Digital Pigeon and Red Demon also sprinted towards the three o'clock direction, while Shadow Kill Annihilation slowly emerged from the ruins of the house. He watched the three approaching lights with no panic whatsoever, for the contingency plan had been set in motion, leaving him with nothing to fear.
The Digital trio appeared before Shadow Kill Annihilation. Shadow Kill Annihilation remained calm, and Digital cautiously spoke, "Be careful, there might be a trap."
Pigeon and Red Demon nodded. The opponent's demeanor was too peculiar. Facing their encirclement, he showed no signs of panic. It would be strange if there wasn't something amiss. There must be a trap they were unaware of, otherwise, why would Shadow Kill Annihilation be so composed?
Shadow Kill Annihilation noticed their apprehension. He then smirked, placing his hands on the ground of the house. Instantly, beams of light emanated from his palms, forming a massive, rhombic pentagonal pattern on the ground. Simultaneously, five identical patterns bloomed from the ruins of the five houses surrounding Digital and his companions, radiating with light.
The five patterns interconnected, and a colossal barrier materialized in the sky. Digital and his two companions were stunned by the sight. A one-hit kill skill!
"Damn it, it's a one-hit kill skill!" Pigeon exclaimed in panic. In the game "Epoch of Time," players could create their own skills, and one-hit kill skills were no exception. As the name suggests, these skills resulted in an instant kill upon activation.
They had never imagined that Shadow Kill Annihilation possessed such a trump card. Since a one-hit kill skill bypassed all defenses, any attempt to block it would be futile.
Digital's expression grew grim. The opponent's hidden cards were truly formidable.
Shadow Kill Annihilation laughed heartily, "This victory is ours."
"With my one-hit kill skill, you will all die. You are left with only a mage, and our captain is sure to win," he boasted.
Digital noticed Shadow Kill Annihilation's palms and the constant compression of energy within the barrier. Pigeon interjected, "This one-hit kill skill is an energy compression type. If we can defeat him before the energy explodes, we can escape this danger."
"Alright!" Red Demon and Digital nodded. The surrounding energy continued to compress. Within the barrier, the trio could feel a palpable pressure. It was indeed a one-hit kill skill; even in its charging phase, it instilled a sense of dread.
They couldn't imagine what fate awaited them if this skill were fully unleashed. They would likely be instantly annihilated.
Faced with the impending one-hit kill, Digital and his companions drew their weapons and unleashed their most powerful techniques.
Dark and white energy swirled around Digital's long sword. A black and white silhouette appeared behind him, like a celestial and demonic god standing tall in the sky, radiating a terrifying aura. The phantom slowly merged into his long sword, causing it to crack under the strain of the divine and demonic sword energy. Digital then struck.
Sword of Gods and Demons, Punishment of the Heavens, Dance of the Devils!
Skill: Divine Demon Slash!
In Red Demon's hands, a rocket launcher appeared. It fired thousands of missiles towards the barrier. As they neared, all the missiles fused into a colossal nuclear bomb.
Pigeon cried out in alarm, realizing that Red Demon's attack was an area-of-effect attack! They were all inside the barrier.
He then spread his wings, pure white wings unfurling. His shield enlarged, but it wasn't over yet. The wings on his back merged with the sides of the shield.
Shield of Purity, Utterly Resilient, Vast and Heavy.
Skill: Angelic Shield!
The massive shield appeared before Digital and Red Demon, shielding their three figures.
Simultaneously, the Divine Demon Slash and the nuclear bomb struck the barrier. The Divine Demon Slash created a crack in the barrier, while sweat appeared on Shadow Kill Annihilation's brow as he maintained it. The colossal nuclear bomb detonated, filling the entire interior of the barrier.
Shadow Kill Annihilation smirked, "Fools! Using such an indiscriminate attack? You know you're trapped inside, don't you? This explosion alone could heavily injure you."
As the explosion subsided, a shield stood within the barrier. The wings on the sides of the shield slowly unfurled and extended, then retracted, returning to Pigeon's back.
Pigeon patted his chest, "Fortunately, my most powerful defensive skill could withstand it. Red Demon, next time think about the situation before attacking, or I would have been killed by you this time."
"Sigh," Red Demon rubbed his forehead and stuck out his tongue. It wasn't entirely his fault; Digital had told them to go all out. That attack was indeed his weapon's most potent move.
Shadow Kill Annihilation observed the shattered barrier, which seemed on the verge of collapse. His gaze turned serious, and he took a deep breath, placing his palms on the center of the ground pattern.
