A gentle energy wrapped around Jack, protecting him. He finally managed to raise his head. He still had to squint, but he could now vaguely make out the figure who’d smashed their starship.

It was a man. He wore crimson robes, and his long red hair fluttered upwards as if some wind was blowing from below. His two arms were connected before his chest, his long sleeves invading each other. His skin was tanned, but his eyes were coal-black. His figure was broad, muscular, and masculine, and his visage was fierce, like a master of martial arts. The few wrinkles that marred his hardened face subtracted little from his aggressiveness.

But more important than the man’s appearance was his aura. It blazed out of him. Jack could see it as a literal sun, spreading for endless miles through space, showering the world in unfiltered heat.

He was the strongest person Jack had ever seen displaying his power, besides in Dao Visions.

“Archon Summer Noon,” the Arch Priestess said, confirming Jack’s suspicions. The gentle aura protecting Jack originated from her. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Just paying a visit,” the other man replied. His voice was loud, brass. Fiery. “I came to fish in a pond, but I found a shrunken whale. Lucky me.”

“So the Immortals are using Archons now?” the Arch Priestess replied, her voice hard. “Have you all lost your mind? You know we’ll do it when you do it. The war will escalate.”

“I am not participating in the war yet,” Summer Noon said. “In fact, I won’t even kill your little clone or that of the Elder behind you. I only have a single reason for coming today.”

He didn’t specify that reason, but he didn’t need to. Everyone knew.

“Jack,” the Arch Priestess said.

“Precisely. Hand him over, and I won’t touch any of you. Resist, and I’ll char you all to ashes.”

Jack’s blood had already gone cold. Despite the heat. He was being hunted by an Archon. Before that man, before his massive aura, Jack felt as vulnerable as a newborn baby.

Is this the day I die? he wondered, gritting his teeth.

The Arch Priestess snorted. “Once the fight starts,” she said in Jack’s mind, “rush into the starship. We have to make it to the Space Monster World before he catches up.”

Jack didn’t ask anything. He just prepared to do as instructed. His Dao was circulating just below the surface. He could activate every single power he possessed at a moment’s notice.

Archon Summer Noon noticed their silence.

“You better think this through, Arch Priestess,” he said. “You and that A-Grade may be just clones, but the brorilla is the future of your Church. Will you throw his life away for stubbornness? You know you cannot escape.”

The Arch Priestess didn’t reply. “Now!” she yelled in Jack’s mind. He instantly burst with his full potential. He galvanized Lightning Body, and then used every iota of Life energy in the recharging Life Drop to activate his four-armed form as well. That would empty it again, but it was necessary. They were facing an Archon. This was the single greatest crisis in Jack’s life.

He became a tall, four-armed, lightning-covered behemoth of a man clad only in a pair of shorts. Everyone around him followed, activating everything at once. Brock radiated golden light. Starhair’s hair shone like a thousand stars, taking on a redder hue than usual. The Arch Priestess’s aura erupted, showering the world in brutality. All four of them rushed into the starship and tried to take off.

Archon Summer Noon was on them that very instant. He’d been hundreds of miles away before, but that distance vanished, the very essence of space melted. From this close, the heat was suffocating. Jack felt his skin bubble like he was burned alive. It reminded him of that time he swam through lava.

The Archon wore a calm smile as he drove a finger forward. The fire bent to his will, forming a gargantuan, sun-clad finger which descended on their starship.

Elder Boatman’s clone roared. “If you want to kill my disciple,” he declared in anger, “you’ll need to get through me.” A scythe was suddenly in his hands like it had always been there. A terrible dark cloud erupted.

Spacetime died. Sound died. The void died. Everything died as the Elder swung his scythe forward, the very same attack which had once torn an entire tribulation in half.

“Even your main body couldn’t face me, Boatman,” the Archon said with a hint of ridicule. “Your clone is nothing.”

The sun finger rammed into Boatman’s full-powered strike and barely even paused. It broke through an instant later. Some flame tongues died, reduced to nothingness, but they were only a tiny fraction of the attack. The rest bulldozed through, completely evaporating Boatman’s Death, melting his scythe before even touching it, and crashing heavily against his body.

The black cloak disintegrated. For a moment, Boatman’s pale and frail-looking body was revealed—just that of a stubborn old man. Then, he disappeared, turning into energy which immediately melted away as well.

Elder Boatman’s clone had lasted a single instant.

