A phantom image isn’t the real body. Even under sunlight, it can’t possibly cast a shadow.

Yet now, beneath both the Pope and the Purple Robe’s feet, those black shadows could be seen.

Qingyi based her judgment on this point and concluded that the two people beside her were both the real bodies. Cai, however, didn’t think so at all:

“Fake! They’re nothing more than illusions created through magic—not real shadows.”

Cai had lived through long years, and the observational skills she’d cultivated were on a level that Qingyi, who was only twenty, could never hope to match.

As far as Cai was concerned, the reason neither of them had sent their real bodies here was easy enough to understand.

The Pope was the ruler of the Empire. Without an absolute necessity, he wouldn’t leave the country;

while the Purple Robe felt that dealing with a weak nation like Dibiles didn’t warrant sending out his real body.

Cai believed that it was for these reasons that the two of them hadn’t sent their physical bodies over.

Even so, the strength displayed by these two phantom images was not something that could simply be ignored.

After being seen through, the Pope kept his expression unchanged as he spoke the following words:

“This state is more than enough to deal with you!”

As he spoke, the shadow stretched backward. Under his deliberate control, it soon vanished without a trace from beneath the Pope’s feet.

The Purple Robe then withdrew his own shadow as well.

Now that there was no need to keep pretending, the two of them could save the small amount of power required to maintain the magic and devote themselves fully to the battle at hand.

“I’m absolutely not fighting for Dibiles……”

Cai reminded herself of this in a barely audible voice. She knew perfectly well:

Her Forbidden Spell was useless in the current situation, because phantom images couldn’t be hypnotized.

That left her with every ability she possessed aside from the Forbidden Spell.

The first opponent to attack was Qingyi. Cai had no intention of taking this enemy’s life; she only planned to defeat her as quickly as possible.

A moment later, she met her opponent head-on. The cross-shaped sword in her hand unleashed astonishing might and slammed straight into the Unslashing Blade from the front;

The force of that blow was so powerful that even the divine blade found it difficult to withstand.

After this clash, Qingyi failed to shake the sharp sword before her and couldn’t dispel the impact carried by the cross-shaped sword;

She took the attack head-on, opened her mouth, and forced out a soft groan as her body retreated uncontrollably;

Meanwhile, a notch had appeared on the surface of the divine blade in her hand.

If the weapon’s quality had been any worse, it would definitely have snapped in two just now!

Qingyi would have to be careful from here on out.

Although the Unslashing Blade possessed the ability to repair itself, it still couldn’t be allowed to suffer actual destruction. Otherwise, its restorative power wouldn’t have time to take effect.

Cai sent Qingyi flying with one strike, but she didn’t stop there;

She surged forward, controlling the cross-shaped sword in her hand as she swung it toward the Purple Robe.

Cai’s active attack on the Purple Robe made the Pope extremely displeased.

Although he understood that

even if the phantom image died here, hacked into eight or ten pieces, the real body wouldn’t be affected in the slightest,

the Purple Robe was still one of his most important subordinates;

for Cai to bypass him and directly attack his subordinate right in front of him

was naturally an unforgivable act in the Pope’s eyes.

Even though he had promised to give the Holy Maiden another chance, the Pope still decided that afterward, he would teach Cai a lesson she’d remember for the rest of her life!

With a twist of his wrist, the Pope firmly gripped a golden halberd radiating a sacred aura;

The instant he drew the weapon, he silently aimed it at Cai’s side;

Then, without closing the distance, he locked onto that direction and brought the halberd down at blinding speed.

A might too overwhelming for bystanders to face directly erupted, as though a stretch of chaos were sweeping toward the target and enveloping it.

This single strike was enough to kill a powerhouse at Nation-Toppling level!

Cai’s realm was indeed above that level, but she still wasn’t powerful enough to casually disregard this attack.

For her, all she needed was one full-powered strike against the Purple Robe to shatter that phantom image;

but at precisely this moment, the Pope’s phantom image got serious.

Faced with an attack of such terrifying destructive power, Cai could only retreat for the sake of the battle to come, no matter how unwilling she was.

However, she didn’t do nothing while retreating.

With a flick of the hilt, a layer of radiance coated the surface of the cross-shaped sword;

This time, she used light-element magic to strengthen the blade.

As the blade trembled, Cai cast spatial magic as well. Waves of invisible fluctuations rapidly spread out, directly sealing off the surrounding space.

Using two kinds of magic at once, Cai didn’t even give her opponent a chance to dodge before temporarily trapping the Pope in an instant;

Powerful restraints from every direction made it much harder for the Pope to move his limbs than before.

Before he could truly escape, the sword edge arriving with the radiance came whistling down.

Because his movements were restricted, the Pope couldn’t simply evade the blade;

With no way to dodge, he raised his left hand high and used another divine artifact he carried with him.

The moment he intervened to stop Cai from dealing with the Purple Robe, the Pope had already considered the possibility that she might launch a full-powered counterattack.

Because he’d prepared in advance, he reacted in time, thrusting the shield in his palm forward before the blade could strike him.

