"You shouldn't have survived that," he said coldly.

Klaus twirled his axe and smirked. "You'll have to shoot harder than that."

"Just who are you?" the archer asked, his expression curious.

Klaus smiled and slammed the axe to the ground. He stepped on it and then rested his right arm on his knee.

"What can I say? I am someone who can't be killed easily." Klaus looked around and saw some of them getting ready. Some were secretly casting spells.

"I really pity you people. You could have had the chance to surrender; however, you chose to become puppets controlled by the heavens.

Now, I have no choice but to kill you all... such a pity."

"What makes you think we can't kill you?" the archer asked again.

Klaus laughed. "First of all, I have already devised ten ways to kill you alone... how much did you come up with to kill me?"

Without warning, two Death Stage warriors charged from both sides, their blades coated in crimson qi. Klaus immediately knew they were Aether users, making them very dangerous.

He pivoted, deflecting the first strike with his bare hands while kicking the handle of his axe, slamming it into the second. The clang echoed like thunder. Sparks flew, and the ground beneath them shattered from the collision.

But then, just when Klaus was aiming to retaliate, he saw a flash of light.

A mage among the attackers raised both hands, chanting a spell that summoned a glowing sigil beneath Klaus's feet.

"Spatial Lock!"

The ground pulsed with light, binding his movements.

Klaus immediately felt his body had been seized by an invisible force. He glanced down, his eyes gleaming.

"You think this will hold me?"

His axe pulsed with lightning; however, within that lightning, a trace of Space Law lingered.

He slammed it downward. The force shattered the sigil, ripples of lightning tearing through the formation and knocking the mage back several meters.

"Rule number three," Klaus said as he leapt forward, "Never give your opponent time to cast their spells."

He used Void Step to close in on the mage, who he knew was disoriented from the soul attack contained inside the lightning.

The axe transformed again into a longsword just as Klaus jumped high into the air and raised it.

His sword cut through the mage's barrier like paper, cleaving him in half before the rest could react.

Blood splattered across the broken earth, and Klaus spun, blocking another incoming strike from the archer's arrow, this time infused with killing intent.

But the attack wasn't meant to kill him—it was a distraction.

From above, a Death Stage warrior descended, cloaked in flames. His entire body was covered in molten armor, and in his hands, he carried a greatsword burning like the heart of a volcano.

"A Flame Lord."

Klaus narrowed his gaze, a memory filling his mind. It was a memory of how he met Daniel, one of the greatest Flame Lords to have ever lived.

Everyone moved back for Klaus and the new arrival to have a brawl. The four masked figures created this match-up.

Klaus turned his sword into a hammer and pointed it at the Flame Lord.

"You recognized me, huh?" the Flame Lord asked, and Klaus nodded.

"Such a pity then. It is not always that people recognize a Flame Lord when they see one." The Flame Lord, whose real name is Tahl, a Stone Flame Demon, pointed his greatsword at Klaus, too.

"I wouldn't give myself too much credit if I were you," Klaus grinned. "After all, a true Flame Lord is no lackey of anybody, especially not to the heavens."

"Domain Shatter." Klaus slammed his hammer into the ground, shattering it completely. This attack shook the entire dome and spread out, causing many to turn and look toward it.

However, the next attack came right after the first.

"Domain of Lava!"

From the shattered ground, lava pools exploded out. "You are no Flame Lord demon. I met a Flame Lord before, and today, before I send you to the afterlife, I will show you how a true Flame Lord fights."

"Devastation Flame Art!" The hammer in Klaus's hand was engulfed in flames as he charged at Tahl. He struck hard, and Tahl blocked with his greatsword.

A powerful flaming shockwave erupted when the weapons met.

"His name was Lukan, a barbarian warlord." Klaus attacked again, the flame around his axe only increasing. Tahl blocked, but he was pushed back.

"I met him on a battlefield, within thousands of fallen warriors of his kind—armor battered, body bruised and cut, strength completely drained..." He stomped on the ground, and lava burst forth, forming into a hammer.

"However, he stood straight, his hammer resting on his shoulder, flames of war burning as he gazed at his opponents, who numbered in the thousands."

Tahl took a wide swing, sending a blazing arc at Klaus. However, Klaus jumped high into the air and slammed his hammer on the ground, causing the lava to form into a wall.

The arc slammed into it and dissipated.

"He was supposed to surrender, let his enemies kill him, or worse, take his own life. However, he stood tall, his expression focused, and even the enemy, who numbered many times over, were afraid to approach."

"They were too intimidated by the aura around him. His aura was deserving of a Flame Lord, someone who refuses to bow even in the face of death..."

Tahl roared and swung his greatsword in a blazing arc, molten flames trailing behind every strike.

Each blow crashed like a volcanic eruption, sending waves of heat that melted the nearby ground. Klaus parried, sparks flying with every collision.

"You speak of this Lukan as if he were a god," Tahl spat, pushing forward with another strike that sent a wave of molten rock toward Klaus.

Klaus sidestepped, hammer spinning in his grasp. "Not a god," he replied, his tone calm amid the chaos. "Just a man who refused to bow."

He slammed his hammer onto the lava wall, shattering it into dozens of molten shards that hovered in the air before shooting toward Tahl like fiery bullets.

He raised his arm to form a flaming barrier, but the impact forced him back a few steps, heat rippling from his body.

"I still remember the way he fought," Klaus continued, charging through the haze. "Every swing of his hammer carried purpose. Every flame he conjured burned with pride."

Their weapons met again with a deafening crash.

The air quaked.

Lava splashed around them like rain.

Klaus pushed forward, his fierceness only rising.

Tahl snarled and unleashed his domain again. "Then join your warlord in death," he shouted, slamming his sword into the ground.

Rivers of lava burst outward, forming massive serpents that slithered and lunged at Klaus.

Klaus looked up at the molten beasts and smirked. "Oh, he is not dead," the smirk on his face widened, "He is fighting in that direction."

As if he had timed it, just when he pointed toward the direction Daniel was fighting, a colossal hammer bathed in flames rose into the air and came crashing with so much force.

Klaus also raised his hammer high, and flames of a different hue ignited—brighter, deeper, and far more powerful.

"Flame of the Eternal Forge," he roared. The aura that followed wasn't just heat; it was a belief, so deep and rooted that when his hammer met the serpent, Tahl was sent flying back.

"Now Die...Punk"

Klaus jumped forward, his hammer raised; however, at the very moment he was about to attack, three deadly arrows arrived before him.

"Lava Spear"

Klaus exploded the axe, which formed into a lava shield. Meanwhile, on the ground, metallic spears made of the fire element stab through Tahl's head...

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