The clash of the two made this land suddenly boil.

Accompanying the sound of blades clashing, streaks of lightning struck down from the sky, smashing the surrounding jungle into a mess. The black light of the Demon Slayer covered its body, weakening the impact of the golden lightning like armor. The agitation of magic caused a torrential rain to fall from the sky, and the scene of the two fighting in this dense rain curtain was like the eye of a storm.

Whether it was Ashes or Ersruhk, their movements exceeded their previous limits. Actions that ordinary people could hardly see were normal for both sides. Each strike drew a distinct trajectory in the rain, and the air waves caused by the collision instantly exploded the surrounding raindrops, the sound of which was like muffled thunder, as if it were not humans and demons fighting, but two burly giants fighting with all their strength.

"Huff... huff..." Ashes felt the magic in her body was completely out of control. It was gradually engulfing her flesh and blood, making her body riddled with holes. After passing a peak, the backlash of pain became numb.

But this was by no means a good sign. Losing the sense of pain meant a loss of focus, and it would also greatly reduce her ability to control her body.

In fact, she was unable to precisely guide all the falling lightning, and could only let the manic magic pour out at will. This wanton waste further aggravated the burden on her body. The two were like a snowball, causing the balance to quickly tilt to the side of collapse.

"So that's it, is this the consequence of directly merging with the source of magic?" The Demon Slayer looked somewhat tired, it wiped the blood from its face after repelling Ashes's attack, "Although you have gained power far beyond ordinary people, you are also being devoured by power. I'm curious to see what you will become if this continues? Burned to ashes by magic, or completely become a monster without reason and not even worthy of being called a human?"

"No matter what I become, it will be after I kill you." Ashes shook the rain off her sword and replied in a deep voice.

"Based on what? Belief and perseverance?" Ersruhk sneered, "Indeed, that's what humans would say... but the long years have proven that those are just insignificant things."

Ashes stopped answering, but instead raised her sword and rushed towards it.

After this short and intense battle, she had a basic understanding of each other's abilities - if she continued to fight, her chances of winning would only become more and more slim. Perhaps because it was gradually becoming familiar with its new limbs, the Demon Slayer's movements became smoother, and its strength and skills were steadily improving. Not only that, it seemed to have completely adapted to the rhythm of fighting with her, and ordinary slashes were now difficult to hurt the opponent. This endless growth was truly chilling, and truly made her realize the heights that so-called gifted people could reach.

The only way she had any hope of killing her opponent was to condense a powerful enough Divine Will - Ashes didn't know why she didn't have a Divine Will imprint, but could also induce celestial phenomena, she only knew that magic was responding to her call and transforming into golden lightning bolts according to her will.

However, the lightning that was casually split out would be mostly extinguished by the black light on the Demon Slayer's body, and the remaining power was only enough to add a few more scars. Although attacking enough times could also have an effect, unfortunately, under the waxing and waning of power, she could not last until that time.

The biggest problem was that condensing Divine Will took time, and the Demon Slayer would definitely not sit idly by and let her complete this strike.

She had to create an opportunity, an opportunity that would allow her to gather enough power.

What to do next was obvious.

After approaching Ersruhk and exchanging several rounds of attacks, Ashes deliberately exposed a flaw and missed a slash with her greatsword. The other party naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity, and thrust its five fingers towards her chest. She slightly avoided the vitals, and instead of retreating, advanced directly and collided with the Demon Slayer!

Claws pierced her right chest, stopping only after reaching her elbow.

Ersruhk's expression couldn't help but change.

Ashes coughed out a mouthful of blood, grabbed the other party with both hands, and said in a low voice, "Got you."

At the same time, the low-hanging dark clouds above her head began to rotate, forming a huge vortex in the blink of an eye!

…

…

"What did you say? Ashes... became a Transcendent?" Agatha's surprised voice came from the Listening Sigil.

After walking nearly several miles west, Lightning finally contacted the command headquarters and reported the urgent need for rescue to the Ice Witch. After learning that they were already arranging for the First Army to respond, she was slightly relieved and briefly recounted the attack by the Demon Slayer.

"Besides the Transcendent, I can't think of anyone else who could have such momentum." Lightning slowly flew in the air, looking back at the jungle behind her - it was already flashing with lightning and thunder, and golden serpents pierced through the sky and earth from time to time, even a Divine Will Sigil could not maintain this scene for a long time.

"Advancing in battle is indeed a characteristic of Transcendent Witches. If she has really crossed that threshold, dealing with a Demon Slayer should not be a problem. Letting you evacuate was the right choice, anyway... it's good that everyone is okay."

Lightning's expression couldn't help but darken, the ambush squad was not without casualties, but she did not tell the other party about this. After a moment of silence, she changed the subject, "What about the demons? Do they also welcome advancement in battle?"

For some reason, the fear of the Demon Slayer before leaving still lingered in her heart, and could not dissipate for a long time. Ersruhk's motionless posture, and the black light constantly wriggling at the wound, always gave her an extremely strange feeling.

"The Association has no records in this regard, and according to what Roland saw in the memory fragments, they need to successfully fuse high-quality magic stones to strengthen their power." Agatha replied, "Of course, it cannot be ruled out that combat has a crucial accumulation effect on their advancement - if I'm not mistaken, fusing magic stones is similar to witches passing their Awakening Day, what is being tested is the body's ability to withstand magic. The so-called fusion failure may be a manifestation of backlash. By the way, why are you asking this?"

"No, it's nothing..." Lightning bit her lip, "I'm just a little worried..."

If it was a high-quality magic stone, it didn't seem impossible for the Demon Slayer to carry a few with it. But could someone really complete an advancement in the heat of battle? When witches pass their Awakening Day, they are basically lying in bed, concentrating on welcoming that moment.

"Don't worry, the Transcendent doesn't rely on abilities to fight. If the Demon Slayer's greatest means of restraining witches is useless, I believe the outcome will be decided soon." Agatha comforted.

"Yeah, I think... so too."

She nodded, and was about to lower her altitude and return to Maisie's side, when a series of dull rumbling suddenly came from afar. Lightning turned her head and couldn't help but freeze in place -

She saw the dark clouds in the sky surging like a tide and converging towards the place where she had left, and layering into a gray "cloud tower", it slowly rotated, like a passage connecting the sky and the earth. She had only seen this kind of scene at sea - when a strong storm comes, a huge vortex will appear in the sky, and if you don't find a way to avoid it or enter the eye of the vortex, any ship will be torn to pieces by the ensuing giant waves.

But this... is land.

"What... happened?" The voice in the Listening Sigil also had interference, "What was that... sound just now?"

Lightning couldn't help but dig her fingers into her palm, "I don't know - how long before Tilly's reinforcements arrive?"

"The God's Punishment Witches are moving combat equipment onto the Seagull, it will take about ten to fifteen minutes to reach you."

A quarter of an hour... "I understand." She ended the call after a moment of silence.

Flying back to Maisie's back, Lightning began searching through the unconscious wounded.

"The thunder just now was so dense, will Ashes be okay..." Maisie asked while driving.

"Absolutely no problem, she is a Transcendent. You just need to safely take everyone to the rendezvous point, you haven't forgotten where it is, have you?"

"Of course, just bypass the Taquila Ruins and turn southeast - wait, why is it me instead of us?"

However, Maisie waited for a long time, but did not hear an answer.