Barsha’s vessel erupted with brilliant, crackling lightning, the sigil of thunder glowing vividly upon her forehead. Utilizing the vast reservoir of natural mana she had assimilated, her velocity multiplied exponentially.

She had never unleashed an aura of this magnitude. Crossing her dual daggers, she lunged forward like a tempest of blinding light, targeting the reanimated husks of the two saints held immobile by Alicia's binding array. Above them, Alicia strained her absolute core, forcing her kinetic chains to keep the two thralls locked in place.

Continuous flashes of radiant steel illuminated the sky, weaving an inescapable lattice of lethal slashes around the two reanimated grandmasters. The violent interplay of light and shadow transformed the local atmosphere, shifting instantly between daylight and pitch darkness as if a million lightning bolts were tearing the heavens apart.

Barsha poured her total parameters into the offensive, while Alicia maintained the binding field. Under the staggering weight of Barsha’s assault, even Alicia’s high-density mana chains began to fracture and snap under the kinetic feedback.

BOOOOOOM!

A catastrophic explosion detonated across the basin, forcing Barsha and Alicia to disengage immediately, vaulting backward to escape the expanding shockwave. The residual energy from Barsha’s strike lingered in the air, shuddering through the terrain for miles. Hovering at a distance, the two women caught their breath, absorbing ambient natural mana to replenish their reserves as they waited for the dust to clear to verify the result of their combination attack.

Meanwhile, in a peaceful sector of the same pocket dimension...

A man and a woman sat along the serene shores of a crystal-clear lake. The surrounding landscape was entirely void of human civilization, inhabited only by wild fauna. In this secluded realm, they were the sole human souls in existence.

Holding simple fishing rods, they relaxed under a cool, gentle breeze. The world belonged entirely to them—a haven of absolute peace where no wars, political rivalries, or worldly burdens could ever disturb their tranquility.

Jonas’s line snapped tight as a large fish took the bait. Smiling softly, he reeled it in, landing a silver-scaled catch as wide as his open palm. A fine catch for dinner tonight, he thought.

"You caught one already, my love?" Marie teased, offering a warm smile as she adjusted her own line. Her bait remained untouched, while Jonas had already landed two.

"Indeed, Marie," Jonas replied, his eyes reflecting her smile. "These two will be more than enough for us this evening."

Looking at her lovely face, no observer would ever suspect that these two peaceful individuals were once supreme warlords among the 10 Annihilation Demons. Completely severed from the physical plane, they had found true contentment in the sanctuary unsealed by the youth named Aji.

They felt a deep, unspoken gratitude toward the young warrior. They no longer harbored any desire for war, nor did they care for the dark legions that had once spread terror across the continents. Here, stripped of their titles and burdens, they were free.

Though Marie had lived a life drenched in blood, her heart had always longed for quiet isolation. As a dark practitioner, she might have been expected to grow restless in a world without conflict, yet sitting beside Jonas, she felt an absolute, unshakeable peace. If they were destined to grow old and pass into the void together in this paradise, she would harbor zero regrets.

"Let us head back, Jonas..."

Jonas smiled, preparing to stand, when a thunderous explosion shattered the silence of the valley.

BOOOOOOM!

The heavy blast echoed from miles away, shaking the lake's surface. What was that? Why would a high-yield energetic explosion detonate in a world inhabited solely by the two of them? Jonas looked at Marie, offering a firm nod. Driven by instinct, he stood up and headed toward the source of the shockwave, with Marie following closely behind.

It made no sense; neither of them had detected any high-tier life signatures in this realm prior to this moment. Yet as they let their guard down, an explosive clash had detonated across the mountains.

Quickening their pace, they moved to investigate, preparing themselves in case they were forced into combat once more. Yet the energetic frequency radiating from the blast felt strangely familiar—so vast that for a brief moment, they feared Lord Demon Shura himself had breached the dimension.

Marie felt her pulse quicken. She had just found absolute peace, yet a threat of this scale could destroy their sanctuary. Refining her core, she prepared her parameters. When their dual-synthesis was synchronized, they commanded combat parameters that feared no opponent.

If fate demanded they fight to protect their paradise, she was prepared to stand alongside Jonas to the end.

