Divine Emperor of Death

*Bang!~*

"Davis!"

Evelynn bellowed as she hit a barrier made out of heavenly lightning. It seared her arm, causing her to retract it as she trembled, pursing her lips as she imagined that Davis was currently engaged in a battle to the death in intense worry.

Not only her but everyone else had also gathered on the stairs, appearing agitated. However, Davis had sealed the ninth floor with Eldia's heavenly lightning, disallowing them to enter.

"Eldia, remove this barrier!"

An icy-white light surged out from Natalya as Iesha clenched her white teeth, appearing angered. However, Eldia, who was hovering in the barrier made of heavenly lightning, appeared downtrodden, unable to look them in the eye.

"Master said to not allow you all to enter, and that's it's better for you all to continue cultivating-"

"As if we can even concentrate!"

Mingzhi looked furious, waving her hand, "Open this barrier right now!"

"I…"

Eldia appeared indecisive, not knowing what to do.

"Move aside~"

Abruptly, Shirley flew into the air, her figure burning with ice-cold flames and scarlet flames, turning into the alternating image of a fire and ice phoenix as she swiftly flew towards the barrier.

*Bang!~*

Her ice and fire flames surging with immense power that neared the immortal level instantly broke through the layer of heavenly lightning and made a pathway into the ninth floor, causing everyone else to enter. However, they were dumbfounded to look at their Davis stand with his arms folded, his gaze focusing on the chamber where Myria seemed to be battling.

They relaxed on seeing him look alright, appearing to not have entered yet.

"Davis, why would you block us…?"

Shirley arrived before him and appeared aggrieved, causing Davis to smile wryly as he turned to look at them.

'Precisely because you're all too worried and want me to quit, although I understand why because I still don't have a way to defeat it with my own power...'

He thought but didn't say it out loud. 

"I thought you would all understand my resolve." He opened his mouth, appearing transcendental.

"Screw your resolve!"

"…"

Davis almost lost his footing, turning to look at Mingzhi, who rushed forwards with angry steps while having tears in her eyes.

"We haven't resolved to lose you yet, so don't go losing your life when this is just suicidal. Just when I obtained you and became content… you can't do this..."

"..."

"Come here."

Davis pulled Mingzhi and embraced her, letting her rest on his chest as he looked at the others who looked similarly worried, putting a large smile on his face.

"I love how you all won't let me die even if I want to, but this..."

He turned to look at the chamber where iridescent black-white reincarnation energy revolved like tidal waves surging from the sea, constantly clashing with another wave of reincarnation energy that was much more powerful than hers, and yet, Myria, although on the losing end, was barely keeping her life in check as she kept drawing a spirit formation with her feet so skillfully yet occasionally disturbed by the imitation which ruined the casting process!

"I don't want to lose to her who's not even terrified at the face of death, but more than that, I must get that Chaos Essence Orb and Grand Chaos Body Art to survive the immortal tribulation."

"You said that there are other options~" 

Mingzhi tip-toed as she closed in on his face, appearing angered.

Davis nodded, "There are other opportunities in the boundless cosmos, but it could also just be that I was delusional as how many are we going to come across? Even if we do chance upon a heavenly treasure, do you think those lucky chances could compare to this?"

"You… you're twisting words." She clenched her teeth.

"That's what I do, sometimes even the unseeable." Davis lightly smirked, "However, worry not because I don't plan on dying. Did you all forget that I have something that Myria wants at my disposal? I'll still win regardless. It's just… I don't want to use that and use my own power instead."

Davis didn't hide Fallen Heaven's existence from them as he knew that they could vaguely tell. At this point, most of them were just being nice by not asking him what it was, and neither was he going to tell them what it truly was as there remained karmic burden to incur or deny its existence, for that matter, because that would be foolish and treating them like they were ignorant.

To them, his treasure was a void, and Davis kept it that way for the time being while they pretended that he didn't have one.

"Then promise me we'll go back together, of course... with all your women you care about, pervert~"

Mingzhi's lips trembled as she tried to motivate him through beauties, causing Davis to smile brightly.

"Of course. I'm double, no triple loaded in these two months."

"Pervert! Be serious!"

Mingzhi bit on his shoulders as she blushed heavily, her teeth sinking on him without mercy, while Davis laughed as he could only feel ticklish. He looked at the others blush at his crass joke, finding that the solemn atmosphere had finally dissolved.

"Alright, I'll be serious. We're going out no matter what with the Chaos Essence Orb and the Grand Chaos Body Art. Besides, I'm worried about the outside situation. Although time is ten times faster here, I'm still worried if something could've taken place in these six days. Hopefully, nothing has happened, but we'll make haste."

"Mhm~ But don't rush it and mess up unless you want to be only capable of beating yourself."

'That sounded different...'

