Chapter 1 “Super-A Grade?!”

Toraine was shaken!

In recent years, the newly emerged Super-A Grades were recorded by advanced civilizations, and he knew them all. However, Hela was not on this list, instantly disrupting his plans!

Hela had only just entered Super-A Grade, revealing herself for the first time in public. Naturally, advanced civilizations had no information on her.

Until today, the Goddess of Death had truly arrived!

Niro shuddered, overjoyed.

"Sister Hela has actually reached Super-A Grade!"

Although he hadn't seen her for many years, Niro always remembered Hela's kindness in bestowing the Mark of Death upon him. Seeing Hela finally take that step, he felt genuinely excited and delighted, almost unable to resist sharing the news with the Legion officers.

"She's the Hela you guys always talk about…" Mia asked Niro quietly, her face full of surprise.

Mia joined the Legion after Hela left. She often heard Hela's name from Niro and other important Legion officers. In her mind, Hela, the elusive Captain of the Guards, was extremely mysterious.

As the saying goes, the sister wasn't in the martial world, but the martial world had her legend. Today, Mia finally got her wish and saw Hela in person, feeling that hearing about her was indeed not as good as meeting her, giving her a huge surprise.

Looking at the aura of a strong individual emanating from Hela, Mia was instantly captivated, almost fulfilling all her imagination of a strong female character.

In her previous life, she was Hela's follower. Now, their first meeting was the same as a turtle seeing a green bean – a perfect match.

Han Xiao felt Hela's aura and felt genuine relief in his heart.

* *The Goddess of Death I know is finally back!* *

* *She didn't disappoint me!* *

Austin was also stunned for a moment, then a smile from the bottom of his heart appeared on his face, a smile that belonged to bystanders who enjoyed a good show.

"The sixth Super-A Grade in the Shattered Star Ring? Heh, things are going to get interesting…"

Just as everyone was shocked and emotional, Toraine's face fell, his expression a little ugly.

The situation was somewhat beyond his expectations. He originally thought his opponent would be Ames, but unexpectedly, a new Super-A Grade popped up, leaving him in a difficult position.

Although Ames was an old Super-A Grade and might be stronger, the information recorded her detailed abilities, which was very important. But now that the opponent had changed to a new Super-A Grade with unknown abilities, he found it more difficult to deal with.

He had seen Hela's information, but that was old information from over twenty years ago. Now that she had become a Super-A Grade, who knew what new abilities she had? With the intelligence not updated, Toraine was not confident of winning steadily, so he hesitated.

"You…"

"Don't waste my time. Do you dare to fight or not?" Hela's eyes flashed with a fierce red light, her body wrapped in rampant energy, her aura pressing down on people.

She turned a blind eye to the surprise of the people around her, focusing only on her target. She had always been decisive in her actions, disliking nonsense. If she could fight, she wouldn't bother arguing.

"Alright!" Toraine simply stopped thinking about it and agreed.

Anyway, they were both Super-A Grades. Winning against either one would be a victory. Seeing this, he could only fight Hela, and he wouldn't be picky.

At this moment, Han Xiao stood with his arms folded, and said lightly:

"If you want to fight, stay away from Aquamarine Star. If any plants or trees on Aquamarine Star are affected… Toraine, you won't be leaving today."

"Hmph, I wouldn't dare," Toraine snorted, acting tough.

He knew his limits and wouldn't dare to attack Han Xiao's home planet. Otherwise, even if he was chopped into pieces on the spot, the Arcane Church would have no reason to cause trouble.

…

The two sides reached a consensus, and everyone quickly moved away, choosing a space slightly farther away from Aquamarine Star as the battlefield.

In the field, there were only Hela and Toraine, facing each other from a distance, their auras constantly rising.

All eyes were focused on the two of them, holding their breath and watching the battle.

In the next moment, the two moved instantly!

Toraine's body suddenly swelled, muscles bulged, bone spurs protruded, breaking through the skin. A pair of curled demon horns grew on his head, and two pairs of bat-like wings unfolded on his back. The tailbone continued to lengthen, bifurcating into three bone-spurred tails.

