Divine Emperor of Death

Davis's eyes were wide with astonishment as he saw the ensuing destruction in the middle of the battle stage as spatial cracks appeared a bit before they disappeared, stitching themselves back almost instantaneously.

Sophie, Niera, and Hayou Azureclaw's prowess had all definitely reached the Ninth Stage from three five-kilometer domains clashing at the same time. However, Davis noticed that Hayou Azureclaw was stronger than Niera in cleaving and lacerating prowess. It was just a bit stronger, but it made up for a ton of difference in their levels as it could cause Niera's attacks to collapse if it struck her energy at a vital point.

However, Sophie attacked at the same time, so their attack was able to overwhelm him before an earthen wall appeared before Hayou Azureclaw, protecting him from being blasted away.

'Well, Niera's flames have yet to become fully golden as she hadn't obtained the Golden Crow Flames nor its blood essence. Just having its manual isn't enough to go against a unique physique cultivator with a deadly offensive prowess while having a five-kilometer domain, huh...'

Davis thought before he saw the two groups regaining their balance. However, Sophie and Niera were already preparing to strike again. It could be seen that they still possessed the advantage.

*Whoosh!~*

Hayou Azureclaw rushed towards the other side, launching small yet terrifying claw attacks that seared through the air and lightly tore space to harass them, disallowing from making a big move like before. He could not allow them to store energy and strike together no matter what.

*Whizz!~* *Whizz!~* *Whizz!~*

Thousands of claws like wind strikes were launched at Sophie and Niera by Hayou Azureclaw. Each claw blade possessed the power to split an average High-Level Law Sea Stage Expert.

"Leave it to me."

Sophie smirked and conjured hundreds of shields that defended against his attacks. Some earthen spheres that were launched at them were also defended by her using hundreds of small shields, large shields, tower shields, and even giant hammers that struck the big boulders into smithereens, using offense as defense.

Some shields even had spears attached behind them as those shields were equipped with stab-through holes that allowed the spear to strike the incoming attacks and destroy them!

With a variety of armaments, Sophie single-handedly defended against the terrifying claw strikes and boulders, allowing Niera to build up enough energy.

"Ravaging Golden Tornado…!"

Niera spun in a diagonal arc using her body when it directly burst into a terrifying swirl of flames that shot towards Hayou Azureclaw, who orbited around them, harassing them. His scalp turned numb upon seeing the swirling waves of funnel-shaped flames blazing towards him.

Even though he was fast, it still curved and followed him, making him change targets.

"Sky Cleaving Claw Strike!"

Without much energy buildup, it was the most powerful instantaneous technique he could use to strike!

*Boom!~*

The emerging Sky Cleaving Claws struck the Ravaging Golden Tornado, whose flames were actually crimson instead of golden as the name implied and caused an immense explosion from the resulting clash, even leaving a spatial crack in its impact.

"Yessss!!!~~~"

The crowd was full of excitement as they stood up and cheered.

Hayou Azureclaw was sent flying from the explosion. However, he didn't seem to have taken damage as he curled into the shape of a claw as he raised his hands, joined his palms and straightened his legs, and used the momentum to escape like he was a claw strike himself.

"He's good..."

Davis chuckled before he thought.

'The golden crow is said to have three legs, and when it dances or spins using its three legs on the ground or two its wings in mid-air, it is said to bring the wrathful atmospheric phenomenon of fiery tornadoes to cause destruction in its wake… But when it is truly wrathful, it creates fiery hurricanes instead of tornadoes, causing destruction on a vast scale… Truly deserves its place as one of the beings holding the throne of the pinnacle of destruction in Fire Laws...'

Niera saw that her attack was countered and bit her lips. She had the same opinion as Davis and didn't think she would meet an opponent stronger than her. However, she didn't let it get to her as improvements can still be made, but on the other hand, Davis didn't think that she was weak.

To get to the level of creating a five-kilometer Perfect Domain without using blood essence spoke volumes about her comprehension ability.

Hayou Azureclaw swung in orbit around them while using his entire body like a claw. He spun in mid-air as he suddenly changed directions, charging towards Niera.

Niera narrowed her eyes before she started surging with energy for another attack. Hayou Azureclaw almost made it near to her, but she still didn't seem to take any precautions.

