Shot down into the ruins of the purgatory cliff, Melogas, Lord of Blasphemy, reflected the figure of Xigelei in her astonished eyes.
She clearly had not anticipated such excessive strength from a young maiden.
Even though Melogas's combat awareness caused the entire world in her perception to slow down drastically when crisis loomed, Xigelei's lethal strike had produced no sound at all.
By the time the sound of breaking air reached her ears, she had already solidly struck Melogas.
"Just who are you?!"
Melogas, Lord of Blasphemy, refused to believe this was a wolf demon; she could not sense the slightest trace of a great demon's aura from her.
And if she was not a great demon, she should have been completely suppressed by her.
Yet the girl was not affected in the slightest, nor did she suppress her with nine seals like Caliera did—she was simply, purely strong.
"The strongest woman in the world."
Without giving Melogas a single moment to catch her breath, Sigrid set down the floating Caliera in midair, her pursuit already arriving right before Melogas's eyes once more.
Striking with full martial fury, her skin was enveloped in a faint silver luminescence, pristine and sacred as a crescent moon.
This was not magic, but a phenomenon born of the perfect fusion of her physical prowess, immunity magic tool, Original Slate, and fist intent.
She possessed an Original Slate entirely distinct from those held by others—[Original Slate - Basic].
[Original Slate - Basic] enhanced only normal attacks. When she threw out her most direct strikes with full power, it would trigger, granting a massive amplification to their destructive force.
"Hahaha! What a fierce woman!"
Melogas gave a ferocious laugh, catching Sigrid's blows head-on with both palms and locking in a contest of raw strength.
Now that she had reacted in time, it was no longer so easy for Sigrid to land clean hits.
Although Melogas was clearly falling behind in brute strength, the explosive poison mist pouring off her began cutting bloody gashes across Sigrid during their contact.
"I despise being ambushed, and today marks the second time!"
Dark purple, crackling lightning erupted from Melogas's scorpion tail, matching the violent fury blazing in her eyes. The invisible magic poison mist spreading before her relentlessly swirled over Sigrid's arms, sending out ring after ring of metallic hums and shockwaves.
By now, she truly felt a shred of curiosity about who that guy in Purgatory Corridor Academy was—bringing Caliera along, and protected by an expert like this...
Melogas's pupils, gradually cooling, shifted slightly to glance toward the other figure in the distance.
"..."
Sigrid paid Melogas no heed. When she had the chance to pummel an opponent to death, she usually refrained from talking.
She merely made sure Caliera was safe in the distance, her violet eyes locked onto the scorpion like a predator fixing its prey.
The brief, cold exchange of stares was the silence before thunder crashed through the night. The clash between supreme combatants erupted once more across the Purgatory Grounds.
Silvery moonlight illuminated the boiling expanse of magma once again. Shielded by a magic barrier, Melogas spread her palms, a dark purple vortex swirling in her center. Terrifying magic power bordering on the realm of deities gathered toward her, endlessly compressed until a cocoon of black lightning radiated around her, cutting off all surrounding light.
If swept up in this tier-eight peak demon spell thrown with reckless disregard, even the most massive army of the Holy Polant Theocracy would likely be completely eradicated without city defense barriers.
"Caliera, get back!"
Sigrid suddenly called out.
"Let's see how long you can contend with me while tanking my poison magic head-on!"
Melogas relished this sort of slaughter. Every word she spat sounded like a curse. Dense, chilling magic scored gouges into the dim ground of purgatory like blades, completely sealing off every opening between her and Sigrid.
A collision like colliding stars was on the verge of erupting.
The mere magic tempest stung Talia's skin and cheeks, and she began pulling back at once.
By the time Talia had retreated halfway, the white light nearly illuminated her.
"Xigelei!"
Even if she wanted to help Xigelei, it was nearly impossible to intervene in a battle of this caliber.
Talia was almost blasted away by the sheer pressure radiating from Melogas and Xigelei's clash.
When fighting Melogas earlier, Talia had possessed a heavy specialized advantage against the Lord of Blasphemy, allowing her to trade a couple of blows. But now, neither Melogas nor Xigelei had buffs or debuffs—this was a clash of pure, unadulterated peak tier-eight raw power, and Talia could easily be injured by the fallout.
Talia was frantic with worry and longed to help Xigelei; seeing Xigelei get hurt pained her more than being injured herself.
She possessed an immortal body and could recover simply by consuming Lanqi's mana, whereas Xigelei was a maiden in the prime of her youth. Every inch of her skin was precious beyond measure and should not be marred by scars.
Buzz... buzz...
Suddenly, the communication magic card buzzed, and Talia answered it immediately.
"Tata, look after your own safety. Move up another fifteen meters and just provide support for Xigelei. She can win."
Lanqi sent a message to Talia using Boss Cat's communication magic card.
At this distance, their telepathic link had failed, leaving communication magic as the only option.
"But she keeps getting hurt, and I don't know healing magic," Talia said to the other end of the communication magic.
Though she disliked Lanqi's micromanagement, she still followed his instructions and moved a bit further from the center of the battlefield.
Among the seven surviving great demons of the present era, all possessed some supportive capabilities, but only the Ice Snow Witch and Antanas specialized in healing.
