Under the suppression of the nine Archpriests, the Champion King appeared calm and even disdainful, which made the Archpriests ill at ease.
Although they had decreased in power, the Archpriests were still aware of the Champion King’s prowess. Furthermore, they have been attempting to use a secret method to capture the Holy King, but to no avail, which has left the situation ambiguous.
Nonetheless, the Archpriests can’t let the Champion King attack the Holy Justice Citadel, or everything will be over for the Cardinal Spirit Temple.
But one of the Archpriests was feeling extremely uneasy because he was constantly thinking about the existence he had encountered not long ago, and everything had started after he appeared.
This Archpriest was naturally the Knight King, who had been overseeing the Temple of the Blazing Flame, and failed in the end. He even countered Jacob that day, and almost got killed by him.
Furthermore, since the Holy King was also on her way towards the Ashen Mirage Desert that day, the Knight King had a nagging feeling that she had encountered that person, and now he was thinking that the current state of the Holy Justice Citadel might be related to the same person.
At that moment, the Champion King’s grin deepened into something that was no longer just arrogant—it was imperial, and as his right foot shifted forward, the air itself seemed to grow heavier.
Thereafter, behind the Champion King, space suddenly bled as if something untamable was released.
A faint, otherworldly shimmer coalesced behind him, lines of starlight bending into an intricate, rotating, vague construct.
At first, it looked like an illusory constellation, but as the light intensified, its proper form emerged, and no one at the scene could see behind its mystery.
"Is that a totem manifestation?!" One of the Archpriests who was right in the sight of the Champion King couldn’t help but exclaim.
"No, I’ve seen records of the Champion King’s soul totem manifestation; it’s quite different, and under our Holy Light Formation, he shouldn’t be able to manifest his soul totem!" An aged voice sounded in reply, and this Archpriest was also filled with confusion and uneasiness.
However, what these guys didn’t know, not even the Champion King, was that someone else was watching everything within the folds of space, and when he saw that illusory manifestation, the flames in his hollow sockets flickered with a hint of surprise.
’It’s a celestial astrolabe! So, he has already become a Quasi-Myth? Furthermore, before he manifested his celestial astrolabe, he said something about his star criminal status being expunged...does his becoming a Quasi-Myth have something to do with it?’ Jacob thought as he watched the Champion King with a hint of curiosity, but he didn’t act.
Furthermore, at that moment, within Jacob’s hand were dead cores of dark beings as they were turning into dust one after another...
Behind the Champion King, with each slow turn of his vague astrolabe’s white ring, space rippled like disturbed water. The Archpriests’ manifestation flickered violently, as if each revolution was grinding against the very laws their holy seal depended on.
One of the Archpriests, the Scholar King, gasped aloud despite himself, "That thing...impossible...the formation is...!"
The others felt it too. The suppression barrier—woven from nine peak Legendary King powers—was... unraveling, not from any direct attack, but simply from the astrolabe’s presence.
The twisting space around the Champion King screamed with instability, cracks of black and white light spiderwebbing outward.
The Champion King with a cold grim rolled his shoulders once, as if loosening his muscles after a long nap. His massive hand rose slowly, fingers curling into a fist.
At that moment, neon-white light, sharp and pure yet carrying a strange undertone of annihilation, began to coil around his knuckles like a living comet.
He didn’t roar, he didn’t threaten, and just sent out a casual...punch!
First, the attack seemed like nothing special, but the moment the fist moved, the barrier ruptured—not shattered in one neat break, but exploded outward, like glass crushed between two worlds.
The recoil sent the Shattered Star Cruiser lurching back in the air, but its cannons immediately roared back to life, no longer bound.
The neon-white strike did not stop at the barrier. It carried forward, cutting a jagged wound through space itself, the space screaming open in its wake.
The holy wards around one of the Archpriests—who was right in front of the Champion King, an old, stoic Faery Human known as the Dawn Prelate King—flared desperately, but it was like holding a candle before a collapsing star.
The blow struck him dead-center. Light and blood burst together. The Archpriest’s body disintegrated into a scattering of motes, his Legendary King Soul Totem torn apart without any chance to escape or struggle.
The space swallowed what was left, sealing with a low, rumbling boom.
Deadly silence fell over the scene; it was heavy with the stunned gazes of everyone. Even the Shattered Star Pirates were shocked by the Champion King’s terrifying prowess.
Although the Star Pirates were aware of the Champion King’s recent breakthrough in power and his strange yet calm behavior, they weren’t expecting the Champion King to become this strong.
Now, it finally dawned on them why the Champion King has been so confident in going against the Life Faction, and then came here without any hint of fear.
Furthermore, they all started to think that this power level of the Champion King was the reason behind his expunged status as the Star Criminal, or at least it was related to it.
On the other hand, the eight remaining Archpriests stared in shock, their formation broken, their unity rattled, and one of them was even deader than dead, unable to resist or escape.
At that moment, the Champion King exhaled, letting the neon-white light fade from his fist, and glanced towards the remaining Archpriests as if they were prey.
The Champion King said with a murderous grin, eyes glittering like black stars, "One down...eight to go!"