Loa had flown less than thirty miles when earthshaking battle cries erupted behind him.
He glanced back. The skies above the Core Region had already descended into utter chaos.
Nearly a thousand Middle Gods, and even some Highgods, swarmed into the Dikas Family's floating islands like locusts, killing anyone they saw and demolishing every building in sight. The shock waves from their battles blasted several small floating islands into flying rubble.
Before he could figure out what had happened, ten figures swept in from the flank and surrounded him.
All ten wore identical badges on their chests-they were among the people who had just flown out of the metal fortress.
"There's another one here! Take him down!" the lead dragonman barked. Ten attacks of divine power blasted toward Loa at once.
Loa frowned, and the Hidden Abyss Sword dropped into his palm with a turn of his hand. Without wasting words, he poured pale green wind divine power into the blade and swept out an arc of sword energy. It spread in a crescent, slicing through the air in its path. A single sweep wiped out all ten attacks and forced all ten attackers back several hundred feet.
"What?" A trace of horror flashed through the dragonman's eyes. Though all ten of them were Middle Gods, their coordination was flawless, and their combined attack was powerful enough to crush others of the same rank.
Yet this unassuming young man had forced all of them back with a single sword strike.
Loa hovered where he was. His gaze passed over the headless badges on their chests, then shifted toward the enormous metal fortress in the distance and the Highgod wearing a four-headed fiend emblem. He roughly understood what was happening.
The Demon Guild was carrying out an assessment mission, and the