In the Demon Realm, in the Demon King's palace, in the council hall that had been unused for a long time, several girls and several elderly people were gathered around a large round table in heated discussion.
The topic of discussion was simple: how to rescue Leticia from the divine artifact space.
"It's impossible to open divine artifact space through conventional means. Only by relying on the power of other gods is it possible to open the sealed divine artifact space." Sasha first stated a prerequisite for rescuing Leticia.
To oppose a god, the simplest method was to seek help from another god.
Coincidentally, Divine Throne had not only many types of gods, but they also had good temperaments—absolutely the best choice for rescuing Leticia.
"As for compensation, after Miss Leticia is rescued, let her negotiate with us face to face." Sasha demonstrated her sincerity. Although negotiating terms now could seize more benefits, doing so wouldn't allow her to build favorability with Leticia.
Everything required sustainable development, right? She couldn't abandon such long-term gains for momentary petty profits.
"Alright, let's settle on this for now." Qila nodded. Having Divine Throne's people help was indeed the simplest method currently.
The sages had already given their opinion earlier—with just their power alone, there was no way to open the divine artifact space and rescue Leticia, unless the demon side could also produce a divine artifact, and the god within that artifact had to be reasonable and willing to help the demons rescue Leticia.
But divine artifacts weren't common vegetables. Even the Demon King's palace didn't possess any divine artifacts.
So wasn't seeking help from Divine Throne the only remaining option?
The late-night meeting ended in this oppressive atmosphere. Sasha and the sages left first to do what they needed to do.
After everyone else in the room had left, Bai Ling walked to Qila's side and said quietly, "Sorry, I couldn't protect her properly."
Qila took a deep breath. She knew this matter couldn't be blamed on Bai Ling, but at that time, clearly Bai Ling and her sister had been standing together, yet it was her sister who was taken away by the god. This inevitably made her somewhat dissatisfied with Bai Ling.
"Sister Bai needn't blame herself. No one could have predicted such a thing. In any case, things haven't developed to the worst point yet—there's still a chance to salvage everything." The precocious Princess showed a forced smile. "I don't want to bear the future of the entire demon race alone."
"Mm, I believe she'll be fine." The white-haired girl's gaze was firm. If Sasha's method didn't work either, then she would spend her entire life searching for ways to rescue Leticia.
It was she who failed to protect Leticia properly—this was something she should have accomplished.
"Mm, Sister Bai should go rest first. Your complexion doesn't look good either. Other matters can wait until tomorrow." Qila sighed lightly. Until her sister was rescued, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully.
In the past, though her sister would disappear, at least she knew her sister was alive and living quite comfortably.
But now, her sister was trapped in a god's domain with uncertain fate.
How could Qila possibly fall asleep?
Qila wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep—Bai Ling couldn't sleep either. Or rather, she should have been unable to sleep.
By normal logic, Bai Ling lying in bed should have had her mind full of thoughts about Leticia, making sleep impossible.
But today's situation had a small deviation. The moment Bai Ling's head touched the pillow, her consciousness plunged into endless darkness.
In this desert of consciousness, a voice came: "If you want to save your beloved, don't resist. Follow my guidance and come before me."
Bai Ling felt somewhat dizzy as she tried to sit up from the ground, then discovered with some surprise that the place she was in didn't even have concepts of up, down, left, or right.
"Where is this?" Bai Ling asked the endless void.
"Mm, you can understand this place as the world of consciousness." That voice drifted from extremely far away. "I can't directly pull your consciousness into my divine domain, so I can only pull you here, then guide you step by step to walk in."
"Are you a god?" Hearing this, how could Bai Ling not guess the identity of this voice's owner?
But why would this god seek her out at this time?
Did she want to help her, or did she want to kick her while she was down?
"Correct." The god frankly admitted her identity. "As for my purpose, I can only tell you that I bear no ill will. The Demon King's family has a good relationship with me, and the god who took away your beloved has some small conflicts with me."
"So you want to help me?"
"What else? If you want to save someone, hurry up and come over. Gods don't have much patience." The god giggled. Her first impression was really quite good.
......
While this god here gave a good first impression, the one on the other side was not so great.
Apart from wailing like a resentful woman, Leticia couldn't trick even a bit of useful information from her mouth. She didn't know if it was because her security awareness was good, or if she really knew nothing at all.
After trading insults for quite a while, Leticia was also tired. Finding the verbal sparring meaningless, she decisively used magic to block her ears and began sleeping soundly. Let that god curse all she wanted—she'd rather conserve her energy and wait for her sister and that surnamed Bai to rescue her.
Hopefully it wouldn't drag on too long, or Leticia would really die of boredom.
Seeing Leticia just close her eyes and plan to sleep, that god was furious beyond measure. Her cursing grew louder and louder, but Leticia, who had sealed off her hearing, indicated: Keep cursing—if I show even the slightest reaction, I lose.
Oh, it wasn't that there was no reaction at all, but the one reacting wasn't Leticia, but the necklace she wore around her neck.
It seemed the god's fury caused Flora's creation, which specialized in emotions, to react. When the god roared in anger, the necklace breathed slowly like a living thing, emitting gentle white light.
The white light soothed Leticia while providing her with pure spiritual power—this spiritual power was even more than what Leticia consumed to maintain Flora's parasol.
In other words, Leticia was now using this god's anger to protect herself.
"Sigh, if only all gods were like Flora, how wonderful that would be." Feeling the spiritual power continuously flowing into her body, Leticia felt that encountering Flora was truly fortunate. Not only did she give gifts, but she had a good temper too. She hoped to meet such gods several more times in the future.
