The Fire-Stealer's Plan, Cipher's Counterattack (Bonus Chapter)

"Now, I am not someone you can trifle with."

At that moment, on the platform below, Derick and the Flame-Reaver were locked in a fierce battle.

Derick held the Lance of Divine Retribution in his left hand and the Blade of Divine Retribution in his right, clashing intensely with the Flame-Reaver's two weapons.

The Flame-Reaver's figure dissolved into several phantoms, circling Derick to attack. Derick, however, held the spear and greatsword tightly in front of him, protecting his body so securely that not even the wind could pass through.

The Flame-Reaver's multiple attempts to attack failed to break through Derick's defense. Seeing this, the Flame-Reaver grew even more anxious, the frequency of his weapon strikes increasing. But with Derick's ample energy and Nikador's martial skills, the Flame-Reaver's attacks were consistently unable to break through.

Although the scale of their battle was smaller than the one between Hyacine's group and Aquila, the danger within it was far greater.

Beneath their feet, the platform turned to dust with their every move.

At first, Derick was thoroughly enjoying his fight with the Flame-Reaver. But in the midst of the battle, Derick keenly discovered that although the Flame-Reaver was fighting him with all his might, he was deliberately guiding the aftershocks of the battle towards the ground below.

The Flame-Reaver was intentionally trying to destroy the ground.

What is he planning?

Derick knew the Flame-Reaver wouldn't do something useless, so while facing his attacks, he also tried to divert the aftershocks elsewhere.

The Flame-Reaver sensed that Derick understood his intentions, so he dropped the pretense and began to directly destroy the platform below.

Derick hurriedly went to stop him.

The Flame-Reaver, while defending against Derick's attacks, continued to destroy the platform below.

Under Hyacine's command, meteorites, thunderstorms, snow, and ice all rained down on Aquila's body.

Now, Aquila's overly large body became its disadvantage. It had no chance to dodge the wide-area attacks and was hit squarely by all of them.

Especially its eye, which was precisely struck by a flaming meteorite the height of a person. The wound, which had been pierced by Derick's lance and then slashed open by Castorice's scythe, was violently torn open by the meteorite. After breaking it open, the meteorite entered the eye, and the flames on it set the eye ablaze.

Once ignited, Aquila's wings trembled violently, and its body finally began to fall apart.

It let out a piercing shriek, and its entire body began to fall downwards.

Polyxia and Cipher, seeing this, quickly flew downwards, heading straight for Aquila.

"Sister, Hyacine, hold on tight!" Polyxia shouted to Hyacine and Castorice as she flew.

"Alright," Castorice nodded.

"Mhm, mhm." Having just used her demigod authority as the Sky Titan, Hyacine was also somewhat exhausted. Hearing Polyxia's words, she quickly agreed.

Polyxia headed down.

However, as she flew down, she happened to arrive near the platform where Derick and the Flame-Reaver were fighting.

The Flame-Reaver, who was fighting Derick, saw her arrival and flashed towards her.

Derick was also prepared. Before the Flame-Reaver's attack could reach Polyxia, he swung his sword to block in front of her.

"Trying to hurt us? Dream on." Cipher made a face at the Flame-Reaver.

She and Polyxia prepared to continue downwards, but at that moment, her expression changed.

The Flame-Reaver's energy fluctuations had become chaotic again.

"Not good! Derry-boy! Poli-girl! Something's wrong with this guy!" Cipher shouted loudly as a warning.

As she spoke, Derick also sensed the change in the Flame-Reaver. He was no stranger to this kind of chaotic energy fluctuation.

This Flame-Reaver… he was going to self-destruct.

He blocked Polyxia's path, unleashing the energy from his own body to form a shield, trying to minimize the damage from the Flame-Reaver's self-destruction.

However, when Derick had only the power of two Titans, his self-destruction could already cause considerable damage to the Flame-Reaver. And now, the destruction from the Flame-Reaver's own self-destruction was even greater.

A violent explosion occurred where Derick was, and the light it produced made Castorice and Hyacine below instinctively turn their heads away.

This intense explosion turned all the surrounding buildings to dust.

"Derick! Polyxia!" Castorice shouted.

In the next second, the battered figures of Derick, Polyxia, and Cipher fell rapidly from the sky.

Derick was in the worst state, with a huge hole blown through his chest. Polyxia's body was also heavily injured, her wings blown apart, with the Flame-Reaver's energy still fluctuating within the wounds. Cipher, on the other hand, was mostly fine, apart from some soot on her face.

They soon crashed onto Aquila's body.

"Derick, are you alright?" Castorice quickly ran to Derick's side and asked with concern.

