"We have a problem." the General sent towards Pef just as he prepared to jump forwards in melee with the Dragon Emperor.

"I can see him." Pef answered, not quite understanding.

"No. Not the Dragon Emperor." the General added just as another claw strike shook the Preservation Array, and killed a few million Legion Ants just from the aftershocks.

'The Devils' the glove explained curtly as a humongous blood construct emerged from the other side of the universe.

Pef nodded as his eyes caught the Taotie spirit in a knowing gaze.

"I see. I'll hold him off until then." the Taotie declared in a confident tone, then Yue flashed forward to block the Dragon Emperor by herself. Kalima joined her with giant fairy wings extending out like floating galaxies.

The General and Lia followed after Pef while the Legion forces repositioned for a two-sided siege.

'I should have known. Betrayal by the Devils shouldn't have been a surprise.' Pef muttered inward, still annoyed at the unexpected betrayal.

'Leave the male Supreme Devil to Lara. Next suit for Lia.' the glove commanded as targeting vectors located the 9 Star female Supreme Devil.

Wearing a long dress made of flayed skins and blood crystals, the black-haired Devil appeared as a femme fatale, even at the middle of a large Formation of Archdevils and lesser minions, numbering at least a hundred trillions.

"I feel ignored, not even invited to the largest party in the multiverse. To think the Legion would have such courage to assault the heart of the Dragon Empire..." the female Supreme Devil spoke with a mesmerizing voice, covering the entire pocket universe.

A second later, the effects of that voice took hold and tens of millions of Legion Ants exploded in gory blood showers, while the Legion Captains and various other Tier 6 and 7 allies struggled to maintain their sanity.

Lara flew at speed past Pef and pierced through the blood golem construct, then immediately engaged the male Supreme Devil in a flurry of punches and kicks.

Pef smiled kindly, then held out another Dragon Scale suit for Lia. "See you on the other side." he spoke lovingly then flashed forward too.

To his sides, thousands of Avatars and millions of clones spread out to engage the Devil Army, while Pef himself stopped a dozen meters from the ruler of the Devils. "It's a pity, you know? You chose the wrong side." he said confidently while staring the female Devil in the eyes.

"Did I? I admit killing Hualitep was quite the feat, but you are destined to lose if you go against the Dragon Emperor, young human. You just don't know the immensity..." she spoke in a sorrowful voice, while glancing fearfully towards the firestorm covering the Tier 9 Dragon.

Pef just shook his head, as if amused. "In fact, you made things much easier for me, Supreme Devil." he said in a mocking tone, then struck her with his Heart Ruler.

The Devil extended her left hand slowly, and blocked the Dimensional Slice with a green-glowing disk of focused Preservation Dao.

"Still confident?" she asked while raising a questioning eyebrow.

'Damn it. I didn't know this could even be blocked.' Pef muttered inward as he tapped his foot three times rapidly, deploying contingency Formations.

'This Supreme Devil has over 97 percent attainments in Preservation Dao. I guess she can block the Taotie himself. Must have been planning to kill him for a long time.' the glove explained in a worried tone.

'Well then. I guess we're lucky I sent the Taotie towards the other target.' Pef answered towards the glove, and let go of the Heart Ruler, then slapped his hands together.

He won't succeed creating a Tier 8 pill so easily, but the ingredients won't survive either.

The Nine Universe Array appeared around the Supreme Devil, just as the Icefire came out and began blasting her with a torrent of cold fire.

Pef could see from how her eyes widened suddenly that she did not expect such a move.

"No! We are withdrawing now. Please let me go!" the Supreme Devil pleaded in a pitiful voice as space began to collapse towards her, draining her qi and crushing her Preservation Dao bubble in a smaller and smaller volume.

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"Too late, pretty lady. You may save your people if they surrender now, but for you...there's no hope left." Pef explained with a small shrug.

The Supreme Devil looked around in a desperate glance, trying to find any help from her allies or even from the General, but the General also shook her head powerless.

A beaten-up male Supreme Devil rose his hands and shouted "We surrender!" surprising Lara who punched his face one more time by inertia.

Pef sighed and looked one last time at the crushed female Devil, now only the size of an apple and still getting smaller. In a few seconds, the Nine Universe Array shook as the core of the Supreme Devil detonated violently.

'Oh well, I guess Rejin will be happy the array works just fine.' Pef commented inward, then turned towards the other big fight between Yue and the Dragon Emperor.

The spirit Taotie had grown to the same size as the Dragon and was gouging immense wounds into his scaled body, ignoring the formidable defenses and only getting a bit frayed by the Dragonfire firestorm. Kalima seemed mostly useless in that fight, though she did help preserve some of the Legion from the shockwaves and flames of the main fight.

"There you go General, new recruits for the Legion." Pef offered generously while pointing at the kneeling Devils, as his own cultivation rose once more, into the 9th Star of Tier 8.

"The Taotie spirit will die soon. Finish this." the General said in a measured voice, then turned away to take charge of the surrendered army of the Devils.

"Just hold him for a second." Pef urged the Taotie as he launched himself towards the Dragon Emperor, the Heart Ruler flying straight into his gloved hand. The sword began to grow in size, until it reached half the universe.

The Taotie didn't answer, but did so anyways, and Pef struck the Dragon right into his heart, piercing his flesh through a large wound and just waited.

The Heart Dividing Ruler began to consume the immense qi of the Dragon Emperor, and in less than a minute the Tier 9 Dragon lay still, drained of all his energy and qi.

A flash of Tribulation fell from the Heavens, and the giant sword Ascended into the next Tier, becoming a true Divine Artifact.

Pef felt he could now strike even through the Supreme Devil's Dao shield, and probably slice the Dragon Emperor wide open with a mere wrist shake.

And so he did, chopping the ruler of Dragons into small bits with a flurry of sword cuts.

The Taotie spirit struck one last time, shattering the remains of the Dragon Emperor's soul and sending the screaming bits towards the waiting Serghoul, then he also dispersed into small snowflakes of qi.

Tribulation Clouds began to gather over Pef's head, a sure sign the next Ascension was coming very soon.

Pef sighed and tapped the space on his side. "Portal!" he demanded in the void.

A violet portal allowed him to cross into the Seven Colored Pagoda just before the first thunderbolt, making the clouds disperse and reappear inside the Violet Realm of the Mausoleum.

Behind him, Yue held her hand out and saw the violet ring of the Taotie crumble and vanish, as the spirit Taotie died.

"You kept your promise, Grandpa. Now it's our turn." she spoke in a sorrowful tone, then fell to her knees, tears streaming on her face.

"What do you intend now, little monster?" the real Taotie asked Pef as he glanced at the gathering black clouds of the Tribulation. He just realized that Pef was still in Tier 8 right now, and could kill him with a single strike, since his cultivation was still restricted at Tier 8 by the Pagoda's Formations.

"Sweet Yue would be sad if you truly die. I could also use a mount, up there." Pef spoke gently as he caressed the joyful sword in his hand.

The Taotie grit his teeth. The first bolt would fall soon, and his death would come sooner unless he agreed. The monster would not wait.

"Master!" the Taotie proclaimed as his head bowed towards the cruel human monster.

The Violet Tribulation Lightning fell on Pef's head.