Apotheosis

The Starry Roc-fish swam around the four pillars, searching earnestly.

It had initially only planned to exhaust Geoffrey's strength.

It figured this was the most efficient way to deal with him and Ziya. Ziya would have been easy pickings after that.

But the Starry Roc-fish hadn't expected Geoffrey to use Grand Teleportation to escape.

The Starry Roc-fish could detect objects using the aura of space, but the Heavenly Ring Staff was obviously shielding Geoffrey and Ziya. It took some time for the Starry Roc-fish's echolocation ability to lead it toward the general direction of the pillars.

It began to sense Geoffrey and Ziya in the area as soon as it approached.

But suddenly, the two became undetectable again.

The Starry Roc-fish had such keen senses that it could see the energy emanating from everything in the world, including from dead people. It could easily pick up on energy fluctuations, too.

Avoiding its detection like this would usually require those in hiding to block all external energy auras and stop emitting auras themselves.

Suffice to say, that was a near impossible feat.

That was why the Starry Roc-fish concluded Geoffrey and Ziya must be using the Heavenly Ring Staff.

It was likely why the Starry Roc-fish couldn't find them now.

But it had to, all the same. It couldn't disobey the downgrader's orders.

"Woo..."

The Starry Roc-fish emitted a long wailing sound.

The sound waves bounced back from surfaces, allowing the Starry Roc-fish to determine the shape of its surroundings, including those concealed.

The sound waves washed through a vast area. But it still failed to pick up on Geoffrey and Ziya.

The Starry Roc-fish figured it must be looking in the wrong area.

It turned to go.

Just then, a door suddenly opened above the Eternal Divine Courtyard. A white light emanated from the doorway.

The light began to flash, and the voice of the downgrader piped up directly in the Starry Roc-fish's mind, "Wait there!"

The Starry Roc-fish didn't know what it had to wait for, but it couldn't refuse. It hovered in place for a moment.

Soon, it saw a person being

sprouted all over his body, forming a cage around him.

The metal strands deflected the lightning bolts and sent them crackling throughout the Eternal Divine Courtyard instead. Zen was once again left unharmed.

"What was that?"

The Starry Roc-fish was stunned.

No one had ever dodged its lightning strikes like that before!

"If that doesn't work, let's try the Magnetic Light Extreme Form, then."

The Starry Roc-fish flicked its tail. Two thin rays of light spiraled toward Zen.

The Magnetic Light Extreme Form was not organic to the Starry Roc-fish. It actually came from the downgrader's theurgy and the power of the Deep Space.

The core of Heavenly Obsession Civilization had been accurate thus far in its analyses of this situation.

That was why when Zen saw the light rays, his first reaction was to run.

But he was still unsteady on his feet. His first steps forward were clumsy, making him an easy target. One of the light rays pierced through his arm, the other through his foot.

The body parts that the light rays hit were quickly turned into pure energy and absorbed.

It made quick work of Zen.

In a flash, he had lost a hand and a foot.

The light rays now rapidly began to spread from Zen's limbs to his torso.

"Father!"

Geoffrey cried out in panic, completely forgetting he was supposed to be in hiding.

Zen's entire body would soon be turned into pure energy at this rate!