A sudden, inexplicable wave of grief welled up in Joen’s heart, like seeing a decrepit giant elephant, burdened by a long-extinguished sunset, stumbling in its stride.
That round, searing heart of the firmament plummeted to the earth, stopping its beat in the deep, its edges no longer burning.
Every inch of ash, still holding a remnant of warmth, was carved with barely visible epitaphs.
Transmitted through every stroke were seven sorrowful and magnificent destinies.
Joen looked down to see an unimaginably massive, sky-propping claw supporting the castle that had fallen into the Demon Ascension Ritual.
The palm lines were as deep as dried riverbeds, the five fingers as towering as mountains, but this hand was charred black; it was hard to imagine what kind of purgatorial fire could scorch such a behemoth.
Beneath the giant claw, countless monsters with grotesque appearances, bearing little trace of living beings, were trying with all their might to climb onto it.
Yet, they pulled at each other, obstructing one another, and in the end, not a single monster could escape the abyss at its feet.
A never-ending, futile competition.
Joen stared in a daze for a few seconds before hastily withdrawing his gaze, continuing to search for Lily.
Logically, a full-grown person could not simply vanish into thin air under his nose, but this absurd situation had occurred.
Like the boulder that Sisyphus struggled to push, this was endless futility.
At this very moment, his entire heart was filled only with Lily, who smiled as sweetly as honey, and he was consumed by worry for her and the panic of losing her.
Joen could not be bothered to pay any attention to the Duke beside him, who was no longer “acting like a human.”
Although Zyra’s condition looked quite dire, the shadow behind her had grown into a behemoth, appearing like jet-black thorns bursting from her body.
The shadow seemed to be greedily draining Zyra’s life force, causing her skin, once delicate and snow-white, to wither away and melt into viscous black oil that dripped down.
Yet, Zyra was plunged into a fanaticism and intoxication, convinced she was “evolving into a higher level of life.”
The surge in power and the collapse of boundaries caused her self-confidence to inflate tremendously.
The special force field and rules of the Demon Ascension Ritual filled her with blazing anger and high-spirited battle intent.
Joen, who disregarded her and did not offer her worship through trembling and fear like the others, was staring fixedly at her—at this audacious, defiant fool who dared to offend her.
The illusory and massive shadow behind Zyra suddenly lengthened, and countless twisted, thin shadow lines, like scars torn across the earth, surrounded and converged on Joen from all directions, their ends condensing into sharp, lethal shadow blades.
The heavy armor of the National Protection Army was easily sliced and pierced by the shadow blades.
Zyra’s eyes curved, her smile intensifying to a point of twisted perversion; she could not wait to see this traitor bleeding and dying a miserable death in agony.
But the next moment—
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
The shadow blades that had successfully broken through the armor encountered an incredible resistance against the muscles of his mortal flesh, emitting a series of crisp sounds like needle tips striking iron blocks.
Zyra’s ferocious smile froze.
“What is the point of this armor? No, wait—since your flesh defense is thicker than the armor, why do you even wear this stuff?”
Disturbed, Joen could not help but turn his head, glaring at Zyra with a warning look.
He was already restless enough from not being able to find Lily, and here was this utterly boring person continuing to make meaningless disturbances.
“I’m telling you, can you stop poking me with your shadows? I really don’t have the time to waste on you.”
He stated this in a serious tone, without any hint of sarcasm, words which were the ultimate insult to Zyra.
“Good… good! So that was it, the earlier display was just a diversion, and you are the real expert!”
Zyra’s fingers trembled slightly with rage as she slowly pointed at Joen.
“Do you think this is all there is? You won one exchange, and now you’re getting cocky?”
“This is my home turf! Tonight, this is my Feast!”
The Raven Spirit Envoys activated the soul containers scattered throughout the castle, and countless shadow souls collected previously broke free from their shackles, fleeing frantically.
One by one, “misty heads” that still seemed to retain the features of their living selves screamed as they soared into the sky, only to be intercepted by the妖異 moons above and submerged into their shadows.
A very few shadow souls, seemingly still possessing some wit and craftiness, immediately turned and fled downward.
However, below was also a dead end; they were eventually torn apart and devoured by the twisted, unrecognizable monsters at the bottom of the abyss.
The blood-red moon began to emit an eerie light.
“It’s here! Finally, it’s here!” Zyra fell into a frenzy of joy.
Dense and eerie moonlight poured down from the sky, sinking into the top of Zyra’s head.
She felt as though she had stepped into a brand-new realm, touching upon unprecedented truth.
This is magic!
This is life!
This is power!
Only now did Zyra realize, in the malicious inflation of power, that humans are such small, fragile, and failed creatures!
A fleeting life could not carry anything at all.
Only the Demon Gods and great demons like them were true monarchs standing high above the heavens!
Her bones exploded with sound, and her soul ascended—it felt as if something was about to burst out from within her.
Zyra’s originally slender and beautiful female body began to expand and twist continuously.
Her flesh grew wildly, muscle fibers twisted and expanded crazily, and her entire body was filled with endless brute force and a never-extinguishing, violent battle intent.
The Fourth Demon God snatched a small amount of souls and also bestowed a response upon her.
Her vision widened suddenly, and her perception became extremely sharp; even the rhythm of every wisp of wind around her was clearly distinguishable.
At the same time, her will became as firm as steel, as if nothing in the world mattered anymore, save for the glorious path of the Demon Ascension.
The Second Demon God devoured the most souls; this feast was designed for him from the start.
The God was satisfied, the God was gratified, and the God generously bestowed favor.
Pure Shadow Magic poured in crazily, and Zyra felt so comfortable it was as if her soul were shuddering.
She had gained the authority to dominate shadows, gained eternal life, and gained the qualification to witness immortality alongside the darkness.
Because of their different positions, the other Demon Gods had obtained very few souls, but they still granted some favors that the previous “human Zyra” could never have imagined.
Zyra took a deep breath, sucking all the shadow ghosts that were wandering in the castle out of fear into her mouth.
The giant mouth with fangs turned cruelly toward Joen and laughed loudly and arrogantly: “I lack nothing now! Feeling myself completely transformed… human, are you prepared to be the next sacrifice?”
After saying this, she waited expectantly for the arrogant knight before her to show an expression of extreme fear and solemnity.
But Zyra was disappointed once again.
Paying her no mind at all, Joen suddenly brightened, a look of great surprise appearing on his face: “Lily? Lily? Was that you talking just now? I think I heard your voice!”
Joen heard Lily’s somewhat helpless voice again in his ear, but it was very faint, very blurred, as if heard through several layers of heavy gauze, making it difficult to distinguish.
“Where are you?” Joen asked in a hurry.
“I… I’m still outside!” At the same time, Lily looked around at the empty, irregular giant pit left behind after the castle fell into the shadow, wanting to cry: “No! Why! Why is the evolution not bringing me along again? Am I some kind of illegal resident? Is the illegal immigrant, in fact, me?”
While trying hard to establish contact with Joen, Lily suppressed the urge to tremble from nervousness.
Years of experience told her that in the slightly uncoordinated shadow not far behind her, a patient and deadly hunter was definitely still lurking.
The ambush player was observing the situation.
Lily could only create a diversion.