"Miss Regina!" Charise was excited. But Regina did not reply to her. Instead, she fixed her gaze in the man in front of her.

Jaden.

Likewise, Jaden was completely fixed in Regina.

Then, his lips curved up in an excited smile

"Duke, I think I'll be unable to continue helping you."

The duke wrinkled his brows. He could also feel the strong pressure coming from the silver-haired girl.

It was unmistakably the pressure of a demiG.o.d.

"Master, be careful," Regina said to Bloed and took a step forward. She did not hesitate or pay attention to anything else. She knew who was her enemy.

On her hands, two energy blades appeared, and behind her, tens of different weapons surfaced, ready to be wielded.

But Jaden's aura did not fall behind Regina. He clenched his fists with an eager smile and crimson-black mana circled around them, extending outwards and creating the image of a bloodthirsty wolf behind him.

"Beautiful miss, please."

Regina's face turned ice-cold.

"As you wish.��

Then, her body flickered.

The next instant, her two blades were hacking towards Jaden's head.

Jaden replied crossing his arms over him, stopping the blades. Then, he kicked the ground, throwing a punch towards the Valkyrie, that was stopped by a barrier that appeared around Regina.

After the first exchange, the pair clashed again and broke through the roof of the city hall, bringing their battle to the clouds.

With the addition of Regina and Jade, four demiG.o.ds were fighting on the clouds of Diadel City.

But although the fight between demiG.o.ds was very fierce, it was not the main show of tonight.

While Regina was fighting Jade, the other four people and a wolf inside the city hall confronted the Duke.

Bloed, Liu Ying, Javelin, and Charise charged towards the Duke.

"Be careful!" Charise shouted. "He is using the souls he harvested tonight to increase his strength! His goal is to break through to demiG.o.d and increase his lifespan!"

Bloed instantly understood the duke's plan.

Normal people and pract.i.tioners have a lifespan of eighty to one hundred years, with some of them living a bit more. Stronger pract.i.tioners can keep their youth for longer, but their lifespan is essentially the same.

Even a peak Rank pract.i.tioner can not live longer than a normal person.

But it is different when you reach demiG.o.d.

DemiG.o.ds were divided into three levels, with the first being called [Transcendence], the second [Sainthood], and the third [Apotheosis]. They were equivalent to S-Grade, SS-Grade, and SSS-Grade of the human confederation.

Regina was an SS-Grade Valkyrie, so her cultivation was roughly equivalent to a saint as Sebastian, although her traits as Valkyrie made her much stronger.

For humans, a transcendent could live up to 120 years, a saint up to 150 years, and an apotheosized up to 180 years!

In other words, if the duke succeeded, his lifespan would increase for at least twenty years!

And now, although he had not succeeded yet, he was very close. His cultivation was constantly climbing, approaching to the demiG.o.d level. Currently, he was as strong as a half-demiG.o.d!

Bloed was the first to attack. Turning his gun into blaster mode, he shot a bullet of energy in direction of the duke.

But the blood-red mana around the duke stopped the attack. It then turned into a serpent-like monster that a.s.saulted Bloed.

"[Protection]!" Charise prayed. Instantly, a barrier of light appeared around Bloed, stopping the attack. Bloed took advantage of that opportunity to resume his attacks.

Meanwhile, Javelin appeared suddenly behind the duke. He wielded his two daggers as vipers that bit towards the duke's neck. But it was as though the duke had eyes on his back. Without warning, the chains around him trembled and moved to stop the daggers. Then, they tried to entangle Javelin.

"Dammit!" Javelin cursed and tried to evade the chains. Fortunately, Charise's support came at that moment. She called upon lightning and struck the chains allowing Javelin to escape.

Meanwhile, another one of Bloed��s bullets flew towards the duke. The duke snorted and waved his hand, turning his mana into a barrier that stopped the bullet. Then, the blood-red mana turned into hundreds of mana arrows that flew towards the group.

"Continue attacking! I'll take care of them! [Protection]!"

Even although Charise could not call upon too much power of the G.o.ddess in the current situation, her own strength was still at the Rank. If she focused completely on defense, she could manage to stop most of the duke attacks.

Thrusting Charise's words, Bloed, Javelin, and Liu Ying ignored the arrows. At the same time, Leto tried to turn into a wave of metallic sand that a.s.saulted the duke.

But the duke let out a roar that dispersed the metallic sand, he then stopped Javelin's new attack with a barrier of mana while using another barrier to stop Bloed's saber that was coming from the right.

But suddenly, he felt something wrong. Without hesitation, he jumped back evading Bloed's saber, but at that moment, he saw a black-haired girl jumping towards him.

"Hah!" Liu Ying let out a bellow. Her mana turned into the black-Knight-like aspect that clenched its fist and filled her body with strength.

Then, she unleashed a punch!

"Die!"

The duke grunted. A new barrier appeared blocking Liu Ying's punch. The barrier cracked fiercely, but in the end, it resisted.

Then, the duke clenched his fist and unleashed a punch of his own.

"Kuh!" Liu Ying crossed her arms to resist his punch, but even so, she was sent flying away, destroying several walls in the process.

If not that Charise and Liu Liu's barrier stopped part of the punch's strength, that attack could have killed her.

But while the duke was fighting Liu Ying, Bloed raised his gun and aimed again.

Towards the location of the node!

"Dream on!"

The duke shouted. Instantly, a barrier of blood-red mana appeared around the node, stopping Bloed's bullet easily. And before Bloed could make another attack, several spears of mana were coming towards him.

"d.a.m.n!" Bloed cursed under his breath and jumped away. Meanwhile, he commanded Leto to turn into several metallic spikes that attacked both the duke and the node.

However, the duke turned his mana into a whirlpool that blew the attack away. Moreover, the barrier defending the node held strong.

At that moment, Charise called upon several lightning bolts that struck the duke and the barrier, but both of them remained standing without suffering damage.

Bloed frowned. "It's useless to attack the node. The barrier protecting it is connected to the magic circle. Unless we are able to destroy it in a blow or kill the duke, it will hold strong!"

"Dammit! How are we supposed to kill that pervert then!" Javelin spat out. "The amount of mana he can use is astonishing! That mana has already surpa.s.sed the level of an Rank!"

Bloed nodded. Although the duke was not a demiG.o.d yet, with the support of the magic circle, he could use much more mana than a normal Rank.

While evading the attacks of the duke, Bloed thought about the situation. Soon, his gaze fell upon the node.

In the end, that node was the key to this battle.

At that moment, an idea came to his mind. But before he could put it into practice–

*BOOMMM!!!*

A powerful surge of mana occurred behind them. Sand, rubble, and stones were blown away.

Then, a beautiful figure jumped out from the cloud of dust.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Liu Ying's punched with all her strength, unleashing the entire power of her aspect in a blow.

And astonishingly, her mana fluctuations climbed at the B-Rank!

...

P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels