Although it was still on the losing end like its Tier 1 counterparts had been, the difference in strength between Celestina and the Tier 5 Feng was no longer as large.
Frowning, the demon girl rushed forward and attacked again, sending a barrage of slashes and cuts at the Trial Creature, only for it to block and counter everything. As they fought, Celestina was definitely getting the upper hand, her Mana Techniques, Advanced Silver Combat Techniques, and Gold Combat Techniques, which the Tier 5 replica could not use except for Sword's Ripple, allowing her to suppress and continuously push back the clone.
Even with its abilities, it was obvious at first glance that Celestina was still significantly stronger than the Tier 5 Trial Creature, but she wouldn't be able to beat it easily, and it would take some time to finish it off.
Her immense strength was the reason the Trial Creatures had never bothered to use this move, knowing that if they fought from the beginning as a Tier 5 and six Tier 4 Fengs, along with like three Tier 3 ones and a Tier 2 replica, they'd lose their huge advantage brought about by their high numbers in place for quality that would not make any difference; and would instead decrease their odds of winning.
Only after falling into this situation did they finally bust out their fusion technique, having no other choice but to use a Tier 5 duplicate as a diversion.
Meanwhile, Feng was currently getting jumped by the thirty-two Tier 1 clones, which were using this chance while the Tier 5 Feng was keeping Celestina occupied to eliminate the challenger. Feng was naturally aware of what they were trying to do and was doing his best to stay alive, stalling until the Demon Empress defeats her opponent and comes to save him.
She was aware of that fact as well so the demon girl was in a rush to quickly kill the Trial Creature in front of her, but the Tier 5 being was too strong for her to deal with within a short span of time, making Celestina frustrated.
Although she considered leaving the Tier 5 clone for later and going to quickly kill off all the Tier 1 ones, none of them could be easily eliminated if the replicas were trying to survive, while without her keeping it in check, the Tier 5 Trial Creature could attack Feng.
If it were to go all out and use all its abilities to kill him, Celestina wasn't sure how long Feng could survive for against it after having already used up many of his skills in the previous fight. Moreover, there were over thirty Tier 1 Fengs, so there was no way that the Demon Empress could stop all of them at once, and if a few slipped through to assist the Tier 5 duplicate, Feng would be done for.
The two of them fighting together against the Tier 1 and Tier 5 Trial Creatures wouldn't work out either for the same reason, Celestina unable to guarantee she could keep all the enemies at bay and prevent them from ganging up on Feng while she was preoccupied.
Hence, they could only stay with their current opponents, Celstina trying to kill the Tier 5 clone as fast as possible while Feng endured and tried to hang in there as the replicas besieged him.
Thankfully, these thirty-two Trial Creatures had used up most of their skills in the attempt to stop the Demon Empress from interfering with the fusion, so Feng could somewhat handle the pressure as he ran for his life, but over thirty opponents with the same strength as himself was no laughing matter, and Feng would be struggling a lot more if he was combating them head-on with just his own power.
However, since over two hours had already passed, most of the defensive skills from his weaker items had already come off cooldown and could be used again, so Feng was utilizing these skills to their maximum in order to endure the Trial Creatures' onslaught.
Even if there were many of them, when he uses these abilities that could block Tier 4 and Tier 5 attacks, as well as use his items with offensive skills, the clones could not only not easily do damage to Feng, but they even had to be careful of his counter attacks.
At this rate, Feng will definitely be able to hold off the Tier 1 replicas until Celestina defeats the Tier 5 creature and comes to his rescue. The Trial Creatures were aware of this fact, so, knowing that they couldn't eliminate Feng even with the advantage in numbers due to lacking sufficient power, they just had to increase their strength further.
Forcing Feng to retreat by a large distance with a volley of Thundering Flashes and Thunder Flame Explosions, the duplicates rose a huge dustcloud, obscuring the trial taker's sight. Although Feng could not see anything, he could still sense the clones' presence and kept himself sharp for any sneak attacks.
Hence, when he sensed that the Trial Creatures were gathering together in one place, seemingly holding onto each other, he instantly knew what they were trying to do. Rushing at them, Feng's swords lit up like miniature suns, and he executed Ten Extreme Slashes at the back of the closest replica.
His fast strike landed perfectly and made the Trial Creature stumble forward. Before he could rejoice, though, the clone turned around and sent an Earth Splitter to his face, and upon blocking it, the power behind it forced Feng a few steps back.
Immediately, Feng could tell that this attack had been stronger than the usual, making him realize that he was in deep shit as he looked at the sixteen Fengs standing in front of him.
The one that he had just attacked activated Flame Burst as well, rushing at Feng and trying to cut him up with the two miniature suns in its hands, whereas the remaining fifteen came closer together.
