Gasps echoed across the basin as everyone stared at the massive explosion that once again rattled the earth. Had the youth been pulverized into dust? A thick plume of smoke billowed from the coordinate where Lord Demon Shura’s catastrophic strike had impacted Aji.

Gayatri and Alicia hovered nearby, completely exhausted. They had poured every drop of their remaining parameters into holding back the Demon Lord’s assault, yet their combined defensive arrays had proven insufficient against such terrifying power. And what of Aji?

As the smoke hung heavy in the air, Shura wore a cold, confident smirk. He assumed the youth had been reduced to nothingness by his absolute parameters. Furthermore, he sensed zero residual aura or movement emanating from the blast radius.

If the boy possessed genuine strength and had survived, he would have mounted a defensive posture or at least sustained visible physical trauma.

The smoke began to thin, yet absolute silence gripped the battlefield. No grandmaster dared speak a word, fully convinced that the youth had perished. An impact of that magnitude would obliterate any mortal vessel.

If the boy is dead, will the Demon Lord recreate his spatial dome and trap us once more? Will he unleash his cosmic-annihilation spellwork again? Terror gripped the orthodox ranks once more; their lives remained suspended by a thread, and panic threatened to scatter the coalition.

Shura raised his right hand, sending a fresh wave of anxiety through the remaining defenders.

Yet, in that exact split second, a brilliant flash of light burst through the fading smoke where Aji had taken the blast. A glowing, radiant silhouette surged from the haze, hurtling toward the Demon Lord at sound-shattering velocity.

Shura’s eyes widened in shock. Snapping his hand back, he hastily unsealed a two-meter-wide energy barrier before his chest.

CRACK! SHATTER!

The protective barrier fractured instantly upon impact. Impossible! Shura felt the kinetic force of the youth's punch barreling straight toward him, smashing through his high-tier shield as though it were made of glass.

As the glowing figure closed the distance, Shura stared into his face. A sudden, chilling memory flashed through the Demon Lord's mind—why did this youth bear such an uncanny resemblance to someone from his distant past?

FLASH!

It was Aji. Pulling his right fist back, he aimed a direct, concentrated strike at Shura’s chest. Shura reacted instantly, enveloping both gauntlets in a dense vortex of defensive dark aura to intercept the blow.

Yet striking Shura was merely a feint.

While executing the punch with his right hand, Aji swept his arm outward, unsealing a massive, five-meter-tall spatial portal directly behind Shura’s back.

Shura blocked the heavy punch, generating a violent energetic shockwave. But Aji's objective was not to deal physical trauma; he unleased an overwhelming burst of kinetic propulsion, shoving Shura forward with absolute force.

Caught off guard by the spatial shift, Shura was driven backward into the yawning threshold of the spatial portal. Aji followed him in, and both figures vanished into the gateway as the spatial conduit snapped shut behind them.

Absolute silence descended upon the battlefield. The orthodox grandmasters stood frozen, staring blankly at the empty space where the portal had vanished, unable to process what had just unfolded. What happens next? Is it truly over? Or will the Demon Lord return to plunge the world back into chaos?

Regardless of the outcome, confusion reigned. The epic war that had raged since dawn seemed to have dissolved into thin air. The ending felt surreal and utterly baffling to the alliance grandmasters. Across the field, surviving dark operatives stood dazed, their corrupted dark magic completely extinguished.

Paralyzed by uncertainty, the combatants struggled to comprehend their new reality. The Demon Lord and the mysterious youth had vanished into a suddenly materialized spatial gateway, leaving the fate of the world hanging in an unresolved balance.

High above the orthodox ranks...

Impossible!

Barsha felt the breath catch in her throat, left completely speechless. How could he be so reckless, facing the Demon Lord entirely alone?!

Barsha knew the exact destination of the spatial portal Aji had unsealed to banish Shura and himself. It was the same anomalous dimension she and Alicia had previously entered—the Mirror World.

It was a realm that served as a mirror reflection of the physical plane, where collateral damage caused inside the dimension had zero destructive impact on the real world so long as the prime plane remained stable. Aji had sacrificed himself to isolate the Demon Lord, dragging Shura into the glass dimension to save humanity. He was likely engaging Shura in a life-and-death duel at that very moment.

It was the exact spatial realm Aji had previously opened to banish the reanimated thralls of Jonas and Marie, allowing them to live out their existence together in peace.

Barsha moved swiftly, scanning the field for Alicia. Spotting Alicia standing alongside Gayatri, she hurried over. Both grandmasters were currently harmonizing their internal pathways, recovering from the acute parameter drain of holding back Shura's attack.

"Gayatri! Can you open a spatial portal to the Mirror World?" Barsha asked urgently, her breath coming in heavy gasps.