"Melogas probably hasn't realized the gravity of the situation yet—trading wound for wound with a werewolf at night."
Lanqi's voice, accompanied by faint static, came through the communication magic again.
Talia immediately looked down.
She saw that Xigelei, confronting Melogas, had not shrunk back in the slightest before this devastating ultimate spell.
The pure light around Xigelei remained undiminished, like a moon goddess or a martial deity, calmly breaking through every obstacle with her all-reaching fist intent!
Every injury upon her body was visibly and rapidly mending beneath that moonlight.
To Xigelei, Melogas's poison mist was nothing more than superficial scratching.
"Just what did this child eat growing up?!"
Talia was dumbfounded.
Protected by her magic barrier from the shockwaves, Talia steered clear of the battlefield's center amid the collapse of the Purgatory Grounds.
She believed Lanqi now.
As a mother, she did not have to worry about Xigelei being bullied outside at all.
Even so, Talia's vision flickered between dark and light amid smoke, dust, and airflow. The colossal roar reverberating through Purgatory City Pasqual nearly swept her up into the updraft again.
The two peak tier-eight powerhouses nearing the divine realm clashed like an age of gods reborn.
A catastrophic collision unfolded across the crumbling Purgatory Grounds!
The entire upper tier of the Purgatory Grounds near the sky turned into a battleground. Shockwaves relentlessly battered every stratum of rock, unleashing behemoths of surging ash that tore through the once-solid ridges and riddled them with gaping holes.
The battle intensified, the fiery glow of molten lava below intertwining with the thunder across the heavens. Storm clouds gathered and swirled overhead as if nature itself were shaken by this sudden eruption of combat, the atmospheric pressure in the high skies surging violently.
Every clash lit up the vast clouds from the magma below.
Ordinary experts would not even be able to discern the details of such a death match from afar, let alone approach their battlefield.
At the center of this battlefield, Melogas seemed to notice something amiss as well.
"Are you... of the Blood Clan? No, you're the little wolf girl Caliera carried around?!"
It was as though Melogas had recalled something.
This eerie regenerative power, rendering any amount of damage meaningless, was entirely beyond what a human could possess.
Aside from the Blood Clan, only the Wolf Clan possessed such traits.
In Melogas's memory, Caliera had always liked keeping a little wolf girl by her side. Back then, Melogas could not fathom why Caliera would uncharacteristically raise a child.
Who would have thought that in just a dozen-odd years, that little girl would become so terrifying!
"That's right, it's me," Xigelei said proudly.
She held no weapon. No magical equipment, regardless of tier, was stronger than her own body. Every step she took shook like thunder, dragging massive gusts of air and generating intense wind pressure.
Her cold eyes drifted with a violet gleam, focused entirely on driving Melogas into a corner.
"..."
Melogas backed away with a grim expression.
Although she could fight a wolf girl, fighting the Wolf Clan at night was clearly a situation that called for caution.
"I like strong opponents like you! Strike harder—let me feel lethal agony, and in return, I'll pay you back in full!"
Melogas's calm smile was spine-chilling as she lunged at Xigelei once more.
Even if she had briefly fallen into a disadvantage in her clash with Sigrid, she smiled like an adult indulging a child in a game.
She simply had to savor the blood of a Wolf Clan beauty!
Though Melogas's offensive was ferocious, it remained orderly, every spell chaining seamlessly. Whenever her scorpion tail lit up, it unleashed poison and mental magic, creating zones of purple-gray forbidden ground that met Sigrid in the space ahead.
"..."
Sigrid offered no comment on Melogas's words.
In battle, the most critical discipline was never to let an opponent's words affect one's mind.
The silver comet and purple comet drew close and pulled apart, yet at all times, they seemed like two world-ending calamities colliding.
Sigrid's fist intent crashed down like a plunging waterfall, seeking to shatter Melogas to pieces, while Melogas moved like an agile dancer flitting through the inescapable web of traps she had laid, striving to pin Sigrid down and impale her.
Melogas's stalling tactics failed to meaningfully slow Sigrid's approach. With her more complex spell formula fully prepared, the entire field of view began distorting; poison mist rising from the ground and purple light raining from the sky threatened to swallow Sigrid in an instant.
Right at that moment, Sigrid's form radiated a dazzling, nearly translucent silhouette of light. Even her pupils turned silver as she seemed to enter an entirely new state of no-self, throwing an unprecedented punch.
In midair, the silver radiance collided with the deep-purple spell, exploding into a burst of energy separated by a distinct dividing line.
Moments later, flying backward until she crashed down, Melogas had clearly come out on the losing end of that clash.
Finally.
As the battle between Xigelei and Melogas reached a fever pitch, the sky was suddenly veiled by an invisible fluctuation of magic power. A chill wind swept past, smoothing over the gravel and sand upon the earth.
The plunging temperature visibly and swiftly froze the dew on the ground. This unfamiliar sensation caused Melogas to panic for an instant.
At a juncture like this, being locked down by mental magic was the last thing she could afford.
"..."
A figure, arriving from nowhere at an unknown moment, silently touched down.
Caliera held hand seals, restraining Melogas's form with a spell.