Blurring across the terrain at high velocity, the two warlords closed the distance to the blast zone, eager to identify the entities clashing within this inverted world.

The source of the detonation came into view—a localized explosion so violent it had leveled a nearby ridge. Halting a kilometer away, Jonas and Marie concealed their presences behind an ancient tree trunk, peering through the settling dust.

Through the haze, they spotted two female figures hovering at the edge of the crater. Judging by the tactical formation and the dust settling around them, the pair had just unleashed a joint combination strike against a shared target.

Examining their attire, Jonas and Marie recognized the distinct sigil embroidered over their shoulders—the official emblem of the Sky Squad. Aji had mentioned he belonged to the same unit.

Who are they fighting? And how did they enter this isolated domain?

Suppressing their dark magic footprints—a discipline perfected over decades of cultivation—Jonas and Marie watched silently from the shadows, waiting to see what would emerge from the crater.

As the dense white smoke cleared, a horrific sight met the eyes of Barsha and Alicia.

Standing at the epicenter of the crater were two mutilated human forms, wrapped in thick, volatile veils of dark magic. Their physical structures had been completely shredded by Barsha's combination strike, revealing grotesque, writhing masses of thick, finger-sized black tendrils that resembled headless, thrashing parasites.

The sickening, intestine-like tendrils writhed violently, weaving together as they reconnected severed tissue and bone.

It was an advanced manifestation of Black Blood regeneration—operating at a level far surpassing standard dark magic. The writhing tendrils merged at absolute speed, reconstructing the torso and shoulders, rapidly extending upward to form the necks and heads.

Recognizing the threat, Alicia raised her longsword into the sky without hesitation. Crackling threads of high-density elemental lightning rushed into the tip of her blade as she rapidly assimilated natural mana from the atmosphere. High-voltage electrical arcs danced along the full length of her steel.

With all her strength, Alicia brought her sword down, unleashing a massive, roaring lance of concentrated lightning that split the air as it surged toward the two reconstructing thralls.

Meanwhile, on the physical plane...

Lord Demon Shura felt the sudden, catastrophic damage inflicted upon the physical vessels of Yonan and Ganada across the dimensional divide. Though their location remained unsearchable, he experienced the violent feedback as their physical forms were pulverized.

Determined not to let the two Sky Squad members claim victory over his creations, Shura executed an absolute override command. Deep within the core of both reanimated saints, he unsealed an ancient dark directive.

By lifting the internal safety seals, the vessels of Yonan and Ganada were granted access to their total, unreserved parameters—combining the absolute peak strength of their living grandmaster forms with the limitless dark magic bound to their cores.

Unsealing the directive permanently severed Shura’s energetic link to the two thralls. Yet he accepted the loss without hesitation; he refused to allow those arrogant young women to smile over the destruction of his creations.

He would make them experience true terror for daring to defy his mandate. Though the thralls would operate independently once the link snapped, they would execute their original command to eradicate the targets with absolute, unyielding brutality.

Alicia’s high-voltage lightning slash swept toward the two thralls just as their heads were taking shape from the writhing dark tendrils.

Yet a fraction of a second before the blade made contact, a massive dark energy shield materialized, intercepting Alicia's ultimate strike head-on.

BOOOOOOM!

The defensive shield was generated directly by the thralls' reanimated cores, absorbing the full force of the explosive lightning slash. As Barsha prepared to leap forward to assist, the heads of both reanimated legends completed their reconstruction, returning to pristine condition as though the previous assault had never occurred.

Instantaneous regeneration at absolute velocity!

The dark eyes of both saints ignited with a terrifying, pitch-black glare. Shattering the defensive shield from within, they surged forward, releasing a suffocating wave of dark magic that detonated across the basin.

Observing from the ridge, Jonas watched the clash with indifferent eyes. He had no desire to involve himself in the struggles between the righteous alliance and the dark army, wishing only to return to his quiet life with Marie.

Yet Marie reached out, placing her hands firmly on his broad shoulders.

"Let us assist those two young warriors," Marie said softly, a gentle smile gracing her lips. "After all... we are villains no longer."

Jonas opened his mouth to object, but the serene warmth in her eyes silenced his words, leaving him with only a soft, yielding smile.