Die, Replay, Repeat

Chapter 273 - The Fifth Tier Achieved

"Fang Moli, now! We’ll hold him off!"

Li Xiaoru’s voice rang out in fury as he charged at Joker with a fierce army behind him. His eyes were blazing with determination.

Luo Qingxin and Xiong Tianguang followed without hesitation, their faces hardened with resolve. They sprinted alongside Li Xiaoru, not a word exchanged, focused solely on the task at hand.

"Out of my way!" Joker roared, his voice filled with rage. He could see Fang Moli and Fang Xiu drawing closer, their hands nearly touching.

Panic gripped him.

"Thunderous Hell!"

BOOM!

Dark clouds churned overhead, thunder boomed, and blood-red lightning poured from the sky in a violent storm, as if the world itself was ending.

Luo Qingxin, Li Xiaoru, and Xiong Tianguang found themselves in the center of the storm, eyes wide with shock. But not a single one of them stepped back.

Summoning every ounce of their power, the three captains unleashed their full strength to hold off the lightning storm. But even together, they managed to withstand it for only a second.

In the blink of an eye, they were overwhelmed, crashing to the ground, unconscious.

Fang Moli’s eyes flared with anger, his face contorted in rage as he saw his comrades fall. His bloodshot eyes locked onto Fang Xiu, and instead of attacking, he used every last bit of his strength to make a final dash toward him.

Fang Xiu, now fully consumed by black flames, looked almost divine. His silver hair swirled wildly in the wind, and his robes fluttered violently around him. From a distance, he seemed like a god descending, about to unleash heavenly fire upon the earth.

But Joker was closing in fast.

Fang Moli made his move.

"Sword Infinity!"

A wave of tens of thousands of swords materialized, streaking toward Joker in a blinding storm of steel.

Crimson lightning clashed with the incoming swords, shattering them one after another.

Despite the relentless barrage of blades, Joker pushed forward, enduring the pain as he hacked his way through.

Meanwhile, Fang Xiu and Fang Moli were mere inches apart, their hands just about to meet.

"Not a chance!" Joker bellowed, fury echoing in his voice. A brilliant flash of light exploded from his hands, and the Thunder Sword materialized.

In the next instant, the sword expanded, growing impossibly large, as Joker swung it down with lethal force.

SLASH!

Fang Xiu, still mid-air, was split cleanly in half. His body began to drift apart, severed at the waist, and the once-roaring black flames around him began to fade, flickering as they slowly died.

Time seemed to freeze.

"No!"

Joker no longer questioned the validity of Fang Xiu’s method. His mind raced with only one desperate thought: 'Stop Fang Moli before it’s too late!'

With a flash of light, Joker transformed into a bolt of lightning and shot forward. He charged toward Fang Xiu and Fang Moli, ready to put an end to their ascension.

But Fang Xiu was prepared for this exact moment. He had planned for this, weaving his schemes and faking countless scenes to get here. There was no way he would let Joker stop them now.

Though Fang Xiu didn’t have the power to block Joker’s charge, someone else did.

His eyes flickered, and he whispered, almost tenderly, "Come forth, my 'wife'."

WHOOSH!

A graceful, ethereal figure materialized in the air. Her skin was pale, her face soft and serene, framed by a flowing white dress. She was none other than his "wife."

She glided silently toward Joker, her ghostly feet barely touching the air as she floated.

"Out of my way!" Joker bellowed, fury ripping through his voice as he swung his Thunder Sword at her.

The blade crackled with electricity as it sliced straight through the air. It cut cleanly through "wife's" forehead, tracing down to her chest as though to split her in half.

But instead of resistance, the blade met only air. "Wife" remained unscathed, completely untouched by Joker’s attack.

"An illusion?!"

Joker froze for a moment, his mind struggling to grasp what had just happened. "Is she just a distraction?"

He prepared to charge through her, dismissing her as a mere trick. But before he could move, a sudden, icy chill brushed against his neck.

"Wife’s" delicate hand had sliced through the air, and a thin red line appeared across Joker’s throat.

Alarmed, Joker instinctively leaped back, putting distance between himself and the ghostly figure.

This was "the first time" Joker had encountered "wife" and experienced her chilling, otherworldly attack.

Despite his strong Mindflare, her strike had slipped right through, rattling him in ways he hadn’t expected. Her attack, though not lethal, left him visibly shaken.

While her abilities were eerie and unpredictable, it quickly became clear to Joker that her strikes were more psychological than physically dangerous.

But in the seconds that Joker hesitated, "wife" had already done her job. The precious moments she delayed him were all that was needed.

BOOM!

A massive surge of power exploded from Fang Moli, his body radiating with overwhelming energy that engulfed the battlefield like a tidal wave.

A brilliant white light poured from his body, growing brighter and brighter until it enveloped him completely.

It was the Mindflare, signaling the arrival of the fifth tier.

...

Translator’s note: Wait... I thought Fang Xiu was trying to ascend to the fifth tier himself? Now he’s helping Fang Moli instead?