In that instant, Lionheart Ancestor felt a surge of fear unlike anything he had ever experienced. An inexplicable binding force enveloped him, and for one fleeting moment it was as though he had plunged into the depths of despair.
BOOM!
The chain hammer smashed into his skull.
Lionheart Ancestor's entire head, utterly undefended, took the full blow. It detonated on impact like a watermelon crushed by a sledgehammer, bursting apart in a shower of gore.
His headless body shuddered twice in the void in sheer, hopeless convulsions. Without the head, his primordial spirit was obliterated almost instantly.
RUMBLE!
Lionheart Ancestor's dharma form toppled to the ground with a thunderous crash.
The sight left not only the demon race — ranks and file alike — utterly dumbstruck, but even Douxiong Ancestor wore a look of deep bewilderment. Was this truly Lionheart Ancestor's strength?
That chain hammer attack of his had been intended merely to slow the other's assault — to buy himself a sliver of time to prepare. It was never meant to be a killing blow. Yet Lionheart Ancestor hadn't dodged it? Had the man simply chosen not to live in that split second?
When experts clashed, each understood the other's capabilities full well.
Douxiong Ancestor held a slight edge over Lionheart Ancestor in his normal state. But Lionheart Ancestor, who had rampaged his bloodline twice in succession, should have been marginally stronger. Douxiong Ancestor had exerted every ounce of his power, and at best the result was a draw.
How could a casual, delaying strike have killed Lionheart Ancestor? There was simply no way to rationalize such a bizarre outcome.
Could it be that the bloodline frenzy had malfunctioned in that critical instant?
As the old saying goes: the first charge carries the wind, the second falters, and the third exhausts itself entirely.
That was the only explanation that made sense.
But a bloodline frenzy should never dissipate that quickly. When demon warriors activated their bloodline frenzy, their combat power surged, and that heightened state could be sustained for a long duration. There was no precedent for it cutting off mid-battle.
The only possible explanation was that something had gone wrong during the frenzy itself.
Over on the battlefield where Douhu and Tieyi Ancestors were locked in combat, the shockwave from this development disrupted both fighters. Involuntarily, they each broke off their exchanges.
Infighting was infighting, and battle was battle.
All they had wanted was to teach the other side a lesson — to intimidate, to cull a batch of their enemies, to cow them into submission. Killing the other's ancestor had never been part of the plan.
After all, every faction knew that the demon race's ten lineages had not recovered even seventy percent of their ancient-era fighting strength. The Celestial Demon lineage had long since issued a decree: the internal affairs of the demon race must never result in the death of a Divine Path ancestor. Regardless of the nature of the dispute, fatalities among the ancestors were absolutely forbidden.
In other words — squabbling over benefits, jockeying for territory, even clashing and suffering casualties among the rank and file — all of that was permitted. But the demon ancestors were the exception.
Every single Divine Path ancestor of the demon race was a precious resource. One lost was one fewer, and it would impact the grand design of the entire race.