However, in a battle of this caliber, every instant was important. Boatman’s sacrifice had given the rest of them time to re-enter the starship. The Arch Priestess’s Dao wrapped around it, hurtling it through space. She was pouring everything she had. The starship was faster than before. In the single instant Boatman had secured for them, they crossed half the distance to the Space Monster World.

But it was useless. Everything was, before an Archon. He appeared right behind them again, slamming down a palm. Space was meaningless. The very sun descended to burn them whole. Jack felt his body struggling, and he saw the metal walls of the starship give way, dripping drops of molten steel which vaporized before they touched the floor. The Iron Maiden really possessed extreme defensive capabilities—any normal starship would already be gone.

Jack took in everything at once. An attack he couldn’t even fathom was flying at them. It would hit—they had no way to dodge. Starhair was shivering. Brock’s eyes were harder than they’d ever been. The Arch Priestess rocketed out of the starship. She didn’t even have time to say anything. She flew at the sun.

Brock’s entire body shone a brilliant gold. For a moment, Jack thought he’d self-detonated. The horror subsided as he noticed that Brock remained whole, just channeling all the power of his inner world at once, pouring it into the Arch Priestess.

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Brock was a powerful fighter. He was also a great support. Right now, as the Arch Priestess’s clone dove into the falling sun, he did his best to keep her alive just a moment longer. Jack could sense his brother’s emotions through their bond—helplessness, despair, anger at his own weakness. Jack felt for him, he really did. But he knew what they had to do. Both of them knew.

The Arch Priestess and Elder Boatman were only here in clone form. Losing those clones meant little. The survival of everyone else was the top priority.

As the Arch Priestess flew into the sun, Jack was already grabbing the ship’s helm, pushing it forward. His new understandings of space erupted. With the Arch Priestess’s assistance, he managed to escape the Archon’s lockdown, teleporting away, rushing towards the Space Monster World, where they would be safe.

Yet, he saw it, even as he flew away. The Arch Priestess faced a sun. She seemed to grow beneath her white robes. They exploded, revealing a body clad in silver fur. She was half human and half something else. Her mouth held fangs. Her hands ended in sharp claws. The Arch Priestess roared. The void shook by her mere fierceness. It was the most powerful, most shaking, most intimidating roar Jack had ever heard. The roar alone held extreme laws of the Dao. He would have been paralyzed if he was any closer.

The Arch Priestess was human from the waist down, but from the waist up and excluding her eyes, she was a silver lion. Not a leonine, like the Animal Kingdom overlords, just a lion space monster. And she was a beast.

Unceremoniously, she pounced and bit at the sun. Her fangs carried more than just a physical touch. The Dao warped around her, as if the universe itself was trying to slaughter the sun. She pierced through the fire. Even at the peak B-Grade, her clone was far stronger than Elder Boatman’s.

But it was not enough. Even as the Arch Priestess flew through the sun to reach Archon Summer Noon, he laughed and raised his muscular hands. He grabbed both her jaws, easily stopping her bite and momentum, then pulled them apart. Her mouth was torn up and down. It was a cruel sight, but she didn’t show the slightest pain. Instead, her eyes were glued to his.

“I will remember this!” she shouted telepathically, spreading her voice to all who would listen. Archon Summer Noon laughed.

“I look forward to it!”

Fire enveloped her body, destroying it completely. The Archon then stepped through space to approach their fleeing starship.

They were close to the Space Monster World now. Very close. The swirling portal almost licked at them. But they wouldn’t make it. The Archon was already upon them, and even if they wanted to sacrifice themselves, all three of them were far too weak.

Jack looked around, looking for a sliver of hope, an opportunity, anything. That was his instinct after so many years of battles. He wouldn’t give up. But there was nothing. His own strength was unworthy of mention. Even if he sacrificed himself, he couldn’t delay the Archon’s advance. At that moment, he hated himself for being weak.

Starhair was gazing at the window with wide eyes. He could also do nothing. The sun was falling again. Their skin was melting.

As for Brock, he had been struck the hardest of the three. Not only had he channeled all of his energy into the Arch Priestess—the only reason she achieved what she did—leaving him exhausted, but he’d also just watched his woman get torn apart. Even though it was a clone, the mental impact was striking. It briefly disturbed his Dao.

There was nothing else. Only them and the starship. Jack watched the falling sun and prepared to throw himself into it. Maybe, if he combusted all his energy and self-exploded, that would delay the strike a little, giving Brock and Starhair time to reach the portal.

