Mogli let out a frenzied roar, a massive amount of boiling blood seeping from his skin.
This blood was saturated with the aura of flesh and corruption. As it detached from Mogli's body, it dyed the entire Cosmic Sea a vivid crimson.
On the other side, Alifa, the Angel Priest, maintained his previous posture, waiting patiently for the halo behind him to complete its rotation.
But Mogli would not simply stay put. His roar stopped abruptly, and in the next instant, he vanished from his spot, reappearing directly in front of Alifa.
Giant claws that could shroud the heavens were raised high above his head. Hellfire danced between his fingertips, and his razor-sharp nails were coated in a corrupted fluid.
Suddenly, another figure of Mogli appeared behind Alifa. It was a body composed entirely of hellfire, mirroring the exact posture of Mogli's original form.
Both of them lunged simultaneously, swinging their claws toward Alifa from the front and back.
“Clang! Clang!”
Two crisp sounds rang out. At some point, two angels radiating dazzling holy light had appeared around Alifa. They raised their scepters, intercepting Mogli's attacks on Alifa's behalf.
Chen Xu, watching from the side, saw clearly that these two angels had separated from Alifa's body—they were existences akin to clones.
Although the two angels were constantly shrouded in holy light, making it difficult to see their details, the style of the scepters and secret tomes in their hands was identical to Alifa's own.
Mogli was not at all surprised that his attack was blocked. Having fought against Heaven and Alifa for so long, he was well aware of his enemy's capabilities.
Mogli raised his claws again, launching a succession of strikes. The attacks fell like rain, and the resulting shockwaves rapidly pushed the surrounding world fragments further away.
As Mogli continued his assault, the hellfire on his body seemed to sense the scent of angels and holy light, burning even more vigorously.
The scorching flames generated waves of heat. This corruptive high temperature was enough to cause any being below the epic-tier to fall into depravity instantly.
The two holy light angels were not to be outdone. The light wings on their backs unfurled, emitting a radiance so blinding they looked like suns from a distance.
The two sides were locked in a fierce struggle. Leveraging his immense physical advantage, Mogli relentlessly attacked Alifa in a suppressive manner, intending to break Alifa's casting state.
Meanwhile, Alifa relied on his two angel clones to constantly parry Mogli's strikes.
However, angels were not particularly outstanding in terms of physical strength. While their physiques far surpassed most creatures in the myriad worlds, their opponent was a demon from Hell—an expert in flesh and blood.
Though they managed to barely hold their ground under the storm of attacks, the aftershocks still affected Alifa's main body.
Several cracks had already appeared on his armor.
While the battle between angel and demon raged on, the third person present, Chen Xu, the Lord of the Undead, was busy collecting the demon blood drifting through the Cosmic Sea.
The blood that had fallen from Mogli's body was extremely hot, like a boiling liquid.
Chen Xu moved continuously through the Cosmic Sea, partly to avoid a sudden attack from Mogli and partly to gather this blood from a Hell Archduke.
This blood was filled with Dao rhyme unique to Hell, representing the paths of flesh and corruption.
Chen Xu stored it carefully in specially made alchemy bottles.
After witnessing the battle between Alifa and Mogli, Chen Xu felt the urge to research new things to enrich his own combat methods.
Otherwise, if he only ever used [Flower of Death] with one hand and [God-Slaying Poison] with the other, relying entirely on curses and poisoning, his repertoire would be far too limited.
But on second thought, the authority of the Lord of the Undead was never meant for direct frontal combat. His true expertise lay in a myriad of bizarre curses and that heaven-defying power of creation.
For the Lord of the Undead, rather than taking action personally, it was better to develop a specific necrotic race or a unique curse tailored to his opponent.
All that fighting and killing was far too much like Hell's style. An undead should hide in the shadows and stir up trouble surreptitiously.
That was why he was currently collecting demon blood. The blood of a Hell Archduke was an exceptional biological material.
After collecting most of the blood that had drifted away from the battlefield, Chen Xu turned his gaze back to the angel and demon still locked in combat.
Suddenly, Chen Xu's eyes lit up.
The area where the two were fighting was filled with all sorts of energy fluctuations—holy light, blood, and hellfire. These chaotic waves severely obstructed vision and mental detection.
However, with his keen perception, Chen Xu still spotted fragments of light wings floating near Alifa.
During the time Chen Xu was collecting Mogli's blood, Alifa had endured Mogli's fierce onslaught. The price, however, was that his armor was nearing total destruction, and three of the light wings on his back had been severed.
The two holy light angel clones weren't doing any better. They were covered in wounds, many of their wings were broken, and one had even lost an arm.
