At this moment, Zoe’s Withered Fruit State had only five seconds remaining.
He had only 1,900 mana left.
The continuous, high-intensity self-healing, devouring, sustaining of Dragon Body Fusion, and seizing of soul power had almost completely drained his massive mana pool.
Dragon Flame Bullet!
Spitting out a Dragon Flame Bullet that cost eight hundred mana, Zoe launched it at Jaden.
With blood-red eyes, looking as though he wanted to tear Zoe to shreds, Jaden thrust forward with the remaining half of his knightly lance.
The burning Dragon Flame Bullet was split right open, the lance continuing on to aim straight at Zoe.
Seeing this from afar, Evelyn squeezed out the last of her remaining strength to activate her Golden Eye once more. The pupil of her right eye turned gold, rapidly expanding until her entire eye was dyed a brilliant gilded gold.
Under the influence of her Golden Eye's metal-attribute Seventh Force, Jaden’s knightly lance deflected to the side.
The four basic elements and the two attributes—the Seventh Force, which existed outside of these six forces, reigned supreme over them.
An upgraded High-tier Jaden could have relied on his sheer level to suppress this effect.
However, he had already plummeted back to Mid-tier and was incredibly weak. Faced with the metal-manipulating Seventh Force, his physical strength was not enough to fight back.
Zoe took this opportunity to spit out his steel needles.
Acid: Heart-Piercing Needle Rain!
Coated in acid, the steel needles let out sharp, high-pitched whizzing sounds as they shot toward Jaden’s chest.
Jaden struggled to manifest a few rose petals to shield his chest, but two of the steel needles still managed to lock onto the gaps and pierce deep into his body.
Lv5 [Precision]—feel the power of trajectory correction!
Oh no!
Jaden was alarmed. Ignoring the burning, corrosive pain from inside him, he contracted his muscles to clamp down on the steel needles within his body.
However, Evelyn had already raised her sole remaining arm, locking onto Jaden from a distance.
Under the immense overload, her golden right eye was bloodshot, with fresh blood streaming down her face.
Heart-Piercing Needle!
Controlled by her Golden Eye, the steel needles that had pierced Jaden's body seemed to come alive, stabbing straight toward his heart.
Jaden desperately clutched his chest, his eyes bulging as he used his raw strength to contest the Golden Eye, holding the two steel needles in place.
But Zoe was not just standing idly by.
At this distance...
With a single Tackle, he turned his body into a cannonball and slammed hard into Jaden.
Jaden hurriedly split his focus, the muscles across his entire body trembling.
Rose Bud!
The timely defensive flower bud blocked the physical impact, but the force of the collision still caused him to stumble, disrupting his focus for a split second.
Seizing this exact opportunity, one of the steel needles exploded with all its power, viciously piercing right through Jaden’s heart.
“No, no, no!”
Zoe's Withered Fruit State had only three seconds left, but Jaden, his heart pierced, had completely lost any path to survival.
I have to... I must!
Regardless of the consequences, he needed a new soul to restore himself to a High-tier. Only by doing so could he survive such a fatal wound!
With his brain finding a path to survival in a mere hundredth of a second, Jaden did not hesitate for even a moment.
In an instant, he triggered all the soul poison he had ever planted.
One knight after another, without even a chance to react, widened their eyes in sheer terror before collapsing to the ground, their lives snuffed out.
“What's going on?! Why?!”
“What is that?! What's floating out of those corpses?!”
“Why did the knights suddenly die?!”
“What is the City Lord doing?!”
Everyone watched the dead knights in horror, only to see wisps of illusory souls rising from their bodies and rushing toward Jaden in a frenzy.
Jaden's aura surged back up to the High-tier, though it was highly unstable.
At this moment, Jaden had already transitioned from being a monster back to a Rose Knight. Forcing such a massive amount of souls into his body made his own soul incredibly chaotic. It felt as if countless voices were whispering directly in his ears.
This brought severe backlashes, shattering any possibility of future promotions and completely ruining his prospects.