Melogas had never imagined Caliera would stoop to striking her so despicably.
Caliera had never once regarded her as a worthy opponent before, never bothering to get serious against her!
Seeing Caliera intervene, Sigrid was a little surprised as well.
In her impression, Caliera was not the kind of great demon who would swallow her pride to gang up two-on-one.
Still, in a fight, winning was all that mattered!
"Thanks!"
Sigrid fully approved of Caliera's intervention and was glad Caliera was willing to lend a hand.
Sigrid was seasoned in battle.
The instant Melogas paused, her fist followed through, driving Melogas violently into the ground.
Amid the collapse of the deepest bedrock in purgatory, Melogas, coughing blood, plunged into the subterranean depths.
"Who knew we worked so well together?"
Talia arrived beside Xigelei.
She felt that as long as she helped Xigelei crowd-control Melogas, Xigelei could instantly dish out immensely effective damage!
It was an entirely different effect compared to trying to deal damage herself.
"Yeah, this is our mother-daughter bond!"
Xigelei high-fived the white-dressed witch.
She had high attack, high defense, and high speed; her greatest weakness was a lack of crowd control.
Meanwhile, Caliera was basically a semi-support stacked with all sorts of flashy control abilities.
"Is that so..."
Talia looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed.
Such a powerful teammate and such a comfortable party setup might never happen again.
The more she realized how perfect Xigelei was, the more reluctant Talia felt to part with her.
"How long do you think she can last?"
High in the air, Xigelei looked down at Melogas slowly clambering up from the ground and asked Caliera beside her.
Talia said nothing, merely smiling and shaking her head as she watched Melogas.
Before them, Melogas was already prey with no escape.
...
Far away at the Corridor Academy, Hyperion watched with twitching eyelids.
She felt like both her mother and her younger sister had turned into proper villains.
Are you two really the good guys?
This mangled lava canyon was constantly filled with deafening roars, punctuated by occasional, lethal silences—and if the silence persisted, it meant victory and defeat were about to be decided.
Hyperion could clearly feel that the impassable distance separating her from that far-off battlefield was the distance between mortals and gods.
Even standing here, had it not been for the barrier of Purgatory Corridor Academy, she could have been grievously wounded at any moment by the aftershocks rolling off the battlefield.
"I need to reach tier seven quickly so I can actually help," Hyperion said, clenching her fist.
To intervene in a battle of this caliber required at least the transcendent realm of tier seven. Otherwise, wandering into it for even an instant would vaporize a fragile tier-six mortal body on the spot.
"It's fine, Hyperion," Lanqi consoled her, telling her not to put too much pressure on herself.
"...What do you mean?"
Hyperion felt Lanqi had only said half of what he meant.
"You're the nexus crystal," Lanqi explained.
Hyperion, otherwise known as "base."
Hyperion only needed to focus on staying alive; everyone's mission had always been to keep Hyperion alive.
"...?"
When Hyperion first heard Lanqi's words, she had thought it was some sweet confession.
Before her heart could even beat faster, she read his real meaning from his eyes.
"You've gone bad!"
She pouted angrily, tapping Lanqi's shoulder in mock indignation.
"My mistake, my mistake. I respect the princess more than anyone."
Lanqi merely chuckled.
Hyperion had not used any force at all.
By now, Tamisha had awakened.
The little gray cat's head poked out from Hyperion's chest, looking at the earth-shattering battle in the distance, then back at the man and woman.
It seemed to realize it had been saved.
Forget it, back to sleep.
Tamisha burrowed back into Hyperion's clothes and curled up once more.
"Speaking of which, doesn't the light around Xigelei look a bit like an Original Slate?" Hyperion looked toward Lanqi and asked.
Though she could not definitively tell whether the light on Xigelei was an Original Slate, she felt it was undoubtedly a similar ancient radiance.
"Perhaps," Lanqi could not say for sure either.
"Uh..."
Troubled, Hyperion retracted her gaze.
Historians had reached no consensus on which era the Original Slates originated from, so one could not rule out the possibility that Blood Moon Ruined World already possessed Original Slates or similar artifacts.
After all, even Caliera possessed a strange ancient radiance.
In reality, in the present world, [Original Slate - Basic], which produced a similar radiance, belonged to a woman she utterly loathed. Seeing the glow on Xigelei could not help but remind Hyperion of that woman who was also adept with her fists.
Yet this was her beloved Xigelei, entirely different from that woman.
Hyperion shook her head.
She refused to compare someone she hated with someone she adored; doing so was an insult to Xigelei.
It did not matter whether that radiance was an Original Slate or not—it was enough that Xigelei was strong.
"Keep it up, Xigelei, Caliera!"
Hyperion cheered for her two favorite Shadow World companions!
The entire sunken purgatory canyon crumbled step by step into molten dust, on the verge of being swallowed whole by the battle.
Energy vortexes formed in the starry sky as a pitch-black lunar eclipse finally arrived, threatening to destroy and devour everything in its vicinity.
Fissures spread across the upper tier of the canyon, bottomless chasms spewing turbid gales as though the gates of hell had swung wide.
Melogas poured out tier-eight spells toward Xigelei with full force, as if they consumed no mana at all.
