629,

Run. Just keep running.

Seeing the other side closing in, Cyclone darted into a narrow alley.

He weaved through the alleys without worrying about what was behind him, sprinting straight ahead.

When the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole waits behind. Right now, Cyclone only needed to play the part of a cicada that couldn’t fly.

He might not have been able to fly, but the path ahead was completely clear, so Cyclone could slip through the alleys with ease.

After all, the Great Dragon was ahead. There wasn’t anyone left around here.

Cyclone charged forward without the slightest hesitation, while the people behind him had to worry about the Great Dragon and keep chasing a man who, for some unknown reason, was running straight toward it.

Once confusion took root in their minds, the difference in their running speed naturally began to show.

As time passed, both the pursuer and the pursued became more and more conspicuous, and the group was gradually stretched apart.

Eumerika chased after them alone from behind, knocking out every soldier who couldn’t keep up.

At last, she spotted a perfect opportunity. She leaped into the air and unleashed a cannon blast from above.

That single strike sent every one of the Twilight King’s men crashing to the ground.

Simple. Easy. The boss’s overwhelming aura covered her from head to toe.

“You?! So you really are working together!”

With the situation in such chaos, all of the Twilight King’s assassins were outside searching for Cyclone. The weaklings left behind could look intimidating, but they couldn’t fight. Eumerika dealt with them effortlessly.

All of his men were unconscious, and his opponent was one of the Four Saints.

Knowing he couldn’t win against her, the Twilight King immediately changed direction on horseback.

His judgment in that moment was excellent.

As long as he didn’t die here, then once this was all over, the news that “Eumerika had taken advantage of the Great Dragon’s attack to assassinate the king” would spread. The Water Shrine would inevitably face the people’s doubts.

“What?!”

The ground shook. Eumerika spun around and used the force of her momentum to smash the ground with all her strength.

Chunks of earth kept blasting up from the ground and stretched all the way along the route the Twilight King was taking. In the end, the entire area was covered in layer upon layer of shattered stone.

Eumerika battered the whole ground into a twisted mess. After the horse was hit, both rider and horse toppled to the ground together.

At last, the impact sent the Twilight King flying into the center of a small plaza.

“Hahaha! Looks like the Water Shrine isn’t exactly an institution of love and peace!”

He rose to his feet, laughing in the face of certain defeat.

“I still have a reason to kill you. Trash like you, who kills people for the sake of incest, doesn’t deserve to be a king!”

Eumerika gripped her massive iron hammer and walked straight toward the Twilight King.

“If you’d given up on killing Cyclone Theodore and focused on saving people instead, this old lady wouldn’t have had an excuse to kill you.”

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out.

Cyclone remembered that sound. He instinctively came to a stop in the middle of his run.

He had heard it once before, back in Sunset City.

“Ha! You sure talk a lot.”

A handgun had been hidden inside the Twilight King’s pocket.

“But this thing’s pretty useful!”

Lifting the weapon in his hand, the Twilight King wore a satisfied expression.

It was a weapon from overseas, known as a magic gun—and one shot struck Eumerika in the right side of her chest.

She first dropped to her knees, then collapsed onto the ground. Cyclone watched the entire sequence unfold before his eyes.

At the center, surrounded by layers of shattered stone, there was nothing to obstruct the view.

The Twilight King planted one foot on Eumerika’s head.

“All right, Cyclone Theodore!!! Come out already!!”

He shouted through every street and alley, as if he could already sense Cyclone’s presence.

“How many people have to die for you before you’re willing to come out and face me?”

Hiding in the shadows, Cyclone didn’t have a single weapon at hand.

The Twilight King aimed the magic gun at Eumerika’s head.

“What’s wrong?! Still not coming out?!”

Everything had gone beyond Cyclone’s calculations. Now, not only could he no longer kill the Twilight King, he was also about to lose Eumerika—his trump card.

In the depths of despair, Cyclone decided to take one step forward.