52: Look at me!

Clarissa's might, coupled with Jerome's appearance, brought the ongoing war to a halt.

The subsequent outcome now rested entirely on Clarissa and Jerome.

"Your strength is formidable, a Demon King I haven't heard of... Your power is black flame... Hmm, a power I deeply dislike!" Jerome spoke in a consistently gentle tone, "Give me some face; do not interfere with the matters here! Afterward, whatever you desire can be discussed!"

"Apologies, I am not a Demon King. As I said, I am an apostle of the gods... My purpose... is to slay you Demon Kings!" Clarissa declared, twirling her knight's sword. "No more idle talk; only the one left standing has the right to speak!"

"It seems I'll have to stretch my muscles!" Jerome narrowed his eyes, radiating a dangerous glint. "If you're not a Demon King... then I can understand... However, the power of a Demon King... is not as simple as what you've seen!"

As Jerome spoke, ice suddenly formed around Clarissa. The next moment, countless ice spikes shot out, enveloping Clarissa.

"Is this simple power just a cheap trick of a sneak attack?" Clarissa scoffed, swinging her knight's sword.

The black flames directly engulfed the incoming ice spikes.

The terrifying high temperature and destructive power caused the ice spikes to vanish in an instant.

Outside the melting ice spikes, Jerome, who had already reached her, was revealed.

Jerome's hand suddenly condensed an ice-blue ice blade, which he fiercely brought down towards Clarissa.

Clang!

Clarissa's knight's sword, held horizontally, steadily parried his strike.

Jerome said nothing, but his slightly more serious expression indicated that his perception of Clarissa's power had changed.

Clarissa appeared small and slender, but the power contained within her body was that of a dragon!

Hiss~ Crackle~ Clarissa saw that where her ice blade clashed with the opponent's, ice was continuously spreading to the "fissure."

Whoosh! A burst of black flame erupted, melting the ice.

Jerome, feeling the power of Clarissa's black flames up close, his expression slightly changed, no longer maintaining his 'pretentious' facade.

The next moment, Clarissa exerted a slight force, directly sending Jerome flying backward.

What immense power! Although Jerome was not fully resisting Clarissa, feeling that power, he retreated by leveraging it, still secretly astonished.

Is she a strength-oriented Demon King?! Although Jerome was not a Demon King specializing in strength or physique, as a Demon King, his magic power was incredibly terrifying, and his physical body would naturally not be far behind.

However, he still felt a bit "unable to contend" with Clarissa's strength.

He had sparred with quite a few Demon Kings, including some who utilized more magic power in their physique, but none had given him such a feeling.

The power of a Demon Kings, besides their physical body, primarily originated from magic power.

With their immense magic power, they could accomplish many feats, even moving mountains with bare hands.

Whirlwind Sword

Clarissa didn't care what Jerome was thinking and directly charged towards him.

Jerome's body paused, stopping in mid-air. Demon King level beings could already fly and hover in the air.

Clang, clang, clang!

Jerome's body was surrounded by ice blades.

A series of crashing sounds erupted as the ice blades shattered one by one.

Clarissa's attacks were all parried by the opponent.

This slightly surprised Clarissa; it was the first time her Whirlwind Sword had been fully parried head-on.

It should be known that although Whirlwind Sword was only a low-level combat skill, the stronger one's power, the stronger even low-level combat skills became.

A perfected Whirlwind Sword could unleash 49 slashes.

For example, in her normal state, using Whirlwind Sword, her strength would increase by 10, and her speed by 15, unleashing 49 slashes. In her Dragonkin Form, using Whirlwind Sword, her strength would be 30, and her speed 50, unleashing 49 slashes.

Both strength and speed would increase with her own power.

However, it was still fully parried head-on by the opponent.

The power of a Demon King was indeed formidable!

Jerome, on the other hand, felt a slight sense of dread.

What terrifying attacks! I almost couldn't parry them! Both the speed and power were a bit excessive!

Fortunately, his reaction was on point. Relying on his magic power and his extensive combat experience, he managed to forcefully parry all of them.

Both sides' thoughts flashed by in an instant.

The battle did not stop for a second.

Clarissa backhanded with a sword slash, the blade enveloped in black flames.

Black Flame: Earth Shattering Slash

Jerome felt the power of this sword strike, his heart greatly alarmed. Massive magic power surged from within his body, and an ice wall blocked his front.

Boom!!!

The ice wall was directly smashed through by Clarissa, but Jerome took the opportunity to circle around and launch an attack on Clarissa from the other side.

Clang!

The ice blade and the flame blade collided, a contest of ice and fire.

The two sides went back and forth, and terrifying magic power erupted in the air.

The more they fought, the uglier Jerome's expression became.

Clarissa's swordsmanship was too strong!

After two exchanges, she had already begun to suppress him.

It was like playing League of Legends, after auto-attacking a minion first, the opponent tells you: "Laning phase over" – that kind of terrifying oppressive feeling!

Jerome was now feeling that kind of oppressive feeling from Clarissa.

This was not a gap in raw power, but a gap in the technical aspects of swordsmanship and close-quarters combat.

After feeling this oppressive feeling after two exchanges, Jerome immediately made a decisive decision: he could not engage her in close-quarters combat!

At the same time, he cursed inwardly: Where did this monster come from!

Jerome himself was also good at close-quarters combat; otherwise, his first choice would not have been to directly engage in close combat using an ice blade.

His blade skills were among the best among Demon Kings, which was also his advantage. Anyway, if there wasn't deep hatred between Demon Kings, they wouldn't go all out.

So his technical suppression in close-quarters combat gave him a great "thrill."

However, today he encountered Clarissa.

Under Clarissa's relentless onslaught, Jerome was like a small boat adrift in a storm, struggling to hold on.

He searched for an opportunity to distance himself from Clarissa.

Clarissa obviously realized this and continuously launched an incessant barrage of attacks with her incredibly refined swordsmanship, firmly suppressing Jerome and giving him no chance to breathe.

However, even the most meticulous plan can have a flaw.

Jerome, risking some injury, unleashed a terrifying burst of magic power.

The magic power transformed into an ice pillar, and at the same time, countless ice spikes bloomed from the ice pillar, pushing Clarissa away.

Jerome immediately widened the distance. He knew that his attack would not cause much damage to Clarissa.

Boom!!!

Clarissa fiercely struck the ice pillar in front of her with her sword, breaking off a section. Without Jerome's magic power input, the ice pillar stopped growing and then fell from mid-air, crashing onto The Ground.

Clarissa looked at Jerome, who had pulled back at least several hundred meters, her golden vertical pupils fixed on him: "What? Running away already? Come and fight again!"

"Tsk! This is a combat style!" Jerome retorted stubbornly, "Using my weakness against your strength, that's not what a smart person does!"

Jerome looked into Clarissa's golden vertical pupils and suddenly fell into a trance.

Clarissa stared intently at him.

As long as someone met her golden vertical pupils, she could activate the "High-Tier Suppression" from the Calamity Wings. If it fully formed, even if the opponent broke free, they would still retain a "psychological shadow."

In battle, it would at least weaken their power by one or two tenths.

However, Clarissa's current Dragon Blood Warrior level was too low for this ability. She could only activate it by making eye contact with others through her golden vertical pupils, and its effect was very slow and "obvious."

Jerome immediately noticed something was wrong, reacted, and averted his gaze.

"What's wrong!? You weak, cowardly trash! Running so far, yet you don't even have the courage to look me in the eye?" Clarissa spewed insults, "Look at me! You bastard!"