"Look down, scummy lizard."
William pointed downward, his arm extended with deliberate contempt as his finger indicated the devastation below them.
The dragonkin supervisor, whose massive frame had already been battered and bloodied from his earlier clash with Sunny, hesitated for a fraction of a second before lowering his gaze, and what entered his vision froze his thoughts completely.
Below them lay a hellish, fiery pit where the base camp had once existed, now reduced to molten wreckage filled with hundreds of mangled corpses, shattered limbs, broken wings, crushed skulls, and bodies blended by force.
The smell of burnt flesh and demonic residue filled the air, and the ground still glowed faintly from the heat and the collapsing foundation of the building.
The dragonkin’s pupils shrank as his mind struggled to process what he was seeing, and a deep, instinctive chill ran down his spine, one that had nothing to do with mourning his Juniours and everything to do with fear.
He looked back up only to meet the gaze of the crow-masked man hovering above him.
What greeted him was not rage, nor hatred, nor even cold indifference.
It was a smile.
A wide, unrestrained, maniacal smile that carried no hesitation or doubt.
"Spirit Possession."
The words left William’s mouth with unnatural excitement, and the air around seemed to respond.
A significant transformation began immediately, unfolding in front of the dragonkin’s eyes before he could muster the courage to retreat or gather his power.
The crow-masked figure in front of him, who had butchered the entire camp, became enveloped in blinding light, and waves of radiance burst outward in pulses that distorted the air.
The swan from earlier that he had fought with began to overlap with William’s form in a way that felt fundamentally wrong to observe, as if two existences were being forcibly aligned.
Bone, flesh, and even mana cores fused in front of the dragonkin.
William’s figure merged with Sunny’s, creating a hybrid being that radiated intense heat and crushing pressure, with violent air currents spiraling outward from his body.
Massive feathered wings formed from William’s back, the feathers extending down his arms and spreading across his shoulders and spine, each one gleaming with golden edges.
A swan’s beak replaced the lower half of his masked face, and golden tattoo-like markings spread across his exposed skin, glowing faintly with solar authority.
His clothing vanished entirely under the transformation, revealing a form that was neither human nor beast, but something far more unsettling.
The dragonkin’s senses screamed as he felt the cultivation of the being in front of him surge violently upward, skipping stages and stabilizing instantly at the Celestial Rank.
"Solar Authority Pressure."
For the first time, William invoked this ability of his Divine Sun God Physique, now that his cultivation had reached a level where the pressure could be useful.
The effect was immediate.
A crushing wave descended upon the dragonkin, pressing down on his body; his bones creaked under the weight of invisible force.
His flight destabilized instantly, his wings losing coordination as his muscles refused to respond properly under the overwhelming pressure.
The dragonkin plummeted downward and crashed into the fiery pit below with a deafening impact; the burnt ground cracked further under his weight.
"Arghhhh..!"
Blood burst from his mouth as his body twitched violently, pain flooding every nerve.
William’s transformed figure descended slowly, hovering effortlessly as he approached the kneeling dragonkin.
His hand extended forward, light flickering around his fingers as he attempted to place the Mark of Slave.
[Ding!! Placing a slave mark on the target...]
[Ding!!! Mark has been resisting]
William’s expression twitched beneath the mask, irritation flashing briefly.
"Again?" he muttered.
Just like Benson had resisted once, and now this one too.
"Do they have a kink for pain?" William’s voice carried clear annoyance as he stared at the kneeling dragonkin.
William intensified the Solar Authority Pressure without hesitation, and the dragonkin screeched as a burning sensation tore through his body; his scales began to crack under the combined pressure and heat.
William descended fully and landed on the dragonkin’s body, his foot pressing down hard as he drove a punch into the dragonkin’s gut.
Stellar fire coated his fist, and at the same time, he infused Sovereign Sword Intent directly into the blow.
The intent penetrated the dragonkin’s body and began wreaking havoc internally, slicing through energy pathways and tearing into his organs without destroying them completely.
"Arghhh...!"
The screams did not stop as William continued punching, each strike crunching into the dragonkin’s body with devastating precision.
Minutes passed under relentless assault, the dragonkin’s body reduced to a broken, blood-soaked mess, his resistance worn down piece by piece.
William tried again.
[Ding!! Placing a slave mark on the target...]
[Ding!!! Mark has been resisting.]
William’s face twitched visibly now.
He took out the Armament Nexus and reshaped it into the Red Oath Daggers; the blades gleamed sharply.
One by one, he sliced off the dragonkin’s scales, peeling them away methodically, just as he had once done to Vorin.
Each cut drew fresh screams, blood splattering across the ruined ground as the dragonkin’s defenses were stripped away layer by layer.
After several more minutes of screams and bloodshed, William tried once more.
[Ding!! Placing a slave mark on the target...]
[Ding!!! Mark has been placed on individual Barash.]
"Pheww."
William straightened and exhaled slowly, relief evident in his posture as he finally succeeded.
He had no desire to waste any more time on this dragonkin.
[At least you didn’t faint.]
"Of course," William replied calmly. "That only happened once, and it won’t happen again."
William deactivated the Spirit Possession and canceled Sunny’s summoning; his body returned to its original form as the solar aura faded.
Benson emerged from the Domain of Infinity and helped William lift the bloodied dragonkin supervisor.
William then used Luminous Embrace infused with demonic energy, healing the dragonkin just as he had done to Benson earlier.
It was a method that would be impossible for ordinary cultivators, but William, cultivating the Primordial Godflow Technique, operated outside normal constraints.
As the healing completed, Barash’s wounds closed, his breathing stabilized, and he regained enough clarity to speak.
Though his scales remained gone, leaving him looking a pitiful and exposed bird without feathers.
William summoned Amorphous, who appeared beside him from the prison where he had been confined.
On his orders, Amourphous started interrogating Barash, the dragon kin supervisor.
Sara Babylon, the crown princess of babylon empire, who had awakened earlier and witnessed the entire battle from another angle, stared in complete shock.
She remained restrained by spiritual energy locks and could not escape, but her eyes widened as she saw the blond boy disappear from beside her in the prison and reappear kneeling next to the crow-masked figure.
Her confusion deepened as she realized that the boy had broken free from the mana-restricting chains without effort.
Moments later, the crow-masked man appeared beside her.
With a casual flick of his hand, he tossed a chocolate bar toward her.
Sara flinched instinctively before catching sight of it on the ground.
"Eat it if you feel hungry," William said calmly.
He then raised his hands, spiritual energy swirling around them as the prison platform levitated upward before settling onto solid ground outside the pit.