On the other side of the battlefield, Jiang Qingyue's chains had finished covering the third node.
She did not sever the node. Instead, she kept it synchronized with the formation's energy flow, allowing it to continue operating as a complete pathway.
The patterns of the demon god curse mark ground continuously against those of the Myriad Demons Return to the Void formation at their points of contact, blurring the boundary between dark red and deep purple.
Finally, the chains' trajectory overrode the third node's output direction, like a new waterway being fed into an existing riverbed.
The energy inside the node began flowing backward along the chains, throwing the rate at which it fed into the terminal node out of alignment.
Fine cracks appeared across the surface of that gray shell, like a mirror pressed down on repeatedly. The cracks were deepening faster than they could mend.
Gale had already completed her third exchange with the bone-spiked figure.
Three parallel trails of cyan flame lingered behind her. The air reeked of bone spikes scorched by repeated cuts, and shattered black fragments littered the ground.
The figure was still standing, but wisps of dull black mist began seeping from the breaks across his body that no longer healed, like remnants that could no longer be gathered back together.
A trace of scrutiny still lingered in his gaze as he looked at Gale, but he no longer had the ability to act.
As the last intact connection was severed, his body began slowly coming apart along those fractures, breaking into pieces that fell to the ground.
Gale lowered her blade. Without another glance at the disintegrating figure, she turned toward the center of the formation.
The Second Elder's slashes continued. His attacks grew increasingly precise, increasingly narrow, like layers of skin being