Chapter 79: The Fall of a Legend

With a clang of metal, golden dragon armor shards flew through the air as Muria's faceplate shattered under Michalella's powerful punch, scattering pieces of the dragon armor from the lower right side of his face.

Muria staggered from the blow. The girl with platinum blonde hair then raised her leg, covered in legendary armor, and fiercely kicked Muria in the chest.

"Boom!" Muria's large and sturdy body was sent flying into a pile of demon corpses he had slain earlier. The corpses were crushed under his massive form, limbs and fragments scattering everywhere as the foul blood of the demons evaporated under the fierce dragon flames engulfing Muria.

Coughing, Muria staggered to his feet from the pile of demonic remains, his whole body still enveloped in dragon flames, avoiding any filth. His faceplate slowly regrew, and the chestplate, cracked from Michalella's kick, also began to heal.

Seeing Muria stand up, Michalella flapped her ten blazing wings and instantly appeared before him, her leg sweeping across with even greater force than before, striking Muria's arms which were crossed in defense.

"Crack!" A grimace involuntarily crossed Muria's face as his arm bones snapped under the impact. He was sent flying again, tracing an elegant parabola through the air before plowing a long trench into the ground upon landing.

"Tap, tap…" The sound of metallic boots on the gravelly ground grew from distant to near as Michalella approached the prone Muria.

"Get up," Michalella said, looking down at Muria as he lay there with his shattered dragon scale armor slowly knitting back together.

"I'm done fighting!" Muria lay still amid the stones, feeling utterly overwhelmed in every aspect. To him, continuing the fight was masochistic and pointless.

"So you give up because you still have the capacity to fight?" Michalella frowned down at him.

"Yes, I give up. You're a whole rank above me; how am I supposed to fight you?" Muria looked up at Michalella, whose beauty even from below was breathtaking. The dragon flames on his body were slowly extinguishing.

"I have been holding back my power to fight you," Michalella clenched her fists, having restrained her full strength during their duel.

"You're wearing a set of legendary armor and fighting me in close combat. No matter how much you hold back, I can't break through your defense," Muria pointed to his healing dragon scale armor. "And yet, with just the enhancement from your legendary armor, you easily shattered my dragon armor. This fight was never fair from the start."

"You disagree?"

"What if it were you? Would you be satisfied?" Muria retorted, then stood up to face Michalella directly.

"That's fair," Michalella nodded, then turned and started walking towards the battlefield. "From now on, I will suppress my power to stay at the Gold Rank until you reach it too. Then, I will fight you without any armor or weapons, with bare hands, in a fair match of the same level, and I will make sure you are thoroughly convinced."

"Agreed!" Muria responded, unafraid of any challenge at his level.

Michalella picked up a sword from the ground, the incandescent flames flaring around her, her ten wings spreading wide. Seeing the Seraphim girl's movements, the handsome Titan youth raised an eyebrow. "What are you planning?"

"Joining the battle."

"That's not happening." Muria quickly moved to block her path as she spoke. "Your brother just had you bound up and tasked me with keeping an eye on you."

"Move aside!" By now, Michalella was engulfed in flames, her face obscured.

"I won't."

"You can't stop me!"

"Maybe I can't, but what about her?" Muria pointed towards a Titan girl standing on a distant hill, watching the battlefield.

"Hmph, she can't stop me either!" As Michalella spoke, a helmet with dazzling magical patterns appeared on her head, completely covering her face with a brilliant mask.

Holding two swords forged from Solflame Gold and clad in legendary full armor, Muria could only look on enviously. Without a suitable weapon, Helen Herman really couldn't stop a determined Michalella from joining the fight.

"Hold on." As Michalella flapped her wings to leave, Muria quickly spread his golden dragon wings and blocked her path again.

"Just with this legendary gear, you think you can intervene in a battle of legends?" Muria spoke up. "Even if you join the fight, and even with your legendary armor, you won't die, but your attacks would be nothing to the eight-armed Serpent Demon; she could catch them barehanded. If you join, you'd only be a burden to your brother and your people."

