Dyon flashed forward with his celestial movement technique, the faint ripples of s.p.a.ce being left in his wake.

The white-haired girl's eye flashed with surprise, Dyon's swinging sword seemed to take up all of her senses.

"Liska, BE CAREFUL." The young man's voice boomed as Dyon's sword continued to swing downwards, but it was already too late.

Liska's eyes widened as she raised her arm up in defense, the sword cutting directly into her flesh.

"Interest…" Array's bloomed below Dyon's feet as he leaped backwards, watching as blue scales spread across Liska's arm.

'She's not a dragon… Something different?'

Liska looked down at her bloodied arm in a rage, looming over Dyon. Her eyes became blue gem-like slits, seemingly piercing toward Dyon's very soul.

Dyon suddenly felt as though his body was solidifying. His eyes widened as a realization came over him, 'soul attack? Petrification?'

Almost as though in response to Dyon's thoughts, a long red tongue slithered out of Liska's mouth, "Serpent King's Reign: Petrification!"

Dyon smirked, 'A basilisk huh… I wonder how many more human world legends are real… But, if you're trying to use a soul type attack on me – too many have tried and failed.'

The battle was over even before it began. Dyon immediately circled his devour technique, completely crus.h.i.+ng Liska's soul attack.

It was clear Liska hadn't expected this at all. The feeling of her shoulder being pierced through, being pinned to the ground and stood over by a man she had just looked down on… it was too much. She couldn't even maintain her scaled form anymore.

She tried to circulate her aurora to use arrays to get out of her situation, but every time she did Dyon circulated his devour skill, completely cutting off her power source. If she had been even a second late in retracting her attack, she'd be dead.

In fact, the only reason why she wasn't dead now was because her soul was still too powerful for Dyon to actively try and absorb on his own.

"Bas…" Liska cried out, her voice coming out as little more than a mosquito's whisper.

Bas looked over, completely shocked. Liska was a genius, how did she lose so quickly? But, his mind suddenly thought back to the technique Dyon had used to replenish his strength, 'He has a perfect counter to soul attacks!'

However, wasn't it too late to think of this now? He had to focus on this fight, or else he'd end up exactly like Liska.

Ri's tails seemed to have minds of their own, flashes of gold and blue melded with raging red flames as she clashed with Bas again and again.

Bas' hand flashed as two sabers appeared in his hands, red scales spreading over his skin as he towered over Ri.

But, Ri didn't seem fazed. Her tails seemed to have an odd pure energy that blocked attacks out of her normal range, threatening Bas with their power every time they whipped out.

Ri's sword danced through the air, her style much more elegant than Dyon's. It was as though she was drawing in the air, her sword the very reincarnation of softly falling snow.

Ri leaped backwards, beams of ice shooting forward without remorse, "Ice Petal's Dance…"

A ma.s.sive lotus of ice appeared in the sky, hovering beneath the feet of RI's demon fox manifestation.

Her eyes flashed into a deep blue, icing over the gold. The wind picked up, rapidly cooling under the oppressive ice will.

Dyon watched with a smile on his face, feeling completely at ease.

"First petal: Ice rain."

Bas charged forward, his sabers curving through the air toward Ri, but they never got a chance to reach her.

Tens of petals separated, spinning in the air before charging forward with the downward swing of Ri's sword.

BOOM!

Bas was flung backward, deep cuts dripping with a blood red that was hardly distinguishable from his scales.

"f.u.c.k! Serpent King's Flame: Crown!" Bas' arms shot from himself as a ma.s.sive ring of fire appeared around him.

Ri looked on calmly, her dark blue hair coated in a sheet of ice, "Second petal: bloom…"

The ice lotus immediately expanded to another size, the temperature dropping again. A s.h.i.+mmering light of blue and gold raged through it as Ri pointed her sword forward, her hair fluttering in the strong winds along with her tails.

"DIE!" Bas' ring of fire surged forward. But, almost as quickly as it spread, it was stifled just as easily.

The lotus slowly descended from the skies, as though there was no choice but to wait for its fall.

Bas could only look up in the sky helplessly, his body locked by an inescapably piercing cold.

Dyon smiled, 'I guess it was a mistake to anger her, hm? Well, I'd say you live and you learn but – ' Dyon's thoughts froze as his eyes widened, "RI, MOVE!"

Ri's attack was taking too much focus, she had no thoughts to deviate to her surroundings. And unfortunately, that was the opening someone else took to attack!

Dyon's body flashed, completely ignoring Liska and leaving his sword in her shoulder.

'NO!'

A calm looking young man appeared from seemingly empty s.p.a.ce. He had a flower in his long black hair and held an oil paper umbrella in his hand. It was as though he was taking a leisurely stroll instead of stepping into a raging battle.

His umbrella folded, piercing toward Ri's back. A golden array bloomed in the direction of Dyon, trying to slow his pace down.

Dyon's eyes flashed, 'Innate aurora! They have 3 of them, not 2?!'

Wings burst from Dyon's back, his humanoid manifestation appearing in an instant, skyrocketing his soul to the peak of the 6th stage.

The eyes of the young man widened, he had no idea Dyon had a second manifestation, much less one that boosted his soul strength!

The young man's array shattered immediately, much too hastily made to match up to Dyon right now. His lip curled in disdain as his umbrella continued to pierce forward, but Dyon was having none of it.

His eyes raged with purple-gold, an intricate lower master level defensive formation blossoming in the air between Ri and the umbrella.

But, the young man remained unperturbed, a stream of energy flying outwards from his umbrella and towards Ri's back.

Dyon flashed forward again and again, feeling his legs crack and fracture under the constant pressure of pressing his celestial movement technique forward with amplification arrays.

And then, just as the energy was about to reach Ri's back, Dyon lunged forward, "First act, third stage Demon Emperor's Will!"

Dyon's body immediately expanded to five meters tall, his muscles tearing and ripping under the strength of his first transformation of this level.

He wrapped his arms around Ri, pulling her out of her attack. The lotus exploded in a rain of ice, piercing toward Bas.

"AGH" Dyon grit his teeth as the black crystal coated scales on his back were pierced by an inexplicable energy. It seemed gentle, and yet so grating, calm, and yet so raging. Dyon nearly blacked out from impact.

He could only look up helplessly as the young man flashed to campaign head Akash, killing Commander Draven with a sweep of his umbrella without giving her any time to react. It was as though the young man could completely erase his presence. What Dyon hadn't realized yet was that he was the only one who could see the young man!

The demon generals were too far in the distance to do anything, still tending to the army. The appearance of the young man was too abrupt, if it wasn't for Dyon's complete focus and the habit he had of enhancing his senses with his crystal will, Ri would be dead!

The campaign heads were even more useless. They had never intended on helping Dyon in the first place, and although commander Draven's death wasn't beneficial for them in the least, they too weren't fast enough in reacting…

The young man's array alchemy was so powerful that even Dyon hadn't sensed him until he planned to attack!

The last thing Dyon saw before he blacked out was the young man's cold expressionless face radiating in victory as he swooped Bas and Liska away, "Weren't you going to crush me 'just the same' when I appeared? Why are you lying on the ground now?

Pathetic."

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Yikes….

Hope you enjoyed! ?