"Huh? The demon hordes nearby... how did they all disappear too??"

During her rapid retreat, Vinova suddenly stopped mid-flight and spun around, scanning the empty space where thousands of demons had been just moments before.

The countless demon hordes that had filled this region of space had vanished without a trace at some point. They'd clearly still been lurking nearby when Lena appeared just moments ago.

But the next second, Vinova snapped her fingers like she'd figured it out.

It must be because of the Judgment Saint!

The Judgment Saint possessed the most ferocious and violent divine power in all of Source Star. To demons, this power was like their most terrifying nemesis. After sensing the Judgment Saint's aura, it made sense that the demons would flee in terror.

Sigh, now isn't the time to think about this...

With this thought, Vinova couldn't help but look back over her shoulder at the dark-haired girl's back, chewing her lower lip nervously. After all, compared to those demons, Lena as the most ancient Abyssal Lord was obviously far more dangerous.

"Good luck, Lady Saint..."

...

Meanwhile, as Vinova retreated, the corners of Yumo's mouth curved up slightly. The next moment, she swung the thin sword in her hand. Overwhelming golden-red divine power thundered out from within her body! Like surging waves, it suddenly swept across the entire world. Countless silver butterflies danced gracefully at this moment, working together with the divine power to surround Lena.

"Hm?"

Lena's eyes narrowed, and she took a half-step backward as she felt this purest murderous divine power.

The next instant, Yumo took a deep breath and suddenly slashed her sword toward Lena.

In that moment, accompanied by the distortion and shattering of space, terrifying golden-red sword energy tore through heaven and earth, charging toward Lena with overwhelming momentum! The horrifying hostility and bone-chilling killing intent were fully displayed in this strike.

Facing such an attack, the cold air around Lena also erupted, instantly rushing toward that terrifying sword energy.

For a moment, the sword energy was directly frozen by Lena's power, transforming into a massive fan-shaped ice sculpture suspended in midair. The world between heaven and earth also became a world of ice and snow.

Whether flesh, spiritual power, or sword energy - the ability to freeze everything was one of Lena's most terrifying powers.

In the past, when she'd attacked the World Tree's heart alone, Lena had single-handedly frozen an entire massive Alliance main fleet in an instant.

However, as Yumo continued inputting power, brilliant golden-red light gradually seeped from within the ice block!

Then, under the effect of scorching high temperatures, the magical ice suddenly melted and collapsed! The liberated sword energy once again roared toward Lena!

At this, Lena's eyebrows shot up and she stumbled backward a step, clearly not expecting her technique to be broken so easily.

At the same time, Lena leaped sideways, directly dodging Yumo's grand slashing attack. After all, once frozen by the magical ice, the sword energy's attack speed had been significantly reduced.

BOOM!

Accompanied by earth-shaking explosions and shocking divine power eruptions! The entire Heaven sub-world trembled as Yumo's sword gave the earth a center part, cracking open a chasm thousands of meters wide! Of course, this was the destructive power produced after the strike's force had been greatly weakened by Lena.

If this unweakened blow had directly hit Lena, even this most ancient Abyssal Lord would probably have suffered heavy damage.

Flapping her ice wings, Lena quickly reached midair.

Looking down at the bottomless chasm below, Lena bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Hmm..."

This girl... she is serious.

Through this strike, Lena confirmed her inner judgment.

Obviously, Yumo didn't want to accept her proposal and wasn't willing to go to the outer realm.

After realizing this, Lena just stood there in midair, shaking her head slowly like she couldn't understand.

In this world, there were strictly speaking only two most powerful forces: the Source Star Alliance formed by races created by the Creator, and the outer realm with its countless demons. All living beings in this world strictly belonged to one of these two forces. After all... if you offended both forces, there would be no place left in this world for her.

However, what Yumo was doing now was pushing herself to oppose both major forces.

This was tantamount to seeking death.

In Lena's view, this stubborn girl had made a foolish decision in a moment of heated emotion.

...

