Some of the legendary and Sanctuary sorcerers in the Star Bridge Hall had already woken, such as the dear Principal Little Grey Wolf. They appeared to be right on the battlefield, but the Sword Rain Pool happened to exclude them entirely. Otherwise, they would have perished long ago—to say nothing of the torrential sword rain and wonder fallout catching innocent bystanders, what mattered more was that the Spectre Prophet had wanted to slaughter them to refine their souls the moment war broke out. Facing a six-winged angel, they were resources she could put to use.
Though they could move freely, none dared make a move, nor did they even dare open their eyes fully, parting their lids only by a slit. If they saw too much, the ripples of sorcery would most likely shock their souls into spasms.
In the past 1,669 years, perhaps no battle had ever been so magnificent.
To ordinary mortals in Jialesi, though they could only see sword radiance severing the weather across the sky, the unnamable panic in their hearts was enough to make them board any transport they could find to flee the starry capital, no matter how the Throne Room tried to soothe the public. When turbulent sorcery colors grew dense enough, even common folk who had never set foot in the Void Realm felt the disturbance—much like a child raised entirely in a city, suddenly dumped into the desolate wild; even without knowing beasts and venomous serpents lurked around, instinct alone would drive them to flee.
For the evil sorcerers, it felt as though they were clashing with tens of thousands of six-winged angels at once. The spell swords were nimble yet weighty, independent yet coordinated, resembling both an army of masterful swordsmen and a relentless meat-grinder quagmire slowly swallowing them whole.
With every clash, the erupting spatial ripples distorted even the torrential swords. Alternating currents of hyperspeed and glacial airflow stirred storm cyclones everywhere within the curtain of rain. In this tempest capable of toppling cities and ruining kingdoms, only the six-winged angel could still soar with ease. Like a swift skimming over every corner of the battlefield, he micromanaged the thousands of spell swords in the rain, his posture incomparably graceful, yet his murderous intent fiercely savage!
Only now did the evil sorcerers truly witness the peak reachable at the demigod rank, catching even a faint glimpse of distant vistas beyond.
If Silver Sorcerers fumbled with sorcery spirits, Gold Sorcerers commanded miracles, Sanctuary sorcerers built systems, and legendary sorcerers reshaped environments—then demigod sorcerers "stole time."
Surveying demigod tribulations and wonder construction, there was a coincidental commonality: a demigod's strength grew ever greater with time. Wonders grew mightier over time, demigods condensed more Hell Wings over time, and yet demigods had already conquered time to achieve eternal life; thus, their power rarely stagnated, expanding boundlessly with the passage of time.
This was something no mortal sorcerer could ever achieve, no matter how long their lifespan. Even legends had their limits; time was not on their side.
Yaxiu and the others had speculated before: if a demigod's advantage was stealing time, what was the advantage of a Divine Lord?
Now they knew. Sword Law had unveiled for them a mere tip of that iceberg—
"Stealing the world!"
Though the evil sorcerers already knew Divine Lords could steal world secret realms, they never imagined a world secret realm could be wielded as a weapon—or even serve as a temporary Kingdom of Heaven for a Divine Lord to dominate reality!
Ordinary sorcerers could at most reshape an environment into a state optimal for their performance, but a Divine Lord could drop a world secret realm straight down, transforming a portion of the world into their own realm... Sorcerers merely adapted environments, whereas Divine Lords ruled the world!
Daedalose and Felix pressed close against Yaxiu's back. They knew the only man here both willing and able to keep them alive was the one before them. Not to mention Felix, even Daedalose was tense, silently praying to the Five Pillar Gods to bless their feeler.
The operators had all scattered, demonstrating exquisite aerial combat amidst the tempest of spell swords, like four streaks of light darting through the dark siege in a ceaseless search for the dawn. They could no longer hide behind Yaxiu's protection. Refraction Guardian was not invincible; in fact, it had a fatal flaw: Refraction Guardian was triggered not by damage absorbed, but by the number of hits.