On the outskirts of Purgatory City Pasqual, the majestic spires and ancient edifices of the demon realm proved as fragile as paper in this battle, collapsing one after another into the ruins of history.
The sudden appearance of Caliera, who lurked behind simply to provide crowd control, was even harder for Melogas to handle than Xigelei's frontal assault.
At this moment, Melogas's movements were drastically more sluggish than before.
Meanwhile, Caliera backed away to maintain her distance, preparing her mental magic with measured poise and waiting for Melogas's next opening.
Under their combined assault, Melogas fell into unprecedented disarray.
Forced to evade repeatedly, she struggled mightily with each dodge.
Whenever she attempted a counterattack, one of the two would promptly interrupt her, preventing her from displaying even half her true strength.
Fighting one-on-two was not the worst part.
The worst part was that her opponents could actually coordinate.
"Caliera..."
Melogas adjusted her breathing with all her might, straining to stay vigilant.
Against Xigelei alone, she still had confidence.
Even if she could not win, she could at least escape.
Add Caliera into the equation, and all bets were off.
Worse still, Caliera seemed to have turned rather underhanded.
Even so, Melogas refused to show weakness, relying on her demon physique and boundless mana to search ceaselessly for a breakthrough between the two.
Though her win condition was no longer victory but escape, leaving the territory of Purgatory City Pasqual in one piece today looked as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
"Melogas, you're not fantasizing about stalling until daybreak, are you? There are still hours left."
Watching Melogas stubbornly hold out, Talia felt thoroughly gratified pummeling this scorpion witch.
Having an invincible daughter was truly wonderful.
Talia focused mana onto her fingertips. In the direction she pointed, the air warped, forming obsidian cracks that boxed in Melogas's dodge range.
By now, Talia was also well aware of Xigelei's Wolf Clan traits: beneath the moonlight, she received an absurd boost to all attributes and regeneration.
There was no way Melogas could stall until daybreak.
Xigelei was actually somewhat surprised; Caliera's spells reminded her of an old acquaintance. But remembering that Caliera dabbled in a bit of everything and possessed countless secret treasures, it was not so strange after all.
"Caliera, you're about to run out of steam first, aren't you?!" Melogas shouted.
Her situation was dire.
Melogas knew full well she had to severely wound either Xigelei or Caliera here before she could seize an opportunity to flee this purgatory city.
If they insisted on keeping her here by force, they would have to pay a price as well.
Correspondingly, Melogas could sense that Caliera's attacks were quite limited in number and grew weaker each time, as if her mana were running dry.
"?"
Xigelei had not expected Caliera's mana to be so scarce either.
She was not particularly sensitive to mana; she had assumed Caliera was only intervening at pivotal moments, not that she was running low on mana.
"Sorry!" Talia admitted to Xigelei with a touch of embarrassment.
While undoing her fusion with the Poet of Great Love would give her plenty of mana, she would revert to her original demon form and be entirely unable to participate in combat at this level.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Xigelei stepped before her with resolute assurance.
"Oh!"
That valiant, dashing bearing made Talia feel like she had a knight of her own.
So it turned out she was a princess after all!
Finally, amid Talia's attacks aimed at restricting her movement, Melogas caught a fleeting opportunity. Lunging forward in silence, her body struck toward Talia once more like purple lightning.
Yet in that critical instant, Xigelei caught her movement as well. The howling wind of her fists wove into a cage that shattered Melogas's offensive, while the spatial black lines laid down by Talia swelled and detonated in an intersecting burst.
The massive concussive force sent Melogas flying backward, crashing hard into the distant ground and rolling several times before coming to a halt.
"That really hurts..."
Melogas struggled to her feet. The injuries and pressure from her foes made her consciousness feel exceedingly sluggish.
The longer they fought, the clearer it became that stalling until dawn was out of the question.
"Melogas, your valor is commendable, but you should know what your odds of winning are right now."
Sigrid's voice rang out.
Back then in Bandera City on the northern border of the Protos Empire, she had been in Melogas's exact position.
Fighting two-on-one was truly reliable after all.
One-on-two was practically impossible.
"Keep laughing, Melogas."
Talia hid behind Xigelei, resting a hand on Xigelei's shoulder as she taunted Melogas in the distance.
Fighting Melogas one-on-one earlier had infuriated her to no end.
Even though she was riding on Xigelei's momentum now, she had never experienced such a smooth, one-sided match before, and her mood turned delightfully bright.
"Caliera, to tell you the truth, I'm enjoying this..."
No matter how absurd Caliera's words sounded to her, Melogas said nothing at all. Blood dripped down from her brow, her icy eyes holding only slaughterous intent.
The corners of her mouth slowly curled up.
The lava of Purgatory City continued to boil.
Under the darkened skies, with the chaotic clash of three great demon-level combatants, all of purgatory underwent accelerating, destructive tremors.
The silver light on Xigelei possessed the power to tear through anything, while Melogas's boundless, chilling magic created clear boundaries between light and dark with every collision.
Most of the time, Talia remained on standby, merely observing the fight and refusing to waste mana.
No one knew how long the battle had raged.
