Sterl was filled with emotion.
However, the changes in his mental domain did not temporarily enhance his combat power.
What he was sensing now was the energy within his body.
He discovered that he could enter an unrestricted state of ascension to godhood. With the five divine beings acting as a power bank, his divine level strength could be maintained without any drop in the accumulated Divine Power within him; in fact, it would gradually increase.
He would only expend Divine Power when he took action.
With the additional accumulation he had gathered, Sterl stood still, not immediately ascending to godhood. Instead, he planned to gather a bit more Divine Power. After engaging in battle with the Archduke of Blood, he could sustain a barrage of attacks for a day or two without issue.
In battles at the divine level, either the outcome could be decided quickly, like with the Archduke of Blood's most powerful Thunder, or the gods could exchange blows for days or even months.
However, with the threat of the Blood of Contamination looming, the battle would inevitably conclude within a few days, as all six divine beings on the field would face imminent death once the pollution progressed to a critical level.
In other words—
"I did it!"
"My current reserves are sufficient to last until the end of the battle."
Sterl felt a rush of excitement.
He couldn't help but glance over at the Archduke of Blood, eager to observe the enemy's movements.
Sterl understood that starting to siphon Divine Power did not guarantee victory; he still needed the five gods to hold the Archduke of Blood in check, forcing him to remain oblivious to the formation, or even if he did notice the changes, he needed to be unable to spare any effort to deal with Sterl.
What surprised Sterl, however, was—
Through the Holy Spirit Bloodline, he could capture the emotions of divine-level entities.
He noticed that the Archduke of Blood was completely unaware that his Divine Power was being drained.
Instead, when the Archduke perceived the influx of Divine Power into his body diminishing, he displayed an expression of delight.
"Haha, you are already at your wit's end!"
"At last! All the fruits of victory will belong to me!"
From Sterl's perspective, this statement was quite strange.
The array of seizing heaven and creating fate should never show a decrease in the Divine Power being siphoned.
Even if the five divine beings were somewhat weakened, that weakness would actually enhance the formation's efficiency in drawing power.
Unless the five gods were completely drained, the Divine Power should not diminish.
But the Archduke of Blood, noticing the decrease in Divine Power, assumed that the five divine beings were weakened, indicating that he seemed completely unaware of the true nature of the formation.
Wasn't this formation improved by him?
Sterl frowned slightly; he didn't bother to delve deeper into it. He could essentially confirm that the Archduke of Blood's identity had issues.
But for Sterl, this was good news.
"Can I be even bolder with my actions of siphoning Divine Power from the formation?"
If the Archduke of Blood was truly just operating the formation without understanding it, Sterl believed he could give him a lesson. He even had a thought that could significantly increase his chances of defeating the Archduke of Blood.
"I'm going for it!"
After some contemplation, Sterl directly moved toward the edge of the battlefield, squeezing out of the formation nodes. He quickly poured materials into refining and modifying the nodes. With each completed node, the amount of Divine Power he siphoned increased slightly.
The Archduke of Blood's gains decreased in tandem, yet the divine-level demon remained oblivious to it.
Instead, the Archduke of Blood grew increasingly convinced that the five divine beings were on the brink of collapse, choosing to engage in conventional combat rather than summoning the terrifying Thunder. |em|p,yr
He didn't mind going down with them, but it was still better to preserve his current form if possible.
The five divine beings were pleasantly surprised; they had felt despair, believing that a few more strikes of Thunder would spell their doom. The Archduke of Blood had inadvertently given them a moment to breathe, allowing the five gods to regroup and stabilize their situation.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Sterl refined most of the formation nodes on the battlefield's periphery.
"Even in the entire Crystal Barrier Galaxy, if the hidden strong ones are not sufficiently powerful, I can use my trump card and become invincible!"
"How many players wish for such an opportunity?"
Sterl muttered fiercely to encourage himself, but suddenly he felt his heart nearly stop.
"Damn it!"
The Archduke of Blood's expression shifted from surprise to furious rage after Sterl siphoned a small amount of Divine Power.
At first, Sterl was taken aback. Could it be that I've been exposed? He still needed some more Divine Power to refine Fission Law!
But then he realized that the Archduke of Blood was completely ignoring the formation, as if his anger was directed at something else entirely.
"Damn it, how could this happen?"
"Of all times!"
The five divine beings present were taken aback as they noticed that the Archduke of Blood seemed to have inexplicably weakened a bit.
Instantly, the five divine beings, who had been drained of Divine Power, felt a surge of energy. They realized this might be their last chance!
They rallied their spirits.
Marlon's long night canvas was stained with blood, a testament to this god shedding his own essence.
Ashen and the Golden Kingdom's representatives surprisingly worked together to create golden and pure white energy arrows.
Clearly, the two factions had been collaborating in secret, and the gods had developed an Iridescent-Level ability that could be released in unison.
The Lord of Evil Spirits was in the worst state; unable to conjure the Smoke Dragon, he instead condensed all his bones into a fearsome, clawed shark serpent.
Licitris cast a lingering glance at Mephistopheles...
Hmm? What's Mephistopheles' situation right now? Why does he feel so powerful, even stronger than me?
It must be an illusion, right?
"Let's go all out!"
"Let's take him down!"
"The Archduke of Blood has been completely neglecting his defenses; his life force must be running low!"
With Licitris' initial bravery, the five divine beings found enough trust in each other.
After a brief mental communication, they didn't wait for anyone to take the lead and launched their attack simultaneously.
However, the Archduke of Blood merely laughed maniacally, "Come at me!"
Once again, he burned his life force!
At this moment, the rainbow-colored Polluted Blood within the Archduke of Blood had transformed from a mere trickle at the start of the battle to a state where it covered 60 to 70 percent of his body.
The scales on his body shimmered with a multi-colored glow.
It was incredibly eerie!
However, despite the overwhelming Blood of Contamination, the Archduke of Blood was merely suffering from energy depletion.
The third, supreme Sky Thunder began to gather slowly in the air.
On Sterl's side, he had originally been waiting for his Divine Power to accumulate while monitoring the situation of the gods, but suddenly he felt an extraordinarily strange aura emerge within him...
At first, Sterl didn't realize what was happening; after sensing it for a moment, he finally understood.
His expression twisted in shock.
Even when he had successfully siphoned Divine Power before, it had never felt like this—
Diminished.
"How is this possible?!"