Outside the bandit fortress, the battle raged on.
The six-star Fiend-level Rexus was still fighting desperately.
On the bandits' side, all the other Highgods were already dead.
Now, he alone remained.
Suddenly—he sensed something.
It was the severing of a magical beast master-servant contract.
There was only one possible explanation—his master had died.
"Tynoderson! I'll kill you!"
Rexus erupted with his full strength, launching a frenzied assault at Tynoderson without hesitation.
As the contracted beast of the Extreme Intent Fiend, Rexus had never been treated as a slave.
He was treated like a younger brother, living alongside his master for hundreds of thousands of years.
Even though the Extreme Intent Fiend's Midgod and Highgod clones had different soul auras, with the master-servant bond, Rexus naturally knew they were the same person.
Now, with his master's final divine clone dead, how could he not feel anguish?
"Rexus, I'm gone. Don't blame that Midgod. He merely freed me."
The final soul transmission of the Extreme Intent Fiend entered Rexus' mind.
He didn't fully understand.
But since his master told him not to trouble that Midgod, he would obey.
Even so, he blamed his master's death entirely on Tynoderson.
If not for that man, would his master have died?
Rexus went completely berserk, unleashing every last ounce of power against Tynoderson.
"Rexus, are you trying to throw your life away?!"
They were both six-star Fiends.
If one side unleashed everything in a life-and-death struggle, the other side could very well perish as well.
Seeing this, Tynoderson was forced to temporarily evade his onslaught.
But Rexus' attacks didn't relent.
He even used a secret technique that burned his Divine Beast essence blood, forcefully overdrawing his divine power.
Wave after wave of terrifying profound attacks hurtled toward Tynoderson.
"Haha, Rexus, you're burning your Divine Beast blood!
So long as I don't fight you head-on, once this ends, killing you will be child's play!"
For a Divine Beast, their essence blood was the most important thing.
Spending one or two drops wouldn't matter much.
But burning large amounts of essence blood was draining one's very life.
It could give a slight surge of power, but it would drastically weaken one's future strength, lowering both material and soul defense.
And worse—massive use of essence blood was nearly impossible to recover.
Future achievements would stop here.
"You're dying today!" Rexus roared, attacking without any thought for the cost.
But then—the five five-star Fiends, having finished off the other Highgod bandits, flew over to join the fight.
With their help, Tynoderson's pressure lessened greatly.
"Today will be your death, Rexus!"
Inside the fortress.
After the Extreme Intent Fiend's Midgod clone died, Sadius carefully took his egg and stowed it away.
The egg couldn't go into a spatial ring, so he had to carry it personally.
Then, he withdrew his God Domain and the earthen-element barrier.
"Lord, those Midgod bandits have rushed inside!" Dylin said.
"The best treasure is already in my hands. Let's leave."
Sadius had no intention of taking more loot from the fortress.
The secret technique the Extreme Intent Fiend left him was the true treasure.
"Understood."
Dylin nodded. He didn't know what Sadius and that Midgod had discussed,
but since Sadius had isolated him with the God Domain, it was obviously an extremely important matter.
Sadius led Dylin out of the fortress. Soon they encountered the incoming Midgod bandits.
"Black Annihilation Sword Intent—kill!"
Sadius unleashed the Black Annihilation Sword Intent.
Any Midgod who dared approach him was mercilessly cut down.
The remaining bandits finally realized—the man before them wasn't a mere Midgod.
He was likely a Highgod disguising himself, his strength far too terrifying.
Panic set in. The remaining Midgods fled in disarray.
Sadius slaughtered in front, while Dylin followed behind, cleaning up the battlefield—mainly because Sadius' attacks were so fierce, he didn't have time to gather Divine Sparks and spatial rings.
They fought their way out of the fortress, only a handful of bandits escaping.
Then they looked into the distance.
There, the examiner was joined by five Highgod Fiends, all besieging the last six-star Fiend bandit.
Before long, under the examiner's sword, the six-star Fiend bandit was beheaded, his soul extinguished.
The massive corpse of his Divine Beast form sprawled across the battlefield.
"The Highgod Fiend badges are only four. There are five of you. So only four of you will pass. Decide amongst yourselves—Fiend Castle only recognizes the badges."
The five survivors looked at each other.
No one wanted to back down.
Then someone suddenly remembered something.
"Lord, you said Fiend Castle only recognizes badges, correct?"
"Yes."
That person then pulled out a Fiend badge from his spatial ring.
It belonged to the five-star Fiend examiner who had been killed by the six-star bandit earlier.
While cleaning the battlefield, he had taken that fallen examiner's Divine Spark and belongings.
Tynoderson smiled faintly.
Indeed, Fiend Castle never specified where a badge came from. So, this man had found a loophole.
"Alright. Wipe out the remaining Midgod bandits. Then you'll pass this exam."
The five of them, excited, immediately flew to the Midgod battlefield, massacring the bandits.
Sadius led Dylin to the rear of the battlefield.
The Highgods didn't notice anything unusual about them.
Soon, the Midgod bandits began to scatter and flee.
But how could they possibly escape the claws of Highgods?
The situation became completely one-sided.
The surviving Midgod examinees, seeing the tide turn, eagerly joined the fight.
Most of them hadn't yet collected a Fiend badge.
Sadius took the chance, blending in with the crowd, and he and Dylin killed a few more Midgods, collecting their badges.
Before long, the entire battle was over.
Only about twenty Midgod examinees survived.
"Congratulations on completing the exam. When we return to Blackcloud City, go to Fiend Castle to submit your proof and the Fiend badges. Then you'll officially become Fiends. If you're lucky, you may even directly become a two-star or even three-star Fiend."
Tynoderson summoned the metal lifeform again.
He let all the survivors enter, preparing to return to Blackcloud City.
Inside the metal lifeform, over twenty Midgods sat in silence.
Most looked dead-eyed.
Many had come with companions—and many companions had died.
But such things were common in Infernal Realm.
Every Fiend exam always claimed many lives.
So, while the mood was low, it wasn't unbearable.
Then someone broke the silence:
"Does anyone have an extra Fiend badge? I'll pay one million inkstones for one!"
Among the twenty survivors, there were still those without a badge.
After all, in the beginning they'd been suppressed by the bandits.
Later, the Highgods had killed most of the Midgod bandits.
Those badges naturally went to the Highgods.
Among the Midgod bandits, only about one-third were actual Fiends.
So, Fiend badges weren't plentiful.
And some examinees had been lucky, collecting several badges.
So even among the twenty survivors, several still didn't have one.
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