Xisorn let out a cold snort. A layer of black shield surged around his body, blocking all incoming attacks.
Clasping his hands together, a massive vortex of darkness formed out of thin air, generating an immense gravitational pull, attempting to drag the two women into it.
The Dark Phoenix went all out, transforming into a gigantic flaming phoenix, directly clashing with the black vortex.
Ganata grew to dozens of meters tall.
Taking advantage of the distraction, she charged toward Xisorn, her fist gathering terrifying energy before smashing down toward him.
Xisorn vanished and reappeared in the distance. With a casual wave of his hand, a blast of dark energy hit Ganata, sending her flying back hundreds of meters.
Qino simply stood to the side, watching.
The Dark Phoenix and Ganata had power levels beyond even cosmic-level beings, but they lacked real combat experience. Their style was basically brute force without finesse.
Xisorn's power was comparable to theirs, but he had thousands of years of experience and potent dark magic, allowing him to suppress the two of them.
Ganata was once again blasted away, crashing straight toward Qino.
Qino dodged swiftly, letting Ganata crash through several small asteroids before coming to a halt.
"Ugh… That hurt. You didn't even try to catch me," Ganata grumbled.
"You're several dozen meters tall—how could I catch you?" Qino tilted his head.
At this point, he wasn't even as tall as one of her fingers.
Just then, the Dark Phoenix, who had been fighting alone, suddenly disappeared without warning. A surge of roaring flames appeared out of nowhere.
The fire completely engulfed Xisorn, reducing him to nothingness.
"That was a move I just came up with—how'd you like it?" the Dark Phoenix said proudly, appearing in Xisorn's original location.
"A strike through time itself… To pull that off, you're not just a fragment of the Phoenix Force. You are the complete Phoenix Force," Xisorn remarked, reappearing not far away.
The next moment, two beams of red light shot out, blasting Xisorn into the distance.
"Xisorn, hand over the authority. I don't want to waste more time," Qino said as he floated slowly toward Xisorn. The two women hovered behind him.
"So I was wrong. You're the mastermind," Xisorn replied, expressionless.
"I said so from the beginning," Qino said flatly.
"…"
Xisorn fell silent for a few seconds.
Should he keep fighting?
His strength was on par with the three before him. While there was an experience gap, it wasn't an unwinnable battle.
But there was no benefit in winning. Their backing was powerful. If he lost, the outcome would remain the same.
As for pride, Xisorn had lived for countless years and considered it optional.
"I can hand over the authority. I can even give you my dark magic. But you'll need to help me with one thing," Xisorn said slowly.
"Go ahead. Say it," Qino replied cautiously.
"You were able to steal the Darkhold, so you must be able to move freely on Earth. My next host will appear on Earth. I want you to pass these dark spells to her—and protect her until she fully matures."
A mysterious red mark appeared in Xisorn's hand.
"Sure. But will this authority be of any use to her?" Qino asked. He already suspected the host was Scarlet Witch and was wondering if there was a loophole to exploit.
"It will. But my magic will still have a corrupting influence on her," Xisorn nodded.
While that meant he wouldn't be able to control her directly, once she grew into her full power, she'd be worth more than a hundred dark sorcerers.
"Then the deal is done."
Qino accepted the red mark and turned to leave.
"You're smarter than Mephisto," he said casually.
Xisorn's eyes snapped open wide in shock as he watched Qino's silhouette disappear.
He… mentioned Mephisto?
Six months ago, Mephisto had mysteriously vanished. Hell had fallen into ruin. All the dimensional demon gods thought he was dead and tried to claim Earth—only to be rejected.
They'd captured some demons from Hell. According to them, another demon lord had invaded Hell and left it devastated.
At the time, all the demon gods had suspected one another.
Especially recently—Mephisto's Hell dimension vanished entirely, as if it had never existed.
Killing a Hell Lord was extremely difficult, but not impossible.
But for the entire Hell dimension to vanish, like the blue sky of Earth disappearing—that wasn't something even a Hell Lord could do.
Even the Five Great Gods couldn't have done it so silently.
When Qino first appeared, Xisorn had his suspicions. But the aura he sensed from him was weaker than his own, roughly on par with Mephisto's.
Now, it was clear he had been hiding his true power—and had even more terrifying beings behind him.
Phoenix Force, Galactus, and some unknown Hell Lord—how did these forces even end up working together?
"Looks like he went easy on me," Xisorn muttered in relief.
The full Phoenix Force was on the same level as the Five Great Gods—a multiversal-class power.
A juvenile Galactus had a complete Galactus behind him—also multiversal-class.
That Hell Lord was backed by a being even more terrifying than the Five Great Gods.
Honestly, Xisorn was surprised he was still alive.
He contacted his followers on Earth to get updates.
"The Demon King of Earth? Then the Darkhold must've been given to him by the Sorcerer Supreme too," Xisorn muttered.
He hadn't expected the Sorcerer Supreme to be one of Qino's people. In that case, Earth might as well belong to him already.
"My Lord, shall we deal with this Demon King? We've learned he has a weakness for beautiful women. We have many beauties willing to assassinate him! For you, we'll sacrifice everything!" came the fanatical voice of one of his followers.
"…No. Just continue developing more followers. Do not provoke the Demon King," Xisorn said, sending a bit of power as a reward.
"Thank you for your divine gift, my Lord!"
Xisorn had no interest in hearing more and directly closed the communication channel.
He likes beautiful women?
His next host would count, right?
Maybe he could build a good relationship with Qino and expand his cult more easily.
Besides, Qino seemed to like collecting the powers of demon gods.
For the first time in billions of years, Xisorn began thinking about how to build a good alliance.
"Cyttorak… Want to know the truth behind Hell's disappearance?" he said, reaching out telepathically.
"You know what happened, Xisorn?" came the surprised reply.
"Ten portions of your power source."
"…Deal."
———
When Qino returned to Earth, only an hour had passed.
Bringing Ganata and the Dark Phoenix had been the right call.
But Qino didn't get a chance to study the red mark—he was dragged off by the two women to go shopping and pay for everything.
Of course, he had changed his appearance beforehand.
"Qino, try this!" said the Dark Phoenix, shoving a pancake into his mouth.
"What the hell? They even have pancakes here? Are they authentic?" Qino took a bite and found the flavor quite good.
"Of course they're authentic! This recipe's been passed down since the SD dynasty! You're from my hometown too?" said the brawny man selling the pancakes.
He was making four at once with smooth, practiced ease.
"No, I'm from YC," Qino replied.
Hearing that familiar accent really stirred up some nostalgia.
"Doesn't matter—we're all locals when we're out here!" the man chuckled while flipping his pancakes.
Quote of the Chapter:"Sometimes survival isn't about power—it's about knowing when to fold and when to deal."
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