The roar finally ceased, and the dust slowly dispersed, revealing that the colossal form, once seemingly the master of the world, had vanished into smoke. The oppressive aura of the Dragon God was gone for everyone to feel... Through the combined strength of all present, they had managed to strike it down just before the Dragon God’s annihilation descended, but!
Had they truly defeated the Dragon God?
Although the Dragon God’s body had indeed been blown apart, and its aura had completely vanished, could a genuine Celestial-tier expert truly perish so easily?
No one could state that with certainty—no!
To be precise, nobody believed the Dragon God had died so conveniently!
Therefore, even though the battle appeared concluded, no one dared to let down their guard, meticulously observing every surrounding detail. The air was silent, as if in a world without sound.
Cannot feel it! How can I not feel it? Where is it?
Lin Luo seeped his perception throughout the entire world, even delving into parallel realities and higher-dimensional spaces. What shocked him was the utter absence of the Dragon God’s aura anywhere. An extremely uneasy premonition immediately gripped his heart... If others only suspected, he was absolutely certain: the Dragon God was still alive!
For a Celestial-tier expert to die merely because their physical body was destroyed would cheapen their very existence.
While the Near-Celestial realm requires the body to be of paramount importance for ascension, Celestial-tier experts are free from such limitations. These beings transcend common understanding, standing at the apex of the world. For a Celestial, the body is merely a vessel, a form of manifestation; what truly matters is the integrity of their existence.
Thus, as long as the concept of "Equivalent Exchange" was not utterly dismantled, the Dragon God could never truly die.
So, where on earth was the Dragon God now?
Under normal circumstances, since the Dragon God’s existence hadn't dissipated, it should have manifested another body. Yet, it hadn't done so; instead, it had erased its own aura. What was it plotting?
Lin Luo didn't know, but he sensed an extreme degree of peril.
The Dragon God hadn't reappeared immediately for a reason—it was likely formulating a strategy against them. What kind of strategy could cause him such profound unease... No, that wasn't right!
Whatever the strategy, it wasn't important; the critical factor was that the Dragon God was planning, and that was the most dangerous thing!
Based on his previous knowledge and analysis of the Dragon God, Lin Luo had grasped most of its characteristics. The most striking one was that the Dragon God never beat around the bush; it was like a brute, straightforward in all its actions. A single glance was enough for even an idiot to understand its intentions. Therefore, if the Dragon God had started thinking...
Damn it! Damn it!
The realization sent a chill through Lin Luo. If his guess was correct, the Dragon God was undergoing a metamorphosis. If so, what they would face next would not just be a Celestial-tier rule, but a true... Celestial-tier being!
In that case, most of the strategies he had prepared would become useless.
This development... Damn it all!
He desperately hoped his speculation was wrong... Since the Dragon God refused to appear, Lin Luo had no recourse. All he could do now was pray. For the first time, he intensely wished his unfailingly accurate Seventh Sense would fail him.
But then!
“There!”
A sharp shriek suddenly pierced the silence. Lin Luo didn’t know who shouted it, nor did he have time to confirm, because at that exact moment, he felt the Dragon God's aura. He whipped his head toward the direction of the presence and instantly stood dumbfounded.
The Dragon God’s aura emanated from the very top of the entire space. Countless white plumes coalesced into a hundred-meter-long giant dragon, and then these plumes began to contract violently, compressing in an instant down to the volume of an ordinary human. But the most astonishing thing wasn't the compression—it was that these plumes actually transformed into a human being... not smoke merely mimicking a human shape, but a genuine human body!
At this moment, the concept of Equivalent Exchange did not manifest as the Dragon God’s monstrous form, but as a human girl!
The girl appeared to be no older than seventeen or eighteen, with waist-length silver hair that billowed around her due to the erupting spiritual pressure. Her long, slender frame was encased in a pitch-black maid’s uniform, lending her an air of striking elegance and valor. Yet, her refined features held an expression of cold, proud disdain, and her crimson eyes, burning like fierce fire, emitted an endlessly chilling sharpness that dared not be met directly.
“A girl?!”
“The Dragon God?!”
“How could this be...”
Witnessing this spectacle, everyone, including Lin Luo, was utterly shocked, never having anticipated that the Dragon God would reappear before them in such a guise.
Lin Luo, in particular, felt more than just shock; there was a profound sense of déjà vu. He felt certain he had seen this form somewhere before, yet racking his brain yielded no recollection. Moreover, as he stared, an inexplicable sense of dissonance arose... a feeling of familiarity juxtaposed with disharmony.
