Watching as the myriad of departed spirits charged out and surrounded the five Commanders, five waves of majestic glow seemed to connect the entire world and stand in the sky above Central City. The myriad of departed spirits were allowed to charge up like tidal waves, yet the departed spirits unable to break through the quint's defense.
Instead, as the five streams of light swept through the sky, they continued to wipe out the engulfing souls that filled up the sky.
The five Commanders had joined forces, and the five types of ring energies almost merged into one, complementing each other. Additionally, thir efficiency rose by countless times within a short period of time.
This was also a method that the five Commanders were using in an attempt to conserve their powers. After all, Grade kept on besieging them yet he did not attack them at full power. How could they possibly not know what he was planning?
It was only when the attacking force was too fierce that they would let Fahui self-detonate in order to conserve the others' energies.
However, this time around, Grade's craving grew increasingly stronger while he watched the five Commanders trying so hard to retaliate, with waves of the rings' energies scattering out in void space.
At the next moment, he stood up abruptly and laughed maniacally as he turned into a black tempest, charging out toward the five people.
"Edward, I'll show you my real means today. I'll let you know why the Black Army is the strongest faction amongst the 13 armies."
As Grade spoke, his body expanded crazily. In the blink of an eye, the black tempest he turned into had encompassed the entire sky above Central City with an engulfing impact. An eerie gust of wind howled fiercely, covering up the skies.
At the sight of this scene, everyone in the city was horrified. It was because this scene was far too similar to when Ulpian took on the form of the heavenly river previously.
The black wind turned into Grade's big face, and he looked at the five Commanders with a savage expression. He let out an enraged bellow, bringing up streams of black shock waves that gushed out toward them.
"Despair!"
A great battle broke out instantly. Right now, Grade had really unleashed his full powers, allowing Edward and the others to sense how strong he was.
The omnipresent eerie wind tore apart the sky incessantly at several tens of times the speed of sound. Wherever the wind passed by, even a tank's armor plate would be as brittle as a piece of paper.
The five-colored divine light, which was jointly performed by the five Commanders, was repeatedly pushed back by Grade's attack and then compressed into a small lump that was the size of a field.
However, at the next moment, the five streams of light were suddenly twisted into one and combined together. It was as if five paints had been poured into one, bringing forth a series of spirals and then eventually turning into a pure silver light.
Amidst the silver light, Ulpian took a step further and punched out. The punch had a force that was like a comet crashing into the moon, destroying the moon and sinking the sun. A deafening and astonishing sound spread for 3,000 lis, and a large half of the black wind was scattered from this punch.
A furious bellow rang out, "Ulpian!"
The furious bellow rang out together with the remnants of the black wind, mixed with a hint of panic.
Edward's voice rang out from the depths of the sky, "Grade, did you think that Ulpian wouldn't be prepared for contingencies? If the few of us were to join forces at full power, we'd be able to unleash the part of his power he left behind back then. This allows us to not have internal conflicts, yet we can fend off external enemies."
"Why don't I know about this?" Grade's heart sank. "Has he been wary of me from the very beginning?"
As Grade watched Ulpian's phantom image crush him with a punch, Grade's heart wavered and a hint of intent to back off gradually stirred in his thoughts.
However, at the next moment, a wave of greed surged up in his heart.
"Hmph, if this power is sufficient to defeat me, you'd have used it long ago. If I go all out, I don't believe that I'm no match against the power Ulpian casually left behind."
At the thought of this, Grade let out an enraged bellow, inhaling with his mouth like a whale sucking in water. In the blink of an eye, a myriad of departed spirits flew into his mouth.
Countless engulfing souls roared out in terror in midair, imploring Grade to let them off. However, how could Grade possible care about them? As he engulfed them, the eerie black wind which he had taken the form of swelled up once again.
Ulpian's phantom image took another step forward and struck out another punch toward Grade from across the space.
With an explosive rumble, Grade's engulfing process was stopped, and over one-third of the black wind dissipated immediately.
However, Grade roared out excitedly, "Haha, I was almost deceived by you guys. This isn't Ulpian's power. Edward, this is just you imitating his power, right? Hmph. With his great pride, how could he possibly think that he won't be able to return soon? Why would he still need to prepare for contingencies?
"Edward, as expected of the Gold Army's Commander. To think that you've already figured out a part of the profoundness of Ulpian's power when only half a year has gone by. If you're given enough time, you might really be able to defeat me."
Saying this, Grade's tone suddenly turned cold, "Since that's the case, then all the more I can't let you live."
In an instant, the black tempest blew again, and countless engulfing souls were pulled into it, making it stronger as it attacked Ulpian's phantom image.
However, the prowess of the phantom image's following the several attacks became increasingly weaker while the black wind Grade had taken the form of became increasingly stronger. Countless black shock waves gushed out, finally shattering the phantom image.
"Amitabha."
With a mutter, orange flames were lit up throughout Reverend Fahui's entire body as he headed into the black tempest.
The tempest swelled up fiercely and scattered explosively. Although a large part of its power was lost, it still was not wiped out.
Priest Longmai struck out a punch, and an impact that was as if several hundred dragons were tearing apart the world came gushing forth.
Akaryuu Juushirou let out a soft bellow and streams of blood-colored light turned into sword shadows that thrust out toward Grade. Each sword shadow had the appearance of the Panwei Sword. Clearly, he had already comprehended some of the Panwei Sword's profoundness.
Hui He attacked at full-power as well. He instantly lit up in flames, turning into a rainbow that slashed out toward the black wind.
Edward did not hold back at all either. He opened his mouth and spewed out a silver heavenly river across 100 lis, pressing down toward the black tempest. He had clearly managed to imitate a part of the Heavenly River Virtual Image that Ulpian had performed back then.
The four Commanders joined forces and attacked at full-power, wanting to settle everything at once. They clearly understood that if they were still unable to defeat Grade at this stage, it would probably be over for all of them.
However, at the next moment, under everyone's astonished gazes, the black wind curled up, turning into a black divine dragon that descended from the skies.
"Today, I'll let you guys have a look at the Black Dragon True Art that I've created in order to defeat Ulpian."
The black dragon opened its mouth and spewed out black flames which incinerated the several hundred white dragons completely.
Its dragon claw tore forth, and the myriad of blood-colored sword shadows was shredded into pieces.
The black dragon's body crashed into the rainbow that Hui He had taken the form of. In the blink of an eye, the rainbow was crushed into powder.
Concurrently, the heavenly river that Edward had condensed finally descended. It was as if several ten thousand great mountains were pressing down on the black dragon explosively at the same time. However, the black dragon opened its mouth and inhaled, engulfing all of the heavenly river into its stomach.
Within a short moment, Grade had wiped out the entire field, dealing serious damage to the five Commanders and breaking down their powers. He had also taken damage, with his flesh and blood splattering about and his body shrinking in size by half. However, he recovered by sucking in the many engulfing souls.
Edward and the others watched this scene in disbelief. They had not expected Grade to have become so powerful.
Hui He's countenance was extremely grim. "To think that he can activate the rings' energies, creating an actual life..."
"Moreover, as long as the Black Army's departed spirits are still around, he'll be able to keep on recovering and remain undefeatable." Edward's countenance sank.
Grade let out a maniacal laugh as he grabbed out toward Priest Longmai.
Under everyone's despairing gazes, Grade suddenly let out an astonishing cry and rolled about crazily. A large piece of flesh was bulging out on the dragon's back.