The fighters in the arena stared blankly at Polyphos. Their faces cycled through hues of green and ashen.

Polyphos coldly sneered, elegantly drawing a cross on his chest with fingers sticky with some unknown viscous substance. “Walk out of your battleship and kneel before the ancient castle gate, or I kill your mother right now?”

In less than ten seconds, the hatch of the second-tier battleship hissed open. Siren and Aredia jumped out, striding to the front of the ancient castle.

Ganjing and Maru excitedly rubbed their palms together, laughing wildly as they watched Siren and Aredia emerge. “Hahahaha! Look! Our little darlings are here!”

Louise leaned out from atop the castle wall, swaying her hips vigorously as she bellowed with laughter. “Oh, my little brother Siren, I crave your essence! Do you still possess vigor? Hee hee, I’m going to slowly drain every bit of your strength! I’ll squeeze you until you bleed!”

Siren’s expression darkened. He glared fiercely at Louise.

Ganjing hefted the shotgun, a look of crude lust on his face, and ambled up to Aredia. He reached out to touch her cheek, saying lightly, “Oh, pretty little thing…”

A scream erupted. Ganjing’s right hand suddenly burst into roaring flames, accompanied by a sharp crackling sound. In a mere three to five seconds, the flesh of Ganjing’s right hand was burned clean away. White, clean bone was exposed, yet it remained coated in a viscous, crimson flame, like melting glass. After a few sharp pops, Ganjing’s finger bones exploded, spilling out reddish-white marrow.

Amidst shrill screams, Ganjing violently jammed his horribly burned hand—no longer resembling a human appendage—into the ground. After a long moment, Ganjing gasped as he pulled it out. His right palm was charred down to a few dry, skeletal stubs, still emitting wisps of black smoke. Ganjing stared dumbly at his crippled hand, then suddenly shrieked, “Bitch! I’m going to have you! Bitch!”

With a swift flick of his left hand, Ganjing lifted the shotgun and aimed it directly at Aredia’s face. He roared, “Kneel down and take my treasure, or I’ll blow your head off!”

A flash of clear light. Ganjing’s left hand suddenly felt light. Siren had moved with speed invisible to the naked eye, swinging his blade nearly a hundred times. The long double-barreled shotgun was sliced into more than a hundred thin slivers of iron. The tip of the sword deftly grazed Ganjing’s body. Countless scraps of cloth slid off Ganjing onto the ground. The naked Ganjing shrieked and stumbled backward repeatedly.

“Hey!” Maru pulled out a pair of alloy nunchaku from God knows where and began whirling them rapidly. Explosive whooshes sounded from his hands, and gradually, a black vortex began to coalesce, flashes of nunchaku shadows flickering within the wind shear.

“Maru!” Polyphos shouted sharply. Maru twitched his wrist, and the vortex instantly dissipated. Polyphos sneered and pointed at Siren. “Kneel, or your mother dies immediately! Kneel!”

Siren and Aredia exchanged a look. They strode to the ancient castle gate and knelt on the ground without a word.

“Ha!” Maru charged forward, nearly beside himself with excitement, bringing the nunchaku down hard on Siren’s left cheek. With a snap, Siren’s head violently whipped sideways, spraying a large amount of blood mixed with several large teeth. Maru moved behind Siren, hooking the iron chain of his nunchaku around Siren’s neck. He yanked both hands up forcefully. Siren grunted, clawing desperately at the chain around his throat, struggling violently.

“No, no, no,” Polyphos laughed heartily. “Don’t resist! Don’t resist, or your family is finished!”

Hopping off the wall, Polyphos charged toward Siren and delivered a brutal kick to his lower abdomen.

Siren suddenly opened his mouth and vomited forcefully.

Polyphos delivered kick after kick to Siren’s stomach. Siren vomited large amounts, finally spewing greenish-yellow bile from his nostrils.

Aredia pressed her hands tightly to the ground, forcing her violent internal fire inward without releasing it. Steam began to rise from the ground in a hundred-meter radius, turning the green lawn instantly scorched and yellowed.

Polyphos grinned maliciously and landed a savage kick to Aredia’s chest, sending her flying back over ten meters. He roared madly, “Ha! Louise, look! I’m kicking two Boundary Masters! I’m beating two Boundary Masters! And later, I’m going to enjoy the bodies of two Boundary Masters! Hahahaha! Handsome and gentle Siren, beautiful and cold Aredia! Today is my lucky day!”

He glanced coldly at the battleship hovering overhead and sneered, “What? You brought so many battleships? It’s strange. Why did you bring so many? Don’t you have another plan? Logically, since you brought this many ships, you should have secretly arranged an elite squad of fighters to sneak into the castle and rescue the hostages! Why didn’t you save them?”

