The spherical barrier protecting Marie shattered into glittering fragments under the catastrophic downward kinetic punch delivered by Aji. The resulting explosion unleashed a brilliant shockwave that detonated across the clearing, showering the area in volatile sparks.

Having forced his way through the barrier's structural threshold, Aji stabilized his posture as the protective shield dissolved completely.

Seeing her shield collapse, Jonas panicked. Fearing for the life of his beloved, he surged forward at maximum velocity, prepared to throw his life away to save her. Their souls were bound as one; to Jonas, existence without Marie was meaningless.

Should Aji slay Marie, Jonas would follow her into the void without a second thought. At that moment, Marie was at her most vulnerable: while channeling her soul to empower Jonas, her full focus was tied to the dual synthesis. Severing that link abruptly created an unstable spiritual backlash capable of crippling both practitioners.

That was the inherent flaw of their dual-cultivation technique. Though their merged parameters multiplied exponentially, Marie required absolute protection while sustaining the link. If one fell into danger, the other's core was instantly compromised.

As Marie began to plunge toward the earth, Aji extended his hand, deploying a gentle levitation spellwork to suspend her softly in mid-air.

Jonas closed in, his broadsword raised, but Aji held up his hand, signaling him to halt. Realizing Marie remained suspended within Aji's spellwork and that the intruder could extinguish her life force in a single breath, Jonas checked his advance.

"Release Marie!" Jonas bellowed, his voice laced with desperation.

"You have a choice," Aji replied calmly, his eyes locked onto Jonas. "Perish here, or allow me to send you both to the Mirror World."

Jonas hesitated no longer. Marie was his entire world, and he would submit to any demand to ensure her safety.

"Very well! Send us to this separate dimension!" Jonas conceded, his voice trembling slightly. "Just do not harm Marie!"

"I give you my word," Aji promised softly. "However... what of your legion?"

"Their fate is their own," Jonas answered quietly. "They hold the right to choose their own path."

Neither Jonas nor Marie had ever forced their two hundred thousand subordinates into blind servitude. Their legion comprised dark practitioners who had pledged themselves to Lord Demon Shura, subsequently assigned under their command.

Turning toward his vast army, Jonas broadcasted his final decree across the encampment. He informed his troops that he and Marie were departing from the realm, granting every dark operative the freedom to determine their own destiny. If they wished to remain loyal to Shura, they were free to rejoin the Demon Lord's main force.

He explained that this was his final farewell. He was withdrawing permanently alongside Marie, abandoning the conflict between the righteous sects and the dark army to live in quiet isolation.

A heavy silence fell over the two hundred thousand dark operatives as they processed the unexpected departure of their supreme commanders. Jonas cared for nothing beyond Marie's safety, and if entering a separate spatial dimension meant they could remain together, he would accept it without reservation.

Acknowledging Jonas's farewell, Aji raised his right hand, unsealing a two-meter-tall spatial gateway in the air before them. With a subtle flick of his fingers, he guided Marie's floating form toward the portal's threshold.

"You shall not die," Aji reassured them. "In that realm, the two of you may live peacefully together for the rest of your days."

Aji spoke with quiet sincerity, void of malice or deceit. Jonas, desiring only Marie's survival, chose to place his trust in the young warrior. Floating upward, Jonas approached the glowing gateway beside Marie.

"Unseal her core parameters, Aji," Jonas requested gently.

Aji looked at him. "My binding spellwork will dissolve the moment she passes through the portal threshold. Go now, and enjoy the peace you have earned."

Jonas held Marie in his arms as the spatial portal shifted forward to envelope them.

"Tell me..." Jonas asked, turning to glance at Aji one last time, "...why grant us mercy? Would it not have been far easier to simply execute us both?"

Aji offered a gentle, nostalgic smile. "I recognized the absolute devotion between you two. It is rare to see two practitioners of dark magic bound by such genuine, selfless love. I simply wished to grant you an opportunity to retire from bloodshed and find happiness together."

It was a profound, benevolent response coming from a young warrior. Embracing Marie tightly, Jonas allowed the spatial portal to engulf their forms.

As the dimensional veil closed around them, Aji added softly, "Perhaps we shall meet again one day. I may drop by to visit."

With those final words of farewell, Jonas and Marie vanished completely into the portal, which dissolved into nothingness a second later. Turning around, Aji faced the vast standing army of two hundred thousand dark operatives staring up at him in stunned silence.

