Finally waking up in his soul, Loren surveyed the familiar surroundings and revealed a knowing smile. He praised the raven squatting on the central signpost at the intersection:

“Well done, Raven.”

“Foolish master, don’t forget that no matter how long you spend here, only two seconds will have passed in the outside world.”

The raven extended one wing to cover its small head, its tone dripping with disdain.

“After I go out, you can just pull my soul back in here, can’t you?”

Loren stood up and reached out to stroke the raven’s head on the signpost.

“That level of soul attack, even for a Legendary-tier devil, shouldn’t be able to last very long.”

After saying this, Loren, standing in the middle of the crossroads, casually chose a path and began to move forward. His figure gradually disappeared into the Illusion Space.

Here, he was more familiar with the place than anyone. He could find the path laden with Fortune even with his eyes closed.

When Loren’s figure vanished from the Illusion Space, the next instant, his figure reappeared in the center of the crossroads.

The raven squatting on the road sign once again used the sixth ability to pull Loren back into the Illusion Space.

After waiting for a while, Loren again casually chose a path and walked out of the Illusion Space.

……

This operation of exiting the Illusion Space and immediately returning was repeated by Loren a total of 15 times.

Thirty seconds had also passed in the outside world.

Thirty seconds might seem very short, but it was enough for some things to change.

For example, the devil stopped its soul spell…

For example, Loren’s advancement was completed…

———-

Federal Calendar 7708, October 24th, early morning hours.

Now a Ninth-tier Superhuman, Loren stood in the large crater on the ground and gently spread the Black Wings behind him.

“The second round begins, Mr. Devil…”

With a slight flap of the broad wings, a fierce gale swept across the ground, and his figure once again soared into the night sky.

In the blink of an eye, Loren arrived high above in the night sky.

After flying to the same height as his opponent, Loren looked at this devil with a somewhat surprised expression and revealed a meaningful smile.

“I shall give you another small gift. Please begin your performance…”

After saying this, Loren silently activated his Seventh Ability — Fate’s Gift.

As a wisp of Fortune was bestowed upon the devil by Loren, a massive amount of Misfortune was immediately re-applied to the devil’s body.

Feeling the unfavorable changes reappearing on his body, that devil shrugged indifferently.

“Once you use little tricks too often, I get bored.”

After this comment, the devil skillfully activated the spell that transformed into countless bats, still choosing to use this minor spell to evade the lock of Loren’s ability.

The sky was once again filled with swarming black bats.

Loren, however, gave a mysterious smile at this moment and silently activated his newly acquired ability.

“Mr. Devil, I should say, it’s your little spell that has started to bore me…”

As Loren’s words fell, some new changes occurred in the battle high in the night sky.

Among the nearly endless swarm of black bats in the night sky, there was one utterly ordinary black bat hiding within the multitude. Its face was somewhat contorted, as if it were experiencing some excruciating pain.

And this bat was the true form of that devil.

He, who should have used the spell to evade Loren’s ability lock, was instead, after transforming into a bat, bizarrely locked onto again by Loren’s ability.

He didn’t know how Loren had managed to re-lock onto him amidst the sky-filling swarm of bats. He only knew his magic power was rapidly decreasing, and furthermore, a hidden injury he had sustained many years ago had suddenly flared up again.

This hidden injury was left from a battle with a Legendary-tier demon when his devil kin first entered The Abyss.

After years of dormancy and recuperation, he had thought this injury should have healed.

But for some unknown reason, after he transformed into a bat, this injury left by the demon bizarrely flared up again…

The devil hiding within the bat swarm couldn’t help but look toward Loren, guessing in his heart, “Was it his doing?”

To his surprise, Loren also happened to be looking in his direction.

Man and bat locked eyes perfectly.

Suspended in the night air, Loren smiled at the black bat that was the devil’s transformed form.

“It really was his method!”

Seeing Loren’s smile, the devil inexplicably felt a chill.

After confirming it was Loren’s ability, the devil’s thoughts began to spin rapidly as he considered countermeasures…

One idea after another kept appearing, only to be rejected by him the next moment.

With the injury flaring up, engaging in physical combat is impossible. No, speed isn’t my strong suit;
even at my peak, it would be hard to get close to him…

Innate spells can also be easily resolved by him, even seeming ineffective…

Should I return to The Abyss? No! I worked so hard to get this chance to come to the Star Realm!!

Thinking this, the devil made his decision. He would try once more!

The devil hiding in the bat swarm forcibly suppressed his gradually reawakening injury and continuously activated every spell he knew that might be effective…

“Curse Removal.” Ineffective!

“Heal Injury.” Ineffective!

“Energy Expulsion.” Ineffective!

After trying these three spells and finding his predicament unchanged, the devil decided to change his approach. He once again cast his evasion spell.

Hiding within the bat swarm, he once again transformed into countless bats, merging into the sky-filling multitude.

The situation improved somewhat!

After transforming into countless bats again, the bizarre drain on his internal magic power stopped for an instant, and the continuous worsening of his injury also halted for an instant.

But what made the devil despair was that it was only for that instant.

The next instant, he felt himself locked onto again by Loren’s ability!!

Everything he did was futile!

No matter how the devil used spells to evade, Loren could always accurately find his true form among the endless black bats.

Loren, positioned in the distance, sensed the many struggles of the devil’s true form within the bat swarm and silently shook his head.

Feeling somewhat bored, he unconsciously let out a yawn.

“Is the game of cat and mouse fun, Mr. Devil?”

As time passed, the magic power within the devil’s body was decreasing drastically. He could no longer suppress the recurrence of his injury.

The devil could no longer maintain the sky-filling bat swarm. The endless multitude of bats in the night sky all transformed into black mist in an instant, scattered by the night wind.

The inconspicuous bat symbolizing the devil’s true form also changed back into that tall figure clad in dark red leather armor.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep