Because of that single slash, everyone who had been locked in battle only moments ago froze where they stood, stunned into silence.
There was no helping it. The spectacle Ren Kuroda had just unleashed was simply too overwhelming. Space itself had been torn apart. The earth had been cleaved clean through.
Even Lady Shiroyasha could feel it—the blade Ren had swung had already surpassed what should have been possible for a being of Four-Digit rank.
"…So I still haven't grasped the true essence of that strike," Ren muttered, exhaling slowly. "Otherwise, even with someone throwing themselves in front of you as a shield, you wouldn't have survived."
And he was right.
Under the ultimate edge of martial will Ren had unleashed, His Highness should have died.
He didn't survive because the Sun Authority of Leo was powerful enough to block Ren's supreme technique.
He survived because, in the final split second before impact, Maxwell had used spatial transfer to appear in front of him, shoved him aside—and taken the slash head-on.
Maxwell hadn't done it out of friendship or loyalty. He had done it because he understood exactly how important His Highness was to the Demon King Alliance—Ouroboros. If His Highness died here, Maxwell himself would not walk away unscathed from the consequences.
So he gambled.
He gambled on his near-immortality—pushing His Highness away and offering up his own body as the sacrificial shield.
And the result proved just how absurd that trait truly was.
Even after taking a slash that had left everyone present in awe and terror… Maxwell still wasn't completely dead.
Ren could feel it. Maxwell's presence still lingered.
Which meant the man was still alive.
That said, the aura was far weaker than before. The strike hadn't erased him—but it had clearly dealt serious damage.
As for His Highness—
He stared at the deep gash carved across his right arm, his expression still pale with lingering shock.
Maxwell had spared him from a direct hit. And yet the wound left behind told a far more important story.
The Sun Authority of Leo… had been utterly useless before that blade.
One slash.
Space torn.
Earth divided.
A Four-Digit Demon King cleaved down.
And while everyone else remained suspended in that dazed aftermath—
Ren clutched his arm and burst forward in another direction.
Above the distant skyline, a high, resonant dragon's roar echoed through the night. A vast star chart, like a celestial map projected across the heavens, shimmered into view.
That sight finally snapped the others out of their shock.
By the time His Highness and the others reacted, Ren was already dangerously close to where Rin stood.
Looking at the enormous star map illuminating the sky, Ren felt a small, uncomfortable flicker of guilt.
If that location truly marked the sealed relic of the Star Sea Dragon King within the Salamandra compound…
Then while everyone had been fighting—
Rin likely hadn't actually broken the barrier.
The spell formation must have been obliterated by Ren's final slash.
Rin herself had clearly not expected the sudden quake that had shaken the battlefield moments ago. The tremor had unsettled her.
And then—
The ritual formation she had still been painstakingly dismantling shattered instantly on its own.
She had no time to question it.
Before her lay the glowing star chart and the dragon's horn. Without hesitation, she reached out to claim them.
The moment her fingers wrapped around the Star Sea Dragon King's horn—
A crushing sense of death closed in around her.
In the next instant, five deep claw marks carved through the space where she had just been standing.
Rin's figure flickered—
And reappeared several meters away.
"Teleportation?" Ren's eyes narrowed. "Or another spatial mobility ability like Maxwell's?"
His right arm hung limply at his side. The divine blade had long since been returned to its sheath. The attack he had just used against Rin had been nothing more than a claw strike formed from pure yokai energy.
"If I hadn't already wrecked my arm swinging that last strike," he continued calmly, "even with an ability I've never seen before… you wouldn't have dodged."
Earlier, in order to break free from His Highness's interception, Ren had forcibly used the unfinished technique—Martial Star.
But his current state, bonded with his blade, was nowhere near the berserk "blackened" state he once relied on. Forcing out that slash not only failed to reach its former destructive height—it came with backlash.
The price?
The divine blade could no longer enter Blade Spirit Liberation for the time being.
And Ren's right arm—unable to withstand the burden—was effectively crippled for now.
His regeneration was already working, knitting tissue back together. But wielding a sword again? That wouldn't happen anytime soon.
To prevent the Simulated Genesis Star Map from falling into Rin's hands, Ren had driven her back—and taken the second star map-shaped relic into his own possession.
Just then—
His Highness, Lady Shiroyasha, and the others arrived almost simultaneously, instinctively splitting into two opposing camps.
"Well?" His Highness asked sharply. "Did you get it?"
When he saw that Rin was unharmed, both he and Gureia visibly relaxed.
Rin's abilities made her exceptionally difficult to kill.
But after witnessing Ren's earlier slash, neither of them could confidently say even a top-tier Four-Digit Demon King would survive unscathed against a monster like him.
"The ritual formation had just been destroyed when he suddenly appeared," Rin replied, frustration flickering across her face. "We didn't obtain the Simulated Genesis Star Map: Hollow Star Tai Sui. We only secured the Star Sea Dragon King's horn."
Her small expression carried unmistakable disappointment.
The Dragon King's horn had been their primary objective.
But Hollow Star Tai Sui was equally crucial.
To stand against the powerful Demon Kings of Ouroboros, their current strength was insufficient. According to their original plan, Hollow Star Tai Sui had been meant to further enhance His Highness's power.
"It's fine, Rin," His Highness said quietly. "You've already done well. Taking the Dragon King's horn from him is impressive enough. We underestimated him before."
He glanced toward Ren, eyes darkening.
"And securing the horn means this operation isn't a total failure. We withdraw for now."
If their opponents had been ordinary, they might have tried to seize Hollow Star Tai Sui back by force.
But the lineup before them was anything but ordinary.
Even if they wanted to turn the tide—
They simply didn't have the strength.
No.
If they lingered any longer…
They might soon find themselves unable to leave at all.