Returning to the Mysterious Era

With a light tap of his toes on the ground, he swiftly retreated, distancing himself from the Hell Golem in no time. Five meters, seven meters, nine meters…and at ten meters!

The massive Hell Golem suddenly vanished.

Cassius felt air pushing in from behind like a balloon being shoved into water, with the ripples naturally spreading outward.

Boom!

Cassius quickly turned and dodged to the side as a fist shrouded in gray-black mist came crashing down. The Hell Golem's fist made a slight adjustment of its trajectory, swinging like a hammer.

Boom!

A nearby building's concrete wall was cut in half as the fist bulldozed through its center, encountering no resistance. The flying debris left small pits on the ground.

It's strong! Its power is at least eighty percent of my full strength when all three of my blood circulation nodes are activated! Cassius's eyes narrowed instantly.

He wasn't particularly troubled. For an opponent capable of making him feel threatened, it was normal to have this level of strength. What intrigued Cassius now was the strange transformation that occurred after Black Rain Manor vanished.

Were golems like this Hell Golem originally in the Twilight timeline? Cassius had never seen anything like it in Black Rain Manor.

"Just as well. I needed a punching bag to relieve my boredom, anyway." Cassius cracked his neck, the sound echoing in the air.

The Hell Golem charged at Cassius who suddenly arched backward, raising his arms. His upper body swelled with muscles and protruding veins, making him appear several times larger. His eyes turned bloodshot.

His immense and imposing muscles, as pale as rock, bulged fiercely. They were normally compressed into a lean and athletic form but expanded rapidly when his body was engaged in battle. Cassius went all out, his three blood nodes cycling at an accelerated pace, returning his muscles to their original state. In half a second, he transformed into a small giant.

"There's hardly any sandbag that can withstand me right now when I'm at full power. You arrived just in time." He grinned at the Hell Golem, his white teeth gleaming coldly. He stepped forward.

Tap, tap, tap.

His shoes crunched on the broken stones underneath, the sound punctuated by the crackling of the ground.

"Azure Wind Flow! Wind Owl!"

His hand, moving at an incredible speed, cut through the air, leaving a white streak that emitted a sharp, high-pitched whistling sound as it tore through the atmosphere.

His hand was incredibly fast and ruthless and slashed at an impossibly tricky angle, leaving the Hell Golem no time to react. Its raised left arm was sliced through by the white streak, gushing out a fan-shaped mist of smoke immediately.

Thud!

The massive metal arm crashed to the ground.

"That took some effort," Cassius commented before turning around. He positioned one foot in front of the other, his body in a bow stance. He angled his hands vertically beside his head, mimicking a boxer. A white mist seemed to rise from the skin of his fists.

Buzz, buzz, buzz…

The Hell Golem couldn't speak and could only emit steam from the gaps in its body. It raised its stump of an arm, and a metal tube extended out with a series of clicks, restoring the limb in just a few breaths.

Whoosh!

The golem suddenly disappeared again!

Very quickly, Cassius sensed the air compressing behind him.

I'm within its ten-meter range. The Hell Golem can not only passively teleport, it can also do it actively.

Boom!

A fist, about a quarter the size of a normal human, hammered into Cassius's back, sending him flying like a javelin. His body skidded across the ground, digging a black streak into its surface. A hand slapped the ground forcefully as Cassius spun in the air, performing two 360-degree rotations before landing firmly on the ground again. A small hit, but it wasn't a big deal.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He grinned.

Spreading his arms like bat wings, his chest expanded and contracted. The powerful muscles on his back swelled and shrank, appearing as if steel cables were twisting beneath his white skin.

With the Stone Armour Technique at the third stage, Cassius's tolerance for mistakes in battle was much higher than that of other martial artists of his level.

[Stone Armour Technique: Rock Armour - Proficient (Total Three Stages)]

Skin Hardening Level Three: Due to the hardening Qigong, the muscles on the body's surface are extraordinarily tough, and the skin is astonishingly hard. The defensive and impact resistance capabilities are greatly enhanced, able to withstand bullets and blunt force attacks!

The power from the Hell Golem's punch just now had been dispersed across his skin, transmitted to every part of his body. With the increased surface area, the pressure on each piece of skin and muscle was greatly reduced, effectively mitigating the impact.

"Huff…" Cassius exhaled, his breath was tinged with the scent of blood. An intense heat radiated from his exposed skin. The heavy sound emanating from his chest was like the vibration of a bowstring; his heartbeat was thundering.

Crack, crack, crack…

Crackling sounds echoed as he stretched out his arms, the joints producing sharp clicks. Blood rushed through his veins at an alarming speed, almost as if light itself was coursing through his skin.

As the Hell Golem drew closer, Cassius suddenly spun around, throwing a punch. The blurred shadow of his fist whipped through the air like a whip.

Boom!

