The threads shifted, finally gathering at his only remaining organ—the heart.
When the last thread settled on the heart in his chest, a savage gleam flashed in Duncan's eyes. He reached out, grabbed his own heart, and squeezed with all his might.
With a sharp crack, the heart shattered. Duncan's last drop of blood sprayed out, and all the black threads connecting him to the giant heart snapped.
In that moment, Duncan roared in fury, striding through the air from the Abyss. The power radiating from him grew stronger with every step.
Leon was stunned.
Damn, Duncan really has lost it. He's actually severed his connection to that giant heart, destroyed his last organ, spilled his last drop of blood—he'll never recover his body now, doomed to remain a skeleton forever!
His body can't be restored anymore. It's almost certain Duncan's rank will never progress past this point. He's not undead, but he's become something even closer—just a skeleton, unable to reach Sky Rank, not even able to transform into an undead!
This guy's really gone berserk...
Just as Leon expected, the Black Dragon Warlord had lost all reason, and now Duncan, in his fury, was rampaging as well...
Freed from the giant heart's control, Duncan could finally unleash his full power!
He raised his hand, and a string of black rune-marked symbols flew from his bones. In midair, these runes devoured clouds of black smoke.
Suddenly, a dozen massive black ice spikes, each several meters long, appeared in the air.
The ice spikes gleamed with a metallic sheen, their surfaces covered in dense black runes. As soon as they appeared, they shot toward the Black Dragon Warlord like phantoms.
The Black Dragon Warlord roared, his face twisted in fury, as giant demon hands flew out to strike the massive black ice spikes.
But unexpectedly, the runes on the ice spikes flashed, and in an instant, they pierced through dozens of demon hands.
In a flash, the demon hands froze into blocks of black ice, then crashed to the ground and shattered into fragments.
The battlefield was littered with fragments of shattered demon hands, black ice glistening in the dim light. The air crackled with tension, and even the ground seemed to tremble beneath the weight of their clash.
Leon watched, heart pounding, as Duncan pressed his attack, relentless and unyielding. The Black Dragon Warlord snarled, refusing to back down.
The sky above the Abyss roiled with chaotic energy, clouds swirling as if mirroring the fury of the combatants below.
Magic collided with magic, each impact sending shockwaves through the branches of the Tree of Wisdom. Splinters and shards rained down, mixing with the black mist.
Duncan's skeletal form shimmered with dark power, every movement precise, every spell cast with ruthless intent.
The Black Dragon Warlord, undeterred, summoned a torrent of abyssal fire, hurling it toward Duncan with a guttural roar.
Duncan raised a shield of swirling black ice, the flames splashing against it and dissipating into vapor.
The force of the impact sent ripples through the shield, but Duncan stood firm, his skeletal frame radiating defiance.
Leon felt a chill run down his spine. The battle had become something far beyond ordinary magic—this was a clash of fates, of powers ancient and terrible.
The branches of the Tree of Wisdom groaned under the strain, their ancient strength tested by the chaos unleashed.
Duncan surged forward, hurling spears of black ice and torrents of dark energy, each attack more ferocious than the last.
The Black Dragon Warlord met him blow for blow, wielding demonic strength and abyssal power, refusing to yield.
Magic and fury collided, the air thick with power and the scent of ozone. The battlefield was a maelstrom of destruction.
Leon gritted his teeth, forcing himself to watch, to learn, to remember every detail. This was a lesson paid for in blood and madness.
In the chaos, a single truth emerged—there would be no mercy, no retreat. Only the strongest would survive.
The clash echoed across the branches of the Tree of Wisdom, a warning to all who dared challenge the Abyss.
Duncan and the Black Dragon Warlord fought on, locked in a struggle that threatened to tear the world apart.
Leon watched, the weight of prophecy heavy on his shoulders, knowing that the fate of the Three Great Races hung in the balance.
The darkness deepened, swallowing hope and light. And in that darkness, Leon Merlin prepared for what must come next.
The chapter closes with the world trembling, neither victor nor vanquished, only the promise of further chaos.