With his chances of surviving rapidly decreasing, Feng used a Silver Body Combat Technique to get past the Tier 2 Trial Creature blocking his way, but as if having predicted his movements, the clone reached and stopped Feng from advancing, its flaming swords nearly turning him into minced meat and forcing Feng to defend himself.
Feng's other efforts bore the same result, the duplicate not allowing him to interrupt the other Trial Creatures' fusion and managing to keep him away even though there wasn't a significant difference in their attributes since Feng was now being boosted by Elevated Ferocity. As he witnessed five Tier 3 clones come into existence and go to merge with each other once more, Feng knew that he could no longer stop them.
Since that was the case and preventing them from creating a Tier 4 Trial Creature that will rack his shit wasn't doable, Feng could only settle for something else, doing the thing that would give him the greatest likelihood of making out alive.
A Tier 4 opponent was already too much trouble, and if he also had to fight against a Tier 2 clone at the same time, Feng's chances would bottom down to zero.
Thus, before the Tier 4 Trial Creature joined in on the fight, Feng had to take the Tier 2 one out of it.
Making it think that he was still trying to stop the fusion process, Feng moved to pass the clone, it responding with a stab to his heart that he'd have to back off in order to avoid, lest he receives a fatal injury.
In the last moment, Feng changed directions suddenly, allowing the replica's cloned Abyssal Blade to pierce through his abdomen without hitting anything vital, while his own sword erupted with a silver glow as he stabbed it towards the duplicate's heart.
Not expecting Feng to make such a move, the Trial Creature attempted to withdraw its sword and back away, but Feng held its arm with his other hand and stabbed the clone, Internal Force active and creating a massive hole in the replica's chest as Moonchaser's destructive power did massive damage to it.
Normally, a Feng would have multiple abilities to use in this situation that would allow it to survive, such as Divine Steps, Instant Strike, Ethereal Blitz, Blinkstep, Spatial Shift, or Echoport.
However, the former four were all on cooldown for the Tier 2 Trial Creature as both of the Tier 1 clones that had merged to form it had already used up those skills while trying to stop Celestina or attempting to murder Feng; or even before when all four hundred of the duplicates were besieging them.
As for Spatial Shift and Echoport, even though it was Tier 2, the replica couldn't use those teleportation skills easily and instantaneously. Moreover, it had been very unexpected as the Trial Creature never thought Feng would be willing to receive such damage and hold it in place just to kill it considering their current situation.
Realizing that Feng wanted to force it off the table quickly, the clone was about to use Mysticsteel Body and Void Shield, but Feng acted quicker, activating a skill from his new Fragmented Legendary sword that made his Attack Speed lighting fast and covered the sword in thunder; slicing through the Trial Creature's neck and finishing it off.
The creature resembling him turned into a dark fog and dissipated, along with the sword lodged in Feng's abdomen. Before Feng could relax, he sensed danger and quickly flapped his giant wings, moving several yards away as a swordlight went past his head.
Him killing the Tier 2 clone hadn't taken long, but it had been enough for the five Tier 3 Trial Creatures to finish fusing and attack him with an Earth Splitter.
Now standing against a Tier 4 version of himself, Feng was practically in an easier First Phase of the God Mode World Summit Trial, except he was quite injured from the previous exchanges while getting jumped by the Trial Creatures and the one just now, along with many of his skills being on cooldown.
The only positive side was that instead of needing to kill his opponent, Feng's only objective at the moment was to survive. As long as he stalled out the fight for long enough, Celestina would take care of her fight and come to defeat this Tier 4 Feng as well.
Though, that seemed like a very steep hurdle to cross, the Tier 4 Trial Creature being too strong for Feng to contend against without Soulharvest Synergy bridging the gap to a point where survival was plausible.
Feng contemplated getting Celestina involved in his fight or teleporting away, but neither would work, and he'd instead bring more trouble to himself.
If he tried getting near the fight between the Demon Empress and Tier 5 clone, attempting to get her to take on both of them at the same time, the Trial Creatures would just focus on him, as even though the Tier 4 one was much weaker than the duplicate currently fighting against Celestina, it was still strong enough to stall her for a bit, and without her as an opponent, the Tier 5 Trial Creature could turn its attention to Feng.
At that point, if Feng was in a bad position facing the Tier 4 replica, he'd get completely destroyed by the Tier 5 version of himself.
In fact, Feng and Celestina should be praying that the two Trial Creatures maintain the status quo and don't try to swap opponents since they'd be in trouble and have great difficulty setting things back to being favorable for them. Thankfully, they didn't do so, and even if they did, Celestina would not let the Tier 5 Trial Creature get near Feng; while if it teleported to him, he could just do the same and run to her.
Teleporting away with Spatial Shift would be an even stupider move in this situation for Feng, as while Celestina would definitely be able to handle both the Tier 4 and Tier 5 clones at the same time, they could just teleport after Feng. He'd end up seven hundred thousand yards away from his only safety net, while the two Trial Creatures would be right there with him.
