We had reached the next town.
I stood at the city gates, my eyes narrowing at the two guards stationed there. My master's voice still echoed in my mind—"Destroy this city as well."
Without hesitation, I unsheathed both of my daggers and began walking forward.
But before I could take more than a few steps, two unfamiliar presences descended from the sky, landing in front of me with an impact that made the dust swirl. Their sudden appearance made me stop cold.
I examined them carefully.
The first was a man—his aura a radiant pink, eerily similar to the pig-faced woman I had fought before. Pink hair framed his sharp features, and blue eyes stared at me with unsettling calm. His body radiated fire, like a living phoenix, graceful and devastating all at once.
The second figure was more difficult to read. Androgynous in appearance, they emanated a silver aura that distorted the space around them like rippling heat. Bright blue hair flowed behind them, and their pristine white garments fluttered with a strange etherealness. But it was the rainbow-colored tail that marked them unmistakably—a peacock beastman.
I could feel the weight of their power. My instincts responded immediately.
Dark purple scales began crawling across my body as my "Body of Destruction" activated. I hadn't realized until now that the transformation could amplify my stats nearly a hundredfold—but today, it felt closer to a twentyfold boost. Still more than enough to obliterate most foes.
Without hesitation, I surged forward.
One dagger shifted into a sleek handgun, the other into a radiant light sword. I aimed first at the peacock, unleashing a barrage of explosive, space-warping bullets. I expected evasion. Instead, the bullets froze mid-air—then crumbled to dust as if time itself rejected them.
My danger sense spiked. I pivoted mid-air and lunged toward the phoenix, slashing down with my sword.
He didn't flinch. He simply sidestepped.
My blade tore through the air and kept going—cleaving into the town behind him and reducing entire structures to rubble. He hadn't even blocked. That wasn't evasion—it was surgical contempt.
Pain erupted from my back.
I turned just in time to see a flurry of sharp peacock feathers retracting into the beastman's wings. I stumbled, only for the phoenix to step in, gauntlets of fire and lightning forming over his fists.
Then came the barrage.
Fifty strikes. One second. One hand.
Each hit cracked my scales and sent blinding shockwaves of pain reverberating through my body. I couldn't react. Couldn't defend.
My body rocketed backward—only for the phoenix to catch me mid-air and hurl me higher.
He summoned a gleaming bow, its limbs pulsing with pure light. With precision honed by something beyond training, he fired three arrows. They disappeared into space—then instantly reappeared, piercing through me with celestial force.
Agony surged through my veins.
Before I could scream, he was there again—delivering another symphony of strikes from all directions. Fists. Feathers. Arrows. I barely managed to unfurl my wings and slow my descent before slamming into the earth.
But there was no reprieve.
Another barrage of arrows descended, each one bypassing my defenses like my armor was made of paper. I roared in frustration, unleashing a massive sphere of space magic to create a barrier between us.
It didn't matter.
The peacock's feathers sliced through the spatial shield like it was mist. The phoenix followed suit, descending like divine judgment with blazing fists. Every punch carried not just power, but precision honed through aeons.
I shifted again.
My daggers twisted and bent, transforming into replicas of the phoenix's gauntlets. I launched upward, meeting him blow for blow. Our fists collided mid-air, and the shockwaves rippled out—not just through the city—but through the planet itself.
And then…
The world beneath us imploded.