Lin Luo's truly divine lightning struck down towards me from above, hitting the direct center of the extremely thin and seemingly fragile screen between my hands — my Chaos Mirror.

She had a look of contempt in her eyes, but so did I. To her, this was just a final defense I was putting up out of desperation. After all, it seemed like someone could punch through this thing — that's how weak it was, on the surface.

Little did she know… this black and translucent screen would prove to be her downfall.

The lightning torrent flew directly through the Chaos Mirror, as if it were a hole that led to a different dimension. At this, Lin Luo's perfect, divine features frowned slightly.

"…" she narrowed her eyes, her confusion evident.

I wasn't planning on answering any of her questions, however, and she didn't seem to be planning on asking either. She waited patiently as holy lightning continued to pour out of the tip of her charged broadsword, traveling through the air before entering my Chaos Mirror.

Luckily, she wasn't making any other moves, as if she wanted to see the outcome of this. This bought me some time to request assistance.

[Mei Gui.] I suddenly asked in my mind, attempting to communicate with my best partner as Lin Luo's lightning continued flowing into my spell.

[Yes, Master?] The reply was immediate and smooth. As expected of her.

[Is there any Forbidden Magic that can… steal someone's powers?]

[Steal someone's powers…] Mei Gui echoed, trailing off.

[I mean, isn't one of Chaos's properties to consume, replicate, and enhance? I'd assume there was a spell that allowed me to take someone's unique power, replicate it as my own, and turn it even stronger for myself.]

[There is indeed a spell that does exactly what you are talking about, Master. However… I strongly advise against using it before you break through to the Divine Chaos realm.]

[Why? Will my body not be able to handle it or something?]

[That is part of it, but… also because you have not reached that level yet, the memories I have of this spell are limited, and there may be certain pieces of critical information I am still missing. However, I can try teaching you it. Are you certain you wish to try this, Master?]

[It's necessary for… something. Worst comes to worst, the spell doesn't work, and I just beat Lin Luo normally. But if this does work, my body will have to be prepared to suffer the backlash. If I can survive said backlash… I will have gained myself another powerful new ally I can use to my will. That is worth suffering a little bit of pain for.]

[Understood, Master.] Mei Gui replied briskly. She didn't question my intentions, she was loyal, and didn't pry about what I was trying to do either. That was precisely what separated her from the other girls, and also why she was my best partner.

But as I turned up to look at Lin Luo, I saw her getting impatient. Very soon, she was going to try a different attack after seeing this one not working. Sure, she would want to know why it wasn't working, but she could also just torture me for the answer after bringing me to my knees.

[Time's running out, Mei Gui… hurry and tell me what I need to do.]

Immediately, she replied, noticing the urgency in my voice and obeying my orders perfectly.

[The name of the spell is The Thief's Hand. However… beware, Master. In order to use this spell, you must touch your target with your hand and say the spell name in the process.]

[I can say it in my head though, right?]

[Yes. But the more difficult part will be touchin-]

[Got it, thanks.]

I quickly shut off the telepathic connection since I needed to focus on the battle. Lin Luo dashed towards me, attempting to cleave my Chaos Mirror in half with her sword.

C'mon, Chaos… hurry up and shoot it back!

In an instant, Lin Luo was directly in front of me as she swung her blade down from above.

However, in the same moment she raised her sword, the lightning at the tip of it stopped connecting to my Chaos Mirror, finally allowing it to fire back in turn.

Right before she could cleave down, a hellish lightning bolt the size of a large metal pillar shot out of my Chaos Mirror, shaking the entire arena and accompanied by a loud, thunderous roar.

"Wha-"

She quickly turned her blade to the flat side and held it in front of her body, blocking the lightning bolt. Supporting the blade with her other hand, she used her whole body's strength to try and fight back against this beam of pure death.

But alas, even with all four wings flapping rapidly, the golden symbols on them glowing brighter than ever, Lin Luo was not able to withstand the demonic power known as Chaos.

"What… is this… monstrous… power?!" she gritted her teeth and desperately fought back as cracks began emerging in her sword.

Meanwhile, I was getting nervous too. If my Chronofreeze were to run out here… I would have lots of explaining to do for the judges…

"Come on…" I muttered, using all of my strength to hold the mirror in place despite the surging energy coursing out of it, causing the whole arena to shake like an earthquake.

"Ngh…!"

The two of our eyes met as we clashed against one another. Hers held infinite hatred, while mine held fiery determination.

And as the cracks on her blade became bigger and bigger, blinding white light peeking out of them, I cackled with laughter.

"You're… mine!"

"NGH!"

Three things happened right then and there.

One, Luo Lin's blade shattered into a billion pieces of light, sending her toppling backward from the pressure.

Two, I closed my Chaos Mirror just in time before I accidentally disintegrated my precious future pawn into ashes;

And three, my Chronofreeze ran out, returning color and the flow of time to the world around us.

Luckily, those three things happened in sequential order, meaning I was able to avoid letting anyone get a glimpse of my Chaos Mirror again — that is, except for Lin Luo.

Lin Luo groaned on the ground, surprisingly not unconscious.

Quickly, I initiated the next phase of my plan before she could recover.

Space — Eliminate.

In an instant, I appeared directly in front of her, then grabbed her head and smashed it into the ground ruthlessly.

For one, this was to knock her unconscious, securing my victory, and for two…

Forbidden Magic — The Thief's Hand.

Lin Luo offered no resistance as she fainted from the concussion, completely blacking out. She had no idea that at this moment, I was draining the divine power she valued oh-so-much out of her body.

I felt some kind of warm, soothing liquid flow into my body through my contact with her forehead, and I guessed it was the same godly ichor that had been on her wings.

I felt empowered, more so than ever before.

It was similar to back then, when I had consumed Count Draculus's blood and became a half-vampire, except this time, there was no pain and the strength I was receiving was amplified thousandfold.

Accompanying it was a thrilling shock that seemed like electricity, though it was not painful or startling in any way. Instead, it felt warm and chilling at the same time, providing an interesting sensation I've never felt before.

But just when I was drowning myself in the pleasure that seemed to reach all the nooks and crannies of my body, my eyes snapped wide open as I felt a sudden rush of liquid up my throat.

I quickly twisted my head away from Lin Luo instinctively to avoid coughing on her, and widened my eyes as blood spilled out of my mouth.

Slowly, I felt my eyelids get heavy, my vision get hazy, and my consciousness fading away.

I tried shaking my head to get rid of the nausea and tried biting my tongue to wake up using pain, but the blood in my mouth was too thick.

Before I knew it, I had collapsed onto the ground beside Lin Luo, an indescribable pain coming from the deepest parts of my body.

The last thought that I had before giving in to the drowsiness, surrounded by all the debris as a result of the chaos we caused, was 'it's worth it.'

"Wow… I have no idea what just happened, but contestant Lin Luo fell unconscious first! Therefore, Sir Xuan Kai is the winner of this match…" the announcer paused dramatically, then continued. "… And of the whole tournament!"

The audience was far too stunned to say anything, however. They were all still recovering from the shock, the magnitude of the epic battle they just saw unfold before them.

It was as if they had witnessed a fight to the death between an angel and a devil, one divine and almighty; one demonic and undefeated.

I may have fallen unconscious, on the brink of death, but at least, the spell was successful.

Now… it was just a matter of whether or not I could recover to see tomorrow's dawn.