Feeling the continuously approaching fluctuations of the Mark, Arlecchino's heart experienced a slight ripple, but she soon calmed down again.
Although Arlecchino did not know who wanted to take away her Mark, the situation was already clear enough. All the remaining people who possessed Marks were at least gods, and moreover, they were the best among the gods.
The side with the most Marks was the strongest, and the opponent did not hide their tracks.
With Neuvillette and Morax joining forces, trying to seize their Marks would be hell-mode difficulty, so generally, people would start with the weaker ones. This meant she had become the weakling in others' eyes.
Of course, that was fine. Strength should be proven by oneself, not judged by words or reputation.
Moreover, the current situation was extremely unfavorable for her. Even if she won this battle, there would be basically no chance of victory when facing Neuvillette and Morax later.
With her strength, if she wanted to win, she could only muddy the waters.
This was the answer Arlecchino had reached after long deliberation. All that remained was to quietly wait for the opponent's appearance.
Suddenly, an extremely oppressive aura rushed toward Arlecchino. She slightly raised her head and looked at the horizon. A purple figure was continuously enlarging in her field of vision.
It's here!
Before the person even arrived, a terrifying blade of light chopped down from above. A hint of wariness flashed in Arlecchino's eyes as she dodged the attack with all her might.
Arlecchino had barely moved a few meters to the side when the blade of light completely slashed down. In an instant, the island where she was hiding was split in half, and terrifying Electro Element burst into purple arcs in the air.
From this single strike, Arlecchino immediately recognized the opponent's identity: it was the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma!
After recognizing Raiden Ei, Arlecchino's heart sank halfway. This wasn't because she lacked the chance to defeat her opponent, but because her subsequent plan would likely be impossible to implement.
Based on past intelligence and the incident with Rosalyne, the opponent was undoubtedly a reckless brute!
Despite this, Arlecchino was still unwilling to give up. She didn't make a move immediately, but instead proposed to Raiden Ei, who was rapidly approaching her with the Musou Isshin in hand.
"Wait a moment, Raiden Shogun of Inazuma. If we want to win, we must join forces!"
However, after Arlecchino finished speaking, Raiden Ei's figure didn't hesitate for a moment. Her aura even became more terrifying, and the Musou Isshin in her hand swung out again, as if crossing the distance of time and space to lock onto Arlecchino.
A bone-chilling cold suddenly erupted all over Arlecchino's body, and the icy killing intent almost suffocated her.
As expected, the worst-case scenario had arrived. The newcomer had absolutely no possibility of joining forces.
Realizing this, Arlecchino abandoned all her schemes and plans. The terrifying power suppressed deep within her body erupted completely. A visible membrane of blood and qi even appeared around her body, enveloping her entire being. Suddenly, the pressure on her body lightened. Arlecchino swung the Crimson Scythe that had appeared in her hand at some unknown point and slashed at Raiden Ei. The red and purple blade lights clashed, and the piercing sound of metal clashing echoed between heaven and earth.
After a brief pause, Arlecchino was defeated and flew backward, but she was not injured because she had actively retreated to deflect the opponent's force.
At this moment, Arlecchino's attire became demonic and bloody. A tattered wing spread out behind her, and the terrifying killing intent, as if forged from countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood, almost materialized. The ground mysteriously cracked with countless fissures of varying widths.
After just the first contact, Arlecchino knew that her strength was far inferior to the opponent's. Fortunately, she had also considered the possibility that the opponent would not cooperate with her and had made some preparations for this.
After retreating over a hundred meters, Arlecchino finally managed to halt her momentum. At that moment, Raiden Ei's sword appeared just a few meters from her face, its sharpness almost piercing her skin!
Arlecchino lightly tapped her foot on the ground. Immediately after, the entire island erupted with a terrifying crimson light that instantly pierced heaven and earth!
Raiden Ei had not anticipated this. Unable to dodge in time, she was struck directly by the crimson light, which sent her body flying into the air.
Immediately following this, the crimson light began to solidify, condensing into countless blood-red threads that seemed to weave a vast crimson net across heaven and earth, with Raiden Ei becoming its prey!
Raiden Ei slightly recovered from the impact on her body. Sensing her barely repaired 90% state drop to 89%, her expression turned even colder, and the purple lightning around her began to take on a pitch-black hue.
