Divine Emperor of Death

Agnirei watched Zenova Artoria with a scrutinizing gaze.

It was hard to say if Zenova Artoria's words were true but if it was true, then this treasure shopping session would really be a race against time.

"If what you say is true, then you choose a treasure. I will contend."

Agnirei spoke in a commanding tone, causing Zenova Artoria's lips to curl.

"I thought you would say that. In that case, I can only wait until another person makes a move to acquire some treasure or let Evelynn take the good treasures. I don't mind— seeing that she is someone I want to defeat to send someone a message but also increase the benefits for that someone due to the mutual understanding between us."

She grabbed her waist and raised her other hand, looking at her fingertips like she was calculating.

"Letting her win now to take more later doesn't seem like a bad idea either."

"You…"

Agnirei glared at her Zenova Artoria, becoming more suspicious that she truly was a Divergent. Otherwise, she saw no merit in being in a mutually beneficial relationship with another Divergent.

"Fine…" However, she clenched her teeth, knowing that she couldn't let others take the treasures.

She turned around, moving to the treasure she wanted the most here, and tried to grab it. Like before, two circles appeared, one covering her and the other appearing beside them. Zenova Artoria didn't wait for time to pass and instantly stepped into the circle without knowing what awaited on the other side, making Rea Tyriel's eyes tremble.

'She really got guts…'

Rea Tyriel turned to look at her group and quickly informed what went on inside the circle. She told them the clash of their soulseas powered by a strange formation manifested a space, giving birth to a soulscape where they both existed and didn't exist, allowing them to battle with their soul bodies where the winner ascends to the upper floor and the loser is punished in two ways depending on the outcome of the battle.

Isabella and the others were shocked to hear that Rea Tyriel lost five percent of her soul essence upon losing. Isabella and Shirley's expressions sank before they apologized to Rea Tyriel.

It could be said that they were a bit hasty to throw the blame on her.

"Don't be." Rea Tyriel shook her head, "We should quickly make a plan to head up if all we have to do is give up and lose five percent of our soul essence. It was painless…"

"That's right." Shirley nodded thrice, "If someone told me I have to offer five percent of my soul essence to get treasures of this level, I would gladly give it."

"…" Dewzai and the others looked at her as they blinked.

"Don't look at me like I'm poor. The point is… I don't care about losing five percent of my soul essence since my soul is nirvanic in nature. It can regenerate better than most of you."

They rolled their eyes. If it was any other time, then five percent really wasn't a lot, but in the battle between geniuses of the same level, even a percentage margin can make a significant difference. They thought Shirley only said that because she possessed an incredible prowess that overshadowed all the other geniuses.

Just as they began coming up with a plan, they saw Zenova Artoria receive the treasure and disappear and Agnirei shudder like she had experienced the wildest defeat in her life. She took in a deep breath, flames soaring above as she clenched her fists.

She couldn't believe that she was taken out in one strike.

At the same time, she was shown mercy and told to give up or lose twenty-five percent of her soul essence.

As a spirit, losing soul essence was practically losing blood, but worse.

If she lost twenty-five percent of her soul essence, chances are that she would faint and become vulnerable to the surroundings, quickly causing her to die from some random attack.

She felt humiliated to accept defeat but there were more chances to acquire treasures, making her accept the loss.

She turned to look at Isabella's group, looking like she was going to take out her frustration on them, but she managed to calm herself as the flames died down before she looked away. She went to take out another treasure but seemed to slow down and appeared to be still choosing what treasure to take.

"As expected…"

Shirley laughed softly, "Zenova Artoria won."

"No way… only a second passed…" Rea Tyriel's lips parted in shock.

"It was the same for you two as well." Founder Rocksunder reminded, "As you said, it happens in an interconnected soulscape, so the time taken between your exchange is near instantaneous."

"I see…"

Rea Tyriel nodded lightly, thinking it was no wonder that Isabella and Shirley thought that they had done something to Evelynn. In their perspective, it would be like she made Evelynn wisp out of existence.

Nonetheless, she quickly reminded.

"Quick, let us come to a consensus on whom to send up first. If we can't, then we can only leave it to our prowess to make things happen. Otherwise, we'll lose the treasures to the others."

"Alright." The others agreed, swiftly working on formulating a plan where everyone could benefit or at least try to benefit as much as everyone else.

========

Evelynn blinked at the new sight she was seeing through her eyes. It was practically the same layout but the number of treasures here was clearly lesser than the the ground floor below because the treasures were more spread out and occupied more space.

She began to walk and noticed that the quality of the treasures was higher than the ones on the ground floor.

"Peak-Level Immortal Emperor Grade Treasures…"

Evelynn heaved a heavy sigh as she walked past each one of them. She almost covered half the distance and managed to go over a hundred and twenty treasures, each one capable of pulling her heartstrings and have her fight tooth and nail for it.

However, she just wasn't convinced enough to take them because she only had six chances to acquire and two more chances to contend, regardless of whether she won or not. She wanted to use those chances on the second floor.

Evelynn looked up, wanting to get there, but couldn't see a way other than challenging someone again.

However, no one came yet.

She continued to walk while browsing the treasures, her eyes widening and her heart pounding occasionally at the descriptions. If she brought these back home, she was confident that even their head maid, Esvele, would become a supreme genius comparable to Kingly Monarchs.

But at the second minute, a flash of light spread across from the other side, catching her attention.

She went towards it and shortly came across a crimson-purple-robed woman with a haughty gaze.

"I expected you to appear first."

Evelynn walked towards her and stood only a few meters away, appearing confident and relaxed as though meeting an old friend.