The Almighty Ring

“So you wish to die! Come one, come all! I will grant you your wishes!” Bison scoffed, still crossing his arms.

“Go!” T’syai roared enthusiastically, yet he remained unmoved.

“Go!” Rufus roared with might, yet he, too, remained stationary.

“Come now, instead of becoming the circus itself, perhaps you two clowns could stop jesting around?” Abel sneered when the two Valsalrian leaders remained rooted to the ground. That being said, Abel himself was also guilty of not attacking. However, he was wise enough not to do so. If he had pounced on Bison, he would have faced him alone and perished like common fodder.

T’syai clicked his tongue begrudgingly and exchanged looks with Rufus. No matter how cunning a schemer he was, he understood that without him actually fighting together with the other two, defeating Bison would be a pipe dream. No one wanted to be the first to fall but if this went on, Bison would remain victorious.

Rufus caught his look and nodded. When all three leaders finally agreed to attack together, they nodded at the same time and jumped on Bison.

“I’ve had my laugh, and if it is my time to die, I will be more than happy to drag you with me!” Bison laughed and started to fight furiously.

From the spectators’ viewpoint, Bison only resorted to assault, not defense. All of his moves were meant to kill as if he did not care to live after the fight. His objective was clear: to die fighting and drag along as many as he could. That was his current fighting style, and the other three leaders knew it. They could not be more careful. Whenever they tried to squeeze in an attack, they would always make sure that it was a safe maneuver to protect themselves from being caught in Bison’s offense. As such, they had only attacked once for every twenty attacks from Bison. Logically speaking, the three leaders would possess the absolute advantage if they thought to work together. Unfortunately, due to their cowardly nature, they were pushed further and further back.

Nonetheless, Bison’s advantageous stance existed only because of his current state. Once he grew tired and ran out of energy, the others would not need to stick to defense. When that happened, it would only be a matter of time before Bison fell dead. He would not even have the strength to “drag” someone with him to the grave.

“Fight. Fight with each other and die for all I care!” Kaa’lna bit down on her lips and snarled.

Even though Kaa’lna was infatuated with Jiang Fei’s charm, she was not deeply attached to him as Sarila was.

Caithians and Kuu’lgarthans were different not just in terms of inert strength but also in their mindset. Caithian females were reserved in nature and generally behaved like Chinese girls during their youth, although Jiang Fei had seen the comings and goings of more… sexually-open girls at the tender age of fifteen. Caithian females, once betrothed, would never change their partner even after their demise.

Kuu’lgarthans were the polar opposite where they tended to be more individualistic. They had high demands for their partner as well as themselves. Many Kuu’lgarthan females gave birth to many offspring from multiple partners. It was common on Kuu’lgarth’s streets. So, while Kaa’lna was infatuated with Jiang Fei for a moment, given time, she could simply forget about him and move on with another man.

Be that as it may, she had bonded with Jiang Fei for a bit. She felt a twitch of pain when Jiang Fei disappeared from the battlefield and was presumably killed. Since she had lost a powerful pillar of support, panic took over. When the four leaders got engaged in a civil war with each other, Kaa’lna could not help but smile proudly.

As the battle continued, the armies of the four great leaders started to display changes. The one with the greatest change of heart was Bison’s army. Deserters and defectors began to grow rampant.

Bison was not standing tall any longer. The light of halo above his head was metaphorically fading away. Realizing that, his soldiers were not about to stay in a collapsing brigade. If they chose not to defect now, they would be defeated once their leader fell.

In comparison to the invaders, Jiang Fei’s soldiers—the soldiers of the 13th Division to be precise—remained loyal to their leader. Instead of worrying about themselves, they remained calm and fueled as they were sustained by the notion of revenge. The “death” of their leader had impacted them deeply. Those who remained had already mentally prepared themselves to die fighting their enemies. Therefore, with that notion in mind, the soldiers burned passionately with the fire of vengeance. The Valsalrian army was known for its heartless soldiers, but even so, they were still living beings, capable of experiencing emotions. No matter how cold they were, they could not forget how Jiang Fei, their leader, had treated them fairly.

