Author's note: Last chapter of the day but it's a bit longer than usual, so enjoy.

Three chapters tomorrow (possible four).

Good night!

*******

Against the ferocious creature, the woman crossed her arms, trying to block its blow. Despite her current strengthened form, she was unable to fully block the blow and ended up being pushed quite the distance. She clicked her tongue and glared at this creature, which she recognized almost immediately, just like anybody else.

"Nine shadows cast. Nine fates foretold. Yet at the end of the road lies death, and death alone!"

A ghastly voice came out of the creature's mouth, sending chills down everyone's spines. Just when the last word echoes throughout the whole battlefield, a white transparent skull appeared above the woman's head, acting like some kind of permanent marker.

The moment the skull made its appearance, the snake woman let out a painful groan and held her rapidly beating heart. She let out a wild hiss and tried to get rid of the skull but to no avail, her hands passed through the strange thing as if it didn't exist.

Before she could grasp the role of the transparent skull, the 'angel' lunged at the woman, trying to rip her apart with its claws. At the same time, the white head at the middle and spat a silvery leaf which latched itself on the skull.

"Nine lives lost. Nine fates foretold, at the end of the road lies life, and life alone!"

The silver leaf stuck onto the skull's forehead and emitted an ominous brilliance which was a mix of two opposite energies. The snake woman, who was about to block the creature again was abruptly frozen mid-action, helpless and defenseless.

So, just like that, the sharp claws of the 'angel' dug deep into the woman's toughened skin, ripping it apart and breaking many bones in the process. Her figure was sent flying until it crashed in the ground, leaving a fountain of blood in its pain.

The ground shattered and dust accumulated yet even after some time passed, there was no sign of movement from the heavenly snake. Nevertheless, the angel remained cautious as it gazed at the huge crater caused by the crash.

*******

"Vile being, your existence is like a plague."-Monk

The bald monk fended off against Arthur's relentless attacks using his strange-looking wooden staff. Though Arthur's attacks were incredibly powerful, he was still not a match for the monk who solely relied on his prayers to negate the Dark Magic and resist all types of skills.

The two clashed hundreds of times but it didn't appear that a victor will arise any time soon. Furthermore, the monk wasn't fighting to win but to buy time, after all, their plan was to banish the parasite and not kill it.

Just a distance away from Arthur and the monk, there stood a worried Lucy, who tightly hugged Saly and inspected her body. She handed several healing potions to the little girl while repeatedly asking her if she's alright.

"Mom, don't worry, I'm fine."

Saly smiled at the anxious Lucy and hugged her back, very happy to finally reunite with her mother. After making sure her daughter wasn't fatally injured, she asked again

"Why did you come here?"

In response, Saly pouted and replied

"Obviously to help you and daddy! I can't let you fight alone."

Lucy shook her head while adding:

"This is not a safe place, you should leave and we'll meet later, alright?"

Unexpectedly, Saly wasn't obedient this time. She showed her refusal by shaking off her mother's arms and activating Fenrir's aura which healed her minor injuries and restored much of her used energy.

It wasn't the time to question her daughter about the changes that occurred to her so Lucy patted the little girl's fluffy head, softly smiled.

"Listen to mommy, ok-"

She stopped mid-sentence, pushed Saly then kicked the ground. From within the scorched earth appeared a woman covered in pink scales, her two pupils were glued onto Saly, wanting to devour her.

Contrary to her earlier condition, the snake woman appeared heavily injured and the skull coupled with the silver leaf were still present, floating above her head.

Lucy activated her Yin Physique and made use of the seven lotuses to attack the nearby woman. The area abruptly turned into a snowy field with countless snowflakes slowly falling into the frozen ground.

The silver-haired woman grabbed her thin saber and slashed down at the heavenly snake, causing the latter to retaliate by using the long thorny whip.

Saber and whip clashed, splitting the ear and pushing the two parties away from each other. Lucy didn't pause for a second as she discarded the saber, retrieved the silver revolver and held with both of her hands then shooting at the enemy continuously.

She poured an outrageous amount of Mana into each bullet, intending to get rid of the snake woman. Sadly, the bullets only managed to graze the enemy, however, they bought Lucy a few seconds, which were crucial in this situation.

From afar, an ear-splitting roar could be heard and by the next second, a large figure landed on the snake woman, whose face paled and her body slightly trembled. Violent winds flattened the snake woman on the ground while the vicious beast followed with its claws, penetrating the woman's chest and nailing her there.

