Chapter 166: Reckless Mountain Form

Howard's neck barely remained on his body after he got hit by Oclen's white armed snakeman. 

His eyes had turned blank white, but his body slowly seemed to be fading away. Oclen and Maclan both stared at him hoping that he had died. However, it was hard to ascertain for certain. His neck was supposed to come completely off his body, however, somehow their surprise attack had failed.

"I'll go finish him off," Maclan smiled and jumped over to Howards side. His big bulky arms that almost looked like they had two balloons in the center of them lifted up over his head before he slammed them down into Howard's chest.

Boom!

Howard got hit several times in succession by the Steel Rebel Ape while Maclan happily laughed. They had done it! They had finally killed Howard!

"Maclan, I believe the proper way to kill a Horned is to chop off their head," Oclen took a breath of relief now that Howard was on the floor. His chances of escaping two Arthraku in an unconscious state were slim to none. However, there was something bitter sweet about his nemesis laying in a supine position."I-I think Howard here deserves a few words of respect. Shall we say something before he dies?"

"Why are you acting so respectful all of a sudden?" Maclan raised his eyebrows at Maclan in disbelief. "The sooner we kill him and wipe him out from existence, the sooner I can get home and get five wives as a reward, hahaha! The future is looking up! If only those other two idiots were here, we could celebrate by going to a brothel together!"

"Well, time to send him on his way." Oclen shook his head. "No need to say anything too nice about him. He was a worthy opponent, and had enough potential to make even my father terrified. However, now that he's dead, I can finally work towards overthrowing my father! Maclan, you still agree my father has to go?"

"I may be shallow most of the time, but the one thing I'm serious about is destroying your father. We can't take over the entire Furance without risking him doing something stupid with its full potential."

What Maclan was talking about was the fact that there was an old fable from some of the first members of the Furnace that talked about how the first several races spawned. It had all been because of an ancient man that happened to fall into the Furnace.

It was said that the man that wandered into the Furnace created the Varlen to help him sleep at night, and and the Arthraku to tame beasts that he created. At its maximum power, the Furnace could effectively and potentially change the entire planet and perhaps part of the universe. However, the only way to do this would be by killing all the other races.

Oclen and Maclan both agreed that if the other nations were gone, the Furnace would stop being so fun, and that caused them to unite against his father. Obviously, Oclen still wanted to completely dominate the other nations, but not by just killing everyone for no reason! He would never be as cold blooded as his father! He was killing Howard because he was a threat to the future of the Furnace!

"Heh, well, he's still knocked out cold," Oclen kicked Howard over and looked at the pale skin around his neck. His spine had been slightly dislocated, but it shouldn't have been enough to knock him out. Oclen sighed and suddenly instantly struck down with all his might. Whatever strange circumstance caused him to lose his consciousness, he had to take advantage of it. "Damn it! Maclan, something's wrong! Attack!"

Boom!

Oclen struck with all his might into Howard's neck, but for some reason by the time his fist bridged the gap between them Howard had disappeared only to rise up above him floating in the air.

A strange white and black aura was beginning to burn around Howard while he hovered peacefully with his eyes closed. He looked like the incarnation of death had been reborn and taken on the form of a muscular black haired youth! However, unlike before, Howard's frame had grown more muscular. What the hell had happened?

"Death and Life are similar to a spell," Howard's body trembled before the black and white Ki flame around his body seemed to explode in every direction. The ice around his body melted while a small smirk appeared on the corner of his plaid countenance. "By being alive, you are participating in the spell, and by dying you are resisting falling under its control."

"Hehe, it's the most wonderful spell off all! It's absolutely magical! If you wouldn't mind, can I kill you two now?"

"Maclan, don't hold anything back! He learned whatever damned ability he's been practicing this entire time!"

"What? You mean the one we sensed from that authoritarian?" Maclan replied, "That's ridiculous. How can he learn something from someone so much higher than his rank."

"He's the Demon King Canditate, so why are you asking me! I'm not a descendent of the most evil person to ever exist! Kill him!"

