The pain Bai Zemin felt in his chest was one of the strongest pains he had ever felt in his life. The pain had reached a level that perhaps only his battle to the death against the First Order Blazing Beetle back then while he was still on the university campus could match as he felt his legs burn under the power of the beast's flames.

The spear Glineira was using was not remotely close to a normal spear; it was a spear made of mana and was probably some sort of strange skill of hers. Bai Zemin had no idea how high the attack power of this spear was but it definitely couldn't be higher than the attack power of his current greatsword.

Then why the hell does it hurt so much?! Bai Zemin's face was drenched in sweat.

To make matters worse, the flames burning on the spear were still present! He could feel that for every split second, his flesh and nerves were being turned to ashes; if this continued in the same manner, it wouldn't be long before his body would turn into a pile of mortal remains!

Regardless of how powerful Bai Zemin's physical defense might be, the inside of his body was still extremely weak!

However, despite the terrifying pain that threatened to drive him to the brink of insanity, he smiled.

That's right, he smiled. Blood slid silently from the corner of his mouth and his midnight-black eyes looked at the woman that stood close at his reach as if victory were finally in his hands despite the clearly miserable and disadvantageous condition he was currently in.

"Mm?" Glineria frowned and suddenly had a bad feeling about this so she decided to put a stop to it.

However, when Glineira tried to shake her spear to destroy Bai Zemin's internal organs, she was surprised when she discovered that far from being able to shake the spear; she couldn't even pull it out!

The bad feeling in Glineira's heart exploded and soared into the clouds in an instant, then, trusting her instinct she quickly un-spelled her spear and hastily stepped back to make some distance..... Or so she tried.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Lightning still crackled around Bai Zemin and with lightning speed he extended his arms forward. 

His limbs passed beyond Glineira's body and with a swift movement he locked his arms behind her back. Bai Zemin used both hands to cling to the opposite elbows of each of his arms and the body of the beautiful asura woman was forced to cling to his tightly, only separated by the two leather armors they both wore; armors which were not in good condition after such a fierce battle as the one they had just experienced.

"Bastard!" Glineira bellowed.

But this was not a very wise decision on her part, and she soon noticed her mistake. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Bai Zemin flexed both arms tightly and using his hands clutching opposite elbows as leverage, he began to close the space Glineira's body had to occupy in his embrace.

The bones in Glineira's body began to rattle weakly, but they were still far from breaking; Bai Zemin's Strength stat had not yet reached the level of being able to casually break the bones of a Third Order existence at Glineira's level; at least not without going into Blood Berserker's Wrath mode at a level similar to his battle against Jennan.

But Bai Zemin was also not aiming to break his enemy's bones at all. In fact, the fact that Glineira lost the air in her lungs and began to have difficulty to breathe was nothing more than an unexpected benefit.

His real goal was a different one.

"Now I finally have you... And I won't let you escape even if you beg!" Bai Zemin barked before ordering loudly, "Little Fire, burn with all your might!"

Bang!

Bai Zemin's voice had barely fallen when from the ground a torrent of deep blue fire rose hundreds of meters into the sky in an instant before slowly receding into a two-meter flame that burned fiercely as it engulfed the two people who seemed to be embracing each other in the middle of the destroyed city.

The temperature rose so fast that it seemed as if several volcanoes had erupted at exactly the same time and in exactly the same place. The air coagulated to such an extent that heat particles became visible to the naked eye from a distance. The ground turned into lava but even the lava could do nothing against the blue flames as in an instant they evaporated, which gave space for more rocky soil to appear which eventually led to the above process repeating itself constantly and causing the ground to slowly begin to disappear as if an invisible beast had been devouring it.

In the midst of the disaster that the Endless Blue Lotus Flame was causing just by making an appearance in its full splendor, the shocked cries of a woman could be heard from the distance.

"Third Order Flame! How can you have this kind of flame! Impossible!" Glineira howled towards the heavens as she quickly used her mana to create an invisible defensive cloak around herself; this was an ability that normally only Third Order existences could use.

The reason behind Glineira's disbelief and shock stemmed from the fact that Bai Zemin might not know, but she knew very well; what a Third Order Flame represented! But the main problem here and what she could not understand was how could it be possible that a flame of such magnitude, a flame that had generally already awakened some sensitivity, would submit to a First Order existence!

Glineira had fought for over two whole hours against Bai Zemin and while she admitted that he was by far the most frighteningly high talent she had ever seen in her 2000+ years of life, natural treasures like a Third Order Flame would never choose a First Order existence as a partner no matter how talented they might be! This was because the power of a Third Order Flame was not something a First Order existence could control and just by entering the body of one would turn it into ashes in a matter of minutes!

