It had only been two months since they last parted. The once white-haired and spirited elder of the alien species had now lost all his hair and teeth, his skin was as ugly as the knots of an old tree, and his body was as weak as a candle in the wind, requiring all his strength to breathe.
Noticing Todd's gaze, Clarence grinned, coughing as he said, "That failed soul link caused irreparable damage to my body. My memory is slowly fading, and my life is slipping away bit by bit."
Clarence paused for a moment, looking at Todd, whose body was mostly mutated, and continued, "However, it seems you're not much better off than me."
Todd glanced at the seemingly frail girl beside her, then subtly pulled Rachel behind him and asked in a cold voice, "What are you doing here?!"
“The first reason. Like you, in the final moments of my life, I’m making a desperate gamble, hoping to find a way to redeem myself here.” Clarence glanced at the raven-feathered woman high above on the viewing platform, then turned his attention back, his eyes sharpening. “Second, we have a score to settle!”
"Wait a minute!" Rachel shouted towards the platform, "Is this kind of private duel allowed during the trials of the Shadow Kingdom? Doesn't this violate a code that has been in place for thousands of years?"
The woman with raven feathers gently shook her head: "My duty is merely to bring the candidates who have passed the trials before my master. As for personal grudges, the Shadow Kingdom will not interfere."
“Ratchet, I’ll settle the score with you later,” Clarence said to Todd. “It seems the last obstacle preventing us from resolving this conflict has been removed.”
The latter looked at the old man's broken body and slow movements, and said in a deep voice, "Clarence, I don't think you have the strength to stop me."
Clarence clutched his chest and burst into laughter: "King of Muxi! In this world of aliens, ignorance and arrogance have blinded you. Today, perhaps I can teach you what true power is!"
As Clarence stretched out his withered, branch-like arms, the ground in front of him began to tremble, and soil and stones slowly floated up, swirling around his body.
With a flick of his wrist, the earth and rocks transformed into a spiraling hurricane that slammed into Todd.
The cloth scatters everywhere; the robe used to cover Todd's body instantly turns into a pile of strips of cloth and falls to the ground.
"Todd, I've given you so many chances! You could have been the emperor of half the world!" Clarence shouted amidst the flying dust and stones. "Power! Money! Women! Everything you want is within your grasp!"
Todd held up his steel-colored arms to shield himself from the storm's onslaught.
"But you chose to abandon everything to protect those who are useless! Why? Why?!"
Clarence reached one hand into the soil, lifted a giant stone ball, one meter in diameter, into the air, and slammed it down on Todd's position.
The latter activated its speed-enhancing ability, its mutated legs increasing its speed to a level almost imperceptible to the naked eye. In the instant before the stone sphere fell, it shot towards the enemy like an arrow released from a bow.
Driven by speed and power, the sharp steel claws tore through space, ignited the air, and left trails of white smoke in their path.
In just a breath, Todd's attack was less than ten centimeters from Clarence's nose.
The next second, a huge sinkhole appeared on the ground, and Todd, who had lost the support of the ground, fell into the trap that the other side had prepared in advance.
Clarence clasped his hands together, and the earth and rocks poured into the gap in the ground, instantly turning the bottomless sinkhole into a tomb without a marker.
“Your experience in combat is too shallow!” Clarence sneered, looking at the solid mud beneath his feet.
Suddenly, a steel claw emerged from the ground and gripped his ankle firmly.
Todd broke free from the earth's restraints and leaped out of the ground. His claws flashed, leaving three deep, bone-revealing wounds on Clarence's chest.
Clutching his wound and retreating, Clarence looked at Todd with surprise: "King of Muxi, your progress has astonished me."
Standing firmly on the ground, the mutation slowly spread along Todd's skin, completely eroding his limbs and torso, leaving only his head and neck, which still retained human characteristics.
Clarence reached out and licked the black blood from his wound, then smiled and said to Todd, "There's something you might not know: the more frequently and intensely you use your powers, the faster you mutate!"
Todd felt as if his whole body was being burned by flames, and he bit his lip hard.
“Appetizer time is over,” Clarence said with a smile, taking a few steps back. He took out a golden copper tube from his pocket, poured half of the liquid inside into his mouth, and bowed to Todd. “Now, it’s time for the main course.”
As the medicine entered his abdominal cavity, Clarence trembled violently, collapsed to his knees, and his hands and feet sank deep into the soil.
The skeletons and rotting corpses on the ground, like metal drawn by a magnet, gathered beneath him and were absorbed into Clarence's body, transforming into flesh and blood. His originally withered and emaciated body rapidly swelled like a balloon.
Todd stared at the giant in front of him, made of flesh and bones, slowly straightened up, opened his eyes wide, and took a step back.
"The Sutherland legacy is truly a wondrous thing," the two-meter-tall flesh troll said with satisfaction, looking down at his hands and feet. "As long as the right method of use is found, mutation will no longer be a curse for the inheritor, but a horn of power! However, this mutation that keeps one conscious cannot last long. If one does not come into contact with the tyrant in time, one will still fall into madness."
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