With a command from the Red King, the weapon, like a pillar of heaven, began to emit a dazzling light as immense energy gathered.
Even before it was fired, the air temperature was rapidly rising.
"To kill just two people, you'd risk the entire village as collateral?" Caiera's eyes showed despair.
"You've been by his side for over a decade, you didn't know his true colors until today, did you?" Ben retorted.
Caiera shook her head.
She lowered her head, pulling the child who had attacked her with a knife into her embrace, seemingly intending to protect him with her own body.
But she knew it would be futile.
Her Steel Bones couldn't withstand the temperature of the Deathflame Beam.
In fact, the Deathflame Beam might not have been able to kill her, who wielded the Old Power, but everyone in this village would perish in ashes.
However, for some reason, at this moment, Caiera gave up on using the Old Power to resist the Deathflame Beam.
Perhaps it would be a good thing to let the flames burn her, a sinner, to ashes as well.
And...
She turned her head, looking at Ben with a smile, "It might not be the best time to say this, but you're quite to my taste."
"Yeah, everyone says that."
Ben shrugged.
He didn't have any particular feelings for Caiera. Perhaps to the Shadow People, Caiera was a beauty, but to an Earthling, she was a bit too exotic.
"You should leave quickly," Caiera said. "Your Old Power isn't enough to resist the power of the Deathflame Beam. If you escape now, you still have a chance to live."
"And you?"
Caiera raised her head, looking at the Deathflame Beam that was already poised to strike, and said with a tone of regret mixed with relief, "I will stay here and perish with everyone in this village..."
Then, she looked at Ben again, pleading, "If you truly are the Son of Sakaar, the savior of this planet, then please leave here, defeat the Red King, and save the Sakaarans!"
Ben looked up, gazing at the flames in the sky, and laughed, "If I truly am the Son of Sakaar, then no one will die."
He had no intention of escaping at all!
At this moment, the Deathflame Beam was completely ready.
Seeing that Ben and Caiera had given up even on escaping, the Red King in the arena felt even more exhilarated!
"Die, you bastards!"
With his angry roar, the Deathflame Beam descended!
It was like a sun crashing down from the sky. The rapidly rising temperature distorted the air, and the ground beneath Ben's feet instantly melted into liquid.
"Hahaha, turn to ashes in the inferno of the Deathflame Beam!" the Red King roared with laughter, his voice echoing in the empty gladiator arena.
"Benny won't die."
Looma couldn't help but clench her fists, unable to stop worrying about Ben.
"Won't die?"
"Ridiculous. The temperature of the Deathflame Beam is higher than the surface temperature of the Taiyou Star, and its power is enough to cover several kilometers. He can't resist it, nor can he escape!" the Red King said gleefully, gripping his blade.
Caiera's gray skin was illuminated red by the flames. Watching Death descend, her past life flashed by rapidly. As the Red King's blade, she was a traitor to the Sakaarans.
Her life, full of sin, finally came to an end at this moment.
Her arms instinctively tightened around the child in her embrace, just as her mother had tried to protect her when she was young.
"It's all over..."
"It's not over yet."
Ben's confident voice sounded in her ear.
Caiera and the child in her arms both looked over, but what they saw was no longer a silver-gray Shadow People warrior, but a Flame Warrior made entirely of crimson rock, with what looked like magma blood flowing through his body!
—Heatblast!
The Flame Warrior didn't appear particularly tall, but he stood between heaven and earth, raising his arms. Instantly, the infinite flames, as if obeying their king's command, turned into flowing vortexes and surged towards him.
At this moment, the Death Flame was merely a subordinate bowing at his feet, and the power of the sun paled in comparison!
Caiera's eyes were completely stunned.
She saw endless flames flowing past her like rivers, yet she felt no heat.
And the child in her arms even reached out a tender hand towards the flames.
"So warm..."
"This, this is impossible!"
"He actually absorbed the Deathflame Beam..."
Even though they were thousands of kilometers apart, the Red King in the arena took half a step back in fear upon seeing this, his eyes wavering.
Not just him, anyone who saw Ben absorb the Death Flame would think they were witnessing a god!
"Pyronites..." Looma murmured, "These guys really have some skills."
BOOM!!
In an instant, the scorching Deathflame Beam vanished into nothingness. The surrounding air, due to the sudden cooling, generated intense convection, whipping up a fierce wind.
At this moment, Ben felt his entire body filled with fiery energy. The flames above his head grew even more vigorous, and even his shoulders seemed to spew out flames like volcanic vents, capable of distorting space!
"You conquered the monsters in the Calamity Giant Stomach, and now you've become the volcano itself..." Caiera stared at Ben dazedly, "You are the embodiment of nature, undoubtedly a Son of Sakaar!"
"Perhaps," Ben said indifferently. Honestly, he was getting a bit tired of that title.
"Caiera, if you truly hate the Red King, if you truly feel ashamed of betraying the Sakaarans in the past, then what you should do now is not to offer your neck for slaughter, but to join me in eliminating the Red King!"
Caiera seemed moved, but she still shook her head and said sadly, "It's useless. He just needs to press a button, and the neurotoxin will immediately spread throughout my body. I have no way to resist."
This was the greatest helplessness for all those enslaved by the Red King.
They didn't even have the hope of resistance; they could be easily killed just by standing before the Red King.
"What if I said I could handle the Obedience Disk?"
"Really?!"
"We'll talk about it later," Ben grinned, and at the same time, he looked up at the sky, "Something else is coming!"
"Something else?"
Caiera blinked, and then saw the huge object above them suddenly smash down.
THUD!!
As if a space warship had crashed, the black pillar collapsed the ground. The next moment, the hatch opened, and dense swarms of yellowish-brown insects poured out like a swarm of mosquitoes. Behind them followed countless humanoid monsters, resembling zombies.
