The rumbling sounds above the firmament gradually faded away. At this moment, the world on the brink of collapse seemed to have calmed down.
Shinji stood atop the Mage Tower, gazing at the firmament, sensing the universe outside the spatial barrier.
Because of the spatial barrier and the magic barrier jointly constructed by the Supreme Mages, even he couldn't clearly sense the battle situation in the universe. However, it was undoubted that the Plague Hegemon and the Reproductive Hegemon were indeed moving away from the Six Rings World.
"Phew..."
Exhaling gently, Shinji deactivated 'Divine Sovereign Mode'.
After becoming a 'Kekkei Shinra' (Bloodline of All Creation), the feeling of fatigue seemed to have moved away from him. But after these continuous great battles, he realized that he could still get tired.
Shinji mocked himself: "It seems I'm still not strong enough!"
Hikari said: "Shinji, if not for you, Shion and I would have definitely died just now!"
Shion nodded repeatedly: "Yeah, yeah! Not just us, as long as my Mage Tower is destroyed, the magic barrier will disappear. By then, everyone will be done for!"
Shinji shook his head: "If we cannot completely solve the Hegemons, everything we do now is just treating the symptoms but not the root cause."
Hikari looked at Shinji with admiration: "Facing terrifying existences like Hegemons, it's already not easy for you to achieve this level!"
"Uh-huh!" Echoing, Shion then asked: "Shinji, there seems to be no thunder in the sky anymore. Have they finished fighting?"
Shinji said: "Probably not that fast, but they are indeed moving away from the Six Rings World!"
Shion was somewhat puzzled: "Why?"
Shinji analyzed: "Judging from how eager the Plague Hegemon's grayish-white mist and the Reproductive Hegemon's giant black snake were to escape the Six Rings World just now, the great battle in the universe must be extremely perilous. Both sides are desperate to recall their power!"
Hikari said: "So, they are evenly matched?"
If one side could clearly overwhelm the other, the situation where both sides were desperate to recall power wouldn't have occurred.
Shion said: "That's not right. Wasn't the Reproductive Hegemon easily driven away by the Plague Hegemon last time? How did it suddenly become so powerful, pushing the Plague Hegemon to this extent?"
Shinji shook his head gently.
He was also somewhat puzzled about this point. The intensity of the Reproductive Hegemon's counterattack this time obviously exceeded his initial expectations.
There were roughly two possibilities for this situation.
One possibility was that the Reproductive Hegemon's retreat last time was a strategic move after assessing the situation, not being completely suppressed by the Plague Hegemon. Another possibility was that the Plague Hegemon consumed too much power to invade the Six Rings World, leveling out the advantage it had over the Reproductive Hegemon.
Anyway, no matter what the situation was, at least the situation was developing in the direction Shinji hoped to see.
"Captain, are you there?"
At this time, 'Radiance' Alice's voice came from Shinji's portable communicator.
Because he deactivated 'Divine Sovereign Mode', the strong magnetic field Shinji carried disappeared, so the equipment on him returned to normal.
Shinji said to the communicator: "I'm here. How are you guys?"
Alice hurriedly replied: "We few are fine, it's just 'Ghost' and the others... Sigh!"
Shinji said: "Casualties are inevitable when confronting Hegemons. Since they chose to stay, they should have been mentally prepared!"
'Arcane's' voice rang in the communicator: "I've let them down."
The Old Warrior said: "Don't say that. They aren't the first batch of 'Lampbearers' to die at the hands of Hegemons, nor will they be the last!"
Hengo laughed open-mindedly: "Since we stayed, we've long thrown caution to the wind!"
Alice didn't want 'Arcane' to feel too guilty, so she changed the topic and asked: "Captain, what's the situation now?"
Shinji briefly explained the current situation to the several 'Lampbearers'.
Hearing that all the power invaded by the Plague Hegemon and the Reproductive Hegemon was sealed by Shinji on two 'moons', Alice and the others clicked their tongues in wonder.
After Shinji finished explaining the 'Blackmail Plan', 'Arcane' was extremely excited: "Captain, can this plan work?"
"Hard to say!" Pausing, Shinji looked at the firmament again: "To achieve the 'Blackmail Plan', the prerequisite is that the Plague Hegemon and the Reproductive Hegemon in the universe must maintain some kind of power balance, where neither can do anything to the other. If this condition cannot be met, everything else is just empty talk."
'Arcane' hurriedly concentrated on sensing for a while, then suddenly rejoiced: "Captain, the Plague Hegemon's erosion of the Six Rings World seems to have stopped. It... it seems to have moved away from here!"
Shinji turned to look at Shion.
Shion immediately communicated with the other five Supreme Mages via the magic barrier and obtained the consensus of the other five Supreme Mages, so she nodded to Shinji.
Shinji whispered: "It seems my perception was correct; they have indeed moved away!"
Before long, the few surviving 'Lampbearers' gathered together again and started a post-war meeting.
The Old Warrior shook his head: "Really didn't expect this great battle to end like this!"
Alice said: "It's too early to talk about the ending now!"
Hengo nodded: "En, if the Plague Hegemon or the Reproductive Hegemon returns, this place is still dangerous!"
'Arcane' was quite open-minded and said: "Having such a result is already not easy. Captain, it's all thanks to you this time!"
Saying that, 'Arcane' stood up and bowed to Shinji.
Shinji said: "I couldn't have achieved this level alone!"
He wasn't lying. Without the assistance of the 'Lampbearers' and the Supreme Mages, this battle would inevitably have ended with the complete collapse of the Six Rings World. Every person who participated in this battle contributed to achieving the current outcome.
'Arcane' said sincerely: "But without you, we wouldn't even have the qualification to confront the Hegemons."
Alice and the others nodded in agreement.
'Ghost', 'Gladiator', 'Whitebeard', and 'Nighthawk', the four 'Lampbearers', were just a beat slower in reaction and were killed by the Plague Hegemon's grayish-white mist.
This showed that even 'Lampbearers' were equally fragile when facing the Plague Hegemon. So Shinji was the '1', and everyone else's contribution was the '0' behind the '1'. Without the '1', no amount of '0's would be meaningful.
Shinji waved his hand: "Let's not talk about this for now. Let's discuss the next arrangements!"
"Yes!"
Everyone nodded in unison.
Shinji said: "Currently, we still don't know the result of the great battle between the Plague Hegemon and the Reproductive Hegemon. If the battle determines a winner, one of them will likely return to the Six Rings World again. We must prepare corresponding response mechanisms!"