Hence, Feng's only choice was to endure.
Planning to do so as he and the Tier 4 duplicate finished their one-second staring contest, Feng flew back, while the Trial Creature reached him in the blink of an eye.
Just as the Tier 4 creature slashed at Feng, and their swords were about to clash, the blood armors covering their bodies disintegrated, Feng's Imperial Ascendance that he had activated upon entering the void, and the Trial Creature's Berserk Skill, which it inherited in its activated state and duration running from the Tier 1 clones who had activated it the moment they sensed Feng's presence disappear from the overworld, both ending at the same time.
Their bat wings disappeared while their angelic wings automatically retreated inside their bodies when Imperial Ascendance's duration ran out, causing them to start falling to the ground.
It was a slow and gentle descent since the two of them had the Space Helmet's Aetherial Levity Passive Skill and the Basic Lightning Physique, but when the two came back to their senses and reacted to the development by both activating Power of Darkness, the Swordsmen had already crossed their blades.
Having greatly superior Strength, the Tier 4 Trial Creatures strike was much more powerful and sent Feng flying through the air, while the clone's hand only slightly hurt from his Internal Force. However, just as their swords were clashing, Feng's Legendary Chesplate turned a bright red color, and the Mana inside it went berserk.
By the time the replica noticed, it was already too late, so as it sent Feng flying through the air, a bloody mist exploded out from him, hitting the Trial Creature at near point-blank range. With no skill to dodge the powerful red fog of blood, the Tier 4 duplicate could only activate Mysticsteel Body and Ultimate Blood Flow, hoping to not get too messed up by Feng's Sanguine Annihilation.
Feng, meanwhile, retrieved a white bone with a red scarf on it from his Spatial Bag, summoning the Gaster Blaster diagonally below him in the direction he was rapidly descending towards after blocking the Trial Creature's slash, crashing heavily on the giant skull and controlling it to quickly fly away at its fastest speed.
Before the red mist even faded, the Tier 4 replica left it while falling through the air, having lost 20% of its HP. Remaining composed, the clone looked towards where Feng had flown to and unequipped its Blood Emperor's Armor, unfurling its wings and flying after him.
Resting with his eyes closed, Feng flew on the Gaster Blaster while hoping to outpace the Trial Creature as much as possible. Within a minute, he sensed a powerful presence quickly approaching him, so Feng could only sigh.
Although the Gaster Blaster was very fast, a Tier 4 Feng flying at his fastest speed was still much faster. At the very least, though, it had bought Feng a minute of time, the Blood Emperor's Armor's effects reactivating, just as Ultimate Blood Flow's cooldown ended as well, with which Feng instantly recovered all of his lost HP and began mending his wounds with the skill along with whatever Consumables he had remaining.
In practically no time at all, the Trial Creature had caught up to him, slashing forward with Thundering Flash.
Directing the giant skull, Feng had the Gaster Blaster move aside and dodge Thundering Flash's trajectory, but the turn caused their flying speed to decrease, allowing the duplicate to fully catch up, reaching Feng who was standing on the dragon-like skull and slashing at his back with the momentum it had built up behind the Trial Creature's sword.
Crack!
The sound of bones cracking echoed throughout the trial space, a wall of bones having appeared out of nowhere in front of the Tier 4 Feng and blocking its strike. Putting some more force into its sword, the Trial Creature broke apart the wall, only to be greeted by a column of Dragon Fire.
Having sensed the danger as Feng spewed out Dragon's Breath beforehand, the clone already flapped its wings and retreated to the side, now being face to face with the Gaster Blaster which had turned around and opened its large jaw, firing out a thick white beam of energy.
Unable to dodge in time, the Trial Creature slashed at the beam, the power of thunder and fire surrounding its blade. Their clash resulted in a large explosion as the laser beam and Thunder Flame Explosion collided, shaking the air and temporarily slowing the replica down as the Gaster Blaster spun around and continued quickly flying away under Feng's control.
This went on for several minutes, Feng constantly slowing down the Trial Creature with his skills and the Gaster Blaster's abilities, which, although it only had a few, were quite strong and played a crucial role in keeping Feng out of harm's way.
When the skull's duration was almost up, Feng had it go lower to the ground, getting ready to start running for his life. The Tier 4 clone noticed this change and knew it was almost time, so, like a falcon swooping down on its prey, the Trial Creature dive-bombed head first towards the ground after Feng.
As soon as the Gaster Blaster turned into dust, Feng's feet touched the ground, and he immediately activated Phantom Stride and Windwalk simultaneously. He then ran for it.
The Trial Creature was only a second behind him, landing and equipping the Blood Emperor's Armor as it dashed after him. However, its path was blocked by Feng's doppelgangers, who either sent Thundering Flashes its way or cast Drago Busters.
