Shattered Remnants of a Dream

100. The Killing Hand

Averyl's body was nothing but a block of stone, lying helpless before the withered body of Zhang Guo. Off to the side, Saffron had his eyes closed in exhaustion, silently cursing the fate that had brought both he and Averyl to their deathbeds.

"Yes...it's all over." The monk hacked up a bit of blood as he savored his victory. "Rest in peace."

"Rest in peace?" Another Averyl called out as he crept up behind Zhang Guo and snapped both of the Boar's arms as if they were twigs. "No...that you will not do..."

The monk fell to his knees and let out a bellow of pain. "H-how?! I-I tracked you...your aura...I tracked it perfectly!"

"Not so..." Averyl stuck a heeled boot onto Zhang Guo's head and smashed his body onto the hard ground. "That petrified man over there is just another clone."

In disbelief, the Boar watched as the clone dissipated. "But its aura...its aura was easily the strongest of them all!"

"Exactly..." Averyl's grin widened. "During the fire, I emptied 90% of my remaining aura into yet another clone, which I knew would stick out as if it was the host. At the same time, I had a weaker clone use its remaining psynergy to quickly slice open a void to another dimension in the ground. This was finished approximately the same time I had the powerful clone dash over to the corner, knowing you would be focused on the strongest aura, as that was your only way of ascertaining which Averyl was the real one...which meant that you would most likely ignore the sudden disturbance of the tiny void in space. As the flames died down, I slipped into the void with only 10% of my power remaining so that I could escape detection and return when the time was right..."

At a loss for words, Zhang Guo could only blubber in response.

"Your 'third eye' has deceived you!" Averyl shouted, as he dug his spiky boot deeper into Zhang Guo's bones. "Shame on you for thinking you had outsmarted me, you old fool...a man of your experience should have known better..."

A small, creaking sound escaped from Zhang Guo's smothered mouth. It sounded like laughter.

"It's too bad..." Zhang Guo muttered. "All that hard work of yours is in vain..."

Averyl raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"While you were wasting your time on me, Grayson has assumed control over the key to the space-time continuum. You have lost sight of the true war...the world is finished..."

"The world...?" Averyl echoed. "You actually think I care about saving the world...?"

A choked gargle escaped from Zhang Guo's throat.

"How stupid can you be? Oh, that's right, you sewed your own eyes shut..." Averyl bent closer, drawing blood as the point of his heel slipped through the soft flesh of Zhang Guo's cranium. "A vacuous mind like yours...is truly beyond help."

"Wait..." Tears rushed from Zhang Guo's eyes as his pain overwhelmed him. "I'm sorry, I..."

"I only care about one thing...destroying all those who stole my sister from me." With that, Averyl stomped straight through Zhang Guo's skull. A cacophony of grotesque squelches echoed loudly through the cavern as brain and viscera exploded onto the ground like the innards of a massive grape.

"A-amazing!" Saffron choked out, as he watched Averyl walk away from the grisly mess. "After witnessing that valiant battle, I am proud to die at the hands of such a magnificent warrior!"

Averyl smirked. "Who says you're going to die...?"

"B-but..." Saffron gasped. "I too am a Zodiac!"