2195. Hurt
"Are you sure about that?" Steven asked after materializing next to June.
The odd dragon was with Steven, and Maribel didn't take long to arrive. The four experts kept their attention on their opponent, but their gazes often fell on the gory surfaces of their prison.
"I can defeat her on my own," June claimed. "Besides, we would be useless during the final battle if we can't deal with a single privileged cultivator."
"Heaven and Earth might have sent a strong one today," Maribel guessed.
"So, what?" June asked. "The final battle will feature the entirety of Heaven and Earth's arsenal. We might have to face hundreds of experts like her. Failing to deal with a single one of them would state that we have wasted our journeys."
"No wonder Defying Demon likes you," Steven chuckled. "So, do you have a plan?"
"Of course," June declared. "I'll attack and kill her."
"That's-," Steven couldn't finish his sentence since a torrent of sparks came out of June's figure and forced him to retreat.
Maribel and the odd dragon ended up in the same situation. They had to retreat to avoid falling prey to June's dangerous energy. She had unleashed her power without caring about her surroundings, and she didn't even bother to justify her actions afterward.
June could only focus on one thing. She had a powerful opponent in front of her, and she had to kill her. Everything else could wait for the battle to be over.
The Perfect Circuit allowed June to create a stronger version of her previous attack. The sparks expanded until they filled the entirety of the gory structure and amassed to generate lightning bolts that pointed at the maimed cultivator.
The area didn't resemble a prison anymore now that June's orange lightning bolts and their dark light filled every corner of their vision. That beautiful display of power made Steven and the others forget about their situation for an instant, but a thought suddenly surged in their minds and forced them to snap back to reality.
"Wait!" Steven exclaimed. "You can't launch that attack here. The explosion will hurt us all."
"Get hurt then," June snorted before the sound of her heartbeat resounded throughout the area and triggered her offensive.
A rain of giant lightning bolts converged on the maimed cultivator. Steven, Maribel, and the odd dragon reached the same spot to cast a series of defensive abilities and prepare for the imminent explosion, but that event never came.
The old woman acted quickly. She ripped apart one of her lungs and filled it with her power before throwing it toward a random spot.
The organ
"Your techniques alone won't work against me," The old woman taunted. "You should have accepted Noah Balvan's help."
"He hates it when you mention him so casually," June scolded while wearing an excited smile. "Still, he isn't here now, so we can have some fun."
June executed her previous technique once again, but her Perfect Circuit provided more energy at that time. Her body started to break due to the immense power output, but she barely paid attention to what was happening to her.
The rain of lightning bolts happened reappeared once again and converged toward the half-transparent shield. Some of those attacks exploded before the impact, and that triggered a chain reaction that made everything blow apart.
June laughed as the shockwave generated by her attack flung her away and slammed her on the edges of the gory structure. Blood fell from the prison and her body, but she kept her eyes on her target.
Meanwhile, Steven, Maribel, and the odd dragon did their best to endure the shockwave without ending up on the gory structure. They didn't know which abilities that cage had, but they didn't want to discover them.
A depressing sight unfolded in the experts' vision when the sparks dispersed. The privileged cultivator didn't experience June's attack at all, but the half-transparent membrane showed a few cracks.
June could touch the privileged cultivators in the solid stage with her power, but her body couldn't endure that level for too long. The old woman also had more organs at her disposal, so it was clear that she could last more than her in that situation.
Of course, June didn't care about those things. Her world exploded with power as the Perfect Circuit generated even more energy. She was ready to launch something even stronger, and her companions understood that they had to intervene.
"Well, if you die, you are simply too weak for the final battle," Steven announced from behind a smile before shooting toward a spot above her opponent.
The odd dragon wouldn't have any chance to survive on its own, so it followed Steven's example. Maribel was right behind the creature since June had made that battle tactic inevitable.
The energy released by June seeped inside the gory structure and made it pour even more blood. A pale-red rain quickly filled the area, and its drops dug deep holes in each technique or body they met.
Steven and the others could only decide to ignore the event. Defending now would only exhaust their energy reserves and grant a valuable chance to their opponent. They had to attack and put an end to that fight as soon as possible, and that required a joint offensive.
The offensive couldn't feature random attacks either. The old woman had already shown that she could endure those. The experts had to unleash the peak of their power to have a chance to win.
"June, blow her up in one attack," Steven ordered. "I'll open a path."
June didn't scold Steven about the order. She was too lost in the fury of the battle now to listen to his words. However, she had instinctively understood that her attack pattern needed to change, and her next choice was in line with Steven's plan.
Maribel and the dragon waited for Steven to give the signal. The latter expanded his aura to fill every corner of the gory structure with his dark determination. He would make everything fall on the privileged cultivator to put her in her weakest state.
Once Steven felt ready, he forced all the darkness in the area to converge on the old woman. The half-transparent barrier immediately began to shatter, and the expert's movements became incredibly slow since strength left her skeletal body.
Maribel and the dragon launched their abilities as soon as a path opened for them. The dragon could only release its dark liquid, but Maribel had something special for the occasion.
Maribel pointed both hands at her target and unleashed two different types of energy. White and black pillars left her palms and began to rotate on each other before fusing when they touched the privileged cultivator.
The attack generated a loud explosion that destabilized the old woman's world. She felt weaker than ever after the suppression of the three experts, but the main plate had yet to arrive.
June stretched an arm, and all the sparks accumulated in her body gathered in her palm before changing form. A long spear came to life, and she bent backward before launching it toward the old woman.
Understanding what happened afterward was almost impossible. Orange and dark light filled the entire area and destroyed all the mental waves lingering on the battlefield.. No one could see or sense, but everyone slammed on the gory structure.