Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 659

Chapter 659: The Fall of a King

[Beep… Ion Shield activated…]

A thin mesh of light burst from the device mounted on Ethan’s wrist, unfolding into a half-circle of shimmering energy that locked into place like a compact, translucent buckler. He barely had time to brace when the attack came.

Sizzle…

The strange beam slammed into the Ion Shield, filling the air with a scorching hiss. The shield trembled violently against the impact, its glow flickering, then the beam dispersed into nothing, leaving the light only slightly dimmer.

“Huh…?” The Megalodon Clan King froze with open disbelief, its massive eyes widening.

The force pushed Ethan back a step and sent a jolt through his arm, but relief washed through him all the same. High-tech against high-tech, that was the only explanation that made sense, and at least now he knew that the miniature Ion Shield integrated into his central control system could withstand the enemy’s beam, even if not forever.

“My great-nephew, you defend, I attack!” came a sharp voice.

The tiny Merfolk King materialized on Ethan’s shoulder like a darting illusion, his tone snapping Ethan’s thoughts back into focus. The logic hit hard. Ethan’s shield could hold for the moment, that much was true, but the foe’s strength was absurd. He had not even pierced the defense of the Marlin Mutant earlier, so how was he supposed to kill this monstrous Megalodon Clan King now, especially when ordinary strikes would do nothing? Even the Twilight War Spear might fail.

Thinking of Starfall, who had recklessly thrown himself in front of the beam for him earlier, Ethan felt a tight surge in his chest. Part of him wanted to shout at Starfall for being foolish, for risking his life without hesitation, but the words would not form, and worse, Ethan still could not understand why Starfall was so determined to protect him.

“This shield will not hold for long… I can restrain him for six seconds… you must cooperate with me and finish him!” Ethan’s eyes narrowed with urgency.

“Kill him?” The Merfolk King hesitated for the briefest moment, his expression shifting.

“I said he dies. Today, he dies!” Ethan’s voice rose, the force of his conviction rippling through the air so fiercely that the small Merfolk King tumbled from his shoulder.

“Very well! At worst, we simply appoint a new Megalodon Clan King!” the Merfolk King snapped back, making his decision without another pause.

The exchange lasted barely a heartbeat. Before the Merfolk King’s reply even finished leaving his lips, Ethan had already initiated his transformation. He had never planned to rely entirely on anyone else. If ordinary attacks were useless, then he would use something extraordinary, a technique that ignored defense entirely… and he had exactly one.

“Panther Form… transform… Ashaman’s Fang!”

As the activation phrase left his mouth, Ethan shot forward like a launched projectile.

Metal surged up across his upper body and face, forming sleek, predatory plating that gave him the appearance of a steel-masked panther. His silhouette sharpened and his reflexes tightened as he flicked his arm and deflected two more incoming beams, sending sparks of light scattering in every direction.

The Merfolk King darted after the panicked Megalodon Clan King, who was still awkwardly dragging itself along with no legs. Seeing Ethan’s new form racing toward him, the King’s instincts flared wildly, alarm twisting his expression.

Ethan’s speed in Panther Form was shocking. The Megalodon King had only managed to flop a few miserable kilometers away, but in the blink of an eye Ethan closed the distance, his body dropping low into a powerful sprint.

“Forbidden, Frenzied Onslaught!”

At a hundred meters, Ethan’s eyes burned blood-red, and the half-armor materialized by the Twilight War Spear shimmered with a dark, unsettling light. His body surged forward in a burst of speed so violent that the air shuddered around him.

Whoosh…

He became a streak of crimson, leaping to cut off the Megalodon Clan King’s escape.

“Get away from me!” the Megalodon Clan King roared, swinging its massive tail like a bladed whip.

In that same instant, Ethan’s body blurred, splitting into eight identical afterimage-shadows that circled the target. Time seemed to twist, the tail freezing mid-swing, and the Megalodon Clan King’s entire hulking form contorted and locked in a strained, unnatural pose, as though reality itself had caught him mid-motion and refused to let go.

Swish, swish, swish…

Ethan and eight identical afterimages swung their arms in perfect unison, their fingertips wrapped in the Ashaman’s Fang transformation of the Twilight War Spear, each one gleaming with a cold metallic edge. All nine slashed across the Megalodon Clan King in the same heartbeat.

Countless wounds split open at once. Blood sprayed into the swirling water and splattered across the muddy seabed. Slivers of pale shark flesh peeled away under Ethan’s slicing strikes. The force of the technique was overwhelming, so intense that Ethan felt as if something else was steering his hands, his arms acting like savage razors without regard for his own control.

The Merfolk King had followed close behind. Moments earlier he had flinched when he saw the Megalodon’s massive tail whip toward Ethan, but when he realized the monstrous creature was frozen in place, he did not hesitate.

“Berserker State!” he roared, and a violent red aura erupted around his tiny form.

“Weakness!” he shouted again, and a layer of dull golden light clung to his body, stacking over the red glow like a shimmering second skin.

“Merfolk Kick!”

Boom…

His small body snapped forward faster than Ethan could track, his tiny foot slamming directly into the temple of the Megalodon Clan King with a thunderous impact that seemed to shake the very water around them. A deep, violent roar followed immediately.

Splat…

Skull and flesh burst in an explosion of red and white, spraying outward like a gruesome firework.

At that exact moment, the technique binding Ethan ended abruptly, snapping him back to himself. The Megalodon Clan King collapsed to the ground, lifeless and limp.

A king had fallen.

Ethan blinked, dazed by the sudden stillness. For a creature so small, the Merfolk King’s strength bordered on impossible, and only now did Ethan grasp how much power had been hiding inside that tiny frame.

But as Ethan watched, the layered auras of red and gold peeled away from the Merfolk King, fading like dissipating mist. A wave of exhaustion rolled off him, so heavy that Ethan sensed it without needing to ask. Whatever those buffs were, their cost was brutal.

“I surrender… I am willing to re-accept the Merfolk’s rule and contract…” a voice cried suddenly.

Then more echoed it, rising from all directions.

The remaining leaders of the Twelve Sea Clans, battered and cornered by the fighting, abandoned resistance in an instant, fear thick in their voices.

Boom…

The seawater surged back all at once, collapsing the artificial vacuum. The timing was exact, almost too perfect, and Ethan realized the Dragon Child could no longer maintain his spell.

“Sir Starfall…” Ethan’s head snapped toward the distance.

Starfall stood swaying, his entire lower body drenched in blood. The seawater around him bloomed into dark red clouds, but somehow, impossibly, he remained upright.

Ethan rushed forward and caught him before he toppled.

“Stop calling him Sir Starfall… he is your real father!” Regis shouted as he sprinted over, his face pale as he took in the wound.

Starfall’s heart was gone, torn from his chest. Such an injury meant instant death for anyone else.

Only because Starfall trained the Necromantic Path in a corpse body did a sliver of life cling to him, but even then Regis could feel his aura burning away like the last ember of a candle.

Boom…

“What…?”

Regis’s words hit Ethan like a lightning strike. His mind went blank, white noise ringing through him.

“Son…” Starfall’s voice trembled, thick with regret, “you look so much like your mother. Do not grieve… I was the fool. I knew you could block that attack, so why did I interfere… ahh…”

He sighed, his voice thinning.

Starfall’s hand trembled as it rose, fingers brushing Ethan’s head, his thumb gently rubbing through his hair, slow and comforting, warm despite everything.

Ethan stared back, speechless, stunned, feeling that touch sink through his armor and straight into his heart. In that fleeting moment, he felt something from Starfall he had never felt before, something buried, something real, something he had never known he needed until now.

And then the warmth began to fade.