"Puh—!"
With the magical formation's defense shattered, the black-red Destruction energy slammed directly into the formation.
"Not good!"
Feldman's heart jolted in alarm, but at this moment, all he could do was draw upon the natural Laws within the formation to reinforce the soldiers, strengthening their defenses as much as possible.
"Boom!"
The formation collapsed, and the soldiers were blasted out of the sky like falling meteors, crashing into the island and the Nether Sea below.
"How dare you!"
Just as Harald prepared to pursue and finish off the scattered soldiers, an enraged roar echoed from afar.
Accompanying that voice was an utterly unrestrained, violent killing intent.
The one who had arrived at this critical moment was none other than Ryan, who had rushed here at top speed.
The instant he sensed the battle aura over Azure Peak Island, Ryan had deliberately unleashed his own presence, signaling to the soldiers that reinforcements had arrived.
But he had never expected that by revealing his aura in advance, Mad Lord Harald would erupt with even greater power, shattering the formation in a single strike and leaving the thousand soldiers in unknown states between life and death.
Enraged, molten patterns flared across Ryan's body. The intense heat warped the surrounding space into rippling distortions.
"Boom!"
Seeing Harald preparing to strike the fallen soldiers again, Ryan threw a punch.
A massive molten fist surged forward with overwhelming force, blasting open a vast spatial void as it hurtled toward Harald.
"Th-this… which Commander-level expert has arrived?!"
The sheer force of Ryan's attack was terrifying.
There was no way a Seven-Star Fiend could produce such a strike.
Over the past few days, the pirate factions had already been shaken repeatedly.
At first, the strength of that single company had already made them wary, deterring them from attacking other islands.
And now, the reinforcement that had arrived… was clearly a Commander-level powerhouse.
One had to understand—aside from Paragons, Commanders stood at the very peak of divine beings. In any given plane, there were at most a few hundred.
As one of the Four Higher Planes, the Netherworld had slightly more Commander-level experts, especially after the widespread effects of Locke and the Death Sovereign's wedding invitation.
Even so, the total did not exceed four hundred.
Among those, eighty-one were Prefecture Lords, leaving only around three hundred scattered across the entire Netherworld.
Each Commander-level expert could establish a major power and become a renowned figure.
Outside of familial ties, it was rare for any faction to have more than two such experts.
After all, each Commander-level figure possessed immense pride and would not consider themselves inferior to others.
Even within Sovereign armies, only the commander held such status.
After all, serving in a Sovereign army came with restrictions.
Only by becoming the army commander would one receive a Sovereign artifact and the position of Sovereign emissary.
As for deputy commanders…
The same applied to the pirates of the Nine Nether Sea.
Since Algenis occupied the supreme position as the "Pirate Emperor," other Commander-level experts would not come here to establish rival imperial pirate forces.
Life in the Higher Planes was no different from the material planes.
Strength came first, relationships second.
Without major hatred or deep grudges, Commanders would not fight without cause.
Of course, exceptions existed—those who reveled in battle.
For such individuals, encountering a strong opponent meant only one thing: fight first.
Whether they became allies or enemies afterward didn't matter.
When Ryan's aura had first spread across Azure Peak Island, everyone had learned from Feldman that reinforcements had arrived.
But no one had imagined that the army possessed a second Commander-level expert.
"Kill!"
Locked onto by Ryan's divine sense, a flicker of fear appeared in Harald's eyes.
But he had already used his innate ability, sacrificing seven parts of his rationality to gain a sevenfold increase in strength.
Now, with only three parts of his sanity remaining, he could no longer suppress the savagery in his bloodline.
Earlier, Harald had assumed the reinforcement would only be a Seven-Star Fiend battalion commander.
With his berserk state, he believed he could defeat them, seize Azure Peak Island, and mark the beginning of his rise as a "Mad King."
But he had never imagined…
That the one who came would be a Commander-level expert.
