Isabella was also captured by the branches of the trees. The same thing happened to the people with her. All of them were captured with no way of escaping this predicament.
"What's happening...? A-Alice... Where are you...?"
Isabella said in a weak voice. She could feel that the branches were slowly draining her mana. She wanted to take it back but her control over her mana wasn't that great.
She couldn't do anything.
She could only hope that Alice was fine.
...
"The entire Hall Plains is isolated from outside space, right?" Alice asked with great effort. She was holding her shoulder as blood kept flowing out of it.
Her parasite's ability had slowed down. It means that it was reaching its limits. Soon, she wouldn't be able to recover her wounds, and when that happened, she was sure that this man would kill her.
They've been fighting for half an hour. They threw tens of thousands of attacks at each other but Ragnis condition was better than hers even though she had a powerful regenerative ability.
Both of their elemental powers were exhausted too so they were in their base form. Probably, a couple of S-ranks were enough to defeat the two of them in their current condition. Their natural defenses were broken and their resistance was too low at this moment.
"Yeah, that's why none of you can leave this place. You guys are only making it hard for your well-being. None of you will have a painless death." Ragnis answered with a smile. He raised his hand and wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth.
His condition was better than Alice but it was still worse. Fighting a Two Shackles Realm expert with super regeneration was so hard that he had to use everything that he had got.
Alice supported herself using her spear. She stared at Ragnis with determination burning in her eyes.
She wouldn't fail this time.
"You! You still have the will to fight." Ragnis narrowed his eyes. He was irritated by the fact that his opponent refused to give up even if she didn't have a chance to win at all. "If you want to die then so be it! Come!"
"Who said that I couldn't defeat you?!" Alice raised her voice. Her energy burst like a bomb, sweeping out the dust and debris around her.
In the next second, darkness enveloped the ground, wall, and ceiling. Everything turned dark as her energy continued to grow.
Darkness covered her figure as a blue flame emerged on her forehead.
"You...?!" Ragnis subconsciously took a step back as he stared at Alice with wide eyes.
Ohm!
Alice walked out of the shadows, revealing her true form. A pair of bat wings on her back, a long black tail, and a pair of horns protruding on the side of her head. Her skin tone was so pale as if she didn't have blood flowing in her veins. The color of her arms and legs gradually turned black with black fur around her wrist that was fluttering like a dancing flame. Her nails grew longer and sharper which resembled vicious claws.
"You...?! A demon?!" Ragnis was shocked.
"Yeah, is there any problem with it?" Alice said as she stepped forward.
Ragnis looked down and saw that his hands were shaking. The demons brought fear into this land especially those at the edge of the continent. Those people were the ones that faced the cruelty of the war that even Large Countries were afraid to face.
"Die!" Alice's figure flickered. She instantly arrived in front of her opponent.
While Ragnis was still in a daze, she swiftly attacked him and delivered a devastating blow to his body.
Bang!
Ragnis crashed into the walls causing a spider web crack to spread out. Alice chased after him and swung her spear once again.
Bang!
Every time she swung and slashed her spear, darkness and cold wind followed. She launched a series of powerful attacks at Ragnis with the intention to end this battle as soon as possible.
[Heavenly Demon's Aura]!!
Darkness burst out in every direction, shaking the whole cave as if it was about to collapse.
[Dark Sweeper]!!
Several spheres of darkness flew out of Alice's hand. These spheres chased after Ragnis before they exploded at the same time.
[Freezing Darkness]!!
She didn't give him any chance to counterattack. She continued to drain her mana as she used spells and combat arts repeatedly. Nothing could stop her at this moment. She was using all of her power to end this battle.
Ugh!
Ragnis spat a mouthful of blood as he saw his leg rolled in midair, spraying blood everywhere. He understood that he was in a bad position. If this continued then he would die in the next few minutes.
"You...!? If they knew your identity... Millions of people will hunt you down!!"
Ragnis gritted his teeth as he tried to block the darkness spheres that were coming at him.
Bang!!
"That's why I'll kill you!" Alice said in a strong tone filled with killing intent.
She couldn't let anyone know her identity or else it would bring trouble to Souta and the others. She wasn't worried about the other people of Astros. They were under Souta's control through parasites.
[Secret Technique: Heavenly Demon's Dark Stride]!!
Alice moved faster than before leaving a trail of darkness behind her.
"You damned demon!!" Ragnis roared as he swung both of his daggers. He poured everything that he could into this last attack, hoping that he could stop the demon.
Swoosh!
Boom!!
Both of their attacks collided causing a powerful shockwave that swept out everything around them. The ripples of energy spread out in the air as sparks of lightning and darkness flew out between the two attacks.
Bang!
It was followed by a series of explosions. The mysterious tree trembled and the lightning barrier around it started to disappear.
Swoosh!!
Smoke and dust filled the area. Alice waved the spear in her hand and the dust was blown away. She stared at Ragnis who was laying on the ground.
"This is the end..." She said as she raised her spear and pointed the tip at his neck.
"Ehe... Struggle as much as you want, demon. Our emperor will return soon and you will die along with the entire population of Hall Plains." Ragnis smiled while staring into Alice's eyes.
Alice closed her eyes and pushed her spear forward, killing Ragnis on the spot. Then, she returned to her human form and turned her attention to the mysterious tree.
This tree must be important to the Hall of Power if they place a powerful man to guard it. So she needed to destroy it.
She imbued her remaining mana in her spear. Her weapon emitted a dark smoke and blue mist. The two elemental powers slowly twisted together before she swung it with all of her might.
Bang!
The tree trembled before an ear-piercing sound echoed in the whole cave. Alice fell to her knees as she used her hands to cover her ears. Her eyes didn't leave the tree as she wanted to observe what would happen.
Thud!!
The tree started to foam like a living being. Then, blood came out of it before it exploded into tiny pieces.
"What is that...?" Alice muttered as she picked up her weapon.
The tree exploded in a strange manner that flabbergasted her. She didn't know if it was a good thing or not. She simply trusted her instinct which told her to destroy the tree.
"I'm tired..."
Alice's vision was getting blurry. Her eyelids felt heavy and sweat was forming all over her body. She was exhausted and her blood kept flowing out of her wounds. Her parasite had reached the limit so her injuries weren't recovering.
"I did my best..."
With those words, Alice fell to the ground. She lost consciousness in the deepest part of the cave.
She still wanted to help more but her body collapsed. The thing about the so-called emperor gave her an extremely bad feeling. She didn't know how or why but it feels like she was standing in front of death.
...
On the other side of the crimson net, an entire star system was enveloped in chaos.
Souta was laying in a pool of blood. His entire body was covered in deep wounds. His breathing was faint as if he was about to die at any moment.
Ugh!
Souta coughed a mouthful of blood and stared at the figure in front of him. He couldn't open his left eye anymore and his right hand was gone, leaving open wounds that kept spewing blood on the floor.
"Yenxa... You... took her body... I will..." He said with great effort. He could barely move his body right now.
The figure standing in front of Souta was none other than Yenxa. It was Yenxa but not her at the same time. The so-called emperor of the Hall of Power took over her body.
"I am the No God Emperor. This body is mine." No God Emperor said in a plain tone as he tightly clenched his fist.
