Apotheosis

Elizabeth had felt Zen running at an unimaginable speed.

He was moving as fast as she was when flying at full speed. This Latent Theurgy was truly amazing.

Five minutes later, Elizabeth sensed that Zen had come to a stop.

She then reached her slender fingers out and wrapped them gently around the armrest of the throne.

A pattern of a bright star formed on the armrest, and the entire Divine Lair began to vibrate. The Sun Crows roosting around the lair jumped up all at once, causing a violent rumble. The space above Elizabeth's head was torn apart again, and a glowing sheet of light covered her body.

A shadow separated itself from Elizabeth and floated to enter the space crack above her.

Meanwhile, in the Mountain Viewing Province, the terrain to the west was getting flatter and flatter.

The cloud of mist looked as if it fell from the sky and continued to speed along the ground.

All creatures dispersed and scurried away on seeing it moving on towards them.

Eventually the mist stopped in a lush green grassland and drifted where the wind took it. Zen stood still and alone amongst it all.

"These two Latent Theurgies are really incredible..." he said, heaving a long sigh of relief.

The Latent Theurgies that the Nine Li race gave him were all quite extraordinary.

In particular, the Exhausting Power could enable him to increase his own strength by five times. Unfortunately, it would still not be enough. If he was as strong as the five-star Oneness Guards, he might be able to destroy Elizabeth's Illusory Projection with this added power.

It pained Zen to have used up two Latent Theurgies, but they had helped him to escape. So perhaps it was a necessary sacrifice.

But Gant's father and uncle were not so lucky. Zen dreaded having to tell him they had been killed by Elizabeth. He worried if he'd be able to handle that kind of horrible news, but then again, who could?

After calming himself, Zen remembered that he had to check his back. He wondered if the Shade Stone would have had any effect on him when he absorbed it into his body.

Just then, No. 9527's voice rang clear. "Zen, look up!"

Zen raised his head and saw a shadow quietly taking shape above him.

"Here she comes again," he muttered warily.

His face darkened and his eyebrows creased.

'Elizabeth really is as annoying as a mosquito, ' Zen thought to himself

d Illusory Projection, which meant that this woman had only a small portion of Elizabeth's true strength. She was as powerful as the five-star Oneness Guards. Right now, how could she hope to be a match for Athemar?

Athemar turned slightly and moved his right hand.

He had drawn his sword so fast that even Zen, who stood right beside him, did not see how he had done it, just that it was now in his hand.

A faint shadow of a sword swept up 45 degrees, and Elizabeth's Illusory Projection was immediately shattered into pieces.

The cracking Illusory Projection even triggered a response of the Cage of Heaven and Earth in the Mountain Viewing Province, which turned into many space cracks to swallow up the shattered Illusory Projection and her divine flames.

"The mission to guard the Blue Cloud City should be very easy. But war is unpredictable. This time... It's my negligence," said Athemar, looking up at the space cracks that slowly disappeared from the sky.

Zen was confused and was about to ask for clarity when Athemar raised his hand and stopped him before he could speak.

"Wait a minute!" he said, deeply focused on something else.

He listened carefully with squinted eyes. He then stretched his left foot out and stomped down hard.

"Boom!"

The ground trembled all around them.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three explosions went off not far beneath them, unleashing three forces out of the ground leaving three large holes. At the mouth of each hole lay a massive demon mouse bleeding to death.

It seemed that Athemar had forced them out and killed them.