Facing Melogas in this state, even Xigelei and Talia working together dared not drop their guard, locking down her attacks with extreme caution.
Talia's vision was razor-sharp.
Melogas was not the only one injured; whenever Talia was targeted and caught, even with Xigelei stepping in to shield her, Talia still suffered considerable damage.
Melogas seemed well aware that she had to eliminate the weaker support first to stand any chance.
"Heh..."
Yet Melogas's true objective lay elsewhere.
Through the brief exchanges, Melogas had imperceptibly shifted the battlefield dozens of meters toward Purgatory Corridor Academy.
She still possessed one path to victory.
There were still two hostages over at Purgatory Corridor Academy!
As long as she captured the phantom demon headmaster or Her Highness the Princess, Melogas could regain the initiative.
Furthermore, if her guess was correct, killing that male phantom demon would make Caliera, who was dwelling within him, vanish as well!
Otherwise, there was no explaining why Caliera was currently so weak and her mana so constrained.
Amid the dense smoke of the purgatory war, fierce winds howled past, momentarily revealing three rapid figures.
The once-proud Melogas no longer possessed eyes as sharp as before; the brief battle had evidently drained a massive amount of her stamina.
Her body, once radiating violet luminescence, was now covered in mortal wounds. Blood dripped from the ends of her long hair, and her dusty-violet lips were stained with crimson. Her aura grew steadily weaker; it would surprise no one if she collapsed at any second.
Yet her expression remained stern with a hint of playful mockery, her wounds failing to conceal her sinister smile.
Melogas, Lord of Blasphemy, flickered like a phantom.
Her opponents had not noticed the subtle shift in the battlefield at all.
With merely that weakly magical phantom demon headmaster and the internal barrier of Purgatory Corridor Academy, they could never protect the princess!
Melogas, who appeared to be feinting toward Talia, abruptly pivoted.
Sigrid, who had immediately moved to shield Talia, was juked by Melogas.
Melogas shot straight toward Purgatory Corridor Academy, bursting forward at top speed through the air.
"!"
Sensing that intense surge of magic power, Sigrid realized that Melogas's target was not Talia.
Employing one of her scarce flash-step spells, she turned into a silver bolt of lightning and gave chase.
"Hahahaha!"
Melogas laughed, mocking Xigelei and Caliera for lacking the awareness to protect the princess.
Prepared well in advance, she waved her sleeve, and a magic poison web snagged Sigrid's velocity as though anticipating her every move.
Sigrid's body jerked violently as she strained to break free.
She felt an unprecedented drag, tightly bound as if by chains, struggling to move.
"Phoo..."
Sigrid took a deep breath. Channeling what seemed to be her true trump card, the silver light around her ignited again, brighter than ever. Her vitality was ignited in an instant, turning into blazing silver flames.
The silver flames scorched the poison web frenziedly, melting it away.
A flicker of surprise crossed Melogas's eyes.
What sort of state was this that could not even restrain her?
Still, it did not matter.
Now she was closer to the princess, and she would definitely eliminate the phantom demon headmaster first!
As long as she killed him—killed that phantom demon.
The entire deadlock would be broken!
Whether she still felt curious about him or wanted to converse with him no longer mattered.
The more intriguing she had found him before, the more she hated him now, yearning to destroy him.
Melogas had long understood—
This guy was the true culprit thwarting her today!
Shattering the outer barrier of Purgatory Corridor Academy, Melogas was still hundreds of meters from the headmaster by the window, the building debris drifting in the air dragged by her deep-purple magic into a miniature vortex.
Within that vortex, an amethyst beam was condensing, poised to pierce clean through everything in its path.
"Get out of the way!!"
Sensing that horrifying magic surge, Sigrid knew that no matter how casually Melogas might appear, she was seeking with all her might an opportunity to obliterate Lanqi once and for all.
"..."
Hyperion gripped Lanqi tightly in fear.
Yet Lanqi's expression remained calm.
His gaze looked as if he were gazing into the night, or perhaps admiring the moonlight.
Just as the beam released from Melogas's scorpion tail came within inches of Lanqi, an invisible storm forcefield enveloped Lanqi and Hyperion.
Melogas's attack could inflict no damage upon them whatsoever.
Even though the entire building was pierced by Melogas's attack and the purple beam shot far into the night sky, Lanqi and Hyperion remained entirely unharmed.
"?"
Melogas had no idea what kind of preposterous spell this was.
At the very least, it was an eighth-tier spell!
She was granted no time to think.
Sigrid's eyes surged with lightning, her body erupting with silver radiance at its zenith, the power gathering in her fists capable of crushing any obstacle.
Marshalling all the strength in her body, she unleashed the most powerful strike of her life, transforming into a comet as her earth-shattering fist intent slammed into Melogas, Lord of Blasphemy, in a split second!
The entire sequence was completed in a flash. It was so fast that even Melogas nearby could scarcely track her movements, and so powerful that it tore through the clouds above, revealing a blinding white light that briefly illuminated the Purgatory Grounds.
With all her offensive focused on Lanqi, Melogas had zero chance of defending against this sudden, ferocious assault.
She could only watch helplessly as Sigrid's full-power blow slammed violently into her body.
