Nesia lunged forward through the air, channeling a surge of dark magic through her open right palm aimed directly at Gayatri. Gayatri, who had just repelled a wave of dark cultists, reacted instantly by raising her right hand to manifest a radiant mana barrier. Nesia’s strike slammed into the shield, triggering a violent energetic explosion upon impact.

BOOM!

"I acknowledge your bravery in provoking the Demon Lord," Nesia hissed, her tone dripping with venom. "Yet that insolence ends today! You shall perish by my hand, foolish girl!"

Sweeping her left hand forward, Nesia unleashed a continuous, relentless volley of dark magic projectiles. Both her gauntlets discharged pitch-black blasts without pause, hammering Gayatri’s defensive perimeter.

The dark energy battered the shield, straining to shatter Gayatri's protection. Continuous flashes of light and violent explosions detonated against the barrier's surface. Straining her core to its limit, Gayatri drew heavily upon ambient natural mana, continually reinforcing her defensive domain to absorb the bombardment.

Gayatri fully recognized that a member of the Five Gates was no trivial opponent. During the clash in the Tulisma Forest, neutralizing a single Gatekeeper had required the joint efforts of two or three elite grandmasters—and even Commander Dasatama had relied on backup to secure victory.

She could not afford to underestimate her enemy for a single second. Yet Gayatri was no longer the spellcaster she once was; through countless life-and-death battles and intensive conditioning in Dompai, her internal parameters had evolved significantly. Today, she was determined to hold her own against a high-tier commander—a quiet confidence anchoring her resolve.

Everything is different now! I will carry my weight as a member of the Sky Squad.

She drew inspiration from Aji, who constantly pushed himself past mortal boundaries to become an unyielding shield for the realm. Gayatri strove to match his growth, refusing to remain a liability he needed to protect. She recalled Aji’s relentless dedication to the martial path, using his example to harden her own spirit.

Unwavering effort yielded absolute results. Today, Gayatri would prove her worth on the field!

She had waited for this moment—the opportunity to avenge her fallen parents. Their spirits would find eternal peace once the dark army was eradicated, and Gayatri was prepared to dismantle Shura's legions piece by piece.

"HAAAAA!"

Channeling a massive surge of natural mana into her barrier, Gayatri detonated the shield from within. The abrupt outward burst met Nesia’s incoming bombardment head-on, forcing two high-density magic fields to collide at point-blank range.

BOOOOOOM!

A dense cloud of smoke erupted as a shockwave rippled across the basin, forcing nearby orthodox cultivators and dark operatives to retreat from the kinetic feedback generated by their clash.

"Impressive, young female warrior of the Sky Squad," Nesia remarked as the smoke drifted away, her eyes locked onto Gayatri as both spellcasters recalibrated their parameters. "What is your name?"

"I am Gayatri," she replied, her voice calm and firm. "And I know you are the last surviving member of the Five Gates."

Nesia’s eyes narrowed slightly. How does she know my exact rank within our command structure?

Noticing her reaction, Gayatri offered a quiet explanation, revealing that her sensory domain allowed her to perceive the distinct energetic frequencies of any combatant—whether they wielded dark magic or orthodox elemental mana.

Nesia processed the revelation, her mind rapidly connecting the dots. If this young woman possessed the ability to distinguish subtle aura frequencies and categorize them with absolute accuracy... then she was the single reason why Shura's Mondu infiltrators had been systematically exposed and eliminated across the five continents!

"So..." Nesia analyzed aloud, her expression darkening, "...you can perceive the presence of dark magic embedded within a person's vessel? Is that the true nature of your sensory domain?"

"Precisely," Gayatri confirmed. "I can read the density and signature of a cultivator's internal aura. By analyzing the color and structure of their magic, I can instantly differentiate between standard dark operatives and high-tier commanders—such as the Five Gates and the 10 Annihilation Demons."

Nesia’s pupils contracted. A wave of chilling realization washed over her.

Every grand operation that had failed, every covert strategy that had unravelled from the shadows—it had all originated from the sensory capabilities of the young woman standing before her! A spellcaster capable of detecting and categorizing dark energy signatures at a glance was an existential threat to the dark army's operations.

