“………..”

Silence covered the battlefield. The hellish battle that was like a nightmare had finally came to an end.

The result? Both fighters were down for the count and completely unprotected.The smarter ones immediately knew what this meant.

It was chance to take down the enemy’s leader.

The first moved had come from the Eastern Region.

A shadow slithered on the ground like a snake, quickly approaching Miko and Lennox.

Nero and the others watched as a person emerged from this shadow, and immediately aimed a deadly strike at the defenseless Miko.

“Not so fast!”

Just before the strike could claim Miko’s life, a sword made of blood colored flames slashed at the attacker forcing them to retreat.

Alec stood in front of Miko holding a sword halt that had a blade made of bloodflames. The hilt was given to him by Miko in the Imperial treasure vault.

The attacker stood and looked at Alec. Alec was surprised to see their identity.

“Parasite Queen…”

Paige looked at Alec with a sharp gaze, that’s when she sensed a feeling of danger.

At moment, Kirika appeared in front of her pulling her sword.

“Infinite Cuts!”

Her sword was slashed towards Paige neck with a godly speed.

*BOOM!*

However, Kirika’s sword collided with a thick barrier, unable to reached Paige.

Barrier King Drake then appeared behind Paige already out of breath. Paige smiled and flicked her wrist. A second later, Miko was teleported behind her.

When Kirika saw that, her eyes turned a draconic red.

“You bitch!”

She gripped her sword and started to slash the barrier in a frenzy. However, she couldn’t scratch much less break the barrier.

Seeing that, Paige smirked and drew a dagger from her pouch. Kirika could see from the aura the dagger was emitting that it was coated in deadly poison. Her pupils contracted when she saw that.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

She shouted as she grew more frantic.

“Break! Break Goddammit!”

Paige lifted Miko’s upper body and thrust down the dagger. However, her hand was grabbed from behind her.

When Paige saw who it was, she was shocked.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

It was Nero.

“?!”

Before Paige could react, she was sent flying with a slap.

*BOOM!*

She slammed on the barrier wall and groaned in pain.

“Holy shit!”

Drake shouted when he saw that Nero had entered his barrier.

“Thanks Momo for bring me here.”

Nero said.

Momo appeared out of a vortex and stood beside him.

“She entered my barrier? That’s impossible!”

Drake said.

“Don’t underestimate the power of ancient magic.”

Momo declared.

“Yo, Drake. How’s it been?”

Nero smiled at Drake and said.

“Absolute Defense!”

Drake didn’t respond and covered himself, Lennox, and Paige in an extra thick barrier.

This was his strongest barrier. It couldn’t be bypassed because the laws of space are different inside, and it also can’t be broken. It was truly the perfect defense.

“Hahaha! Giving up on attacking already? The same coward as always.”

Nero said with a laugh.

“Shut up! Unlike you battle maniacs I don’t like pain!”

Drake retorted.

He then shouted towards the sky.

“Skylar, we need help!”

The moment he shouted, the sky was instantly overcast and a bolt of lightning struck in front of Nero. From the bolt, Skylar appeared.

“Haha!”

Nero laughed and aimed a flying kick towards Skylar’s head without a warning. Skylar turned into lightning and circled around him, thrusting a lightning bolt.

Nero jumped up and avoided it. He then spun his body while swinging his leg like whip. However, before his kick could land, he was kicked in return.

*BOOM!*

He was blown back a couple meters before coming to a stop.

The one who had kicked him was no other than Paige.

“I’m about to pay you back for that slap earlier.”

She threw her cloak to the side and said.

“Oh? Is that so?”

Nero smiled.

“But unfortunately for you, it looks like my son wants a piece of you.”

The moment Nero said that, Nova appeared above Paige swinging down a giant hammer.

*BOOM!*

Paige avoided it by leaping back.

She summoned a staff in her hand. She twirled it and charged forward thrusting the staff.

Nova once again swung the big hammer.

*BOOM!*

The hammer and staff collided and caused a massive shockwave to spread out.

Meanwhile, Nero and Skylar were in a heated fist battle.

With his fists covered in lightning, Skylar hit Nero with two quick hooks. Nero stumbled back, but replied with a roundhouse kick to the head immediately after.

Skylar stumbled to the side and Nero charged at him with black flames dancing in his palm.

Skylar quickly gathered lightening in his, the two of them threw a palm strike simultaneously.

*BOOM!*

Lightning and fire clashed and danced around them turning everything into dust.

Both Nero and Skylar were forced back a couple meters because of the rebound of their attacks.

“Damn, that bastard got stronger again.”

Nero said as he feet skid on the ground.

“He’s worthy of being called the Asgard Trump Card.”

Nero looked to his side and saw Momo, Kirika, and Alec surrounding Miko.

“You’re all his masters, so I don’t need to tell you to protect him.”

He said.

“Go!”

“Roger!”

Alec threw Miko over his shoulder while Kirika and Momo protected from front and back.

A vortex then opened up beside them for them to use. But then-

“Shatter.”

Large cracks appeared inside the vortex and it shattered like glass.

“Wha?!”

This shocked the trio.

“From what I’ve observed, that child is a vital existence for the Dragna Clan.

