Chapter 7180: The End of a Dream Everyone knew the final phase of the battle had begun. The Unshakeable King suffered a grievous injury that should have eliminated most other Ascended Giants if they had received the same attack. It was a testament to his formidable defenses that he survived and managed to retain enough combat effectiveness to still pose a credible threat to his opponent. The duel was not over. Whatever people may say about the strategos of the Ur-Titan Phalanx, he attracted a lot of admiration from his men due to his resilience and his refusal to surrender to his pain and injuries! Even now, when his body was put in such a serious condition that his body must be generating a lot of agony, the Unshakeable King continued to demonstrate unrelenting aggression. Only murder was on his mind! He had to kill the man known as Ves Larkinson at all costs if he wanted to have any hope of proving his godhood and lead the Ascended Giants in the right direction! The Unshakeable King still had plenty of phasewater left to power his final stand. It did not matter that his phasewater concentration was shrinking at a worrying rate. So long as his phasewater concentration remained high enough to sustain his current scale, anything surpassing this threshold may as well be regarded as tribute to his dreams! The powerful strategos knew how to fight against spear users. He utilized his damaged but still relatively nimble body to move faster in space. He used his ability to anchor his body or just a body part to the fabric of space by creating ’footholds’ for his feet. This was a means to maneuver across the battlefield by ’sprinting’ across it with the help of invisible platforms! This granted him a surprising mobility advantage, which he put to good use by circling around the Dark Apostle’s armored form and performing lunging attacks at angles where the glaive could not easily reach in time! The Unshakeable King pummeled the Dark Zephyr with a flurry of punches and kicks before darting out of reach. These blows struck like jackhammers. The power of the attacks was not much, but they were still strong enough to stress and deform the metal plating. The Dark Apostle was not having an easy time at the moment. His lack of real combat experience left him flustered and unable to figure out a proper response. Though he managed to use his glaive to cut into the opposing phase lord’s body a few times, the wounds were too shallow hinder the Unshakeable King all that much. The Flame Lord Raiment released more heat and fire energy as it struggled to endure the accumulation of damage. Armor plating got deformed, parts started to break and glitches occurred in other adjacent systems. Yet despite this unrelenting aggression, the Dark Apostle quickly got the hang of his new weapon and initially held it like a staff in order to block or redirect the incoming attacks. Once the Dark Zephyr finally managed to create a bit of distance, he finally chopped the glaive from top to bottom with the intention of cutting right through the Unshakeable King’s skull! "#$@&#@!" The Unshakeable King finally uttered a wheezing cry of pain just after he made a last minute dodge which spared his head from damage. Instead, the Murder Knife attached to the pole bit deep into the shoulders! Though the blade of the glaive failed to cut through the shoulder entirely, the wound still represented a serious blow! The Dark Apostle wrenched his glaive back and quickly attempted to distance himself from his opponent. He could have chosen to double down and launch a follow-up attack, but he was too afraid that the Unshakeable King was about to launch a powerful counterattack now that he was well within striking distance. As the Dark Apostle took stock of the situation, he saw that the Murder Knife-turned-glaive had done its job. The wound to the shoulder looked ugly and serious. It may have damaged a number of muscle tendons, making it challenging to heal those injuries in a short amount of time unless he possessed phasewater organs that promoted cellular regeneration. That may actually be possible, but there was another factor that made the wounds more serious than was apparent on the surface. The power of darkness festered in the wounds. The Murder Knife did not just cut flesh. It corrupted anything it touched. This was the entire purpose why Ves had integrated as much high-grade darkness hypers into the weapon, to the point of making other concessions that reduced its performance in other aspects. Ves knew that it needed to function as a finisher first and a tool to induce weaknesses second. The latter was important when fighting against enemies with plenty of fight left in them. Each strike with the Murder Knife was supposed to bring them closer to death as the injuries corrupted by darkness were not only more difficult to heal from, but also threatened to fester and spread its corruption further! The Unshakeable King made an admirable effort to power through this injury, but it was very clear that the punches launched from the arm attached to his injured shoulder simply weren’t the same anymore. The Dark Apostle had a significantly easier time with coping against his opponent for this reason. It did not take long before he managed to cut deep into one of the legs. This significantly reduced the Unshakeable King’s ability to move around in space like he was jumping on solid ground. More cuts followed that weakened his limbs further, but remained shallow enough that he was still able to maintain his aggression! The wounds did not discourage him at all despite the very obvious fact that he was growing weaker. He uttered silent screams as he obsessively tried to beat the Dark Apostle to death. The Flame Lord Raiment did an admirable job of absorbing a lot of blows. Although the Unshakeable King was decent at unarmed combat, it was very clear that he was more comfortable with wielding