"Operatives of Jonas and Marie!" Aji's voice boomed across the plain, echoing through the ranks. "Will you abandon Lord Demon Shura's war and disperse in peace, or will you stand and face me?!"

Not a single operative offered a response. Bound by their oath to the dark path and their allegiance to Shura—who had granted them power and purpose—they refused to surrender. They chose to remain loyal to the Demon Lord until the end.

Drawing their armaments, the two hundred thousand dark cultists channeled their dark magic, fixing their sights on Aji. They recognized that the intruder would show no mercy to those who chose to stand under Shura's banner.

A suffocating wave of dark magic erupted across the Denad continent, causing the very earth to shudder as two hundred thousand operatives unsealed their Demon Transformations simultaneously. Aji observed their unyielding resolve, recognizing that their loyalty to Shura was a price they were prepared to pay with their lives.

Condensing an immense volume of internal aura into his right arm, Aji leaped into the sky. High-density atmospheric mana rushed into his vessel as he pulled his fist back, charging a strike of catastrophic magnitude. The heavens churned above him as crackling thunderbolts resonated with his core.

Ghost Speed!

Aji vanished into a streak of blinding light.

Magic Blast!

A radiant aura field erupted from his frame, expanding outward to engulf the entire sector in incandescent light.

"Thunder Striker!"

Plunging from the sky, Aji brought his right fist crashing down into the center of the encampment, releasing his absolute parameters in a single, catastrophic impact.

BOOOOOOM!

The resulting seismic explosion obliterated the terrain, carving a crater twenty kilometers in diameter across the Denad plain. A colossal mushroom cloud of dust and pulverized stone billowed into the atmosphere, while high-voltage lightning threads webbed across the twenty-kilometer blast zone, disintegrating everything in its wake.

Within that twenty-kilometer radius, two hundred thousand dark operatives were reduced to ash in a fraction of a second. The suffocating haze of dust obscured the barren, scorched crater.

From the swirling dust cloud, a solitary figure ascended into the sky.

It was Aji, his eyes shining with brilliant celestial light. Waving his hand, he unsealed a high-speed spatial portal, stepped through the threshold, and vanished as the gateway collapsed behind him.

The scorched plain fell dead silent. An army of two hundred thousand dark operatives had been completely erased from existence, leaving not a single life signature behind.

Meanwhile, in Lord Demon Shura's central stronghold...

"Impossible!"

Lord Demon Shura slammed his hands onto the arms of his throne, standing up abruptly as his vessel trembled. Nesia and the dark officers present stared in shock, sensing their sovereign's sudden agitation.

Nesia's earlier inquiry transmitted to Marie had gone completely unanswered. Initially, Shura had assumed Jonas and Marie were merely engaged in a sparring match or skirmish with a strong opponent, confident that their combined dual-synthesis could overcome any challenge.

Yet in a single, horrifying second, the dark magic links connecting Shura to Jonas, Marie, and their entire two-hundred-thousand-strong army had vanished completely!

Had two supreme Annihilation Demons and their entire standing legion been wiped out in a matter of hours? If so, how had the martial alliance uncovered their hidden sanctuary behind the Second World? The existence of the 10 Annihilation Demons was a closely guarded secret.

Who among the orthodox cultivators possessed the parameters to annihilate two Annihilation Demons and a vast legion simultaneously?

Could it be the God of War, Dasatama? Or a hidden grandmaster from antiquity? Shura recalled recent intelligence reports mentioning the emergence of the Sky Squad—a specialized vanguard commanding extraordinary capabilities despite their youth.

"My Lord... has something occurred regarding Jonas and Marie?" Nesia asked hesitantly.

Shura turned his cold gaze toward Nesia—the sole remaining member of the Four Gates by his side. His military foundation was crumbling rapidly: the Four Gates were all but wiped out, and now one-fifth of the 10 Annihilation Demons had been erased in a single night.

"Jonas, Marie, and their entire legion have been completely annihilated."

Shura's declaration struck Nesia like a physical blow. How could two supreme warlords—whose combined parameters were lauded even among the 10 Annihilation Demons—be erased alongside two hundred thousand troops in a single night?

Had their covert operations been compromised before the specialized spatial masters could unseal the global gateways? If the martial alliance had breached their secrets and mapped their hidden sanctuaries, the upcoming invasion was facing a catastrophic setback, Nesia thought, her heart heavy with dread.