Raven's sharp gaze locked with the approaching Demon doesn't waver, even as it laughs and mocks her while she seems pinned to the desert floor at the center of a crater.
"Any last words before I make your life worse than death, and you realize it is too late to submit?!"
Raven activates the buff that has entered her consciousness and feels tens of millions of stat points rushing into her body, becoming reinforced by her True Core's threads and pushing her limits far beyond what they were just moments ago...
Even the dense black and purple aura flowing out from the spear in her chest was deadly enough to suppress her movements, thoughts, and make it difficult to breathe or move when it was close by.
Now, as she grins and tears the black spear from her chest with ease, jumping upward off the desert floor to match the massive Demonic Greater Form's unfathomable speed, the Arch Demon floating downward doesn't comprehend the scene in front of it.
Mid-jump, Raven reactivates her Divine Stealth skill and True Core's ability, disappearing entirely from the unsealed Demon's vision, only to be sensed again when her energy form's silver blades tear into the Demon's chest.
Her attack breaks through its defenses without even being noticed, and without its weapon on hand, all the demon can do is tank the hit just like she did for its last attack, twisting its body as best it can to have both her blades miss its Arch Demon's core by millimeters.
Dark red blood gushes out from its chest as Raven pulls out her swords and dodges its incoming clawed hands, but the instant she moves out of its immediate aura, she becomes invisible again, and the demon lets out a murderous roar.
It is filled with both rage and excitement, as the black and purple energy creating its greater form grows and the black spear on the desert floor floats back to its outstretched hand.
"Incredible! No one but the Noble Bloodlines has ever landed a hit like that on my unsealed form... You must truly be the strongest human left to guard this world."It grins, showing an ominous smile of rows of sharp white teeth and bright eyes burning through its 40-meter-tall Demonic Greater Form.
There's no response, as Raven is still completely invisible, but its body twists when it feels sharp swords in its side, letting out another monstrous laugh while countering with its spear.
This time, not receiving such a deadly strike, but still having chunks of flesh and armor torn away before its spear blocks the swords.
In the next moment, Raven is gone again, and the process continues.
Over and over, Raven tears through the Demon's flesh and armor, going back on the offensive as this battle escalates even further, forcing the Demon to block and be on guard for its life.
---
Meanwhile, all throughout the silver dome, the insidious aura of a 1st Class Bloodline awakening was enough to turn all heads to the battle in Sector 1 taking place. However, Raven's new surge in power gives off a sharp and murderous aura of its own every time her blades collide with the Demon's spear.
The shockwaves of aura, even hundreds of kilometers away, are making many of the Crimson Army's troops, and even the red and orange cores of the demon's army, fall to their knees and have momentary lapses in their ability to fight.
Two True Cores, enhanced far above their natural capabilities, destroy the desert below them, showing off powers too vast for a small world like this to handle.
If not for the dome around them, the entire Dark Continent and 8 Great Regions would be subject to this pressure, similar to the time the Vermillion Lord and Flame Emperor had a brief mental clash.
The ones most thrown off by this dispute are the bronze-horned Demon, Abby, and Maria.
The Demon laughs with a hysterical tone, blocking Maria's blade again and going in for a counter with its flying dagger.
Maria may have just enough strength to block the hit momentarily, but her speed isn't up to par with the Demon's, and she has to concede ground to dodge a fatal blow from the flying dagger, even with the white dagger she uses to block.
Abby's speed is fast enough to dodge when the demon turns on her, and even if she is hit by the dagger, it just phases through. However, her offensive strength isn't nearly powerful enough to make an attack that would actually injure the Demon.
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The three of them are locked into a perpetual cycle waiting for one to slip up, but the constant barrages of enhanced True Cores battling it out on the far side of the desert make the demon the most excited.
"I've never seen him have to go all out other than in training with the nobles! It is quite impressive someone on this world can contend with a 1st Class bloodline. If my fellow general is going this far, I might as well go all out too." ŕ𝔞Ｎô𝔟ƐⱾ
The bronze-horned demon grins, then disappears from both Abby and Maria's sight, reappearing in a blip of darkness; stabbing Maria in the stomach, then disappearing again to release a strange ball of energy from its daggers to collide directly with Abby a second time.
Both of the women are sent flying backward, coughing blood with their eyes wide open, as this Demon just used some kind of dark movement technique that was faster than both of their perceptions could see.
Darkness erupts from the wound in Maria's midsection, spreading quickly, unable to be slowed down by her self-regeneration alone. The only one capable of healing her is flying in the opposite direction, coughing blood while caught off guard by the instant high-powered attack that broke through her Immortal Form a second time.