*Clang!~*

Hayou Azureclaw pounced and struck against Niera when suddenly a halberd appeared and struck against his body! At the same time, numerous spears and swords attacked him from the sides, wanting to pierce him into needlework.

However, Hayou Azureclaw noticed this and parried the halberd with his claws before funneling his way out, striking the armaments that tried to pierce him to no avail. When he shot away to a certain distance, earthen energy appeared to protect him from the armaments, although it didn't seem to do a good job as they were repeatedly destroyed under the armament's barrage.

"Tch, useless…!"

Hayou Azureclaw cursed at his teammate. At this rate, could he even win?

Instantly, he changed his way of fighting as he adopted a defensive posture.

"Clawing Beast Stance: Thread Barrier!"

Numerous strands of thread began to appear wherever his claws passed as he spun, appearing to make threads of energy that formed a defensive hemisphere around him when suddenly two burning stars appeared before him and struck each other, causing an immense light to flash before the entire area exploded.

However, before the explosion occurred, one could see that the two stars were cut through by the threads, drastically weakening the force of the explosion that it even failed to create a spatial crack as the resulting explosion's impact was not concentrated but spread all over the place.

"Ugh, so annoying…!"

Niera clenched her teeth in irritation. With Sophie's defense protecting her, she was still unable to defeat him. Although she was causing Hayou Azureclaw to use his energy fast, making him rapidly exhaust himself, she knew that she couldn't defeat him in ten minutes at this rate.

"Let him fly around, Niera. I'm interested to know what he would do at the ninth minute."

A soul transmission fell on Niera's mind before she relaxed, her lips curving into a smile.

"You're right."

If the time limit was reached, they would win by default. After all, the size of their combined domains came up to ten kilometers, while Hayou Azureclaw's team did not even reach eight.

Niera still took care of the offense, and Sophie took care of the defense, although she was semi-defensive, only defending when needed. However, Hayou Azureclaw saw that they were not as aggressive as they used to be after battling them for three more minutes, suddenly realizing that they were aiming for the time limit.

'These two… they're not going after the weakest one on purpose...'

Hayou Azureclaw clenched his teeth and saw that they were not attacking his teammate, purely concentrating on him.

Did they want to see what kind of action he would take at the end?

*Booom!~*

A large explosion shook the battle stage as flames and claw strikes winded up together. Cracks appeared in space, but it became quickly healed.

Hayou Azureclaw gasped for breath as he suffered from their attacks all by himself, defending against them with the utmost concentration on his part. He had wasted forty percent of his energy already, and it was the ninth minute, causing him to turn to look at his teammate with wide eyes.

"You…! I protected you!"

Islenn Quars waved his hand as he retreated on receiving that kind of look.

"As if…!" Hayou Azureclaw's claws began to brighten with yellow-colored energy, "The only thing you were in this place is being a useless piece of trash, unable to help me attack while surviving in the distance because of me."

*Whoosh!~*

"Wait…! Help, two young misses! Please help me defeat him!"

Islenn Quars instantly put up an earthen barrier combined with his Supreme Domain to defend against Hayou Azureclaw. However, the earthen wall surrounding him was cleaved in half before a green-robed figure appeared before him, his eyes looking sharp while his expression was ruthless.

"You see how you're lucky to be here now? Just give up. Don't make me have to do something that might harm your future."

Islenn Quars trembled as he waited for help to come. Even a slight disturbance from the two young ladies might allow him to escape. However, no help came, causing him to become aghast.

Was he going to lose?

"Too slow!"

Hayou Azureclaw waved his hand and struck against Islenn Quars's neck, causing the latter's eyes to dull as it rolled back, feeling like he had died.

"What!?"

The crowd stood in an uproar, thinking that Hayou Azureclaw had beheaded Islenn Quars. However, they saw that Islenn Quars head was still stuck to his neck, causing them to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Hayou Azureclaw used the brunt of his palm to knock Islenn Quars out..."

"Right, he had only fainted..."

They nodded their heads to each other, looking relieved.

Hayou Azureclaw turned around and saw that Sophie and Niera didn't interfere with his actions as he expected. They only had a smile on the corner of their eyes, looking like they were amused with his actions.

Feeling insulted, anger swelled within Hayou Azureclaw's heart. However, he suppressed his anger as he knew that there were only forty seconds left for the battle to end. Taking a defensive posture as he extended his claw gauntlets, his eyes became sharp before he bellowed at them.

"Come!"