"ROAR!"
With a furious roar, Harald surged forward, trailing a long black-red tail of energy as he charged toward Ryan's molten fist.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion erupted, tearing open dozens of spatial rifts around the impact zone.
There was no suspense.
Under Ryan's punch, Mad Lord Harald was instantly gravely wounded—half his body blown apart, sent flying like a ragged piece of cloth.
"Puh…"
Coughing up blood, Harald was knocked out of his berserk state in a single blow.
Rapidly consuming divine power to restore his body, he used the momentum to flee.
Seeing their leader retreat, the pirates of the Mad Lord crew immediately panicked, surging with divine power as they attempted to escape.
But in his fury, how could Ryan let them go so easily?
"Don't even think about it!"
With a roar, Ryan shot into the center of the fleeing pirates and stomped down.
"Gravity Domain!"
"Buzz!"
The Earth Laws spread outward with his divine power.
Within a ten-thousand-meter radius, all pirates were instantly crushed by immense gravity, unable to maintain flight. They plummeted from the sky, smashing into Azure Peak Island and leaving crater after crater.
Even Harald was dragged down by the sudden gravitational force, his escape slowed.
That single moment of delay cost him his last chance to flee.
A flash of yellow light—
In the next instant, Ryan used Earth Walk to appear directly before Harald, reaching out and grabbing his head.
"Ah—!"
The crushing force of Ryan's grip nearly shattered Harald's skull, drawing a scream from him.
Yet as a pirate who had ruled the Nether Sea for millions of years, Harald was no weakling who would lose his will from mere pain.
Destruction energy surged as he swung his halberd at Ryan.
"Hmph!"
Ryan didn't even bother to defend.
"Boom!"
The halberd struck Ryan.
But what terrified Harald even more was this—
After slicing through Ryan's defensive divine artifact, the blade stopped dead at his shoulder, unable to advance even a fraction further.
Sparks crackled at the point of contact, as though Harald had struck not flesh, but something harder than a divine artifact.
And in truth, that was exactly the case.
As a rock-type special lifeform, Ryan's body was tougher than most divine beasts.
This immense physical strength granted him extraordinary boosts to both attack and defense.
To break through his defense now, one would need either a Sovereign artifact—or attack power exceeding ordinary Commanders by seven or eight times.
Harald, merely a Seven-Star Fiend who had already exited his berserk state, had no hope of harming him.
"I… I surrender…"
"Pl-please… spare me…"
Faced with such overwhelming defense, Harald's resolve shattered as he begged for mercy.
"Sorry."
"Leaving aside Lord Locke's orders—that you lot should experience the same terror you've inflicted on others and die within it…"
"Just the fact that you attacked my subordinates in front of me has already sealed your fate."
Without hesitation, Ryan tightened his grip.
"Crack!"
Blood splattered as Harald's body fell lifelessly to the ground.
Glancing at the Highgod spark of Destruction in his hand, Ryan snorted and stored it in his interspatial ring.
His divine sense spread out, quickly locating the life auras of the scattered soldiers.
Then, turning to the trembling pirates around him, Ryan flicked the blood from his hand and spoke coldly:
"Consider yourselves fortunate."
"I'm giving you scum of the Netherworld a chance to live."
"Immediately gather every soldier that was scattered earlier and bring them to me."
"If no one in that unit has died, then congratulations—you all live."
"But if even one has died, the ten of you who rescue the fewest will be executed."
"If two have died, I will kill the twenty who rescued the fewest."
"Now, do everything in your power to bring them here."
"You have one incense stick's worth of time."
"If time runs out and all soldiers are not present, every single one of you dies."
"Now—those who accept my terms, swear in the name of the Overgod that you will rescue them."
"Those who refuse… I'll kill you now, so you won't be counted among the lowest."
"Hiss…"
Hearing Ryan's words, the pirates looked at him as though he were a demon.
(End of Chapter)
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