Seeing this, Arlecchino froze for a moment. Then, an even more intense sense of mortal crisis made her hesitate no longer as she pulled out a reagent filled with golden liquid from her person and drank it all in one gulp.
This was the Dragon Blood Potion she had stolen from Watatsumi Island after gathering intelligence for some time. She had attacked the convoy transporting the Dragon Blood Potion and left before reinforcements arrived.
The time she had was not very long, and the Watatsumi Island soldiers transporting the Dragon Blood Potion had also significantly increased in strength, so she was forced to retreat hastily after only seizing a hundred doses. They did not give her a second chance after that, even having Lumine escort them.
And what Arlecchino drank was a concentrated version of all the stolen Dragon Blood Potions.
Arlecchino did not know if taking so much would cause some kind of side effect, but even if there were, she would drink it without hesitation. Right now, she needed enough power!
Originally, if the plan had succeeded, she would have teamed up with one or both of the remaining two lone wolves and feigned weakness, stating that she did not need the final wishing opportunity, but the other party would need to provide her with some kind of compensation.
Because they knew of her strength, the other party would surely not be too wary of her. That would be her only chance.
But now there was no other way. She unexpectedly encountered the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma first, and the opponent had no intention of talking to her at all. She could only rely on strength to speak.
Although the path to fighting her way to the end was incredibly difficult, she had to win!
Feeling the blood gradually boiling in her body, Arlecchino took a deep breath. Besides the cold killing intent, a noble and imperious aura that looked down upon all creation gradually emerged from her body. Golden vertical pupils appeared in her eye sockets, quickly being dyed dark gold.
Even the purest Dragon Blood could not withstand the endless darkness deep within her heart.
Arlecchino had always been suppressing herself. She did not like the light; she was more suited to the darkness.
However, that person had sacrificed their life to pull her into the sunlight. To fulfill the promise made to the other party and to protect the light she had come to cherish, Arlecchino had completely sealed away another side of herself.
But now, Arlecchino knew it was time to completely unleash herself.
A blood-red moon slowly rose, scattering its crimson glow over the sea, even dyeing the ocean blood-red. A solemn and cold aura gradually spread.
Red and black were the only melodies of this world!
After seeing this scene, Raiden Ei was slightly startled.
In her perception, Arlecchino was merely a human. However, to her surprise, such astonishing power was now erupting from within Arlecchino's body.
With this level of might, if given just a few dozen seconds, even a weaker god would likely be completely torn to shreds!
At this moment, Raiden Ei also deeply sensed the unyielding conviction within Arlecchino, which was in no way inferior to her own.
Because of this, Raiden Ei did not give her opponent another chance to speak. Her thought was simple: when such resolute convictions clashed, only the weapon in her hand could bring her the ultimate victory.
Arlecchino clenched her palm, and countless blood-red threads, like a spiderweb, instantly tightened around Raiden Ei.
At this moment, Raiden Ei's expression returned to its usual calm. Gripping the Musou Isshin in her hands, she spun and unleashed several circular slashes. Terrifying lightning bloomed upon the Musou Isshin, and those blood-red threads were instantly sliced into countless pieces, losing their original threat.
In truth, the Musou Isshin was not sharp, but it could transform the desires within one's heart into the purest power. In other words, the firmer the conviction within, the more powerful the Musou Isshin could become.
This was the Musou Isshin, this was the Musou no Hitotachi!
And at this moment, Raiden Ei's desire to save Raiden Makoto was resolute to the utmost!
The reason Raiden Ei had hesitated for so long before was that she could not choose between the people of Inazuma and her own sister. But now, even if the lives of all the people of Inazuma were laid before her, she would choose her sister, Raiden Makoto, without the slightest hesitation!
This was a path of protection different from before. Because of this, her lightning was no longer as dazzling as it once was, but it erupted with a terrifying might that seemed capable of destroying everything!
Any existence that stood in her way would be completely crushed by her!
A terrifying blade of light again slashed down toward Arlecchino's head. But this time, Arlecchino did not dodge as clumsily as before. Instead, she slowly raised her head. Within her crimson Domain, a ball of searing fire first materialized not far in front of her, then suddenly expanded. The near ten-thousand-degree heat caused the surrounding seawater to boil.