The shockwave blasted Melogas backward, smashing through a series of peaks behind her. Amid billowing dust, wisps of purple smoke rose from her body, while indelible silver lightning on her shoulder ceaselessly eroded her magic power—the severe trauma inflicted by Sigrid's transcendent fist intent.
"Cough... hack!"
Melogas coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Had she not dodged her vitals with all her might and instead taken that punch to the chest or head, she might have lost all ability to move by now.
She did not remain on the ground for even a second.
She knew that giving up now and being pursued would mean certain doom.
Forcing down dizziness and agonizing pain, Melogas raised her scorpion tail, gathering a desperate, life-risking attack aimed once more at the phantom demon in the sky.
The harder he was to kill, the more desperately she wanted to kill him!
Never before had she felt her killing intent burn so wildly and intensely.
The purple magic cannon detonated once again.
At this moment, Sigrid had to make a choice.
Either protect Lanqi, or continue attacking Melogas.
She knew Lanqi possessed a wind spell that could deflect all damage below tier nine.
The defensive spell on Lanqi just now seemed slightly different, so theoretically, he could still block it.
Yet Sigrid dared not gamble with Lanqi's life.
Until her eyes met Lanqi's from afar; she understood instantly, made her decision, and dove down toward Melogas below.
Melogas's magic beam was once again stopped by the immunity field surrounding Lanqi.
This time, it was Melogas's turn to be stunned.
What kind of damned spell could continuously grant absolute immunity?
Does this guy just not have a health bar?!
Lanqi stood on high, looking down at the Lord of Blasphemy on the distant ground.
His presence was transcendent and aloof.
As if he were the sovereign, and Melogas was merely a subject.
Hyperion held Lanqi's arm tightly.
Only Hyperion beside him understood what his gaze meant.
He had no intention of scorning or taunting the Lord of Blasphemy.
It was simply a headmaster standing on the podium, warning a student not to challenge the headmaster again.
"It's over!"
Beneath the volcanic ash closing over the sky again, Sigrid's figure kicked up a razor-sharp wave of wind as she leaped toward Melogas's position.
Wind speed surged, thunder intensified!
Everything had arrived at the final moment.
"Phantom demon!! Well done! I finally understand how joyful killing you will be!!"
Melogas's teeth ground audibly, yet the corners of her mouth curled upward continuously. Without a shred of hesitation, she gathered every ounce of her remaining mana in an instant.
She knew she could no longer dodge Xigelei's attack.
Even so, she would drag someone down with her!
At this moment, her heart was crystal clear: she would kill the phantom demon who had caused her plans to collapse completely. As long as she killed him, dying together with him would be the ultimate, blissful fulfillment!
As for the princess, let her live.
Consider it her final kindness to the princess.
Or rather, compared to that phantom demon, her murderous intent toward the princess had become as bland as water!
The violet corrosive aura coating her scorpion tail gathered like a tempest. Every living being nearby seemed to feel an unprecedented dread and danger, every strand of mana laced with bottomless malice, poised to obliterate the limbs and bones of her target.
"Hahaha! There is no way you can block this strike!!"
Every bead of sweat on Melogas screamed her resolve and madness.
Just as Melogas hurled her most venomous piercing spell at the phantom demon—a moment when he showed no will to fight, bared openings, and had nowhere to dodge, a moment she believed he was certain to die—the immunity field appeared once again.
It blocked every attack for the phantom demon.
Melogas's strike still failed to accomplish anything.
The sensation was like countless icicles piercing her heart, penetrating to the depths of her soul.
Melogas could not comprehend—was this guy genuinely invincible?
She had not even felt how strong his mana was!
Yet there was no time left for her to ponder.
Xigelei's pursuing fist intent arrived in that very fraction of a second.
Melogas heard the sound of her bones shattering, every tissue in her body devastated by the violent force.
"Aaargh!!"
Amid Melogas's shrill, agonizing scream, she was slammed deep into the earth.
Yet she seemed berserk.
Perhaps it was her pride, perhaps her overwhelming vitality, or perhaps she was simply born for battles to the death.
The moment Melogas realized she could not capture either the phantom demon or the princess, she knew that hope of escape was already nonexistent.
And the culprit behind it all—that new phantom demon headmaster—still stood like an aloof onlooker, showing no intention of lifting a finger himself.
Suddenly, Melogas burst into frenzied, skyward laughter. Rising with demonic willpower, her voice was shrill and grating, her features twisting and contorting.
She seemed to have completely forgotten about Xigelei and Caliera, as though accepting her sealed fate.
Channeling all her remaining magic power to reinforce her body, she charged straight toward that white-haired phantom demon at the edge of Purgatory Corridor Academy.
Even in the final moments before her death, she wanted to climb a little higher, to get just a little closer to this guy.
"I'm going to... kill you!"
Melogas roared hoarsely, her voice tinged with a manic laughter that looked past life and death.
"To step beyond the threshold of life and death—it seems you truly are a demon acknowledged by the Lord of Inversion."
Behind the shattered floor-to-ceiling glass of the botanical garden, Lanqi remained motionless.
Because the moment Melogas threw caution to the winds, the outcome of this duel had already been determined.