The benefit was that even if Sword Law could sunder sun, moon, and stars in a single swing, or overturn oceans and sink continents, it would still only consume a single layer of Refraction Guardian.
The drawback was just as glaring: against high-frequency, dense, relentless strikes, Refraction Guardian would vaporize Yaxiu's source mana in an instant!
Thus, the operators had to scatter and strike on all fronts to divert the swords' offensive. And Yaxiu dared not maintain Refraction Guardian either, instead constructing that familiar warm yellow, sharp barrier: Sword Body Barrier!
While its consumption was by no means low, it was still far more economical than deploying his sanctuary directly.
With his right hand, he traced circle after circle. The contracting rings snapped wave after wave of spell swords. In terms of clearing out spell swords, all the female sorcerers combined could not match Yaxiu; but when it came to dealing lethal damage to Sword Law, Yaxiu could not match a single one of them.
Currently, the only offensive wonder in Yaxiu's repertoire was the Heart Hunter Throne. This wonder had low cost, vast reach, and its lethal power was tied to Yaxiu's soul foundation. Given the Soul Kingdom of Heaven Yaxiu possessed, if a demigod's soul body ever brushed against his Heart Hunter trajectory, it would be like a sandcastle met by ocean waves—even if it didn't collapse entirely, it would suffer severe trauma.
Yet precisely because its offensive might was too overwhelming, it could not be used to attack the angel.
Just moments ago, Yaxiu had drawn a circle for Sword Law, and Sword Law's defense veil had completely absorbed Heart Hunter's power, instantly converting it into hundreds of spell swords and doubling the power of the Sword Rain Pool—an escalation far surpassing the barrage Sword Princess and the others had just unleashed!
The Witch had already used the Gospel God to calculate the "critical damage threshold" for spell sword conversion. As long as they stayed infinitesimally close to this critical threshold, the defense veil would not convert any spell swords even when struck, thoroughly crippling Sword Law's counter-defensive wonder system. Sword Princess and the girls could easily suppress their damage output, but Yaxiu had no way to dial down his soul foundation.
Furthermore, Yaxiu's combat techniques were truly no match for the girls. Were he not in the dead center of the battlefield, were this not a fight to the death, the sight before him would have been a dazzling spectacle he could lose himself admiring: the Sword Princess's grace, the Witch's precision, Silver Lantern's mercurial versatility, and the Spectre Prophet's ruthless malice—their magnetic allure as sorceresses was displayed to the utmost amid the raining blades.
It was rather curious. They had never fought together before; at most, Sword Princess and the Witch shared some teamwork. Silver Lantern's fighting style after rebirth was entirely different from before, and Weixi had only known them for half a month... Yet after just a few minutes of acclimation, they coordinated seamlessly like sisters born of different parents. Blending their disparate fighting styles, they tore right through the storm of despair.
In an opening amid the battle, Sonia, soaring through the air, locked eyes with Yaxiu. Seeing the smug, triumphant smile at the corners of her lover's lips, the red-haired girl couldn't help curling her lip.
She naturally knew what Yaxiu was gloating about: he was surely congratulating himself for sharing the wonders and Hell Wings with them instead of hogging them all for himself... Had Yaxiu truly listened to them back then and used all the spoils of Hell to elevate only himself, they would be thoroughly done for right now.
But Sonia naturally would not admit she was wrong, shooting him a look that said, "Consider yourself lucky this time." Inside, though, she felt fortunate too. Not that she thought her previous suggestion had been mistaken, but... if she lacked the power to stand on this battlefield and could only watch helplessly as Yaxiu protected them, she would feel utterly miserable.
Just the thought of it made her stomach churn with fiery frustration, worse than catching Yaxiu fooling around with other women... Yaxiu messing around was a failure of management on her part, but cowering behind Yaxiu was a failure of her own capability! She wouldn't even be able to protect her lover!
"No one," Sword Princess murmured, a faint violet gloom surfacing in her ruby eyes, "can steal what is mine!"
