As soon as Ares spoke, even the most powerful presence in the room, Calderon, was slightly subdued.
Ares was indeed the helper invited by Shadow Nine! Only Shadow Nine could persuade Ares to assist with his plan.
Even though Mike had guessed this much, he still couldn’t see through Shadow Nine’s true objective. What was this old fool planning?!
A rare sense of frustration welled up in Mike’s heart. The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became, almost wanting to go up and punch the Archdemon himself.
“Calm your mind!” Cedric’s cold voice cut through his thoughts. “The Supreme Demon God’s aura is affecting you too much, breeding evil thoughts. If you can’t maintain your composure, I’ll have to send you away from here.”
Mike took several deep breaths, muttering to himself. His mind quickly returned to a state of calm, sweeping away the previous frustration and gloom, making him appear like a sage in meditation.
“Huh?” Maxen was surprised. Thor had such a skill? To have such mental discipline at a young age was impressive!
Maxen moved closer, trying to hear what Thor was chanting to calm himself so quickly.
As he got closer, he heard Thor repeating like a mantra,
“Maxen owes me 800,000 Lord merits, Fool owes me 600,000…”
“Maxen owes me 900,000 Lord merits, Fool owes me 700,000…” Maxen: ???
You calm yourself by chanting this?
Unbelievable!
Having dealt with the Supreme Demon God’s aura, Mike took the opportunity to ask Maxen a question, “Maxen, you once said Calderon wanted to make you his godson. Is that true?”
Maxen initially felt proud but quickly realized the setting wasn’t appropriate. He lowered his voice, “Yes, why bring this up now?”
Mike pressed on, “What about Shadow Nine? Didn’t he want to make you his godson?” Maxen fell silent, his expression complicated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Instead, the second and fifth demon gods burst into laughter upon hearing Thor’s question. Mike’s heart skipped a beat. He looked sharply at Shadow Nine, piecing together the truth! The last word Calderon had told him before dying was ‘Stone’…
Maxen’s father was missing, presumed dead…
Little Nine… Shadow Nine…
All the clues came together in Mike’s mind, forming the truth.
With a hint of bitterness, Mike asked Maxen, “What was your father’s name?”
Maxen nodded and revealed the answer, “My father’s name was Nathan Stoneheart, my biological father.”
The entire place fell silent.
The crowd wasn’t shocked by this revelation. Every seasoned fighter present had known this for years; it wasn’t a secret to them!
They were shocked that Thor, who had been with Shadow Nine day and night, didn’t know this!
Mike looked at the shadowy figure of Shadow Nine, finally understanding the Eye of Truth’s hint [Shadow Nine half-dead]. Because, in a sense, Shadow Nine might never have truly ‘lived.’
Gregory had once scolded Apollo over whether Shadow Nine was human. Shadow Nine was Nathan’s shadow, Nathan’s talent, brought out from the ninety-fifth floor of the Tower of Truth!
Thinking about it, it made sense. Calderon, though a madman, wasn’t particularly bright. How could he come up with the high-level trick of bringing Little Nine out from the ninety- fifth floor? Unless this trick had been used before!
Calderon had merely repeated what Nathan had done!
As Mike pieced everything together, Maxen spoke heavily, “Back during the mid-Blood War, at the most critical moment, the Archdemon opened the Supreme Abyss early, intending to awaken the Supreme Demon God to crush humanity completely. My father was one of the few Ultimate Lords at the time. He went to the Supreme Abyss alone and fought a great battle…”
“After that battle, the Supreme Abyss closed, delaying its reopening by ten years, giving humanity time to develop…”
“My father didn’t return from the Supreme Abyss, but before it closed, he sent out a black mist…”
In the black mist was a weapon and a ‘person.’
The weapon was the Thunderclap Hammer. The person was Shadow Nine.
Shadow Nine was Nathan Stoneheart’s shadow.
Mike couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Maxen knew everything and never told him!
Feeling Thor’s ‘anger’, Maxen’s wallet ached. He quickly explained, “It’s not my fault! Shadow Nine forbade me from telling you. What could I do? I was desperate too!”
After so many years, Maxen spoke of his father’s fate without much sadness. As he had said before, he was determined to kill the Archdemon in his lifetime to avenge his father.
First, kill the Archdemon, then slay the Supreme Demon God. This was the life script Maxen had set for himself.
After hearing Maxen’s story, Mike looked ahead again, focusing on the shadowy figure of Shadow Nine.
Half-dead, unable to enter the Tower of Truth, forever wandering in the shadows…
Even so, Shadow Nine, within the black mist, had steadfastly protected three generations of potential Supreme Beings for humanity!
He had saved Ares from the demon gods and stabilized Apollo when his mind was on the brink
of collapse.
Whenever a new potential Supreme Being emerged, the old man in the black mist would return, a blade at his waist.
Whenever a new Supreme Being was born, the old man in the black mist would disappear again, his whereabouts unknown.
This was a cycle. Shadow Nine would only appear during the growth of a potential Supreme Being. No one knew where Shadow Nine was, what he was thinking, or what he was doing. But the top fighters of both races knew one thing: when a potential Supreme Being emerged, there would always be a shadow by their side.
Just as half a month ago, when Thor emerged, Shadow Nine returned. A shadow formed the strongest barrier, unbreakable.
“Hey, can you humans put your internal affairs on hold?”
The fifth demon god, a master at ruining the atmosphere, spoke up.
Among all the strong beings present, he was always the most arrogant.
Arrogant? A demon god needed the capital to be arrogant!
In terms of being a demon god, the fifth demon god had always been the most ‘fearless’!
“Calderon, are you going to fight or not? Can you hurry up and kill my big bro already?”
The fifth demon god forcibly redirected everyone’s attention back to Calderon and the
Archdemon.
The Archdemon, with his skull shattered, coldly said, “Fifth demon god, if I survive this, I’ll
make sure you live another 10,000 years.”
That sounded odd. But as a threat to the fifth demon god, it was spot on.
“Don’t worry about whether I can live that long!” The fifth demon god took out a bone,
chewed it twice, and swallowed it. “I just want to see if Calderon can kill you with two
punches.”
Mike’s spirits lifted. Calderon could still throw two punches?!
According to previous estimates, Calderon’s strength briefly reached level 1000, allowing him
to pin the Archdemon down.
But everything had a price! The method Calderon used was akin to ‘life sacrifice’!
If Calderon truly intended to kill the Archdemon with his final punch, there would only be one outcome-mutual destruction!
Mike had gone through great lengths to get here, all to ensure Calderon survived!
Mike thought that even carrying Calderon back in the black coffin was better than letting him
die here with the Archdemon.
As for how to save Calderon, that required careful consideration. But Mike wanted to see what
Shadow Nine would do.
The stage was set for Calderon!
Boom-
Another punch landed, and countless strands of Killing Intent formed around the Archdemon, trapping him in a black coffin! At this point, the Archdemon had nothing left to hide!
Calderon had come to kill the Archdemon and had thoughtfully brought a coffin. Despite using all his means, the Archdemon couldn’t break through the black coffin! Worse
yet, he was about to face Calderon’s final punch-the strongest punch of Calderon’s life!
In this life-or-death moment, the Archdemon had no choice but to call out with all his strength, his voice reaching beyond the black coffin.
“Shadow Nine, save… me…”
Mike: ???
The Archdemon was calling for Shadow Nine’s help? What was going on?