However, Lena quickly shook her head again. Staring at the ancient golden-red symbols in Yumo's eyes, her own eyes went wide as a bold guess suddenly emerged in her mind.

"Is she trying to..."

The next moment, to verify her guess, after dodging a towering sword energy storm, Lena suddenly raised her hand and pointed her finger toward the distance! Then, cold light flickered as ice-attribute Shadow power rapidly gathered at Lena's fingertip. Once the power finished compressing, the icy blue Abyss Emperor Cannon burst forth like a fierce beast breaking free from restraints, charging toward the sky with tremendous momentum!

Of course, Lena's target wasn't Yumo, but the retreating Alliance remnants led by Vinova in the distant sky.

?!!

Faced with the charging icy beam, Vinova threw her hands up and stumbled backward while the others immediately threw up their arms to shield their faces. They scrambled to mobilize their last strength to try constructing defensive shields. Unfortunately, Lena's attack was unstoppable, instantly shattering Vinova and the others' defenses and continuing to blast toward this group of Alliance remnants.

Just as Vinova and the others were about to be reduced to nothing, a golden-red light suddenly flashed in front of them.

Under the wide-eyed stares of these Alliance members, Yumo who'd teleported over directly split Lena's attack in two with one strike!

The bisected blue beam shot straight through the clouds, suddenly leaving two huge gashes in Heaven's spatial barrier.

...

"As expected..."

Staring at that dark-haired girl suspended in midair, standing before Vinova and the others with heroic bearing like a valkyrie, Lena nodded slowly with a smile.

At this moment, Lena confirmed her thoughts.

I see. I thought it was strange earlier - Vinova's barrier was clearly at its limit, yet the demon hordes somehow couldn't break through. The Alliance forces outside were clearly beaten back by the demons, yet those demons never delivered a killing blow. All to leave witnesses like Vinova and Lawrence...

To let these powerhouses personally witness Yumo using the Judgment Saint's power, and using that power to protect them and repel another Abyssal Lord.

If I'm not mistaken, after this, she probably plans to...

Heh... hehe... hehehe...

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Under the wary gazes of Yumo and the others, abandoning her previous elegance and coldness, Lena clutched her stomach and threw her head back, laughing toward the skye.

"So you even calculated me into this? Hehe... your children are quite impressive."

However, after laughing a few times, Lena's wild laughter stopped abruptly, and locked her gaze back on Yumo with laser focus.

"You want to protect them, right?"

Lena asked coldly.

As she spoke, cold air capable of freezing souls suddenly surged toward Yumo like overwhelming waves.

Facing Lena's towering momentum, Yumo planted her feet firmly and raised her chin:

"As long as I'm here, I won't let you do whatever you want anymore."

Yumo's tone was serious, completely different from the Abyssal girl who'd been grinning wickedly and laughing maniacally before.

At these words, Vinova and the others behind her immediately dropped to one knee in reverence, no longer showing any trace of their previous cowering.

As her words fell, gentle yet sacred power surged wildly around Yumo once again. The aura constructed by silver spirit butterflies and golden-red divine power fearlessly clashed with Lena's cold air. In an instant, a destructive feeling spread rapidly throughout all of the place with the two women as its center.

...

Staring at Yumo like this, Lena tilted her head slightly and pursed her lips.

Though she didn't have Maya's all-seeing Eye of Revelation, with her exceptional perception and rich experience, she still instantly noticed the detail of Yumo's divine power slightly dispersing around her.

Heh. Looks like she's still forcing herself. As expected, she can't perfectly control the Judgment Saint's power yet. Plus with the previous battle against Maya, her body should already be on the verge of collapse.

If I acted now, there's no way she could beat me...

Lena made this judgment in her mind

However, while she could win, she obviously lost interest in the fight. She let her shoulders slump and the tension went out of her posture.

Glancing indifferently at Yumo, Lena gradually restrained the violent cold air around her. The terrifying oppression immediately crumbled.

For a moment, a sly smirk flashed across Lena's lips.

"Since you've already made your move, it would be foolish for me to continue staying here... Well then, I'll take my leave first, Miss Judgment Saint..."