Lord Airding of Moonwheel City sat forlornly in the main seat, surrounded by his advisors, the leaders of his vassal families, and his son.
"I have received confirmation from Indigo City that Jason Rhein is a man of the Beirut Lord. In this challenge to the city lord, the Vance City, as well as the five cities of Hermione City, Hermione, Pillarstone City, Bottle Falls City, and Mier City will remain neutral."
"The cities of 'Azure Lock ' and ' Parting Fire ' have expressed their support for us, but haven't taken any concrete action; Aurore City hasn't made a clear statement yet," Airding said to those around him.
Airding's son, who was still Midgod, said angrily, "It's one thing for the city lord to support Jason, but why don't the other city lords support Father? You are all clearly people of the Blood Peak Sovereign!"
A brief silence fell over the area.
Finally, a middle-aged man spoke up, "Jason's challenge might also be on the orders of the Blood Peak Sovereign —the Lord of Beirut is the Blood Peak Sovereign's messenger."
The people around them had also roughly thought of this and nodded in agreement.
The middle-aged man continued, "It seems that Lord Beirut's protection of the Four Divine Beasts Clan was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. The city lord's secret support for the Eight Great Clans has angered the Sovereign."
A cold glance from Airding startled the man into silencing him.
Another man quickly added, "It's said that this Jason was granted the Seven Star Fiend qualification by Lord Beirut on a temporary basis, and he's here to challenge him immediately."
"So what?" Airding, a little annoyed.
"This suggests that his challenge was a hasty arrangement. Perhaps the Blood Peak Sovereign is only slightly dissatisfied with the City Lord and has not truly made up his mind to remove you from your position as City Lord." The man paused and glanced around.
Seeing that the people around him, who had been keeping their heads down, were now looking at him, he smiled and said, "As long as you, City Lord, can win this challenge and then sever ties with the Eight Great Clans, the Sovereign God and the Lord of the Prefecture should not pursue the matter any further!"
Airding's eyes lit up, and his cold expression softened considerably.
The few people around him who had initially lost faith in Airding exchanged glances upon hearing this, suppressing their thoughts of leaving.
At this moment, a servant stood at the door. "My lord, an envoy from Aurore City has come to pay a visit."
Airding glanced around, then at the advisor from before, and said, "Tell him I'm in seclusion and not receiving guests. Send him back."
Then he looked at his son and said, "From now on, all transactions with the Eight Great Clans shall be terminated, and the stockpiled goods shall be sold through legitimate channels."
"Inform Jason that I will accept his challenge at Moonwheel Cliff, south of Moonwheel City, in one month."
Moonwheel Cliff is a famous landmark on the west side of Indigo Prefecture. The entire cliff resembles a crescent moon, encircling the ocean in the middle. When the blood-red moon of the Infernal Realm rises to its zenith, the moonlight shines through the sea onto the cliff, making the yellow and white sandstone of the cliff gleam, as if a crescent moon is inlaid between the earth and the sea.
Further west of Moonwheel Cliff lies the Star Mist Sea, while Moonwheel City is located on the north side of Moonwheel Cliff, and is named after Moonwheel Cliff.
The Moonwheel City Lord Challenge takes place at midnight on the night of the full moon.
Jason was surprised that Airding accepted the challenge so readily; he had thought Eldin would secretly obstruct it, or at least put pressure on the Rhine Clan by uniting with allies. Jason was even prepared to use the Beirut token to contact the neutral city lords.
"Be careful, Airding might have some trump card," Delisha cautioned, sensing that his swiftness was unusual. "Don't get distracted during the fight; Bessalie and the others are with the family."
Bessalie, Tarosse, and Freya all stayed with the Rhine Clan, fearing that Airding might take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
Jason watched the Moonwheel City Lord flying towards them, surrounded by a crowd, and weighed his options. "The Seven Star Fiend ' trump cards, namely the Sovereign’s Might and the Soul Defense Divine Artifact, will most likely come from the Eight Great Clans; the city lords within the Indigo Prefecture might have a chance to obtain Divine Spark Weapon, but Airding probably has no chance."
Meanwhile, Airding was also discussing matters telepathically with his trusted confidants.
The advisor had previously instructed, "This Jason is likely a man of the Beirut governor. He's here to warn you, the city lord, and the various factions within the governor's domain: avoid harming him unless absolutely necessary. I've already relocated the surrounding tribes and families from the area occupied by his family; there shouldn't be any major conflicts."
Airding nodded, took out his weapon—a halberd—and then flew to the sea surface far away from Moonwheel Cliff.
Jason flew towards her, wielding the Blood Blade "Weeping Blood" and the glove "Wheel of Suffering".
Airding broke through to the Seven Star Fiend less than ten thousand years ago. About twenty thousand years ago, he participated in the Planar Wars against the Netherworld and the Lightning Element Divine Plane with the strength of Six-Star Fiend. On the battlefield, he broke through to the Seven Star Fiend and gained the appreciation of the Blood Peak Sovereign.
After officially passing the Seven Star Fiend's test after the Planar Wars ended, he was assigned to a position in the Bloodridge Army. Coincidentally, the Four Divine Beasts Four Divine Beasts Clan underwent a dramatic change, so he was promoted to Lord of Moonwheel City.
