Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's chests heavily heaved as bile continuously ran up their throats.

Every time it happened, the trio forced down the rising bile. Their bloodline powers frantically worked to get rid of the Heavenly Sage power running amok in their bodies.

This fight was quite an eye-opening shock for the trio.

Previously, they believed, at their current prowess, they could take on genuine Heavenly Sage. Their confidence came from the fact no other ninth-level Heavenly Kings could match them.

But that perception was forcefully changed throughout this battle.

That phantom Golden Crow Spirit was a powerful Heavenly Sage monster with far boosted prowess because it's a Spirit Artifact being.

They're genuinely having problems just to keep up the phantom Golden Crow Spirit speeds and defending against its powerful attack.

As of now, the trio wasn't in an entirely critical injury state. But they were in danger if they wanted to continue exploring the rest of this independent realm.

Their energy reserves was rapidly dropping, and some injuries will make it hard for them to properly fight if they don't take the time to recuperate.

What was the absolute worst about this situation was the fact that the phantom Golden Crow Spirit still wasn't out of energy yet. The most surprising thing was that the golden beast could somehow take two Chaotic Energy attacks.

Darcel began to quickly analyze what they should do now.

The only silver lining they had was that the phantom Golden Crow Spirit power isn't as nearly as high now.

Although, the power that was still generating from the golden beast caused considerable pressure on all three of them.

Darcel's eyes trailed down at Aniela, and he sensed she was essentially in the same state as him. They both used a tiny bit of Chaotic Energy in their dantian, leaving them now with only their bloodline powers.

And Darcel knew even if he and Aniela were to combine their Martial Skills, they wouldn't be able to make the phantom Golden Crow Spirit disappear.

Right then, Darcel snapped his eyes back to Masami. He realizes that she could still use her Chaotic Energy!

The only problem with that is finding the prime opportunity for Masami to get in close and strike the golden beast.

"Haah...haah. What's the plan, Darcy? No matter how it survives, we need to kill that beast." While Darcel was quickly formulating a plan, Aniela was already relying on whatever he has in mind.

Though it felt a little frustrating, Aniela knows she isn't the best planner compared to Darcel. She held high faith that Darcel would come up with something.

Simultaneously, inside her mind, Aniela felt small desires in learning to sharpen her strategic mind after this to be even more helpful for her team.

Masami as well kept quiet, entirely relying on Darcel to make plans.

More so than Aniela, Masami was never really the one to come up with strategic plans. It was one of the traits she inherited from her parents that actually suited her fiery personality.

Although Masami did feel that she should begin practicing her strategic mind as well for perilous situations like this.

Darcel had tightly knitted his eyebrows together. From about a hundred feet ahead of them, the signature golden glow of the Golden Crow Spirit was starting to rise up.

Darcel can tell after this exchange of attacks, it will be the last on either side. With a semi-decent plan in mind, Darcel was just about to tell it to the girls.

But right then, the whole sky suddenly gained a Darkness hue.

The sickly yellow sky that was covering their ruined battlefield was now covered in a black glow as if night had abruptly fallen upon the place.

"The hell?" Darcel, Aniela, and Masami simultaneously muttered their confusion.

Their eyes quickly snapped up to the skies, and it was then their pupils heavily dilated. For several miles around them, there was a colossal Darkness dome that was shrouding this specific area.

And as the trio stared into the sky with shock filling their bones, a tremendous pressure crushed down on their bodies.

The aura blasting down on them was unfathomably powerful. With just one sense of it, the trio could tell this aura was slightly more powerful than the three Crow Leaders!

If Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were at their full power and not in an injured state, they would actually feel a significant threatening suppression from this.

But now, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami couldn't stop the dread from bursting into their minds. There was a chilling sensation that was crawling up their very spines.

It was a haunting feeling that Darcel and Anieal only had experienced a few times in their lives.

The terrifying sensation of approaching death!

Up several miles in the skies, when the Darkness dome had appeared, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's eyes caught three figures popping into existence from mere thin air.

The three figures were all three black robes-wearing people. All of them had a chilling appearance befitting of their Darkness powers.

It was two men and one woman who all were emitting three unfathomable auras. Just their mere base aura alone was causing the air to freeze around them for several feet.

And terrifyingly enough, these three black robes people weren't even using some form of attack to have the Darkness dome up.

The Darkness dome was spewing out just from their base auras.

As their appearance became more visible to the eyes, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami could clearly sense the three black robes people auras are indeed above the Crow Leaders.

Squinting his eyes, Darcel was able to make out the design on their black robes.

'Ah...of course it's them.' Darcel had instantly recognized where these guys came from and that only increased the dread in his mind.

