"They're behind." Said Rosea, turning her head to the rear and shooting five icicles.

They had two pursuers… the two Demon girls, Cosima and Marjory. Apparently, they were still angry over what happened in the Fifth Trial and wanted to exact revenge.

​​

Cosima was agile and flexible, jumping in the air and easily dodging the pink-colored icy projectiles. As she soundlessly landed on the ground, she swiftly threw two daggers at the closest MoonStar member, which was Ardor.

The sword-wielding youth abruptly stopped running, rapidly rotated his body and thrust his sword upwards. A stream of milky-white sword essence shot in the air then, like a tsunami, cascaded onto Cosima.

Unfortunately, though Ardor's retaliation did stop the thrown daggers, it wasn't able to inflict any damage upon Cosima. Her senior, Marjory, interfered in the nick of time and unleashed a burst of Neon light, which was faster than Ardore's Sword Essence.

The Demon's neon light spread across the air and the ground, not dealing any physical damage but it was able to significantly slow down the MoonStar team. It seemed to be some type of a curse, rendering the targets helpless and defenseless.

"I've got you now!"

Cosima cackled as she whipped her leg at Ardor, blowing him against the creepy thick vines. Not only was his chest hurt, his back was also pierced by the ever-moving vines, which didn't stop at that. The vine-infested walls were trying to pull the youth inside, trying to devour his body whole.

Fortunately, Bora was able to shoot a blinding and scorching hot arrow, incinerating many of the vines and giving Ardor enough time to free himself.

"Go on, I'll deal with them."

Now covered in orange flames- from head to toe- Ho Qing gestured for his three friends to continue while he confronted the incoming Cosima.

"You're not getting awa-"

The demon girl couldn't finish… not expecting Ho Qing to move so fast, she was punched right in the face, her body blown in the air then crashing into the ground, temporarily limp.

This wasn't the end, however, as waves of turbulent Phoenix flames spread from Ho Qing's hands, clashing with Marjory's strange curse. Blast waves emitted from the point of impact, pushing the two demon girls and Ho Qing back.

"Cosima! Back! Let's go back!"

Marjory helped her friend up and just when they were about to leave, they heard an ear-piercing bird screech then felt a suffocating heat coming from above.

The two demon girls summoned their magic, one bursting with neon light while the other taking out a strange brown drum and banging on it with her clenched fists.

The magnificent flaming phoenix wasn't stopped, its flames incinerated the neon light and the sound waves sent by the drum. In the end, Cosima and Marjory went all out by holding hands and chanting a short incantation.

A pillar of dark violent light rose into the darkened canopy, dispersing the phoenix and its trail of flames. Although they were able to defend against Ho Qin's ultimate attack, they were exhausted. Ho Qing wasn't any better either too, he was bloodied and limping, nonetheless, he still moved toward the incapacitated girls, ready to finish them off.

"What's he doing?"

Isadore was getting nervous, his eyes, as well as everyone else's, were glued onto the screen. They were staring at John, who was slowly marching toward the injured Ho Qing and tired demon girls. The youth was expressionless and didn't look like he was going to fight.

The King of Green-Leaf turned his head but was surprised to see that Arthur had vanished. Lucy her legs crossed and arms folded, a truly dangerous and murderous aura emanating from her eyes, which were, likewise, glued onto the screen.

…

Seeing the heavily wounded Ho Qing, John was in deep contemplation, at least for some time. He paid no attention to Cosima and Marjory, only the red-haired youth interested him.

His desire to fight him had already died down… no, he wanted to revenge on Arthur. He was indeed frightened by what he saw and what was done to him, but, as a prideful person, John could not and did not want to forget what had happened. A chance presented itself for him so he just needs to do this flawlessly.

His invisible puppet will do the job, it will kill Ho Qing without anyone noticing. Of course, there's bound to be people with keen eyes, nonetheless, as long as the majority of the crowd doesn't see anything, he can later on claim innocence. Furthermore, Paul won't stand by and let him get persecuted by the Parasite and his wife. Even the Ancient Federation will back him up and it's definitely an organization that the MoonStar cannot contend against.

It seemed John had forgotten Arthur's warning or what the latter was capable of. The dread that dominated him in that snake-infested world had completely vanished, now replaced by the desire to prove he's over everyone. Not even Arthur MoonStar could look down at him, that's how confident and arrogant John was. Maybe his confrontation with the Parasite turned him into a lunatic… no one really knows.

But, everyone saw John stop a distance away from Ho Qing and slowly raise his head, his jet-black pupils resting on the bleeding and panting crimson-haired Qing.

His puppet, which not only could turn invisible, but is also enchanted by several ancient runes, all of which considerably boosts its movement speed. John thought it'll end in a second, however, his invisible and small puppet shrieked unpleasantly then was flattened into the ground. Before he could react and summon it back, it exploded into countless small pieces, which, in their turn, were dispersed by a bone-chilling breeze.

"So it had come to this, John."

Arthur looked at Ho Qing first then drifted his eyes to the dumbstruck John. Cosima and Marjory were supporting themselves as they sat on the ground, surprised to see the parasite appear here.

"Boss! What happened?"

Gutcha appeared second later, looking as astonished as anyone else. He kept looking between Arthur and John but couldn't figure out the situation.

"It's nothing. It's already been taken care of."

As he said that, Arthur unceremoniously waved his hand, causing a mass of darkness to engulf the anxious John. The victim tried to resist but it was pointless, only his desperate cries could be heard, lasting no more than three seconds.

The Dark Magic left nothing of the boy, consuming his vitality, body, bones, blood, and even Nether Energy. This frightening sight shocked the crowd and even Paul, John's guardian, who didn't think Arthur would dare to publicly kill one of the participants. Unfortunately, he had massively underestimated the parasite, which led to this unwanted outcome.