Melogas's blunder of tossing Xigelei to the back of her mind showed she had no intention of winning anymore.
Xigelei soared through the air, flipping Melogas along with her scorpion tail into the sky in an instant.
Gripping Melogas's scorpion tail, she hauled her toward the ground.
Melogas's figure plummeted like a meteor from the heights, crashing heavily into the earth.
Melogas was pinned firmly to the ground once more by Xigelei, unable to budge.
Starlight spilled across the wilderness, illuminating an eerie, tranquil scene.
Melogas lay limply on the cliffside, yet she still strained to lift her proud head, looking upward.
"I'll kill you... I'll kill... I'll kill..."
Melogas's face was streaked with blood, her eyes bloodshot. Her magic and aura were weaker than ever before, yet none of it could shake her obsession.
"To be honest, I'm starting to admire you a little,"
Sigrid held Melogas in a lock.
She had seen many villains and their expressions when facing death.
Yet on Melogas, Sigrid felt not a shred of fear, as if the emotion called fear simply did not exist within this demon. She cared nothing for what punishment she might suffer upon defeat; there was only inextinguishable killing intent.
This woman was the very definition of obsession—a demon cut out for grand ambitions.
Across purgatory, howling gales swept sparks over a landscape of ruined rubble.
Sigrid waited for Lanqi to tell her how to deal with the Lord of Blasphemy.
The once-unrivaled powerhouse could not escape the fate of ruin after all.
At this moment, Lanqi finally stepped into midair from the edge of Purgatory Corridor Academy.
Carried down by Boss Cat's psychokinesis magic, he strolled leisurely as if taking a walk, stopping only when he reached Melogas.
"Are you mocking me... that now you're so close to me, I still can do nothing to you?"
Melogas raised her head with all her might, glaring at the phantom demon, her teeth chattering.
"You coward who only knows how to hide! If you have the guts, challenge me! I swear I'll kill you a hundred times, ten thousand times!"
This phantom demon had never struck once himself, calmly watching this farce conclude like a bystander.
"..."
Lanqi seemed deaf to her words, still unwilling to grant Melogas even the basic hostility owed to an opponent.
Because, in the end, a headmaster was a headmaster.
"Aren't you curious about who I am?"
Lanqi looked at Melogas, his tone calm.
"No matter who you are, I will kill you! I'll hunt you to the ends of the earth!"
The Lord of Blasphemy's reddened eyes looked ready to bleed.
"..."
Lanqi gave no verbal answer.
He merely lifted his right hand, his slender fingers lightly gripping the silver-white mask at his waist, slowly raising it until it covered his face.
"Do you know who I am now?" he asked Melogas.
In a flash of lightning comprehension, Melogas seemed to understand so many things.
That mask, so jarringly discordant yet unmistakably familiar.
And what manner of being could possibly be accompanied by Caliera, Xigelei, and the princess...
In an instant, the towering fury within Melogas was doused as if with a bucket of ice water.
"The Holy Polant Pope...?"
Now that she thought about it carefully, she had given up her seat to a tier-nine Pope just moments ago.
She had even sat on the armrest and asked him if he was afraid.
It made her look utterly ridiculous.
As long as the Pope wished, he could have obliterated her at any second.
Or rather, from the very beginning, she had set her sights on someone impossible to kill.
"Was playing with me that amusing?!"
The Lord of Blasphemy struggled maniacally, nearly slipping from Sigrid's grasp.
Even if it cost her life, as long as she could leave a single scratch of blood upon the Pope, her life would have meaning.
Talia hurried over as well, helping Xigelei pin Melogas down.
"Should we kill her?" Xigelei quickly looked up and asked Lanqi.
She did not know whether killing Melogas would conclude the Shadow World mission, or if killing her might cause negative repercussions.
Melogas's vitality was extraordinarily robust; putting an end to her would require some effort and price.
Still, she was killable.
"Let her go," Lanqi said nonchalantly.
At this stage, the Demon Realm could not do without a regent like her.
Besides, this Shadow World would no longer be their concern after six days.
Considering things from the perspective of the historical Holy Polant Pope, such a capable regent of the Demon Realm was vital for maintaining the continent's stability; no great demon possessing the qualifications of kingship had yet appeared to replace Melogas.
The moment his words fell, the entire canyon plunged into a brief silence.
"...?"
Not only Xigelei, but Talia and Hyperion were stunned as well.
And Melogas, Lord of Blasphemy, clearly had not anticipated such a statement either. Her deep-purple pupils were filled with shock and bewilderment.
"You are not allowed to humiliate me like this! Holy Polant Pope! I don't want your pity!"
Melogas lunged toward Lanqi once more with an explosion of strength.
She was slammed back into the ground by Xigelei first, creating a booming crash that made the earth tremble.
"Should we just slaughter her? Can we really let this one go?" Xigelei suggested.
She was certain that even if they released Melogas today, once she recovered tomorrow, the first thing she'd do would be to come and kill Lanqi.
Even if defeated a hundred times, as long as she could crawl, she would tear a piece of flesh from Lanqi.
Melogas's level of obsession was probably more terrifying than that of certain cardinals in the present world.
Because she was no longer fighting merely for vengeance—her murderous intent had taken on a sense of conviction.
