151 RETURN
"No! What are you doing?" Ma-Shi screamed.
"That is for betraying the Cloud Mountain Sect," Yun-Yun said coldly.
"Did you think we didn't know the Hunter Association orchestrated the destruction of our sect? You recalled our strongest mages to Amoy, leaving us defenseless when the Koresh army attacked. You betrayed us."
"How did you find out, you bitch?" Ma-Shi shouted, his voice full of venom.
Before Yun-Yun could reply, Bael's skeletal hands intervened, striking and capturing both Ma-Shi and Egger in an iron grip.
"Now, get out of here," Leo's message urged Petunia.
Yun-Yun and Petunia fled the jade coffin as Ma-Shi and Egger, gravely wounded, were overrun by Bael's dark minions. The minions tore into their bodies, draining their blood as a dark sacrifice.
"No!" Ma-Shi screamed as the minions clawed into him, tearing him apart from within. Egger met a similar fate, their lives extinguished by the demon Bael.
"It's all that bitch's fault," Ma-Shi choked out with his final breath before the darkness consumed him.
-----
"What now? Leo is still inside the coffin?" Petunia asked Yun-Yun, her voice tinged with concern.
"Now we wait for his breakthrough," Yun-Yun replied calmly.
"Leo is going to break through now?" Petunia asked, her eyes wide with hope.
"No," Yun-Yun said, her expression darkening. "Bael is going to break through."
Suddenly, Bael's skeletal form was engulfed in a crimson glow, his aura flaring to an overwhelming peak. The sheer force of his magic made the air around him tremble.
"At last... this day has come," Bael intoned, his voice resonating with power.
The sky darkened once more, but this time it wasn't the herald of a conjured blade.
Instead, an earth-shattering lightning bolt tore through the heavens, breaking past the weakening Heaven's Cage. The divine lightning was Bael's Destiny's Retribution, heaven's punishing of his advancement into the divine.
The lightning descended directly into Sodom's Ruin.
Bael's crimson glow faltered as his eyes turned toward the approaching storm.
In desperation, he surged toward the jade coffin, using it as a shield against the divine attack. The lightning struck with a deafening roar, shattering the jade coffin into fragments before obliterating Bael's skeletal form.
"Yes, the jade coffin broke as I expected", Bael murmured.
From the wreckage of the coffin, Leo tumbled out, unharmed.
The divine lightning, having done its work on the coffin went forth onto Bael, causing him to dissipate into the void.
But Bael wasn't gone yet. His soul distorted and incomplete, hovered weakly in the air. His voice echoed with desperation.
"My divine body... where is it?" His hollow eyes fixated on Leo, mistaking him for the divine body of the Great Emperor.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," Leo said, rising to his feet, his gaze cold. "The jade coffin was empty all along. The Great Emperor was never inside."
"No!" Bael howled, his distorted soul twisting in anguish. He lunged toward Leo with the last vestiges of his power.
"Whoever you are, I'll take your body instead!"
Desperation fueled Bael's attempt to possess Leo. Without the divine body, his soul was doomed to perish unless he found a new vessel.
Leo, however, stood unfazed.
"Too late for that," Leo said, his voice a whisper of finality.
The ground beneath them cracked as dark, clawed entities emerged, summoned by Leo's magic.
They latched onto Bael's weakened soul, dragging it down into the abyss. Bael struggled, his screams filling the air, but he was no longer the mighty Man-tier mage after he was devastated by Destiny's Retribution.
His fragmented essence stood no chance against the demonic forces Leo had called forth.
With Bael consumed, Leo turned without hesitation, leaping toward Yun-Yun and Petunia.
Behind them, chaos reigned as Bael's shamans clashed with the hunters. The battlefield was a maelstrom of blood and magic, but Leo had no interest in lingering to see its outcome.
"Let's go," Leo said sharply. Yun-Yun and Petunia nodded, and together, they disappeared into the shadows.
By this time the demon army that went out to hunt humans returned. Together with the shamans they soon overpowered the hunters from the two associations, leaving none of them alive as prisoners.
------
Leo and his companions found refuge in an abandoned building far from the chaos of the battlefield.
For the first time in what felt like ages, they could finally rest. Yun-Yun, still drained from using the Orb of Elevation, leaned against the crumbling wall, her face pale and her energy depleted.
"We need to leave this realm soon," Leo said, breaking the heavy silence.
As he spoke, his body began to radiate a magnificent aura. The power of Bael's consumed soul surged within him, transforming into raw magical energy. His magic ascended to new heights—he had broken through to Tier 4 of Svad, solidifying himself as a mid-tier mage.
Petunia watched the glow fade and asked, "What should we do next?"
Leo turned to her, his gaze sharp but tinged with exhaustion. "First, I need to replenish my lust," he said with a sly smile, stepping closer to her.
Petunia blushed, but before she could respond, Leo pulled her into a deep kiss. Their connection ignited, and the passion between them melted into unspoken desire as their bodies merged to satisfy their void.
The silence of the ruin was filled with their moans of pleasure but there was nobody to disturb them tonight. Their enemies had more on their minds than them.
------
They retraced their steps back to the swamp. The journey was eerily quiet, with no sign of other players or human escorts.
"The way back is especially quiet," Leo remarked, his eyes scanning the horizon. "Where are all the so-called genius players?"
"They could have been taken by the demon army," Petunia suggested with a shrug.
Leo smirked. "Serves them right."
As they approached the swamp, Leo brought out the invisible boat, and they boarded swiftly.
The return trip was far less eventful than their initial journey. The few creatures they encountered mostly ignored them, and those that didn't were quickly dispatched.
Their newfound strength from the expedition was evident in how effortlessly they handled any threats.
Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath them, and a low rumble echoed across the realm.