He leaped up in a bid to avoid the fist, but it still grazed him.

Dark steam seeped out of the fist and went through him. His body immediately dissolved and Silver Mask made a gesture to grab at his soul.

A saber appeared right then from the ground beneath Silver Mask. It smacked him on the spine with a flash of lightning.

Suddenly, the man couldn't move. He tried dodging but to no avail. The sword went through and sliced him into two clean halves.

Abdin flew out of the ground with a sword aloft. His face wasn't relaxed, and in the next moment, Silver Mask's remains morphed into a roaring flame before coalescing and regaining his features.

The two men faced each other, at a distance of just about ten paces.

"Sword of Nuhu." Silver mused as he stared at the sword. "Lightning of Life." He went on in an awed voice.

There was the Lightning of Death, which rumbled like a thunderstorm and was known for its destruction; and there was the Lightning of Life, which was soundless and was known for controlling life.

Lightning of Life touched the actual flesh that made a man and thus named Lightning of Life. When the lightning on the sword touched the man, his flesh had frozen and he was locked in place.

It was a split second, but it gave his opponent the chance to cut him in two. It was the real Lightning of Life. He didn't expect to see it here.

Silver Mask sighed softly. He wouldn't take Abdin seriously. The last time he had taken an opponent seriously was ages ago.

He raised his hand and pointed at Abdin. A ball of flame shot out from one of his fingertips and went straight for Abdin.

It had taken him barely half a second to point and released the spell on his target, but Abdin had already vanished even before it could reach him.

The spell met a space.

But that resulted in the spell going loose inside the castle and burning down buildings. No matter how big a building was, it would turn to ashes the moment it came into contact with it.

Meanwhile, Abdin had disappeared beneath the earth, perfectly camouflaged in it. A minor rumbling arose from the ground with pol going wild around the place.

The buildings surrounding them quaked, and Silver Mask frowned in confusion. Eighty-something years ago, he had seen something like this in the East. Why then was he seeing the same skill here again?

By now, Abdin had already merged with ten buildings in the vicinity. They gave off a collective rumble before tumbling down in utter destruction.

A pair of legs arose from the debris, they were made of stone. The same white stones were used in making the castle.

The shape of the human hip emerged next and then the upper torso followed. Abdin's head was the last to emerge.

A colossal giant that had a human appearance, especially Abdin, rose before Silver Mask.

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On the giant's chest was armor made of the black iron that used to be the shutters of the now dilapidated buildings.

Because of its size, the giant could be seen from every corner of the castle. It pivoted its head to look at all four angles before slowly looking down at Silver Mask.

Without a word, it rose to its giant feet and stepped forward, ready to crush the man.

Abdin was encased within the giant and was the one controlling it. This had always been the most protective of his skills.

Silver Mask couldn't kill him now however strong he was because his body was inside the giant and he could still move within it wherever he wanted.

Plus, he could escape into the ground below his feet and merge with other buildings in the castle to summon another giant. As long as there were buildings in the castle, Abdin was confident to stay alive.

Silver Mask would become weak before Abdin would run out of buildings to use, and that was when Abdin would strike.

This had been his plan.

Meanwhile, Silver Mask didn't move until the giant foot was almost upon him. He shook his right hand slightly. The hand vanished and reappeared above him, blocking the foot with his palm.

When Silver Mask's tiny hand and the giant foot connected, Abdin felt as if he had collided with a metal wall. In the next second, the whole giant had turned coal black.

Abdin wasn't sure what had happened. A moment ago, he was about to crush Silver Mask, but now, his giant puppet had become a giant block of cinder.

Moreover, the castle's power that had been allowing him to control the giant had just gone silent.

Rocks were as dead as they came. There was no way to kill them anymore. Why, then, was Abdin feeling as though the rock around him had just been killed?

He tried to escape and went underground to form another giant, but he was suddenly stuck.

The coal around him dissolved to ashes and Silver Mask appeared before him. It all happened so fast that he didn't even react.

This time, Silver held a dagger. The hilt of the dagger looked worn out and the blade seemed blunt. It couldn't slice anything, by all appearances, but Abdin's eyes immediately began to spill blood.

With a mere glance at the blade, his blood vessels had burst open.

Abdin forced his body to move and drew his sword, ready to strike, but realized that the dagger had already speared through his chest.

He was still high in the air and couldn't escape into the ground as planned.

He clenched his teeth. The gesture and the sound coming from it manifested as a seal on the air and stamped itself to the ground before quickly spreading and covering every building in the castle.

The entire castle exploded. Flames churned and flooded a kilometer of the forest. And amidst the flames were Silver Mask and Abdin.

Abdin knew he wouldn't survive. He didn't know if the explosion would kill Silver Mask. But once he was dead, the loop would reset. And dying in this manner would be more welcomed than losing his soul to Silver Mask again. The green seed used to create a save point was worth more than a hundred years of cultivation.

His decision was swift.

However, when next he opened his eyes, he found himself yet again before Silver Mask. There was nothing around them except the river of flames. But the heat was gone.

A collected man was stretching out his hand and caressing the flames. "Did you think that death would sneak around and steal you from between my fingers? You aren't dying before the time allotted to you."

An intense heat engulfed Abdin, and in a second, his body melted. It was his real body this time and not a clone.

"What is your name?" Silver asked again. "How are you related to Abdin son of Samu son of Nuhu?"

He said this in a rush, as if eager to hear the answer.

If souls could smile, Abdin's would have. It seemed his notoriety in the East still hadn't been forgotten, and that made him happy. It meant that whenever he went back home, there would be people that would remember his real face.

His soul began to disintegrate as Silver Mask watched. The man growled and grabbed at the soul with both hands. But that did nothing to stop it from melting away.

***

The next time he opened his eyes, his soul disc was glowing with an unwanted message.

[You have lost 21 years of pol. Your overall cultivation has reduced to 145 years.]

He sighed.

Silver Mask!

He imagined the man on his seemingly stoic horse. Someday, he would kill the man with bare hands after ripping off his blasted mask and speaking the name Abdin to his face.

He took a long while to calm down.