"Ka ka ka—!" Just as everyone was watching alertly at the time worm, the space worm on the other side was undergoing rapid changes. Its crystallized body was gradually fracturing, a pair of wings slowly unfolding, revealing a body shrouded within, revealing a surprising sight—a black butterfly.
However, although it was called a butterfly, it bore a striking resemblance to humans, at least in its upper body, except for the pair of abnormal "large eyes."
"Sawoo—!" The black space butterfly made an inexplicable noise, its wings trembling before its form appeared in front of Bexia. Its sharp claws reached out toward his chest, shimmering with a dark light.
"Clang—!"
Bexia fended off the attack with his warblade, but to his extreme surprise, he couldn't withstand the power behind it. Especially the warblade condensed with spatial energy was cleaved in two.
"Swish—!" Before Bexia could react, the black space butterfly blinked to his side, claws lunging for his head.
"Hmph—!" Unable to teleport in this space, Bexia felt disgusted by the butterfly's tactics. Instead, he tossed up the fragmented warblade in his hand, the grip of spatial force materializing, as his twisted fist retaliated.
Dealing with spatial energy naturally required using the same kind of power. Although Bexia couldn't gain much advantage, the space butterfly's blinking was indeed nauseating, evading each of his lethal attacks skillfully.
On the other hand, the time worm also underwent changes. Its fleshy body turned to ashes under Release's attack. Just as everyone thought it was over, a white butterfly materialized in the place where the time worm vanished, larger than the space butterfly and significantly more powerful. Release's subsequent attack had limited effect on it, as the time power surrounding the butterfly directly nullified the flames' impact.
One with a spatial shield, the other with a temporal shield—these two unique creatures, while not powerful, possessed abilities to deter their opponents.
"I will lend a hand, be careful!" Christine said to the remaining group. The situation was too tense; she had to do something. She especially worried about attracting other worms, as dealing with two was already troublesome—what if a group showed up?
"Soul Sword!" Christine's mind activated. Mastering the laws of the soul, she took her spell to the extreme. The previous nine spiritual swords were refined into hundreds of soul blades, each imbued with soul laws and potent soul energy.
Christine chose to help Bexia first. Given the situation and other reasons, aiding Bexia was her priority. Besides, her attacks wouldn't harm Bexia, rather be absorbed as his nourishment, so she could unleash her cover attacks without restraint.
The sky rained down soul blades, indiscriminately falling like large raindrops on Bexia. He felt no reaction to the blades, sensing the space butterfly's attempt to blink away. Multiple soul blades pierced its body, rendering it immobile in mid-air.
"Yiya—!"
"Sizzle sizzle—!" The space butterfly emitted a piercing sound, its body seemingly scalded by boiling oil, black spatial energy continuously evaporated from it. In the end, only a thumb-sized black crystal was left on the ground, picked up by Bexia!
"Master, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Your soul attacks are potent. Let's deal with the other one!"
Bexia pulled Christine, who smiled before lunging at Bexia like smoke dissipating. Bexia's aura rose, and his body underwent subtle changes.
With Bexia and Christine's intervention, the other time butterfly was quickly slain, dropping a white crystal like its space counterpart.
"These crystals contain both time and space energy effortlessly!" After parting from their fusion state with Christine, Bexia held two crystals in his hand. Although the power within felt not particularly strong, they held more efficacy than common eternal-grade materials.
"These are crystallizations of power from creatures existing in special environments!" Release wandered over. In the recent fight, he merely went through the motions. If he went all out, there would be no match—after all, he was an ancient being, needing to reserve some strength, right?
"This stuff does have some value..." Release gave a non-committal response. While time and space powers were precious, their grade and effect were not very high, barely finding use above the immortal level in cultivation. They could be utilized as materials, at best!
"Any takers?" Bexia asked the group, only to be met with shaking heads.
"Then let's continue forward and see what lies ahead!"
