After a bumpy ride, Night Frost arrived at the Fourth District without incident. The Fourth District now looked no different from the first time she came here.

Once she entered the district, Night Frost planned to head straight for the Order Keeper tower. But halfway there, her path was blocked. The ones stopping her were familiar enough: those black shadows that could copy other people.

This group of shadows was no joke. Every one of them had the strength of Cantata Three, which made Night Frost feel genuinely troubled. And leading this troublesome bunch was Blood, clad in crimson Magic Armor.

“Why is it always you?”

Night Frost was seriously getting tired of farming Blood. Just how many clones did this girl have... and how did every single one of them end up at almost the exact same level of strength?

The enemy had the numbers, so Night Frost told the driver to run first. As for herself, she fled toward the Order Keeper tower. She didn’t think her current self could take on thirteen powerful Cantata Three opponents at once.

Of course, she didn’t think adding Order would be enough to deal with this group either. Running right now was only buying time. She was waiting for a chance, waiting for a chance to turn the tables.

Night Frost didn’t believe all of their current fighting power combined could handle this many Cantata Three foes. But here... Azure had left behind a hidden trump card, and that trump card would now be used by Night Frost.

When the Order Keeper tower opened, black flames shot into the sky. The dragon once named “Calamity,” carrying endless resentment and fury, would descend here!

“Iyaaaah!”

Night Frost clenched the soul of the Calamity Dragon in her hand and hurled it toward that pillar of black fire. The Calamity Dragon sensed its own body, and nameless rage flooded its chest.

Those Magic Maidens had dared to desecrate its body like this. It would make the ones responsible understand this clearly: the Calamity Dragon was not to be offended!

Its black dragon wings slowly spread. The Calamity Dragon opened its dark golden eyes and stared down at the Magic Maidens below, as if they were nothing but ants.

It looked as though blazing fire burned within its pupils. An invisible pressure spread from the Calamity Dragon’s body and swept across the battlefield like a collapsing mountain and a crashing sea.

With the Calamity Dragon’s roar, the little black flame left inside its body poured out all at once. It formed a massive vortex of fire that devoured everything around it. The black shadows all scattered to avoid the splashing Black Flame. They knew very well that this fire could kill them.

The Calamity Dragon’s appearance gave Night Frost a moment to breathe. She beat the wings on her back and landed beside the dragon, then reached out and felt the cool texture of its scales.

“Alright, time to strike back!”

She sensed the auras of Order and Moon Owl. Those two had moved pretty fast. Moon Owl especially—Night Frost had only just arrived, and Moon Owl was already almost here right after her.

Faced with the sudden arrival of Moon Owl, Order, and the Calamity Dragon, the battlefield’s strength was split apart. Five black shadows went to deal with the Calamity Dragon, while the rest paired off in twos to fight Night Frost’s side.

One person against two Cantata Three opponents made Night Frost feel a trace of strain. After all, her earlier injuries still hadn’t healed. But she could at least drag these guys out—

So why was she fighting Blood again?!

This girl really was impossible to shake off!

Still, that worked too. Night Frost wasn’t familiar with how the other shadows fought, but Blood? She knew her way too well. Night Frost suppressed the smile in her eyes, pulled a Spear from the flames, and charged straight at the shadow.

The shadow’s body twisted. He wanted to obtain Night Frost’s power, but found that her power couldn’t be stolen or copied. That meant he was now just a Cantata Three who couldn’t use magic and only knew some basic hand-to-hand combat...

No, wait. Wasn’t Blood right beside him?

He looked toward Blood, but in that instant, the shadow froze. Blood had already absorbed the power of a god into herself. The shadow could no longer gain power from her either. And so, an extremely awkward scene unfolded on the spot.

Order, Moon Owl, and Night Frost were all existences that couldn’t be copied. The Calamity Dragon counted as a corpse, something barely hanging on through the machinery inside its body. There was no one they could copy.

So they could only throw wild punches. On the surface, it looked like a two-on-one. In reality, whether their one plus one could even equal two was hard to say.

The Calamity Dragon swept its tail and knocked all the shadows clinging to it off. As for the three shadows in front of it, they could only barely dodge the Black Flame before them.

Moon Owl slipped into space. Against enemies who could only throw clumsy punches, hit-and-run tactics and attrition were the easiest way. She tore open space, stabbed one shadow in the back, then retreated into space again.

Order had it even easier against her two opponents. She only needed to say one sentence: “None may approach my body.” And the price she paid was far lower than things like “Revival is forbidden here” or “Violence is forbidden here.”

Meanwhile, Night Frost circled around Blood and the shadow. When Blood swung her scythe, Night Frost dodged it. When Blood turned into blood mist, Night Frost summoned flames. She answered every move with the right counter.

Blood’s expression turned grave. Their strength was clearly about the same, yet the Night Frost before her seemed to know every single one of her moves. Because of that, Blood couldn’t injure Night Frost in the slightest, and was instead wounded by her.

Blood was starting to suspect there was a traitor among them, someone who had personally taught Night Frost all her movements and techniques.