At the instant the sword came down, the shield shimmering with rainbow light revealed the figure of an angel before it;

As though absolute protection had been bestowed upon it, the shield’s defensive power rose dramatically the moment the angel’s image appeared in Cai’s eyes;

Light flowed across it like water. The radiance carried by the sword was suppressed, and the moment the blade was knocked back, the light magic clinging to it vanished.

In this way, the Pope blocked Cai’s counterattack.

The halberd could inflict wounds on an opponent that couldn’t be healed through magic;

the shield could reduce the power of every attack except magic to half its original strength;

With these two divine artifacts in hand, the Pope had his greatest assurance of defeating an opponent head-on without deploying his real body!

“You’re only a Holy Maiden, yet you think far too highly of yourself.”

With the Pope’s deep shout, an astonishing, mountain-crushing pressure surged from his body;

The pressure crashed toward Cai like wave after wave of enormous tides, attempting to strip her of the ability to resist.

Cai didn’t say a word;

She simply let the blade infused with light elements slice downward, creating a violent collision in midair between the slash and the terrifying pressure rushing toward her.

The invisible pressure became almost tangible, making the space in every direction tremble and ripple, with faint signs of tearing apart.

Under such terrifying force, even the powerful Qingyi felt the threat of death at that moment.

Anyone below the level of Near-Nation-Toppling didn’t even have the right to remain nearby.

As the Pope and Cai each unleashed the full power available to them at this stage, deafening thunderclaps continued to echo throughout the entire void;

The space reflected in Qingyi and the Purple Robe’s eyes was repeatedly torn apart by those thunderous sounds, with thin spatial cracks emerging one after another;

The two overwhelming auras clashed endlessly within the void like two colossal swords reaching the heavens;

Even without colliding directly, the two forces still brought such terrifying devastation to the battlefield.

The sky above their heads seemed to shatter, making it look as though they were witnessing the arrival of the apocalypse.

While the two sides were locked in battle, the Purple Robe endured the injuries inflicted on his body by the external force and darted forward, closing in on Cai’s side.

Even after catching sight of him from the corner of her eye, Cai couldn’t abandon her clash with the Pope. She could only watch helplessly as the attack struck her.

The Purple Robe poured all his strength into the attack, coating his right palm in earth elements before smashing it viciously into the target’s waist.

With a loud bang, Cai felt as though a rock had slammed into her head-on. This was the greatest injury she had suffered in the battle so far.

The instant her throat turned sweet with blood, Cai sucked in a sharp breath. Her crossed arms suddenly tensed, and she controlled the cross-shaped sword into unleashing a second slash.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble.

If there had been mountain peaks all around them, they would have been completely flattened in the instant this explosion erupted.

The shockwaves spread outward. Qingyi had to stab her blade into the ground, while the Purple Robe drove both feet into the earth, just to avoid being knocked down by the impact.

Under the two people’s gazes, Cai immediately shifted the sword to the side, forcing its edge to change direction.

After forcing herself to perform a double slash, Cai finally offset the pressure released by the Pope, resolving the most troublesome problem she’d faced earlier;

After that, she only had to deal with one small nuisance.

Her earlier stroke of luck wouldn’t come a second time. Cai flashed before the Purple Robe and brought her sword down on him before he could dodge.

With a sharp hiss, the Purple Robe’s body was cut in half. Yet he still smiled as he said:

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. No matter what, I hope His Majesty can take you back with him……”

With only half his face remaining, he worked the remaining half of his mouth and let out a shrill laugh.

Since the other party had spoken, Cai also had something to tell him:

“You—can’t compare to Lord Xiaole!”

The instant the Purple Robe’s expression changed, Cai swung her sword sideways without the slightest hesitation, turning the two pieces into four.

After being quartered, the loathsome figure in Cai’s eyes disappeared amid scattering motes of light.

After settling one matter weighing on her mind, Cai’s endurance reached its limit.

Qingyi saw her bend slightly and cough once with her face lowered.

“Cough—ptoo……”

Golden blood was spat from her mouth. Her injuries were definitely severe, but she still had the strength to fight again.

The Pope found Cai’s defiant appearance extremely laughable.

If he searched his heart, the Pope truly didn’t care what became of his phantom image afterward.

The phantom image wasn’t the real body, but the shield and halberd were unquestionably divine artifacts, not cheap imitations.

The Pope’s preparations were extremely thorough. In case anything went wrong, it was impossible for anyone to seize the armor or weapon;

If the phantom image were destroyed, the two divine artifacts would immediately return to the real body through the teleportation magic that had long since been placed inside them.

Cai’s position was completely different.

Her physical body was right here. If she suffered a decisive injury afterward, she would collapse on the spot.

If necessary, the Pope could abandon the phantom image entirely in order to defeat Cai;

but Cai had no second body to use for battle. She couldn’t even perish together with him.

Because of the opponent’s injuries, the effects brought about by the spatial magic had already been lifted.

Under these circumstances, the Pope couldn’t imagine:

“You’re already injured. What do you possibly have left to challenge me!?”