Stebarin edged close to Soul Devourer and murmured, “My Lord, we still have fighters. One more victory, and the Ritual Manual is ours.” Soul Devourer lifted his chin. “Who among you will challenge next?”
The command cracked through the Demonic Cultivators like a whip. For a heartbeat, the Demonic Cultivators went silent. Later, a figure appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
It was a young man in a black robe, wearing a mask that only showed his cold eyes.
“I volunteer!” the young man growled.Yuliana stiffened the moment met that stare. A warning fluttered across heart. She sensed power coiled inside this stranger. It was far stronger than Atorn. It was a creepy aura that came from hell.
“Who are you?” asked, voice tight but steady, sword drifting into guard.
“Not a name you need,” the black-robed man replied.
The black-robed man said, “Let’s begin…”
Yuliana did not hesitate. She lunged, sword flashing, shoulders twisting like a whip as exploded forward. Her sword hissed through the air like a green serpent driving for the black-robed man’s throat.
The black-robed man’s silhouette blurred. In a single sway, slid aside, the strike carving space where his throat had been. He moved faster than Atorn, each step an eerie dance that made no sound, as though the earth dared not claim his weight.
“Hmm?” A flicker of surprise crossed Yuliana’s face.
She reversed the sword, breath sharp, and spun back in to press the attack once more. Yet every thrust found only wind. The black-robed man wove through her strikes with ease while countering back.
Those attacks carried no formal style, each swing a direct hit to whatever weakness glimpsed in the heartbeat before.
The duel’s rhythm turned against Yuliana. Her breath shortened. Color drained from face.
Her fight with Atorn had already burned through much of spiritual energy. Now, facing an opponent whose power felt bottomless, limbs began to feel carved from lead.
“Yuliana’s in trouble!” Aurelius blurted the words. panic cracking across his face.
Jared’s brow knotted. He could taste the unnatural chill radiating from the black-robed man. He was not an average Demonic Cultivator.
The black-robed man’s attack mounted. Yuliana yielded step after step, boots scraping backward across the ground. Wounds appeared on body, which stained clothes.
“This ends now…” The black-robed man’s tone never lifted, yet the words felt like judgment.
A black dagger materialized in his hand, oozing a vapor of death energy so thick it seemed to drink the light. With a single thrust, drove it for the precise center of Yuliana’s heart.
Yuliana’s eyes slipped from defiance into despair. Every muscle quivered with exhaustion, leaving too numb to dodge the dagger that lunged toward heart.
When the dagger almost hit Yuliana’s heart, a gold spiritual energy blocked the attack.
A figure emerged before Yuliana.
Jared’s gaze skimmed the wounds on Yuliana. Fury filled his gaze.
“Are you all right?” asked.
“I’m all right… Thank you,” Yuliana replied. Jared nodded and turned to the black-robed man. His tone dropped to glacier-cold. “You lay another finger on her, and I’ll kill you…”
The black-robed man tried to match that glare, though a flicker of fear slipped through. “This is a duel between us. Why interfere?”
“A duel?” Jared snorted.
“When Atorn tried to kill Niall a moment ago, you never mentioned a duel. Now you want to kill Yuliana, and I’m supposed to stand aside?”
The black-robed man’s mouth opened, but words refused to come.
Soul Devourer’s voice floated down like frost. “So you insist on meddling?”
“Not yet,” Jared answered. “When I do, none of you will leave here alive.”
With that, looped an arm beneath Yuliana’s shoulders and guided back toward their line. The black-robed man only stared, hands limp at his sides, shackled by Jared’s sheer presence.
Wrapped against Jared’s shoulder, Yuliana felt something warm bloom in chest. No man had ever stepped in front of blades for like this.
If the crowd vanished right now, would give herself to Jared. Jared had helped countless times. She had nothing to repay aside from herself.
