CHAPTER 899: The Demon Arrives

The moment Hill and Sha-t'o appeared, the House of Han's struggle was essentially over.

Both Hill and Sha-to possessed late-stage Highgod strength. Besides the two of them, there were also five Highgods of different stages from the Kiaran family. In addition, the two Divine Guard Chiefs stationed outside the Kiaran Residence also possessed Highgod strength. Thousands of divine guards from all over the city also rushed to the residence. This huge disadvantage for the House of Han could not be overcome with battle formations alone.

Sha-t'o was furious when he returned to his Kiaran residence and saw all the buildings that the House of Han had destroyed and the bodies of those they had killed. He was so angry that he wanted to skin every member of the House of Han.

Hill had arrived at the Kiaran Residence at the same time as Sha-t'o. He, too, saw the tremendous losses suffered by the House of Kiaran and how the House of Han guards were gradually retreating and defending themselves in a bizarre combat formation. But not only was Hill not saddened by the Kiaran losses, he was secretly pleased.

In Witherbone City, the House of Kiaran was the only family clan that could pose a real threat to his position as City Lord. But since Sha-t'o had always been loyal and devoted to him, Hill couldn't find any excuse to diminish the strength of the House of Kiaran. He could not be happier to see the Kiaran residence covered in fire and blood. It was also a testament to the great teamwork of the House of Han.

By now, the House of Han was completely surrounded by thousands of divine guards from Witherbone City. Hill was excited to think that Witherbone City would soon receive the secret formulas for their miraculous medicines and extremely deadly demonic combat formations.

"How dare you attack us! You are asking for death!" shouted Sha-t'o. He gave Bollands, Stratholme, Emily and the others a death stare. It was as if he wanted to tear their flesh and eat them alive.

"We've had enough of your intimidation and bullying!" Emily replied angrily, "You will have us killed no matter what we do. If you won't let us live, the least we can do is make you bleed!"

"Well, very well then." Sha-t'o made a ruthless face, gestured and ordered, "Kill them all! Show no mercy!"

A large number of divine guards and Highgods had surrounded the House of Han. They temporarily ceased firing when Sha-t'o and Hill arrived. But when they heard Sha-t'o's command, they did not hesitate and charged forward.

Knowing that the House of Han's demonic combat formation was incredibly wondrous and deadly, Sha-t'o did not count on the large numbers of his Kiaran Family divine guards. Instead, he relied on his large number of Highgods. He ordered the Highgods to take the brunt of the attack, while his Kiaran Family Divine Guards would fire long-range energy projectiles from a safe distance.

Five Highgods under Sha-t'o and two under Hill surrounded the House of Han from seven directions. The thousands of divine guards of Witherbone City trained their divine weapons on the House of Han.

The House of Han had no choice but to hunker down and stand their ground. They knew that the Kiaran residence must be heavily surrounded by divine guards from all over the city. If they tried to break out of the encirclement, they would be quite vulnerable and easily crushed by the Witherbone Divine Guards, who outnumbered them. They thought it better to stay on their ground and kill those who came to them, inflicting maximum damage at the cost of their own lives.

The House of Han understood that they had an advantage over their enemy in terms of team strength. If they scattered, they would lose the only advantage they had. Not only would the House of Han hasten their demise, but they would also fail to inflict any significant damage on their enemies.

Each member of the House of Han wore a calm face despite the certainty of their doom. They were ready for what would probably be their last fight.

Seven Highgods began to charge at them from seven directions. A dark, cloud-like canopy formed by the energy of death shrouded the Kiaran Residence, while blinding radiance erupted from the remaining energy towers. The massive, ominous dark cloud floated slowly towards where the members of the House of Han had gathered.

The seven Highgods unfolded their domains of divinity. The various elemental energies in the surrounding area gathered into bizarre energy currents. When the seven energy streams created by the seven Highgods shot towards the House of Han, it set off a chain of deadly events.

Thousands upon thousands of colourful energy bolts rose into the sky and whistled towards the Han house. Bone spears were also thrown. They were the finest products made from the finest materials in the renowned bone refineries. Not only were they polished to a mirror finish, but they were also imbued with a large amount of the aura of death.

Each member of the House of Han wore a calm face. Despite the thousands of attacks coming at them, not a single guard panicked and their breathing rate remained steady. They remained collected and organised, as if the bright projectiles flying at them were just ordinary raindrops.

