"Look! The Emperor—he's intact again!"

After that colossal, devastating blast, the Emperor could once more be seen whole, without any visible injuries marring his body. Yet despite his restored form, it was obvious to everyone watching that something had changed. The thunderous explosions had noticeably reduced, replaced instead by an overwhelming number of afterimages flickering through the battlefield.

Clearly, the Emperor had shifted tactics.

He had moved into close combat—relying on his body rather than mana. But even so, it was apparent that his physical prowess alone did not surpass that of the angels. Slashes flashed into existence and vanished just as quickly, carving through him again and again. Each time, his wounds regenerated at a terrifying pace as he continued engaging two High 8-star angels simultaneously.

The scene hammered a brutal truth into everyone's minds.

No matter how monstrous one's mana reserves were, high-intensity techniques drained them frighteningly fast. Barely five minutes had passed since the battle began, yet an enormous stretch of land had already been turned into barren wasteland—and the strongest human alive had exhausted most of his mana.

If anything, this only underscored the horror of it all.

The Human Emperor was fighting beings from a higher realm than his own—the Demon Emperor and Elven Queen, and also able to go against multiple existences of equal standing.

"Did anyone figure out how the angels fight?!" one King shouted, panic creeping into his voice as he stared helplessly at the chaos.

The angels were so indistinguishable that they completely mixed with the Emperor's forms, and their golden radiance made their images mixed with the surrounding lights.

"No…" another replied shakily. "What the hell is this? How are they even fighting? So far, everything they've used—blasts, explosions, shockwaves, even close combat—it's all the same as the Emperor's. The only difference is that golden radiance!"

Others nodded, coming to the same conclusion almost instinctively.

"Or…" someone muttered hesitantly, "is it that our Emperor fights like them?"

A sudden realization swept through the crowd.

"Yes! That must be it!" another shouted excitedly. "Hail our Emperor—he's already a divine being!"

"Did you see that golden shine in his eyes that he has all the time?!" someone else cried.

"He's already touched divinity! Our Emperor is great! All hail our Emperor!"

"EM-PE-ROR—LO-UIS!"

"EM-PE-ROR—LO-UIS!"

"EM-PE-ROR—LO-UIS!"

"EM-PE-ROR—LO-UIS!"

The moment they realized the Emperor's fighting style mirrored that of the angels, fanatic devotion erupted among them. To their eyes, he was no longer merely human—he was a divine incarnation, descended from the heavens to safeguard humankind. That belief only intensified when they remembered how he had saved every Human King moments earlier, pulling humanity back from the brink of annihilation.

BRRRRR—BOOOOOM!

Another explosion tore through the sky.

This time, the seventh area of the summoning formation turned dark.

"YEAHHH!!!"

"He killed another angel!" someone roared, voice cracking with joy. "We can win this!"

Cheers exploded across the ranks as more joined in—hope flaring like wildfire.

But then—

A figure burst out from the explosion's dust cloud, hurtling toward them at terrifying speed.

As their eyes adjusted, horror struck.

"It's the Emperor!"

"SAVE HIM!" someone screamed.

A wind user instantly activated his ability, releasing violent gales to cushion the incoming impact. More wind users followed—men and women alike—layering their powers together as water-element Kings joined in.

Gale-force winds battered against the Emperor's falling body, pushing back against his momentum, while massive water walls formed at regular intervals, each one shattering upon contact to slow him further.

By the time the Emperor finally reached them, his speed had dropped to something survivable.

Then they saw his condition.

"Lord Siegfried! Heal him—fast!" a man shouted desperately.

The same old man who had stood beside the Emperor before rushed forward, slamming his palm against the Emperor's chest.

The sight was horrifying.

One of the Emperor's legs was missing below the knee, sliced cleanly as if by a divine blade. One arm had been blasted away entirely at the shoulder. Half his torso was gone, his spine grotesquely exposed. One eye had burst, and his entire body was drenched in blood. He vomited crimson continuously, each convulsion wracking what little remained intact.

Yet the most unsettling part—

His remaining eye was wide open.

Bloodshot.

Burning.

Despite the catastrophic blood loss, veins bulged violently across his body, throbbing with such pressure that he looked as though he might tear himself apart from within. He tried to speak, but only blood spilt from between his clenched teeth.

The only things keeping his body from collapsing completely were the draconic scales fused to his flesh, the protruding horns from his forehead, and the massive violet wings spread weakly behind him, that too had torn at several places—

His soul-fused beast.

"[World Lifedrop]!"

The old man chanted sharply.

An intricate magic circle flared beneath his feet as a massive droplet of green energy, tinged faintly with gold, descended onto the Emperor's chest. The energy spread outward in pulsing waves. Flesh knitted together, ruptured veins reformed, and new blood surged into existence. Bones regenerated, eyes reformed, and the Emperor's shattered frame began restoring itself piece by piece.

Before his body had even fully reassembled, the Emperor roared—

"BARRIER KING! FULL POWER! NOW!!!"

That single command was enough.

The Earth-element King instantly fused with his beast. Earthen, draconic scales erupted across his body in a heartbeat, though unlike the Emperor, no horns emerged from his head.

CRACK—BRROOOOMMM!

The ground exploded.

Obsidian-like claws burst from the earth in a massive circular formation, rising and closing in around everyone present. Other Earth-element Kings reinforced the structure, while Kings of different attributes generated turtle-shaped barriers within the encroaching claws.

Layer upon layer sealed them in.

Then—

BOOOOOMMMMM—CRAAAAACK—BOOOOOM!

Something monstrous smashed against the outside of the obsidian enclosure. Cracks spiderwebbed across the black surface as the force reverberated inward. The remaining power slowly dissipated, grinding away barrier after barrier as they disintegrated upon contact with the attack. Even with so many King-tier being's abilities(7-star), a single High 8-star being was enough to overpower them.

The air trembled.

And whatever had struck them—

Had not yet finished.

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