The Golden Throne

The cracks on the ground where the demon had landed spread out a very big distance. They were like a web of cracks, and they stopped only after they had reached Liu Feng. Liu Feng swallowed once. That was a truly terrifying experience after all.

"They had that guy, and he just comes out now? What is this? Is he trolling me?", Liu Feng thought to himself, screaming with frustration inside his head.

"Well, human. You have impressed me. You have killed almost all of my brethren alone, and you still stand. This is a hard feat to accomplish, especially when you have not even understood what the power that you use is. Well, this battle is a loss for us no matter how it ends, unless you wish to live.", the demon spoke in a very hoarse voice. It was as if he was forcing the sounds to come out, but they were refusing, so he just pushed them out. Liu Feng took some time to even understand what he had said.

"Live? What do you mean?", he asked curiously. 

"Well, I mean that you could fight for us, instead of this god-forsaken place. It is so pitiful that an entire kingdom gave up without fighting.", the demon snickered.

Liu Feng brandished his spear again, and said, "I think you should know the answer."

But inside he thought, "Are you kidding? I am literally the all out gamble that the spirits here took. If I win, then I can be the king of the entire kingdom, and not some stupid pawn of the demons. Why would you even think that I would join you guys?"

The demon shook his head. "I can't believe that I had to spend a year learning your stupid language when all humans are so hot-headed and unreasonable."

He then exuded a domineering pressure on Liu Feng.

Liu Feng saw that just like in the previous battle, the demon had black mana flowing out of his body. The mana this time was liquid, and it just flowed through the surface of the body. The demon laughed at Liu Feng and shouted, "The humans of this era are so weak, yet they still cling on to the same self esteem. Come, let me deliver you to your ancestors, and they will tell you that you should have listened to me.

Without anymore hesitation, the demon brought his right foot back. The muscles on his thighs and calves just bulged all of a sudden. Liu Feng had a bad premonition about this, and he took a few steps back. The demon just jumped. Liu Feng raised his hand in defence, but he was shocked to see that the demon had completely disappeared. Keeping his guard up, he started looking around, but in that instant, he felt an acute pain in his arms. They collided with his ribs, shaking all of the organs inside him. 

Liu Feng fell back to the ground almost instantly. He bent over to one side to cough out the blood that just rushed to his mouth. The demon was so fast that he couldn't even see him. Liu Feng was terrified now. For the first time in his life, he was truly about to face death. Well, not counting the trial of the spirits, of course. He steadied his breathing and calmed his mind.

"Think. Wait a minute, the demon said something about not understanding my own power. What did he mean by that?", Liu Feng pondered. This was not exactly the right time for a scholastic moment, but Liu Feng needed all that he could for even the slightest advantage.

Suddenly, Liu Feng became enlightened. He thought back to his previous constraints with the mana, and his bottleneck. It was that he could not store enough mana. But if he had compressed the mana like these demons clearly did, then he would have more mana, and he could achieve the next order, and have enough mana to draw the circles on his body. 

Liu Feng realized that this battle was going to be an impossible one if he did not reach the sixth order. He spoke quietly, "I request the power of the spirits to gather the mana around me as fast as possible."

"I am afraid that we cannot help you now, Liu Feng. Unless you want to die, or go crazy, we cannot willfully absorb corrupted mana into your body. This place is corrupted by the mere presence of the demons. You must retreat to a demon free place for at least half an hour if you want to completely restore the mana that you have lost."

Liu Feng nodded. Now was a time that was very important. He had to break through in very little time so that he would have a chance at survival. He looked at the demon that he was up against. The demon was cocky, no doubt. He was sure that he would win. What would a puny human in the fifth order to to him after all! Liu Feng looked at the other demons as well. They were cheering on their leader with their absolute might. Liu Feng sighed and he took out the final trump card that he had. It was a blue colored magic crystal.

This was his final chance, and he had to make sure that everything went absolutely perfect. Liu Feng threw the stone towards the demons. Now, Liu Feng knew that a magic array on a magic crystal wouldn't be nearly sufficient to even injure the monstrosity that he was going against, but that was not his goal. The magic crustal that he had just used was not one to deal damage, but one to buy time. The demon at the forefront just hit the stone with his hand to push it away, but the stone shone with a powerful glow.

Crack, crack, crack. Sounds came from over there. The magic crystal had activated at the instant that the demon had touched it, and it spread ice  throughout the place that the demons were and trapped them.

The demon in charge looked down, and tried to move, but even his arms were frozen.

"How long do you think that this can keep us, human? Do you really think that you can hold me? Just the last minute struggles of a person who is about to die.", the demon laughed like a maniac.

Liu Feng quickly rushed to the part of the forest that he came from. He ran and ran, until he found a part of the forest that was not being corrupted by the demons. What he needed right now was a supply of mana that was as pure as it could be, and the demons had corrupted his entire supply over at the fighting venue.

He quickly found a tree and climbed it. This was not the time to be disturbed by wandering magical beasts now, was it. He had crossed from the phoenix's territory, and he did not want to take any chances at such an important stage. He sat with his legs crossed, and breathed in and out slowly. He started meditating, and started gathering mana. As the spirits were gathering the mana, he slowly guided it, and started squeezing it. It seemed that the mana was trying to repel itself though.

Then, Liu Feng thought about it and understood that he looked at it too ambiguously.

"You can't just compress all of the mana, you have to compress a specific type of it. You are looking at it all wrong.", Liu Feng realized.

He concentrated on the fire mana, and compressed it. Slowly, one by one, drops of fire started falling onto his mana core, the organ right next to his heart.

Slowly, it got filled a fourth with the mana of the fire attribute, but Liu Feng knew that this small amount was more than all the mana that he had previously. As Lucas had said, the difference was really huge.

Liu Feng looked inside his mana organ, and he willed some of the liquid mana to come out. It came streaming out, just like the black mist was rolling on the bodies of the demons. Liu Feng took his finger and he dipped it in this mana. The mana stayed a liquid, but it was becoming a mist very quickly.

Liu Feng started using the mana, and guided it around his body to draw the circle. He completed one circle, and he was about to get started with the second one, but he sensed a presence approaching him and stopped.

The demons were obviously not staying idle, and they were looking at ways to break free. Considering that the phoenix, a beast of fire, was fighting literally right above the demons, could only help the demons break free from the ice barrier a little sooner.

"Damn these circumstances. If it weren't for the phoenix, I am sure that the ice would have held up for even longer, and I would have a chance to break through to the higher tier of the sixth order."

Liu Feng got back down, and saw the demon leader of all the small fry. The demon general was obviously his superior by far, but Liu Feng couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be too much of a gap between the powers of the demon general, and the demon in front of him.

"Well, I thought that you were a coward and that you ran away, leaving your dear friend the magic beast alone. To think that you were actually an idiot and stayed here for me to come. Did you really think that a little recovery will make a difference?" 

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