Despite being enemies, the Witherbone Divine Guards were astonished by the fearless behaviour of the House of Han. City Lord Hill, who was experienced in training divine guards, was particularly amazed. After seeing the bravery of the House of Han guards, Hill was filled with awe and became even more determined to learn their secret training method.

The House of Han stood motionless as thousands of attacks flew towards them. But just before those attacks were about to land, their battle formation suddenly changed!

The House of Han guards, who had been massed together, suddenly moved outwards. Originally, they were only three paces apart, but suddenly, they had expanded to about ten paces apart.

As soon as they adopted the new battle formation, the House of Han guards swung into action with great rapport. Some of them would use all sorts of boundaries and defences to resist the bombardment, while the rest would launch counterattacks without paying any attention to the energy currents and divine weapons shooting at them.

The moment the House of Han adopted a new formation to defend themselves while counterattacking, those Witherbone Divine Guards could no longer stay calm. Some would set up defences, while others would desperately try to flee and evade.

The two armies bombarded each other with swarms of bone spears, divine weapons, and energy streams. Moments after they had exchanged blows, it became clear that the House of Han had the upper hand, mainly due to their small number of top-class experts.

If there were only three Highgods, Sanguis, Bolland and Gilbert would be able to withstand the attacks, albeit with some difficulty. However, they were facing seven Highgods, five of whom were Mid-stage Highgods, while two Late-stage Highgods were watching from the sidelines. Due to the huge disparity in strength, the House of Han was no longer as unstoppable as before. One by one, the House of Han's guards fell to the overwhelming energies being fired at them.

Despite this, it would be obvious to any observer that the team combat strength of the House of Han was far greater than that of the Witherbone Divine Guards. If it weren't for the seven Highgod experts, the House of Han might have a chance to crush the thousands of Witherbone Divine Guards!

Many of the Witherbone Divine Guards screamed and ran away when they were attacked. Many were killed when they collided with their comrades, who were also trying to evade an incoming attack.

Meanwhile, every guard of the House of Han remained cool and silent in the face of attacks that filled the sky. They worked together methodically. Those in charge of the defence would focus all their energy on the defence, while those in charge of the attack would focus all their energy on the attack.

From start to finish, every guard of the House of Han had remained in place. No one had panicked, even though they had seen their comrades die in battle.

"Sha-t'o, tell your men to be careful. Make sure they do not kill their leaders yet," Hill said. He watched the House of Han with admiration and felt great respect for the person who trained these guards.

Hill knew that the moment a person died, their soul would begin to dissipate and the memories it contained would disappear with it. Once a soul had completely dissipated into the environment, its memories would also be completely gone. No amount of divine energy from death could restore them.

The reason Hill wanted to keep these core members of the Han family alive was so that he could extract as much of their precious memories and secrets as possible.

"Understood," Sha-t'o replied as he nodded. After seeing the great losses his House of Kiaran had suffered at the hands of the House of Han, he was consumed with rage and had almost forgotten their main objective. But he came to his senses after being reminded by Hill.

Sha-t'o took a deep breath before roaring at the sky. Then, having gained the attention of his Highgods, he made a hand gesture.

As veterans of the House of Kiaran, these Highgod immediately understood Sha-t'o's wordless command. They became much more selective in their bombardment. Most of the attacks landed on those unimportant House of Han guards.

It was these seven Highgod experts who had caused the most casualties to the House of Han. The seven would only attack and kill the guards on the outer perimeter, but not the core members of the Han family who were grouped together.

The Han family looked at each other and saw the desperation in each other's eyes. Stratholme and Emily were shrewd characters. They could see immediately what their enemies were planning.

Bollands glanced at Stratholme and Emily and instantly read their minds. He shouted, "Don't do anything stupid. With the three of us here, there is no need for suicide. They won't be able to extract any information from your souls even if you are the last of us to fall".

Bollands could tell that Stratholme and Emily were planning to kill themselves so that their souls would have dissipated before Sha-t'o and the others could extract anything from their memories.

Emily sighed softly and muttered to herself, "Goodbye Bryan... I guess I will never see you again..."

At that moment, as if Emily's prayer had been answered, a world-shattering roar sounded from the horizon. A ferocious aura with the desire to destroy all things suddenly enveloped the whole of Witherbone City!