Dark clouds churned as beams of silver-white moonlight shot through the layers of mist, illuminating Vyea’s form. She stood in the air with her arms crossed, doing nothing, yet she exerted a terrifying pressure.
Jiele Xiyin no longer had the presence of mind to worry about the escaped Elf. At this moment, she felt like a rabbit discovered by a predator, trembling under Vyea’s gaze as a massive sense of dread welled up within her.
‘How is this possible?’
As a dignified Demon King, she was actually feeling fear toward a white-haired girl who looked barely out of her teens.
Furthermore, her memory held no record of that face, yet she sensed a familiar aura radiating from her opponent.
She remembered! That aura! That familiar feeling!
Years ago, shortly after she had inherited the title of Demon King, rumors had spread about another Demon King emerging in the neighboring Forest of Demonic Creatures. That Demon King had unified the entire forest in just one week!
In less than one month, that Demon King’s name had spread throughout the entire Demon Race.
Having ascended to her position at nearly the same time, Jiele Xiyin had always been overshadowed. People even talked about the other Demon King more than her within her own Demon King City.
Jiele Xiyin had been furious and sought to challenge her to reclaim her pride.
During that battle, Jiele Xiyin had fought with everything she had, yet she couldn’t even touch the hem of the other’s clothes. Her opponent didn’t even bother to remember her name, which was the ultimate humiliation.
“It’s you! It’s you! It’s you!” Jiele Xiyin pointed at Vyea, her voice shrill with rage and fear. “Are you… Anna Elvis?”
“Hmm?” Vyea tilted her head in confusion, but that slight confusion quickly turned into a smile. “Who I am isn’t important. What matters is that you won’t have the chance to run away this time.”
—
On the ground.
Black Mask and his group noticed the anomaly in the sky. The dark clouds were vanishing rapidly, like snow melting under the sun, revealing the silver moon and the brilliant river of stars. However, the area where the Demon King stood seemed frozen, like a vividly colored oil painting.
“A miracle! A miracle!” Second Mate Skinny shouted, pointing toward the sky. He had been watching the battlefield closely. Although he didn’t know who this sudden intruder was, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that a certain defeat had been overturned! They were saved!
“Second Mate! The barrier in the sky has disappeared! We’ve made contact with the Capital and Antler City!”
“What about Fengxiang Town? Can we reach them? Something this big happened, and they haven’t reacted at all?”
“We’re trying! We’re still trying! Our signal has been sent out… Report! They aren’t responding!”
Second Mate Skinny slammed his fist against the railing, cursing under his breath as he scrambled down the hatch to find the Captain.
—
At the Companion Institute on Mt. Tayuan, Antler City.
“My goodness… what is going on?” The Director rushed onto the observation tower, staring fixedly at the twisted clouds on the horizon. All the Magic Power in the air was converging in that direction. What rank of demonic creature could possibly achieve such a feat?
‘That direction is…’
Hua Shiyu felt a sinking feeling in her heart. That was the direction of the Ark’s route. If something had happened, why was there no news? Had the communications for the entire Ark been blocked? Within human territory… ‘How is that possible?’
The entire night shift of the Companion Institute ran to the mountainside to watch. The night sky looked as if a hole had been punched through it, and red lightning was nearly reaching the docks of Antler City. This was a terrifying energy reaction.
But that energy only lasted for a very short duration—so short it was hard to believe—yet in that moment, it lit up the entire night sky.
“Director! Minister Hua! Chief Justice! Something terrible has happened!”
“We’ve received word from the Starlight Lily of the Valley. They were ambushed by a massive number of enemies during their voyage! Also… also, they say a Demon King has appeared!”
“What did you say? A Demon King has appeared within human territory?”
“Yes, it has been personally confirmed by the Captain of the Starlight Lily of the Valley!”
A Demon King had appeared in human territory once again.
This news struck the staff of the Companion Institute like a thunderclap. The Director stood motionless, staring at the clouds on the horizon as if deep in thought, or perhaps muttering a silent curse.
—
“The human world is quite beautiful, isn’t it?” Vyea gazed at the brightly lit city on the distant ground. “A sight like this always reminds me of my hometown.”
The sea of clouds surged beneath her feet, appearing a warm amber color as they reflected the light of the sun slowly rising in the east.
“There are clearly so many things worth doing in this world, so many beautiful things, yet we always take them for granted and squander them,” Vyea sighed softly.
“We only regret it and lose sleep over it after they’re gone. Don’t you agree, Demon King of Feast and Deterrence?”
Jiele Xiyin’s entire body was cold, and she didn’t dare to speak.
She was a Demon King who looked down on most life on this earth, yet she had encountered monsters who could easily take her life—monsters who had given her countless nightmares. But those monsters were dead. They were never supposed to appear on this earth again, let alone before her eyes.
But now, Vyea had reawakened Jiele Xiyin’s fear of those monsters.
“What are you?” Jiele Xiyin’s face was pale as she let out a hoarse roar, but the Spider Spears on her back were trembling with terror. “Just what on earth are you?”
Vyea did not answer. She merely raised her hand with a smile. The power of the Fifth Authority and the Twelfth Authority converged and fused in her palm, condensing into a golden long spear crackling with high-frequency lightning.
An Authority Fusion Skill!
“It’s you! It’s you!” Jiele Xiyin stared at the golden energy spear for a moment before becoming hysterical again. “I know who you are now! I never expected that bitch Anna Elvis to have so many tricks. On the surface, she left a crippled puppet with incomplete Authority and a broken body on the throne to act as a target, while secretly keeping a real successor with a full inheritance!”
“I’m going to kill you! If I eat you, I can become the strongest Demon King, just like she was!” Jiele Xiyin’s face contorted with madness. “I am the greatest Demon King in this world!”
“Noisy.”
Vyea’s emerald eyes were filled with a chilling coldness as she thrust the Sunlight Spear forward in an instant.
The bird-like demonic creatures screeched, following the frantic Jiele Xiyin as they charged toward Vyea.
They engaged in their final battle within the clouds, at an altitude even a Demon King’s artillery couldn’t reach.
To the people on the ground, they could only see clashing bolts of lightning and hear dull, echoing thuds, along with the shapes of lifeless, bird-like demonic creatures falling from the sky one after another.
This time, Vyea held nothing back. Even with a large number of demonic creatures assisting her, Jiele Xiyin could not gain the slightest advantage.
Jiele Xiyin had completely transformed into a monster. A chestnut-colored Command Spider several meters high crawled through the air, showing no sign of the weight or sluggishness one would expect from such a massive body.
“You’re just another piece left behind by Anna Elvis, aren’t you? How ridiculous. That puppet doesn’t even have a ten-millionth of your power!”
Jiele Xiyin used her Demon Dragons as cannon fodder to test her opponent’s limits while searching for a moment when Vyea might drop her guard.
“Is this the so-called equal world? Hmph, in my eyes, the Great Demon King who was so magnificent in the eyes of millions of demons was nothing more than a sinister, heartless villain who ground out lies!”
“A demon like you could never understand why everyone only looks up to her and not you.”
Vyea waved her hand to dismiss the last Demon Dragon. She wiped the blood from her hands and looked toward the maddened Jiele Xiyin with an expression devoid of joy or sorrow.
“That is the chasm between you and her.”