"Get ready to pay!"
The words left Damien's lips, laced with the absolute authority of the [Greedy King's Intent].
But words did not kill Demigods.
The clash between Damien's [True Severance] and the Rotting King's execution strike had sliced the 9th-Order decay perfectly in half, but the sheer kinetic recoil of opposing a Law of the World did not simply vanish.
BOOM!
A shockwave of violently displaced air and mana slammed into Damien's chest. Even with his 8th-Order Eclipse Core burning at maximum output and his [King's Mantle] flared, the physical blow was devastating.
Damien was launched backward like a cannonball. His boots carved twin, smoking trenches through the black ice of Layer 9, screeching for fifty meters before he finally managed to dig his heels in and grind to a halt.
He didn't fall, but his chest heaved, and a thin line of black blood trickled from beneath his mask.
Damien looked up, his twilight-purple eyes narrowing.
