Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 264 - A Win, But Not the Whole Package

In the end, Joker couldn't help himself. He went straight for Fang Xiu, even though a part of him knew he was probably stepping right into Fang Xiu's trap. But standing around and doing nothing didn’t sit well with him either.

The Thunder Sword in his grip suddenly ignited, bursting with a blinding light. Its blade became engulfed in a sinister blood-red glow, thanks to the power of Mindflare. He aimed it squarely at Fang Xiu.

BOOM!

What happened next was downright bizarre. The Thunder Sword, originally just over a meter long, stretched out like something out of a nightmare, expanding to over forty meters in an instant. It lunged forward like a spear aimed straight at Fang Xiu, intending to skewer him.

Fang Xiu, however, was prepared. He had seen this coming from a mile away. The second Joker made his move, Fang Xiu slammed his hands together with force, and a tidal wave of pitch-black Spiritual Energy exploded from him, like a volcano erupting in the middle of the battlefield.

Suddenly, an eerie, otherworldly chant filled the air.

For a brief moment, it was like the world hit the pause button. Silence hung heavy over the battlefield, save for the haunting chant that echoed in the distance.

Then Joker saw something he knew he'd never forget. Even though he’d faced it countless times across different timelines, it still hit him like a ton of bricks.

Descending from above, like a permanent eclipse, the Angel made his appearance. his massive, shadowy silhouette blocked out the sky, radiating an overwhelming energy that smothered the entire area.

This time, Joker didn’t crumble like before. He realized this wasn’t the Angel’s true form, just a projection—similar to that Taotie image he'd dealt with earlier.

Still, it shook him to his core.

'How's Fang Xiu able to keep pulling out these god-tier projections, one after another?'

BOOM!

The Angel’s enormous, glowing eyes unleashed a holy light that tore through the night sky, bright as a comet. It collided head-on with Joker’s colossal Thunder Sword.

The clash was intense. Holy light and blood-red lightning fought fiercely, and the crimson glow of the Mindflare started to fade, almost like it was being eaten away.

In the end, despite being just a projection, the Angel's power still overwhelmed the Mindflare.

Fang Xiu wasn’t shocked by this outcome. He’d run through this scenario more times than he could count.

Just like “wife” had the ability to bypass the Mindflare and harm Joker directly, these high-tier entities, even in their weakened, projected forms, still carried enough weight to crush anything lower-tiered with ease.

It was the same as comparing modern firearms to swords—old-school weapons might be deadly, but against a gun, they didn’t stand a chance.

A soldier surrounded by a hundred regular fighters might not be able to take down a single enemy. But give that soldier a gun, even with just one bullet, and suddenly he’s a major threat, no matter how many surround him.

Under the searing blast of the Angel’s holy light, Joker’s Thunder Sword shattered into pieces, and the Mindflare that protected his body cracked, leaving him vulnerable.

The holy light punched straight through his chest.

But that was it.

Joker came away with just a light wound—an inconvenient hole in his chest, but nothing he couldn’t handle in his Specter form. It was more of an annoyance than anything else.

The Angel’s projection faded away, his energy nearly drained. He had been strong enough to give Fang Xiu a third-tier boost, letting him break through Joker’s fifth-tier Mindflare, but beyond that, his power was running on fumes, leaving him unable to deal any more significant damage.

Still, it had done enough to rattle Joker. In his mind, anything below fifth tier was about as threatening as a gnat. He always thought that unless his Mindflare was totally spent, there wasn’t a single thing that could harm him, except maybe the legendary Xuanyuan Sword.

Now, the sharp, burning pain in his chest had slowed him down.

And Fang Xiu, who had rehearsed for this moment a thousand times over, wasn’t about to let it slip through his fingers. Without wasting a second, he called out to Fang Moli and the others to take their shot.

Luo Qingxin didn’t waste a second. She channeled every last drop of her Spiritual Energy, her lips parting just enough to release a breath so cold it felt like it could freeze everyone's soul.

Joker was instantly caught in its icy grip. Frost began to coat his body in layers, but his Mindflare held strong, shielding him from any real damage.