"He wasn't evil." Howard dropped down onto the floor before the flame around his body disappeared. "However, he also wasn't the best father I heard! Hahaha! Now come at me! Attack me with all you got!"

Boom!

Maclan didn't waste a second, nor bother to respond to Howard before his Steel Rebel Ape doubled in size. His hand shot right towards Howard while an extremely powerful Earth Ki Fragment shot from the ground below.

At the same time this was happening, Oclen surged forward and created a gigantic sword made out of Earth Ki before hundreds more began to shoot through the ice at Howard. However, in the midst of this attack, Howard really did just stay completely calm, and simply seemed to sidestep every attack.

Every Earth Ki Fragment went right at Howard but it almost seemed like his speed had increased, yet he got slower at the same time.

This was because he was beginning to completely understand at least 1 / 3 of the Eyes of Life and Death. He could sense which moves would kill him, and which moves would lead to his life. In the ocean of attacks, including dozens of punches from Maclan from his gigantic Steel Rebel Ape form, he was simply either dodging side to side or hopping.

Swoosh!

Howard ducked from Maclan's massive fist before he stepped back and punched upwards with all his might. Maclan's eyes instantly shot open before he soared into the mountain and pierced right into a sharp ice ridge.

The lights in his eyes vanished almost immediately while Oclen began to tremble. What the hell did Howard learn?

"There is a secret skill my father used once against Demon King Earl. They had been friends along time ago, well, more like a student and a teacher."

"Demon King Earl fought his way through the Arthraku's strongest, and eventually became brothers with my great grandfather. He decimated almost everyone who ever fought him, but then my young father, the so called weakest student in Arthraku history, risked it all on a single technique."

"He called this technique, the Reckless Mountain Form. You sacrifice all but one Authoritarian to increase your strength by an entire rank. I never thought I'd try it. My father injured Demon King Earl and since has become the king of the Arthraku. Hehe, but 99 percent of people die when trying it. I hope it runs in the family! Are you ready Howard?"

"I think you should just die first!" Howard stepped off his back foot and activated his Dream Ki. The feeling of the eyes of life and death had almost completely vanished from his awareness, and he only had a tiny bit of it remaining. 

Unfortunately, once again, it required him to use his Ki Heart Ring to utilize. It was a skill that simply required too much Ki for his Ki Cells to control! He needed to finish this now before while Maclan was no longer in the fracas! He'd be back any second, and any hope of victory would disappear.

"Dark Oblivion!" Howard screamed and activated Dark Oblivion while all his anger bottled up into his fist. This damn man had threatened Monica, and killed the brothers that trained him. If he didn't disappear, it would be a blight on the Furnace. Who knew how many of his loved ones he might kill in the future. "Dark Oblivion's Strongest Form, Smog!"

"Hehe, I still have a surprise left!" Fifteen eyes appeared on the white armed snakeman's countenance before they all exploded at once. Howard, who had been inches from him, instantly shot back into the glacier and instantly coughed out blood.

His entire body felt like it had been crushed by a forklift a thousand times over! What the hell was that? He was certain that he destroyed the Eighteen Eyed Juggernaut! How the hell did its eyes return?

"The Eighteen Eyed Juggernaut is actually a good father," Oclen's body slowly started to transform from his snakeman form to his human form. His golden hair and handsome countenance slowly started to bubble while his arms grew bigger and longer. His fingers seemed to turn into claws while his entire body got covered with scales. The next moment, nine arms pierced through his side, but they weren't normal arms. Two of the arms were clearly from snakeman, while others seemed to come from a variety of different creatures. "It allows its children ot possess fifteen of its own eyes so it can watch it at all time. They contain the same ability of the Eighteen Eyed Juggernaut. I can use them to stop almost any attack below the SS rank, and can rapidly increase my Ki for a limited amount of time."

"I figured since the failure rate is over 99 percent for this transformation, it be useful to bolster my strength first. Hehe, and I'm still holding together. I guess that means it worked."

"I'll tear you apart now!" Howard pulled himself out of the cracks and shot forward before he swung at Oclen with all his might. "Ten arms or one, you still need to die!"