Blood raised her scythe. Night Frost thrust out her Spear. But this time, she didn’t clash with Blood. Instead, she slipped past her and drove the Spear into the chest of the shadow behind Blood. Black flames surged up and burned that shadow to ashes in an instant.

“One down first!”

Night Frost’s gaze swept across the battlefield and found that Moon Owl was even faster than she was. Moon Owl had directly banished the shadow in front of her into another space. That gave her enough time to help Night Frost deal with Blood, or help Order deal with the other two shadows.

There didn’t seem to be much to worry about on Night Frost’s side or Order’s side. The only real concern on the field was the Calamity Dragon. It was indeed powerful, but in essence, it was still a corpse. The living Calamity could be called mighty, but the current Calamity Dragon was only a wisp of ash from its former strength.

At this moment, the Black Flame inside the Calamity Dragon had been worn away completely. The source of flame it once relied on to wreak havoc had gone out.

Though the Calamity Dragon had lost the protection of Black Flame, its scales were still hard as iron. Its claws and giant tail could still deal devastating blows. It swung its tail with all its strength, sweeping toward the shadows surrounding it.

Three shadows were knocked down by the sudden strike. The remaining two leaped into the air and landed on either side of the dragon’s wings. They grabbed tightly at the roots of its wings, trying to tear them off.

The Calamity Dragon felt pain, but for those two to rip off its wings was nearly impossible.

Moon Owl tore open a passage and arrived on the Calamity Dragon’s back. Her body was light and nimble. She leaped up, her spatial dagger tracing an arc as it stabbed straight toward one of the shadows. The shadow clearly hadn’t expected Moon Owl to appear so suddenly. He had no time to dodge and was easily pierced through by the dagger.

The shadow lost his balance and fell into the vortex of fire created by the Calamity Dragon, where the Black Flame devoured him completely.

The other shadow was horrified. He immediately gave up on tearing at the dragon wing and turned to pounce on Moon Owl. But Moon Owl had already seen through his intent. Her figure flashed, vanished from where she stood, and reappeared behind him.

The shadow spun around at once, but Moon Owl was faster. She swung her dagger again, just about to cut off his head. That was how it should’ve gone—

But somehow, the shadow’s fist had already reached Moon Owl’s face.

Moon Owl had no choice but to lean back and dodge.

Looking closely, she realized the shadow had extended his arm. So these things could alter their bodies too. They looked like humanoid monsters, but in essence, they were closer to formless darkness and shadow...

Seeing that ability, Moon Owl’s first thought was of Lu Shi’s magic. It felt strangely similar to these creatures.

“You’re shadows?”

Moon Owl’s single sentence hit like a thunderclap. The surviving black shadows on the field all froze slightly. They hadn’t expected Moon Owl to identify their true nature. They were indeed the shadows of a god, created by that god using divine power fused with its own shadow.

As long as they remained within the range covered by the god’s power, they could move freely and wouldn’t be affected by light.

Their purpose for existing was to eliminate humanity’s current top-tier fighters. With the power granted by the god, plus copied strength and skill, they could always be just a little stronger than the original.

Moon Owl looked at the shadow before her. Though they were shadows, they were absolutely nowhere near as flexible as Lu Shi. They were shadows forcibly fixed in place by some kind of power, which was why they could move freely under the blazing sun. But the shadow before her had broken through that limit and was now using the power of his true shadow body.

The brilliant sun in the sky passed through the black shadow’s body. He was slowly melting away under the sunlight.

That also meant the enemy was going all out.

In that case... Moon Owl tore open space and slipped inside.

As long as she kept him pinned down, he would dissipate under the sun anyway. Since this guy was going to die sooner or later, why bother fighting him head-on?

Way too much effort for no reward.

The shadow cursed Moon Owl’s shamelessness under his breath. He was just about to go after the Calamity Dragon when he noticed the dragon’s body slowly descending. It had now landed in the center of the fire vortex.

To them, Black Flame was basically poison. If it so much as brushed them once, it was no different from death. Their bodies were filled with the god’s Mana and Abyssal Aura, and that kind of high-purity energy was exactly what Black Flame loved most.

The shadow planned to use the Calamity Dragon’s body as a springboard to escape the range of the Black Flame. But the moment he jumped, an arm stretched out from the void and smacked him back down.

“That’s shameless—!”

The shadow lashed out with his arm, but grabbed nothing. Moon Owl’s arm had long since withdrawn back into the rift. The shadow could only curse all the way down as he fell into the Black Flame.

After dealing with that shadow, Moon Owl landed back on the battlefield. Three black shadows stood before her. They first took a step back, but then remembered the god’s command and charged at her together.

Moon Owl glanced at the Calamity Dragon’s condition. It looked like it was already close to done. It was dead already, after all. The scales on its body had no vitality left, not even as much as some lesser drakes in the Abyss. After taking those hits and spitting out those bursts of fire, that was probably its limit.

Boom—

A sound rang out from the distance.

The Blood before Night Frost suddenly changed form and threw her straight out.

“Report! She’s hacking!”

Night Frost climbed out of the crater and pointed at Blood as she shouted.