The Dragon God’s essence was Equivalent Exchange, a concept left in this world millennia ago by him. And he possessed Equivalent Exchange only because it was bestowed by a great figure within the Book of Contracts. Though he still didn't know the identity of that great figure, it was undeniable that the master of Equivalent Exchange was that person.
Looking at countless historical examples, when an entity gains consciousness and the ability to transform, it instinctively begins to mimic the appearance of the being it aspires to, sometimes even replicating their mannerisms and behavior... No!
The thought struck Lin Luo, manifesting an incomparably terrifying idea, and he gasped inwardly.
“Everyone, fall back!” Lin Luo roared urgently.
The others were startled but immediately snapped back to attention. Though they hadn't deduced as much as Lin Luo, they had an inkling that something was terribly wrong and instinctively began retreating rapidly... They were a thousand meters away from the black-clad maid girl, a distance usually safe in a fight against a normal expert. However, since the black-clad maid was the manifestation of the Celestial-tier Dragon God, this distance offered no security whatsoever.
Retreat. For the sake of caution, they moved back to observe. This was the shared thought among them, as the enemy's current size made focused attacks meaningless; repeating the previous tactics would be pointless.
However, they could retreat, and the enemy could pursue.
Thus, the very instant they began to fall back, the black-clad maid moved.
Previously, the Dragon God’s body was massive, its attacks and defenses clearly visible to all. But now, following the transformation, the black-clad maid far surpassed the Dragon God in every aspect.
No one could track her speed, not even Lin Luo. The black-clad maid merely tilted her body slightly, and her figure vanished from the spot, reappearing instantaneously before the Third Miko. Her icy gaze fixed upon the Third Miko, who immediately felt a chilling numbness spread through her limbs.
Then, the black-clad maid threw a punch.
There was no earth-shattering momentum, no incredible celestial phenomena. It was just a plain punch. Yet, in that single blow, the Third Miko perceived death... unavoidable, unstoppable!
“Absolute Defense!”
At this critical juncture, the Tenth Miko suddenly appeared in front of the Third Miko, forming hand seals. Spiritual power surged forth, instantly erecting a triangular light screen between them.
As the Guardian Miko of the Paradise, the Tenth Miko’s specialty, as her title suggested, was defense. In fact, among everyone present, no one could surpass her defensive capabilities except for Lin Luo.
Furthermore, beyond defense, the Tenth Miko's reactive counter was considered unbeatable.
BOOM!!!
Almost at the exact moment the light screen materialized, the black-clad maid’s fist struck it solidly. Instantly, space convulsed violently, causing terrifying dimensional ripples that even fractured the dimensional layers... This seemingly ordinary strike possessed destructive power far more terrifying than the full-force blow of the Fourth Miko.
Though the Tenth Miko excelled at defense, it depended on the enemy. Facing the black-clad maid’s direct assault, not only was her reactive counter impossible to execute, but even her strongest defense collapsed completely after just a brief moment. The residual force struck her, causing her to bleed from seven orifices before she was blasted away like a cannonball, colliding with the Third Miko, her momentum still unchecked.
Swish! Swish!
Two figures flashed instantaneously into the path of the flying pair, hands extended to brace the Third Miko’s back, barely managing to decelerate the force. However, the impact still sent them flying back dozens of meters before they finally stopped.
Those two figures were Ibaraki Doji and Hoshiguma Yuugi, two of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Oni Clan, both possessing inexhaustible strength capable of shifting mountains and overturning seas with a mere gesture. Yet, together, they could barely withstand the faint aftershock of the black-clad maid’s punch... What shocked them most was that their hands had gone numb.
The two looked at each other, their fear impossible to conceal.
However, they found slight solace in the fact that although the Third and Tenth Miko had lost consciousness from the blow, their lives had been narrowly spared. Considering the outcome, they let out a small sigh of relief.
“Great Magic—Ancient Path to Yomi!”
“Fantasia of All Humankind!”
Meanwhile, closest to the Third Miko were Hijiri Byakuren and Himekaidou Hatate. Due to the black-clad maid’s overwhelming speed, they hadn't reacted in time. But the Tenth Miko’s intervention alerted them to the enemy’s proximity. Fearing the black-clad maid might follow up to finish them off, they immediately unleashed their strongest attacks.
In an instant, a seemingly tangible path to the underworld and a massive crimson pillar of light aggressively hurtled toward the black-clad maid.
