“You are a True God-tier powerhouse, that’s beyond doubt. Don’t rush to deny it. We have our own ways. But…”

The burly man sighed deep. A transparent circle bloomed around him like rippling glass. Steady, upright force rolled out, yet only at a Demigod’s Arcane Power.

Aphelia watched, calm as still water. She knew he hadn’t bared his true fangs. What stood before her was only an appetizer.

“If you won’t trade, then we fight!”

His coarse cloth burst. Several deep-crimson Runes lit across his body. Only then did Aphelia see their hidden lattice.

Blood welled to his skin. The Runes darkened, eerie light seeping like magma. One by one they flared, forming a giant upon his frame.

Cold, savage, bloodthirsty breath kicked at his shell, an unseen beast clawing to leap. The earlier upright force stood like a high wall, leashing it inside.

The leash only goaded the blood-red Runes. Power seethed. The man panted, breath harsh like bellows.

His aura flipped. The balanced strength turned to ornament. The blood-Rune power was his true spine.

“Please instruct me!!!”

The last word was a roar. He charged, a thunderbolt in flesh, his fist spearing straight for Aphelia’s face.

Speed cracked like rolling thunder. It startled even Aphelia. The force around him wasn’t Aether, but it mimicked it, catalyzing Arcane Power toward Aether.

The huge fist came down. Aphelia only hopped, light as a feather, trying to slip the blow.

Surprise bit. His arm kinked at a wicked angle, like a predator with locked jaws, punching toward where she moved.

That razor wind made her doubt her senses. As if he bent reality with Aether, baring nightmare strength.

The Obsidian Scepter flashed. Aphelia folded in, no hesitation—needle against spike—driving its tip into the oncoming knuckles.

Aether and blood-Rune force detonated midair. Their collision heaved a shockwave that rattled the grand hall. Guests clutched pillars or were flung.

“Impressive power. Without the warning, I’d have mistaken you for a True God.”

Aphelia caught the blow one-handed, lips curling. Her Scepter heaved again. Another blast hammered him down, burying him in the floor.

Black streamers poured from the Scepter, orbited her, then threaded into her cycle. Her spent Aether surged back, swift as a tide.

No breath. Brutal force erupted from below. The black streamers stabbed downward at once. Her pupils pinched; she sprang up.

An arm, far beyond human size, punched from the stone. Black streamers speared it through, yet no blood ran. Only Runes burned on soot-dark flesh.

“Incredible…”

In Aether-sight, the pinned limb looked stuffed with imperfect Aether. It didn’t rupture. Some power converted it, making it its own.

No second look. The arm ripped free of black light. A burly shadow exploded up, a black war-god, crashing toward her.

Instinct answered. The Obsidian Scepter unraveled, becoming a gale of black light. It coiled her arms like Bracer Gauntlets. Aether compressed to needles at her fingertips.

“Ancient Martial Flow!!!”

“Roar!!!”

Mad bellow and her clear voice braided. In the black radiance, a pure white gleam bloomed. Slim arms hid a storm, meeting that ebon fist head-on.

“Crack—”

Black light split the ebon fist. The white gleam flowed like water, soft yet relentless, slipping past the fury along the fracture.

Her pupils lost focus for a heartbeat. A flood of memories crashed with her punch, a tide surging into her mind.

“—Fist!!!”

The black giant tried to counter. Too late. The white gleam turned wild, blooming in layers up his arm. Even blood Runes couldn’t hold.

A shriek tore free. The black giant was blown back. His right side shattered into fragments midair.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

Aphelia hovered, gasping. One hand to her brow. Her eyes burned red as she glared at the falling giant, silver teeth clenched.

In a heartbeat, a sea of memories poured in. Even her beyond-human processing howled. Yet with that punch, she birthed a new power.

No time to savor it. She blanked for a blink. The black giant vanished midair. A murderous surge hit her back. Skin prickled. She threw a blind punch.

Weight slammed from above, several forces smiting her out of the air. She was driven down.

It didn’t stop. The black colossus turned meteor, a god falling. He dived straight for her, dragging a string of airbursts.

A black serpent whipped from around her, fangs bared. It met the “meteor” head-on. Black light geysered, hardening into lances that stabbed the descending war-god.

“Roar!!!”

A ragged howl split the sky. The lances skewered him, stalling that terrifying descent before the serpent. Bloodlike Runes flowed, squeezing the lances out.

Fangs pierced his forearms. The black bulk withered before the eye. He thrashed and roared, but struggle drove the lances deeper, pinning him fast.

Aphelia still clutched her brow, chest heaving, sprawled in rubble. A thin line of blood slipped from her lips. Black light wavered. The Bracer Gauntlets began to fray.

“Aphelia, Aphelia! Focus!”

In her sea of consciousness, Uroboros stood within the black serpent. The inner world shuddered. She called to the figure curled in the corner.

No answer. That figure’s focus was snared by something else. A transparent barrier rose, splitting their sea. Uroboros faced it, teeth gritted.

“Damn it. We’re still fighting! Why now, of all times…”

Her link to Aphelia thinned. Panic clawed her voice. Behind the barrier, she couldn’t push a sound to the cornered Aphelia.

In the waking world, the same fracture showed. The Bracer Gauntlets unraveled, baring pale forearms to the air.

Her black feathered mantle flickered. Some power wrestled with the force of Ouroboros, faint and distant, there then gone. Aphelia reached out, fingers slow, trying to catch that phantom.

But the black serpent in the sky had already vanished. The wounded black war-god bellowed. The lances squeezed free. Bloodlike Runes raced. His roar turned feral.

His cry shook the imperial capital. His back split open in two long wounds. Four twisted, giant arms unfurled. A warped, violent field birthed around him. Light and air twisted.

Blind savagery scoured everything, even what wasn’t alive.

His eyes lost their luster, turning gray void. An invisible domain took their place. Everyone felt its pressure, grinding toward the kneeling, peerless beauty.

The hovering black god vanished in an instant. In the next blink, six twisted arms dropped with a mountain’s weight, all crashing for the kneeling Aphelia.