Responding with an air punch that hit nothing, Shockwave reduced all the doppelgangers into nothingness and continued towards Feng, who countered with his own Shockwave without looking behind him, neutralizing the Trial Creature's which had lost most of its power after crossing the long distance between them.
Feng created more doppelgangers, but the Tier 4 replica had used Wind Blade to catch up and attempt to run past them. Of course, the hundreds of doppelgangers stood in its way, blocking the duplicate from chasing after Feng.
Even though it could easily eliminate them all with one swing of its sword, the doppelgangers still slowed down the Trial Creature significantly, especially when their skills like Drago Buster bombarded it.
But Phantom Stride soon ended, and Feng was left with no more meat shields to protect himself with. So, he began throwing literally everything he had at the Tier 4 clone, using all offensive and defensive skills from his items whose cooldowns had ended during this time.
A wasteful method that would only buy him some more time, but Feng chose to use it since he'd quickly get killed otherwise. Even then, he was still getting beaten up by the Tier 4 Trial Creature, barely buying himself time to heal with the numerous skills, as well as using Ultimate Blood Flow when he got too low.
As he was running away at full speed, buying time for either Celestina to come and save him from the Tier 4 him, or for Gaster Blaster's cooldown to end so that he could continue flying away from the clone, Feng suddenly heard loud explosions happening some distance away.
Looking in the direction as he seemed to be approaching the cause of the explosions, Feng saw his demon maid fighting with the Tier 5 Trial Creature, the two powerful combatants getting closer to him as well after having descended to the ground upon the clone's Imperial Ascendance ending at the same time as Feng's and the other replica's.
Right now, the Tier 5 Feng looked miserable, being even worse off than Feng himself who was getting chased to death by the Tier 4 duplicate. It would seem that the Demon Empress was close to finishing off the clone, which pleased Feng to no end as he'd finally be able to get this version of him that was three tiers higher off his back soon.
Feng and Celestina both saw each other, exchanging glances, and went back to facing their opponents, believing them meeting each other here was just a coincidence.
However, inwardly, Feng felt that something was off. Just as the Tier 5 Trial Creature was getting close to being killed by the Demon Goddess, they all randomly come across each other?
Considering what he had seen from the Trial Creatures in these two phases, Feng thought that such a thing was unlikely, having a feeling that it was bad news.
Before he could ponder on it any further, a silver glow erupted from the Tier 5 clone's sword as it slashed the Pandemonium Lashblade at Celestina's neck. Countering with a Tier 4 Taboo Skill, the Demon Empress easily neutralized the Trial Creature's Moonchaser, but as she was dealing with it, the Tier 5 Feng's aura suddenly increased exponentially, the Sword Saint canceling its Power of Darkness and replacing it with Bestowal of Darkness, along with activating Blade Liberation.
At the same time, the Tier 4 Trial Creature chasing after Feng did the same thing, reaching him in the blink of an eye as it got promoted to Tier 5 by Bestowal of Darkness and had its strength even further increased by the Legacy Berserk Skill.
Simultaneously, two bright golden glows lightened up the trial space's gloomy environment, bringing forth a comfortable warmth.
Feng and Celestina, though, felt everything but comfort from the Worldly Purifications coming at them. The demon girl, in particular, got a very dangerous feeling from the Tier 4 Peak Skill as it was wielded by a Tier 5 being.
There being little time to distance herself from the holy attack, the Demon Goddess could only put a Tier 5 Defensive Skill that was resistant to holy powers in hopes it would protect her while jumping back.
As for Feng, he instantly reacted upon sensing the danger by activating Thought Acceleration, switching out Power of Darkness for Heavenly Dragon's Power, and following up with Blade Liberation; whose cooldown had been drastically shortened to six hours during this time as Feng leveled it up, the Legacy Skill becoming available just in time after several hours passed and Feng lowering its cooldown with the Auras of Death.
However, that massive boost to his strength only allowed Feng to perceive the incoming threat, and he had no defensive skill that could block this kind of attack, while he couldn't use any at all anyway since most of them were on cooldown right now after having been chased around by the Tier 4 Trial Creature all this time.
He couldn't count on Celestina coming to save him either, so Feng had to deal with the incoming attack himself. Feng didn't think he could actually block it, and just wanted the clone to waste its Worldly Purification without risking death, activating Phantom Kill and summoning his doppelganger to face the attack.
The doppelganger immediately activated Power of Darkness and Blade Liberation upon appearing, before countering the Trial Creature's slash with its Moonchaser and Worldly Purification; using both skills at the same time even if such a thing destroyed it in the process.
Feng's plan was simple. Have the doppelganger tank the hit and die to make sure the Trial Creature uses up the skill, before bailing with Spatial Shift. He had to time it perfectly so that the clone did not pull back at the last moment and teleport after him, otherwise he'd be in a bit of a pickle.
Laser-focused, Feng watched the descending golden sun closely, waiting for the right moment.
