Talented Martial Hero novel Chapter 655

The figure's emergence seemed to bring the world to a stop, including the battle between Darren and the human-shaped blood creature.

Still in midair, the two combatants broke apart, separated by the sheer, ominous significance of the newcomer.

Darren watched uneasily as his foe turned toward the newcomer, knelt down in submission, and went still.

No longer caring about finishing the duel, Darren flew back to join his companions, who were visibly stricken.

"He's far too powerful for us," one of them told him. "We're doomed!"

Brave as Darren was, he couldn't find it in himself to disagree. His heart pounded wildly as he returned to his human form.

"Maybe he just won't attack us," one of the others said doubtfully. "It's possible, right?"

Their impulse for nervous chatter died as the cause of their terror drew near. Unseen power crackled and radiated out from him, pressing against their very souls until they thought their hearts would burst within them.

Soon he stood a hundred feet off from the group, as fearsome and unapproachable as a god.

A dreadful moment passed as he stared them all down with a cold, emotionless gaze. Worse yet, nine black vortexes appeared behind him, roiling with titanic bursts of lightning. He was haloed by a display of world-ending power.

At last the men could stand it no longer, and one of them called out, "Sir, have mercy! Forgive us if we have displeased you!" Immediately there was a chorus of similarly terrified pleas as all those gathered bowed down in midair, trembling.

All, that was, except for Darren, who still retained some of his earlier courage, not to mention his pride. Staying upright, he withstood the blood figure's glare and returned it. A fierce, hot wind tossed his black hair behind him.

Knowing he had been affronted, the figure gave no warnings or second chances. Only a single word escaped from his mouth, hoarse and inhuman, "Die."

With that, he raised a hand and dropped it toward Darren.

It was a simple, almost indifferent movement, as if to smash an insect. Yet even that motion sent a lattice of black space cracks rippling outward. The whole space shuddered as peerless power swept through it, and Darren's companions were even more paralyzed than they had been before.

Darren's level of relative calm surprised even himself as he watched the blow come down to meet him like a moon falling from its orbit. "Is this the real Holy Will?" he murmured aloud.

No one thought to answer him. Nor did anyone have any thought of escaping.

Everyone within a hundred kilometers would be absolutely obliterated when the falling hand struck. There was no outrunning the power at this being's command. Their doom approached, agonizingly slow. Each second seemed magnified to the length of a century. Darren, at least, was resolved to not face it begging for his life.

"How dare you!" roared a booming voice.

As though rocked by the sound, the terrible blood figure fell back two steps, withdrawing his hand.

"Who is there?!" he thundered, looking around for the one who had spoken.

Darren and his companions quickly passed from that monstrous figure's mind. Compared to whoever had just struck him, they were of no importance at all.

The voice of his endless challenger came again, full of endless anger. "Leave this place! Leave at once, or you will regret ever coming here!"

Retreat, however, was the last thing on the fearsome figure's mind. "Come out and fight me!" he retorted, and a burst of Holy Will erupted from him. Behind him, the nine black vortexes he had summoned whirled with impossible speed, yawning as if to devour the whole world.

The voice responded, "Well? Fight you? You are no match for me."

No sooner had the voice stopped than an enormous black fissure opened in the void. In the next instant it closed, swallowing the fearsome blood figure completely.

The stunned silence that followed lasted a long moment. "What happened?" somebody said at last. "Where did he go? Who is helping us?"

At first, no answer could be given. Darren was as stunned as anyone else. Who indeed had dared to confront a holy warrior on their behalf?

As he processed what had happened, however, he realized that the mysterious voice was actually familiar to him.

Overjoyed, he sent his spiritual sense to the Ancient Void Battlefield.

There was no difficulty, and he transmitted a message there. "Finley, have you reached the Holy Realm?"

Finley was there, all right, standing on a vast plain in a glorious white robe. With hands clasped behind his back, he stared into the void with a look of indifference. He seemed oblivious to Darren's question.

Still watching with his spiritual sense, Darren tried him again. "Finley, say something. What are you doing?"

For a long moment nothing happened.

Then the cold, calm passivity melted from Finley's face. The corner of his mouth twitched in a grimace, and blood spurted from it.

"Darren," he replied at last. "Run, run as fast as you can!"

"Wait, tell me what just happened!" replied his friend, as anxious now as he had been relieved. "Are you the one who saved us? That was a holy warrior! How did you do it?"

"Yes, it was I who did it, but it was only a bluff. His body isn't made of the same stuff as you or I. It's an extremely strong holy body. I might be able to scare him off, but I can't kill him. Listen, Darren, you need to get out of there. Head west. I sense there is a safe place there."

"Okay, fine. You can explain everything when I'm safe."