They didn't expect just two people's attacks to fell the enemy, but at least they could delay her, allowing the others to coordinate another concentrated assault.
However, the black-clad maid seemed utterly indifferent to their attacks, a hint of disdain flickering across her face. She then raised one hand toward the Path to Yomi and the other toward Fantasia of All Humankind.
Boom!
Boom!
Two beams of energy shot from her fingertips, manifesting precisely the Ancient Path to Yomi and the Fantasia of All Humankind!
“How is this possible?!” Hijiri Byakuren and Hatate cried out in horror. They conceded that Celestial-tier experts were immensely powerful, far beyond their ability to contend with, but their current attacks were unique manifestations of their own being; no one else could replicate them, and even they required a period of charging. Yet, the black-clad maid could unleash their ultimate techniques with a mere gesture. What concept did this imply?
The two stared wide-eyed, completely unable to believe it. But watching the familiar attacks hurtle toward them, however reluctantly, they had to admit the opponent had effortlessly deployed their signature moves.
And... they were stronger than their own versions!
Crash!
The four attacks collided almost simultaneously, two by two, erupting in deafening roars. Inevitably, the weaker forces were shattered. Under Hijiri Byakuren's shocked gaze, she was engulfed by the Ancient Path to Yomi, while Hatate’s figure was simultaneously swallowed whole by the crimson pillar of Fantasia.
“Hmph, mere ants,” the black-clad maid declared, not sparing a glance at the result of her actions. She retracted her hands and immediately charged forward again, her target still... the Third and Tenth Miko!
“Spear of Destiny!”
But before she could fully advance, Remilia’s voice rang out from behind her, accompanied by the appearance of a blood-soaked spear.
The black-clad maid sensed the incoming attack and sneered without turning back, “With the strength of a mere ant like you, you think to stop me? Dream on!”
As she spoke, she pinched the shaft of a spear between the index and middle fingers of her right hand and flicked it backward like trash. Instantly, a blood-red spear shot forth—the Spear of Destiny.
The two Spears of Destiny clashed in a flash of lightning. With a sharp crack, the former shattered, while the black-clad maid's Spear of Destiny continued unabated, instantly impaling the defenseless Remilia.
Remilia stared blankly at the bloody aperture in her chest and abdomen, utterly motionless.
“Hand over the Miko!”
The interception attempts by Hijiri Byakuren, Hatate, and Remilia proved almost useless. The black-clad maid instantly reached the Third and Tenth Miko, her icy gaze sweeping toward Ibaraki Doji and Hoshiguma Yuugi.
“Ah!”
The two renowned Four Heavenly Kings of the Oni Clan, fearless in the face of danger, felt as if they had fallen into an ice cavern under the black-clad maid’s stare. Their bodies froze, completely unable to move.
The black-clad maid was not there to negotiate. As her words ended, she casually swept her hand, unleashing a torrent of wind that rushed toward the four of them. Completely overpowered by her aura, the two great Oni Kings were defenseless, forced to watch the fatal killing move approach.
However, they were not the only ones fighting, and the interruptions by Hijiri Byakuren’s group had not been entirely in vain. Before the gale could reach them, Yakumo Yukari’s figure appeared beside the four, opening a Boundary Gap and instantly drawing them inside.
The gale passed, unable to inflict harm.
“Hmph!” But the black-clad maid’s expression shifted to one of disdain. Her gaze sharpened, and the storm suddenly altered direction, tearing through dimensions to violently penetrate Yakumo Yukari’s Boundary Gap.
“W-wah!”
No one could see what happened inside the Gap, but less than a second later, Yakumo Yukari vomited blood and flew out, while the other four lay completely still, their faces ashen, appearing dead.
In just a few brief seconds, after only a few exchanges, Yakumo Yukari was gravely injured; the two Hakurei Miko and the two great Oni Kings were unconscious, their life status unknown; the fate-controlling Remilia was half-dead; and even the Half-Sage Hijiri Byakuren and the fully realized Celestial Himekaidou Hatate were left barely clinging to life... The black-clad maid was terrifyingly powerful!
The remaining onlookers watched this scene, their hearts turning cold.
Should they rescue the gravely injured or attack the black-clad maid? At this moment, no one knew what to do.
“All of you, die!” Ignoring the expressions of terror on everyone’s faces, the black-clad maid focused her gaze on Yakumo Yukari and launched another killing blow.
“You’ve gone too far. Do you take me for nothing?”
Just then, an even colder voice rang out. Lin Luo, holding the Sword of Destruction, swung down toward the black-clad maid’s head.