After becoming the city lord, Airding fought against other powerful figures on several occasions to demonstrate his strength.
Jason had seen Airding's Battle Projection. In terms of attack alone, Airding was at the top level of Seven Star Fiend, but in other aspects he was really weak, and his overall strength was not strong, which was very much in line with the characteristics of a newly promoted Seven Star Fiend.
Meanwhile, Airding was brimming with confidence. During this time, he had made inquiries from various sources and finally obtained some information about Jason —he was not even five thousand years old!
At first, Airding was somewhat skeptical. Reaching the strength of Seven Star Fiend in five thousand years meant that the other party had the potential to become Asura.
Ultimately, it was only through the information provided by his friend, who claimed to have gotten it from Beirut's grandson, that Airding dared to be certain that his upcoming opponent was a genius.
However, this also convinced Airding that Jason's strength shouldn't be too great. In five thousand years, even Beirut, whose talent was rumored to be unparalleled in all planes, couldn't have reached the peak of Seven Star Fiend.
"The city lord is challenging a restricted area. My attack specialization will give me a greater advantage. I'll try to force him to admit defeat within ten moves." Airding raised his halberd and announced that the battle could begin.
Jason, holding a long knife, did not attack immediately; he wanted to see what gave his opponent such confidence.
Wielding a halberd and clad in heavy black armor, Airding unleashed a powerful slash, the tip of which created a spatial rift that shimmered with dazzling light; Jason instantly activated "Arc Flash," moving along the arc of electricity to the side and rear of his opponent.
The halberd swung once more, this time unleashing fiery red Divine Power. Jason felt a spatial lock-on effect, likely from the "Profound Mystery of Explosion," but it wasn't strong. Even Linley's Blackstone Space couldn't completely lock Jason down, so he easily dodged this level of restraint.
Airding hadn't expected Jason's movements to be so unpredictable, but he wasn't bothered by it. As fellow newly promoted Seven Star Fiend, the stronger Jason was in other aspects, the weaker he was in attack, which reassured Airding, whose defense was relatively poor.
In the third round, Jason took the initiative to attack. Sensing that Airding had no effective way to restrict his movement, Jason decided to test his own attack first.
This attack was, of course, a full-force strike. Jason first set up Arc Flash as an escape route, then charged forward with Blood Blade in both hands; Airding was overjoyed at the sight and met the attack head-on without dodging or avoiding it.
Jason's gloves, the Wheel of Suffering, gleamed with golden light, attempting to disrupt the opponent's attack path, but he found that the space around the halberd seemed to be locked, completely unshakeable; Airding unleashed his full Destruction Divine Power, striking Jason with his strongest attack.
The Blood Blade clashed with the halberd. Although Jason was prepared, the powerful physical attack exceeded Jason expectations. Both arms were instantly broken, and the Blood Blade, carried by inertia, embedded itself directly in Jason's chest. In his sea of consciousness, a powerful soul attack broke through the layers of resistance in Jason's soul, only dissipating after striking the "Ink Soul".
Jason had already prepared an escape route, instantly melted into the arc of electricity, flashed to the edge of the battle area, and quickly switched to his Lightning Clone.
Under the tense gaze of Jason and the surrounding audience, Airding's halberd fell from his hand, and his body fell limply to the ground with a "plop" into the sea.
"Uh--" Jason, who thought the other party had some hidden trump card, didn't even have time to put away the other party's belongings.
Airding hadn't expected to lose, and Jason hadn't expected to win so quickly.
"I... won?"
Jason looked at Delisha behind him, who also seemed somewhat incredulous.
Only three of them! Jason originally expected that even without using the Sovereign Artifact and bloodline transformation, they would fight for at least a whole night, since both of them were newly promoted Seven Star Fiend.
In the end, Theresa was calmer than Jason. She transmitted her thoughts to him. "You are now the city lord. Quickly collect his belongings, and then issue arrest warrants for Eldin's confidants and his possible divine avatars!"
Jason realized what was happening and plunged headfirst into the seabed.
Because of the great battle in the sky, the creatures in this sea area had long been wiped out, Jason easily found Airding's body and belongings.
It flew into the air again, dripped a drop of blood onto the halberd, and easily recognized it as its master.
Relieved, Jason raised his halberd high and shouted, "From this day forward, I am the Lord of Moonwheel City!"
He looked around and then said, "I hereby issue an arrest warrant for all of Airding's relatives. Anyone who resists will be killed without exception!"
Delisha made her move before Jason could finish speaking, charging straight at Airding's son, who had already begun to flee.
Airding's trusted men, who had originally planned to slip away quietly, all increased their speed to the maximum. Many of them were skilled fighters who might not be afraid of Delisha, but in the current situation, none of them dared to linger.
Delisha only managed to stop Airding's only son, who was slightly weaker. This time, only she and Jason were present for the challenge, and there was no one else available. As for the Moonwheel City Guards around them, they did not launch an attack immediately because their leader, who was also Airding's confidant, had just fled.
Jason transformed into a bolt of lightning, and following the information in the intelligence, he beheaded one of Airding's loyal confidants. Looking around, he saw that the rest of the men had already fled.
They reunited with Delisha, who had already defeated their opponent.
Delisha put away the other person's belongings without saying anything, "Let's go back first. With Lord Beirut here, important figures won't be able to escape from the Indigo."