The tsunami of darkness slammed into their three-layered shield with the force of a raging ocean. The screams of thousands of souls trapped within the demonic energy scraped eardrums and tore at sanity. CRACK! The outermost layer of the shield—Ling Ling's gigantic white lotus petal—creaked violently like shattering glass. The woman's face was pale, a drop of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. In the second layer, Ayu's dark blue energy shield flickered wildly, her military discipline struggling against pure chaos. "I can't hold it much longer!" Ling Ling shouted through their mental link, her voice strained. "The energy is too corrosive!" Artur, who was the core of the defense formation, snarled. His *Aura of the Golden Dragon*, which formed the innermost layer, felt like it was being simultaneously burned and frozen. He looked down at his troops. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of

Pale golden Immortal blood dripped from Artur's lips, pooling on the cracked earth beneath him. Every breath was a painful struggle, the shards of his shattered ribs threatening to puncture his lungs. The world around him spun into a blurry vortex of gray and red. The sounds of battle—screams, explosions, demonic roars—were distant and muffled, as if coming from behind a thick wall of water. He had lost. Not just a loss in a duel. This was absolute defeat. Total annihilation where every ounce of strength, every strategy, every drop of courage he had mustered was merely a joke to an enemy whose level was impossibly far above his own. *I… am weak…* That thought, the poison he hated most, crept back into his fading consciousness. The shadow of his skinny, battered self in the narrow alley haunted him again, laughing at him. *See?* the shadow whispered. *No matter how strong you

The energy arrived like a cosmic tidal wave. Artur felt the power of his five goddesses flood into him, not as a chaotic mixture, but as five river currents converging into a single lake. Amel's warm energy of love soothed his burning soul. Diana's cold ice energy tempered his physique, making him hard as glacial steel. Ayu's sharp energy of discipline (though from a distance, the connection remained strong) honed his combat instincts into a surgeon's precision. Xiao Wei's cool, pure energy recharged his Immortal Qi. And Chandra's majestic life energy repaired every microscopic damage in his body even before it occurred. GRRRRAAAAAHHHH! Artur roared, no longer a roar of pain or anger, but a roar of pure power. His body, which had only been glowing golden, now exploded in a pillar of five-colored light that pierced the sky. His *Aura of the Golden Dragon* evolved, transforming into the majestic and dazzling *Rainbow Drago

Hope, no matter how small, fuels despair. Seeing the hesitation in Artur’s eyes, Cupetong’s most cunning survival instinct took over. He didn't actually want to be a subordinate. He just needed one second. One opening. "I swear fealty to you, War Emperor!" he roared, bowing his giant, wounded body in a false gesture of surrender. "Just spare my life!" Artur remained silent, his sword still lowered, as if genuinely considering the offer. Below, his harem held their breath, confused by their commander’s apparent hesitation. "Artur, what are you doing?!" Ling Ling screamed through the mental link. "Don't trust him! It's a trap!" "I know," Artur replied curtly, his mind cold as ice. "I'm just giving him enough rope to hang himself." The moment Artur appeared distracted, Cupetong moved. With the remnants of his strength, he slammed one of his fis

"WHAT?!" Amel shrieked, her face flushed with anger and disbelief. "You want to take advantage of him while he's unconscious?! That's... that's rape!" "This isn't about lust!" Chandra countered, her calm face finally showing a hint of frustration. "It's the only way! My life energy is pure Yin. If united with his Immortal Yang energy, we can create a purification reaction that will burn out the demon poison from the inside!" "There must be another way!" Diana protested, though her voice lacked conviction. "There isn't," Chandra said firmly. "This is a law of the universe. Darkness can only be driven out by the brightest light. And the union of souls is the only way to channel that light directly to the source of the darkness." As they argued, the black patch on Artur’s chest pulsed faster, and the black lines crept one millimeter further toward his heart. Artur groaned louder.