Ascenders Rift

The temple shook as if it was undergoing an intense quake, the source of this devastating collision being at its direct center, now covered by a dense array of rubbles and dust. At this moment, Rick, Layla, Breya, Joe, and Emilia were staring at the scene before them in shock. Both Layla and Emilia had looks of worries on their faces when they saw how Evan got crushed by Alios's attack.

They wanted to run over to save him, but before they could even do anything, a blurry and slender silhouette had rapidly appeared at their center. It was the beautiful Lyeecia that now carried a trace of majesty, her previous idle mood now turning one of seriousness, her magician robes fluttered around her supple body as if a soft wind was gently blowing along its hems.

Rick was the first to notice her, as he barely caught her shadow when she made it into their ranks. He quickly turned around and warned as he readied his spear, "Everyone, watch out!"

Hearing Rick's voice, Layla and the others were surprised, they quickly turned around and noticed Lyeecia who was standing silently within their group as if she was a cat observing small rodents.

"This... when did she get here?" Breya said in shock.

"Holy shit I didn't even catch her shadow, she's too fast for us to even fight against," Joe said out loud.

Layla and Emilia looked on with a dark look on their faces, as they could feel hidden beneath Lyeecia's current expression, was a suppressed and savage killing intent.

Rick looked at them and shouted as he pointed his spear towards Lyeecia, "This isn't the time for questions, we must try to buy as much time as possible, let's attack her together!"

As Rick said this, his body erupted with white holy energies causing the tip of his spear to glow in a radiant light.

Joe and the others soon came around as they promptly gathered their powers, a myriad of thin-looking threads appeared around Breya as a semi-transparent bow with a golden arrow appeared in Emilia's hands. Layla on the other hand, pulled up her two knives as her eyes glowed in a vague purplish light

Lyeecia, who was observing them in silence, made a smile as she spoke, "A wise choice, but it's not enough to beat me."

As Lyeecia said this, she tapped the end of her staff onto the ground, causing a series of magical arrays to form around her body as countless ropes made of life energy tried to bind everyone.

Rick was the only person who could see these energy ropes as they moved at a speed that was far too fast for the others to notice. He didn't waste any time and immediately rushed forward while channeling his energy into his spear as he shouted, "Holy Spear Light!"

As he roared, his spear glowed in a radiant white light as he struck towards Lyeecia attempting to cancel her attack, but as she saw this, Lyeecia merely smirked and waved her staff in his direction.

In moments, the beaming ray of white light that was Rick's spear had collided with Lyeecia's staff, creating a loud banging noise as Rick was hurled backward due to the sheer force.

Lyeecia looked at this and spoke in a casual tone, "It was a good attempt, human, but you've forgotten I am much too strong for you to face in direct combat. Watch quietly as I capture your friends..."

As Lyeecia said this, her eyes shifted towards Joe and the others. Previously, they were only moments from being bound by her energy ropes. Yet, it was at this point; her eyes widened as she saw an unexpected scene.

Ping-Ping-Ping!

The sharp sound of metal colliding resounded as her energy ropes were currently battling against a myriad of thin threads, each of their collisions leaving sparks in the air as they flashed about at alarming speeds.

At his time, Breya was currently in a strange state; it seemed as if all her consciousness had faded from the world as she stood silently. Her arms stretched out as her fingers moved while manipulating these threads. Looking around her, one would see the figures of Fatty Joe, Layla, and Emilia who were trying their best to protect her.

Joe was currently waving his halberd against any extra energy ropes that broke through Breya's defense, serving only to repel them. While Emilia, who stood by his side, shot an array of spirit arrows towards most of the energy ropes. Layla, on the other hand, had clusters of purple energies around her knives, which swept out at a rapid rate as they cut apart any ropes that entered her range.

Lyeecia made a curious expression when looking at Breya as she pondered. 'Hmm, I knew they looked familiar, aren't these the unbreakable threads of that 'Spider Witch' from Erniana. That girl isn't bad either; she's capable of entering a selfless state, not a bad human talent...'

After observing Breya, her eyes shifted towards Emilia and Layla, noticing how each of their attacks carried a certain level of strangeness. Emilia's arrows would somehow cause all the energy ropes in its range to dance around as it soared towards the distance. Layla's attacks, however, carried a stranger vibe as if any ropes touched by her knives purplish energies would be swallowed by her existence.

Lyeecia's eyes widened in surprise as she thought, 'Well now, that girl, she wields the purest spiritual energy that I've ever seen, not even I with my evolved Life Spiritual Power can compare to its purity. She's even capable of influencing the spirits of my Life Ropes with her arrows, I would've never thought that a human could have such pure Spirit Power.'

As Lyeecia thought to here, however, her face soon became a bit cold as her eyes shifted towards Layla with a bit of hatred, the suppressed killing intent seeming to be on the verge of breaking loose when she pondered, 'Why is it? Why is it do I sense their aura on the body of this human girl?'

When Lyeecia thought to here, she was about to lose her cool, but her face turned slightly pale forcing her to quickly calm her mood. She then stared at Layla with a deep gaze as she thought, 'It doesn't matter, I don't want to be a part of this game any longer. If they can persist through this, I shall call it our loss...'

