A Man Like None Other (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6722

Jared's fist tightened in frustration.

He had wanted Aureon alive long enough to force him to release Maxwell.

Now the Celestial Emperor was dead, and the chance appeared to have died with him.

Violet withdrew her sword and looked back. "Mr. Chance? What's wrong?"

Jared's frustration eased into resignation. He shook his head. "Never mind. I missed the chance."

She did not press him.

Violet sheathed her blade and turned instead toward the celestial and demonic cultivators still frozen around the valley.

Her gaze swept over them like a sharpened edge.

"Aureon Suncrest is dead. Does anyone else want to fight?"

No one answered.

The remaining celestials stood as though their souls had left their bodies. Artifacts slipped from numb hands and struck the ground one after another, the clatter unnaturally loud in the silence.

The Demonic Cultivators were even worse. They curled against the ground, trembling, and several could no longer even remain kneeling. Some kept their faces pressed to the earth, terrified that even meeting Violet's eyes might be mistaken for a challenge. Others had gone completely pale and could only stare at the bodies and broken weapons scattered across the clearing.

A Grand Zenith Immortal had fallen before Violet.

What could any of them accomplish except dying faster?

Gwendolyn quietly took Jared's hand. Her palm was cold, and a small tremor ran through her fingers.

"Is it over?"

Jared was about to nod.

Then the sky changed.

A column of golden light plunged from above.

It seemed to originate somewhere beyond the heavens themselves, piercing the sky of the Twentieth Firmament before striking Aureon's corpse directly.

The radiance was so brilliant that the entire valley became white-gold daylight. Every cliff, corpse, weapon, and streak of blood was thrown into stark relief beneath it, as though the valley had been dragged under a second sun.

More terrifying than the brightness was the pressure inside it.

It dwarfed the aura Aureon had possessed as a Grand Zenith Immortal and carried the feeling of something descending from a higher dimension. Every soul in the valley instinctively recoiled.

People squeezed their eyes shut against the sudden glare.

Jared raised an arm over his face. Gwendolyn turned away, tears forced from her ice-blue eyes by the light.

Violet did not look away.

Her brows drew together as she stared through the radiance at Aureon's corpse. For the first time since arriving, genuine gravity entered her expression.

The corpse rose from the ground.

Invisible force lifted it into the column of light.

The cracks covering Aureon's body closed rapidly, almost as though time itself were running backward.

His ruined throat rebuilt itself layer by layer. Muscle returned. Blood vessels reformed. Skin sealed over the wound without leaving even a scar.

The dead gold in his eyes reignited.

His body turned once in the light.

Then his feet touched the ground.

Aureon Suncrest stood again.

Alive.

He stared down at his hands, sensing the divine power once more filling his body.

Confusion became shock.

Shock became wild delight.

Aureon touched his neck. The skin was smooth and whole. Not even the slightest scar remained where Violet's sword had passed through him moments earlier.

He clenched his fists, and golden divine light gathered in his palms as strongly as though the previous battle had never happened.

Then he began to laugh.

Jared clenched his teeth. "Every resurrection costs you more, but if you can keep him suppressed and occupied while he comes back, I can look for another way to break this."

Violet was silent for a moment.

Then she nodded once.

"All right."

Her Violet Abyss Immortal Sword slid free again and pointed at Aureon.

"Come on."

Aureon sneered.

The fallen Sovereign Blade flew from the ground and returned to his hand.

Gold flashed.

The battle erupted again.

This time Aureon fought with none of his earlier caution.

He became more aggressive and more vicious, no longer chasing an immediate killing blow. His purpose had changed: exhaust Violet.

His attacks arrived in waves.

Whenever Violet killed him, golden light restored him. The instant he returned, he threw himself back into battle with even greater ferocity.

He became an untiring machine—fall, rise, attack; fall, rise, attack.

Violet paid for every kill.

The first had required one sword strike.

The second required two.

The third required three.

Aureon was not becoming stronger, but each resurrection made him more careful about how he died. His defense tightened around the openings Violet had already exploited, while his offense grew more reckless because death itself no longer frightened him. The balance of the battle changed by degrees: Violet still killed him, but every kill demanded more effort and more spiritual power than the one before it.