"Golden Sun Ascension!

"

Suddenly, from Qiao Duyi's bestial body, golden rays of light started to shoot towards everywhere, like they were the first rays of light announcing the coming of a golden storm of destruction.

The entire darkness cage fiercely shook and as if a sun had descended in the middle of that forest, a bright light enveloped the whole are. But just when Qiao Duyi was about to make his Mana explode everything and annihilate his enemies, darkness suddenly descended from the skies, drowning his whole body in a black sea of darkness.

First Shadow moved her arms and as if she controlled the day and night, the whole sky darkened. Thousands of dark clouds appeared above them, announcing that night was about to come. Their energy coiled around Qiao Duyi, completely suppressing his golden rays and pressuring him down.

"Night Fall!

"

At that time, day had changed to night. It was like she had pressed a switch to change it. All the golden energy radiating around the Lion Guardian Qiao Duyi was thoroughly suppressed.

Qiao Duyi gritted his teeth and decided to execute his technique even though he was feeling totally suppressed. He had to risk it all, else there were no chances of leaving out of this alive. His body, that resembled a golden sun was thoroughly enveloped with a dark elemental mass, but it didn't stop him from sacrificing his life force to increase the output of Mana he could release, injecting it all on his technique.

Suddenly, that cloud of darkness that had already enveloped him whole exploded with the golden might his technique brought down. The force of that explosion made everything shake while millions of rays of light started to wreak havoc everywhere.

"Tch... Impudent annoying cat.

" First Shadow felt annoyed by her prey behavior and finally decided to release her Mana Sovereign prestige upon him.

Those rays of golden light that were destroying everything and moving towards her and Second Shadow like lightning, suddenly vanished after her Mana passed through them. She completely suppressed Qiao Duyi's technique, rendering him useless.

His body stopped shinning and only darkness remained. Together with that dimming golden light, his hope was fading away.

Second Shadow vanished like a drifting smoke, appearing behind Qiao Duyi's beast body. When he appeared there, he noticed his enemy's body was riddled with injuries everywhere and realized those rays damaged his tough skin as well.

"You trust too much on your tough body. Your pride is going to be your demise.

" Both his daggers of darkness were already brimming with Mana that increased their sharpness to the limit.

Second Shadow abruptly accelerated towards Qiao Duyi, cutting him where he was already injured, further opening those wounds. His ghostly figure passed through everywhere, swiftly tearing that golden lion skin and muscles apart.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

With each slash, blood gushed out like it was water from a fountain. His Mana infused daggers were cutting that beast body as if they were cutting butter.

ROAR!

Qiao Duyi roared in pain. His energy was quickly leaving his body as he unsuccessfully tried to defend himself. Very quickly, he shrunk back to normal, not able to maintain his transformation anymore.

His body dropped down on the ground, but he was still alive and trying to stand up once again and run away from there. He was one of the core members of the Lion's Pride Golden Palace, a prideful warrior that received the golden baptism of their saint beast, the Golden Lion. His body was resilient and tough, so he would never give up until the very end. But just as he stood up again, Second Shadow's leg kicked his ankle from behind, making him kneel down on the spot.

Just as he knelt down, Second Shadow suddenly applied pressure on his Mana and suppressed all his movements, sealing his possibilities of escape. With his life energy depleted and his energy veins sealed, Qiao Duyi wasn't able to put up with a struggle anymore; however, the fact that Second Shadow made him kneel down, made Qiao Duyi restlessly move around and shout. That action instantly made him enraged to the point anything else didn't matter. Kneeling down was a huge blow to his ego and he couldn't tolerate it.

"I'll kill you! AHHH!!! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!

"

Second Shadow smiled but he didn't say anything back. His hands swiftly handled his dark daggers as he closed them on Qiao Duyi's neck.

Slash!

With a loud slashing noise, Qiao Duyi was swiftly and cleanly beheaded. In a single strike, one of the Eight Lion Guardians lost his life inside the middle of an unknown forest at the outskirts of Misty Horizon.

First Shadow suddenly appeared beside Second Shadow while moving her hand and collecting all the spatial rings around Qiao Duyi's body. They were the things Velgor wanted the most, so she secured them first.

"That last action was unnecessary. One day, this craze of yours of toying with your targets, will get you killed.

" First Shadow directly said, warning Second Shadow about his habits.

"Hah! Don't tell me that, when you were clearly too lazy to even properly act... Tch... If not for his desperate last skill, you wouldn't even have used your powerful Mana properly. Tch...

"

First Shadow didn't reply him. She just took everything and left. Before completely leaving though, she made sure to use her Mana to wipe out any traces left behind by their battle and aura.

At the Lion's Pride Golden Palace mining encampment, all the miners and disciples were already dead. A layer of darkness was consuming their bodies and disposing of them while Ninth Shadow stood silently waiting for his companions by the side. His job was to kill everyone else, not letting any witness alive.

When he felt First and Second Shadow's presence, he bowed to them and waited for the orders.

"Master has ordered us to return. There is nothing more to be done here, let's go.

"

"Alright.

"

The three of them vanished leaving nothing behind. Everything has been taken care of and no traces of what had happened existed anymore.

.

.

.

CRACK!

At the main golden palace inside the Lion's Pride Golden Palace territory, one of the eight guardian statues standing in the center of the main hall shattered completely.

The Lion Guardians nearby swiftly appeared one after the other, feeling completely shocked by what they were witnessing.

Pah!

The doors leading to the main hall completely shattered as someone forcefully entered. The person that entered was no one less than the Lion King Qiao Xuan himself. He seemed enraged by what had just happened, as if someone had stepped right on top of his ego; stepped right on top of his precious pride.

ROAR!

An almighty roar echoed through the whole sect.

"I want you to find who was the one who killed Qiao Duyi! He was in a mission inside the Blazing Phoenix Country territory. Go now!

"

His orders were supreme. All the Lion Knights left to investigate what had happened while making sure to go as a group. They knew some things about the hidden operation happening at that area and knew that it meant a lot for their Master. It meant a lot for their Sect as well.

.

.

.

Inside the throne hall in the Demonic Shadow Royal Clan castle, the Demon Lord Velgor had just called one of his loyal subordinates for a meeting.

Suddenly, a silent shadow appeared before him and Fourth Shadow was already kneeling down on the floor, paying his respect for his lord.

"Is there anything you want, Master?

"

"There is. I want you to secretly inform the Glazed Lake Sect and the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary about the recently activities around the mine the Lion's Pride Golden Palace had just mined. We need to do this in order to take their eyes off of us and suspect the other powers. Make sure the source of information will not be found out. You can go.

"

"Understood.

" After receiving his orders, Fourth Shadow quickly left to do the job.

Velgor sat back on his throne while thinking about the next steps on the list. After acquiring that huge quantity of purple Skystones and acquiring the purple core crystal left behind by the ancient Banshee, he was already able to execute his plans. There was only the part he left for Barghest missing. However, he had tried to contact Barghest these past few days, but the connection between their Sound Transmit Formations was not established, not even once.

He had already sent his Shadows to investigate, but it would still take some time for the truth to surface.

However, for the first time, Velgor started to feel something was off. There was something out of his expectations, making him feel uncomfortable. Actually, not only was half his plan already destroyed, the other half of it was not even on the main plane anymore.. Seth was actually still trapped inside that Crimson World, receiving knowledge.