The gods were haggling.


    As time ticked away, Fred and Demon Lord couldn''t help but let faint smiles flicker across their faces...


    Though these two couldn''tmunicate directly, they shared a mutual understanding—they needed to act quickly and kill David!


    Of course, there was another person involved.


    Though his face remained expressionless, his excitement surpassed that of the other two.


    It was Sterl!


    Seeing Fred''s overjoyed expression, Sterl felt a kind of shared pleasure.


    At this moment, a notification shed before Sterl''s eyes——


    [Congrattions! You havepleted the objective of the Array Master initiation ceremony: Understanding Array.]


    With this notification, Sterl was just two steps away from his Sub-Profession.


    First, he needed toplete the practice of five different formations, which was quite achievable.


    After joining the Myriad Arts of Heaven Curriculum, Sterl could simply ess the Hall of Valor''s contribution shop through his personal panel. Besides the usual items and tools avable for purchase, there was also a sub-store dedicated to formations.


    Sterl could easily buy various basic formations from it, learn five of them, and sessfully build them.


    The second requirement for the job advancement ceremony was to obtain the Ethereal Crystal shard from Fred''s body.


    Sterl sprang into action!


    Normally, he would let Fred make the first move, achieving a counter-attack for maximum dramatic effect.


    But Sterl knew that Fred had a god backing him. Before transmigrating, he had read countless novels——


    ording to typical plots, if you beat the minion, the boss woulde next.


    Sometimes, just to drag the storyline, these well-connected enemies wouldn''t be killed off so easily!


    So, to avoid unnecessaryplications, Sterl went all out immediately.


    Stardust Enhancement·Shadow Stealth! Output Boost!


    In an instant, Sterl vanished into the shadow realm, his body emanating a dense and indelible shadow energy that sent shivers down anyone who saw it!


    Simultaneously——


    Stardust Enhancement·Inspire!


    Although the control-removal ability was unusable, it could still grant Sterl enhanced attributes.


    Then came divine descent activation! Life Ignite activation!


    And... At this moment, Sterl''s body was shimmering with starlight, a result of him collecting power-ups through Heart of Soul Convergence by killing various yers along the way, boosting his life force and all attributes by 37%!


    Next...


    Realm of the Stars activation——


    In an instant, just as Fred''s face lit up with joy, he realized that David''s figure had vanished.


    He warily grabbed the giant axe from his back, the purple-red energy surging around him. It was the faint but potent Divine Power of War churning within him, significantly boosting his next skill and providing Fred with high damage resistance!


    "Come on!"


    "Coward! Hiding in the shadows!" he shouted loudly, though one hand was already reaching into his inventory, ready to pull out a life-saving item at any moment.


    One second passed...


    The wind rustled softly.


    Two seconds passed...


    Utter silence!


    Swoosh!


    A blood-red crystal suddenly appeared, transforming into a crimson sword that thrust towards Fred.


    "A feint?" he calmly assessed, sneering as he tossed out a shield, effortlessly blocking the attack.


    But in the next moment, Fred felt a brilliant blue light shine down from the sky, and within that pure radiance, a dark figure appeared!


    "Bring it on!"


    Even while using an item just now, Fred didn''t lose focus for a second.


    He swung his axe with all his might!


    A blood-red figure wearing an Asura mask appeared behind him, looking terrifyingly fierce.


    However, this fanatical devotee''s all-out strike was met with nothing more than a casual finger point from the shadow-empowered figure. Fred saw a faint sh of gold and blue light before him, like a candle suddenly lit in the dark.


    In an instant, the devotee''s consciousness faded away.


    Plop.


    A soft sound.


    It was like a water-filled balloon being punctured.


    The immense energy around Fred, initially orderly, turned into a chaotic surge!


    The driver of this energy had perished!


    The chosen one''s face still held an expression of arrogance and pride, but a small bloody hole had appeared on his forehead.


    It was Sterl''s Star Point Finger that had pierced through Fred''s skull, exiting from the back of his head.


    Wisps of smoke rose from the holes on either side, and Fred''s brain matter inside his skull had been thoroughly cooked!


    The devotee''s body wobbled and then copsed to the ground with a thud.


    However... he hadn''t fully fallen.


    Sterl stepped forward and thrust his hand into Fred''s chest.


    The Ethereal Crystal shard wasn''t in Fred''s inventory, nor had he absorbed it. Instead, it was somehow sewn into Fred''s flesh, continuously draining his life force to enhance his spatial abilities.


    Thus, the crystal shard could be forcibly extracted from Fred''s corpse.


    With a swift pull of Sterl''s hand—


    St!


    Blood gushed out!


    A shimmering silver shard appeared in his hand. The shard looked extraordinary, almost as if ity in Sterl''s palm and was also integrated into the surrounding space, making his palm appear empty.


