Inside the Blood Dome, a sharp swirl of Qi erupted around Wang Gu.
The Qi screamed.
Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
"What the hell is he doing—stop him!" Mai Fune's voice cracked, panic bleeding through her tone.
"Yeah… that thing looks dangerous," Zha Fune muttered.
Blood rippled.
Duplicates of Zha Fune formed all around them, one after another, until Lian and Wang Gu were completely surrounded.
"This is the end for you." His deep voice thundered.
They struck at the same time.
All of them aimed at Wang Gu.
Wang Gu's eyes remained closed, his body unmoving, lost in a deep trance.
"Tsk…" Lian clicked his tongue, tightening his grip.
"I can't let them touch him."
He shifted his stance, grounding himself.
"I guess… It's finally time to try it."
He inhaled.
"Four Seasons!" he uttered, walking forward slowly.
"The blade of summer."
Lian roared.
Fire erupted from his body, cascading like molten rain. Flames wrapped around him completely, and his eyes ignited, burning like twin suns.
Each step he took made the air scream.
The blood clones closest to him began to melt, hissing as they dissolved into steam and crimson mist.
Lian raised his blade before his face.
"Blade—Second Seal, open."
Hummmm—
The sword trembled, glowing a deep fiery red like heated coals. The world around him slowed, stretching and thinning as he entered the Realm of Blade Resonance once more.
Ti.
He vanished.
A clone was cleaved in half—its body igniting before evaporating completely.
Ti.
Another step.
Lian reappeared somewhere else entirely, his blade already passing through another enemy.
Fire followed every cut.
The blood dome shook.
"Shit—what the hell is going on?" Zha Fune snarled.
"I thought the other brat was fast, but this is just ridiculous. He's like a walking disa—"
A clone was cut.
"—ster."
Another appeared—its head split cleanly in half before the word even finished echoing.
A sudden pincer attack erupted from beneath Wang Gu's feet.
Too late.
Lian had already sensed it before the blood blades even surfaced.
"Blade of Winter."
The flames around his body faded instantly.
The temperature plunged.
Each step Lian took froze the ground beneath him. He drove his blade into the earth—
CRACK!
Ice surged outward in every direction. The blood blades forming below Wang Gu's feet froze solid mid-rise.
Clank!
They shattered like crystal shards, never coming close to touching him.
"If you want to kill him," Lian said coldly, lifting his blade,
"You'll have to go through me first."
"Blade of Winter—Second Form: Deep Solitude."
He swung.
The slash ripped through the Blood Dome, freezing everything in its path. Crimson mist turned solid, the air itself crystallising into frost.
For a few heartbeats—
Silence.
The siblings stood still.
Then—
A thousand clones surged forward at once.
Their numbers were overwhelming.
But more than that, their speed was terrifying.
Even with Blade Resonance amplifying his perception, Lian felt slow.
"Tch… they're unrelenting."
His stance shifted.
"Blade of Autumn."
CRACK!
Thunder roared.
Lightning coiled around his body, wrapping him in blinding arcs of light.
Dash!!
Lian vanished.
His speed exploded a thousandfold, and before the clones could even reach Wang Gu, they were erased one after another, lightning and steel tearing through them like falling leaves in a storm.
The Blood Dome trembled.
"Ha… ha…"
Lian breathed heavily as he stepped forward, his legs trembling beneath him.
He raised his blade high.
"I can only use one more form," he thought grimly.
"After that… I'm out of Qi; if Wang Gu is not done by then, we will be done."
He positioned himself in front of Wang Gu.
At that moment, the Blood Dome began to shrink.
A thousand blood-forged blades formed at once, screaming through the air as they shot toward them.
"I hope you're ready, Wang Gu," Lian said hoarsely.
"Because this is my last move."
"Blade of Spring."
He whispered the words.
The space itself shuddered.
An invisible force slammed downward, and every blade in the vicinity was crushed as if caught beneath the weight of heaven.
Crack—
Shatter—
Grind—
The blood blades collapsed, disintegrating into nothing.
The ground beneath them fractured, entire sections caving in on themselves as if the earth could no longer bear the pressure.
"Big brother…" Mai Fune said, her voice tense.
"We have to kill these brats—even if we have to use a blood sacrifice. They're far stronger than I thought."
The Blood Dome darkened, its crimson hue bleeding into black.
The Qi inside grew dense—oppressive—the air itself becoming suffocating, heavy with malice.
"Damn it…" Lian muttered as his strength finally gave out.
He dropped to one knee.
"Do they have endless Qi or something…?"
The Blood Dome closed in faster now, walls pressing inward like a collapsing coffin.
Then—
"Brother Lian…. It's done, you can rest now."
A cold hand settled on his shoulders.