Even as he prepared to jump, he could sense that Brock was doing the same thing. The pain hit him hard. His little brother was going to die. There was no time to hesitate or talk it out. Neither would step back. They would both go, and they would sacrifice their lives to save Starhair.

What a shitty ending.

Jack pressed against the melting floor, ready to launch himself upward. Right as his feet entered the metal, however, he touched upon something. A current of energy giving him a jolt. A current which remained strong despite the heat.

It was like a flash through his mind. He’d once noticed a subtle current of energy flowing through the starship. The Iron Maiden possessed weapons—it was just something he never thought he’d have to use. He didn’t even know what it did.

“Wait, Brock!” he shouted as quickly as he could.

Without thinking, Jack pumped energy into the current below him. It was quickly saturated. The entire ship grew alive around them, the half-melted walls unraveling, turning the entire starship inside-out. Jack, Brock, and Starhair were suddenly floating in space, still flying towards the portal.

The ship demanded a target. Jack mentally gave it one. The inside-out starship flew backward at incredible speed, erupting with a level of energy only slightly weaker than the Archon’s. The Daos at play were far weaker, of course. Only now did Jack realize that this must have been Elder Boatman’s personal method of transportation. It was enhanced with enough power to stall a peak B-Grade if needed. And the Elder had given it to them.

Suddenly, Elder Boatman’s words didn’t seem so weak: If you want to kill my disciple, you’ll need to get through me!

Appreciation once again filled Jack’s heart.

As the ship made some distance, Jack noticed its new shape. It hadn’t just turned inside out. It had transformed into a flat sheet covered with spikes on one side. The fact that the whole thing was half-melted only made it more intimidating.

Archon Summer Noon had just released an attack, so he couldn’t react in time. The starship reached him instantly. Despite that, Jack didn’t dare hope. Just an Archon’s passive defenses were not something the weapon of a late A-Grade could hope to pierce.

Thankfully, this wasn’t just an attack.

The Archon’s eyes widened. “No!” he shouted.

As the ship-turned-spiked sheet reached him, it wrapped around him. It formed a perfect sphere with the spikes turned inward, then contracted as if trying to ground him down. Jack had an epiphany—this was exactly why the ship was called an Iron Maiden.

Of course, it wouldn’t work. A pulse of power spread from the Archon, stopping the sphere’s contraction. The magically enhanced metal was melting like paper in the fireplace.

However, for a single instant, it had managed to contain the Archon. He was no longer focusing on the attack heading for the starship. It had lost a significant portion of its power.

Jack, Brock, and even Starhair worked together. The portal was right behind them. The attack would reach them first. They went all-out to defend.

Starhair had come to his senses. He knew he couldn’t hold back—or maybe he was too terrified to think. He screamed in frustration as he uprooted three of his six strands of hair, sending them flying towards the attack. Each shone red. Then, as one, they exploded. Jack realized it was actually the stars inside them, going off like miniature supernovas.

The explosion was powerful, enough to give the attack pause.

Brock went next. He overdrew his spent powers, manifesting a large golden brorilla around him to smash his staff forward. The golden phantom melted before it even touched the flames. However, the energy it released weakened them further. The strike was now at only a fraction of its original power.

Jack roared. His Life Form and Lightning Body worked in tandem. His punch shot forward. For a moment, everything came to a standstill—then erupted all at once. “SUPERNOVA!”

A blinding explosion filled the world. Sun flames met fist-shaped ones. The two attacks ground at each other until they were turned to nothing, leaving only a broken, wounded expanse of space. It regenerated far more slowly than usual.

Jack and the others were completely burned. But alive. The portal was close now, as the shockwave of the explosion had flung them towards it. Through the shattered void, Jack glimpsed at Archon Summer Noon. He’d just managed to vaporize the iron maiden around him. His hair flew wildly now, and his robes were torn in places. That attack had been stronger than Jack gave it credit for—it had managed to almost injure an Archon.

No—there was a wound. It just wasn’t one made by the starship. Through Archon Summer Noon’s torn robes, Jack could make out a fist-sized hole at the center of his chest. It seemed old.

Before he could consider this further, the Archon roared and released a new attack. “Get back here!” he commanded. Endless flames rose against them, but it was too late. Their backs touched the portal, and they were sucked in. The flames crashed against it ineffectively. It shook but held. The Archon roared in frustration.

As for Jack, Brock, and apparently Starhair… They’d entered the Space Monster World.