Marcus's heart felt as if it was being gripped by a cold, giant hand, the shadow of death had never loomed so clearly over him.

The power he painstakingly built vanished in an instant, his carefully nurtured subordinates became cold corpses in the valley within the blink of an eye, the colossal blow nearly suffocating him.

However, the instinct to survive and deep-seated hatred quickly overwhelmed fear, igniting his final madness.

Marcus erupted with a beast-like roar, a voice full of desperate rage and endless viciousness.

He no longer held anything back, pouring out all of the Awakened Energy from within.

Centered on Marcus, an overwhelming, terrifying cold burst forth, as though it came from the polar abyss.

This cold appeared almost corporeal, deep blue like a rushing icy river, instantly engulfing the area where Duke stood.

The yellow sand under Duke's feet, originally flowing gently, froze at a speed visible to the naked eye under this extreme cold flow.

A thick layer of ice crystal, hard as iron, spread rapidly, attempting to freeze Duke along with the yellow sand he controlled in place.

The cold even tried climbing along the protective yellow sand around Duke, coating the surface of the flowing sand shield with frost and emitting soft cracking sounds.

Duke was somewhat surprised, not expecting Marcus to erupt with such strong energy, momentarily freezing his sand.

However, the freezing only stayed on the surface; these frost-energy attributes couldn't penetrate the sand in the slightest, essentially only freezing the moisture in the air surrounding the sand, making the surface appear as though the sand was frozen.

Meanwhile, the massive Warhammer in Marcus's hand exploded with a blinding ice-blue glow.

He no longer attempted to defend but poured all his power into this desperate blow.

Marcus leapt high, muscles bulging, with a resolute look of mutual destruction, swung the Warhammer roundly to smash down hard at Duke, who seemed momentarily slowed by the cold.

The Warhammer, carrying enough physical force to shatter massive rocks and freeze all with its extreme cold energy, tore through the air with a sharp whistle, aiming directly at Duke's head.

The air in front of the hammerhead was compressed and frozen, forming a visible ice crystal shockwave.

The members of the caravan watched with shattered nerves, Bal and Finn couldn't help but sweat for Duke.

As Apprentice Awakened, they could more clearly feel the enormous energy carried by that chill, and the hammer itself wielding massive power.

Such a hammer, the two of them absolutely couldn't handle; even Bal, who was most skilled at defense, would be pulverized into meat paste.

Duke looked at the hammer carrying immense energy, his gaze remained as calm as ancient well water, his expression showed no trace of tension.

Just as the Warhammer enveloped in destructive power was about to strike Duke's head, the sand seemingly frozen beside Duke suddenly moved.

The sand abruptly coagulated upwards, in the blink of an eye morphing into an enormous and ferocious claw made purely of sand.

This sand claw spread its five fingers open, its textures clear, carrying a rock-like heavy texture, yet also flowed with the agility of sand particles.

The speed of the claw's appearance was faster than Marcus's downward strike, when the Warhammer collided with the claw, a dull, tooth-grinding loud sound echoed throughout the valley.

The seemingly indestructible ice-blue energy and physical impact, upon contact with the palm of the claw, vanished like mud into the sea.

The raging ice energy was absorbed entirely by the sand claw, further enhancing its strength.

And the terrifying kinetic energy carried by the Warhammer was completely undone, dispersed, and directed into the earth by the flowing and yet unyieldingly tough palm, all the power dissipated without a trace.

The Warhammer seemed to have plunged into a bottomless flowing sand abyss, failed to stir even a ripple, firmly gripped by the sand claw.

The ice-blue glow bursting from the hammerhead dimmed and extinguished swiftly like a candle in the wind.

"What?!"

The madness and viciousness on Marcus's face froze instantly, becoming an expression of incredulous horror.

He felt like he wasn't striking sand, but a living mountain devouring all energy.

He sensed that the giant claw constructed of sand continuously absorbed the energy from the Warhammer, the energy he poured into the hammer was being ceaselessly absorbed.

At this moment, Marcus realized that the sand could absorb energy, he exhausted all efforts trying to pull back the Warhammer.

But the five fingers of the claw, akin to five mountains, remained immobile.

Marcus couldn't imagine that a move he poured his all into had no effect.

Initially, he thought the momentary energy burst temporarily froze the sand, buying him a fleeting chance.

Yet he never expected the sand was only apparently frozen; in reality, it was wholly unaffected.

Duke's gaze penetrated calmly through the gaps of the claw, landing on Marcus's face distorted with despair.

"Is there more?"

He didn't hurry to kill Marcus, fully intending to observe this Plane's level one Awakened's combat methods for a while longer.

However, it seems the techniques of these Awakened are less varied currently, comparatively single.

Nonetheless, a conclusion can't be drawn as individual differences are surely vast; it also depends on the extent each Awakened develops their abilities.

Duke also discovered the Warhammer in Marcus's hand was quite peculiar; it wasn't made of any metal, but an energy form.

Meaning this Warhammer wasn't forged in the traditional sense but conjured by Marcus using energy from his body.

The giant sand claw holding the Warhammer squeezed inwardly, encapsulating both the Warhammer and Marcus entirely within.

The immense force pressed Marcus's body, emitting the sounds of bones cracking; he struggled desperately, attempting to break the constraint by releasing energy from within.

However, the released energy was all absorbed by the claw, causing the claw's restraining power to grow stronger.

A moment later, the claw exerted force; and Marcus fell silent, a swirl of dark energy floated out from the claw, entering Duke's body.

This scene was witnessed by everyone, the caravan members didn't find it strange.

In fact, Duke didn't possess devouring abilities, but manipulated surrounding Dark Attribute Energy Particles to form a mass of energy, appearing similar from afar to the energies Finn absorbed.

Feigning absorption of Marcus's internal energy, Duke directly placed Marcus's corpse within the Light God Court.

Essentially, he hadn't truly absorbed Marcus's energy, if he didn't dispose of the body in time, once Finn and Bal discovered Marcus's corpse still contained large amounts of absorbable energy, they would surely find it odd.

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