On their black robes, these people had the intricate design of a vast, majestic black Raven.

They were obviously from the Raven Mage Order group!

However, these three weren't just some regular members of the group. They all held a similar status in their groups akin to the Crow Leaders status in their own group.

The three of them were the most powerful in their whole Mercenary group and hold the title of being their Leaders!

For their Leaders titles, the two men were named Arch Raven Kai and Arch Raven Noah. While the woman was named Arch Raven Lydia.

All three Arch Raven Mages surveyed the whole ruin battlefield.

As their eyes searched throughout the battlefield, a cruel smirk began dancing on the Arch Raven Mage's lips. A slight rise of cold Killing Intent leaked from their bodies when seeing the Crow Leaders and Darcel's group's pathetic state.

"So, the cultivators' dogs are already fighting. And it seems like the three of us had just come in at the most opportunist time."

Arch Raven Kai spoke first, and his voice was laced with arrogance and a budding Killing Intent.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were violently clenching their hands. Cold sweats began to pour down their faces as their danger senses went frantically wild.

But before they could even think of what to do next, the Crow Leaders' furious shouts blared into the area.

"Dammit!! Of all the shitty luck, why the hell did they come?!" Crow Theo's desperate cries were shared with Crow Apollo and Joe.

Crow Theo had then clenched down on his Golden Crow amulet, causing it to briefly flash and making the phantom Golden Crow Spirit hover over them.

If they all were at their full powers, the Crow Leaders wouldn't even think of using the phantom Golden Crow Spirit Artifact to deal with the Arch Raven Mages. However, in their current position, Crow Theo was sweating if they could even survive this.

Thanks to Darcel, Aniela, and Masami, their phantom Golden Crow Spirit now has less than half of its energy. And if the golden beast makes one more powerful attack or blocks an equally powerful attack, then it's done for!

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were in an equal position of not being able to put up a good fight.

Darcel considered this as the most significant situation he's getting this much threatened by.

At this point, only one option sprang into Darcel's mind.

"You know, we've actually caught a glimpse of your fight before." Arch Raven Noah suddenly started talking, uncaring of how slowly they were dragging this out.

When seeing both Darcel's group and the Crow Leaders tense up and their faces become wracked with nerves, it gave all three of Arch Raven Mages a tremendous sense of superiority.

Arch Raven Noah continued to speak as his arrogance increased. "If this was normal circumstances, we also would've enjoyed tearing both of you apart at full power. But alas, your miserable lives end now."

Arch Raven Noah's voice became incredibly chilling at the end of his sentence as Killing Intent began wildly bursting out from all three Arch Raven Mages.

Arch Raven Kai and Lydia immediately pointed their black Magic Staff towards Darcel's group, their black crystals already pulsating with a frantic rush of power.

Out of the whole group, the Arch Raven Mages still felt the most legitimate threat from Darcel's group.

They couldn't perceive their cultivation realms, but they know they need to pour more power into getting rid of them specifically.

Arch Raven Noah pointed his black Magic staff towards the Crow Leaders, his black Magic crystal already pulsating with power as well.

Before either side could think to react, the Arch Raven Mage's Magic Staff all ignited in a profound Darkness glow.

'Chi!'

The Arch Raven Mages shot vast black Raven birds straight at Darcel's group and the Crow Leaders from each of their Magic Staff.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami fiercely gritted their teeth. They had no other options but to defend!

Gathering the rest of their bloodline powers and soul powers, the trio unleashed their best defense, creating a multi-layer Qi barrier that covered all three of their bodies.

At the same time, Crow Theo was forced to also give his best defense.

He clenched down on his amulet again, and the phantom Golden Crow Spirit's eyes spewed with golden rays of light.

It nearly formed a golden fire dome around the Crow Leaders, but the black Raven bird already neared them before the golden Fire dome was fully completed.

'BOOOM~!!'

Darkness Magical energy sprayed everywhere as the black Raven birds exploded on Darcel's group Qi barrier and the phantom Golden Crow Spirit's golden Fire dome!

"Ahhh!!"

The sorrowful cries of the Crow Leaders blared in the wind as Crow Theo had to cut off the phantom Golden Crow Spirit and tank the rest of the attack.

If Crow Theo didn't cut off the phantom Golden Crow Spirit, it would've gotten permanently destroyed from tanking all of the Arch Raven Mage power.

And though the phantom Golden Crow Spirit took most of the attack. The Crow Leaders were still sent shooting out into ruin area like speeding bullets as blood frantically spurted out of them.

Arch Raven Kai, Lydia, and Noah remained impassive as they waited for the dust of their Darkness explosion to die down.