"Watch out!" Celestina's words reached Feng instantly through their contract, but the demon girl's warning was unnecessary, as the moment he felt the warmth moving towards the back of his head and his hair getting singed, Feng became very aware of the threat behind him.
Having been too concentrated on what the Trial Creature which had been chasing him during this time would do, Feng forgot about the other Tier 5 clone nearby, which had taken advantage of his failure to account for it to teleport behind Feng using Spatial Shift and slash at his head.
Maintaining his composure, Feng could no longer afford to think about the recently promoted replica and immediately activated Spatial Shift, teleporting close to Celestina and avoiding the strike from the Tier 5 duplicate.
As he had expected, the other threatening Trial Creature followed after him with its own Spatial Shift, appearing behind Feng and continuing to slash at him with Worldly Purification. That being within his expectations, Feng used Instant Strike on Celestina, appearing behind the demon girl who had jumped away from the Tier 5 duplicate.
Immediately after, however, the clone which had been the first to teleport over to Feng suddenly appeared before him, while the other Trial Creature appeared next to Feng as both of them used Ethereal Blitz, the skill previously being on cooldown for both of them as most of the lower-ranking Trial Creatures which had merged to form them had used up the skill beforehand; only for it to become available to them once more in the last minutes.
Now Feng found himself in a pincer attack with both Twofold Berserk Tier 5 Trial Creatures attacking him with Worldly Purification, all this happening behind Celestina, who wasn't as informed on what skills could be used at the moment and couldn't keep up with all their switching.
Just as the slashes of holy power were about to land, a different Feng wielding both Moonchaser and Worldly Purification replaced the original, Feng having switched places with his doppelganger and allowed it to take the hits for him.
No longer having the time to stop nor any skills remaining to reach Feng, the Trial Creatures' attacks landed, instantly decimating the doppelganger, and causing a huge explosion of holy power to erupt.
Celestina, being none the wiser, sensed the danger as the attacks collided behind her and attempted to cast another Tier 5 Defensive Spell, only to get blasted away by the golden explosion that shattered her previous defensive skill.
Managing to get by without receiving too much damage thanks to only getting hit by the resulting explosion and her skill taking the brunt of it, the Demon Goddess slid backwards and gazed at the cloud of dust that had risen following the Trial Creatures' attacks smashing against each other and the doppelganger's own skills.
"Here, use this." Appearing next to Celestina with Ethereal Blitz, which he had saved in reserve in case the clones had other means to instantly reach him, along with Echoport and having the doppelganger use Instant Strike on one of the replicas and then switching places with it, Feng handed her a ring.
His sudden appearance caused the Demon Empress to almost punch him after seeing a Feng appear next to her, but stopped after realizing it was her master upon sensing the contract's power. She then accepted Moloch's Ring from him and put it on, understanding Feng's intention.
Seeing Celestina equip Moloch's Ring, Feng breathed a massive sigh of relief, knowing that they had finally won.
The two Tier 5 Trial Creatures rushed out of the cloud of dust with panic in their eyes after having failed to eliminate the challenger with that planned move. Being on a timer now with the short duration of Twofold Berserk and no Spatial Shift to teleport away with, the two clones were in a hurry to quickly kill Feng.
Moving towards Feng and Celestina at their fastest speed, the Trial Creatures split up, planning for one to stall the Great Demon while the other finished Feng off.
Upon getting closer and seeing that Celestina was wearing Moloch's Ring, however, those thoughts instantly disappeared, their faces turning pale as the panic and horror in the clones' eyes became evident.
With no thoughts of fighting anymore, the Trial Creatures wished to immediately run away from here.
Unfortunately for them, it was too late.
Bestowal of Darkness!
Celestina's aura not only skyrocketed, but completely transformed as if she had become an entirely different being after temporarily reaching Tier 5. Despite still being on the level of mortals, the Demon Empress gave off the feeling of a true God.
Since he was sensing it, the Tier 5 Trial Creatures could naturally feel it as well. Any chance of victory was instantly rendered null in the face of such a foe. Even running away would be like a dream.
Despite possessing such a method to instantly elevate Celestina's strength and practically guarantee their victory, Feng had never bothered to use it before as although it was a powerful move, having the Demon Goddess use Moloch's Ring to get promoted to Tier 5 before for the previous fights would have been pointless.
The moment she activates Bestowal of Darkness, or even the moment Feng gives her Moloch's Ring, all the Trial Creatures would have scattered and bailed with Spatial Shift.
Even if she manages to use the Berserk Skill and attempted to slaughter the clones, there were too many of them for her to instantly kill or stop from running as the Tier 1 Trial Creatures could just either run or escape Celestina's and her Mana Domain's range with skills like Divine Steps and then use Spatial Shift to get away from the Demon Empress.
With a short one-minute duration and a long cooldown of an entire day, Bestowal of Darkness was a trump Feng planned to keep for the Third Phase in case things went wrong since he couldn't see it being effectively applicable in the Second Phase due to the number of enemies.
