"One is a high stage Divine King while the other is a mid stage Divine King"
"Bruce, which one should we target first?" Deion asked nervously.
Unlike the usual missions from Chef John, the duo knew that death was a strong possibility if they make a mistake during the fight.
"We have to go all in on the high stage Divine King" Bruce answered.
"Why? Wouldn't it be easier to kill the mid stage Divine King first?" Deion felt Bruce's decision didn't feel right.
"Correct, but we both cannot take on a high stage Divine King reliably at our current levels"
"The best chance that we have right now is to immediately kill the high stage Divine King and deal with the mid stage Divine King" Bruce whispered quietly.
Killing two divine kings and 15 other Soul Manifestation prodigies from Dark Forces with just six people at Soul Manifestation. It was an impossible mission. However, there was no return for the group because they cannot retreat to the Imperial Academy without encountering the enemy.
Thinking deeply, Bruce put away Light Piercer because it would blow away his cover if he started to charge it up. Instead, he got out a pair of silver gauntlet, a gift from his teacher. The pair of silver gauntlet is impressively a Divine Emperor artifact. Something that Bruce wanted all along.
"Deion, aim for his heart" Bruce equipped the gauntlet for the first time and was ready to fight.
The two sneaked to the maximum distance between them and the high stage Divine King without being detected. The pills that they had eaten earlier provided them a temporary boost in adrenaline. It was a do or die situation.
Bruce gave the signal to Edward to begin the battle.
"All of you die here!" Edward screamed.
He summoned a storm of dark flames at the enemy location to catch them by surprise. Sophia, Meredith, and Chelsey also created large area of effect elemental attacks to distract the enemy.
Everyone from the Dark Forces looked to the group in surprise while Bruce and Deion immediately dashed toward the High Stage Divine King aiming for his heart.
The Divine King didn't realize what was going on because he placed his focus on Edward's group. When he saw two silhouettes behind him, he instinctively dodged to the side. Bruce predicted this and aimed his attack accordingly.
Bruce combined all his elements for the first time and enveloped the gauntlet with an excruciating bright light.
"Heavenly Stars, open!" Bruce exclaimed.
His entire body shined like the stars to empower his offensive capabilities. His fist landed on the chest of the High Stage Divine King. A body of a high stage Divine King is tougher than most Divine King artifacts, but it was still useless against Bruce's powerful attack.
The mid stage Divine King looked in horror as his partner had a huge hole in his chest. Deion grasped the opportunity and puncture the high stage Divine King head with his spear. Within a span of 2 seconds, a high stage Divine King was dead.
Everyone in the vicinity was shocked by what just happened. Even Edward, Meredith, Sophia, and Chelsey couldn't believe that the duo managed to kill a high stage Divine King expert.
"What the fuck are you guys looking at? Hold off those people while we handle the other Divine King!" Bruce screamed at Edward when he saw everyone stopped attacking.
Edward snapped out confusion and began to attack the prodigies from Dark Forces maliciously. With the help of Sophia's light energy, the group was able to hold off the prodigies from Dark Forces for a short period of time. It was up to Bruce and Deion to handle the mid stage Divine King expert.
"You fucking brats!" The mid stage Divine King expert rushed in front of Bruce and slashed his sword toward Bruce's neck.
CLANK
Bruce expertly blocked the attack with his gauntlet while Deion went on the offensive. Seeing that his attack failed, the Divine King expert unleashed a tornado in the vicinity. Unfortunately for him, Bruce can also match his elemental attack.
Bruce slammed his hand down to the ground and created an earthquake.
"Seismic Waves!"
A large fissure appeared on the ground knocking everyone off their balance. Bruce then froze the entire area including the tornado. Finally, he summoned an icy storm aiming at the Divine King.
'What the hell is wrong with that kid? Why does he have the power of a Divine King' The Divine King from Dark Forces could not fathom how a peak stage Soul Manifestation brat could be this powerful.
"Deion now!" Bruce yelled.
As the Divine King was struggling to protect himself against the incoming ice storm, Deion dashed behind him and thrusted his spear aiming at his head. The Divine King let out his aura to disrupt Deion which caused Deion to miss his head by a few centimeters.
Seeing that the fight was getting unfavorable, the Divine King sent out a soul attack at Deion.
Deion fell on the ground with sweats as he tried to stabilize his soul. The Divine King saw an opportunity and attacked Deion with the intention of cutting off his head. However, everything was over when he saw a hand coming out of his body.
Bruce also saw an opportunity when the Divine King expert was distracted by Deion and hid his presence with darkness. He sneaked up behind the Divine King and slammed his shining gauntlet into the enemy's heart.
The Divine King expert couldn't believe his eyes when his powers were fading away. He slumped to the ground without even seeing his murderer.
Meanwhile, Edward's group was starting to lose ground against the prodigies of the Dark Forces. They would have lost a long time ago had it not been for Sophia's powers severely weakening them.
"Deion, can you move?" Bruce asked as Deion was still on the ground slumping due to the soul attack.
"Buddy.. I need to take a break" Deion said before fainting.
Bruce sighed and threw a pill inside Deion's mouth. Deion should be unconscious for a couple of hours until the pill works its magic.
Seeing that Edward's group was starting to lose the battle, Bruce headed to that side of the battlefield to clean up the remaining prodigies from the Dark Forces.
"Primordial Fist" Bruce muttered as he charged up his gauntlet with all his elemental energy once again.
He quickly subdued everyone by simply smashing his fist against their bodies. Those who were too weak to defend the attack would die immediately upon impact while the stronger ones would faint afterward.
Edward fell down the ground panting as he just consumed everything, he had to stall the enemies. When he looked down at the battlefield, he saw Bruce standing alone with blood on his entire body. Bruce truly looked gruesome at that moment.
'Heh, that guy is really a true monster' Edward thought to himself.
"Meredith, I can't believe your boyfriend actually managed to kill two Divine Kings!" Chelsey said in shock.
"Yeah.. That's my Bruce…." Meredith looked at the lone figure with blood in his hands. Even after spending so much time with Bruce, she still didn't realize how terrifying he was. His usual demeanors are completely different than those of his on the battlefield.
Sophia didn't say anything as she stared at Bruce. If one looked closely at her eyes, one would see something dark within her pupils. Almost like a crazy obsession was being born at that moment.
"Bruce what should we do with the remaining people?" Meredith asked.
Currently, four prodigies from the Dark Forces were still alive.
"Isn't it obvious? We're going to sell them back to the Dark Forces" Bruce smiled finally after the fight.
"Sell them?" Meredith didn't quite follow Bruce's train of thought.
"Yes, I'm sure the Dark Forces would pay a hefty price to get back their prodigies" Bruce smiled evilly.
"I'm going to make sure that they're bankrupt if they want these prodigies back!"