"What is this? Are they going to start a Zombie Universe?"
Seeing this scene, Ben felt terrible. Those humanoid monsters were like rotten corpses coming back to life, twisting and charging towards them.
"Those are Spikes!"
Caiera's voice became sharp upon seeing these monsters.
"Spikes..."
"Never let them infect you, or we'll become monsters like them too!" Caiera said.
Her eyes seemed to burn with rage. She clenched her fists, and lightning erupted once more.
"It was these monsters that attacked my village and killed my parents!"
Once, Caiera thought the Red King had saved her from death. But she was wrong. It turned out that the Spikes were originally the Red King's weapon, and that attack was orchestrated by him!
All just to find the slave he desired most, sacrificing countless lives...
Without Caiera's explanation, Ben could see the terrifying nature of these insects.
They found the already defeated Death Head Warriors, pierced their skin, and immediately burrowed into their bodies.
Beneath the previously smooth skin of those people, it was as if maggots were wriggling.
The Spikes crawled beneath their skin like sand worms, reaching their brains and completely seizing their consciousness!
At this moment, the dead were resurrected.
The defeated Death's Head Guards had truly become the undead...
Caiera protected the child behind her, preparing for battle at the same time.
However, Ben blocked her path.
"Take the child and the other villagers and leave."
"But..."
"Don't worry, I happen to have inexhaustible power right now!" Ben grinned sinisterly. Instantly, the flames all over his body surged again, becoming a blood-red color like the Deathflame Beam!
"Okay!"
Caiera finally made up her mind. She touched the disk on her neck, thinking that even if she died, she would make the Red King pay the price!
"Then we'll meet in the Imperial Capital!"
She turned and left.
The remaining elders and children from the village rushed out in a panic, following Caiera's footsteps.
The flying insects, the Spikes, wanted to pursue them, but Ben waved his hand, and a wall of fire rose, blocking the creatures like an insurmountable chasm.
"Your opponent is me!"
Instantly, all the flying insects and those possessed by them, turning into monsters, surged towards Ben.
Ben was fearless.
He first used his flames to trap these Spike monsters, preventing any from escaping.
Only after Caiera and the villagers had disappeared from sight did he begin his true attack.
He took a step forward, raised his arm, and gathered intense flames in his palm into a giant sphere, like a burning red giant star.
"Deathflame Beam!"
After absorbing the Red King's Deathflame Beam, Ben had completely mastered this energy.
However, he didn't need to unleash its full power to deal with these monsters.
Boom!!
In an instant, a fireball hundreds of meters in diameter exploded, its crimson flames devouring everything!
When the flames died down, Ben's vision was empty.
All the monsters, flying insects, and even the ground itself had vanished, leaving only the uncooled magma flowing sluggishly.
"Sizzle—"
The feed from the drones also completely disappeared.
Under that single attack, all the drones had been melted into liquid metal.
But no one thought Ben had lost to the Spikes, because he was as powerful as a god!
In the arena, Looma looked triumphantly at the Red King. Everything was ready; now, only the final war remained!
Too bad I haven't found the Ice and Snow Creature yet!
She thought.
But that no longer mattered.
"You lost, Angmo Asan."
"Lost?"
The Red King scoffed. "You've only won the second match. Do you two really think you can stand against me?"
As the emperor of a planet, the Red King's military might was certainly not limited to this.
No matter how powerful Looma and the Hacker were, could they really oppose the entire world?
He didn't even spare Caiera a glance; with the Obedience Disk installed on her, Caiera was an ant he could crush at any moment!
"You two are isolated and helpless. What can you possibly do?"
As he spoke, he swung his Double-Edged Greatsword, and the other Royal Guards prepared to attack.
Looma's gaze swept around, her legs bending slightly, clearly intending to engage the Red King in a fierce battle.
"Royal Guards, attack!"
The Red King waved his long blade, and the guards clad in golden exoskeletons immediately charged at Looma.
"Bring it on!"
Looma let out a battle cry, her two right arms swinging punches simultaneously, sending one of them flying.
But at the same moment, attacks from three other guards reached her from behind. Ben's radiant gold spear pierced her skin, immediately sparking.
"Trash that can't even pierce my skin!" Looma grabbed the three spears under her ribs with one hand and chopped them with her other hand, breaking them all. Then, with a sweep of her arm, she knocked them all to the ground.
However, due to the sheer number of enemies and their advanced custom armor, Looma's attacks didn't have a significant effect.
She kept knocking them back, but the guards could still get back up and relentlessly pounced on her.
Her two upper arms were pulled tightly by four guards, and then those men swarmed her like ants, trying to pin her down!
"You annoying little bugs!" Looma roared in anger.
A furious shout sent everyone flying back.
Then, her four blood-red eyes glared at the Red King, and she charged forward like a war chariot!
"I'm going to smash your head in!"
Looma leaped, twisting her body in mid-air, gathering all her strength for a punch that could cause an earthquake, and brought it down towards the Red King!
Boom!!
The entire arena trembled!
"Hah!"
From a higher vantage point, Bill smashed a guard into the wall with his hammer.
Clearly, apart from the Royal Guards, the other guards did not possess such powerful exoskeletons.
"The second match is over, we need to speed things up!" Bill shouted.
As he led the gladiators forward, he looked out the window. Sparse black shadows began to appear on the distant horizon.
Bill knew those were their reinforcements, the backbone of this war.
Whether it was the gladiators or the scavengers who had captured them, they were now teammates on the same front.
He grinned, making a rare joke: "When we meet those hateful scavengers later, don't lay a hand on them!"
The counterattack had begun!
We should be able to completely conquer Sakaar by tomorrow.
Thank you for the 5,000 Qidian coins reward, boss!
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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