Michalella fell silent, knowing her own limitations and the gap between herself and a true legend, especially as her brother, Silvester, had already been thrown around several times by the Serpent Demon.

"Michalella, don't join the battle. Just watch with me," Muria continued, trying to persuade her to abandon her plans to fight.

As Muria spoke more fervently, Michalella raised her flaming sword and brought it down heavily on him.

"Boom!" The sword's spine landed on Muria's right shoulder, Michalella's unguarded strike catching him off guard. He was smashed into the ground, creating a huge crater as dust billowed around him.

"Muria, I'll wait for you to reach Gold Rank," Michalella's flames dwindled, leaving only the fire on her wings still burning. After speaking, a teleportation circle appeared under her feet, and with a flash of light, she left the demonic training ground.

"Ouch, that hurts!" Muria climbed out of the crater, rubbing his shoulder, puzzled. "I was just speaking the truth, even if it was harsh."

"Muria, watch the battle; the eight-armed Serpent Demon is about to be slain," Helen Herman called out from afar, seeing Muria still confused about why Michalella had suddenly struck him.

"Hmm?" Hearing Helen Herman, Muria shook his wings and flew up to the sky, looking towards the distant legendary battlefield.

There, the Serpent Demon's curved blades, worn down from prolonged battle with the Titans and Seraphim, looked like jagged teeth, severely worn, with one blade so notched it seemed about to break.

"Tingling clang..." Following a series of metallic sounds, a five-six-meter-long blade fragment soared into the air, spinning several times before embedding itself in the hard ground. After a long fight, one of the Serpent Demon's curved blades finally broke under a Titan's strike.

As the blade snapped, a splash of black-red blood caught Muria's attention. The break in the Serpent Demon's defenses allowed the Seraphim Silvester to exploit the opening, landing a sword strike on the demon's arm.

The sharp blade nearly severed the Serpent Demon's upper right arm, but the demon reacted quickly, pushing Silvester back and preventing a follow-up strike.

The wound on the Serpent Demon, marked by a faint white incandescent flame, prevented the demon's regeneration. However, the demonic power within surged

, quickly dispelling the flame, and her arm healed as if it had never been injured.

But the spilt blood, which scorched the barren ground leaving it pitted and uneven, affirmed the Serpent Demon's injury—a significant moment after such a prolonged battle, marking the first time the legendary creature had been hurt.

"Roar!" Enraged by the breakage of her weapon and her injury, the Serpent Demon lashed out frenziedly, now fighting without concern for her own safety. Protecting only her head and heart, she aimed to take down a Titan or Seraphim before her demise.

As she abandoned defense for desperate attacks, several Titans and Seraphim were knocked back, bones broken and spewing blood, yet they managed to inflict deep, visible wounds on her, spraying demonic blood.

"Buzz!" A Seraphim, fixated by the Serpent Demon, was slashed five times, his armor deformed by the blows. His platinum blood spilled, scorching the demons that surrounded him.

Just as the Serpent Demon prepared to land a fatal blow on the gravely injured Seraphim, a blinding light erupted from him, blocking her strike. He was then teleported out of the abyssal training ground, bearing his severe wounds.

"Roar! No!" The Serpent Demon screamed in frustration as her prey escaped just before she could claim his head. Completely forsaking defense, she had allowed several pass-through wounds in her body, her organs visibly writhing within.

"Titans! Seraphim!" The Serpent Demon's face, beautiful even with its serpentine scales, twisted in extreme anger. She could accept being slain by another legend but not the humiliation of being hunted down by soul intent beings.

And to think, even without regard for her own life, she couldn't take even one soul intent with her, filling her with regret and resentment. She bitterly regretted entering this abyssal gateway.

"Come on! Let's finish her off together!" Several Titans and Seraphim shouted as they saw the Serpent Demon's fury. They had already inflicted severe wounds on her as she chased after the Seraphim.