Divine Emperor of Death

At the shore of an island, where the gentle waves of the serene ocean kissed the land, a woman stood before the sea, her feet was firmly planted in the sand, slightly apart to maintain a solid base. Her weight was firmly balanced between the two and her posture was upright, spine straight and shoulders squared as she projected an air of confidence.

Her aura was serene, her purple hair dancing in the gentle breeze.

Her left arm was extended forward, her fist aimed towards the sea. However, her fist didn't appear to be tightly clenched. There seemed to be a juxtaposition between power and balance.

She pulled her arm back, her expression still serene yet full of focus. The wind gently toused her hair back, her robe flowing and clinging to her form, which accentuated her curves. Her body didn't seem stiff at all, and with a light turn towards the left, she unleashed a rather weak punch.

*Fhissh~*

The waves hit the shore, yet her power didn't even make an impact when it would've normally split the wave into two and extended past kilometers, almost splitting the sea in between if she had lowered her aim a bit.

Despite her weak punch, Isabella's expression didn't change.

She pulled back her arm again and repeatedly punched out.

She did this a few times- no. She did this tens of thousands of times already, having forgotten about the trial altogether. She didn't know how much time had passed, fully focused on grasping the insight that she had midway over starting this punching session.

This was none other than Isabella.

In the skies above her, Flamerose and Frostrose looked over.

They didn't revive from the passive ability of their phoenix race. Perhaps it had to do with the limitations of the trial, or the limitation of the body they used here, or the combined might of thousands of spheres killed them off completely, even dispersing their nirvanic rebirth.

Either way, they were still present. They didn't revive but they didn't disappear from the trial, still watching over the happenings. They weren't released from the pagoda and guessed they would be released when the trial ends.

Only… they didn't know how long they needed to wait as it was more than five hours already.

Only three participants were left near the shore where there was less spheres, their expressions distraught over what to do as they couldn't obtain all three sets of spheres.

As for the core region, inner region and outer region, it was full of spheres. There was barely any distance between them, and they traversed at ridiculous speeds, leaving this trial near impossible to complete.

Even the head-sized spheres were traversing at the speed of the pigeon-egg-sized spheres now. And despite the density, none of them hit each other, so it was all one big area of harmonious spheres.

"We… lose…"

Frostrose sighed. She couldn't see how this scenario would play out in their favor.

Twenty-eight participants were wiped out so far. Twenty of them were eliminated the in initial hour through battles and spheres and the subsequent hours took away two or three participants each. They got hit by a swarm of spheres that exploded on them the same time, leaving them unlucky.

As for the last two participants, other than Isabella, they were barely alive, having lost almost seventy percent of their blood essence and half of their limbs, having severe soul injury, or almost having fully lost their essence energy.

Now, the spheres were also slowly but surely moving towards the shore, almost reaching them.

It was only a matter of time before Isabella was engulfed as well.

"Does that mean this trial could be repeated again and again?" Flamerose asked.

For some reason, they could only see each other. The others weren't visible at all.

Perhaps it had to do with the similarity of their soul essence as they were twins, or it was for some other reason. They already theorized that this spectator space existed to make plans to hunt down the victor so that they weren't completely blindsided as to who was the winner when they got out.

"That should be the case. It looks like by the sixth hour, no one will be left alive on the island. The ocean is also filled with monsters, so there is no leaving. It should be over soon, and we have to start over again."

"…"

Hearing Frostrose's words, Flamerose sighed.

One participant said 'fuck it all' and tried to exit the island. As soon as he was a hundred meters away from the shore, he was engulfed by a giant seaworm that suddenly sprouted from the surface of the ocean. It was at least three hundred kilometers long, and its long body almost surrounded the entire island.

He was probably dead by all accounts.

"Get ready to defend Isabella against Girias and Harmon. They should still be furious about our intervention, and knowing our determination, they would come at us using the same strategy, leaving no stone unturned to end Isabella once and for all, even if they had to sacrifice their blood essence and soul essence."

"I can see that happening…"

Flamerose nodded lightly.

Isabella was still a Level Three Immortal King. If they failed to complete the Fourth Hidden Pagoda, it was possible she would still be at Level Three Immortal King, but five hours had passed since they had entered, and it was unknown if some people had completed other pagodas in the meantime.

If at all one of the remaining seven Hidden Pagodas had been completed, then Isabella's cultivation base would rise to Level Four Immortal King Stage.

However, even with her prowess that was ten levels higher, allowing her to barely fight against Level Three Immortal Emperors, there was no way she would be able to defeat Girias and Harmon, who were Level One Immortal Emperors, able to battle at least six levels higher, which makes them as difficult as battling Level Seven Immortal Emperors.

That's why only they could stop them.

However, no matter how they readied themselves, if the last three participants didn't die, then they would only waste their time being tensed and mess up at the final moment, so they relaxed, continuing to see what Isabella was trying to do exactly punching the empty air above the sea for so long.

They could only see and not sense what was happening.

Perhaps this was put up to restrict knowing about their opponents a lot over how their attacks and defenses worked in order to avoid coming up with a countermeasure for it. Either way, they still tried to see what she was doing for so long.

By this time, Isabella had also naturally regenerated her right arm.

She swung her fists towards the sea every few seconds with incomparable calmness, still continuing to do it endlessly as though she had nothing better to do in her life. Everything seemed rather dull to Flamerose and Frostrose.

They could only see her actions as something mundane or irrelevant. The same went for the other two participants who were exhausted beyond compare. They seemed like they were also waiting for their death while practicing their skills in order to capture the remaining spheres the needed but all in all, it seemed pretty hopeless.

But then, they suddenly noticed a difference in Isabella's actions.

As her fist cut through the air, the serene scene of the calm waves suddenly transformed. What appeared to be waves gently caressing the ocean began to rumble as though resonating with the energy of her strike.

The water's surface vibrated, the waves rising higher and higher, their compactness spreading apart as though they were being pulled apart before-

*Bang!~*

The water exploded while undergoing a tumultuous tremor the likes of Flamerose and Frostrose had never seen, causing them to be shocked. Their perceptions flinched as they didn't understand what was going on.

However, Isabella finally seemed to have come out of her reverie as she appeared taken aback.

She pulled her fist back and gazed at her knuckles, as though wanting to see through what she had done, her eyes narrowing as she contemplated.