A purplish-red phantom quietly emerged, soaring and charging alongside Sword Princess. Boundless malice coated Blood Moon Shattered Lake in burning violet flames, setting even the raining swords ablaze!
Guardian Spirit: Extinction Resentful Blazing Dragon!
"Time," the bronze dragon spread its wings behind the Witch, its crisp chiming causing even the sword rain to grow sluggish, "heed my command!"
Guardian Spirit: Chiming Bronze Dragon!
"Everything is merely an illusion," Weise chuckled softly. Silver brilliance condensed hundreds of silver mirrors across space, through which the Silver Lantern darted in and out, drowning the surroundings in a cascade of silver light!
Guardian Spirit: Reincarnation Illusory Mirror Dragon!
Yet within that dense silver radiance, rosy sunset glow quietly diffused, turning into a dusk haze... Weixi's attacks were always so sinister and soundless.
Guardian Spirit: Twilight Glow Dragon!
Guardian spirits lasted for only a very brief duration. They were the only demigod warfare chips that could not be replenished once expended; thus, Sword Princess and the girls had always treasured them, never daring to squander them without utter certainty. Unleashing them now meant they were confident they could...
Slay the angel!
The interleaved, unbroken high-frequency onslaught crumpled space itself. The six-winged angel was bogged down as if caught in a swamp, unable to move—though until moments ago, he had held complete mastery over the field. More astounding still, despite being enveloped in a tempest of miracles, Sword Law's defense veil failed to convert a single spell sword!
"Magnificent," Sword Law's voice remained crystal-clear and pleasant. "Hard to believe you are newly ascended demigods who advanced less than a year ago. If you were willing to join the Forbidden Star Kingdom of Heaven, I can hardly fathom what heights you could achieve.
"You are worthy of my offering the highest rite: the Sword Forging Ceremony."
Sword forging?
The pupils of Sword Princess and the girls constricted. Suddenly, they saw droplets of stagnant sorcery colors welling up in the air. They recognized them: these were the spell swords that had clashed with them. Some had been shattered by them, others destroyed by Yaxiu, but after breaking, they had not vanished. Instead, they had dispersed into the hues of rain, clinging closely to them like shadows.
Rain gathered into streams, streams flowed into rivers, rivers emptied into the sea, and the sea forged sharp blades.
Behind the Angel of Sword Law, a white-haired god holding a sword emerged. Its familiar aura caused both Yaxiu and Sonia to freeze in astonishment.
A third god, a third wonder!
The raining blades and vibrant colors across the sky condensed into nine glass-translucent swords. Dazzling and resplendent, peerless weapons beyond compare. The female sorcerers stared at the Glazed Shadow Swords suspended before them. If the edges of the spell swords had merely made their eyes ache, the luster of these shadow swords made their... souls throb with piercing pain.
"Pity the mortals, who cannot escape the prison of self-inflicted wounds."
With the angel's soft lament, the nine Glazed Shadow Swords thrust toward the female sorcerers. Yaxiu had already acted a step ahead, unleashing Heart Hunter in an attempt to sever the shadow swords, while Sword Princess and the others naturally refused to wait for death, dodging and countering in turn.
Yet even Heart Hunter passed helplessly through the shadow swords. It was as if they did not exist in the physical world at all, nothing more than phantoms projected onto their vision. No defense could impede them.
"Ah!"
When one of the blades grazed the Witch's cheek, this girl who was strong enough to shoulder an entire nation let out a four-part harmony of agonizing screams, her hair color tumbling instantly into disarray. Had Yaxiu not lunged over immediately to scoop her up and evade, she would have fainted and been run clean through!
"Th-this is a Heaven-rank wonder targeting the mind!" Diya clung tightly to his shoulders, her face etched with profound terror as she stammered out the intelligence: "The primary god used to construct it is..."
"Heart Sword," Yaxiu said, looking at the third god holding a sword behind Sword Law, a tangled expression of longing on his face, as if gazing upon a lost dream of his own. "That is the Heart Sword God!"
Chapter 1095