There was also the problem of using Bestowal of Darkness and it increasing Moloch's Ring's power as even though Celestina would be the one wearing the ring and getting her soul attacked by the Power of Darkness, which would be useless and the Demon Goddess would neutralize it, utilizing any of the Legendary Ring's skills would increase its overall power; so it would still up the pressure on Feng's soul once he reequipped it by a bit and possibly reduce the time he had by a few days.
Hence, he'd avoid using it if possible, and since the Ring's other skills not only functioned the same but were also unusable, he hadn't bothered to even give his maid Moloch's Ring since his attributes would drop without it.
When the Trial Creatures reduced their numbers to create the higher-tiered Fengs, switching out quantity for quality, however, using the Berserk Skill to have Celestina quickly kill all of them seemed a little more feasible.
Though, Feng still didn't do it since the clones had Spatial Shift and would teleport far away the moment he gave the Demon Empress his Moloch's Ring. He needed to wait for an opportunity when the Trial Creatures were all in one place and couldn't teleport far away.
The Tier 4 replica didn't attempt to activate Bestowal of Darkness and get promoted to Tier 5 in order to quickly kill Feng for similar reasons, as the original had Spatial Shift himself and could just teleport away to Celestina.
In that case, its Bestowal of Darkness would be wasted, and if it tried following after Feng with Spatial Shift, that would just be sentencing itself to death as using up its Spatial Shift and going near the Demon Empress while she could still use her own Bestowal of Darkness could only end badly.
Regardless of its promotion to Tier 5, the clone would just get killed if it did that.
Afterwards, Feng passing the Second Phase would only be inevitable, as no matter whether the other Tier 5 duplicate stayed and tried using its own Bestowal of Darkness to fight and try to kill Feng, or used Spatial Shift to run away until Celestina's Bestowal of Darkness ended, without someone to threaten Feng's life, it would eventually get killed by the Demon Empress as well.
Similarly, the Trial Creatures were waiting for the right opportunity when Feng couldn't teleport away to go Twofold Berserk with Moloch's Ring's skill, easily killing him.
However, that chance never arrived, and due to how slippery Feng was, along with all the items he possessed, the Tier 4 clone could not finish him off quickly enough, while the Tier 5 one was close to getting killed by Celestina.
Hence, they had to create an opportunity on their own, the two of them working together to lead Feng and Celestina to the same place and simultaneously go all out, putting the Demon Empress on guard and unable to help Feng as they ambushed him.
But Feng had sensed the danger before they even made their move and was well prepared, immediately activating Thought Acceleration the moment they made their move and taking advantage of the Trial Creatures' attacks slowing down when near him to rapidly use his skills and escape death's clutches.
In turn, the replicas' last ditch to try to eliminate Feng failed, while they had in turn created the perfect opportunity for Celestina to finally use Bestowal of Darkness as they had both used up their Spatial Shifts.
Even escaping was no longer an option as the Demon Empress's World Creation enveloped them the moment she was promoted to Tier 5.
The potent Power of Darkness filled Celestina's body and soul, but instead of trying to devour it like the Moloch's Ring attempted to do to Feng, the Demon Goddess fully absorbed it and grew even stronger.
Her oppressing aura made the Trial Creatures instinctively want to run away, but since they knew that was impossible, the Tier 5 duplicates could only steel their nerves and do their job.
Continuing with their previous plan since they didn't have anything better, the two replicas split up, with one rushing towards Celestina and the other one trying to circle around to Feng, their Pandemonium Lashblades becoming covered in pitch-black flames.
Their thought process was that the stronger Tier 5 Trial Creature could still stall the Tier 5 Demon Empress for a few seconds and buy the other one time to kill Feng, who had used up most of his skills and wouldn't be able to survive its attacks like before while the clone was now even in Twofold Berserk.
However, the Trial Creatures were under the incredible misconception that they were still in the same realm of strength as the current Celestina.
Appearing in front of the Tier 5 Feng running at her faster than it could keep up with, Celestina slashed her sword horizontally across its abdomen. Although the Trial Creature had sensed the danger and attempted to block the incoming attack, the Demon Goddess's attack was simply too fast.
Before the clone could even move its sword to defend itself, the Pandemonium Lashblade had already cut into it, ripping apart flesh and nearly cutting the replica in half as the Trial Creature was sent flying.
Feng and his newly promoted Tier 5 duplicate witnessed this, but without having time to process her devastatingly fast attack, Celestina had already reached the other Trial Creature, an upward slash coming at its chest.
It, too, failed to block the attack in time, getting flung into the air and colliding with the other clone.
As the two of them canceled out each other's momentum in midair upon collision, Celestina appeared above them, her sword growing in the shape of a dark crescent moon as she cut down towards the replicas as if the Demon Empress was bringing down an executioner's blade.
