After a long battle, Azrael stared at the three panting Master-tier demons in the distance, his expression unwavering.
The young man who'd single-handedly slain Fox Nine and Zero at Diamond-tier strength felt little pressure. After all, these opponents weren't much stronger than that cowardly fox, and he was no longer the same person he'd been then.
The three Master-tier demons muttered grimly among themselves. "Did the world consciousness consider our fate when it threw him here?!"
They couldn't grasp the entity's specific intentions, especially since this outsider was ridiculously strong. Any one of them facing Azrael alone would have been doomed.
Just then, two auras of comparable strength flew toward them from afar.
The three demons' faces lit up with joy, relief surging through their hearts. After their desperate struggle, support had finally arrived.
Upon sensing these two new auras, Azrael's lips curled upward. "Time's almost up."
Handling five Master-tier demons simultaneously was essentially his limit without using the Soul King. It was time to bring this battle to a close.
The two newly arrived Master-tier demons observed their colleagues' battered state and couldn't help but frown. "Three against one, and you still can't take him down?"
Clearly untouched by Azrael's brutal assault, the newcomers were speechless at what they saw.
The three embattled demons darkened their expressions and said somewhat angrily, "Stop talking nonsense. Don't you know our strength? The outcome wouldn't be any different if it were you two."
The newcomers fell silent briefly, then tried asking Azrael for information. But the young man wasn't prepared to let them continue.
Several massive, humanoid fox demons instantly strode toward the five Master-tier demons. At the same time, Susanoo, its body imbued with tailed beast chakra, condensed a spear of lightning in its hand.
Seeing this, the five Master-tier demons wasted no time and immediately rushed forward.
Thunder rumbled in the sky, continuous vibrations causing the earth's topography to shift like plasticine. The world itself wailed as winds stronger than any typhoon surged from the battlefield in all directions.
After a fierce exchange, both sides separated.
The two new Master-tier demons finally understood why their colleagues had been in such a miserable state. Fortunately, after the previous battle, they'd determined this was the full extent of the outsider's strength facing them.
If there were no hidden trump cards.
Even so, what had happened made them feel a trace of regret. The powerful demons began doubting whether they'd made the right choice by following the world consciousness and submitting to that being.
Why do such monsters exist in other worlds? The thought flashed through their minds, but there was clearly no such thing as regret medicine in this world. The demons present could only pray that Azrael's outrageous combat prowess was a rare exception on Earth.
Meanwhile, Azrael tilted his head, frowning as he gazed at the sky above the five Master-tier demons. He sensed the presence of another consciousness, albeit a subtle one.
"This state... half-crippled?" Not every world consciousness was as powerful as Earth's. Azrael himself was living proof of that. Therefore, he could understand the poor condition of this secret realm's consciousness.
This might also explain why it had to hide behind the scenes and resort to underhanded tactics.
"Never mind. Let's deal with those demons first," Azrael thought, sighing with relief.
Immediately, under the gaze of the five Master-tier demons, one giant demon fox sat cross-legged on the ground. Another transformed into a three-headed, six-armed creature, its six raised palms creating two massive, swirling shurikens.
Simultaneously, a longbow materialized in Sasuke's Susanoo's hand. He drew the bow, and a stream of lightning-like, wailing arrows flew straight at the five Master-tier demons.
"Stop him!" The five demons' faces changed drastically, and they immediately attempted to halt Naruto and Sasuke.
As Master-tier warriors, they felt a long-forgotten palpitation in their hearts. The aura of death lingered in their mouths and noses.
Unfortunately, their struggles proved futile. Although the Diamond-tier Hokage and Shinigami cards couldn't withstand the five Master-tier demons simultaneously without venue card support, they could still delay them momentarily.
Of all the cards, only Uchiha Madara remained at Azrael's side, after all, the young man needed him ready to unleash his [Outer Path: Samsara Rebirth Technique] if necessary.
