Among the Asuras!
Die! Makelich growled inwardly. His once-clouded eyes suddenly turned cold and clear-
Hum~~~
Two beams of gray light shot from Makelich's eyes, streaking straight through the air!
It looked simple, but in truth, it was his strongest ultimate move, containing many profound mysteries of his Death Rule. Not only did this attack possess the power to destroy an enemy's soul outright, it also contained a terrifying curse and poison. Once it entered an enemy's soul, it would cling like a maggot to the bone, corroding it without end!
In the Void, an invisible Soul Attack struck Rog almost instantly, seeking to invade his Soul Ocean. It had to be said that Makelich's Soul Attack was truly terrifying. Even the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal could not completely block his soul power!
Still, more than ninety-nine percent of the soul power was kept out by the treasure, leaving less than one percent to break through. Even though this soul power carried a curse and vicious poison, it could not shake Rog's soul in the slightest.
His soul defense was strong to begin with, and the Celestial Crystal secret art guarded his soul. Even without any soul-defense treasures, he was unlikely to suffer soul damage from an expert of the same level. Still, just in case, he had used the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal.
That was right. Before this battle, Rog had already had Dimont release his ownership of the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal, taking it for his own use against this challenge.
After all, this was a battle to the death. Treasures were sometimes part of one's strength too!
After unleashing that Soul Attack, Makenrich made no further moves. He was certain his opponent would die from the blow!
"You're celebrating too soon!" Rog sneered and transformed into a bolt of lightning, charging straight at him!
"What! You're not dead!" Makenrich was shocked! But his astonishment lasted only an instant. The next moment, he detonated a drop of Destruction Sovereign Power!
With the Sovereign's Might detonated, a far more terrifying power surged through his entire body, and Sovereign's Might energy filled with an aura of destruction began to spill out-
"Again!" That drop of Sovereign's Might had been inside his original body all along, so using it took no more than a thought.
By the time Rog was about to close in, Makenrich had already unleashed the Sovereign's Might. His speed soared in an instant, and he opened up the distance between them!
This is troublesome! Rog sighed inwardly. He had wanted to catch his opponent off guard and, ideally, kill him before he could be prompted to use Sovereign's Might. Unfortunately, his opponent had managed to react...
"You made me waste a drop of Sovereign's Might. You're dead today!" Rog was helpless. His opponent cultivated the Death Rule, and his speed and material attacks were actually quite ordinary among Asuras. But now that he was empowered by a drop of Sovereign's Might, even his weakest aspect surpassed Rog's!
Boom!
Rog instantly detonated his only drop of Destruction Sovereign Power as well!
Sizzle! Unwilling to accept it, Makenrich once again unleashed his strongest Soul Attack at full power, and this time it was empowered by Sovereign's Might!
Unfortunately...
Impressive. With Sovereign's Might empowering it, nearly half of that Soul Attack made it through the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal... Rog had to admit that his opponent's Soul Attack was terrifying indeed. It had nearly tested the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal's limit!
The Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal was, after all, only a wondrous treasure. Its function was merely to isolate, or rather filter, incoming soul power. It was fundamentally different from a true Soul Defense Divine Artifact.
The only good thing now was that even though the Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal could not block the entire Soul Attack, it remained completely intact.
"Suppress it!" Makenrich's Soul Attack methods were indeed far more intricate than Rog's crude and direct approach!
Streams of soul power, each carrying all manner of vicious curses,
continued to assault the second layer of defense, the Celestial Crystal formed from Rog's own soul power! Sizzle~ Though these Soul Attacks kept corroding the Celestial Crystal, nearly sixty percent of the attack had already been blocked. The remaining forty percent or so could do nothing to him!
A clash of souls was the most perilous kind of battle. Life and death were often decided in an instant. In years past, two Asura experts in succession had died outright under Makenrich's attacks. Unfortunately for him, today he had encountered Rog!
Rog possessed the wondrous Soul-Suppressing Celestial Crystal and had also developed a unique soul-defense secret art based on it, allowing him to withstand Makenrich's methods.
"Your attack is over. Now it's your turn to taste mine!" With Rog's icy words, a familiar scene unfolded once more-
Thunderclouds blotted out the sky as they gathered, their bleak and dismal atmosphere oppressive. Even Makenrich, who specialized in the soul, was affected.