Tier 5 Taboo Skill, Devilmoon Blade!
The Trial Creatures threw out two super condensed Thundering Flashes in a defensive attempt, having no stronger skill to block the attack carrying Tier 6 power.
Two beam-like Thundering Flashes comprised of thousands of lightning bolts fused together and smashed against the Demon Empress's long dark blade, only to be instantly cut apart by her Devilmoon Blade, which continued down towards the clones. Seeing the incoming black blade, the two Trial Creatures had no remaining option and simply crossed their four swords to block it.
Completely overpowered by the demon girl, they were smashed down, crashing into the ground like meteors. Not even having the time to stand up properly and recover, Celestina reached the ground and commenced another attack on them.
Standing in front of the two Trial Creatures, the Demon Empress suddenly noticed the Mana in their Chestplates go berserk, the Blood Emperor's Armors glowing bright red and exploding out into a bloody mist that quickly approached her.
Retracting her sword, Celestina showed no fear despite the two fogs merging together and coming right at her, total indifference plastered over her face as the now-promoted Demon Queen took a step forward.
Tier 6 Skill, Empress's Steps!
An invisible shockwave of energy spread out when Celestina's feet touched the ground, the wave spreading from her step colliding with the two Sanguine Annihilations and instantly pushing back the bloody mist.
The shockwave continued spreading out and pushing back the red fog until it reached the two Trial Creatures, hitting them with a heavy force and making the clones get sent flying away.
Not only was one of their strongest skills easily and instantly neutralized when they combined them, but both of the replicas also received a large amount of damage from the blow, completely unable to resist the power of Celestina's Tier 6 skill.
When players have their tier increased, through a Promotion Quest or artificially, they don't receive any new high-ranking skills, so apart from a boost in strength and their tier increasing by one, Feng and the Trial Creatures would not receive any new powers from Bestowal of Darkness.
Monsters and NPCs, though, could on occasion get new skills or spells when using items to increase their tier.
For Celestina, that went even more so as all of her previous abilities were sealed due to her low tier and strength, so when she does have her tier increased, some of them get unlocked. After getting promoted to Tier 5, the Demon Empress could now use all of her Tier 5 Skills and Spells, along with dozens of Tier 5 Taboo Skills and Curses, as well as a few Tier 6 abilities.
This unsealing allowed the demon girl to show even more of her might.
Taking another step forward and instantly reaching the two Trial Creatures, a second shockwave smashed into the clones, doing even more damage and throwing them away.
Teleporting to the stronger Tier 5 duplicate with Instantaneous Movement, Celestina's hand turned into a flaming drill that she stabbed forward into the clone's chest. It naturally tried to defend itself, but the fire erupting from the drill burned away at the clone's arms, destroying them and piercing through the Trial Creature's chest.
Tier 6 Skill, Sun's Everlasting Drill!
A giant hole was created in the Tier 5 replica's chest, its insides getting ripped apart by the drill, which Celestina brought upwards with a move of her hand and destroyed apart everything until it went out through the Trial Creature's head.
Even a Tier 5 Feng could not survive getting nearly its entire top half demolished by a Tier 6 skill, instantly dying to the Demon Empress.
The other Trial Creature, upon landing on its feet after getting hit by Celestina's shockwave step, immediately activated God Speed and rushed towards Feng, wishing to put an end to this challenger.
Just as it neared him and slashed forward, its stupendous speed not something Feng could keep up with despite being in Twofold Berserk himself, the clone's arm was disconnected from its body as a black swordlight cut through it.
Celestina instantaneously appeared next to it, killing the other Trial Creature taking less than two seconds, and cut off the replica's arm, before slashing lower and removing its legs, following up with an upward slice at the duplicate's left armpit, its second arm coming off as well.
In an instant before it could react, the Trial Creature was left limbless, the Demon Empress ruthlessly cutting off both its arms and legs, and still not planning to give it a break as she stood on one heel and kicked the clone in its injured chest.
The kick sent it flying once again, the crippled Tier 5 creature landing a few hundred yards away with less than 5% of its HP remaining.
"Phew," Having dealt with both Trial Creatures, Celestina let out a relieved breath, stopping to chill and inspect herself as she felt the power coursing through her "It feels so good to finally have some of my strength back."
Until now, the Demon Empress has felt very stifled while being at Tier 4, the lack of power and overall inferior feeling from it making her uncomfortable. Only with a proper Tier 5 Mana Body could she regain some sense of power. Though, it still paled in comparison to having a Superior Divine Body.
Although it was an artificial increase and only temporary, Celestina still wanted to enjoy this feeling for a while longer as she stretched her voluptuous body as if she had escaped some kind of shackles. As for the limbless Trial Creature some ways away from them, the Demon Goddess paid it no mind nor did she intend to kill it just yet.
Feng was currently in Twofold Berserk, so after a few dozen seconds when Blade Liberation ends, he'll fall into a Heavily Weakened state.
In order to increase their chances of passing the Third Phase as much as possible, Celestina decided to wait first for Feng to recover and for both of them to be in their peak conditions before finishing off the Trial Creature and starting the next phase.
After all, it was not a threat to them anymore.
Bestowal of Darkness would soon end for both of them and they will fall back down to Tier 4, while the Trial Creature would enter a Heavily Weakened state.
Although it will last much shorter than for Feng since the clone is a Tier 4 being, Celestina could still easily beat it black and blue while they were on the same tier.
Furthermore, she had already severed all of its limbs and greatly injured it in the fight, which will take a while to recover from, so even when its HP gets restored to 100% through its natural recovery, the Trial Creature won't be able to do anything.
All of its strong skills were on cooldown as well, including Spatial Shift, while it also couldn't teleport away anyway within Celestina's powerful Mana Domain, so the clone couldn't do anything to them except use the skills that had a short cooldown, but those could be dealt with easily.
Following which, Feng and Celestina rested, the Berserk Skills all ending within a minute and leaving both Fengs weakened.
Nearly twenty minutes passed by, and Feng had already recovered from the Heavily Weakened state ten minutes ago, he and the demon maid having spent the time resting and recovering a large portion of their Stamina and Concentration.
The Trial Creature had recovered within a few minutes as expected, making a few attempts to attack Feng in a desperate shot to kill him, but they all knew it would fail.
Without being able to move or wield weapons, and with most of its skills on cooldown, it couldn't do much, merely activating Nine Dragons Slash, Mysticsteel Dualblades, and Phantom Kill; sending the flying swords at Feng while the doppelganger cast Drago Buster and dashed forward in Twofold Berserk on mission impossible.
Distracting them with that attack force, the Trial Creature used Divine Steps, switching places with the doppelganger furthest from its position and beginning to roll away in the opposite direction of the two of them.
Naturally, Celestina easily handled it all, merely casting a powerful Tier 5 Defensive Skill on Feng to block all the attacks, before instantly eliminating the doppelganger and flying after the Tier 4 limbless creature that was desperately rolling on the ground.
Picking it up and dragging back the Trial Creature that actively resisted, the demon girl smashed it against the ground and started punching it, not fearing it would die quickly after its HP had recovered to full.
It was just supposed to be a few basic attacks to injure the clone and prevent it from trying to escape, but halfway through, the Demon Empress began laughing manically as she beat up the Trial Creature, apparently being able to finally relieve the pent-up anger caused by Feng on something that looked like him without their contract stopping her making Celestina very happy.
Feng couldn't help but feel a bit concerned after seeing that, but he brushed it aside.
Barely keeping herself from beating the replica to death, Celestina left it alone on 1% HP with its face bruised and completely messed up, the Demon Empress seemingly satisfied from the ordeal.
Once they've rested enough and decided to move on to the Third Phase, Celestina went over to put the Trial Creature out of its misery.
"Before you kill it, first switch back to your normal outfit." Feng stopped her just as she was about to finish off the clone, reminding Celestina of their plan and giving her permission to change her clothes.
Her expression brightening up with glee, the Demon Goddess manipulated the Mana making up her maid outfit and controlled it to change after Feng allowed it, going back to her black velvet gothic skirt with blood-red lace lining that contrasted with her delicate white skin, making Celestina look like a noble lady. Under her skirt, black stockings wrapped around her two slender legs, which were clasped in black boots.
Feeling happy after finally getting out of that deplorable costume, Celestina decapitated the Trial Creature.
System: Second Phase completed. The Third Phase of the World Summit Trial shall now commence.
Feng could only sigh upon seeing the system notification, thinking that God Mode was too cruel. Thankfully, both he and Celestina had already fully recovered, so even if the Third Phase goes beyond Feng's expectations, it would still not trouble them too much more than expected.
As the Third Phase began, Feng gave Celestina some final words of encouragement through their contract "Whether we live or die now, it all depends on your acting skills."
Nodding, the Demon Empress's demeanor changed, returning to her usual arrogant look as she floated above Feng with her demonic horns, wings, and tail on full display.
In the next moment, a giant cloud of black mist gathered some distance from Feng and Celestina, forming a gigantic figure.
When the fog settled and formed a humanoid shape, a breathtaking woman with demonic horns, wings, and tail stood before them, wearing a black gothic skirt. Divine Might radiated from the huge Demon Goddess, forcing creatures to submit and nearly making Feng collapse to the floor.
Dressed the same as Celestina and looking the same as her, the arrogant eyes of the Tier 6 Demon Empress fell on the two individuals before her, a flash of surprise appearing in them.
"The main consciousness?"
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1. Obviously inspiration came from Jujutsu Kisen. It has similar effects but doesn't do the thing where the person enters a flow state; or however it was described like in the anime.