His whole appearance changed into a red creature resembling a demon, with knotted muscles, covered in bone spurs, and mysterious纹路 (wénlù, patterns) on his skin, appearing extremely hideous.

"He's a martial artist?"

Seeing this scene, Ames raised her eyebrows slightly.

"No, he's a mage."

At this moment, a voice sounded next to her. Han Xiao's clone came over and slowly recited Toraine's information:

"He possesses demon blood. His bloodline was sublimated in the process of becoming a Super-A Grade. What he just used was the demon race's unique True Name Release. This red appearance is his true form, and also the origin of the nickname 'Red Devil'. He's a melee mage who leans towards transformation and amplification. His species talent gives him extraordinary resistance and powerful recovery. He's a relatively rare magic tank. In a horizontal comparison, his fighting style is a bit similar to Milizaus of the Empire."

"So that's how it is."

Ames nodded, turned her head and looked over, smiling softly with a playful tone, "Long time no see, how are you?"

"I'm doing great," Han Xiao nodded, and joked, "Did you miss me?"

"Why would I miss you for no reason?"

Ames smiled, turned her head away, and continued to watch the battlefield.

In the battlefield, Toraine completed his transformation and charged forward fiercely, heading straight for Hela. At the same time, clusters of rich, deep blue mana poured out of him, turning into one amplification spell after another, continuously strengthening his body, and colorful magic circuits appeared on his body surface, constantly increasing his attributes.

He didn't know what new abilities Hela had, but abilities themselves wouldn't change. According to the information from twenty years ago, Hela was a mid-range combat esper who controlled some kind of energy, so he chose to use his best close-quarters combat tactics.

The demon race's True Name Release gave him powerful resistance and recovery, as well as various magic shields as a magic tank, together supporting his durability. When necessary, he could also act as a long-range magic turret.

Ames's force field ability was mainly for control, and its lethality was not outstanding. In his opinion, his fighting style restrained Ames, and his chances of winning were not low, so Toraine was confident in challenging Ames.

Facing the aggressive opponent, Hela did not retreat but advanced, protecting her whole body with dark red death energy, dragging a long tail of flames as she went to meet him.

Bang!

The sound of the collision seemed to ring in everyone's minds. The two figures collided fiercely, and a dark red energy shockwave exploded from the center!

In terms of strength, Toraine, who had been amplified by amplification spells, had the absolute advantage. Hela was directly knocked back and sent tumbling.

However, even though an opportunity appeared, Toraine did not take advantage of the situation to pursue, but suddenly froze in place, as if he had discovered something strange.

Hela did not stop, instantly stabilizing her body, and pointed forward. Death energy suddenly unfolded, turning into a sea of red light, shooting out countless beams of death energy, covering the sky and earth as they shot towards Toraine.

"Shield!" Toraine woke up as if from a dream, his gestures changing rapidly, putting layer upon layer of turtle shell-like mana shields on himself.

Countless death energy arrows bombarded the shields, and the layers of shields instantly collapsed, falling apart!

Bang bang bang bang!

Each shot hit the shield, exploding with mental fluctuations. Every spectator was shaken, and the sound of the explosion did not need a medium; it rang directly in their minds, and their brains were trembling.

Hela's death energy possessed multiple types of damage, including both physical and mental attributes, and now also had a portion of true damage, making it very difficult to defend against.

Toraine did not passively take a beating, but continued to rush towards Hela. Although Hela was good at mid-range attacks, she did not adopt a cowardly hit-and-run strategy, but instead chose an extremely tough head-on confrontation.

The two figures continued to pass by, and were knocked away again and again, quickly exchanging hundreds of blows, fighting inextricably.

Hela always went all out and did not hold back, and the intensity gradually exceeded the scope of friendly sparring.

"Godfather, it seems like Sister Hela's situation isn't very good?"

Han Xiao was concentrating on watching the battle when Niro suddenly came over with Mia, his tone somewhat worried.

"You're overthinking it," Han Xiao said, unable to help but smile.

