Shen Zuo closed in further, fifty meters now barely separating him, the maximum distance that let his needles reach their target.
Neither beast was paying him any attention. He was nothing more than a minor nuisance in the middle of a battle between giants.
The massive lion, despite its many wounds, still stood firm, a mountain of red flame and muscle.
Shen Zuo's needles did nothing but add to its fury. A few of them sank into the open wounds... but the lion barely even flinched.
Its resilience was terrifying, as though pain meant nothing to it.
Meanwhile, the hawk, which had crashed to the ground, finally rose back up. Its left wing still bled, but its wings opened once more, the blue spark still glowing in its eyes.
It lunged again, its beak and talons gleaming in the air.
The lion didn't retreat.
It roared, and tongues of flame erupted from its mouth as it launched its own counterattack.
They collided again amid a whirlwind of feathers and fire.
The hawk struck the lion's neck, but in return, the lion drove its claws into the hawk's shoulder.
The sound of tearing flesh was loud enough that Shen Zuo felt it in his own bones.
Shen Zuo stayed there, firing more needles, shifting positions, trying by every means possible to find an opening.
But neither beast cared about him, not yet.
The battle was between the two of them alone, a storm of power and savagery with no room for the weak.
The sky above them had changed... dark gray clouds piled up, and the metallic smell of blood mixed with the heat of ash and burning flesh.
The lion charged again, this time its entire body ablaze as though it had become a living torch. The ground beneath it burst into fiery cracks with every step.
But it was slightly slower now... heavier.
The hawk climbed through the air despite its wounds, its injured wing moving with a heavy weight, but it never stopped. It let out a loud cry, a sharp sound cutting through the noise.
Suddenly, a new ability appeared, one it had never shown before.
Dark blue light began condensing around its body, not just flame... but concentrated energy, making the air around it tremble.
Then it released it in a violent burst of wind and energy that pushed the lion back a step for the first time.
The lion roared with force, but its chest contracted for a moment. New cracks opened along its side, and the flame grew less intense, its fire fading in color in several spots.
Shen Zuo... now saw his opening.
He fired another volley of needles, but this time, instead of aiming at the lion's body, he aimed with obsessive precision only at the open wounds, every needle directed at torn flesh.
Some of the needles sank in deep.
The lion jolted for a moment... pulling its head back just one step.
The hawk didn't miss the chance. It struck down like lightning from above, its sharp fangs sinking into the lion's neck, its claws tearing into its opponent's shoulder.
In response, the lion raised its claws with force, striking directly into the hawk's body, a violent impact that boomed through the air.
Both staggered. Both bled more.
Shen Zuo focused harder.
"Now... just now... maybe..."
But before he could finish the thought, the lion shoved the hawk away with a massive wave of fire. The hawk tumbled through the air and slammed into the ground with enough force to send stones scattering.
But it got up, slow, exhausted, but standing.
The lion too... its roar growing lighter... its breathing feverish.
Parts of its hide had peeled away, and the flame around its limbs had nearly vanished. But its eyes were still blazing.
It was a fight with no clear end in sight... a fight turning into a war of attrition, with no winner except death.
The weakening of the flame let Shen Zuo close in more and more.
A step... then another.
The heat of the fire no longer stung him like before, and the waves of flame could no longer push him back.
The lion's flame was gradually losing its glow... Shen Zuo could feel it in his bones.
The hawk, on the other side, was still fighting, its movements heavier, its damaged wing slowing it down, but it never stopped.
Fewer feathers... fewer fireballs... but it kept fighting.
Shen Zuo... fifty meters... forty...
I just need one opening...
His body was covered in the Rock Mutation Phantom, the armor stretching across his arms, shoulders, and chest, his legs hard as stone, his breathing slow and steady despite the remaining flames in the air.
The needles in his left hand began forming... calmly... precisely.
No room for error.
The lion... its breathing had grown slower and heavier.
The fire that had been burning across its body had gone out in wide patches, blood slowly leaking from multiple wounds.
But it... hadn't fallen.
Thirty meters.
Shen Zuo closed in further.
But this time...
The lion's head slowly tilted toward the source of movement...
It stopped attacking the hawk...
Its glowing red eyes ignited with a direct look at Shen Zuo.
The weight of the air shifted.
Suddenly... Shen Zuo felt everything stop.
The lion... had noticed him.
The sound of its harsh breathing reached his ears clearly... like a silent roar pressing against his chest.
Damn it...
Shen Zuo whispered, his grip tightening further on the axe's handle, the needles in his other hand glowing brighter.
The hawk from above tried to seize the moment, firing a sudden burst of feathers at the lion's side, but the beast didn't move.
As though its eyes could see nothing but Shen Zuo now.
