The Plague Hegemon's grayish-white mist looked like a mist, but its speed was comparable to a laser. One second it was far on the horizon, the next instant it was right in front of them. So the eight 'Lampbearers' had absolutely no room to dodge, being hit by the grayish-white mist at the same instant.
Not sparing 'Embers' and fully activating the 'Lamp', Alice, Hengo, the Old Warrior, and 'Arcane' were hit by the Plague Hegemon's grayish-white mist and sent flying. Then the light of their 'Lamps' dimmed, their fate unknown.
'Ghost' and 'Gladiator', whose 'Lamps' were insufficiently activated, only heard two puff sounds. The 'Lamps' on them seemed to be pinched out by something. Then the light dissipated, and the grayish-white mist that hit them drilled into their bodies all at once.
As for 'Whitebeard' and 'Nighthawk', who didn't even have time to activate the 'Lamp', they were directly invaded by the grayish-white mist into their bodies.
Shinji, who was a step too late, stopped in the distance, his face gloomy.
He had miscalculated. The Plague Hegemon was very strong, stronger than both the Reproductive Hegemon and the Bewitching Hegemon he had fought before!
It should be known that 'Lampbearers' naturally possessed the ability to purify Hegemon pollution. So even if there was a huge disparity in strength, 'Lampbearers' could often slip away from the Hegemon.
Just like in the confrontation with the Reproductive Hegemon on 'T33' before, Alice, Hengo, and even the Old Warrior could basically rely on the power of the 'Lamp' to exchange moves with the Reproductive Hegemon.
But the Plague Hegemon was completely different. Alice, Hengo, the Old Warrior, and 'Arcane' had already fully activated the 'Lamp'. Under such circumstances, they were still instantly sent flying, their fate unknown.
And 'Ghost' and 'Gladiator', who activated the 'Lamp' to a lesser degree, even had their 'Lamps' forcibly extinguished, completely polluted by the Hegemon. As for the two who didn't have time to activate the 'Lamp', they had no room for resistance at all.
At this time, the four clusters of grayish-white mist that failed to defeat Alice, Hengo, the Old Warrior, and 'Arcane' in one fell swoop hovered for a while, preparing to leave and attack other targets.
Shinji's shadow clones chasing after them naturally wouldn't continue to stand by idly. Flashing forward, the 'Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion' in their hands slashed down!
Rumble...
Dazzling golden light swallowed the grayish-white mist in an instant, completely annihilating the churning mist into nothingness!
Although it was shadow clones taking action, they were in 'Divine Sovereign Mode' after all, so there wasn't much difference from Shinji's main body taking action. And these four streams of grayish-white mist, having consumed a lot of power after failing to attack Alice and the other three, were naturally no match for Shinji's full-force attack and were annihilated in one blow.
After disposing of these four streams of grayish-white mist respectively, Shinji's shadow clones hurriedly checked on the four 'Lampbearers' who withstood the grayish-white mist attack.
Alice woke up first. While maintaining the 'Lamp', she said to Shinji's shadow clone: "I... I'm fine, just consumed a bit too much 'Ember'!"
"Be careful!"
Shinji's shadow clone instructed, then turned into white smoke and dissipated.
Subsequently, the other three woke up one after another. Shinji's shadow clones beside them also instructed them to be careful one by one, then turned into white smoke.
The reason Shinji was in such a hurry to dispel the shadow clones and reclaim chakra was that he encountered big trouble in the other four areas.
With the grayish-white mist invading their bodies, the four 'Lampbearers'—'Ghost', 'Gladiator', 'Whitebeard', and 'Nighthawk'—died instantly.
Before Shinji could feel regret, the four climbed up from the ground one after another.
At this time, the four were shrouded in grayish-white mist from head to toe, obviously manipulated by the Plague Hegemon. Not only that, what shocked Shinji the most was that the 'Lamps' at the waists of these four people began to shine, only the light emitted from the 'Lamps' was no longer warm dim yellow light, but a ghostly white light.
"This!?"
Shinji was greatly shocked.
The Plague Hegemon could not only easily break through the shelter of the 'Lamp' to attack the 'Lampbearers' but could even manipulate the 'Lamp'. This was simply incredible!
Swish!
Before Shinji could think carefully, the four 'Lampbearers' manipulated by the Plague Hegemon pounced on him.
Shinji's main body, as well as three shadow clones, had no choice but to confront them.
Instantly, both sides engaged in an exceptionally fierce slaughter in four different areas of the Six Rings World!
Compared to pure grayish-white mist, these 'Lampbearers' manipulated by the grayish-white mist were much more troublesome. Plus, with the help of the alienated 'Lamps', even using 'Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion', Shinji couldn't instantly shatter them.
Atop the Mage Tower.
Shion's face was full of panic as she murmured: "H... How could this happen!?"
Through magic, she and several other Supreme Mages were constantly monitoring the movements of Shinji and the 'Lampbearers'.
But no one expected that as soon as the war started, the Plague Hegemon would accurately find the eight 'Lampbearers', instantly kill four of them, and turn the killed four 'Lampbearers' into puppets to fight for it.
Hikari beside her was very calm: "It seems the Plague Hegemon knows our deployment very well. Someone leaked the battle plan!"
Shion asked puzzledly: "Who? How could that be?"
When a Hegemon targeted a world, it was absolutely to devour it completely. So being a traitor in front of a Hegemon had no future.
Hikari shook her head: "Maybe it wasn't intentionally leaked, and pursuing this now has little meaning! Eh, the unpossessed grayish-white mist was annihilated by Shinji with one sword strike, while the possessed grayish-white mist is so much more powerful. It seems the weakness of this grayish-white mist is the need for possession!"
Shion said anxiously: "Then tell Shinji quickly!"
Hikari said: "Shinji must have discovered it already. Our task now is to do our own job well. How is your magic barrier?"
Shion replied: "Just tried to shield the grayish-white mist and shattered once. Rebuilding it will take another three minutes!"
Hikari sensed for a moment and said: "Notify other Supreme Mages not to try to confront the Hegemon head-on anymore. Except for Shinji, no one can confront the Hegemon head-on! So after the magic barrier reactivates, just focus on reinforcing the spatial barrier!"
As a 'Kekkei Mora', Hikari was the strongest in the Six Rings World second only to Shinji. So she quickly realized that the greatest function of the Supreme Mages' magic barrier was not to directly participate in confronting the Hegemon but to attach to the spatial barrier and strengthen it.
Because in this contest with the Hegemon, only the spatial barrier isolating the Hegemon could truly help Shinji. As long as the spatial barrier existed, the Hegemon couldn't invest all its power into the great battle with Shinji, and Shinji would still have the home-field advantage. And this home-field advantage was even more important than six Supreme Mages, or even adding Hikari, this 'Kekkei Mora'...