"Hahahaha, I suppose I'll have to dirty my hands to claim it. But before that — let's strike a deal," the burly devil fiend man said.
Black God Solanky smiled. "Oh? What deal did you have in mind? I'm all ears."
The devil fiend man smiled back, something sinister flickering behind his eyes. "No one interferes in our battle. And if either of us loses, our team won't seek revenge on our behalf. Do we agree — or have you had a change of heart about facing me?"
Black God Solanky agreed without hesitation. The devil fiend man's smile sharpened into something far more menacing as he drew six pikes, each a half-step peak-turn treasure in its own right. He unveiled his true form, unleashing power equivalent to a special lifeform wielding 500 billion times the strength of an ISG.
Outside the hidden world, where the ancestors had gathered to observe, the progenitor of the devil fiend race cupped his hands toward the forsaken god and said, with a mocking edge, "I trust you won't hold a grudge — this matter is best settled between our juniors."
The forsaken god only smiled. "And I trust you'll harbor no ill intent toward a revered elder of my clan."
A flicker of unease crossed the devil fiend ancestor's face the instant their gazes met.
Within the hidden world, the burly man and Black God Solanky soared off toward the distant city ruins to settle their duel. The moment they touched down, the devil fiend man unleashed a flurry of attacks. Solanky simply extended his hand — a black axe materialized from nowhere — and parried every strike with effortless ease. The other three top-ranked elites watching from a distance frowned faintly; they understood exactly how devastating those attacks truly were, and to see this "revered elder" deflect them without strain meant only one thing — his strength had to rival, if not exceed, the burly devil fiend man's own.
"You won't win this duel with mere probing strikes," Solanky said calmly. "Use everything you have. Once I go all-out, you won't get the chance to counter."
The burly man's confidence cracked, if only slightly, at how easily his attacks had been read. He hurled all six pikes into the air above him and began weaving seals with his hands, sparing a glance toward Elisa and Goldie — both unnervingly calm, betraying no trace of fear. A cold sweat crept along the back of his neck. The instant his seals completed, the six pikes fused into one, its aura swelling to rival that of a true peak-turn first-grade weapon.
He smiled, gripped the merged pike, and thrust it toward Solanky. Though the weapon could tear through the fabric of the beyond realm itself, the world treasure's stable spatial laws reduced its strike to nothing more than a thunderous sonic boom as it surged forward.
Solanky shifted his footing to dodge — only to realize the pike had already locked onto his position. Defense was his only option. He raised the black axe just as the strike arrived. CLANG! Metal met metal in a deafening collision. The burly man staggered back five steps, while Solanky remained rooted exactly where he stood, a shallow dent forming in the ground beneath his feet.
The ancestors and elites watching from beyond the hidden realm were stunned. That single strike alone could have killed a saint emperor transcendent outright, or critically wounded a half-step peak-turn immortal god lifeform even with armor of the same tier. Yet this so-called revered elder hadn't budged an inch.
The devil fiend ancestor turned to glance at the forsaken god, who watched the unfolding battle with unsettling calm — as though he'd known the outcome before the duel had even begun. The three guardians, Behan, Jenny, and Govot, watched in equal disbelief; at their level, they could tell instantly that this "Black God" was merely a clone cast by some mysterious powerhouse operating beneath the true peak-turns level. Behan reached out telepathically to the forsaken god, demanding to know the truth of this figure's identity.
The forsaken god relayed everything — every detail he was permitted to share now that he'd unsealed himself and earned the right to stand among them. Behan, Jenny, and Govot were floored by what they heard. Creating a self-clone from nothing but raw materials and comprehension at the saint transcendent level was a feat that told them Solanky had long since surpassed where they'd stood at his stage of cultivation. But what truly stunned them was something else entirely — he had comprehended the fourth golden statue of Supremo's ultimate techniques and evolved his spiritual power to the late phase of the first-turn true peak-turns level, all from a mere clone.
They turned their attention back to the screen.
There, the burly devil fiend man continued his relentless assault on Solanky, laughing wildly as he rained down strike after strike, savoring the fact that no being beneath the true peak-turns had ever forced him to fight at full power before. Solanky kept his guard up.
"You'll need to give it everything you have," he said. "I don't hold back once I make my move."
"Enough with the empty threats," the devil fiend man snapped. "Besides — I wear a first-grade true peak-turn armor. I can weather your strikes whenever you finally decide to throw them. But I'm done playing nice. Devil's Fiend Sacrificial Strike!"
He hurled forward a crystal orb containing over ten million trapped souls — the spirits of mortals and cultivators slaughtered by malevolent forces long ago, who had since signed soul contracts with the devil fiend clan in exchange for vengeance through battle. The ten million souls knelt in unison, kowtowing toward the pike. The weapon trembled, its aura surging with newfound power, as the devil fiend man seized it with all six arms and swung it toward Solanky with everything he had.
For the first time, Black God Solanky was sent flying, skidding across the ground for a hundred meters and carving a narrow gully in his wake. He steadied himself, and to everyone's shock, let out an excited shout. "Good — good! Strike me again, harder! Don't hold back, because after this, it's my turn to move."
The watching elites and ancestors finally understood — Solanky had been holding back the entire time.
The devil fiend man, a battle fanatic in his own right, formed another set of seals. The two faces that had appeared dormant on his form suddenly opened their eyes. The moment they did, every elite present — even the top three ranked among them — recognized this as the devil fiend clan's ultimate technique. The two faces began detaching from the burly man's body, each tearing away with two of his six arms to form independent bodies of their own.
Each doppelganger mirrored the burly man exactly, now standing with two arms apiece, pike in hand. He grinned with pride. "You're the first to force my hand into using this technique. Even if you lose the pyramid to me, you should be proud of that."
Solanky only smiled. "A duplication technique — impressive. But now... it's my turn." He raised his axe above his head. The instant he did, the stable fabric of space itself began to ripple outward from him. He brought the axe down in a single slash, and it seemed to expand, conjuring an entire domain — a world unto itself. The ancestors watching from beyond the hidden realm were struck with genuine terror; that single strike rivaled the casual blow of an immortal god lifeform who had only just crossed into the true peak-turns level.
The devil fiend man formed a rapid set of seals and spat out an oval silver plate, which expanded into a shield before him and his doppelgangers — a half-step peak-turn treasure in its own right. But the giant axe sliced clean through it, shattering the shield instantly, its residual force tearing through one of the doppelgangers clad in first-grade peak-turn armor. The armor shattered on impact, and the doppelganger was annihilated where it stood.
The elites, even Elisa and Goldie, stared in disbelief. Solanky hadn't used a single elaborate technique — and yet he'd annihilated a doppelganger equivalent to a special lifeform wielding 500 billion times the power of an ISG, armored in first-grade peak-turn gear, without breaking a sweat.
Seeing his other face destroyed, the burly man yielded the duel instantly. Solanky, unwilling to escalate things further, stood down as well. "If you wish to snatch this pyramid from my hands," he said, his voice carrying an unmistakable weight of authority, "you'll have to defeat me in battle first."
He released his aura and power without restraint, and the watching elites froze in shock — his strength far exceeded 500 billion times the power of an ISG, rivaling even Goldie, a legendary being in his own right beneath the true peak-turns level.