Nesia realized that eliminating Gayatri would permanently dismantle the alliance's intelligence advantage. Bringing her head to the Demon Lord would restore Shura's favor and avenge the humiliation he had suffered moments ago.

She cannot be allowed to leave this battlefield alive. A spellcaster with parameters like hers was far too dangerous to remain among the righteous sects.

A suffocating wave of dark magic erupted from Nesia's vessel. Abandoning all restraint, she prepared to execute Gayatri swiftly using her total, unreserved parameters. This girl was the central pillar of the alliance's intelligence—and the key to Shura's absolute victory lay in her destruction.

Dense dark magic poured from Nesia's core in alarming volumes. She assimilated corrupted aura from her surroundings, wrapping her vessel in a thick, pulsating shroud of midnight-black magic that throbbed like a violent heart from head to toe.

Gayatri’s eyes widened as she analyzed Nesia's emerging signature. The parameter output before her transcended the baseline output of the other Gatekeepers she had encountered. Something was fundamentally different about Nesia—the density of her dark magic far exceeded Gayatri's initial calculations.

"You have picked the wrong enemy, foolish girl," Nesia declared, spreading her clawed hands to her sides as azure-black flames crackled around her gauntlets. "From this moment on, you walk only toward your grave. Prepare yourself—for you have forced me to unseal my absolute parameters!"

Gayatri locked her perception onto the pulsating shroud, a sudden realization striking her mind. "I see... You have assimilated the internal cores of the other four Gatekeepers, haven't you?"

It was the only logical explanation for the complex, composite signature radiating from Nesia's vessel. Gayatri detected five distinct dark magic frequencies harmonizing within a single frame.

Nesia offered a cold, satisfied grin, internally validating Gayatri's extraordinary sensory precision. The girl's deduction was spot-on, proving beyond doubt that she was responsible for exposing the Mondu networks across the provinces.

Her sensory domain could analyze an opponent's core, identify their elemental affinities, and measure their absolute output in a single breath.

Nesia was indeed unique among the Five Gates. Serving as Shura's primary advisor and chief strategist, she acted as the sovereign's right hand, filtering intelligence and issuing commands to the dark army's sub-divisions.

Unlike her four peers, who actively managed field operations and monitored the Mondu infiltrators, Nesia had remained at Shura's side, refraining from direct combat for over two decades. Her primary duty was the command of Shura's private intelligence network.

The eradication of the other four Gatekeepers had initially rattled Nesia, demonstrating that the martial alliance had achieved unprecedented combat capability.

As the sole bridge between the Demon Lord and his legions, Nesia managed all intelligence reports regarding orthodox troop deployments across the five continents, reporting directly to Shura.

Prior to launching this global campaign, Shura had summoned Nesia to his private chambers, presenting her with a strategic choice: he offered to reanimate the four fallen Gatekeepers using the Blood Supreme, restoring them to the battlefield as high-tier thralls.

When Nesia inquired whether her reanimated comrades would retain their free will and memories, Shura had clarified that they would exist merely as mindless, soulless dreadnoughts—devoid of self-awareness, driven solely by his direct commands.

Nesia had recoiled from the prospect of interacting with empty husks of her former peers—soulless puppets incapable of thought or camaraderie.

Noticing her hesitation, Shura had offered an alternative option: "If you find no value in soulless thralls, I can extract the remaining core parameters of your four fallen peers and transfer their dark magic directly into your vessel. You shall embody the unified strength of the Five Gates, standing as my supreme advisor to rule this realm by my side."

The proposition had been irresistible. It spared her the grief of losing her companions while elevating her standing as Shura's single most trusted lieutenant—a position of absolute authority at her sovereign's right hand.

Nesia had accepted without hesitation, enduring excruciating internal agony as her core assimilated the dark parameters of the four fallen Gatekeepers, refining their collective power into her own.

"Your deduction is flawless, girl of the Sky Squad!" Nesia shouted, her voice echoing across the plain as her fivefold dark magic flared to its absolute peak. "I hold the combined strength of all Five Gates within my vessel! Now that you know the truth, prepare to meet your ancestors! You will trouble the true sovereigns of this world no longer!"

As the suffocating dark magic surged toward her, Gayatri centered her mind, unsealing her highest-tier defensive arrays to meet the storm head-on.