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"Safety is the priority." She added, her expression turning serious, "Troops can be lost, but none of you can. I'll abandon those rankings before I let even a single one of my sisters die here."
"Yes, Sister Diane!" A round-faced girl spoke up, "By the way, do you think we might meet Haru in this world?"
"I really want to see him as well!"
"Aria said he's incredibly handsome, like a God."
"He *is* a god. A powerful High God at that. Even those ancient Gods of Faith can't match him."
As the chatter continued, their admiration became obvious. Back in the Endless Continent, Haru hadn't opened his empire's teleportation arrays so they couldn't visit him. Now, on this planet, perhaps they had a chance to fulfil this wish.
Diane smiled, "If you want to meet him, focus on getting stronger. If you're forced to retreat back to the Endless Continent, you'll never have the chance." She paused, "My intuition tells me that if we survive long enough to fight the demons in the underground world, we may cross paths with him."
Unlike her sisters, she wasn't eager for such a meeting. After all, she had just met Haru yesterday. He matched every expectation she had for a man, but she knew that to him, she was likely just another reasonably attractive woman.
Compared to his Angels and Elves, nothing about her stood out. The only difference was that she was a Castle Lord, from the same planet as him. The other girls, though, grew excited about her words. Almost all of them were his admirers and meeting him had always been their dream.
…
A million kilometers away, Haru remained unaware of the tens of thousands of women hoping to encounter him. Even if he knew, he would have simply laughed.
He closed the leaderboard. After just three hours of battle, his forces had accumulated over a hundred times the points of the second-place. As the event continued, the gap would only widen. He already had the first place in his grasp.
"How about it?" Haru asked, turning to Celestia, "Any trace of the demons?"
Celestia withdrew her divine sense from the underground world, "My Lord, this planet's underground world is divided into four layers."
"Four?"
"Yes, the first layer, closest to the surface, is where demonized monsters live. Countless such creatures and demon nests fill this place. They consume each other and reproduce there. The nests transform them, making each generation stronger than the last. Eventually, the Abyss' evil power in their blood intensifies until they evolve into hybrid demons."
Haru nodded, "So they're training cannon fodder for their invasion of the Endless Continent. The second layer houses weak, ordinary demons. Their task is creating nests and strengthening the demonized creatures above."
"The third layer is the stronghold of pure-blooded demons and the fourth layer is the absolute core, where this planet's laws reside. I also sensed living creatures there. They're most likely the planet's natives."
"Indeed." Haru said, "They must have gathered there to protect the Laws. Once it's fully eroded and assimilated by abyssal power, their world ends. They're making their last stand. So what level of strength are we dealing with?"
If the demons were weak enough, he could take Celestia and Yvonne directly into the third layer, eliminate the high-level demons, and immediately end this tournament, but Celestia's answer surprised him.
"My Lord, I sensed the pressure of Supreme Gods in both the third and fourth layers. In the demon stronghold specifically, two extremely powerful auras have reached the Supreme God Tier."
Haru's eyes narrowed, "Oh? I thought only the Demon Emperor and his Twelve Demon Monarchs hold that rank. Did the Abyss deploy two Demon Monarchs here?"
"Possibly, but I believe they were promoted on this planet. They likely devoured massive amounts of World Law to force their Ascension."
Haru considered this, "Contact the native Gods in the fourth layer. Tell them that we're here to help eliminate the demons. If they're willing to act, we attack together from both sides."
"And if they refuse?"
Haru's expression turned cold, "Then we kill them after we finish with the demons."
"My Lord is wise." Celestia created a divine incarnation and descended into the underground world. She travelled through the void, shrouded by her Supreme God Tier Laws. Even the High God Tier demons couldn't detect her. The only threat were the two Supreme God Tier Demons in the third layer. If she could avoid them, she would reach the fourth layer and negotiate with the native Gods.
…
Night passed in relentless combat. When the sun rose, the demonized monsters suddenly stopped emerging. The flood slowed down to a trickle, then ceased entirely. The vast land was scarred with countless black cave-like entrances.
In most areas, corpses of demonized creatures littered the ground, but in the Great Aetherium's battle zone, nothing remained. The Angels' holy flames had reduced every corpse to ash and purified even the evil miasma from the air.
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