Black blood splashed on the ground and contributed to the sea of blood that had already formed. But since the environment itself was black, it would've been barely noticeable if the individuals within couldn't feel the viscous liquid around their ankles.
The result was inconceivable. Given time, regardless of what strategies the geniuses decided to use, they would've been overwhelmed by the numbers and power of the Demon army.
But unfortunately, reality was cruel. At the last moment, they had received a helping hand from a genius that far outstripped them in power.
In fact, it wasn't even fair to call it a single genius anymore. Even though she was one person, she was a walking army on her own.
The battle within the darkness domain raged on as the geniuses became more invigorated with every drop of black blood that fell to the ground. They didn't even notice that the number of Generals had been dropping steadily from some time ago even without their interference.
But the Demon Generals weren't just going to allow themselves to get slaughtered. When they realized they had no hope of survival, their resistance only became fiercer.
They charged at the geniuses like crazed beasts, capitalizing on their powerful physical bodies to tear into their flesh. Inky black mana formed massive torrents that clashed against the walls of the domain.
"Blood Sea!"
"Demon Torture Seal!"
The sea of blood that was forming on the ground rose up as if it was alive, pouncing towards the crowd of geniuses. Whenever a drop of blood managed to land on their bodies, it would sear into their flesh and burrow into their sensitive organs.
That was when the second skill took root. The demon blood that entered the geniuses' bodies began to burn. The small drops of black blood turned into miniature spiders that proliferated through the victims' bodies.
Each movement the spiders made would cause untold pain to the ones inflicted by their curse. Their bodies were soon turned into soulless husks that still had twisted expressions of fear and agony on their dried-up faces.
The attack was extremely powerful. It was the combined force of multiple Demon Generals together, making it something the geniuses couldn't resist at all.
But it wasn't as if the Generals didn't pay a price to do so. They contributed their own blood and lifeforce to the raging blood sea, leaving them in a crippled state after the attack ended.
They already knew they would die today. If they were going to do so, they'd at least take a portion of these unworthy freeloaders together with them!
If it wasn't for the hidden protection of the 10 Defected Demon Generals, almost all of the geniuses would've been wiped out in that single attack.
It was only natural that the Generals thought of them as freeloaders. Even with all the power they put into the attack, the domain they were trapped in didn't budge. Compared to that person, these geniuses were nothing.
But the geniuses didn't know this. Or rather, they chose to avoid this truth so their pride wouldn't be hurt. Instead, they vented their hidden frustrations by slaying the crippled Demon Generals and moving on to their next targets.
While the battle slowly reached its end, a trail of blazing flames streaked across the horizon and quickly reached the outskirts of the darkness domain.
"Hey! You're finally here!" Qing Tan happily greeted when she saw Feng Qing'er's face.
Feng Qing'er nodded absentmindedly while gazing at the darkness domain. As someone with similar strength to Qing Tan, she was clearly able to see what was happening inside. And the sight baffled her.
Qing Tan's affinity being darkness was a widely known fact. It didn't surprise her that Qing Tan was able to set up such a massive domain. However, the Shadow army was a different story.
Necromancy was already an uncommon ability to see, but a vein of necromancy like Qing Tan's was even more. From the looks of it, she was only using the shadows she collecting from the Demons, but Feng Qing'er knew that there had to be others she had killed and added to her army in the outside world.
Not to mention, if Qing Tan was here, then the Commander that she was facing was…
'This girl is far stronger than we ever gave her credit for.'
Feng Qing'er realized that it was a belated conclusion, but she couldn't help it. Qing Tan had been extremely careful about concealing her strength. If it wasn't for the fact that she was openly showing some of her cards at the moment, there was no way Feng Qing'er would have ever known.
'But, I'm not so bad myself.'
If it was before the recent battle, she wouldn't have stood a chance against Qing Tan. The flames she relied on wouldn't have held a candle to Qing Tan's darkness.
But now? She couldn't be sure. The Reincarnation Flames were the bane of dark energies. They specialized in mediating Life and Death, as well as cleansing evil presences. These flames gave her a certain amount of confidence against opponents like Qing Tan.
Turning her attention back to the smiling girl, she shook off her thoughts. She didn't think there'd come a day where they had to fight to the death, so there was no need to dwell on it.
"That guy hadn't come back yet?" She asked as she noticed the lack of a certain obnoxious man in the area.
"Nope! Speaking of, where do you think he went?"
"He's probably still caught up with the Commander. As expected, he was weaker than me!"
Qing Tan giggled. She was sure that even Feng Qing'er wasn't arrogant enough to believe her own words, but she didn't point it out. There was no need to embarrass her.
"Oh right, what's that in your hand?" Qing Tan asked, changing the subject. But she was indeed curious. She didn't notice it before, but there was an odd lump in Feng Qing'er's hand.
"Oh this? Remember that ugly bitch from before?"
Feng Qing'er smirked as she threw the lump on the ground. When Qing Tan observed it with her awareness, she was able to see a slight resemblance to the physique of a demon within the lump.
But it was far too disfigured to distinguish the actual demon it was. It barely even qualified as a lump of flesh anymore. The fact that Feng Qing'er had turned that Demon Commander into such a thing clearly showed how annoyed she had been at the woman's constant provocations.
"She was so obsessed with her beauty that even at the end of her life she was screaming about how she would steal my face for herself. I figured that the best way to get rid of the problem was to make it so she no longer had to worry about the concept of beauty at all!" Feng Qing'er explained cheerfully.
Indeed, an unknown object wouldn't have to worry about beauty at all. Qing Tan couldn't argue with the logic even if it was evidently convoluted.
The two girls descended into silence as they watched the ongoing battle within the darkness domain. Not long after, the final Demon General met his end.
When the darkness domain receded, only 20 out of the 50 geniuses that were present at the beginning were alive. And every single one of them had a shining purple star, perhaps even close to reaching the Black Star level.