Raiden Ei's sword finally fell upon that incredibly searing flame. Surprisingly, it failed to cut through it immediately, only finally descending again after a full few seconds of stalemate. However, the next second, it was blocked by the Crimson Scythe.
This was the first time Arlecchino had blocked Raiden Ei's attack head-on. Even she herself felt a hint of surprise. But she could indeed feel her own strength at this moment. Her blood seemed to boil all over her body, her heart rate soared to three hundred beats per minute, and an endless stream of power surged throughout her entire being.
She was strong now!
Arlecchino raised her hand again, and countless crimson spikes shot out from the ground. Raiden Ei dodged within the extremely small space. Although she ultimately evaded the attack of the crimson spikes, she found herself trapped.
In the next second, massive blades formed from Vitality suddenly appeared around Raiden Ei, resembling spider legs. After a brief pause, they closed in to strangle Raiden Ei.
At that moment, an overwhelming Lightning Flash erupted from Raiden Ei. The violet-black light nearly enveloped her entire body before rapidly diffusing outward. The crimson spikes that had trapped her instantly shattered inch by inch, and the ground beneath her was carved into a massive crater, with the soil blasted into a glass-like state by the terrifying lightning!
Facing the thunderous majesty, Arlecchino brandished her Crimson Scythe and charged at Raiden Ei without a trace of fear.
Just then, the several blades finally reached Raiden Ei's side, but the next second they were struck by the countless bolts of lightning surrounding her, disintegrating into specks of red light and vanishing into the air.
However, this was merely Arlecchino's tactic to force Raiden Ei's move. Seizing this opportunity, the crimson residual wings behind Arlecchino flapped rapidly, and her speed instantly surged. She first soared into the air, leaving a trail of afterimages behind, before plummeting toward Raiden Ei at tremendous speed.
Several streaks of crimson light shot out from Arlecchino's body like bullets. Most of them were shattered by the Thunderous Power surrounding Raiden Ei, but a few still pierced through this lightning barrier and struck at multiple vital points on Raiden Ei's body.
Each streak of crimson light seemed extremely faint, and even its own aura fluctuation was not strong, but the moment it was destroyed, it erupted with terrifying Vitality.
Raiden Ei waved her hand to slash open the space in front of her. One by one, the Eyes of Storm-Soothing, radiating terrifying power, appeared around her body, perfectly blocking all the crimson lights, absorbing them, and then the space returned to its calm state.
However, the Vitality erupted from the crimson light that had been shattered by the lightning earlier stained the lightning with a hint of crimson. Then Raiden Ei felt that her control over the Electro Elemental Power had become clumsy.
At the same time, Arlecchino finally arrived in front of Raiden Ei, and then she entered her Thunderous Domain without hesitation.
Raiden Ei's eyes narrowed slightly, and in the next second she was about to draw out the Musou Isshin to completely suppress Arlecchino. However, at this moment, a furious dragon roar faintly appeared in her ears!
In this instant, Raiden Ei's mind wavered for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure, barely managing to block with the Musou Isshin, which then immediately sent her flying backward from the immense force transmitted through the blade.
Raiden Ei's body recoiled dozens of meters before finally coming to a halt, her heart pounding with shock.
Raiden Ei never imagined that Arlecchino could fight her to such a stalemate. She had originally planned to conserve her strength for the battles ahead, but Arlecchino's strength had completely won her respect.
Though it was strange to Raiden Ei that Arlecchino's power hadn't been this great before. Could she have been hiding her true strength in their initial exchange?
While pondering this, Raiden Ei raised her leg and stomped violently onto the ground. Instantly, half the small island beneath her feet sank several meters. Countless purple lights pierced into the sea, even stirring the Electro Elemental Power that was eroding the ocean. A massive amount of seawater surged high into the air, and a pressure that seemed to be exerted by heaven and earth together bore down on Arlecchino, even causing the crimson light on her body to dim slightly.
The next second, a blinding flash of blade light erupted from Raiden Ei's position. The ground beneath her feet, the curtain of rain in the sky, the seawater surging upward, the distant thunderclouds, and Arlecchino's right arm were all sliced apart by this blade light...