Quickly, a figure covered in black feathers came tearing through the wind. On their shoulder was a Spiritual Guardian that looked like a small black salamander.

"Sir Sanguo!" Algem shouted, excited to recognize the leader of his group.

When Sanguo laid eyes on that spiritual serpent, his heart skipped a beat. That thing would multiply his raw power several times over once refined. And once that happened, could anyone on the same level still match him?

"Cursed bloom!"

Sanguo yelled, pushing his blessing to the max. Nine flowers bloomed behind his Summoner, and from each flower came a black chain.

The nine chains locked the spiritual serpent down. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn't break free.

"Hahaha, come to daddy!"

Sanguo laughed as the chains widened, dragging the serpent toward him. A skull appeared in his hand — it looked like it once belonged to a human. A sinister treasure, made from the remains of some Mannaz who died in that place. Forged by a Risen Lord and handed to him specifically to capture spiritual beings like this one.

Just as the serpent was about to be pulled in—

"!"

A fire spear crashed down with force, and a figure blazing with dense flames appeared on the horizon. A winged Mannaz with his partner.

"Sir Bauxih!"

The sky trembled as Bauxih struck at Sanguo. He dodged in a rush... but his Summoner felt a weird chill climb up his spine, unable to figure out why.

*BOOM!*

A violent explosion left everyone on the ground stunned.

They both had four rings. But these two — they came from planets ranked among the top fifteen in the universe. The difference was like heaven and earth.

"Vanish, and I'll spare your life," Bauxih said bluntly, his presence overwhelmingly oppressive.

"You bastard, you're breaking the damn agreement?!" Sanguo barked.

They were both under different Risen Lords, so they weren't exactly allies. The Risen Lords had sent their underlings under a cooperation pact, but with a treasure this valuable in front of them, all that flew right out the window.

Sanguo didn't give a damn about the serpent anymore. The chains still held it. Blood-red runes lit up the skull in his hand, which then grew in size and was launched at the new enemy.

*BOOM!*

A fire spear and the skull clashed, unleashing a blinding red and black light. Even the Summoners and partners who had already backed off were blasted through the air, coughing up blood.

These two were going all out. With a treasure that tempting, no agreement stood a chance.

"Agreement? In this world, only the law of the strongest rules. My only duty is to help if the Risen call. And don't start with that crap about you seeing the treasure first. I won't repeat myself: leave, or die!"

*BOOM!*

Sanguo was blown away, and the chains holding the "treasure" broke. The spiritual serpent was free again.

"Pathetic! Now it's mine!" Bauxih laughed, unleashing his full blessing. Dozens of fire spears formed around the serpent, creating a huge prison with it trapped inside.

His hand turned into a massive claw, reaching out toward the serpent.

"Yours? Bit early to be saying that."

A scoff echoed, followed by a slashing strike of a blade. A blinding light made everyone turn.

The attack came from behind Bauxih. His eyes widened as his Summoner began coughing up blood like crazy. A sinister assassin had struck at the worst possible time!

A new duo had arrived, moving through the air like a nearly invisible shadow.

"You're right. Treasures belong to the strong," said the assassin Spiritual Guardian.

The spiritual serpent, not fully understanding what was going on, suddenly let out a roar and charged at the newcomers. The Summoner smiled and quickly reached out to grab it.

Sanguo and Bauxih's partners were heavily wounded but not dead — now both were watching the scene, pissed and disappointed. But there was no more time for a counterattack — all they could do was watch as someone else stole the prize.

The most infuriating part was seeing him raise the hand holding the serpent into the air, as if to show off his victory and mock them both.

*Buzz!*

Suddenly, a strange light flashed in the air, followed by a sharp buzzing sound.

People could only see a blinding flash of light. Then, they were shocked...

It happened out of nowhere, so fast that no one could react. The serpent completely changed color... becoming something long and colorful, with a dragon's head and eyes glowing a celestial blue.

Its body shifted and turned solid. Then, the Summoner's neck was violently grabbed.

"WHAT?!"

Sanguo and Bauxih widened their eyes when...

*BANG!*

An explosion rang out. The two of them turned and saw a bloodbath begin.

A green streak shot through the air at high speed. Then, it swept down toward the ground, and everyone it hit exploded like flies.

"NO!"

"DEMON!"

Terrified screams echoed as people tried to flee. But it was so fast, they couldn't even see what was attacking them.

Each strike caused a powerful area explosion. With every hit, more than one person blew up violently.

Up above...

A rain of blood poured down. The Summoner was completely torn apart by the 'spiritual serpent', and then his partner let out a sorrowful roar before vanishing.

Meanwhile, blood kept spreading in every direction. Niara, wearing her new Green Armor, was testing out her powers—and she wasn't letting anyone escape.

Darian turned coldly toward the two on the ground. "Don't worry, I'll send you off."

*Whoosh!*

He vanished, making the two of them flinch in fear.

Then he reappeared right in front of Bauxih in an instant.

Bauxih went pale—his partner had already been badly hurt by that blade before. Without hesitation, he pulled out a teleportation talisman as he backed away as fast as he could.

The little dragon snorted, and flying daggers shot forward.

The Summoner activated the full power of a glowing golden armor, but the daggers curved and slashed, chopping off his arm.

Letting out a grunt of pain, he slammed his hand on the ground. A runic circle activated and a pillar shot up beneath him, launching him into the air in an instant.

Normally, that was an attack move. But now, he was using it to run away. He was thrown into the sky in the blink of an eye. Seeing that the little dragon didn't move, he laughed in relief.

But... he didn't realize he was already dead.

After his arm was cut off, the dark power had already entered Mannaz's body. Darian wasn't naïve and inexperienced anymore. When he attacked, it was to kill right away—no second chances.

"!"

Mannaz's eyes bulged. Then, his soul shattered from the inside as the black poison spread.

On the ground, Darian slashed with his daggers again.

The ground cracked apart and debris flew through the air. A huge hole opened beneath them, and a wave of dark energy spread wildly.

Sanguo used all the power of a Risen Lord sealed in that skull. He did it to buy time and activate the escape inscription. That power created a dark barrier around them—now all they had to do was escape...

His Summoner suddenly started coughing up blood violently, catching him off guard. When he turned to look...

The guy's whole body was covered in black lines.

"H-how?!"

Darian snorted. They were the first lucky ones to try capturing him using those chains from their blessing. Of course, Darian pretended to be weak, knowing that Bauxih was getting closer to strike hard.

When the fire spear came, he used the energy chains' connection to send the black power straight into the Summoner. In the chaos of the fire spear's attack, Sanguo didn't realize he was already dead too.

Just like that, in a few seconds, the three powerful Fighters from top-tier planets in the universe were dead.

Darian moved and took their spatial rings. Then he turned and noticed everything had gone eerily silent.

And then, something caught his eye. Niara was floating midair, radiating a green, natural power from her scales. Down on the ground, countless jade-like spears were stained with blood after impaling a bunch of people.

Just as expected. After a bit of practice, Niara had already learned to use part of the power from her Heart of Nature, merged with her Bloodline. With one devastating move, everyone who was running—even those who'd gotten pretty far—got caught by a sudden attack from below.

"Nice work."

Darian muttered, and she waved with a big smile.

Then, they started collecting all the spatial rings. The loot was pretty damn good this time.

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