"Besides, I hear scorpion tail soup is quite delicious."
Seeing Lanqi remain unperturbed, Xigelei added another comment.
"Eww..."
Hearing that, Hyperion immediately showed a look of disgust.
Yet Hyperion never expected that Caliera beside her actually swallowed her saliva.
Hearing that gulp, Hyperion's eyes went wide.
You actually want to eat it?!
Hyperion could not understand why, after not seeing them for twelve years, Xigelei had grown so feral, and Caliera had grown so gluttonous!
"If you don't kill me, I will kill you!"
Melogas was still screaming, unable to tolerate this man's decision.
She was not afraid of dying at all, but she could not accept living in humiliation.
In this life, she would become this man's nightmare.
Every waking second, she would make him live in the terror of being encircled by killing intent!
Lanqi remained as calm as ever, unmoved by Melogas's threats, as though he had long anticipated her thoughts.
"Melogas, I feel your love."
Like finding a little child, he crouched down, his gaze gentle as he looked Melogas in the eye.
"It hurts to be misunderstood, doesn't it?"
Within those emerald eyes was a gaze of willing embrace.
It made her believe that he could truly understand her.
"What are you saying...?"
Melogas had thought the Holy Polant Pope would continue humiliating her as the victor, telling her she was no threat at all.
She never dreamed he would speak such words.
Melogas felt her heart about to explode from confusion.
She could not fathom whether this was real or fake, and was terrified to find out!
"All right, let her go," Lanqi said to Xigelei and Talia once more.
Xigelei did not hesitate, releasing Melogas as Lanqi instructed.
Talia withdrew her hands dubiously.
Or rather, she could not hold Melogas down by herself anyway.
Melogas rose to her feet and, predictably, lunged toward Lanqi once more.
"Even if... even if I want to... to kill you, you still acknowledge this love?!"
The Lord of Blasphemy stopped just before reaching Lanqi.
She halted her hand and the tip of her tail.
She admitted that before resolving the question in her heart, she could derive no joy from either killing this guy or being killed by him. If she died like this, her heart would hold only endless agony and doubt for the rest of her days.
"Of course."
Lanqi dusted off his hem. Without dodging or flinching, he stood up and answered Melogas, Lord of Blasphemy, not troubled in the least by her murderous intent.
This was not merely acknowledgment; it was an affirmation.
"You're lying to me... You don't have a speck of killing intent on you...!"
Covering her chest with a hand, the Lord of Blasphemy leaned forward and declared,
"You are pure and flawless, an anomaly completely different from me! How could you possibly understand and accept me?!"
She seemed to be struggling immensely, her scorpion tail spasmodically thumping against the earth.
"When necessary, I might kill as well. And I assure you, when that time comes, I will be far more terrifying than you."
Lanqi took off his mask, murmuring quietly as he gazed at its inner side.
Once placed over his face, all before his eyes would be endless darkness.
"...!"
Hyperion watched Lanqi's lowered eyes with a start.
She did not know what Lanqi had seen during this period.
Yet she was certain that Lanqi seemed unchanged, yet also profoundly different.
Hyperion suddenly realized that while letting Melogas go indeed aligned with Lanqi's usual obsession with macroscopic optimal solutions, in this Shadow World, he seemed to also have some consideration of his own in releasing such an ultra-radical demon as Melogas!
"You..."
The Lord of Blasphemy stared blankly at this figure and even into his soul—it could be both the pure white she most desired to taint, and the pure black she most longed to plunge into, coexisting in dual states simultaneously.
He seemed to stand on the knife-edge between a saint and a tyrant; if he were to act, he would undoubtedly be far more extreme.
Could there truly be a love like hers in this world?
Though his love was chaotic and twisted, it encompassed all things.
Even outcasts rejected by the collective and marked for eradication could find shelter in him.
Treating all equally without distinction.
At this moment, in Melogas's eyes, the starlight of purgatory cast Lanqi's figure in shadow; he stood as though at the far edge of hell, extending an olive branch to her.
"So return to the Demon King's Castle quickly. It is your responsibility. To take charge of the Demon Realm after Caliera's disappearance, govern it in good order, and actively pursue post-war recovery—I believe you will make an exceptional Demon King, Melogas."
Lanqi clipped the mask back to his waist, offering Melogas the smile of having found a kindred spirit.
"All right..."
Melogas could not help but clutch her voluptuous chest tightly.
She was by no means well-liked by humans or demons.
Yet never in her wildest dreams had she dared hope such a day would arrive.
Now she finally understood what the warmth igniting in her heart was.
It was like an ember smoldering in secret, suddenly bursting into blazing scarlet.
Her entire life seemed to have existed just to hear this one sentence: "I acknowledge everything about you."
Melogas's gaze was no longer laced with so much aggression and rage. Finding her footing completely, she wiped away her tears, looked resolutely toward the night sky in the direction of the Demon King's Castle, and floated into the air.
"Pope, you had better stay alive and wait for me to kill you! One day I will grow strong enough to slay you! Kill you three thousand times!"
In the end, she could not resist looking back to shout at the figure with the silver-white mask.
And then she vanished.
Chapter 780