After swiftly breaking through Azrael's card blockade, the five Master-tier demons heard two simultaneous roars. They were still a step too late.
"Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Rasenshuriken!"
"Indra's Arrow!"
These were the strongest techniques unleashed by Naruto and Sasuke, exhausting every ounce of their power. While unlike [Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei], which retained the Six Paths' energy upon release, they were still powerful enough to drain both fighters' vast reserves of chakra.
The former was a Yin-Yang Release Rasenshuriken unleashed by Naruto with Kurama's help, gathering all the natural energy within the secret realm. The latter was a devastating arrow condensed from the chakra of all the tailed beasts within Sasuke's body.
But that wasn't the end. Even more terrifying to the five Master-tier demons, these two powerful attacks began merging as they flew toward them.
In the blink of an eye, a catastrophic attack emanating an aura of annihilation reached them.
The five demons subconsciously revealed hints of fear on their faces.
They couldn't dodge it, absolutely couldn't dodge it.
And they would die.
The desire to survive suddenly filled their hearts, and the five demons immediately unleashed their own defensive methods.
At that moment, the combined roar of Naruto and Sasuke resonated throughout the heavens and earth:
"Six Paths: Shinra Tensei Roar!"
The world briefly lost all sound, followed by a terrifying explosion like the sky itself collapsing.
BOOM!
The entangled energy devoured everything around it recklessly. All objects, living and dead, were silently annihilated by the attack.
A hurricane of scorching heat swept across the land at incredible speed, making it nearly impossible for the watching demons to stand. The blistering air also made it difficult for them to breathe. But for now, none of the demons had the heart to care about such trivial matters.
As soon as [Six Paths: Shinra Tensei Roar] erupted, they'd begun desperately fleeing to the periphery. Even so, countless demons were still killed by the attack's reach.
These spectating demons had positioned themselves quite a distance from where Azrael and the others were fighting, after all, no one wanted to be killed by the aftermath of a Master-tier battle.
But that distance proved insufficient. None of them had expected the coverage of [Six Paths: Shinra Tensei Roar] to be so absurdly vast.
They knelt on the ground, hearts aching as they watched the energy gradually dissipate in the center of the battlefield, muttering to themselves, "It's over. It's all over!"
No one present believed the five Masters could survive such a massive attack. While the faction still possessed two or three Master-tier warriors elsewhere, what use would they be against such a terrifying foe?
The thought momentarily shattered the demons' spirits.
Elsewhere, Azrael stood at the center of the battlefield, gazing at the bottomless, immense crater beneath his feet. His expression, which had remained calm since the battle's beginning, finally showed a flicker of emotion.
He hadn't anticipated the sheer destructive power of Naruto and Sasuke's combined attack.
Of course, the price had been steep. Azrael glanced at Naruto and Sasuke, who'd already deactivated their [Asura Nine-Tails Mode] and [Majestic Attire: Susanoo], and sighed softly. They wouldn't be able to engage in high-intensity combat anytime soon.
Furthermore, the five Master-tier demons' swift demise had reduced their materials to ashes.
Having mentally decided not to use this tactic again, Azrael prepared to leave. However, at that moment, he suddenly turned his head toward the south, a look of surprise crossing his face.
"Master Tempest?"
Yes, Azrael sensed Tempest's familiar presence. But then again, after all the commotion he'd caused, if Tempest didn't show up, he'd be surprised to think something had happened to him.
Elsewhere, Tempest was leading a group of Empire Lore Cardians toward the location provided by Argyle.
Azrael... he sighed silently at the thought of the young Master-tier Lore Cardian.
Although Tempest had anticipated the Empire sending Azrael into the secret realm to search for him, he hadn't expected the approach to be so drastic. It was just like something his own disciple would do, except that their strength was vastly different, resulting in completely different outcomes.
While the young man's power was indeed formidable, causing such a commotion in enemy territory was still somewhat reckless. Fortunately, with Adnais's help, Tempest believed Azrael's escape wouldn't be a problem.