Alicia looked up, her expression grave. "I cannot pierce the threshold to the Mirror World, Barsha. That dimension operates on bizarre spatial laws that cannot be unsealed through conventional spellwork. Only Aji possesses the mastery to navigate the glass dimension."

Barsha felt the color drain from her face. This cannot be happening! If Alicia—who commanded master-tier spatial spellcasting—surrendered to the complexity of the Mirror World's dimensional matrix, zero avenues remained for the alliance grandmasters to reinforce Aji.

Everything now rested entirely upon Aji's solitary strength to neutralize the Demon Lord.

Powerless to intervene, Barsha lifted her gaze to the sky. The afternoon sun shone brightly above the physical plane. The war had concluded here, but a far deadlier conflict had just begun in an isolated dimension.

"Captain... what are our directives?" Gayatri’s voice broke Barsha's reverie. "We must secure this sector and neutralize the surviving dark operatives."

Barsha nodded slowly. Right. She had to trust Aji. He had entrusted the remainder of the battle on this plain to the orthodox alliance, and the Sky Squad had a duty to finish restoring order.

We must move forward!

Meanwhile, inside the Mirror World...

Where are we?

A tranquil, silent expanse devoid of human life signatures stretched before them. Shura had been hurled backward by Aji's propulsion, landing ten meters away on a lush carpet of green grass surrounded by towering mountains and dense forests.

Both figures hovered mid-air, maintaining a tense distance.

"Boy! Where have we been dragged to? Are we dead?" Shura demanded, his crimson eyes narrowing in suspicion. He scanned the pristine environment, utterly baffled. There were zero human life signatures, zero ambient turmoil. Is this the afterlife? Shura checked his physical vessel—his flesh remained intact, and his skin reacted normally to his touch.

"Do not trouble yourself, Shura!" Aji replied smoothly, offering a calm, unbothered smile. "This is the exact world you have always dreamed of—a realm completely devoid of human evil and conflict. Is this not your ultimate ambition?"

Shura stared at the youth in genuine shock. The boy spoke as though he intimately understood the inner workings of his soul. While the dimension was indeed peaceful and uninhabited by mortals, this was not the paradise Shura envisioned. Could this be an illusion conjured by the youth?

A psychological phantasm engineered to mimic reality? Impossible. He still commanded the celestial parameters of the Blood Supreme; if he were trapped in an illusion, the artifact would have triggered an immediate warning resonance.

This was not a phantasm—this was an absolute, physical dimension.

"Who in the world are you? State your name, or I shall obliterate your physical vessel right here!" Shura roared, his temper flaring.

"You have truly never changed, Shura—even after nearly ninety winters, your core philosophy remains identical."

"What did you say?! Ninety years—who the hell are you?!"

Aji smiled faintly, casually clasping both hands behind his waist.

"This is the very realm that imprisoned me for twenty long years. Back then..."

Shura was forced to listen, spellbound by the youth’s calm demeanor. He listened because the boy claimed to have been trapped inside this isolated dimension for two decades—twenty years following the legendary cataclysm between the dark host and the Three Legends.

The statement instantly connected in Shura’s mind, reminding him of the formidable champion who had fought in the vanguard to shatter his continental invasion two decades prior.

His thoughts drifted back to the great war. Shura remembered that day vividly—the exact date he had been on the verge of completing the final purification of the Blood Supreme, guarded by his personal elite and the Five Gates.

He had issued movement directives to the 10 Annihilation Demons, scheduling their mass relocation via high-tier spatial portals for the opening day of the global offensive.

Everything had been prepared while Shura absorbed the final parameter phase of the Blood Supreme, protected by the impenetrable array of the Five Gates.

And then... catastrophe struck.

Without warning, a massive explosion erupted across the sector. Three rogue grandmasters had plunged into his stronghold, tearing through his dark legion from every cardinal direction. Though the Five Gates had moved immediately to intercept them, the invaders cut down thousands of dark cultists in a matter of seconds.

Recognizing the threat, the Five Gates engaged the intruders, only to realize they were facing the legendary Three Legends. The Gatekeepers fought with fanatical desperation to prevent the trio from reaching the sacred chamber where Shura was binding the Blood Supreme, yet their defenses crumbled, leaving the Five Gates heavily wounded.

The blinding speed of Saint Ganada, the catastrophic spellcasting of Saint Yonan, and the God-tier kinetic strikes of Saint Thunder Striker proved entirely unstoppable.

Driven into a corner, Shura had been forced to abort his absorption process prematurely and step onto the field himself.

The resulting cataclysm between the Three Legends, the Five Gates, and Lord Demon Shura had shaken the physical plane, generating shockwaves felt across the globe. That apocalyptic clash was etched into history as the defining event that caused both factions to vanish for twenty years.

What truly transpired during that legendary duel inside the sacred chamber? Only the participants of that fateful night knew the absolute truth.