They heard a voice and saw someone approaching them. Their steps were so quiet, that not even them with their super hearing could pick them up.

The one walking towards them was a slender, handsome man, with long flowing black hair. He was dressed in a black military uniform with gold linings. He had a black and gold saber on his waist, and black wings necklace around his neck.

When Alec and the others saw him, they felt like their hearts were being gripped by the devil’s hand. That was how eerie his aura was.

“Dark Angel, Ezra.”

It was the Great Demon King Paimon’s Proxy and Nine Hells Dante apprentice, Ezra.

“While it’s unfortunate, I can’t let that child leave here alive.”

He approached the trio and said.

“If you hand him over, I’ll spare your lives.”

“We refuse!”

Kirika drew her sword and declared.

“I see.”

Ezra used his hand and flipped his hair, suddenly a bow appeared in his hand.

“Then I’ll just erase you three along with him.”

“I can’t have that.”

At that moment, Echo appeared from above and aimed a stomp at Ezra, who avoided it with a leap back.

“That child is very important to me. You’ll have to pry him from my cold dead hands.”

She gave him a fierce look and said.

“That can be arranged.”

Ezra leaped into the air and drew his bow, suddenly several vortexes opened up behind him. Echo could see countless arrows peeking out of the vortexes.

“Stay behind me!”

She shouted to Momo and others, while taking a fighting stance.

“Die.”

Ezra swung his arm to the side and the arrows immediately fired out of the vortexes charging towards Echo.

“Hah!”

Echo stomped her feet with a roar and her entire body was covered with azure aura. The aura spread out and shattered countless arrows in an instant. However, there were still countless more to follow.

In the face of the onslaught of arrows, Echo closed her eyes and lifted both arms over her head. When she did, there were after images of her arms movements left behind.

She moved her palm in front of her slowly leaving behind even more afterimages.

When her palm was fully extended in front of her, she instantly opened her eyes.

“Imperial Palm!”

*BOOM!*

An overwhelming shockwave came out of nowhere, destroyed all the arrows, and blew Ezra back.

“Ugh?!”

When Ezra stabilized himself he saw a huge crater in front of him and a canyon-like trench beside him. He knew immediately that the full force of Echo’s palm strike had caused them, and that he was lucky to be only grazed by it.

“Incredibly power. Could you name yourself, my lady?”

Ezra asked.

“Echo Dragna, Supreme Commander of the Star Rose Army.”

“The legendary vigilante huh?”

Ezra smiled.

“It’s a honored to be fighting you. I’ve lost interest in that child’s life. I only wish to dance with you.”

“Be careful. An old woman like me will think that you’re flirting with me.”

Echo said.

“Think what you want, but I will get this dance!”

Ezra discarded his arrow and charged towards Echo while pulling his saber.

“I must kindly decline!”

Echo thrust out her palm, while Ezra thrust his saber.

*BOOM!*

They’re attacks collided and caused massive destruction around them.

“Shit! We need to get out of here!”

Alec roared as he ran frantically with Miko over his shoulder.

“I have an idea! Ravel!”

Momo suddenly shouted. Shortly after, Ravel appeared from a distortion.

“Yawn~! What is it? I was still sleeping.”

She answered with a sleepy voice.

“I’m surprise that you can sleep through a war.”

Alec said with an impressed tone.

“I need you to take us back to the base! My magic have gone haywire since Ezra forcefully destroyed my vortex!”

Said Momo.

“Hm? Miko?!”

As if she didn’t hear what Momo said, Ravel took Miko off Alec’s shoulder and looked at him.

“What happened to him?”

She said as she examined him.

“I need to bring to safety.”

“Yes! That’s what I want you-”

Before Momo could finish Ravel had already disappeared.

“Huh?”

She froze for a bit.

“Did she leave without us?”

*BOOM!*

As if to answer her an explosion happened right behind her which almost sent her flying.

“Goddammit!”

Meanwhile, Drake who was thinking of pure defense slowly approached the unconscious Lennox.

“?!”

He soon noticed that Lennox was getting paler by the second.

“This is bad. He took too much damage and isn’t healing fast enough. He might really die if we don’t retreat now.”

He quickly picked him.

As if realizing the urgency of their situation, Paige, Skylar, and Ezra all came to a halt.

“Lennox’s life force is slowly diminishing.”

Skylar mumbled.

He looked around at his enemies and frowned.

“Retreat! Fall back into the Eastern Region! Our main priority is Lennox’s life!”

He shouted.

Everyone immediately abandoned their battles and set up a defensive formation around Lennox to aided his retreat.

“What should we do, give chase?”

Nova walked up beside Nero and asked.

“No. I sense three additional troublesome presences in the Eastern Region. Chasing after them might lead us into a trap.”

He answered.

“We’ll retreat as well and have the two armies duke it out for the time being. They should be able to fight without Miko giving the orders.”

“I’m also worried about Miko.”

Echo said.

“Same. He took too much damage and pushed himself too far. There’s a high chance that his life is in danger. The enemy’s situation is the same as ours, so their main force will withdraw as well.”

Nero replied.

“Lets go back. We’ll resume our fight another time.”