The two black heads glared at the target and spat two tiny death storm which spun around the enemy and sucked the life out of her. Within a few seconds, the woman's skin became wrinkled and her pink and vibrant scales showed signs of decay.

When the 'angel' was about to deal the last blow, something came out from above and wrapped itself around the creature's body, pulling it into the air.

This 'thing' resembled a tentacle, it had a brownish color and was twice thicker than the angel of death. Upon a closer look, this tentacle came out of the red gate above the senior monks and once 'it' made its appearance, the three old men were shocked.

"To think he's so close to the gate!"

The oldest of the monks wasn't pleased but he still kept holding the golden rope and urged his partner to quicken the process.

The angel of death struggled to free itself but the tentacle was just too strong, absurdly strong, in fact. Apparently, its goal wasn't to kill it but to pull it to the other side, however, before it managed to drag it, it was hit by a powerful slash made of pure Dark Magic.

The whole place turned momentarily dark before Makaze unleashed the first wave of [Thousand Waves]. Unfortunately, it was only able to stop the tentacle for a split second, it didn't even injure it, much less cut it.

"Lucy, help me stop it!"

Arthur called it for his wife then held the Dark Blade with both hands, executing the second wave and third wave successively. A storm of flames enveloped the tentacle while a Godly sword made out of white thunder descended from above, hitting the red gate and causing it to shake for a moment.

Lucy heard his call so she flew high up in the sky and summoned her Godspirit. A humongous beautiful lotus appeared next to the tentacle, it started blooming and freezing everything around it. Even the black tentacle wasn't spared, its movements were stopped for a brief moment before all the ice broke into countless pieces and this dangerous thing continued its dragging process, fully intending to get a hold of the angel of death.

As things were worsening, one of the chains wrapped around the gate fell from the sky and wrapped around the tentacle, also trying to stop it completely and pull it back to its Oblivion, the world on the other side of the enormous gate.

Sadly, not even the chain nor the couple were able to stop the persistent tentacle, which was almost able to pull the angel into the other side.

Arthur gritted his teeth and prepared to unleash the fourth wave while at the same time activating a Dark Rizaki, which turned the whole place into the world of Darkness, surprisingly stopping the tentacle's movement.

Unexpectedly, the world of darkness lasted for a second before it was negated by an even stronger power, a blinding illuminating which sprung from below and jumped at the tentacle, ripping some of it off and causing it to wriggle in pain.

The source of this blinding light turned out to be a large wolf, unlike Astrith, this one was too eye-catching and the moment it made its appearance, it grabbed the attention of everyone. Its size was simply incomparable, dominating the whole sky and its aura was archaic and suffocating, even to the likes of the monk.

This wolf had two sky-blue eyes and was covered in white fur, no one could deny its majestic appearance or its soul-shaking appearance. Since ancient times, it only had one name, Fenrir, the being that could devour suns and moons, the wolf that would stop Ragnarok.

*******

"The smartass motherfucker is actually close to the gate. How fucking bold!"

The Joker cursed loudly when the tentacle appeared, he cracked his knuckles and tapped his foot on the ground, barely able to contain himself from attacking.

Even Leiu wasn't pleased to see the strange tentacle, a frown appeared on his usually expressionless face. An ominous darkness spread from his legs and covered the area around him, clearly indicating that he was in a very bad mood.

"He hasn't recognized Arthur, fortunately."

Death glanced at the two brothers and pondered about something. Obviously, he also knew who was behind the red gate but decided not to comment, choosing to merely spectate.

******

A few thousand kilometers away from the battlefield, X was flying with a fast speed toward Makaze's location. He halted for a split second when he saw the tentacle but he steeled his heart and was determined to obtain the orb.

Unfortunately, he was blocked yet again as a silver streak fell down from above and crashed into him, shattering the space. Before he could recover, the space kept shattering, disrupting the space-time continuum and rendering X unable to see the assailant.

Just when he got a glimpse of the assailant, a silver whirlpool appeared and sucked both the attacker and the annoyed 'X'.

"Yo-"

Before he got to talk or retaliate, 'X' and a silver dragon were absorbed by the whirlpool and transported into an isolated dimension, far away from the Divine Planet. Yamak had to sacrifice most of his powers to teleport both himself and 'X', however, it was a necessary risk to be taken.

No one would know but the battle that occurred between the lightning dragon and 'X' in that isolated world lasted for a very long time and the consequences were much more than both of them could handle.