Alpha Reborn!

"Can't you tell just by looking at me?" Vera spat, his voice rising in excitement. "I am a cosmic crusader, feared and revered throughout the galaxy. And you, you are nothing but a pair of dirtbags from the Sun Moon Empire. When we meet, there's only one outcome. Only one side gets to live."

Evan, who had been standing behind Lirian, stepped forward, his expression stony.

"You may be a Cosmic Crusader, but that doesn't give you the right to take innocent lives," he said, his voice firm.

Vera chuckled darkly, the sound sending shivers down the spines of his opponents. "Innocent lives? There's no such thing in this universe," he replied, his eyes glinting with madness. "Only the strong get to survive and flourish. And right now, that's me. And don't think I don't mean it. Ever since I was a child, I have been trained to see anyone associated with the Sun Moon Empire as an enemy, a threat to be eliminated at all costs. I have the blood of Countless "innocents" on my hand. Killing another two won't affect me one bit."

Lirian and Evan exchanged a look and nodded at each other.

"Let's fuck him up!" They said in unison.

Vera heard what they said and smirked, "You think you can beat me? What a joke! You have no idea what you're up against."

Vera's emerald eyes glimmered with an otherworldly glow, illuminating the surrounding darkness with an eerie green light.

As if summoned by his will, the earth beneath Evan's and Lirian's feet trembled, and sharp vines erupted from the ground, their pointed tips inches away from piercing them.

Lirian swiftly teleported out of harm's way, narrowly evading the wrath of the deadly vines. Meanwhile, Evan jumped back, dodging the vines by a hairbreadth. He retaliated, brandishing his sword in a fierce arc, cutting the vines apart.

"There's more where that came from," Vera said as he moved his hand, causing the remaining vines to twist in mid-air and attack Evan.

Evan's eyes narrowed as he watched Vera's vines surge towards him like a wave.

A glint flashed in his eyes as he swung his magic sword and muttered under his breath, "Let's see if you can handle my icy fury."

In an instant, shards of ice manifested and shot forward.

The vines were frozen solid as the ice shards stabbed them. They fell to the ground with a thud, shattering into pieces due to the impact.

By that time, Evan had created a frost bullet. The bullet was glowing with an azure hue and crackling with icy energy.

"What relationship do you have with the dog-shit Frost clan?!" Vera asked loudly.

Ice-type soul energy was exclusive to the Frost Clan!

He was sure that Evan, who was in disguise, was related to the Frost Clan, the worst enemy of the Cosmic Crusaders!

"A corpse needs not to know," Evan replied emotionlessly.

Bang!

With a flick of his finger, he fired the frost bullet towards Vera. The bullet sliced through the air at lightning speed, leaving a trail of shimmering ice crystal in its wake.

A blinding aura of violet soul energy enveloped Vera's palm as he raised his hand and, after what seemed like a fraction of a second, brought it down.

Whack!

His slap landed on the frost bullet just as it reached close to him, crushing it apart.

"Is that all you got?" Vera said in a voice laced with scorn.

In response, Evan lifted his hand and pointed at him.

"Look at your hand," he instructed, a confident smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

His smile made Vera feel that something was wrong.

Vera glanced down at his own hand and felt surprised as he saw that a layer of glistening ice had encased it!

His entire hand was numb. He couldn't feel it at all!

He frowned, summoning a torrent of violet soul energy from within himself, and released it in a wave of heat and light. The frigid ice around his hand began to melt away, turning into water droplets that ran down his wrist. Even after the ice melted away, no sensation returned to his hand. It was as of it had become useless.

"You are not using a normal type of ice-type soul energy. It's stronger than the average member of the frost clan. You… who are you?!" Vera said as he looked at Evan in shock.

'He is entirely focused on Evan. This is my time to shine.' Lirian thought, and just the very next moment, his body disappeared from where he stood, reappearing next to Vera.

Vera's vision was blocked, and before he could do a thing, a fist suddenly collided with his face, shattering his teeth as they flew out of his mouth with the sheer force of the blow.

Thud!

The impact of the punch sent Vera flying backwards like a rag doll, his body careening through the air before colliding with a nearby wall with a sickening thud. The sound echoed throughout the room as Vera slumped to the ground, his consciousness slipping away as he struggled to regain his bearings. Lirian's punch was equivalent to several tons in force. It was enough to explode the head of an adult man like a watermelon. Vera's head didn't explode because of his high cultivation.

It was a recognized fact that the higher a person's cultivation, the stronger their body.

Lirian stood tall, his eyes fixed on Vera's crumpled form on the ground as he cracked his knuckles and grinned with confidence.

"Looks like someone forgot the first rule of combat," he said in a voice dripping with swagger. "Never take your eyes off your opponent."

While keeping an eye on Vera, Lirian spoke to Evan,

"After taking that punch, his soul should have been extinguished. I think we are done here."

"No." Evan shook his head, "He is still not dead."

The quest wasn't completed.

It meant that Vera was alive even though he was sprawled on the ground like a corpse, with blood running out of his mouth and nose and pooling beneath his head!