As the battle waged on between Bison and the three leaders, the contrast between the winner and loser could be seen. Bison had been fighting with everything he had, not holding anything back, hence, he was practically running on fumes. Two hours into fighting, Bison was panting for breath. The surging energy that swirled around him was no more.

“Stop resisting. You are going to die. Might as well make it painless!” Rufus laughed as he spoke. Respect was no longer offered to his dying foe, and from where he stood, Bison was no longer a threat to him or anyone else.

“Painless? Thank you for being so kind! Don’t expect that sort of treatment from me!” Bison roared.

At that moment, his fading energy made a comeback, returning to him with a huge surge. Bison’s combat level rose through the roof, breaking past ten million.

“F*ck! How is he still standing?!” Abel flinched and groaned. As an Alderaanian, mind-controlling weaker life forms was his bread and butter. Just when he thought he could finally slip into the mind of the battered Bison, he was surprised with a sudden flow of power.

“Do not be fooled by his tricks. No matter how strong he is now, he will soon be powerless! Get together or we will die!” Rufus barked. The old veteran was a keen strategist, and he knew how to spot victory as well as defeat. At that point, the only way to get through the battle was to band together or give up entirely.

Just as Rufus finished his sentence, Bison came up to him with an explosive supersonic punch, landing it on his face. Once the strongest of the three enemies was sent flying, Bison selected the weakest of them all, grabbing Abel’s throat.

“The lucky one to die with me! Congratulations, Abel!” Bison laughed menacingly as he declared.

Being held by the throat and having his larynx squeezed, Abel could only focus solely on trying to breathe. Even with over 9,000,000 combat level, Abel was unable to overpower Bison’s brute strength. Physically, it was impossible because Abel was of regular human size while Bison was at least twice that.

Bison lifted Abel up with relative ease and held his neck with his right hand, wrapping both of Abel’s legs easily with his left hand.

“S-Save m-me!” Abel squeezed his voice through his throat and pleaded for help as he gazed helplessly at his two comrades. Lo and behold, the phrase “no honor amongst thieves” held strong. Both Rufus and T’syai turned away from the helpless Abel.

Bison was at his last breath right then, and even though he was exploding with strength, it was his last burst. T’syai and Rufus had no need to push themselves to kill Bison as it was only a matter of time before Bison himself would die. That being said, if they did, they could easily save Abel. Unfortunately, not a single leader viewed the other as a comrade, merely enemies during a parley.

Moreover, if Bison killed Abel, T’syai and Rufus would have one less person to share their loot! Both T’syai and Rufus could split Bison’s, Jiang Fei’s, and additionally, Abel’s fortune. How could they say no to an offer to have one less share?

“Forget it! You are all alike! Not a single one of you would shed blood for another! Fear not, Abel! You may be the first to die but I shall join you shortly!” Bison laughed.

The grip of his hands grew stronger by the second, and the fear reflected in his hollowed eyes grew more intense.

“Heh!” Bison smirked and exerted a little more force.

Blood, like rain, sprayed out from Abel’s severed body when Bison tore him slowly to inflict as much pain as possible.

Biki! Biki! Biki!

Bones from his spine to his limbs broke apart. His muscles tore from their sockets and ligaments before completely snapping off.

As his throat and larynx were completely held shut, Abel’s screams, albeit muffled, could be heard even from a mile away

“This is goodbye, traitor…” Bison said as he exerted the final twist.

Abel, the strongest fighter on his own respective planet, did not even manage to use his strongest ability. He was rendered useless from extreme laceration, blood loss, internal mutilation, and well, from being twisted apart like a common washcloth. He was still not dead, not yet anyway.

To finish him off completely, Bison spew white-blue flames, the hottest he could spew, and burned Abel’s remains. That way, Abel would die even if he sacrificed all of his power to regenerate.

Once his death was confirmed, Bison let out a long sigh. At the same time, the surging power around him died down. This time, permanently. His combat level dropped to only 5,000,000. At his current state, Bison was only another common soldier. He could stand out amongst others but never on the same level as the leaders of the settlements.

His fate was then sealed.