Clearly, he was supposed to become a king!
‘This bastard, how many backup plans does he have? Why won't he die!’
Zoe stared at Jaden, who was maddened, his eyes bloodshot with rage.
At this point, Zoe had only three seconds of life remaining, and his mana was barely over a thousand.
He could no longer do anything else.
Corrosive Gas Slash!
He could not give up. No matter what, he had to fight until the absolute final moment!
Spitting out all the corrosive gas he had accumulated, he unleashed a sharp slash that flew toward Jaden.
To Zoe’s surprise, however, Jaden did not attempt to defend himself at all, allowing the attack to land squarely on his wound.
Skin was sliced open and flesh was torn apart, exposing the white bone underneath.
Clutching his head, Jaden shrieked and roared incessantly.
“It's not me! I'm not wrong! If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves!”
“It is all your fault!”
Jaden clutched his head. The massive influx of devoured souls was filled with the consciousness and resentment of the deceased.
At this moment, they flooded his brain, leaving him unable to even fight.
This was the price of forcibly utilizing a soul ritual to achieve a breakthrough without the “Monster” class.
Even though Jaden had only devoured a portion of the souls, he had almost lost the ability to control himself. It felt as though countless consciousnesses had suddenly appeared inside his body, fighting for dominance over his physical form.
How could Zoe possibly miss such an opportunity?
The Corrosive Gas Slash hit, releasing a massive cloud of corrosive gas that instantly engulfed Jaden.
Zoe musters every last drop of his remaining mana.
Dragon Flame Bullet!
The blazing Dragon Flame Bullet shot toward Jaden, instantly igniting the corrosive gas and swallowing Jaden in a sea of flames.
Jaden’s eyes widened as he stared deathly at Zoe. Half of his body tried to dodge, while the other half remained frozen in place, completely out of his control.
Boom!
Amidst the scorching dragon flames, Jaden let out a miserable wail. His skin was burned away completely, and his body was reduced to a charred husk.
Having been pierced earlier, his barely-closed heart split open once again.
With his life rapidly fading, Jaden's heart was filled with intense resentment.
Why? Why?! Why?!
On what grounds did this slime get to destroy the plan he had spent years preparing?
Why did this damned slime hate him so much that it would sacrifice its own life just to drag him to hell?
How could the life of a mere slime compare to his own?!
How was it worthy of trading its life for his?! He was so unwilling, so utterly resentful!
Why did that cursed Sacred Circle Knight have to find him?
On what grounds did his path to kingship have to end in this tiny place, at the hands of a mere slime?
His physical body was completely out of control. Faces began to sprout from the charred flesh of his ruined body, tearing at his skin as if trying to rip through him and escape.
He wanted to curse him!
He wanted to curse this damned slime, to make it wish it were dead!
He would not let this slime die so easily; he would make its end far more miserable than his own!
“All of you... STOP!!”
Fueled by his overwhelming resentment, Jaden used his sheer willpower to forcibly suppress the rebellious consciousnesses inside his body.
“High Demon wandering in the subspace, Kupiyana, I summon your true name here. In exchange for my soul after death, I strike a deal with you.”
“Grant me your power to deny this slime’s soul any peace after death, and torment him for eternity!”
Kupiyana was the true name of a High Demon of the subspace that Jaden had once accidentally learned about.
As long as one called upon its true name in the material plane, they could gain the gaze of this High Demon and make a deal.
“Sir Jaden Asher Jacob, as you wish.”
A bizarre, eerie voice echoed in Jaden's mind as a transparent claw suddenly burst through the dragon flames.
The dragon flames seemed to merely scorch the air, passing right through the claw without dealing any damage.
Zoe tried to retreat immediately, but his Withered Fruit State had already come to an end.
An overwhelming wave of weakness washed over him, causing him to collapse to the ground as his life rapidly slipped away.
Just as the claw was about to descend upon Zoe, a white blur streaked down from the sky, catching Zoe in her grasp.
“Zoe, don't die!”
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