The broken wings of the clones had been blown away to parts unknown by the shockwaves of the battle; even with his mental strength fully released, Chen Xu couldn't track them down.
Only near Alifa's main body, where the impact was slightly less chaotic, did fragments of light wings still float in place.
Now that he had a target, he had to think of a way to act.
After all, he couldn't wait for the battle to end to collect them. A necrotic archduke asking for body parts would sound incredibly suspicious.
Anyone with a sane mind would sense something was wrong, let alone an experienced Angel Priest like Alifa.
As Chen Xu knit his brows in thought, a message came through his soul connection.
The one who sent the message—or rather, the kun—said, “Master, Kunpeng has finished cleaning up the demons! That tiny bone dragon didn't even kill half as many as I did!”
“That's it!”
Since it wasn't convenient for him to act personally, he would let Kunpeng do it. With Kunpeng's ability to devour all things, it should be able to quickly snatch the light wing fragments around Alifa into its mouth.
Thus, Chen Xu secretly summoned Kunpeng back to the Undead Divine Court and sent it instructions. Chen Xu would teleport it next to Alifa to block an attack for him, and it would use that opportunity to swallow the items near the Angel Priest.
Hearing this, Kunpeng's heart tightened. It felt like something was wrong, but it couldn't pinpoint exactly what, so it habitually replied that there was no problem.
Afterward, Chen Xu kept a close eye on Mogli's movements, observing the patterns of his attacks.
Kunpeng was, after all, only mythic-tier. Even after merging with the bloodline of the Golden-Winged Great Roc and significantly increasing its power, it was still within the mythic-tier category.
Therefore, Kunpeng would only have a split-second window. Any longer, and it might perish under Mogli's immense strength.
While observing the battlefield, Chen Xu applied layer after layer of spirit shields to Kunpeng.
“Now! Go, Kunpeng!”
Kunpeng was teleported by Chen Xu between Alifa and Mogli, directly in the path of Mogli's right claw.
“Crack! Crack!”
The spirit shields shattered layer by layer, and the bloody giant claw slammed heavily onto Kunpeng's back.
The massive force instantly sent Kunpeng flying toward Alifa's position.
Enduring the pain, Kunpeng opened its huge mouth and devoured everything in its path, swallowing all the light wing fragments around Alifa.
Seeing this, Chen Xu immediately recalled Kunpeng to the Undead Divine Court to prevent Mogli from attacking again.
Chen Xu's intervention caused the battle to pause for a moment. Neither of them could understand the necrotic archduke's actions.
Mogli glanced briefly at the Kunpeng feathers remaining on his hand. Confirming it was just an ordinary mythic-tier creature and sensing no curse fluctuations, he turned his attention back to the fight.
But that split second was exactly what Alifa needed. The halo behind him spun rapidly, and the remaining fifth of the cycle completed in an instant.
By the time Mogli realized what was happening, the clock mark on his forehead had erupted with a terrifying aura.
The pointers of the pure white clock spun at high speed, and the Dao rhyme of time permeated Mogli's entire being. His flesh, the hellfire within him, his soul, his realm—everything began to regress rapidly.
Alifa raised his scepter with one hand and chanted loudly in the Cosmic Sea.
A peculiar heavenly language sprang from his lips, and the power of holy light rose from the secret tome in his hand.
As the incantation finished, a beam of holy light shot directly at Mogli's chest.
Mogli was still under the influence of the pure white clock and could not dodge.
The holy light scorched his skin, causing him to let out a cry of agony.
“No! No! You disgusting holy light, don't you dare enter my body!”
In the face of Mogli's roar, Alifa increased the energy output. The beam of holy light pierced through the Hell Archduke's body and into his heart.
After a long time, the pointers of the pure white clock stopped spinning. Mogli regained control of his body, and with a burst of flames, he fled the scene.
Alifa did not pursue him. Holding his scepter, he lightly brushed the fragments of broken armor from his body before looking toward Chen Xu.
“Thank you for your assistance, Lord Chen Xu. Now that the Hell Archduke Mogli has fled back to Hell, the victory on this battlefield belongs to Heaven and the undead.”
Chen Xu looked toward the direction where Mogli had vanished and asked, “Are we not pursuing him?”
Alifa shook his head. “A Hell Archduke is not so easily killed. Their bodies are as durable as stars, and their souls are protected by corruption.
“To kill a Hell Archduke requires a very, very long time.”
Chen Xu nodded. Existences at the eternal-tier were indeed difficult to slay.
But Alifa had not finished. He flipped through his secret tome, revealing Mogli's name.
“However, if a Hell Archduke were to be killed by another Hell Archduke, it wouldn't be quite so troublesome.”
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