Instantly, the entire barrier exploded with a boom, its shockwave extending for a hundred miles.
Qing Ling, who was some distance away, was also affected by the blast, a testament to the attack's immense power.
The captain of the Shadow Kill team smirked, knowing that with this move, the outcome was decided.
Shadow Kill Sky Breaker spoke, "Surrender. Your teammates have all been annihilated. Even if you and I draw, I still have my teammates. Against two of you, I am confident."
"Oh? You think so?" Qing Ling smirked. Before the match, her brother had told her something: to defeat this Shadow Kill team captain, all four of them must act together, or there would be no chance of victory.
This was why Chen Tian had assigned them opponents in this manner, ensuring that none of them would be bogged down in an arduous battle. Although the outcome had deviated slightly, at least all four had survived.
Qing Ling raised her magic staff, and a spatial vortex slowly appeared. Digital and his companions stepped out, their health bars at a mere 10%. Qing Ling cast a healing spell and a Holy Light spell, instantly restoring their health to full.
The trio stood up again. Shadow Kill Sky Breaker exclaimed in shock, "Impossible! How could you survive a one-hit kill skill?"
Red Demon sneered, "Did you think only you had backup plans? The Spatial Concealment Formation is our trump card. At the last moment before the one-hit kill, we all entered the spatial void, dodging the lethal effect. A one-hit kill skill cannot affect the ethereal energy of space."
Long before their match began, Qing Ling had placed a Spatial Concealment Formation on each of them. This was a skill of the Spatial Mage class, which could achieve spatial transference, concealment, and mastery of spatial abilities.
Shadow Kill Sky Breaker protested, "Impossible! Spatial formations can only be used by Spatial Mages. Your mage is merely a 'Mo Fu Shi' (Magic Weaver) class, not possible!"
"Heh, what's impossible? Don't you know about self-created skills?" Digital and the others looked at Shadow Kill Sky Breaker as if he were a clown. Qing Ling's power was second only to Chen Tian's; how could he underestimate her?
However, they wouldn't reveal any information about Qing Ling, letting him guess wildly.
"So what? We are still two people. As long as I can hold you two off, even if I face you two, I am confident." Shadow Kill Sky Breaker appeared confident, but Pigeon shook his head. "You won't get to wait for him. He has already been forcibly removed from this match area, meaning he has been eliminated."
"Impossible, unless...! How could this be?" Shadow Kill Sky Breaker stared at Qing Ling in shock, then recalled the faint starlight that had fallen at the beginning. He then understood everything.
"Hahaha! I underestimated you. But do you think the four of you can defeat me? Wishful thinking. This victory belongs to me."
"Shadow Kill Shadow Clone!"
As Shadow Kill Sky Breaker spoke, three identical copies of himself appeared, making a total of four Shadow Kill Sky Breakers, including the original.
Digital and his companions were stunned. Clones? No, the aura from all of them was that of a main body, and their strength was identical.
Even the attribute interfaces of the four Shadow Kill Sky Breakers were the same.
They couldn't believe it. Then, all four Shadow Kill Sky Breakers spoke in unison, "You are worthy of pride to have forced me to use my self-created skill. Die!"
Four figures lunged towards Pigeon, Red Demon, Digital, and Qing Ling. The four were matched against one Shadow Kill Sky Breaker each.
Shadow Kill Sky Breaker's self-created skill was Shadow Kill Shadow Clone, which, despite appearing as clones, was the creation of four main bodies with identical attributes, abilities, and skills.
However, this skill had a cooldown of three years in game time, which translated to approximately several months or even half a year in real-world time.
To maintain game balance, the more powerful a self-created skill, the longer its cooldown period, preventing players from creating overly broken abilities.
Digital and his companions faced one Shadow Kill Sky Breaker each. Each Shadow Kill Sky Breaker wielded dual blades, though their appearance and attributes varied. All of them were of golden quality.
Digital faced a Shadow Kill Sky Breaker wielding golden dual blades. Pigeon was matched against a Shadow Kill Sky Breaker with black and white dual blades. Qing Ling faced a Shadow Kill Sky Breaker with azure blue dual blades, while Red Demon confronted a Shadow Kill Sky Breaker with blood-red dual blades.
The four entered combat, and the battlefield was divided into four separate arenas.
Chen Tian, watching from the outside, felt a spark of curiosity towards Shadow Kill Sky Breaker. He might be someone to recruit, as the team needed more members for competitions in the coming years.