Corrupt Creations

Seth was already quite spent, after battling with more than twenty experts. He regained a bit of stamina and power, but it was clearly lacking in front of the powerful aura of a Mana Perception late-stage realm cultivator like Wu Shuhui. 

There were clear signs of exhaustion on him, but his battle intent had never wavered. He felt more than ready to fight Wu Shuhui now, even with his pitiful condition and completely drenched in blood. 

Wu Shuhui learnt the lesson this time, not letting his carelessness make him commit any more mistakes. He circulated his mana and used one of the martial skills the Wu Martial Kingdom was known to be proficient in. 

"Mana Metal Body!" 

His mana started to cover the surface of his body, making it really resilient. There was even a metal glint on his skin, that was now as tough as iron. This skill would fortify his defenses, without any decrease on his attack capabilities. Actually, it would even improve his power, making his punches weight some hundred tones. 

The impact of his attacks now, were enough to shatter a huge boulder to smithereens. The downside was that he would be spending a lot of mana to maintain that stance, but considering the state of his enemy, he could afford to stay like that for some time. 

Wu Shuhui cut the distance between them in half in a few seconds, ready to strike Seth. He was utilizing his best movement technique to approach his target, prepared to fight with everything he got. 

Seth felt like he would be in deep trouble if one of those punches were to hit him. Not letting his enemy get the advantage on this fight, he vanished again using his shadow steps, but this time he couldn't conceal his presence, only being able to display the speed of the technique. While avoiding Wu Shuhui attacks, he was observing the environment around. 

Seth noticed that there were some fire walls nearby and made minor changes on his position every time he evaded Wu Shuhui assaults., slowly bringing their battle toward there. 

A fist almost connected on Seth, but he was able to shift his body just in time. He didn't try to counterattack at this moment, unless he wanted to spend the little bit of Mana he still had. 

"Ha! All you know to do is to dodge. How do you plan to fight like that?" Wu Shuhui taunted him, trying to rile Seth up, but did not obtain a response from him. 

Wu Shuhui was already feeling that his mana was being drained pretty quickly and decided to go for a decisive blow. He couldn't understand how Seth still had energy to dodge his assaults time and time again. 

Seth was trying to spend the minimum amount of Mana possible, whenever he needed to use his shadow steps, while observing the changes that were happening on the are the fire walls were. He noticed that a calm fissure was starting to show some signs of activity. 

'It is time.' Seth eyes shone with resoluteness as he decided to put his plan into practice. 

"Haha, you're getting slower, I knew you didn't have any energy left." Wu Shuhui caught up to Seth and clawed towards his shoulders. He wasn't expecting that his attack would even hit, but he got amazed when his clawed fingers pierced Seth's shoulder, digging deep inside his muscles. 

Wu Shuhui's hand was drenched in blood and he had a victorious smile on his lips. He was finally able to obtain the upper hand of the fight. 

Seth endured the pain after having five finger size blood holes carved on his shoulder and back, as he used the energy he had left, to execute one last movement technique. He grabbed firmly on Wu Shuhui's forearm with both his hands, dragging him quickly towards the fissure. 

Wu Shuhui saw the environment rapidly accelerating as he was dragged along, since he was held by Seth. 

They appeared some thirty meters away right above a deep fissure. Seth only had the time to forcefully pull Wu Shuhui's hand away from him, worsening his condition, before using a second small Shadow Step to shift his position to some meters away. When he finally stepped on the floor, he directly knelt on a single knee and held his shoulder, trying to close the wounds. 

Wu Shuhui didn't expect that he would appear on the air, but before he could even think of doing anything, he felt as if a mighty red dragon had awakened right below him. The fire jet emerged from the fissure with rage and displeasure, since it felt like it has been ages that it was sleeping down there. 

The huge fifty meters tall fire wall, cooked Wu Shuhui that was standing on its way. He wasn't expecting an outcome like this at all, so he had not prepared a measure for such situation. 

The flames were way hotter than any other fire he felt during his entire life, burning his hair instantly. For his misfortune, he was protected by his mana, that gave him a really though exterior, however, the insides of his body were unprotected. 

The temperature rose so fast that he was literally cooked. His body was propelled by the force of the flame, being launched more than a hundred meters in the air. When he fell down, his state was horrible. 

Thud! 

Seth had used his protective energy earlier, when he just entered the labyrinth, and it was only able to last for five seconds on a fire wall that was at least ten times weaker than this one. 

Wu Shuhui would never expect to fall on trap like this, losing his life in a single moment. He thought that he had the control over the situation, but in truth he was led to a trap. 

"Haaah. It was tiresome." Seth observed the charred body in front of him, and remembered the despicable methods that man employed to deal with him. The man has gone as far as sacrificing the lives of three elders just to injure him. The Wu Martial Kingdom treated the lives of their people as they were nothing. 

"Thank god, that Caizhi was able to escape from that vile environment." Seth didn't have a single bit of pity towards these kinds of people. 

He mustered all the strength he could to stand up and looked at himself, he was riddled with bruised and had no more Mana left. 

"Watch out! Seth!" 

Seth heard Lilian's anxious voice from behind and when he turned to look what was happening, with his condition, he wasn't even able to notice her presence until she screamed for him. He saw the prince from the Wu Martial Kingdom, with a really frenzied countenance charging madly at him. There were some air distortions around his body, signaling that he spent a huge quantity of mana to deal this fatal blow. There was no chance for Seth to avoid the incoming attack. 

Lilian held the hairpin inside his hands while exerting everything she could to reach him faster. The situation happened so quickly that none of them could even process what clearly happened in the end. 

Lilian Jumped in front of Seth while holding her protective treasure. The hairpin glowed brightly, erecting a powerful barrier around them. 

The prince had consumed the forbidden pill his teacher had given him, after witnessing his end. He madly rushed towards Seth like a vengeful spirit, blind by hatred. The injuries on his legs seemed to not even bother him after having taken that forbidden pill. 

His body collided with the newly erected shield, and the forces between them started to nullify each other. But in the end, the power behind the prince attack, was a bit stronger than the sacred treasure Lilian brought forwards to protect them. 

Since she was in front of Seth, she received the weakened blow from the prince. The entire scenario happened in less than ten seconds, there wasn't time for them to change it at all. 

Lilian's back hit Seth that was behind her as they fell some meters away. He made sure to protect her body from the impact, but he could do nothing about the attack she suffered. 

The first thing he did, was trying to send his mana inside her body, to check on her condition, but he felt that there was no mana on his reserve at all. Seth turned her body and saw that Lilian was unconscious and there was blood coming out of her lips. 

His heart started to ache for some reason. He concentrated really hard until blood started to leak from his nose and he was finally able to produce a bit of energy. He sent it inside her body and his mind stilled. 

Her energy veins were shattered and there were many internal injuries. Some of her organs were damaged and weren't able to recover on their own anymore. If she was left here like this, she would be dead in an hour. 

"You... Why did you..." Seth couldn't understand why would she do something like this for a person like him. Only a moth has passed since they met each other and she didn't even know who he really was.