    Sterl was about to leave but suddenly noticed silver lights appearing around Fred''s corpse.


    Swoosh!


    With a soft sound, Fred''s body vanished without a trace.


    "Hmm, what''s going on?" Sterl paused, puzzled. The corpses of other yers were directly sacrificed and turned into spatial energy, merging into the formation.


    Suddenly, he thought of the God of Space.


    Only this deity could intervene so casually in a fully-formed killing formation.


    "Could it be that he intends to save him?"


    "Too bad he''s a step toote."


    Sterl snickered inwardly but maintained a look of innocence on his face. He wasn''t nning to openly confront the God of Space, so he decided to y dumb.


    However...


    "The trial rules announced by Demon Lord were clearly aimed at helping Fred take me out."


    "Now that something has happened to Fred, it''s only natural for him to intervene and try to save him."


    "Fine..."


    "Demon Lord, your divine authority... I want it," Sterl felt a chill in his heart.


    Earlier, when the God of War and Violence appeared, all the yers saw the light effects, but themunication between gods was obviously beyond mortal hearing.


    Now, Sterl was almost certain that Demon Lord and the God of War and Violence had made some sort of deal to take him down.


    Now that their n had failed, they wouldn''t just let it go!


    Although Sterl''s guess might not be entirely urate, he quickly made a n...


    After passing this trial, he wouldn''t attend the formation sses anymore!


    He needed toy low for a while ande backter to settle ounts with these two divine schemers!


    While Sterl was swiftly nning, outside the formation, the numerous gods looked at the corpse that Demon Lord had teleported back using spatial powers, their expressions changing one by one.


    "You... what deal did you make with the God of War and Violence?" Gloria was the first to stand up, her tone filled with extreme anger.


    Just as Sterl had instant-killed Fred, the God of Space, Demon Lord, had been stalling for time despite others'' pleas to save "David."


    He dragged it out until Fred was about to strike David down before reluctantly agreeing to intervene, but even then, he moved sluggishly.


    It was only after Fred was killed in an instant that Demon Lord''s face changed drastically, and he attempted to save Fred.


    The result...


    Fred, a powerful fanatic capable of easily ughtering even mid-tier legends, had his life snuffed out in an instant.


    All Demon Lord could bring back was a corpse!


    At this moment, the God of Space''s face was as dark as it could get.


    His first reaction had been that if David couldn''t be killed, he should at least save Fred, a yer with an extremely strong talent for formations, who was surely favored by the God of War and Violence.


    Faced with the dire situation, Demon Lord decided to drop the act. But the final oue was disastrous—not only did he fail to save Fred, but his true intentions were also tantly exposed.


    "Demon Lord, you''ve gone too far."


    "No wonder you were stalling for time earlier."


    "Are you nning to make enemies of us all?"


    The assembled gods, having regained theirposure, spoke out angrily.


    However, facing their usations, the God of Space remained cold and indifferent, "I don''t need to exin my actions to you."


    With that, he floated up into the air, surrounded by a protective silver glow.


    Demon Lord felt a slight panic. After all, rumors had been circting in the Hall of Valor that many gods had already started to kill each other. This move had made him a lot of enemies.


    David''s talent was something any god would covet!


    In an instant, several gods, led by Gloria, activated their Divine Powers. Demon Lord, feeling increasingly uneasy, raised his protective power of space to its maximum.


    "Wait... he''s gone??"


    "Forget about Demon Lord for now..."


    However, the tense atmosphere didn''tst long. Candice suddenly noticed that after breaking through several spatial nodes, the yer named David tore open a teleportation scroll and disappeared without a trace.


    What''s even more bizarre was that none of the gods present could pinpoint the exact location to which the teleportation scroll had sent him. The only one with keen spatial awareness, Demon Lord, was too preupied with the other gods to focus on David.


    This highly talented future Array Master had vanished right under the noses of the deities!


    "We''ll settle this next time."


    "This isn''t over!"


    "Demon Lord, you will pay for today''s actions!"


    Seeing this, the gathered gods didn''t bother to waste more words. One by one, they shed away, preparing to track down David.


    Although there was a chance they could take down Demon Lord if they acted together, the God of Space''s escape abilities were formidable, and fighting in the Hall of Valor''s teaching grounds could potentially anger the Hall of Valor''s consciousness.


    So the gods held back.


    But judging by Demon Lord''s pained expression, he understood...


    He really needed to be more cautious when going out in the future.


    "Damn it!" His face was as dark as could be. Not only did he fail to save Fred, thus straining his rtionship with the God of War and Violence—one of whose most valued devotees had died on Demon Lord''s turf—but he also made an enemy of the exceptionally talented David and the numerous gods who had high hopes for him.


    It was a total loss!