He simply faded away; into his own mind, he lost his senses for an unknown amount of time as emotions swirled and blanked out all at the same time. It was too much to bear as he sat there on his knees, blind and deaf to everything around him.

I just want to end it all, he thought.

As such thoughts flooded his mind amongst the false silence, he suddenly came to as he was shaken violently, finding Yeong-Un standing in front of him, bruised and bleeding heavily.

“Get it together, fire-head…!” Yeong-Un yelled in his face.

“…Huh?”

Looking around, he saw that the fight was still persisting, and they were still on the losing side, though there was progress made.

The Great Emperor was bruised and bloodied, though still going strong as the big three: Guozhi, Mallan, and Tsukikage, were noticeably more worn than the Floor King. With a swift assault that came as a blur, the emperor managed to knock both Mallan and Guozhi back with powerful blows.

“Get up…!” Yeong-Un yelled again.

Finally he snapped into focus, hurrying to his feet just to turn around to find the Great Emperor parting his lips as a cone of azure flames traveled directly towards the two.

“Watch out, dammit! Gaia!”

Intercepting the sweeping inferno was Tsukikage, who jumped between them and used his planetary weapon to manifest a wall of stalwart earth, managing to withstand the draconic blaze.

Though it stopped the azure flames, the sturdy barrier of earth was suddenly shattered as the Great Emperor charged through it, blitzing through and grabbing Tsukikage by the throat.

“You’re troublesome,” Emperor Jiao-Long remarked, “Die.”

With a squeeze of his fist, the draconic royalty snuffed the life out of the high-level player casually as if eradicating a mere insect, having snapped Tsukikage’s neck.

In the face of this tragedy, there was one amongst the remaining combatants who confronted the unstoppable foe.

[Bloodforger System Activated]

Overtaken with grief that converted into utmost anger, Sol commanded the bloodshed around him into a source of strength, cladding himself in crimson armor as tears were wept with a vicious expression.

“You piece of shit–!” Sol yelled out.

With a raise of his hand, the crimson-eyed adolescent manipulated the blood that ran across the marble floor, shifting even the particles of crimson in the air into tangible form as well.

The Great Emperor didn’t seem to take the dozens of projectiles of blood launched towards him seriously, though as a few pelted against his skin, managing to draw blood, there was actual surprise drawn on his expression.

“–!” The Emperor’s eyes widened before he began manually guarding against the blood bullets with his arms.

It wasn’t just standard blood; Sol manipulated its density, heat, and velocity, turning them into projectiles capable of harming even the stalwart body of the Great Emperor.

“He’s hurting him…! Sol is actually givin’ it to that fucker!” Yeong-Un said in delighted surprise, clenching his fists, “…We can win, fire-head! We can! Ya’ hear me?! It ain’t over?!”

“–” Jeong-Hui watched, still feeling his heart twisting in his chest.

“Listen to me, dammit!” Yeong-Un grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing Jeong-Hui to listen, “This is how it was always gonna be! We all knew we could die fightin’! It’s up to us to make sure we fight even harder in their absence, ya hear?!…This ain’t our first time losing people. We gotta swallow it and stand tall!”

The words from the spiky-haired man brought him to his senses as he nodded and got up, standing beside Yeong-Un even though fear and lamentation flowed through the marrow of his bones.

After a hailstorm of blood shot against the Great Emperor’s body for a solid minute, the imposing figure finally began to adjust as he walked forward, storming the attacks as he enclosed on the bloodforger.

“Ghh…” Sol strained himself, continuing the flow of the crimson hailstorm.

Stomping closer, the Great Emperor reared his hand back as he got within striking distance of the Bloodforger System wielder before suddenly being locked in place by an impact from above.

Guozhi was standing, slamming his hand down as he invoked a colossal palm strike that pressed down on the merciless royal.

“Don’t stop! Continue what you’re doing!” Guozhi yelled.

Sol adhered to those words without any need to hear them as the fire in his blood manifested through an increase in force, managing to fully stab through the skin and scales of Emperor Jiao-Long, shooting holes through his left arm and his shoulder.

“Nrgh–!” The Emperor winced.

It was the first true damage inflicted on the emperor’s body; injuries that were deep and permanent.

This, however, seemed to finally invoke the Great Emperor to use more effort as he roared out, charging forward with full intent of squashing the Bloodforger.

Before he could reach Sol, both Yeong-Un and Jeong-Hui leapt in, unleashing their own combination of attacks.

“Crimson Tiger, Scarlet Lion!” Yeong-Un invoked.

“Black Ripper!” Jeong-Hui yelled.

The onslaught of slashes that unleashed howling flames and scathing darkness managed to halt Emperor Jiao-Long but for a moment, giving time for the next phase–

“Thor.”

Invoking the authority of the Norse god, Mallan appeared with strands of lightning coiling his body, using the divine strength possessed by the essence of “Thor” to slam his fist into the side of the emperor, pressing his knuckles against his ribs before unleashing a lightning-infused impact.

A shock wave propelled through the air was strands of bright-blue electricity caused the air to spark up, expanding with a swiftly dissipating heat.

It was a monstrous blow, actually causing the emperor to spit out as the force caused his side to swell and turn purple quickly.

There was blowback from the attack, however, as the sleeve of Mallan’s coat was blown off as his arm shot back, quickly bruising up.

“Tsk,” Mallan clicked his tongue.

Now the emperor’s focus was on the dark-skinned possessor of the Divine Authority System, honing his sight as he ignored the others before stomping towards Mallan.

Preparing for the clash, Mallan quickly amplified himself, “Hercules. Shiva. Zeus.”

Using three divine authorities at once, veins pressed against the man’s skin as a stream of blood trailed down his nostril from the strain. Still, it proved to be a worthy cost as he managed to meet the godly emperor hand-to-hand, meeting him on equal footing physically.

Mallan’s physique was altered by the authorities, bulking up as a divine aura exuded from his form as he locked hands with the Great Emperor in a direct contest of strength.

“Do it now…! Hit him! Use everything you’ve got–even if it takes me with him!” Mallan shouted.