"Isn't she? Sister Hela is being knocked back time and time again. Her close combat ability is obviously inferior to her opponent, but she's not adopting a hit-and-run strategy. Isn't that a bit…" Niro asked cautiously.

Han Xiao shook his head and smiled. "Take a closer look at Toraine's body. His condition isn't as good as you think."

Hearing this, Niro hurriedly observed carefully. The speed of Super-A Grades was too fast, making it difficult for him to see clearly. After a long while, he barely saw the abnormal situation on Toraine's body, and his spirits lifted.

He saw that Toraine's body was covered in dark red death energy, which was corrosive and like a maggot attached to the bone, constantly eroding his mana and body, impossible to remove.

"Although there's a difference of a few years between the time they entered Super-A Grade, it's difficult for Super-A Grades to make any progress in a few years, so their hard power is actually at the same level… Don't look at me, I'm an exception."

Han Xiao patted Niro on the shoulder, acting as a commentator: "And in this level, Hela's ability has an absolute advantage."

He had been calm and composed, not worried about Hela at all, because among the people present, only he knew… how powerful Super-A Grade Hela really was!

Controlling death, this was an ability on the list of extremely high-risk abilities!

He knew very well that after reaching Super-A Grade, Hela's ability would undergo a qualitative change!

There was too much information about Hela's abilities in his previous life, all tested by players sacrificing their lives. Han Xiao knew it like the back of his hand.

First of all, upon reaching Super-A Grade, Hela possessed a unique passive ability – every time death energy hits a target's main body, it would stack a special state: [Death Erosion].

[Death Erosion] had 15 layers. The effect of the 1st layer was to reduce the effect of all the enemy's recovery skills by 20%, and reduce defense by 15%.

Upon reaching 5 layers, recovery ability was reduced by 40%, defense was reduced by 25%, and one buff state on the opponent was randomly removed every 10 seconds.

Upon reaching 10 layers, recovery ability was reduced by 60%, defense was reduced by 35%, all attributes were reduced by 10%, buffs were randomly removed, and cells began to collapse, losing 0.8% of health every 20 seconds.

Upon reaching 15 layers, recovery ability was reduced by 80%, defense was reduced by 45%, all attributes were reduced by 20%, all buffs were removed, and 1% of health was lost every 12 seconds.

After reaching 15 layers, Hela could release a special skill with no cooldown – detonating all [Death Erosion], immediately performing an instant-death judgment!

The conditions for the judgment were very harsh and generally could not take effect on targets whose level exceeded her own, but even if the judgment failed, there were special effects that could directly evaporate 20%~30% of the enemy's health, while temporarily reducing the target's maximum health by 8~12%.

After detonation, as long as there was a short cooldown, she could stack a new round of [Death Erosion] on the same target, which was extremely terrifying.

To interrupt the stacking of [Death Erosion], one must dispel the death energy in the body. If there were no similar skills, one had to rely on their own resistance to withstand it.

The duration of [Death Erosion] depended on the target's resistance. The higher the layer, the longer it lasted. For example, the 1st layer only lasted 3 seconds, the 2nd layer might last 5 seconds, and the 3rd layer might last 8 seconds. Moreover, if one withstood it, the layers could only gradually decrease. For example, after dragging through the 8 seconds of the 3rd layer, the state would not completely disappear, but would fall back to the 2nd layer and recalculate the duration of that layer, decreasing layer by layer, making it extremely difficult to completely dispel.

In addition to this core skill, Hela's death ability also had the passive attribute of "blood sucking". Every time she hit a target with vitality, she could turn 10%~20% of the damage into her own health, equivalent to plundering the life energy of creatures, making her powerful in group battles. The more enemies there were, the faster she would recover health.

Also, every time death energy hit an opponent, there would be continuous damage for 3 seconds, with a value equivalent to 50%~70% of the damage dealt.

Furthermore, after Hela's transformation, she had a special authority that was useless to players, but was full of threat to others…

That was, she could use death energy to deprive living beings of cell vitality, reducing the upper limit of the number of cell divisions, causing others to shorten their lifespan!

It was because of this ability that the vast majority of Super-A Grades throughout the universe avoided her like the plague. Not many people were willing to fight her… If you hit me once, I lose a second, then who would dare to play with you!

