Everyone looked at Apollo’s headless corpse with a mix of shock and disbelief.
Leon’s eyes trembled. ‘Y-you fool…’
Ambrose breathed heavily and looked away with a pained gaze.
‘I wish to be able to return home, though I fear it might never be possible.’ Apollo’s voice echoed inside his mind.
“…” Henri grabbed his throat, tears falling from his face. He wanted to scream, but nothing came out except muffled sounds. He felt like he was suffocating, unable to express his emotions.
“Shit…” Loki covered his face with a painful look. Apollo was always the big brother figure, and they always relied on him.
Now he was dead, and the chance of defeating Mars seemed like a distant dream.
Loki felt a sense of hopelessness wash over him.
“I-I should’ve…” Damian hyperventilated. “I should’ve used the vampire light to move him out of the way… I-I should’ve…”
Jake looked towards the sky, but because of the dark clouds, he couldn’t see the stars. He could only feel the weight of his failure. It was his duty to keep pressure on Mars, but he had failed.
He had let everyone down.
He had let himself down.
“Apollo…” Ors looked pained. He was the only one who didn’t look at him with utter disgust and tried to get him to get along with everyone else.
Zero was the only one who didn’t react to Apollo’s death, as he didn’t look like he was currently present but was instead controlled by some demonic creature.
He continued launching attacks at Mars.
Mars, with only one hand remaining, used his left hand to slap Zero’s attacks away.
“Your attacks have no effect on me!” Mars said and backhanded across Zero’s face. He expected him to get flung far away into the distance.
However, Zero kept his ground and turned his face back to Mars, his black-sclera eyes showing a demonic look.
Smack!
Zero slammed his fist into Mars’ face, but silence ensued. Neither of them moved.
“Is that all?” Mars grabbed Zero by his wrist and removed his fist from his face. There wasn’t a single injury on his face.
Mars’ eyes were filled with a cold, calculating rage.
“Raaah!” Zero screamed loudly, and suddenly, strange black tentacles shot out from his fingers and stabbed into Mars’ muscular arm.
“?!” Mars’ eyes widened, and he suddenly felt his blood being sucked away by those tentacles. “What the fuck is that?”
He quickly slapped Zero away, and the tentacles withdrew back into his fingers.
Mars looked at his arm, and he could see his skin looking dryer than before. If he hadn’t pushed Zero away, in just a few seconds, he might’ve lost all of his blood.
“Szzz…” Zero let out a strange, sizzling sound, as if it were coming straight from a snake’s mouth. Then, tentacles again showed up from the tips of his fingers and wrapped around his body.
“…” Mars scoffed and tightened his fist, causing his veins to protrude. At the same moment, he heard footsteps coming from around him.
As he looked around, he saw his former crew members looking at him with lethal gazes. They were planning to kill him, no matter the cost.
“Ah, done mourning?” Mars laughed. “Well, what can any of you do without him? He was the leader, was he not?”
Ambrose narrowed his eyes and said. “You all know what to do.”
The others nodded and wielded their weapons with new-found fury.
Ambrose, with two Black Swords in hand, lunged towards Mars and screamed. “Humanoid Imperfecta!”
With Formlessness, he moved at incredible speed, which made him look like a professional skater. In just an instant, he arrived at the attacking distance and smashed his swords towards Mars.
Mars’ eyes narrowed into a glare as the swords approached him. He felt a strange sensation of danger and knew that if those swords landed on him, it wouldn’t fare well for him.
He quickly leaped over the swords and kicked Ambrose across the face, sending him tumbling down the ground like a tumbleweed.
At the same moment, attacks rained down on Mars, coming from the rageful Black Heart members.
“I have entertained them enough.” Mars clenched his hand into a tight fist. “Time to end this!”
“Mercury Death!”
Out of nowhere, an enormous fist appeared in the air that destroyed everything in its wake.
Boom!
…
“Haaa!” Adam swung his swords with a rageful swing, but Tyrannus evaded them masterfully and counterattacked with the battleaxe, striking Adam with a powerful blow.
Adam coughed blood and crashed into the ground, but he immediately flipped over and sent several bright-colored slashes across the air. They were fused with Inner Power and flew straight to Tyrannus with deadly force.
Tyrannus smashed his battleaxe through the bright-colored slashes and screamed loudly. His arms suddenly expanded as if they were infected with air, and then he swung the battleaxe.
As the battleaxe’s blade shredded through the air, a blue-colored slash shot out from the blade and flew towards Adam.
Adam quickly leaned backward, his back almost touching the ground. The blue-colored slash then flew over his body, missing him just by an inch. He then straightened up and used quick footwork to approach Tyrannus.
There wasn’t any sign of fear in his face. He was preparing to either die fighting or kill Tyrannus.
He was ready to face whatever outcome may come.
“Urgh…” Tyrannus glanced at his waist and scoffed. ‘That attack from Mars is still hurting me. Without that, I would’ve already separated Adam’s head from his useless corpse!’
…
Near the strange black temple, Yughragh dodged the black spears that descended from the sky. Those black spears were infected with the Black Smoke of Verhan.
Wherever the spears landed, everything got corrupted and died.
Yughragh moved the mace in front of his body, sending a powerful wind that knocked the black spears back.
“Hmm?” Yughragh then looked over to the other part of the battlefield and saw the illusion of a giant fist destroying everything on its path.
“You should pay attention!” The Death King shouted, and suddenly hundreds of black spears appeared from the dark sky, falling down towards the ground like a torrent of rain.
“I am.” Yughragh said and deflected the spears with the mace without looking at them. “I don’t only see with my eyes.”
…
“Shit…” Ambrose re-appeared in the sky above the battlefield and landed back on the ground. He happened to die because of the “Mercury Death” attack.
‘He was aiming that at me. Bastard.’ Ambrose looked around and was relieved to see others still alive, even though they looked exhausted.
“Ambrose.” Jake walked to him and said. “I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?” Ambrose asked while looking towards Mars, who was patting off the dust from his torn trousers.
“If I die, there is something I need you to do.” Jake said with a serious gaze.
“You ain’t dying,” Ambrose said with a serious gaze.
“If I do…” Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “My corpse will turn into a star fragment. It’s a secret that only Starborns know.”
“All right…” Ambrose frowned. “And, what about it?”
“You cannot let Mars get the star fragment.” Jake sighed. “He would become more powerful than ever. Please destroy the star fragment if I die and if it looks like you are losing the fight.”
“What does the star fragment do?” Ambrose asked.
“Whoever eats the star fragment will become Starborn.” Jake said. “If Mars evolves from human to Starborn, there won’t be any who can oppose him.”
Ambrose’s eyes widened in a shock. “It’s possible to become Starborn?”
“Yes…” Jake nodded. “I trust you with this information. No matter what, you cannot let Mars get the star fragment. I don’t plan on dying, but if I do…”
“I understand…” Ambrose nodded. “I’ll destroy it, but you ain’t dying.”
Jake smiled and nodded. “Aight, good…”