Lucifer increasingly felt a sense of foreboding.
This is absurd, he thought, realizing that his opponent was not a madman determined to die. Instead, from the look of things, the opponent's actions were driven by confidence.
The objective was to cut off all routes of retreat for the Hell lords and then kill them all.
This idea was undoubtedly insane, but there is a vast difference between different kinds of insanity. The opponent's madness lay in the ambition to devour all of them.
One type of madness is tragic self-destruction, while the other is the ambition to eliminate everyone. The two concepts are entirely different.
Lucifer's mental waves swept over all the Hell lords, issuing a warning.
"This human is much stronger than we imagined. Do not entertain any deceitful thoughts. If we do not unite, we may all die here."
Lucifer had suffered losses and personally experienced Bi Xiao's strength. His own cunning plans had now dissipated, and he hoped the other Hell lords would also cooperate.
After all, this was not the time to consider whether one or two of them would die, or whether it would be oneself who died, but rather how they could all survive.
In the former scenario, scheming and plotting were still possible; in the latter, full cooperation was necessary because a misstep could lead to complete annihilation.
The Hell lords' mental waves flickered slightly at Lucifer's warning but remained mostly unresponsive. They understood the gravity of Lucifer's warning, but trust remained a rare commodity, especially at their level.
While the Hell lords harbored different thoughts, a change occurred on the ground. The earth shattered with a thunderous roar, and golden pillars of light pierced the sky amidst the debris, merging into a torrent that ravaged the heavens.
The divine power of this torrent completely suppressed these Hell lords of hell.
Under this golden torrent, the Hell lords used their respective abilities to resist. As the sky glowed with golden light, a figure had already reached one of the Hell lords.
The Hell lord, seeing the figure ascending against the flow and especially those cold eyes, felt alarm bells ring.
In his astonishment, Bi Xiao gave the Hell lord no chance, mercilessly raising the Sword of Promised Victory and sweeping it toward the Hell lord's head, aiming to kill him outright.
At this critical moment, a black shadow flashed.
With a resounding clash, the resulting shockwave sent the Hell lord flying. The other Hell lords saw that it was Lucifer who had intervened at the critical moment. Without Lucifer, that Hell lord would have surely been beheaded.
However, the force of Bi Xiao's full-strength strike injured Lucifer again.
Lucifer couldn't withstand the sword and stumbled, losing his balance and exposing a vulnerability. Seizing the opportunity, Bi Xiao immediately thrust another sword, and although Lucifer tried to dodge, the sword still left a cut on his neck. Lucifer quickly wielded his black sword.
A wave of deathly energy swept forward, and Lucifer took the chance to retreat rapidly as Bi Xiao resisted the energy.
His black wings flapped frantically, and he swiftly distanced himself.
It was clear this was experience from previous severe beatings.
Lucifer knew Bi Xiao's speed and strength were abnormal. If the distance was too close, there might be no time to react. As a Hell lord, the idea of not being able to react to an attack seemed laughable.
But this was the reality: Bi Xiao's speed had surpassed the reaction time of the Hell lords, resulting in an almost overwhelming advantage.
Moreover, Bi Xiao's fighting style was not only straightforward but also particularly insidious, embodying a treacherous villain. Just like the previous attack, he had used the energy torrent as a cover to ambush the Hell lord. Without Lucifer, the Hell lord would have been finished.
Setting aside the Hell lord's mixed feelings about Lucifer after his near-death experience, Bi Xiao dispelled the death energy produced by Lucifer's sword swing. He grasped the lingering death energy thoughtfully.
Crushing it, he then looked at Lucifer's black sword.
"The Sword of Azrael? The Angel of Death, also known as the Sword of Death. This is interesting."
The Sword of Promised Victory in his hand now was completely different from the one he had previously manifested through reality alteration. This sword was enhanced with Uru metal and rare Asgardian materials, and crafted using the dwarven king's techniques and runes, making it a true divine weapon.
Moreover, this sword contained a magic core he had specially created, allowing it to be nourished by magical power at all times.
The sword's attributes were now tied to his magic.
It could truly be called a legendary weapon from mythology.
Even under the relentless attacks wielding the Sword of Promised Victory, Lucifer's Sword of Death showed no signs of damage, clearly indicating it was no ordinary weapon.
