The oppressive blood mist that once filled the ancient cauldron had thinned drastically.
While Daniel battled the evil consciousness, its power had been siphoned to defend against his relentless attacks, weakening the mist until the crimson specters it once birthed could no longer manifest.
Daniel wiped the sweat from his brow, feeling the residual hum of Mjolnir at his side. Drawing a deep breath, he raised his hand once more, summoning the storm.
Lightning roared down his arm, engulfing the silver long sword as he delivered the final strike. The sword energy and thunder merged, splintering the dark consciousness piece by piece until nothing remained but silence.
Daniel exhaled sharply.
'It's over.'
He nodded, satisfied, and drew the sword from its pedestal. In a single leap, he ascended toward the opening above, leaving the dark prison behind.
The magic wand,floated to his side. Daniel claimed it as well, the final flash of its radiance fading as he exited. The space below collapsed into stillness.
But in that silence, something stirred.
A spark — a tiny droplet of blood-red light — emerged from the void.
It pulsed once. Twice. Then, like a flood, the entire blood cell refilled with crimson, darker and more malevolent than before.
From its center, a figure emerged, half-formed yet unsettlingly refined. His face carried a quiet arrogance, a sharp smile playing at his lips. His laughter rippled through the void, but there was no sound.
"Foolish… mage."
The long sword Daniel had taken was the seal. With it removed, the ancient prisoner's bindings had shattered.
The figure's grin widened, a predator tasting freedom after centuries. Daniel, in his ignorance, had done exactly what the being had waited for: released him.
The blood figure's gaze hardened, and a flash of rage crossed his refined features.
"Gao Qin…" His voice dripped with venom. "All of you… traitors. You'll pay for what you did."
Hundreds of years ago, those very people had begged him for cooperation. Their cultivation had stagnated, their lifespans dwindling. They had sought him out — he hadn't lured them.
They made a pact.
And yet, when he was most vulnerable — when he needed their help to complete the final ritual — they betrayed him. They turned on him, sealing his body within Kunlun and leaving him trapped in this cauldron, his essence split, his consciousness bleeding away through centuries.
But now, finally, a door had opened.
Daniel had unknowingly cut the chain.
"...And that mage," the figure hissed. "I'll deal with him too."
"Are you talking about me?"
The voice came from behind him.
The blood figure stiffened. Instinctively, he twisted into a formless sphere of crimson light and shot toward the voice, a strike so swift and lethal it would shred any unprepared opponent.
But it hit nothing.
The voice had been a phantom. A trap.
The figure darted upward toward the breach, determined to escape, but the air above shimmered—
CRACK!
A bolt of lightning as thick as a child's arm tore down from the darkness, slamming into him. His blood form sizzled, hissing like oil on fire.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself onward. He couldn't afford to fight here.
'Get out first. Feed. Regain strength. Then I'll kill him.'
But his thoughts were cut short.
A lattice of crackling blue arcs appeared above him — a Thunder Net.
The moment he tried to tear through, Daniel struck.
"Got you," Daniel growled.
He appeared behind the blood figure like a shadow of lightning, his Mjolnir raised high. Divine runes flared along its surface as he brought it down with a single devastating blow.
The blood figure shrieked as he was slammed to the ground, his essence scattering. Even though he tried to re-form, the divine energy burned through him, unraveling his shape.
The hammer Daniel wielded wasn't ordinary. It was a prototype forged by Odin himself, one of the test weapons made before the creation of Mjölnir. Though not as mighty as the final artifact, it was still divine-grade — and in Daniel's hands, it was lethal.
The crimson entity flickered, his form unstable.
For centuries he had been battling the silver sword's seal, every clash draining him, eroding him. Without his true body — still imprisoned in Kunlun — his power was already a shadow of its former glory.
One more direct hit from Daniel, and this fragment might be destroyed completely.
The figure darted erratically, weaving through the air. He moved like smoke, impossible to grasp, buying time to avoid Daniel's strikes.
"Slippery bastard," Daniel muttered, his eyes narrowing.
Then, with a flash of insight, Daniel stopped chasing.
Instead, he ascended to the breach — the only escape route — and raised the hammer high.
BOOM!
Lightning exploded outward.
A second Thunder Net unfolded — not just above, but across every corner of the hall, covering all paths.
This wasn't a fight anymore. This was a trap.
The blood figure froze. He realized, with a sudden chill, that Daniel wasn't just fighting him. Daniel had prepared this entire battlefield — like a patient fisherman who knew exactly where the prey would swim.
—
If you want to read 40 chapters further ahead, visit my Pttttn.
pttttn.com/MiniMine352