Twenty-five meters.
Another step...
The lion suddenly roared, a roar closer to an explosive scream.
The ground shook.
Old flame ignited from its jaws once more, not with the same power... but still lethal.
The attack began.
The lion charged straight at Shen Zuo.
The hawk... screamed with force and dove from above, trying to cut it off.
The hawk's strike landed on the lion's side, fiery feathers exploding against its shoulder, but it didn't stop.
The massive body kept running... straight toward Shen Zuo.
Fifteen meters.
Ten meters.
Shen Zuo didn't retreat.
He fired the first volley of needles at the lion's wounds. The needles sank in, but the beast barely flinched.
It kept coming.
Five meters.
The second volley of needles... he fired it!
The lion's body staggered for a moment... but its speed was still there.
Three meters.
"Now."
Shen Zuo leapt aside at the very last moment, the axe rising, a sideways strike aimed at the neck, the needles surging forward at the exact same instant!
The lion crashed into a massive tree trunk, but before it could fall, it spun around with an agility unbelievable for a creature its size.
More blood flowed... but its eyes were still blazing.
Shen Zuo gasped... but he still didn't retreat.
The hawk climbed higher... higher and higher... its wings spreading out over the battlefield, like a king in the sky, wanting nothing more than to watch the ending unfold.
Shen Zuo didn't retreat.
Didn't think about running.
There was no time left for that anyway.
"Bull Charge Phantom."
He said it inside himself as he pushed the energy within him with force. His feet pounded the ground, a black spark exploded around him as he shot forward like an arrow toward the lion.
The axe rose high.
The stone wrapped around his fist with renewed force.
The world around him warped for a moment. The distance between him and the lion closed in the blink of an eye.
The lion had just finished turning around, the flame around it dying out bit by bit, its deep wounds groaning from within.
Shen Zuo didn't hesitate.
He lunged.
A full-force frontal strike, his stone fist gripping the axe and driving it toward the beast's chest.
"HAAAAAAH!"
The sound shook the open air.
The axe struck the lion's body.
Sparks flew up. Blood scattered. Bone cracked.
The beast swayed... then stumbled back two heavy steps.
The hawk above... was still climbing.
Its wings glowing with a weak blue flame, but it didn't intervene.
The lion... its knees trembled for a moment.
Its head dropped, its chest bleeding even more.
But it still hadn't fallen.
Shen Zuo stood firm, despite his gasping breath, despite the blood on his face.
"Again..."
He whispered it in a low voice, readying himself for another round.
The hawk pulled its wings in tight, its body compressing like a fiery spear, lunging with its sharp beak toward the lion at lightning speed.
The roar of wind intensified as it cut through the air, the ground beneath them shaking from the force of the coming impact.
The lion raised its head at the last moment, its exhausted eyes catching a glimpse of the hawk, but the attack was too fast to block.
"BOOOM!"
The beak struck at the lion's shoulder, right where one of its deepest wounds was. The flesh tore apart again, blood spraying heavily, even the bone partially shattering under the force of the impact.
The lion howled violently, lurching back a step, swaying... but it didn't fall.
And once again... the hawk rose, giving it no moment of rest.
Shen Zuo was still in his attack stance, his chest rising and falling, but he was ready for the next charge.
"It's not going down this easily..."
He said it in his mind, tightening his grip on the axe even further, his eyes shifting between the hawk and the lion, which was staggering, still resisting... but bleeding more and more.
Shen Zuo lunged with everything he had. The Bull Charge Phantom made his steps thunder like the roar of a raging animal.
The axe rose with devastating force, gleaming as the Phantom ignited across his body.
The lion was exhausted, but not dead yet. Its red eyes widened, the flame still pulsing weakly around its claws, and with an almost blind motion, it lunged with its massive claws.
A scream tore through the air.
The lion's claw drove in with force, severing Shen Zuo's entire right arm, nearly at the shoulder. Blood sprayed into the air like a crimson waterfall.
"AAAAAAH!"
The scream of pain was involuntary... but Shen Zuo's feet didn't stop.
If anything... the opposite.
His eyes blazed with a madness the pain had ignited inside him, something close to a fiercer stubbornness. He pushed forward even further, dragging the axe now with only his left hand.
The lion twisted its body, but Shen Zuo no longer needed his full strength. He only needed one final strike.
"DIE!"
He screamed it as he brought the axe down from above.
The blade plunged into the lion's neck, deep enough to reach the spinal cord. A weak flame flickered out with it, then went dark
.
The massive beast's body trembled for a moment... then collapsed to the ground, motionless.
Shen Zuo dropped to his knees beside it, his breath ragged, blood pouring from his severed shoulder.
But he smiled, the smile of someone standing over the corpse of hell itself.