Especially since this sword contained the rule of death.
Anything associated with rules is never simple.
Indeed, these Hell lords were treasures. Bi Xiao cracked his neck, the warm-up igniting his fighting spirit. The battle was now officially on.
Boom!!
With an explosive sound, Bi Xiao charged towards the Hell lords.
While the intense battle was ongoing, the real world appeared much calmer as Bi Xiao had taken the Hell lords to the deathmatch dimension.
Wanda cautiously waited for a while, and when she sensed no danger, she lifted the mirror dimension spell and returned to the real world. By then, the Arctic Circle had been completely reduced to scorched earth, almost indistinguishable from the environment of hell.
Fortunately, neither Wanda nor Thor and the others were ordinary people, and they showed no discomfort in an environment where no ordinary human or any Earth creature could survive.
Sif and the others rode on their pegasus, while Wanda and her group floated in mid-air, looking around.
"Where did they go?"
Volstagg, puzzled, scratched his head.
"Shaw took those Hell lords to another dimension; otherwise, the battle of that magnitude would have destroyed Midgard, and humanity would have had no chance of survival," Loki explained, still amazed. "It's terrifying how he forcibly took those Hell lords away single-handedly."
"That requires immense power."
Loki understood the significance, expressing his admiration.
Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, and Sif, not fully comprehending, shifted the topic. Volstagg glanced at the increasingly large Hell's Gate below, seemingly intimidated by the demons' retreat. Despite the Hell lords' disappearance, no demons emerged.
"So what do we do now? Just watch?"
Volstagg waved his axe, still eager for battle. He was disappointed that the demons had retreated and weren't coming out to fight.
Loki didn't answer but looked at Wanda.
Although he didn't speak, Wanda understood his intention—whether to seize the opportunity to enter hell and retrieve the ancient artifact supporting the Hell's Gate to close it.
"Wait. Shaw said earlier not to go to hell at this time; after all, many Hell lords in hell haven't appeared yet."
Bella spoke first.
The others realized this, especially since Mephisto, the hell lord bearing the name of Satan, hadn't appeared but was certainly watching. If they recklessly entered hell, they would give him a chance to act.
There wasn't much to do but let Wanda, Loki, and Bella cast a barrier for protection.
Watching Wanda and the others perform magic above the Hell's Gate, Thor waved his hammer in disappointment, expecting a fierce battle today that barely happened.
Unsatisfied, he looked at Pietro.
Seeing Thor's gaze, the white-haired youth glared back, "I'll beat you up later."
"That sounds great," Thor chuckled.
"I wonder how things are going over there; I really want to see what a battle of that scale looks like," Pietro sighed.
Thor nodded in agreement.
He also wanted to see it, eyes filled with imagination of the earth-shattering battle.
As Thor imagined, the battle in the deathmatch dimension was indeed intense, with every moment a cycle of striking and being struck.
Bi Xiao fought against nine Hell lords alone.
The pressure was immense, and this was after he had eliminated one through a sneak attack earlier; otherwise, it would have been even more challenging.
His combat prowess was top-tier among the Celestials, comparable to Odin at his peak, who once fought nine Celestials alone.
Although the Hell lords were individually weaker than Celestials, many Celestials weren't skilled in combat, which is why Odin's feat of cutting off a Celestial's arm was possible.
However, the Hell lords had accumulated immense power over countless years, with none being weak.
Among them was Lucifer, a powerful Hell lord second only to Mephisto.
Thus, after Lucifer rescued a Hell lord during the battle, the Hell lords temporarily set aside their differences, realizing Bi Xiao's strength. United, their combined power was overwhelming.
Even though Bi Xiao could overpower each Hell lord individually, he struggled against their combined assault.
Fortunately, although being suppressed, Bi Xiao was still able to persevere. Under this extreme pressure, he began to adapt and grow rapidly. His talent was undeniable, and with the unrestricted accumulation of life essence, much of his potential remained untapped.
Extreme pressure allowed him to quickly tap into this potential.
Thus, as the Hell lords continued fighting Bi Xiao, they began to sense something was amiss. Initially, they suppressed him easily, putting him in several dangerous situations, but soon they noticed the pressure on their side was increasing sharply, and it continued to grow over time.