weapons. His drive to win still remained strong, but his execution became increasingly more flawed. He gave his all. His life was on his line, but his self-control continued to dwindle with each passing second. To be honest, the Unspeakable King on longer appeared as valiant and strong as before. After suffering a small soul injury and getting contaminated by the remnants of a Minor Demon, the powerful phase lord’s cognition had gone downhill. He had become the epitome of the worst kind of phase lord, namely a madman who only knew how to solve his problems by pummeling them to pieces! Many members of the Ur-Titan Phalanx had grown disappointed at their strategos. They had never solely admired his martial prowess. They also admired his intelligence, his leadership and his ability to maintain his composure under the direst of circumstances. Where had all of that gone? Right now, the Ascended Giant had gone feral. He was no longer able to communicate with any measure of coherence. He had more in common with exobeasts than humans or aliens at this point. It was a shameful end to the short career of an Ascended Giant who used to be respected as the number two of the Phase Lord Department. Perhaps that was no point in killing the Unshakeable King. He no longer posed a threat anymore now that his mind had become completely scrambled. Yet... neither Ves nor the Dark Apostle had any intention of showing mercy. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮 Once they drew the Murder Knife, they were not going to rest until their blade had snuffed the life of their opponent. After sufficiently weakening the Unshakeable King without crippling him to the point where the duel should automatically come to an end, the Dark Apostle easily backed off and thought on how he should end this inaugural duel. "The Unshakeable King is a traitor who has clung onto detestable ideas, but he is still a human who has done a good job of leading the Ur-Titan Phalanx." Ves softly said. "If you want to take over the Phase Lord Department, then you must earn the respect and appreciation of the phalangites who make up the best of the best. You don’t have to show mercy to your opponent, but you should not engage in pointless brutality. Make it quick. Don’t ruin his body any further than necessary. Let the Ur-Titans retrieve the body of their fallen leader and send him off with respect. This will provide closure to them and allow you to command them without too many hard feelings. This is a leadership challenge." The Dark Apostle actually wanted to make his opponent suffer further, but... there was little honor to be gained from torturing a crippled duelist. Everyone increasingly understood that this fight had already been decided. Any further delays would only annoy everyone who knew quite well that the Dark Apostle could have ended it sooner. He gripped his glaive with a stance that preceded a charge. Though the Dark Apostle thought about unmaking it so that he could land the killing blow up close, he clamped down on this idea. Even now, the Dark Apostle still feared the Unshakeable King. The powerful enemy had produced a number of surprises. What if he had another one in reserve? No. This had to be done in the safest and most effective manner. After mentally preparing himself, the Dark Apostle stared straight at the rabid but increasingly more tired eyes of the Unshakeable King. "Your dream ends here. After your passing, I shall ensure that no Ascended Giant or other humans shall pick up your torch and turn your goals into reality. This is the price of defeat. My vision shall trump yours, now and forever. Rest easy knowing that you have successfully strengthened my resolve. I shall do whatever it takes to lead the Ascended Giants to a better future, one where they can coexist peacefully with red humanity. No matter how strong we have become, we must always remind ourselves that we are not the only gods in town." With this final declaration, the Dark Apostle initiated a fateful charge. With his weakened and underpowered Flame Lord Raiment, he did not leave a handsome trail of fire behind. He instead charged with silent momentum, as if he did not need to pour any passion or aggression into this final attack. The Dark Apostle already treated this as an execution rather than a desperation move. Even if he was secretly poised to abort and back away if the Unshakeable King unexpectedly recovered, no such freak occurrences took place. When the distance had shrunk to spitting distance, the Unshakeable King raised his weakening arms as if that would help. It didn’t. The blade of the Murder Knife neatly bypassed them and swung straight through the exposed neck of the Unshakeable King. It was a lot harder to cut through the neck than it sounded. So much thick transphasic flesh and bones were in the way that a normal strike would have stopped before cutting much deeper into the spine. Yet because the Dark Zephyr had built up a fair amount of momentum during his charge, he was able to channel enough force for the corrupting blade to go all the way through, ultimately beheading the Unshakeable King! The head of the human phase lord tumbled away from the rest of his body with a look of disbelief. His limbs ceased to move at all while spurts of phasewater-infused blood spurted from the corrupted wound. The power of darkness seemingly infected the blood as well, causing it to darkness and look more ominous even as they floated further into space. As for the Dark Apostle... he closed his eyes after he completed his charge. A sense of deep satisfaction sprung from the Murder Knife. Claiming such an impressive first kill through ritual combat had caused it to grow and evolve in an unusual fashion. Although it was just a single kill, the strength and status of the Unshakeable King were so significant that the Murder Knife reaped a lot of rewards from being used as the killing implement!