......
Whoosh—a gust of wind blew across the barren desert, raising clouds of yellow sand.
A white-clad girl walked through the endless yellow sand, like the only star in the pitch-black night sky, extremely conspicuous.
She advanced slowly but steadily through this wasteland, step by step. Behind her, a long trail of footprints extended toward the infinite distance.
The violent wind wanted to bury the girl's footprints but couldn't, and could only roar in helpless fury.
"Really, so noisy." The girl murmured quietly. The wind around her was separated by an invisible barrier—no matter how hard the gale tried, it couldn't obstruct the girl's advancing steps.
In the unreachably distant place, two beings were confronting each other.
Around them, even the never-ceasing storm had lowered its banners and stilled its drums. In a solemn atmosphere, the two faced each other wordlessly, looking at one another.
They didn't communicate, because they knew communication was meaningless. From the moment they met, it was destined that only one person could leave this place standing.
"As a mortal, you have courage." After a long while, the black-clad girl slowly stroked the short staff in her hand, speaking carelessly. "If your confidence lies in that sword in your hand, I can only say you'll pay with your life for your naivety."
This statement didn't cause any change in expression on the black-haired girl standing opposite her. The girl only raised her ink-black eyes and spoke in low, resolute tones: "What I have isn't courage, but responsibility."
"I am the king of the demon race, the king of this world, and you want to destroy my world. I must stop you."
"Heh, such arrogance. With just you, can you bear the identity of king of this realm? Your race, in my eyes, is no more than roadside ants. Even I don't dare falsely claim to be lord of a realm—where do you get such courage?" The girl sneered coldly. With her words, the sky was quickly shrouded by dark clouds, and the entire space was enveloped in darkness.
Thick black tentacles surged from beneath the desert, lunging toward that petite girl.
In terms of size, even the smallest of these tentacles was several times thicker than the girl's waist, not to mention their length.
The tentacles' attacks came from all directions, completely blocking the girl's evasion space. If it were an ordinary person, they might already be in despair.
These tentacles weren't paper tigers that looked impressive but were worthless inside—the violent aura they emitted indicated their combat power was definitely not to be underestimated.
Perhaps even the most ferocious creatures in this world couldn't match a single one of these tentacles.
Facing this desperate situation, the girl didn't panic. She didn't even move her feet.
Raising the black longsword in her hand high above her head, she then lightly swung it downward.
Time seemed frozen. Those menacing tentacles stiffened in place, their violent aura suddenly vanishing, while the girl didn't even bother to glance at these tentacles.
"How are the results of your probing?" Her gaze penetrated through layers of black tentacles to meet that girl whose complexion wasn't very good. "I wonder if my answer satisfies you, self-proclaimed god."
Accompanied by the girl's clear, lovely voice, those hideous tentacles slowly turned to black powder, falling onto the yellow desert.
The girl called a god chuckled. "You really think I only have this much ability?"
"Naturally not. Unlike you, who are so arrogant you see no one else, I never underestimate my opponents, nor do I make premature conclusions about battles whose outcome is undecided." The girl was very calm, as if everything that had just happened wasn't her doing.
"Borrowing the power of my disappointing kin, you really think you can stop me?"
"I merely made a deal with her, a deal that's very profitable for both me and her." The girl looked at the longsword she held, a trace of melancholy flashing in her eyes. "As for your question, I can give you an answer: since I appeared here, I have confidence in returning everything to its proper course."
The girl's composure made the god somewhat angry. The calmer the opponent appeared, the more she felt like a clown.
Verbal sparring was useless now. In this place, only fists could explain everything.
"Then take a good look at how great the gap is between your incomplete power and true divine power!"
The god no longer summoned those black tentacles. The previous probing had already made her understand that those things couldn't affect her enemy at all.
To defeat this girl, the only method was for her to act personally, using incomparably powerful force to crush the girl's confidence and body, letting everyone in this era know that gods could not be defeated.
In a flash, the god disappeared from her original position. When she reappeared, she was only an arm's length from the girl.
Her hand was already raised, the short staff in her hand flashing with ominous black light. The next moment, she mercilessly swung her arm, smashing the staff toward the girl's face.
Compared to the previous grandiose tentacle attack, this strike seemed so plain and simple, but the danger within far exceeded the previous attack.
Strength displayed openly wasn't a threat—true threats were restrained.
The girl didn't dare be careless and immediately placed her black sword before herself, blocking the god's surprise attack.
Though she blocked the surprise attack, the god's attack still made the girl stagger. This hasty block couldn't completely neutralize the god's assault.
Although the god looked like a rather delicate girl, when fighting, her strength was no less than those giant beasts.
Even though the girl was already mentally prepared and reacted in time, she still couldn't avoid having an opening created by the god's strike.
Seeing the girl's opening appear, the god mercilessly launched a pursuit. At this moment, she had long since put away any playful thoughts, her mind focused only on how to quickly crush this annoying ant to pieces.
Under this storm-like attack, the girl's small face was tense, her eyes fixed on the god's movements, doing her utmost to use her sword to block the god's attacks.
Though she couldn't match the god in strength and was forced to retreat continuously under those relentless attacks, the god similarly couldn't break through in a short time.
The girl's defense was like a turtle shell—airtight and difficult to breach. Moreover, she was still looking for chances to counterattack.
Using black tentacles to smash incoming magic from behind while maintaining focus, the god's expression also turned unpleasant. This girl was simply too tenacious.
A mortal actually being able to hold out so long under her, a god's, attacks was truly making her lose face.