Bi Xiao's combat intelligence was extraordinarily high. As he excavated his potential and increased his strength, he also began to counterattack rapidly.
His method was simple: target one Hell lord and attack relentlessly. Regardless of how the Hell lords encircled him, whenever Bi Xiao found an opening to counterattack, he would immediately focus a frenzied assault on that particular Hell lord, forcing the others to come to their aid.
However, Bi Xiao would then shift his focus to another target and attack them with equal ferocity. His counterattacks were terrifyingly explosive, and any moment of carelessness from the Hell lords resulted in instant defeat.
This forced the Hell lords to remain perpetually on high alert, guarding against his sudden outbursts.
Additionally, what disgusted the Hell lords was that, as hellish beings, their cosmic energy was largely associated with darkness. The universe's energies of light and darkness, or chaos, all had their attributes and signatures.
The secret energy of the hell dimension was particularly distinctive.
Despite different authorities, many shared similarities.
There were also Hell lords specializing in mental aspects, like Satannish, who, despite focusing on mental energy, were still immensely powerful. Unlike the extreme focus seen in beings like the Ancient One, Hell lords rarely had such imbalances.
Yet, Bi Xiao completely restrained their dark attributes.
Many dark spells shattered upon contact with Bi Xiao's magic. Various curses were ineffective, and mental pollution and attacks failed to affect him. Instead, his mental counterattacks nearly overwhelmed the Hell lords, as Satannish could attest. He was frustrated, noting that Bi Xiao's prowess in close combat was already formidable.
In mental combat, Bi Xiao seemed even more terrifying, his vast, galaxy-like mind surpassing even that of a Hell lord.
He was a complete monster.
Virtually without weaknesses.
As the battle dragged on, the Hell lords grew increasingly alarmed. The tide had turned; from nine against one, it had become one against nine.
One person chasing multiple Hell lords—was this even reasonable?
Even Yahweh of Heaven wouldn't act like this.
While the Hell lords were shocked and frustrated, Bi Xiao became increasingly exhilarated. His combat style merged cold rationality with berserker fury. He fought with extreme rationality but also with blood-pumping enthusiasm, driven by boundless fighting spirit.
The former was his nature, while the latter was his body's natural response.
Due to his body's immense strength and many untapped potentials, under extreme suppression, it naturally entered a "high-temperature" state. This state significantly unlocked his body's potential, requiring him to adapt to the new strength, needing to vent it.
This was the fundamental reason for his berserker gene. Unlike other berserkers who lost their minds in battle, he remained rational, able to control his body, creating a beneficial cycle.
Bi Xiao had long known about this trait. So, facing the encirclement of the nine Hell lords, he didn't directly enter EX mode or launch a fatal strike from the Golden City. Instead, he used these high-intensity opponents to vent his body's potential under extreme pressure.
As he expected, he could feel his growth.
Thus, the battle became easier and his growth rate slowed. As he grew stronger, the intense pressure from his opponents weakened.
Having achieved his initial goal, Bi Xiao was ready to move on.
Boom!
Wielding the Sword of Vowed Victory, Bi Xiao swept the battlefield, unleashing a terrifying golden torrent of magic, repelling the Hell lords. His golden eyes grew increasingly sacred, and in the next moment, a vast amount of magic power surged into his body from another conceptual dimension.
This increase in magic power elevated his body to a new level.
He felt as if time around him froze, everything slowing down, as if he could manipulate time and space at will.
In EX mode, his energy surged dozens of times, elevating him from a Celestial-tier ceiling to a new level.
A single-universe level.
Of course, even in EX mode, Bi Xiao couldn't reach the single-universe level. This tier was far beyond a Celestial's power, capable of easily destroying thousands of galaxies, with the strongest single-universe entities capable of destroying millions.
For example, Dormammu, at the peak of the single-universe level, could influence the entire Dark Dimension, ruling over a dimensional universe.
While Bi Xiao's magic surge in EX mode didn't reach this level, it allowed him to glimpse its capabilities.
For instance~~
Bi Xiao glanced around, and the entire battlefield seemed to freeze in an instant. All the Hell lords were fixed in place, everything coming to a halt.