"The Staff of Truth... won't activate? What... what's happening?"

Staring at the ring that seemed to have suddenly severed its connection with her, Maya's golden eyes widened for the first time in her life.

As the Guiding Saint, this was completely unprecedented.

Soon, a deeply troubling suspicion began forming in her mind.

The Staff of Truth was the Creator's creation. Only one thing in this world could suppress it.

"Don't tell me... huh?!"

The next instant, as if to confirm Maya's growing dread, a sacred yet murderous pressure suddenly descended from above, slamming down on the silver-haired woman. Even as the powerful Guiding Saint, her body instinctively trembled when faced with this overwhelming force.

This was the instinctive reaction all Source Star beings had when confronting that thing.

Slowly raising her head to look ahead, Maya couldn't help but swallow hard.

"You've got to be kidding me."

The space around Maya was no longer the empty void of the star field from before, everything had transformed completely. Illusory stone pillars and an ethereal throne slowly materialized.

In an instant, the silver-haired woman found herself standing within a phantom temple. Ancient pillars surrounded her on all sides, mysterious runes carved into the walls emanating an ancient and mystical aura. The temple was filled with a suffocating murderous intent. Despite the sacred atmosphere, it was utterly terrifying.

Anyone without sufficient power would have their soul crushed instantly just by existing in this space.

Maya tried to move but found herself bound by this illusory space, unable to budge. The barely visible walls on all sides glowed with faint golden-red light, reflecting her stunned face and tense jaw.

"The Judgment Temple... She can actually control the Judgment Sanctuary??"

Before Maya could process the situation, an invisible force suddenly expanded, striking from behind and enveloping her completely.

The next moment, Maya who'd been about to mobilize her spiritual power to break out of the Judgment Temple shuddered violently. Her eyes contracted as terrifying suppressive force spread through her limbs, directly blocking the flow of holy spiritual power in her body and making breathing difficult. Her entire body felt impossibly heavy.

"This is..."

Glancing at her body from the corner of her eye, the silver-haired woman's brows furrowed.

That's right. The Holy Spirit Cube Maya had used to bind and seal Yumo hadn't been completed, but the chains it generated had already pierced through Yumo's limbs, producing some restraining effect. Now, with Yumo's power in operation, the force meant to bind Yumo had been transferred directly to Maya, trussing up the famous Guiding Saint like a chicken.

"..."

The Holy Spirit Magic was sealing magic Maya took pride in. Now, after experiencing the Holy Spirit Magic's restraints with her own body, Maya's heart pounded erratically.

Biting her lip in frustration, Maya slowly turned to look behind her.

At this moment, reflected in Maya's pupils was a girl with gorgeous golden-red hair, surrounded by bloody butterflies, holding a slender sword and walking toward her step by step. Each time her bare feet touched the ethereal temple floor, ripples of bone-chilling killing intent spread out.

Unlike before, with life force continuously flowing from her abdomen, Yumo's wounds were healing at a visible rate. The Shadow power that Maya had worked so hard to suppress was being reborn, constantly expanding and raging. Of course, this time, what surged around Yumo wasn't just Shadow power.

An equally formidable golden-red divine power, gentle yet violent mixed in as well, further boosting Yumo's aura.

Under the baptism of these two forces, the arrows stuck in the girl's delicate body that had sealed her major acupoints gradually collapsed, dissolving into countless pale golden lights that were greedily devoured by the surrounding bloody butterflies.

Yumo's recovery didn't surprise Maya. Since Yumo's companions could remotely interfere with her spells and help Yumo recover stamina, this wasn't particularly difficult either.

What truly shocked Maya were Yumo's eyes at this moment.

Different from her normal crimson eyes, and not Momo's rainbow pupils when she went berserk. Instead, she'd entered a heterochromatic state, one rainbow pupil one crimson eye... And deep within that crimson eye, an ancient symbol flickered with golden-red holy light. Maya knew that symbol all too well.

It was the mark of slaughter and judgment, the symbol of the Judgment Saint.

"Yumo, you really have given me quite a few surprises."

...

Meanwhile, faced with Maya's question, Yumo had no time to answer. Right now, Yumo was staring in complete shock at the silver-haired woman she'd bound and suppressed. Her eyes darted between Maya and the chains, her mouth slightly open.

I... I actually caught her? I'm not dreaming, am I?! Is this real?

Yumo muttered incredulously to herself. However, the pain from two abnormal forces constantly clashing within her body clearly told Yumo that everything before her eyes was no illusion.

"Didn't expect it would actually work."

Due to Maya's cunning schemes and Yumo's own simplicity, Mengxi and Youlan hadn't told Yumo the key tactics to catch her off guard. Instead, they'd relayed everything to Momo, having her inform Yumo at the crucial moment.

Yumo was a bit puzzled about how Mengxi had convinced Momo to obediently follow the plan while timing everything so perfectly.

But regardless, the facts proved that this time Momo had cooperated beautifully with Mengxi and the others.

In those brief few tenths of a second when Maya's movements slowed for unknown reasons, Momo had given her the timely hint. Though Maya's physical abnormality lasted an extremely short time, in battles between Lv9s, a few seconds could decide victory!

Well, I will praise them properly after going back.

Yumo made this decision silently.

After that, Yumo walked forward step by step until she reached Maya, then stopped. Though Maya was currently suppressed by both the Holy Spirit Cube and the Judgment Temple's dual powers, Yumo's eyes remained sharp and focused, not a muscle relaxing.

"Hmph. Let's see you try running this time."

Yumo snorted coldly.

Narrowing her eyes slightly to meet Yumo's gaze, Maya's brow creased deeply.

She activated the Judgment Saint's power voluntarily?

Whether during the previous battle in Red Leaf Empire's capital or when fighting Asar, Yumo had only barely managed to use the Judgment Saint's power through external help. Now, without anyone else... she could actually use both the Abyssal Lord and Judgment Saint powers simultaneously?

"Little Yumo, how exactly did you do it? Before, you couldn't even control the Judgment Saint's power alone."

"That's why you still underestimate me too much."

With their positions reversed, the corners of Yumo's mouth unconsciously curved upward.

Indeed, Yumo herself couldn't perfectly control the Judgment Saint's power yet. Precisely because of this, the self-aware and forward-thinking Yumo had thoroughly drained Mengxi hundreds of times on the Ancita continent during the planning stage, constantly absorbing the divine power from her body and storing it within herself.

Right now, she was using this stored divine power from Mengxi to activate the Judgment Saint power within her body. At the same time, with Momo's powerful support, she was briefly maintaining the balance between Abyssal power and Saint power. Only this way could she simultaneously use both Reversal and the Eye of Judgment. And precisely because she maintained the Abyssal Lord state, Yumo's consciousness wouldn't be bound by those damned Saint Laws.

She'd entered a truly free state.

Of course, after getting thoroughly beaten up, our petty Yumo certainly wasn't going to explain any of this to Maya.

"Hmph. As for how I did it? Just use your Eye of Revelation to see for yourself. Hm? Oh right~~ I forgot~ You can't use anything while suppressed by the Judgment Temple~~. My bad, my bad~"

Yumo stuck out her tongue provocatively.

"..."

"Okay, enough joking around."

With that, Yumo slowly crouched in front of Maya and grabbed her chin. Her exquisite face showed a meaningful, bone-chilling ghostly smile.

"Well then, considering our time is limited, my dear Guiding Saint, let's settle some scores first~"