This thought brought slight relief.
Meanwhile, Victor, standing beside Tempest, experienced mixed emotions. He'd done what Azrael was doing before, and only with his teacher's help had he managed to escape.
However, his earlier incursion hadn't caused such a massive commotion, and the demons sent to suppress him had merely been recruited from surrounding cities, unlike Azrael, who'd single-handedly stirred up the entire faction's power structure.
Azrael... Victor couldn't help but silently repeat the name, only to find it difficult to discern the young man's true capabilities.
Just then, an old voice suddenly rang out. "Your Excellency doesn't seem alarmed. Can you tell me something?"
It was Argyle, the Resistance general who'd finally decided to take a gamble. After all, the opportunity was fleeting. If the faction ultimately killed these outsiders, the Resistance would undoubtedly face a disastrous end.
However, Argyle wasn't so reckless as to send the entire Resistance force. He'd ordered his troops to remain ready to attack at any moment while he followed Tempest and the others to investigate the situation.
Upon hearing his question, Tempest's face showed a hint of apology. "I'm sorry, General Argyle. It's related to my colleague's abilities, so I can't tell you the specific reason."
Argyle's eyes flickered, but he didn't press the issue. Since it was related to abilities, it was nothing more than some strange life-saving method, he had such methods himself.
With this in mind, the gray-haired old man, understanding the situation, stopped talking and followed Tempest in silence.
However, both Masters soon frowned. They could sense a powerful being draining the energy of heaven and earth from a very distant location.
Ignoring the faint aura of danger hanging in the air, Argyle muttered subconsciously, "Strange. Why haven't I seen this method before?"
He searched his memory but couldn't recall any powerful figure from the faction using this technique, unless...
"Is this your colleague's method?"
The gray-haired old man turned to look at Tempest, trying to find an answer from his expression.
However, Tempest was equally confused. He didn't recall Azrael using this ability before. He shook his head and didn't answer Argyle directly, simply quickening his pace toward their destination.
As they drew closer, the invisible sense of threat in the air grew stronger.
Finally, the countless demons observing the battle appeared within their sight. But before they could make a move, Tempest and Argyle's expressions changed drastically. They immediately used their methods to engulf the Empire Lore Cardians and fled in the direction they'd come.
At the same time, a roar echoed from far away:
"Six Paths: Shinra Tensei Roar!"
Immediately following, continuous tremors erupted, followed by a terrifying wave of energy expanding at breakneck speed.
Tempest was now certain this was Azrael's method.
A deadly threat loomed, but fortunately, the group was far from the energy explosion's center. Thanks to the help of two Master-tier beings, Tempest and Argyle, they escaped death.
They fled for a while, until they could no longer sense the chilling, terrifying aura behind them. Only then did Tempest and Argyle finally stop.
They turned and gazed at the apocalyptic scene in the distance, at a loss for words.
Tempest was fine, having witnessed Azrael's ridiculously outsized combat power countless times compared to others of his level, he'd become somewhat accustomed to it. Or perhaps, more accurately, numb.
But Argyle was different. This was his first encounter with such a terrifying Master-tier being.
At this moment, the usually steady gray-haired old man showed a rare look of shock on his face. He said to Tempest in disbelief, "No wonder you said you've persisted for hundreds of years."
In Argyle's opinion, if the outside world were filled with warriors of Azrael's exceptional strength, then holding out for centuries against the [World-Devouring Disaster] wouldn't be impossible.
Unfortunately, he didn't realize that even on Earth, Azrael was an outlier among outliers.
And Tempest clearly wouldn't explain this.
The elegant middle-aged man adjusted his hair, controlled his emotions, and said with forced composure, "General, please come with me to meet this colleague of mine."
Argyle nodded, then pondered for a moment before asking, "What should I call him?"
"Azrael. [Myriad Phenomena] Azrael."