After Lilith broke free from the barrier, all the golden sources stopped their attacks and turned their attention to Lilith. Their muscular bodies swelled up, giving them a three-dimensional appearance as if they were filled with blood.

Seeing this ominous momentum, Lilith tensed her body and nerves, focusing her gaze on one source in front of her, while also keeping an eye on all the sources within her field of vision.

The battle was about to begin.

In the end, the golden sources took the initiative.

With a belief in her inevitable death and a desire to save her loved one, Lilith gracefully arched her body in the air. Every movement perfectly evaded the attacks and retaliated using the power of the source.

The attacks of the golden sources were like thin sheets of paper in front of Lilith and her sword.

Swing, chop, stab, slash, uppercut, downward strike—Lilith's sword was as agile as a real hand. Side kick, back kick, spin, roundhouse kick—her leg techniques were equally impressive. Utilizing her limbs to their fullest potential, coupled with the stolen power of the source, she constantly defended against attacks from all directions.

For a moment, Lilith performed exceptionally well, giving people the illusion that she could emerge victorious.

But illusions were just illusions, contradicting reality and not truly existing.

No matter how fast the movements, how tricky the angles, and how perfect the attacks and defenses, they couldn't withstand the ferocious onslaught that was like a raging flood. They were unable to resist.

Achieving the maximum benefit with minimal movements could indeed provide a significant advantage in battle. However, this was nothing more than a small cleverness of the weak. In the face of vastly superior absolute strength, any act of trickery was useless.

Lilith alone could never win.

Fortunately, Lilith didn't have to fight alone for too long—Yuzuriha joined the battlefield.

With the help of the Dragon Goddess Girl, Lilith felt much relieved. They entrusted their backs to each other, demonstrating unwavering trust and confidence in their own abilities.

However, compared to Lilith's ability to convert enemy energy, Yuzuriha struggled a lot more. Although she possessed the powerful inherited power of the Dragon Goddess, it was quite difficult for her to confront the sources. Her attacks had very little effect.

Even so, even in the face of enemies whose numbers couldn't be estimated and whose individual strengths were extremely formidable, even in the face of such a seemingly hopeless situation, they never once had the thought of giving up, not even a trace of it.

Their conviction amazed and inspired others.

In stark contrast, a strong sense of guilt surged in Green's heart.

"...I'm so pathetic."

Green scoffed at himself, a bitter smile appearing on his lips. He rubbed his face vigorously and then revealed a renewed countenance, with deep eyes shining with an intense fighting spirit.

Just then, he felt two soft touches on his back, as well as a sense of safety that enveloped him—someone from behind had embraced him, crossing their hands around his waist.

"Green, we will never be separated, right?"

"Mio..."

In that extremely pleasant voice, there was a tinge of sadness and intense unease. But that unease quickly disappeared mysteriously and transformed into a tranquil sense of security.

Mio's intense emotions left Green stunned in place.

By feeling the contact between their backs and chests, he could clearly sense the strong emotions in Mio's heart – a selfish possessiveness, as if she only needed him in her entire world, and wanted to completely embrace him.

- No, that's not it.

In this emotion, there was anxiety, extremely difficult to detect, buried very, very, very deeply. This anxiety was the source of Mio's strong possessiveness, the culprit behind it all.

"Mio..."

Green softly called her name again, while turning his body to look at her, who was embracing him.

At this moment, the silver-haired girl who had been rescued from a seal of several hundred years not only showed a strong, yet imperceptible, anxiety in her heart, but also displayed an obvious aggregation of anxiety on the surface.

-Tears.

Those were not tears of happiness, let alone tears of joy. They contained various negative emotions, with "anxiety" being the largest component, and were tears that made people feel sad.

"...Don't worry, we won't be separated. I promised you, didn't I?"

Maybe now is not the right time to do this. Whether it was the three Great Demon Kings, who were struggling to hold up the barrier, and Elza, or Lilith and Yuzuriha, who were fighting with all their might, or Aloof and Tia, who regretted not being able to help on the side, no matter how you looked at it, the situation was not suitable for such a thing.

Right now, everyone needs his strength, needs his concrete actions to defeat the enemy, not wasting time on empty promises like this.

But Green believed that this was something more important than anything else.

Green cheered up from his sadness, having been warmed by Mio's embrace just now. Now it was time to repay that kindness.

"Green, I...I..."

Mio's voice was filled with a sob, she was on the verge of tears... No, she was already crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes. Silent weeping exposed the anxiety and fear of losing Green in Mio's heart.

Faced with Mio like this, Green gave up on speaking and instead used actions to fill the void in her heart.

"....Mmm!"

Green gently wiped away Mio's tears with his finger, then kissed her. Their lips met, and in that instant, an electrifying feeling swept through every cell in their bodies, exhilarating and comforting.

A kiss is such a magical thing.

Even though there was just anxiety moments ago, as soon as their lips touched, a sense of satisfaction immediately filled every space in their hearts, forcefully pushing away the uneasiness and leaving it with nowhere to hide.

"Next, try to leave it to me – like before."

