Jade's smirk widened, a cold glint in his eyes. "Kill a goddes? Don't make me laugh child."

Before Aurianna could react, Jade's figure blurred, and in an instant, he was right in front of her. His hand shot out.

Aurianna barely had time to think before she instinctively dodged, feeling the rush of wind as his attack missed by mere inches. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she forced herself to remain focused.

"I’m not here to die," she hissed. "And I’m not here to lose to you either. I'm leaving here alive no matter what!"

Before Aurianna could talk more. Jade landed a vicious kick to her gut, and the impact was so severe that her head was immediately torn off, and her arms disintegrated into dust.

‘What the hell just happened? In just 0.1 seconds, he did this much damage!’ Aurianna panicked, regenerating her body as she quickly jumped back.

"Gixo, protect them!" Aurianna yelled, her voice strained with urgency.

"You're the one who needs the most protection!" Gixo shouted back, his voice filled with concern and he was nervous.

"Listen to my orders!" Aurianna barked, her anger flaring.

"Fine," Gixo reluctantly complied, creating a cube-shaped shield around Hadina, Kiana, Jugi, Zagan, and Avriel.

Jade’s golden eyes bore into Aurianna's light blue eyes as he spoke mockingly, "I overheard your little chat with Boara, to think you'll say the same to me. You want to challenge the gods? You couldn’t even defend against my attack. This is just pathetic."

‘Shit, this guy's aura is insane. I feel terrified. I need to move. Aurianna, move!’ she urged herself, biting her lip and stabbing her trembling legs with her scythe-like nails to force herself to snap out of her fear.

"You may be a genius, but you don’t have what it takes to defeat a god! Listening to you spout all that nonsense was infuriating!" Jade roared, his voice alone shattering Aurianna’s body once again under the immense pressure.

"You talk too much, old man," Aurianna grumbled as her entire body regenerated in less than a few seconds, causing Jade to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

‘Damn, even with my stone body—my hardest form so far—I couldn’t stop his attack. An Arcane human is surely interesting. But things just became difficult. It seems he doesn't have the slightest interest in what I'm saying,’ Aurianna thought, a grin spreading across her face despite the dire situation.

"Interesting child," Jade mumbled with a grin as he stared down at her and took some metres back away from Aurianna.

"So, let me guess your purpose here. You want me to become your servant, right? That mark of yours would bind my soul to yours. So if I ever try to betray or kill you, I'll immediately die. There's no way to remove it either. So I maybe freed from here but I become a slave to you. Well then, show me the strength with which you plan to defeat the gods, then maybe I'll consider!!" Jade bellowed, and suddenly, hundreds of thousands of monsters burst forth from his body.

"So many!" Aurianna exclaimed as she swiped her hands, summoning numerous guns that materialized and unleashed a barrage of bullets at Jade’s monstrous horde. And soon got rid of them.

"Why would I even agree to be your servant when I can soon break out of this damn prison?" Jade asked, his tone dripping with disdain.

"You can?" Aurianna replied, clearly surprised. ‘I was under the assumption that he couldn’t break out yet.’

"Of course I can, but it’s going to take me a thousand years," Jade stated with a frown.

"Then you might as well take my offer," Aurianna chuckled.

"Oh, really? Then let's fight! If you can survive for three hours against my full power, I’ll agree. I’m nothing but an old man, after all. I might as well enjoy the little life I have left," Jade declared, removing his coat.

"Old man? Tch, nothing about that bastard’s body looks old," Aurianna muttered through gritted teeth as she watched Jade’s muscles swell, his aura bursting out with such force that the ground around the entire ruin shattered.

‘His aura is so suffocating,’ Aurianna thought, her entire body trembling.

"Move, move!" Aurianna commanded herself, and she immediately rushed toward Jade.

"Why is she attacking him head-on?! That’s reckless!" Jugi yelled in frustration.

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"She may have a chance, so let’s watch and see," Boara said, trying to sound calm, though her nervousness was evident.

"You have too much confidence in the child," Avriel scoffed.

"Maybe I do," Boara chuckled, though her eyes betrayed her concern.

Aurianna summoned her sabers, each with cloud-like chains attached to them. She swung her right saber while holding onto the left, using the cloud chains to guide the weapon as it crashed down at Jade. The ground shattered beneath the impact, and the land around her saber trembled from the force of her strike. Dust and debris mixed into the water, obscuring the land momentarily.

For a brief second, there was silence. Aurianna saw through the cloud of dust mixed with water, hoping that her attack had made some impact. But looking through the dusty water, her heart sank. Jade was standing in the same spot, completely unscathed. He hadn’t even flinched but the saber was beside him on the ground.

"Is that all you’ve got?" Jade asked mockingly. "I expected more from someone who claims they want to challenge the gods."

Aurianna clenched her teeth, frustration, ‘He’s strong.’

"You’ll have to do better than that, child," Jade continued. "If this is all you can muster, you won’t last three minutes, let alone three hours."