Delivering a sharp slap to Siren’s face, Polyphos grinned cruelly, “Let me tell you, all my brothers have signal generators exactly like the one on my body. The moment any brother’s pulse stops, all the bombs detonate! No matter how many people you send to rescue your family, it’s useless!” With a surge of will, Siren tore the chain Maru had clamped around his neck free. He spat forcefully, the saliva landing directly on Polyphos’s face, and roared, “Polyphos, how exactly did I offend you?”

Polyphos shrieked hoarsely, “How did you offend me? Damn it, it was you hiding the ‘Heavenly Star’ plan from me! It was you chasing after that bastard Gu Chen without telling me, and when your scheme failed, I and all the brothers of the Sacred Unicorn became federal fugitives! Damn it, all the brothers left on Earth were sent to the Exile Star, and only I managed to escape the federal pursuit with a small group! But my goddamn bank accounts were frozen!”

Kicking Siren hard in the gut, Polyphos snarled, “Our bank accounts frozen, we barely survived by resorting to robbery! Do you know? I, who was worth billions, had to learn to be a common thug robbing people on the streets! Damn it, otherwise I would have starved! This is all your…”

After a few gasps, Polyphos kicked Siren to the ground, stomping on his body with all his might, roaring, “But you and Aredia, you two bastards, you have legal immunity! You two suddenly became subordinates of Big Beard and started working for the very person you used to hunt down! You bastard, do you think I shouldn’t kill you?”

Siren raised his head, staring fixedly at Polyphos, and sneered coolly, “I’ll give you an option.”

“Give me an option?” Polyphos roared.

“Three thousand cubic meters of Zakkra crystal. A brand new federal identity, letting you start a completely new life! We’ll drop today’s business!” Siren rapidly listed a string of conditions.

Aredia, who had been kicked flying earlier, painfully scrambled up from the ground, a trace of blood on the corner of her mouth. Polyphos abruptly turned back, pointing a finger at her and shouting, “Don’t you get up! Ganjing, beat this bitch! Don’t hit her face—I want to look at her face when I have her!”

The naked Ganjing rushed toward Aredia, hurling curses loudly. He unleashed a sudden storm of punches and kicks, sending Aredia flying nearly a hundred meters. Aredia’s body was frail; after the brutal beating, she immediately began spitting blood. Flames burned in her eyes, but she dared not strike Ganjing again.

Boreas and Mohe jumped down from the second-tier battleship. The two brothers roared and lunged at Ganjing.

While still far from Ganjing, Vajra and Mingwang statues erupted from behind Boreas and Mohe, respectively. The externalized True Qi shook the surrounding ground, sending dirt flying. The two men charged Ganjing like twin tornadoes. Boreas shouted fiercely, “Ganjing, what kind of skill is hitting women? Want to play with me?” Boreas’s ten fingers trembled like blooming lotus flowers, sending waves of soft Qi toward Ganjing’s critical pressure points. He reached for Ganjing’s throat with one hand and his lower abdomen with the other, adopting a stance for capture.

Mohe kicked Ganjing, forcing him to stumble back several steps, then suddenly spun and sprang like a mad tiger toward Polyphos.

Boreas, whose fingers were about to touch Ganjing, spun and twisted, slamming both hands down onto the sole of Mohe’s foot. Zen energy surged wildly, causing a circle of white energy waves to explode around Mohe’s body. Amidst dense sonic booms, Mohe’s body broke the sound barrier, shooting straight toward Polyphos, his hands reaching for Polyphos’s throat with ear-piercing air-breaking sounds. Siren’s eyes widened, and his hands wrapped around Polyphos’s legs like pythons. Several silver lights emerged from Siren’s vicinity, and a few Silver Wing Angels burst forth from the gleam, also grabbing for Polyphos’s body.

But all counterattacks suddenly halted because Polyphos now held a remote control in his hand. His finger was already pressing down on one of the buttons flashing red light, and he was pushing hard toward the activator. Siren screamed, “No! I completely surrender!”

The Silver Wing Angels who had already seized Polyphos’s body simultaneously delivered heavy punches, sending the just-approaching Mohe flying back a long distance with one blow.

Siren raised both hands and called out loudly, “Don’t be rash, Polyphos, don’t be rash! Think carefully about the terms I just offered! How about it? Three thousand cubic meters of Zakkra crystal. Valued at 300 billion, enough for you to live in luxury for a lifetime!”

Polyphos’s finger remained tightly pressed on the remote’s button. He grinned cruelly, “You think you can threaten me with my life? Heh heh, Siren, you’ve got the wrong idea! Do you think I’m some defenseless lamb?” Polyphos viciously kicked Siren in the abdomen, sending him flying over twenty meters.

Siren let out a gasp and spat blood. He struggled painfully to rise, offering a helpless, apologetic smile toward the bruised and swollen Mohe.

Mohe, whose teeth had been loosened by the Silver Wing Angels’ blows, cursed under his breath a few times. He glared angrily at Polyphos, stomping his foot heavily, shaking the nearby ground so intensely that countless fissures appeared.