Green looked around at Saro Uth, Clitz, and Gothner, as well as Elza, who was helping on the side, with a grateful expression, and in the moment their eyes met, he conveyed a trusting gaze.

"Besides Mio, you four are the strongest presence within the barrier. The safety of this space relies on you."

"Yes! Leave it to us here! You go fulfill your mission, we promise to protect them and make sure not a single hair gets hurt!"

"As long as it's Green-sama's command, we will do our best to fulfill it."

"I'm the same." Saro Uth was excited, Gothner remained calm and collected, while Clitz agreed with the former.

Finally, Green turned his gaze to Elsa, and in this extremely precious time where there was no longer any time left, it consumed more time.

"Elsa, if something happens to me, Lilith, and Yuzuriha... please take care of Mio and them."

"Huh? Huh! Why... why should I take care of them? And please don't say such things!"

"I trust you."

Facing Elsa's excited emotions, Green didn't explain too much because he knew Elsa didn't need it. With Elsa's abilities, just this would be enough.

Time was already running out.

Yuzuriha and Lilith were reaching their limits.

"Aloof, Tia, both of you help take care of Mio, and also... Aloof, stop making that expression, it doesn't look good."

"Green..."

Looking at Aloof immersed in regret, Green gave an encouraging look.

Green never asked Aloof to become stronger. When they first arrived in this different world, it was her who gradually opened Green's heart, changed his clumsy thoughts, and embarked on a new life. In Green's heart, besides love, there was only gratitude for Aloof.

Now, it was time to help them, to help the two who were fighting.

After gently rubbing Mio's silky silver hair for one last time, Green showed a resolute look and stepped out of the barrier. In an instant, chaotic currents caused by the explosion of energy swept his face and body, creating a chaotic and buzzing sound, occasionally accompanied by fireflies-like light falling beside him.

Green spat in his heart, "Enough is enough."

The red and black source energy protected Green's body, causing tiny black arcs to flicker around him. At the same time, the golden source energy changed Green's hair and eye color, and enhanced his attacking power with strengthened fists and feet.

Both defense and offense were well-prepared, leaving only launching the attack.

With Green's participation, the situation gradually turned around and even showed a one-sided trend. Thanks to using source energy as a substitute for the power of the source, Green's consumption of the power of the source was much less than before, barely able to keep up with replenishing it.

For Lilith, directly controlling the energy of the golden source was extremely difficult, several times more difficult than controlling the energy assimilated and absorbed by Green. Therefore, after killing a source, Green would share the absorbed energy with Lilith so she could quickly strengthen herself in the early stage and gradually adapt to the intensity of battle.

For Yuzuriha, the power of the dragon god was almost exhausted. She couldn't absorb the power of the source left behind by defeated sources like Green, nor could she directly absorb the power of sources like Lilith. Although the power of the dragon god was powerful, there was no way to replenish such a substantial consumption in a short period of time.

Buzz—

The deafening noise at the scene caused the brain to buzz, and the possibility of a fatal attack coming from any direction at any moment made it necessary to be fully vigilant and enter a highly tense state. The combination of the two also caused mental and physical exhaustion for the three of them.

As the battle escalated, it was no surprise that Yuzuriha became the first "casualty".

"…Oh no!"

Seeing Yuzuriha's petite body suddenly being hit, Green's breathing became rapid, their expression anxious, and their movements swift. Almost instinctively, Green flew towards Yuzuriha, crossing over countless relics of golden spirit users along the way.

However, compared to the speed of the numerous golden spirit users, Green still seemed slightly slower. With their own multitude of spirit users blocking Green's movement, combined with the attacks from the spirit users and the need to take care of Lilith, Green had deviated from their original position. Now, the distance between Green and Yuzuriha was much farther than that of the golden spirit users, making it difficult for Green to arrive in time to rescue Yuzuriha before she was surrounded.

At this moment, Green had even mentally prepared themselves to unleash all the power within their spirit to save Yuzuriha. But unexpectedly, something happened—

Just as the golden spirit users were about to launch their attack on Yuzuriha, an inexplicable ripple and distortion appeared in space. Then, it started to twist like a whirlpool, gradually forming a pitch-black spatial channel that continued to expand. It took less than half a second for the channel to fully materialize.

Green curiously watched the spatial channel, feeling both perplexed and filled with a faint hope. And this hope eventually turned into reality— a white dragon flew out from the channel, spreading its enormous wings to protect Yuzuriha.

Not just one, but starting from the appearance of the white dragon, many, many more dragons flew out from the channel. Green even saw the crimson fire dragon they encountered when they first arrived in this otherworldly realm.

And that white dragon protecting Yuzuriha was none other than Ophir, the former king of the dragon tribe.

Although Green had no idea how they came here, they were clear about their power. They were simply unable to withstand the golden spirit users' strength, and Yuzuriha was still not safe.

However, what happened next left Green bewildered.

As the dragons appeared and surrounded Yuzuriha, resembling machines that had run out of energy supply, the golden spirit users stopped their ongoing attacks one after another.