From Ruin to Reign Leander's Unbreakable Will novel Chapter 364

The Blaze Stage Transcendent Realm and the Infernal Crown Transcendent Realm were divided by a vast gulf. Between them stood one smaller stage, the Burning Stage Transcendent Realm.

Greed remained at Blaze Stage. Enderman and Ares, names carved into the International Combat Units, had already stepped into the Burning Stage.

It was not the Infernal Crown. Yet it carried terror and awe.

The two of them stood tall on the ocean, feet planted firm on rolling waves, their heads pressing against the heavens. The air shuddered around them. Their power bent the horizon.

Greed had swallowed Doomlight. His aura surged like firestorms and smoke. His flesh sealed, his bones knit. His strength leapt higher than before.

Three great figures rose above the Southern Ocean. Their shadow blanketed the shore.

Greed's eyes gleamed with cruel light. His voice lashed across the sea.

"Jeff, you think you can end this in a single instant? That doesn't make you bold. That makes you a fool."

He had admitted defeat when fighting alone. That was why he crushed the comms crystal. That was why he summoned Enderman and Ares. They were legends of the International Combat Units. Together, they could rival even the Infernal Crown. Leander had not reached that level. He could not endure them.

Leander's lips curled into a cold grin.

He spoke no words. His fist lifted and tore forward.

Hundreds of yards split between them, yet his strike carved the air apart. No flame. No light. No flourish. But the space ahead ripped open as if an invisible tunnel had been punched through the world.

"What?"

Greed's eyes widened. His fists rose. He hammered forward to block the rushing force.

The blow struck him.

The sea roared beneath the impact. His body shook as if split apart. His organs twisted, his blood surged.

His arms screamed as bones snapped like brittle wood. His body was hurled back step after step until he skidded across the ocean's surface.

"This is impossible!"

Blood sprayed from his mouth. Shreds of torn flesh spilled with it. His arms hung useless, broken clean through.

His stare locked on Leander. His face twisted with disbelief.

That punch had looked plain. It carried no sign of skill. Yet its weight fell like a mountain. It crashed like a flood.

He had taken Doomlight. His power should have neared Ares and Enderman. Yet he could not block a single blow.

Enderman and Ares both stiffened. Their faces darkened. Even they had not expected this.

Ares' voice cracked the air. "He's not your regular foe, this boy. Forget pride. We strike now and finish him."

Enderman gave a curt nod.

"Fine."

His eyes flared. Sword light burst into the world.

With a single blink, a blade of energy screamed down, slashing toward Leander.

Years before, Tsaric had turned his body into a sword to unleash one strike strong enough to rival a Transcendent. Now Enderman, with nothing but the flicker of his gaze, sent out a strike greater still.

The sky shrieked.

The sound of the blade tearing air echoed across the waves.

The strike came down, aimed for Leander's skull.

Leander gave a short, mocking snort.

His finger lifted. He tapped the blade as it fell.

The strike shattered.

It burst into a storm of silver shards that scattered into light.

The glow had barely died when thunder cracked the sky apart.

A streak of lightning whipped forward, thin as a finger. With every yard, it swelled larger. It spread until it was as wide as a hand. Then it grew into a violet arc thick as a tree trunk, screaming toward Leander's chest.

Reginald's face went pale. His voice shook.

"They said Ares could command lightning itself. They said he could bend thunder at will. That's why he's called the King of Thunder. And it's true."

A fist filled his sight. It swelled larger, closer, heavier, until it was all he could see.

"No—"

The cry broke apart. The fist caved his skull. Blood and bone burst across the sky like storm rain.

His body collapsed. Leander caught the corpse in one hand. He flung it into the abyss of the ocean like refuse, then turned. His gaze, cold as winter, speared Enderman.

"Sh*t!"

Enderman froze. Fear swallowed him whole. For the first time in his life, death's shadow loomed over him.

Light flared across his body. His aura split the heavens. Sword energy carved upward in a storm, tearing air apart.

Everything within a hundred feet around him howled with blade force. Anything that neared would be shredded into dust.

He had seen Greed die without even a breath of resistance. Now Leander's killing intent bore down on him. His heart raced. His soul braced.

Leander's voice whispered like ice.

"Useless."

His body blurred. He was gone. No eye caught him. Not Ares. Not Enderman. Only the crash of detonations thundered across the sea.

Enderman's eyes widened as his sword storm dissolved. A fist split through his chest. It tore out his back in a spray of blood. His heart was crushed to pulp. His gaze dimmed to nothing.

The strike shattered Hellbringer, the blade that had followed him across decades of battle. The shards fell with him.

His last words trembled from his lips. "This… can't be…"

Silence swallowed him.

Leander pulled his fist free. Enderman's corpse and the fragments of his sword splashed into the sea. He turned toward Ares. His finger rose, steady and merciless.

"I told you. This fight ends immediately."

The color drained from Ares' face. Confidence fled. Terror ruled him.

The shore was silent. Every onlooker held their breath.