Meanwhile, inside the Astral Dome...

The mutated guards' numbers were slowly dwindling and the smaller in number they became, the faster they went down as Hal's forces were now the ones outnumbering their victims.

Marla was now allowed to run wild on account of there always being more than enough more powerful members of the force around to have her back.

Hal had to say, he was quite impressed with the manner and ease with which she wielded her weapon. The boulder-like ball on the Dark cosmic armament had become a menace.

Hal could see that she had only really added the sharp spearhead for cases in which she needed to actually pierce something because otherwise, she seemed to really be enjoying bashing her victims encrusted faces in with the use of that heavy ball.

Right now, she leaped into action and the closest guard to her saw himself getting smacked to the side. He rolled and stood back to his feet almost immediately.

He growled and mumbled wome words, showing that the guards could still speak but just for some inexplicable reason, they preferred not to, for the duration of this battle.

Hal had at one point contemplated letting some of them live but eventually decided against it. Too bad for those guards but they followed the wrong person and would now become nourishment for his forces.

Both through their essences and their bodies.

For one thing, he did not actually feel any of them was actually being forced. Sure, they might not actually feel any true loyalty towards Gavin but they still believed he was the best to rule, and in there lay their error.

Although to be fair, they might actually be right and Gavin, pre-mutating technique might actually be the better choice to rule as opposed to Wade but he had made his claim to aim for Hal's life and that already canceled out his legitimacy as a candidate.

Not to mention that he was slowly getting corrupted by the mutating technique and was bound to get put down sooner or later.

Hal preferred sooner.

The mutated guard sent a Cosmic attack infused with a phenomenon at her and she leaped to the side to avoid it while making use of her Dark avatar to protect herself from any blowback of the attack.

Then, after a quick glance at her side to make sure no one would interfere until it was absolutely clear that she could no longer do it alone, Marla dashed towards her opponent with her Dark avatar condensed to a coat around her.

Once in front of the guard who stood in place with confidence and summoned his sword cosmic Armament that was thinly veiled with a Phenomenon, she swung the large boulder ball of her weapon towards her opponent.

The guard leaned back to avoid the attack easily and then chuckled before slashing towards her to send a cosmic attack at her which he believed she would not be able to avoid in such close distance.

He was right...

*Bang!*

Marla was blasted back and right unto another guard who in the process was pushed to the jaws of a beast. She groaned in annoyance before taking a deep breath to calm herself.

Alas, that was a luxury the guard was not ready to afford her and wass quickly kicking at her head with his mutated leg. Marla ducked to avoid the kick and timed her punch just right so that when she punched upward...

*Bam!*

*Crack*

... it was against the back of her opponent's knee and she somehow knocked it out of place.

The guard groaned but did not go down as his encrusted shell of defense had absorbed most of the impact rendering the crack mild and something he could simply knock back into place.

"See that little girl? The perfect defense and offense" he said with joy. This was why he had joined Gavin.

He was finally reaping the fruits of his good decisions.

Maria shook her head,

"Idiot! Take a look around" she said.

The guard paused and for some reason, he did as she had said and what he saw came as a shock...

...He was the only one left alive...

All of his comrades lay on the floor no longer breathing. As large as their numbers had been, they had still being slaughtered.

"This battle is only still happening because it's a means to test the limits of my capabilities. Suppose you win, you will still die none the less in which case I assure you, you will not have been successful in killing me." Marla said while casually swinging her weapon.

She was curious if all of her demoralizing words would drive her opponent to give up and let it all end now with his peaceful death or if he would see the opportunity to make use of his superior cultivation base to overpower her and maybe gain a ticket out of here.

The sudden resolution and bloodthirst in his beady mutated eyes told her he went for the latter.

However, once their battle resumed she would realize it was not exactly as she had thought.

This man was not seeing her as a ticket out of the encirclement of the enemy...

"Ahhhh"

*Boomm!!* *Boomm!!* *Boomm!!!*

... he saw it as a final kill right before the end.

He had already come to terms with how this was all going to end for him.

The continuous blasts of Cosmic attacks from a Phenomenon realm expert were far from being something Marla could afford to be hit with and Hal was quite ready to step in at any moment.

However, he did not need to as Marka was able to avoid getting hit point-blank. She was taking advantage of the guard's nonchalant take on life and by consequence nonchalant attacks that lacked sorely in accuracy.

Soon, the guard seemed to realize the same, and rather than actually attempt more accurate shots, he opted for close combat in which he could possibly overwhelm Marla with his stronger cultivation base.

He moved so fast with his hand drawn back and ready to pierce her chest when Marla suddenly released a dark fog that enveloped both her and her opponent.

The guard lost all sense of direction and could not, for the life of him, pinpoint where Marla was or how to attack her.

Marla took advantage as it was what the whole situation was for and took to attacking him from all sides while he fought her off quite well with cosmic energy and his hardened body. And then...

*Bang!!!*

... it was the boulder ball of her weapon connecting with the side of his face that finally struck him to the ground.

Then with incredible accuracy which deserves even more praise considering how that weapon was not exactly high on the equilibrium list, Marla stabbed with her weapon and the sharp spearhead pierced her opponent's right eye.

However, she had no way of killing him with that one clear shot since she could not siphon his essence or burn him up with lust flames.

Then again, she did not have to.

Once the spearhead stabbed through in the process of which, the boulder ball smacked into the guard's face, the force pushed him right out of the fog domain Maroa had created and right into Hal's waiting hands to be finished off with a swing of executioner.

Once Marla was out of the domain and grinning excitedly, Hal decided, after congratulating her with an indulging smile that it was about time everyone returned. The ladies after all needed to refine all the essence they had gotten and that, of course, included Lillian and Olivia.

As for the Beasts, they would have to wait for a while before they could feed on the carcasses.

Excluding the ones Sassy had damaged of course...

...

The Dome faded as it was deactivated and Hal was treated to the view of Gavin now as a Twenty-five feet monster that could very well be seen by those in the city, and Lucile dashing up his arm to strike at him.

Her size in comparison was minuscule but even then, it was Gavin who was howling in pain.