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North Carolina Eastern Rift Valley.

BOOM!

A colossal boom erupted. In an instant, the mountains crumbled and the earth split apart as fierce winds swept thick clouds of dust into the sky. A low hum immediately followed, spreading between heaven and earth. The gravity throughout the entire great canyon instantly collapsed into chaos. Cliffs, boulders, trees, animals, rivers... Countless things were crushed to dust by the violent gravity, while countless more were flung upward, "falling" rapidly toward the sky only to be smashed into powder.

A hard-bitten, scarred-faced man in a military cap and uniform stood high in the air, his cold gaze fixed on the Black-robed Man below.

Terrifying gravity pressed in on the Black-robed Man, causing the space around him to crack and collapse like a glass mirror. The next second, he vanished, reappearing on a cliff three kilometers away. An exquisitely crafted Golden Magic Box materialized in his hand.

"Seal Jason’s Extraordinary Abilities for two seconds, put him into a state of mental confusion, grant me the power of the Unmoving Bright King for one second, and teleport me in front of him," the Black-robed Man rattled off his wishes to the Wish Box.

In an instant, the scene shifted. The Black-robed Man appeared before Jason, now temporarily wielding the power of the Crowned King of Unmoving Bright. As he clenched his fist, golden flames ignited behind him, revealing the image of a vajra-wielding, wide-eyed Bright King. Its burning eyes, solemn and murderous, radiated a terrifying majesty.

He threw his clenched fist forward with all his might.

In a moment so brief it seemed frozen, a terrifying light erupted like an exploding sun. A deafening roar shook heaven and earth. A scorching wind, hot enough to melt rock that had stood for millennia, howled outward. A violent shockwave rose from the ground and surged in all directions like a tidal wave, causing the rift valley to tremble violently as the earth rippled like the ocean’s surface.

The intensely bright, searing light of destruction expanded rapidly, swallowing everything.

CRACK!

At the center of the explosion, a savage, appreciative grin spread across a shattered face covered in cracks.

"Now that was a real punch..."

The Black-robed Man seemed stunned and vanished in an instant.

The charred material on Jason’s shattered face quickly flaked away. In the blink of an eye, his destroyed muscles and bones healed completely. However, the roar of thunder still echoed relentlessly inside his skull. His soul showed signs of separating from his body, leaving his mind in a slight daze.

If the true Unmoving Bright King had been here, that punch would have not only obliterated his physical body but also annihilated his soul into dust.

Unfortunately, while the Black-robed Man could temporarily borrow the might of a Tier Five Ascender using Forbidden Object B-025: Wishing Box, it was ultimately not his own power, and he couldn’t wield it with perfect mastery. Furthermore, Jason himself had undergone a Dragon Blood Baptism of the highest caliber, making his body as tough as a member of the Dragon Race of the same tier. That was the only reason he could take the punch head-on.

Still, the power of a Tier Five was the power of a Tier Five, and Jason had suffered considerable damage. Though he appeared fine on the surface, his muscles, bones, and organs were actually being ravaged by the residual force, continuously shattering and healing in a repeating cycle.

At the same time, his mind had sustained extreme trauma, and his soul was showing signs of leaving his body. His overall power had dropped by at least forty percent.

But for the "Iron-blooded Colonel," as long as he wasn’t dead, any injury was just a flesh wound.

Jason reversed his own gravity, slowly ascending to escape the expanding, destructive glare. He looked down at the Black-robed Man with contempt:

"My condition has taken a serious hit, but you made an outrageous wish. How many more times can you even use that Wish Box?"

The Black-robed Man didn’t answer, merely standing below and gazing up silently.

Suddenly, Jason’s brow furrowed. With a mere thought, he brought immense gravity down upon the Black-robed Man below. There was a sharp CRACK as the man’s body disintegrated into countless fragments, which then dissipated into motes of light.

’An illusion!’

The sky suddenly darkened. Jason snapped his head up to see a towering mountain peak crashing down toward him with immense, oppressive force. He manipulated his gravity, shooting away at supersonic speeds to escape the mountain’s descent. He then flew rapidly toward the source of the Essence Fluctuation he had sensed.

On the ground below, the Black-robed Man donned a thin black glove covered in strange yellow patterns. He extended his palm toward the approaching Jason and clenched his hand from afar.

Jason threw up a gravity barrier, but he still felt something disappear from inside his body, forcibly stolen. His movements faltered, and he couldn’t breathe.

A pair of fresh lungs appeared in the Black-robed Man’s hand.

—Forbidden Object C-001: Hand of Greed!

Effect: Forcibly seize any one item from the target. This can include Extraordinary Abilities, lifespan, blessings, curses, and more. It can be used once per day. After its daily use is exhausted, it can be used again by sacrificing ten souls.

The Black-robed Man squeezed hard, crushing the lungs in his hand to pulp. He then drew a recurve bow from the void, along with an arrow that crackled with lightning. Nocking the arrow, he drew the bow and aimed at Jason in the sky.

—Forbidden Object C-077: Certain Hit.

Effect: Any object fired from this bow will hit its target without fail!

WHOOSH—!

The Thunder Arrow shot forward, creating a sonic boom and leaving a white vapor trail in its wake. It carved a perfectly straight line through the air, as if slicing the sky in two.

Although Jason had lost his lungs and couldn’t breathe, a Tier Four Ascender would hardly be distracted by such a minor injury. With a single thought, his gravity violently ripped the Thunderbolt Arrow apart, causing it to detonate mid-air into a surging sea of thunder. The few remaining fragments that continued toward him slammed into his gravity barrier and were instantly pulverized.