Davis frowned, but Mingzhi ran away daintily, causing him to understand that she really meant to beat his meat. He smilingly shook his head and watched Myria raise her hand and bring it down like a sword.

Reincarnation energy surged from her move as she slashed, causing everything it sliced through to become non-existent. It simply didn't leave anything in its wake, even tearing apart a thin line of space that really didn't cut through the fabric of space or make cracks because of the stability here.

However, it still caused the air it touched to constantly disappear, surging with a menacing existential force every time they clashed.

*Boom!~~~*

The air around them trembled ever so lightly as Myria became suppressed again, the imitation's reincarnation energy almost getting to her. However, with an additional wave of her hand and a stomp of her foot, she unleashed her reincarnation energy as a pitch-black light enveloped her, causing her soul's prowess to surge.

"How can you survive my onslaught?" The imitation uttered with disbelief and rage written all over its face.

"You can't tell?" 

Myria raised her brows, her eyes releasing sharp killing intent with a deathly aura as reincarnation energy swirled around her like typhoons. She sent it towards the fake Myria as the other party did the same, once again clashing, except their powers appeared equal, raging with intensity as neither side lost.

"Battling with you is like battling with another source of Eternal Life Soul, which signifies a source of Reincarnation Laws. Never have I improved so much in Reincarnation Laws that with each clash, I have new insights that I'm constantly incorporating into my soul force."

"…!"

Myria smiled, her expression appearing one that of a demon, while the fake Myria's eyes shook, not having expected this to happen. How could she not naturally receive the insights Myria comprehended from previous battles if that was the case?

"Oh, I understand." As though answering her question, Myria grinned, "Because you were created during the first iteration, it seems like your insights are not up to par with mine, although my memories seemed to be copied with each challenge, which makes it so that you must comprehend them yourself. Is this a loophole in the formation? But that's understandable as there's a limit to how real you can be."

Myria gently sighed, but inwardly, she couldn't help but think.

'Perhaps it's not a loophole at all but an untoward consequence of this formation trying to accommodate my Eternal Life Soul Physique, or not as it's balanced for everyone, and that's why there are nine chances given to overcome one's own limitations in comprehension, furthering the quality of their Laws that eventually allows them to defeat their powerful imitation.'

She contrived from what she had seen so far. However, she couldn't help but also wonder as she imagined his silhouette.

'Did I get somewhere near the Reincarnation Laws he unleashed…?'

Myria inwardly shook her head, thinking that was the purest strands of reincarnation energy that she had ever seen in her life. To get that level of purity seemed almost impossible unless she obtained that damned treasure herself.

'It's practically made for me, yet why does he deny giving it to me!?'

A vein popped on Myria's forehead as she attacked with all her might, reincarnation energy surging with a furious aura as she displayed it at her imitation.

*Pruff!~*

The sound of gas clashing against each other and nether worldly screeches echoed around the spacious chamber.

However, the battle raged on without the imitation losing ground. Their power was equal, ending in the destruction of their attacks every time without both of them gaining space and closing the distance.

However, the spirit formation itself was short-lived, lasting for no more than ten minutes, causing Myria to reluctantly take this as a loss and retreat at the last second.

Looking at Myria returning with an extreme speed amidst the enraged screams of the fake Myria, Davis inwardly heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that she was almost close to clearing the ninth floor and obtaining those valuable treasures that he sought.

"Can't she just utter that she gives up on stopping the battle?"

Davis shook his head as he explained to Evelynn, who appeared curious and worried.

They tried uttering that they had given up at the end of the battles they fought, but the imitations didn't seem to recognize it, meaning that the only way to forfeit the battle was to voluntarily leave the barrier enclosing the chamber. 

His explanation just left them more worried, but since he assured them that he would win regardless, they believed him.

Following Myria, Davis entered the chamber and maintained an edge for about an hour before finally beginning to lose two hours later. By that time, his essence energy had depleted, and he had to leave as Myria did.

This went on for the seventh battle as well, although they lost their edge as their imitations seemed to learn from them.

Myria's imitation had also improved its Reincarnation Laws, making it so that the advantage Myria gained had been slightly cut off since Myria herself was also making massive improvements with each battle.

It could be seen that she never had a source of Reincarnation Laws to comprehend from that she was making quick progress with increasing its quality.

She didn't exactly think that she herself, in the form of imitation, would become a source, which felt ironic, to say the least.

Nonetheless, the imitations no longer resorted to provoking them in front of everyone, perhaps because the imitations themselves didn't want the others to know about their secrets. Why? Because they would soon take over if their originals lost, they kept silent and battled, purely intent on killing them.

Like this, they finally arrived at their eighth chance, a junction where they should stop challenging as they could no longer pull out if they failed and consequently face the ninth challenge, and failure in that final chance meant death and perhaps, repossession by their imitations!