The moment Lyeecia said this, she was about to tap her staff again, but it was at this time, multiple beams of white light rapidly strike towards her as if one looked closely behind them, they would see the somewhat injured Rick, doing a rapid amount of spear strikes.

Lyeecia smiled as she spoke, "You truly are a stubborn brat, but since you're not convinced of your weakness, then I'll show you with force."

As she said this, her staff flashed about quickly, easily breaking apart the white beams of lights as the clanking noises of her staff clashing against Rick's spear sounded. Suddenly, Lyeecia twirled her staff causing Rick's spear to veer towards the ground after a heavy collision before she grabbed it firmly and aimed it towards Rick's face and chanted, "LightWave!"

Following her voice, a wave of life energies conjured around the tip of her staff, which blasted towards Rick in an unstoppable manner.

"Damn! I have to avoid getting hit!" Rick said as his eyes shrunk when he saw the incoming attack, his body twisted and split apart into multiple after images causing the attack to miss him by an inch before it traversed this region and smashed into the walls of the temple.

The attack left behind a wide-open hole that seemed to have continued towards a vast distance. Rick didn't have time to appreciate this, as Lyeecia had attacked again, her body blurred appearing directly above Rick as she struck her staff towards his unguarded head.

At this instance, Rick suddenly felt a wave of danger above his head, not even thinking he twirled his body and placed his spear above him, gripping it firmly with both of his arms to block the attack.

Bang! The staff smashed into the spear, sending Rick towards the ground at crazy speeds, in moments he had broken into the earth, leaving a deep impression and a few spots of blood.

Lyeecia, who was still airborne and slowly descending, looked at the human-shaped impression on the ground with a smile as she spoke, "You're fast human, but even in my severely suppressed state for my current level, I'm still a notch faster than you. I suppose this is where our game ends!"

Upon saying this, Lyeecia pointed her staff towards the ground to finish Rick off. Her life energies then started to gather at an alarming rate. Yet, as this happened, the dust at the center of the temple had begun to clear. Now, the figure of Alios became visible, as he currently had his shield pressed down onto a vast arc-shaped crater dozens of meters wide.

Alios stood within the fading dust, gazing onto the temple ground that was smashed into smithereens as he spoke in a disappointed tone, "Is this the power that defeated that notorious Fallen Angel? He couldn't even properly resist my Arc Crusher. Now he's hiding like a little mole by digging underground, how disappointing..."

After saying this, Alios then raised his shield and calmly stood while standing in silence. He closed his eyes as if trying to find where Evan had vanished.

Not long after, a wave of terrifying energies could be felt from the side of Lyeecia, causing Alios's expression to change as he shouted, "Not good! This crafty boy!"

In an instant, Alios vanished from his location, leaving no trace behind. Currently, Lyeecia was about to use her Life Wave spell once again. However, she suddenly felt a wave of danger, causing her face to sink, followed by Evan's voice, "Executor Slash!"

With Evan's shout, a horizontal slash of baleful crimson energies beamed towards Lyeecia from an unexpected angle, tearing through the earth as it made its way towards her in almost an instant.

Lyeecia was alarmed; she only had time to shout as she was unable to react to this attack, "Alios!"

Following her shout, the almost ray-like figure of Alios had abruptly appeared; his eyes flashed in bright lights when he raised his shield and shouted, "Arc Barrier!"

Quickly, his shield began to expand as a thin barrier of earthen energies formed around it in a similar shape. Moments after, Evan's attack crashed into this shield, forcing Alios to retreat as his back collided with Lyeecia. Lyeecia spat out a bit of blood due to the force of the collision causing her face to turn sickly pale, Alios who saw this, promptly reacted by twisting around and grasping her slender waist before he fell on the ground with his back. The floor tore apart as Alios left a deep trail when he slid back a meter's distance away from Rick's location.

The shield in his other arm was shaking as if it had encountered a strong force as his arm felt slightly numb. Lyeecia, on the other hand, had a darkly pale face as she hadn't properly recovered from her old injuries, after colliding with Alios, it caused a bit of those internal wounds to flare up, causing her to lose her focus.

When this happened, the energy ropes that attacked Joe and the others vanished, causing them to get a chance to rest. Breya, who had been overly focused on using her threads, collapsed due to overtaxing her mind.

Joe, seeing this quickly rushed over with a speed not like the normal for a man his size, he quickly caught her like a hero that rescued a beauty as he spoke, "Hey! Don't go sleeping now; the battle isn't over yet, so you have to stay awake!"

Breya, who was barely able to keep her consciousness, stared at his face and replied, "N…no wonder your single, at times like these, you should be gentler to a woman. Hmph! So foolish..."

Joe looked at Breya in anger, but as he saw how she fell asleep, he didn't make a reply but passed her over to the Layla and the others who were tired themselves.

Joe swept his eyes across the chaotic battle zone and saw Rick's crater, though he didn't like him, he clicked his teeth and ran over towards it while muttering, "Tsk! You're lucky we're teammates..."

At this time, Evan had appeared from a different direction; his body was battered as if he had suffered a harsh blow from Alios's Arc Crusher attack. He looked towards the direction of Alios and Lyeecia as he spoke in a voice that trailed off in the surroundings, "Looks like it worked better than I'd thought, it's time for this to end..."