"Why are you so surprised? Are you still treating me the same way you treated your other opponents in the past? That hurts my heart, you know?" Bai Zemin chuckled and winked at the woman in his grip, who was trying her best to free herself but with the addition of the Endless Lotus Blue Flame acting as a swamp she only had more difficulties.

The change in his personality in terms of confidence and pride was noticeable even when talking to women. Even when the skill Stone Heart helped to keep his mind calmer than normal and the title Brilliant Mind weakened the effects it considered negative for him, the power of the second activation 'God of War's Possession' was really powerful.

Glineira felt that she could no longer continue to stay here and that the best thing to do was to inform the emperor about this.

First, this young man was only 20 years old but he had already entered the First Order and was clearly at the pinnacle. Second, his overall power was simply insane and nonsensical. Third, he even had a Third Order Flame and a powerfull weapon!

Therefore, Glineira made use of her experience and flexibility to beat Bai Zemin with her knees. She even managed to somehow kick him several times in the back despite her position.

Bai Zemin's face contorted in pain and the wound on his chest that was barely being contained by his skill Blood Manipulation burst into bloodstream again. 

"A bitch who doesn't know what's good for her!" he bellowed through gritted teeth and with a viscious flash in his eyes he tilted his head back before swinging it fiercely forward.

Bang!

Glineira felt as if the world around her were spinning as her nose was mercilessly smashed by the forehead of her adversary. Her eyes rolled momentarily and as the blood slid uncontrollably down her beautiful face she almost fainted; after all, the current Glineira was not the same Glineira who was in top condition two hours ago.

"Because your Agility surpasses mine by a bit and my weapon holds my steps slightly due to its weight, I had no choice but to come up with a plan to deal with you." Bai Zemin began to mutter under his breath as he watched the mana barrier protecting Glineira finally shatter into pieces.

The flames of the Endless Lotus Blue Flame finally began to burn freely through the beautiful lady's body and the pain woke Glineira from her dizzy state. She began to scream in pain as she felt not only her skin burn rapidly but also her eyes burst into a bloody mess.

Bai Zemin ignored Glineira's wounded beast-like howls and continued to look at her indifferently as he slowly said, "At first, I thought that the combination of Invisibility plus Cloning of my Lightning Movement skill, and finally my Shadow Blink, would be enough.... But after the first hour I realized that it was impossible for someone like you not to have her own ace in the hole. So, I scrambled my head thinking of another plan... Unfortunately, except for launching my most powerful attack and taking everything to the ground I couldn't find a safe way to deal with an existence like you."

Glineira was a Third Order existence that was even more powerful than Jennan and Bai Zemin no longer had the practically godlike effects that the skill Blood Berserker's Wrath could provide. Although Bai Zemin did not know Glineira's age, Lilith had told him that usually a normal talent among talents would take at least a thousand years to reach the Third Order; so, based on this fact he concluded that a cunning old woman as Glineira would definitely not show everything unless it became completely necessary.

Glineira's shrieks slowly turned from high-pitched to hoarse as her vocal cords began to tear. But Bai Zemin seemed oblivious to all this and continued:

"In the end, I found only one way to deal with you safely; let me hurt by you and force you close enough to be within range of my hands. For this to work I had to show weakness and difficulty in thinking things through plus assure you that I could no longer wield my weapon or else you would continue to evade my attacks as usual.... Not to my surprise, even the union of three of my most powerful skills was not enough to kill you. Finally, I was forced to use another of my trump cards on you."

Soon, the cries stopped and the feeling that he was embracing something disappeared completely. At the same time, the blue flame that burned fiercely but could not hurt him thanks to the Soul Contract they shared with each other happily returned to his body after Bai Zemin gave it some First Order Soul Stones as a reward.

Bai Zemin watched as countless black ashes similar to broken leaves rose into the sky in a howling swirl and finished:

"You should feel proud, woman. You forced me to use one of the cards I had in store to give my final farewell gift to the ruler of this shitty race of yours."

[You have absorbed the Soul Power of Third Order Glineira level 181....]

Bai Zemin sighed and once it all ended he felt as if all the pain he had been holding until now suddenly assaulted him at the same time. A wince of pain showed on his face and a small grunt slipped from his lips, without caring at all about his image, he allowed himself to fall down onto his back.

His chest rose and fell erratically as his exhausted gaze looked up at the brightest object in the sky.

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