At that moment, Lira, gradually recovering from his shock, suddenly sat up from the ground and cried out with a face full of anxiety, “Where is the Princess? How is Lian? Did the explosion just now hurt her?!”
Due to the excessive use of his Super Sense, he had entered a state of extreme weakness. Aside from his body feeling as though it were falling apart, his five senses had been dulled to the limit; he couldn't even see clearly a short distance away.
Just as he was struggling to crawl up and search for Lian, Starlight called out to stop him.
“Don’t push yourself, you’re badly injured! Lian is fine! Look over there,” Starlight said, pointing in a certain direction.
Following Starlight’s guidance, Lira could vaguely see a blurred but familiar figure rapidly approaching them.
“Starlight! Lira! You’re all okay! That’s wonderful!” Lian shouted as she ran, waving her hands, her clear voice filled with joy.
Thanks to her timely evacuation, she and the civilians inside the City Hall had successfully escaped the center of the elemental tide’s eruption, eventually shielding themselves from the remaining impact behind a building.
When she saw that the dust had settled, she had rushed out from her cover, eager to confirm the safety of the others amidst the swirling ash.
Hearing Lian’s joyful voice, the weight in Lira’s heart finally lifted. Despite his internal turmoil, he forced himself to stand, struggling against his discomfort to maintain a proper appearance before the Princess.
“Your Highness, we are fine, I...”
Lira stumbled forward a few steps, intending to tell the approaching Lian that he was safe, but the words were suddenly choked in his throat.
Lian, who had just reached them and hadn't even found her footing, felt a warm liquid splash onto her cheek. She looked up sharply, only to be met with a sight that filled her with horror.
A withered, black hand had quietly extended from behind Lira, ruthlessly piercing through his chest. Blood erupted from the wound like a fountain, quickly staining the ground beneath them and soaking Lian’s white dress.
“This... damn it...” Lira tried to speak, but a large amount of blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth.
Shrouded by his tall frame, a dark shadow was slowly writhing and twisting.
Seconds later, Yuta’s aged figure gradually emerged from that shadow. The composure and confidence he once held were entirely gone, replaced by a battered and wretched appearance.
His clothes were in tatters, and the aura he radiated was incredibly weak, but in his other hand, he tightly gripped an object that could barely be recognized as human.
Judging by the fragments of clothing remaining on the person, it was surprisingly Ming Ye, who had already been severely injured before.
In the face of the elemental tide’s eruption, Yuta, who had been almost defenseless, had recovered from the negative effects of the Soul Impact at the very last second.
Deciding in an instant, he had snatched the nearby Ming Ye—who had only just begun to recover a bit of energy—and ruthlessly drained every last drop of power from his body, using that hollowed-out husk as a shield to protect himself.
Poor Ming Ye, a Saint Rank expert, had been used as a meat shield by his own teammate in his final moments, consumed by the raging elemental tide until the last spark of his life was extinguished.
Yet, even with that protection, Yuta had not escaped unharmed, being so close to the center of the explosion; he had been heavily wounded.
However, relying on his exceptional stealth skills, he had immediately hidden his presence. Even Xia Duo, who was an expert in such matters, had failed to notice anything amiss.
It was only after he judged that Starlight and the others had lost the strength to fight that he finally revealed himself, striking Lira with a heavy blow.
Starlight and the others nearby were equally stunned by this sudden, horrific turn of events.
Xia Duo was the first to snap back to reality. Without hesitation, she drew a short blade from her thigh and swung it toward Yuta’s silhouette with all her might.
To her surprise, Yuta, who appeared to be on the verge of death, suddenly erupted with an astonishing surge of power.
A powerful gale swept through the area like a violent storm, blowing everyone backward.
“Damn you! Damn you! Damn you all! You actually destroyed the Life-and-Death Orbs I spent so much effort preparing! You all must die!”
Yuta roared like a madman, tossing the heavily injured Lira aside like a piece of trash. His blood-red eyes glared intensely at the group collapsed on the ground.
With a violent wave of his hand, a massive hand condensed from death power seized Po Kong and Xia Duo, gripping them tightly in its palm.
The terrifying death energy surged like a tide, threatening to consume them entirely.
Po Kong pushed himself to the limit, activating what little War God Battle Qi he had left to form a golden barrier, barely managing to resist the encroachment of the death power.
But doing so now was undoubtedly just delaying the inevitable.
Having lost their combat effectiveness, the two were completely unable to break free from the giant hand’s grasp. They could only watch as the golden light was slowly eroded by the grey color of death.
After restraining Po Kong and Xia Duo, Yuta did not linger. Instead, he took heavy, deliberate steps toward Starlight and Moen, his eyes shimmering with cold cruelty.
Yuta’s slightly trembling footsteps made a crunching sound on the ash-covered ground, but to Starlight’s ears, each step sounded like the approach of the Grim Reaper.
He held the unconscious Moen tightly to his chest, trying his best to condense a fireball.
However, the extreme fatigue and lack of strength in his body made it difficult for him to even raise his arm.
Finally, a bright red fireball burst from his hand, but it flew erratically and landed far away, failing to even touch Yuta’s body.
“In these two thousand years, you are the first ones who have managed to push me to this point! Die!” Yuta’s voice was low and icy, like a demon crawling out of hell.
As he slowly raised his other hand, a wisp of cold, grey death power condensed in his palm, ready to swallow Starlight and Moen at any moment.
Starlight closed his eyes in despair, clutching Moen even tighter, his heart filled with bitterness and helplessness.
“Is it... is it really going to end like this? I can't accept this...”
Just as he was about to lose all hope, a cold, sharp cry suddenly pierced through the air and reached everyone’s ears.
“Stop!”
Starlight instinctively looked up toward the sky. He saw a streak of emerald light racing from the distant horizon like a sharp blade, cutting through the dark, ash-covered heavens and heading straight for Yuta.
Sensing the threat falling from above, Yuta’s expression changed drastically. His poised palm suddenly shifted direction in mid-air, turning the condensed death power into a grey shadow to meet the emerald light.
The two collided, instantly erupting into a deafening roar. The death power Yuta had thrown out was ruthlessly crushed in the air, but the green light was also knocked off its original trajectory by the force, flying off to the side.
It was only then that Starlight could see the form of that green light—it was a spear made entirely of emerald, as translucent and brilliant as a gemstone.
“Tsk... Angela!” Yuta narrowed his eyes, looking into the sky and involuntarily stepping back several paces as he muttered under his breath.
Yuta was all too familiar with this spear; he had seen it display its immense power in the hands of its master more than once.
In the next moment, a beautiful figure overflowing with the aura of life descended from the sky, landing steadily in front of Starlight and Moen.
Rate on N.U.
