2289 2289. Suicide

June didn't like that Divine Demon had decided to join her battle. Still, her companions didn't share that feeling. Even Marcella appeared pleased to have another opponent to handle.

"So," Marcella exclaimed, "It seems that I'll have the honor to fight you."

"Honor?" Divine Demon repeated. "This will be a slaughter."

"How interesting," Marcella giggled.

Divine Demon raised his hand to point his fingers at Marcella, but June shouted a loud "wait" before he could release his attack. However, Divine Demon completely disregarded that cry and unleashed his energy anyway.

The area around Marcella still had the space dragon's portals. Some waves of energy even flowed through them and tried to pierce the smoke around the privileged cultivator, but they appeared too weak to succeed in the feat.

Divine Demon had the chance to use those portals, but he didn't care about them. A giant torrent of blood-red energy shot out of his forefinger and created a sea that filled a massive chunk of the higher plane.

June and the others found themselves immersed in Divine Demon's energy in no time. None of them had the chance to dodge the attack, and Marcella was in no position to perform evasive maneuvers.

Traces of panic spread among the group, but everyone soon realized that Divine Demon's energy wasn't hurting his companions. June, the odd dragon, Maribel, Sepunia, and the space dragon could swim freely among that power without suffering any injury. They actually felt faster in that environment.

The situation was different for Marcella, and the attack even ended up affecting the teleports. The orange portals crumbled under the massive pressure carried by the blood-red sea, and Marcella barely had the time to cast a defensive technique before the smoke around her vanished.

Divine Demon's attack didn't stop there. The blood-red sea pushed his opponents away and crashed into the sky. Currents spread in every direction as Divine Demon's energy kept crashing on the white layer in an attempt to squash anything affected by his power.

The sea carried an immense amount of energy, so the process lasted for a while. A huge chunk of the sky turned blood-red as the various currents flowing on it created a vast and intricate array of rivers-like structures.

The attack couldn't hurt the sky, but they still destroyed the few chunks of space that had survived until now. Everything crumbled to fall into the void, and the blood-red energy soon followed since it couldn't expand anywhere else.

The central pillar lasted longer than the rivers, but it soon ended up in the same situation. Divine Demon's energy couldn't pierce the sky, so it fell into the void once it lost momentum.

The dispersion of the blood-red energy allowed everyone to see the outcome of the attack. No one felt surprised to see a green light shining over the sky, but the state of the figure hidden inside it managed to cause a reaction in Maribel's expression.

Marcella was still alive, and her aura shone stronger than ever. Her smoke had also retained its destructive and defensive properties, but her body didn't share that healthy condition.

Marcella's body had lost large patches of skin. Green smoke came out of those injuries and tried to hide the damage, but her opponents could see right through it. She even missed her entire left cheek, which she couldn't cover so easily.

The privileged cultivator's condition proved that Divine Demon could hurt her, but that wasn't too surprising. Divine Demon was part of Noah's core team, and he was one of the few who had reached the solid stage. His current potential could very well be unlimited.

June snorted at that sight. She didn't want to win like that, but going against Divine Demon was impossible. So, she decided to opt for an approach that would keep her in the fight.

Sparks ran through June's body as her eyes lit up to radiate an orange glow. Her aura surged, and cracks opened on her skin to release part of the accumulated energy.

June didn't hold anything back as she summoned the strongest type of energy that her Perfect Circuit could produce and filled her body with it. Her flesh seemed unable to withstand so much power, but arrays of sparks appeared over her injuries to temporarily seal them.

Lightning bolts also started to come out of her mouth. June overloaded herself in an attempt to accumulate enough power to kill Marcella. Her skin began to shake as she crouched forward. She was ready to unleash her attack, but a figure materialized next to her before she could shoot forward.

Divine Demon teleported next to June to press a finger on her shoulder. All the lightning bolts inside her suddenly disappeared. June found herself devoid of energy, and her anger burst out once she understood what had happened.

"What are you doing?!" June angrily shouted.

"Determination is a good thing," Divine Demon stated, "But don't mistake it for suicide."

June wanted to complain again, but a terrifying aura came out of Marcella's figure and forced the group to focus on her. The privileged cultivator exploded with power and released even more green smoke until a massive area became part of her domain.

The space dragon acted instinctively. It summoned a series of portals in front of its companions to save them from the expanding smoke, but the latter was too fast.

In less than a second, Divine Demon and June's group became immersed inside a giant cloud that carried Marcella's aura. The smoke didn't hinder their senses or power, but the sheer amount of energy released by the privileged cultivator was enough to alert their survival instincts.

"You are as strong as we predicted," Marcella announced as she stood up and used the smoke around her to fix her injuries.

"Even Heaven and Earth can't calculate my potential," Divine Demon responded. "Lies won't save your life."

"What if our prediction saw you becoming an unreasonable monster capable of virtually everything?" Marcella smiled.

Divine Demon tried to remain silent, but his arrogance eventually had the best of him. "I can accept that."

"Of course you do," Marcella laughed. "It is fortunate or, rather, fated that you have chosen me as your opponent. Caesar really knows more than he shows."

"I know what comes next," Divine Demon declared. "Your world is ideal to fight me. I won't be able to win against you and other nonsense."

"You think too little of yourself," Marcella politely replied.

"I doubt it," Divine Demon exclaimed.

"We have long since acknowledged your power," Marcella explained. "I'm talking about the best in your organization, not only you. It's only normal for you to be our match after reaching the solid stage."

"So?" Divine Demon asked. "Are you trying to buy you some time?"

"Don't worry," Marcella reassured. "Heaven and Earth will grant us the chance to fight for a bit. We'll have enough time to decide who is the best between us."

"Without counters?" Divine Demon mocked.

"I told you already," Marcella stated. "You think too little of yourself. You wield an incredible world. Do you really think counters could work against you?"

"You have my attention," Divine Demon uttered.

Marcella spread her arms, and green roots pierced her skin to stretch around her figure. The smoke in the area fused with those plants and gave birth to flowers that shone with blinding light.

"You wield the power of a higher plane," Marcella announced. "I wonder if my boundlessness surpasses it."