However, apart from Han Xiao, no one in the universe knew this yet.

Toraine, who was fighting Hela at this time, was equally ignorant of this.

Bang bang bang!!

The two people fighting in the battlefield were fighting more and more fiercely, and the surging mana and fierce death energy collided again and again, exploding into energy shockwaves.

Toraine might have originally had an attitude of friendly sparring, but under Hela's powerful offensive, he was unable to hold back at all and could only continuously increase his strength. Now the situation was out of his control, almost turning from sparring into a life-and-death duel.

If it weren't for the fact that they knew it was the first time the two had met, the onlookers would have thought that the two had some deep hatred, where it was either you die or I live.

"What a crazy woman!"

Toraine was greatly annoyed in his heart, and his attacks were filled with anger, becoming even more fierce.

Even though the magic shield could block most of the attacks, his main body would occasionally be hit. As [Death Erosion] continued to stack, he felt more and more that something was wrong.

Not only was his recovery suppressed, but the effects of the amplification spells he had cast on himself seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, and his body was finding it increasingly difficult to accept the transformation of magic energy.

Moreover, after stacking to more than 10 layers, he found that his cells were constantly being destroyed, and his injuries were rapidly worsening. He could only barely maintain his current state with his suppressed recovery ability.

"Her ability is too strong!" Toraine's mood became more and more heavy.

Although he had also caused some damage to Hela, these injuries were almost instantly recovered. On the other hand, because death energy was wreaking havoc in his body, his condition was getting worse and worse. Comparing the two, the difference was obvious, and he had actually fallen into a passive position!

Was this newly emerged Super-A Grade's combat power so powerful?!

"In that case…"

Toraine's eyes turned cold, and mana energy condensed in his hands. Immediately afterward, clusters of blood gushed out from his fingertips, and the two mixed together, turning into a strange purple blood flame.

Austin, who was watching the battle, suddenly narrowed his eyes. As a magic master, he recognized what this spell was.

The demon race's unique high-level forbidden technique – Degraded Foul Blood!

"That's not good," Austin thought, his heart skipping a beat.

This magic was a forbidden technique that used special methods to modify the blood of the demon race, turning it into dirty, invasive, inferior genes, thereby polluting other people's bloodlines and causing irreversible damage on the gene level. Its power was not strong, but it was very insidious, and it was a unique means of the demon race.

He knew very well that Toraine's use of this forbidden technique would not help the battle situation in any way, but it could pollute Hela's genes. His intention was very sinister, which was to use underhanded tricks!

Hela's intuition also sensed the danger, and she hurriedly retreated. Toraine, holding the purple flame, chased after her relentlessly, and was even faster. The distance between the two was constantly shortening.

"Don't blame me…"

Toraine's expression was fierce.

Because Hela was a cadre of the Black Star Army, he was worried about provoking Han Xiao and originally did not intend to do this. But now that he had truly gotten into the fight, he could not care about being soft-hearted. He was determined to use dirty tricks. As a former wanted criminal who had slaughtered quite a few surface civilizations for fun, he did not have any moral standards.

Seeing that she could not shake off Toraine, Hela narrowed her eyes, and suddenly spun around and threw out a high-concentration death energy that pierced through the magic shield and hit his chest.

At this moment, a large amount of magic energy was suddenly discharged from Toraine's body. Cells that had suffered severe death erosion could not withstand any amplification effects, and all buff states shattered and disappeared!

"What…"

Toraine's face changed drastically.

However, before he could react, Hela suddenly stretched out her hand, pointing at him from afar, and clenched her five fingers.

[Death Scythe]!

The full 15 layers of death erosion were directly detonated!

Toraine's heart suddenly contracted, and an intuition that threatened his life was frantically warning him in his mind. He felt that all the death energy in his body was agitated, like a bomb with a lit fuse, rapidly exploding in his body!

In the next moment, intense pain instantly pierced through his flesh and soul!

Boom!

Under everyone's eyes, before his attack could hit Hela, his body exploded into a large cloud of blood mist!