Their fists collided once again.

The Hell Golem, which had appeared instantaneously behind Cassius, met his punch head-on. The two immense forces clashed and negated the other's blow in a powerful burst.

"A head-on collision? Fine, let's see who's stronger!"

Cassius spread his arms wide, unleashing a barrage of punches that rained down like a torrential storm, each strike massively powerful, and surging like a rising tide. The Hell Golem also struck back and was like a fierce gale sweeping across the battlefield.

The terrifying power of their clash created violent shockwaves, the gray-black mist dispersing into visible waves that undulated outward, like ripples in the water that gradually expanded. Each wave carried a deep, resounding boom!

The ground beneath them silently crumbled, turning to dust wherever they stepped.

In a corner nearby, Number Five was curled up into a ball and couldn't help but pull his clothes tighter around himself. A sharp blade-like wind cut across his face, making his skin sting and his eyes water, forcing him to squint.

"What the hell was that?"

He forced his eyes open and turned his head to look.

In the distance, under the hazy moonlight, two giants—one tall, one short, one black, one white—were engaged in a terrifying battle. Massive shockwaves radiated from the area where they clashed, stirring the air into violent currents.

At the center of it all, two masses of fog spun into a rapidly rotating vortex, constantly colliding, consuming, merging, and annihilating each other.

"What the hell…are those monsters?"

Number Five stood frozen, his agape mouth gulping down the cold northwest wind. A few grains of sand and tiny stones found their way into his mouth.

"Ptui! Ptui! Ptui!" He spat out the grit, only to be slapped in the face by the gale once more. Giving up, he kept his eyes fixed on the two fighting monsters, his mind numb with disbelief. He muttered to himself, "Impossible... Absolutely impossible. How could a human possibly fight against the Hell Golem? I must be hallucinating, it must be my mind playing tricks on me. I must already be dead. They say people have visions when they're about to die…"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Three stones, flung from the battlefield, struck Number Five hard. He howled as blood splattered from the impact.

"This isn't some illusion! That hurts!! Gah!"

Dozens of meters away, the plaza was filled with rolling smoke and flying debris. Terrifying sounds of explosions, as if a steamroller was crushing everything in its path, filled the air. At the center of it all, the two combatants continued their brutal clash.

"Good! This is exhilarating! Hahaha!" Cassius let out a booming laugh, his face full of wild elation. Having an opponent, completely equal to him, had ignited his intense desire for battle. Simply put, he was having the time of his life!

"Here's another punch from me. Ultimate move! Wind Elephant Torrent!!!"

Cassius charged forward, pouring a force even greater than before into his punch. His fist shot forward like a cannonball, roaring as it tore through the air!

Suddenly—

Buzz…

A strange feeling washed over him again, and his surroundings gradually darkened. His entire body froze, unable to move.

In the next moment, the Void Realm dissipated. Cassius's iron fist, which had been suspended in midair, suddenly careened forward with a whistle, slamming into a man dressed in black. The man's face twisted in horror, clearly not expecting an enemy to appear out of nowhere. With a loud boom, Cassius's fist pulverized him!

The residual force didn't stop there. It smashed heavily into the massive metal device in the center of the plaza. The device, about the size of a person, was sent flying by the impact, crashing through several walls with resounding thuds.

Creak…

A far-away three-story building groaned under the strain and then collapsed entirely with a loud crash.

"What the hell!"

The magician, his face covered in blood, was petrified with fear. He gaped at the muscular giant two meters to his right. The giant's menacing aura was so terrifying that the magician's legs gave out, and he fell to the ground.

"Phew… Two minutes wasn't enough at all… That was far too short…"

Cassius flexed his broad hands, glancing at the magician who looked like he was about to wet himself, and then at Number Five, who was paralyzed and unable to move. He took a few steps forward, noticing a small crack in the ground ahead where there were a few sparse black crystals scattered around it.

"So this is the so-called Pure Black Demonic Water? The Demonic Water Ritual was all for this stuff, and it's what drew the Hell Golem here…" Cassius picked up a small crystal and casually fiddled with it in his palm in an attempt to decipher its secrets.

"Don't waste your time! You're just a human! Pure Black Demonic Water can only be used by neo-humans. It's useless on ordinary humans—no, it's worse, it's poison!

"Hahaha…" Number Five, lying on the ground, sniggered as if his epiphany offered him comfort for the final time before his impending death. He guffawed, but then his smile froze on his face. "Impossible! You're clearly human, so how…?"

Several meters away, Cassius noticed the black veins on his forearm, from the radiation-induced mutations, were glowing, like long strips of fireflies.

The crystal he was holding between two fingers abruptly shattered, turning into powdery dust, which was quickly absorbed by his palm. A rich, cool sensation spread through his hand, like a black snake slithering up his arm, before finally rushing into his brain.

Buzz!