That didn’t matter to Luo Qingxin, though. She wasn’t aiming to hurt him—just stop him. Even for a single second would be enough.

And it worked. At the cost of draining herself completely, Joker’s movements were frozen in place for a brief moment, enough time for the other captains to unleash their coordinated attack.

Joker’s eyes widened in horror as the realization hit him—he had underestimated the situation and was now trapped in Fang Xiu’s carefully laid plan.

“No!” Joker shouted, his face twisting in panic. But it wasn’t the onslaught of attacks that terrified him—it was Fang Moli, standing tall with the radiating Xuanyuan Sword raised high.

This time, there was no hesitation. Fang Moli’s eyes gleamed coldly, his expression as stoic as stone. “This is the end—”

“Cut the dramatics and just finish it already!” Fang Xiu’s sharp voice echoed in Fang Moli’s mind, shutting him down mid-sentence.

It wasn’t that Fang Xiu was impatient or couldn’t handle Fang Moli’s theatrics; they had literally died before from drawing things out too long. They weren’t about to make the same mistake twice.

The sudden interruption left Fang Moli looking like he’d been slapped across the face, but it didn’t stop him from acting.

WHOOSH!

The golden energy of the Xuanyuan Sword flared to life as he swung it forward.

*‘It’s game over, Joker,’*Fang Moli thought, his mind quiet as the sword’s energy struck.

The Mindflare around Joker shattered like glass, completely disintegrating under the force of the blow.

A massive gash opened across Joker’s chest, and the power of the Xuanyuan Sword clung to the wound, preventing it from healing.

Joker’s life force drained away rapidly. He crumpled to the ground with a heavy thud, unable to get up. The look on his face said it all—he knew it was over.

Fang Xiu, watching the once-feared Joker now lying helpless, felt a wave of relief. After countless death resets and endless practice, the fight had finally gone exactly how he planned.

With Joker down, Fang Moli started gearing up for his victory speech.

"No one walks away after being struck by the Xuanyuan Sword. You’re no differe—"

“I’ll take you all with me to the grave if it’s the last thing I do!” Joker’s voice, filled with hate and desperation, interrupted Fang Moli’s grand speech yet again. His face twisted with fury as he used the last bit of strength he had to ignite his Mindflare.

Joker’s body began to swell grotesquely, his skin bulging like it was filled with bubbling tumors.

The blood-red Mindflare around him flickered like a dying lightbulb, sparking and crackling as it built up power.

“Crap! He’s gonna blow!” someone yelled.

Panic spread like wildfire as everyone tried to get the hell out of there.

But they didn’t have enough time. No one had accounted for the terrifying scale of a fifth-tier being’s self-destruction—or, more accurately, the catastrophic destruction caused by exploding Mindflare.

BOOM!

A blinding red light erupted from Joker’s body, like a nuke going off. In the blink of an eye, everything within a ten-thousand-meter radius was consumed by the red glow, swallowed up in its fiery destruction.

Fang Moli and the others tried to throw up their Domains for protection, but they were running on empty after the battle. And against a fifth-tier Mindflare explosion? A Domain might as well have been a paper shield.

As expected, they didn’t stand a chance. Everyone was wiped out. Fang Xiu included.

After all, when a fifth-tier powerhouse explodes, releasing every bit of their Mindflare at once, nothing can survive—not in the blast radius.

Well, nothing except the Xuanyuan Sword.

…

…

Once again, Fang Xiu resurrected, his brow furrowed in frustration. Joker’s self-destruction had caught him completely off guard. What was supposed to be a hard-won victory felt tainted. It was, at best, a draw—mutual destruction.

In his experience, fourth-tier psychics and below didn’t possess the ability to self-destruct.

Psychics were still human, not living bombs.

Sure, they could push their Domain power to its limits, but the worst that could happen was burning out their bodies, not blowing up. It was similar to overexerting muscles to the point of injury—not instant death.

But Joker? He was different. Right before his final breath, he compressed his Mindflare to the absolute limit and then—BOOM—instant explosion.