Layer upon layer of black thunderclouds piled up, covering the entire sky above the Anbuli Mountain Range almost instantly!
Seen from afar, the entire Anbuli Mountain Range and the rest of the Infernal Realm seemed to have become two separate worlds! The area shrouded by black thunderclouds swallowed all light, lying in complete darkness and deathly silence-a scene of utter apocalypse!
As Rog continued to develop this move, he had become more adept at using it. Not only did it gather power faster, but the might of heaven and earth it drew together had also grown ever more terrifying!
"What on earth is this!" Beneath the thunderclouds, Makenrich was greatly alarmed! He had discovered that his body was being affected by something beyond his control!
Though the effect was not enough to leave him unable to move as if he were stuck in a quagmire, the pressure bearing down on his mind and will was deeply uncomfortable!
Without standing beneath the shadow of those dense thunderclouds oneself, it was impossible to imagine the strange sensation he was experiencing.
"Makenrich, feel the fury of thunder!"
"Azure Thunder!"
"This is bad!"
Makenrich had long sensed that something was wrong, and he struggled desperately to break free and escape the danger zone!
Unfortunately, he had barely gotten any distance!
A bolt of deep-black lightning suddenly emerged from deep within the clouds overhead!
Boom! The bolt of black lightning suddenly flashed out from the dense storm clouds!
Tens of meters thick, the immense lightning bolt was like a terrifying azure dragon from ancient times-
In almost the blink of an eye, it tore through space and descended directly upon Makenrich, swallowing his entire body!
In an instant, Makenrich, who had just been so imperious and whom countless experts of the Infernal Realm had believed unbeatable, was utterly reduced to nothing, without a trace left behind.
After Makenrich was completely swallowed by that awe-inspiring azure dragon of lightning, this Asura expert, who had held the position of Prefect for countless years, finally died at the hands of a stronger opponent!
In the battles of years past, he had slain countless experts who dared challenge him with nothing more than a glance. Now, at last, it was his turn to die beneath another's thunder.
Rog reflected on him for only a moment; his opponent's Soul Attack methods had indeed been astonishing. Then he looked down at the countless spectators below and spoke. "This battle is over. Makenrich is dead. From today onward, I, Rog, am the new Lord of Tianhua Prefecture!"
With that, he flew straight toward the residence of the Prefect of Tianhua City, leaving only his departing figure behind. The thick thunderclouds, so vast and terrifying just moments ago, also dispersed in the blink of an eye. A beautiful rainbow could even be seen...
Silence!
The countless spectators below fell quiet for an instant before erupting into a tumult of discussion.
Someone had challenged a Prefect and succeeded in a single battle! How many years passed between challenges to a Prefect in the Infernal Realm? After all, many people with the strength of an Asura did not dare challenge a Prefect because they had attachments and feared failure. Everyone knew what failure meant: more often than not, death.
The residents of Tianhua City itself were even more excited. They had been fortunate enough to witness a change of Prefects!
What was more, in this challenge, Rog had slain Makenrich, a peerless expert who had been famous for a trillion years. It was a miracle!
The cheers seemed contagious, spreading through the countless people below in wave after wave.
They all knew that, at last, someone had successfully challenged a Prefect.
The previous Lord of Tianhua Prefecture, Makenrich, had been slain. Rog, the new Lord of Tianhua Prefecture, had emerged!
"Greetings, Prefect." Those who reacted quickly hurriedly dropped to one knee and saluted Rog.
"Greetings, Prefect!" At once, hundreds of thousands of prefecture soldiers also dropped to one knee and responded in unison.
Their voices joined together, seeming to pass through the clouds and echo between heaven and earth like countless peals of thunder. It was the sound of hundreds of thousands of prefecture soldiers calling out together!
The entire Tianhua City, and even the residents of some tribes farther away, heard it clearly!
Rog calmly swept his gaze around him, and a faint smile appeared on his face despite himself. After coming to the Infernal Realm, he had traveled and fought across the land. At last, he had become the Prefect of a prefecture and earned a place among the Infernal Realm's 108 Asuras!