‘This room is larger than any of the others in this entire ruin, yet look at the damage they've both caused,’ Boara thought nervously as she watched the battle unfold.

Once Aurianna faced Jade, they exchanged several blows, their movements too fast for even Kiana to follow.

"What’s happening? I can barely see them!" Kiana exclaimed.

"It’s amazing she’s able to keep up with him at all," Avriel mumbled in surprise.

"But she’ll win, right?" Kiana asked, though her voice betrayed her doubt.

"This is Jade we’re talking about—one of the first heroes, ranked number three among the most disastrous heroes to ever exist. I don’t think even she can beat him," Jugi replied nervously.

"Trash," Jade scoffed, swiping with large arms that grew from his back, morphing into vicious claws that pierced down toward Aurianna.

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ Aurianna panicked, moving quickly through his attacks with her sand body, gritting her teeth as she barely evaded the strikes. His speed was overwhelming, and she could feel the strain on her body.

‘He’s too fast. I can barely keep up. Sometimes Vivian’s and Carol’s training really comes in handy,’ Aurianna thought to herself with a nervous smile.

Suddenly, a plant-like creature, which hadn’t been there before, towered above her, glowing brightly. "Wait, when did that appear?" she wondered, confusion flashing across her face.

‘Danger!’ Aurianna’s instincts screamed, and she tried to distance herself.

"Master, swim far away!" Boara yelled in fear, but it was too late. Aurianna was blasted by the attack, and the entire room they were fighting in was destroyed, leaving nothing but a massive hole leading down to the lower levels of the ruin.

“This man is insane! Didn’t he say this place is as big as an entire continent? Did he really just wipe out half of it?” Aurianna gasped in shock as she stared at the enormous hole below her. She had regenerated in the waters and was now swimming above the gaping hole.

“Fuck, you’re annoying,” she grumbled, breathing heavily.

‘It took everything I had to block his attacks, yet I still died and revived. His attacks are so fast I don’t have time to come up with a plan,’ Aurianna thought, her frustration mounting.

“Oh, so your healing abilities allow you to revive as well? Are you a Saintess? It’s only them and the Sacreds who can revive so frequently,” Jade’s cold voice came from above. He appeared before Aurianna, clearly unharmed by any of her attacks.

“Nope, just a girl with a grudge against a goddess,” Aurianna chuckled, looking up at him with a wry grin.

“This is getting interesting. Don’t die too early,” Jade said with a smirk, raising his hand and flicking Aurianna on the forehead. The light tap sent her flying to the other side of the room.

She crashed hard into the ground at the opposite end of the room. “Bring it on! Once you’re satisfied, you have to join me, old man!” Aurianna yelled, despite her head feeling like it was going to burst.

“Heh, kids these days are so arrogant,” Jade scoffed, watching as the trial room quickly repaired itself, restoring the environment to its former state.

“I’ll unleash all my skills at once!” Aurianna shouted as she got to her feet. Her body began to bleed excessively, and her skills manifested around her, surrounding the entire area. The ruin immediately expanded to accommodate the scale of their fight.

Aurianna unleashed all her skills simultaneously, the attacks raining down towards Jade.

Before Jade could react, he realized he was immobilized. Singing Glory was behind him, holding him down tightly. Jade watched with a calm expression as Aurianna’s combined skills rained down on him, creating an explosion of force comparable to King’s Nebula.

The explosion illuminated the entire area around Jugi, the sheer force of Aurianna’s combined attacks caused The land to tremble. The blinding light and deafening explosion roar swallowed everything for several minutes.

Aurianna, still trembling from the exertion, tried to peer through the explosion, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She could hardly see through the huge bomb of light and fire covering more than several kilometers of land around Jade comparable to the size of a country. But despite that remained vigilant.

“Did I get him?” she wondered aloud, “This is Jade so I doubt,” she chuckled.

“I’ve never seen her go all out before. It’s insane,” Kiana blurted out.

“Does that mean she was taking it easy on me?!” Boara yelled angrily.

“Maybe she’s just gotten stronger,” Avriel suggested.

“Oh my, is that all you’ve got?” Jade chuckled. As he spoke, the raging explosion was suddenly drawn toward him as though being sucked in. Aurianna watched in horror as her attack was absorbed by Jade through his mouth and being eaten, his body remaining unaffected by her attacks once again.

“Unaffected? So this is the power of an Arcane human,” Aurianna said, her voice tinged with both awe and despair. She started to laugh hysterically. “Chi-chi-chi, lalalalalal…”

Jade’s expression was one of mild annoyance rather than fear. Singing Glory which was keeping him in place had dissipated, leaving Jade standing amidst destroyed land yet boiling water.

Aurianna’s heart sank at the sight of him, her earlier confidence faltering. “How can he withstand that without even a scratch?” she thought, her mind racing as she tried to assess her next move.

Jade’s aura flared once more, an oppressive wave of power that threatened to crush everything in its path. The room trembled, and the repaired parts of the ruin began to fracture under the intensity of his aura. He took a deliberate step forward, his eyes locked onto Aurianna.