---
Two loud crashes make the desert shake as both of them hit the ground, but that doesn't break the concentration of the 1st Class Demon and Raven locked in a battle of their own.
The Demon is put completely on the defensive now, but its expression hasn't changed.
The hits it's receiving aren't lethal, and it heals its wounds with Demonic Soul Energy before receiving the next hit every time.
Its eyes just take in Raven's fighting style, trying to guess where she'll strike next before she does, and it seems as though the Demon is getting better at predicting her moves each time.
They are of similar strength, but the Demon's perception skills and reflexes are exceptional.
Even the countless regenerations don't seem to be putting a dent in its stamina; if anything, it's getting more fluid and warmed up more after the long barrage of hits.
Even so, as it gets comfortable, there is nowhere for the demon to attack; it has to be completely reactive and only counter when hit.
This all changes when the demon finally speaks after over 30 exchanges, yelling in Raven's general direction.
"I think it's time I show you my skill as well. You have shown me the peak of human potential. To be honest, you have opened my eyes. I always believed you were all weaklings, but it seems there can be oddities among you. Even so, you shall never stack up to the true natural power of the demon race."
It grins while Raven ignores its words and comes to attack its back while it speaks to her.
The Demon doesn't even try to block, dodge, or counter.
It is sliced clean in half.
Then, dissolves into a mirage of black and purple mist.
Raven is temporarily confused at the sight, but in the moment her attack landed, three black spears come rocketing her way as the 1st Class Arch Demon shows off its Body Double skill for the first time during their fight.
---
While all of this occurs outside the tower, the two prize boxes open before Ember and myself in front of the silver arching doorway leading to the 3rd Trial.
Out of my box, a single item floats upward.
It is a palm-sized leaf, but it is glowing white, almost translucent, and it doesn't give off any energy. It only feels warm and gives an inkling of divine power.
I remember back to the first Trial's prizes, and this leaf looks very similar to the white scale Ember received. He reached out to touch it, and it was all absorbed into his body; then his scales momentarily shimmered golden.
While I cautiously examine the odd leaf, three items float up out from Ember's box.
Two of the items look very familiar, as one is the small white Low Quality Divine Ether pill that I received in the last box.
Without much thought, Ember takes it and swallows it whole.
In the same instant, the second familiar item is a small green orb, full of divine threads.
It begins to unravel just like mine did, but Ember opens up a storage rift in front of his finger to let the item fall inside before exploding.
My eyes open wide at this sight, as it's the first time I've actually been able to see the inner workings of the rift he's opened. Most of it gives off strange readings I can't comprehend, but I can sense the hot feel around its edges, meaning this power he's been using has something to do with this Divine Ether as well.
He looks down at the last item, which is a pair of black gauntlets that shimmer with yellow divine light, but he makes a dissatisfied look on his face when he examines them and turns to me.
"What? Are you going to receive your prize? It's another good one, a low-quality Ether cleansing herb. Just touch it; you won't feel anything now, but with your current mana-based storage setup, you can't take it with you."
I want to ask a ton of questions, but decide to just do as he says and reach out a finger to touch the translucent white glowing leaf.
Upon contact, it dissolves into invisible hot mist and is siphoned into my finger, flowing throughout my whole body, then disappearing from my senses like nothing happened at all.
I turn to Ember again, but he grabs the black gauntlets and throws them my way without warning.
"Your sword can eat these if it wants; I'm not a fan of Soul Weapons. Fighting with my body alone is more my style..."
At these words, the blade that circles around me perks up, rippling with a dark crimson glow, and I reflexively grab it while colliding its tip with the incoming gauntlets.
They're turned to yellow liquid and consumed the second they make contact.
There is about a second worth of digesting, but the hungry blade goes back to its black dormant state moments later as it hasn't leveled up again, but it's had its fill.
Ember speaks to himself but knows I'm listening.
"These prizes seem to all max out at the lower green divine energy realm. The Vermillion Family's Lord must still be a green core at most if this is the type of items the throne was seeded with. That would make sense for going after such a mana-lacking world. Not even a Cyan Lord would send their challengers here."
Ember smirks as the prize boxes disappear, then starts to walk forward.
"Ready to face the final trial?"
I nod and take a step forward.
"Yeah, I'm ready."
With 36,127,889 pairs of eyes looking through mine, both Ember and I step through the silver portal to be transported up to the 3rd and final Trial Room.
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