"I'm fine, I'm immortal. Polyxia is fine too. Her wings were protected, so there's no danger," Derick said, lying back and letting the energy in his body slowly recover as he comforted Castorice.

"Yes, sister, I don't have many problems here either," Polyxia chimed in from the side.

In truth, the injuries the two of them had sustained were far more severe than they appeared. Cipher was not physically strong, so Derick and Polyxia had been trying to prevent her from getting hurt. The majority of the force from the Flame-Reaver's self-destruction had been borne by Derick. The small remaining part was mainly taken by Polyxia. The two of them possessed immortality, so they had only lost their combat ability for a short time.

That's all it is, Derick and Polyxia thought.

"Did that guy self-destruct out of desperation? Hmph, seeing our current situation, that Flame-Reaver is probably going to scream with rage," Cipher said, standing up and rubbing her legs.

Hyacine glanced down and reminded everyone, "Everyone, don't get too happy just yet. We're about to fall into the Golden Pool. If we really fall in, we…"

Hearing her words, Castorice and the others finally reacted. They were still in the process of falling. If they really fell into the Golden Pool, it would mean certain death.

Cipher thought to herself that her current Super Speed only had enough strength for one use; it was impossible to take both Castorice and Hyacine with her.

"It's fine, don't worry. With me here, it doesn't matter even if we fall into the Golden Pool. Just like with Polyxia and the others, the moment we enter the Golden Pool, I'll use the energy of Thanatos to protect your souls. Combined with my blood to reform your bodies, nothing will happen."

Without fighting, and just using his authority, Derick could still manage that.

"As expected of you, Derry-boy."

"Of course…" Derick was about to say with a smile, but his expression quickly changed.

"Not good! This was all part of the Flame-Reaver's calculation!" he said to the group.

At this point, he immediately understood the Flame-Reaver's intentions. Although he might not know the whole situation, he knew one thing for sure: Amphoreus couldn't bear too many people who possessed Derick's blood.

Lycurgus's warning last time had let Derick know that people with his blood would undergo a different kind of change from other people of Amphoreus. Amphoreus couldn't have so many variables; Lycurgus would not agree to it.

The Flame-Reaver's intention was not to kill or harm anyone.

He wanted to have Derick, and everyone around him, expelled from Amphoreus together.

As long as Derick couldn't return to Amphoreus, he could continue to carry out his own actions.

"What happened!?" Castorice asked Derick.

"That Flame-Reaver, he's trying to…"

Derick quickly explained the situation.

"Then what do we do?" Cipher asked anxiously.

"There's no other way. I can't just watch you all die, can I?" Derick shook his head.

Right now, he didn't have the strength to carry them all away. He could only let everyone soak in the Golden Pool together. Compared to being expelled from Amphoreus, the lives of Castorice and Cipher were more important.

It's just that things were about to get a lot more difficult.

Derick thought to himself.

Just at that moment, Cipher took a deep breath and stood up.

She walked to Derick's side and asked him, "Derry-boy, how does your blood fusion work?"

"It's not difficult. You just have to throw the blood over during the fusion. Naturally, when they reform, it will…" Derick explained to Cipher.

"That's good then." Cipher nodded.

The others looked at Cipher, not knowing what her purpose was in saying this.

Seeing everyone's gaze, Cipher came to Derick's side. She reached out, took a container, and filled it with some of his blood.

"Derry-boy, I know you're angry about being schemed against. So am I." Cipher looked up at the sky, where the shattered pieces of the Flame-Reaver were gradually reforming.

"So, Flame-Reaver, feel my wrath!" Cipher continued to hold Derick's blood in one hand, while a coin appeared in the other.

What is Cipher doing!?

A wave of confusion washed over everyone.

At that moment, the coin in Cipher's hand fell, and she activated her Super Speed.

Cipher turned into a streak of lightning, shooting straight into the sky. In the blink of an eye, she was at the Flame-Reaver's side.

Everyone, including the Flame-Reaver, hadn't expected Cipher to still possess the power of the Titan of Deceit.

"Come on! Since you schemed against Derry-boy, then none of us will have a good time! If we're leaving Amphoreus, we're all leaving together!" Cipher slapped Derick's blood onto the Flame-Reaver's body.

The blood splattered around the Flame-Reaver's body.

_____

🔥 PATREON FLASH SALE: 30% OFF! 🔥

Yoo-hoo! ✨ Director Walnut here with a killer deal for you!

For a limited time only, get 30% OFF on Patreon and secure your early access to all content!

What's more, by joining now you'll help us smash our community goal! We're just 15 members away from unlocking 10 BONUS CHAPTERS for everybody!

Be the hero who gets us there! Subscribe with 30% off today!

👻 Join the fun at: patreon.com/Walnutchan