Hanging by a Thread, Giant Shadow Nail
The crimson flames erupted like the force of a volcanic blast, a massive fist-shaped inferno reducing every path across the stage to black ash.
Wild and seething, the blaze surged in a churning wave toward the Scalehide Demon-Mother's position.
The Scalehide Demon-Mother's reflexes were as sharp as ever. It broke into a sprint on all four limbs, scrambling toward the edge of the stage. A creature of its size taking a direct hit from a mid-tier Spirit Grade spell would still be lethal.
It bolted, racing against the enormous Blazing Fist Mo Fan had unleashed.
In the end, the Blazing Fist still swallowed the Scale-Skin Mother Demon whole. Tongues of flame and crashing fire-waves slammed into its body, sending it tumbling violently into the air.
**"Shrieee——!!!!!"**
The Scale-Skin Mother Demon crashed off the stage, its entire body wreathed in flames. Across its hide, scales had blackened and curled — scorched beyond recognition.
The Scale-Skin Mother Demon had already been enduring the bone-searing burns of Fire Burst, its scales turning red from the sustained punishment. Now, having taken the full brunt of the Blazing Fist, not only was its exterior scorched beyond recognition — flames were likely still eating through the inside of its body.
Amid the smoldering wreckage of fire, the Scale-Skin Mother Demon let out a howl of agony, its face twisted into a grotesque grimace.
Yet the creature wasn't dead.
After taking such a ferocious blow, it somehow dragged itself back to its feet.
Rage poured off it in waves, its shrieks unceasing and shrill.
Without even bothering to extinguish the flames still clinging to its body, it charged at Mo Fan again.
Its speed was no slower than before it had been injured — at that velocity, no ordinary person could even follow its movements.
"Mo Fan, Mo Fan — they're about to break through!" Lingling's voice crackled with desperate urgency.
"I know." Mo Fan's eyes were locked onto the Scale-Skin Mother Demon hurtling toward him.
"Run — get out before the Scale-Skin Mother Demon kills you!" Lingling pleaded.
Mo Fan didn't answer.
*Run?*
*Running now would be a death sentence. At the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's speed, anyone who turned to flee would be torn to shreds before they made it ten steps.*
Mo Fan stood his ground, taking in both the crisscrossing shadows cast by the surrounding lights and the Scale-Skin Mother Demon bearing down on him.
He could feel the creature's fury and hatred radiating off it like heat. It would settle for nothing less than ripping him apart, piece by piece.
"Star Chart Book!"
With a flick of his hand, a black scroll materialized before him.
Infused with Magical Energy, the scroll flared like a lit fuse and vanished, leaving behind only trailing lines of starlight in its wake.
Those lines wove together into a formation — a diagram capable of summoning Star Motes — calling forth all 49 Star Motes within Mo Fan's Shadow Element Star Nebula to align according to the imprinted pattern.
The Star Chart Book's formation did not assemble quickly, yet Mo Fan stood there utterly motionless.
The Scalehide Demon-Mother moved fast — leaping up from where it had fallen, bounding back onto the stage, then hurtling from the stage toward Mo Fan's position. Through every moment of that approach, his Star Motes were linking together along the Star Chart's pathways: first, an unremarkable Shadow Element Star Trail; then a second trail branching from the edge of the first, crossing and weaving with the leading end of the original…
All 49 Star Motes were arranging the Star Chart — and racing against the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's speed.
If the Star Motes took even a fraction too long to connect, Mo Fan would likely be shredded by the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's claws before he could Release a single spell.
Right now, he had absolutely no means of protecting himself.
Because he was gambling everything.
He was betting that his Star Chart would complete before the Scale-Skin Mother Demon reached him.
**"Screeee——!!!"**
The rank, fetid stench of the Scale-Skin Mother Demon hit him like a wall — the monster was right in front of him.
Mo Fan didn't dare let his focus waver for even an instant. One lapse and the Star Chart would collapse in ruin!
At last, dark light bloomed in front of him — a massive shadow silhouette taking shape before Mo Fan, resembling a colossal demonic nail. It hung suspended in three-dimensional space, utterly unlike ordinary shadows that clung to surfaces!
"Giant Shadow Nail!"
As Mo Fan thrust it forward, the shadow nail — saturated with dark energy — vanished instantly into thin air. Only in the intersecting play of light and shadow could one glimpse something extraordinary streaking past.
**Whoosh——!**
The Scale-Skin Mother Demon was almost upon him, its claws raking downward toward Mo Fan — talons like industrial saw blades, capable of shredding him from skull to groin in a spray of blood and gore.
Mo Fan tilted his head back and stared straight at those killing claws. The displaced-air shockwave from the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's swipe had already lacerated his face — cuts running from his forehead down to the bridge of his nose, from the corners of his eyes across his cheeks…
The mere pressure-wave from those claws was enough to tear open skin. When the claws themselves fell, a skull would be split clean in two.
Then the claws came down.
Yet they didn't quite reach Mo Fan's face.
As though the distance had been miscalculated, those soul-reaping talons swept past — just in front of him.
**"Shrieee——!!"**
The Scale-Skin Mother Demon let out a shriek of fury.
It was as though something had suddenly seized hold of the creature from behind. One more step forward and it could have crushed Mo Fan's skull outright — yet now it couldn't move so much as an inch. That full-speed charge had come to an inexplicable, shuddering halt.
The Scale-Skin Mother Demon twisted its head around — and discovered its shadow stretched long across the stage by the arena lights. What made it seethe with helpless rage was the sight of a massive shadow nail, driven like a blade clean through its shadow-body, pinning it firmly in place.
Once a shadow was pierced, shackle-like bonds materialized all around the Scale-Skin Mother Demon, clamping down with crushing force.
As long as the shadow didn't move, neither could the body — not a single inch!
The Scale-Skin Mother Demon's front claws thrashed wildly, its hind legs kicking with desperate, frenzied force — but the midsection pinned by the shadow nail refused to budge!
"Thunderbolt!"
Less than a meter from the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's face, Mo Fan's eyes blazed into a brilliant, searing purple.
He stared into the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's hideous, snarling face — his own face drenched in blood — yet a wild, manic grin played at the corners of his mouth.
The Lightning Star Motes — bearers of the mightiest element under heaven — arranged themselves before him. The Lightning Element, the power most deeply ingrained in him, formed faster than even the mid-tier Shadow Element spell he had just Released.
Star Motes linked into Star Trails, Star Trails wove into a Star Chart — the Lightning Element Star Chart blazed into existence, a torrent of overwhelming energy pouring down and condensing into the single finger Mo Fan extended.
"Die!!"
Mo Fan leaped backward, one finger leveled at the top of the Scale-Skin Mother Demon's skull.
A thunder cloud took shape in an instant — vast and terrible!
**BOOM — BOOM — BOOM——!**
Above the chaos of the Central Sports Arena, a massive bolt of lightning tore through everything and came crashing down — a sight that stopped the heart.
That breathtaking flash of purple. That all-annihilating energy. When it detonated across the stage, time itself seemed to freeze.