Qianye’s expression fell solemn, and he thought:

’She could very easily be overestimating how much longer she has left alive as a soul. In fact... she might be exaggerating it to make my options seem that much more limited...’

Mentally, Qianye freed a nervous, wide grin, ’However, she’s essentially confirmed that she had to make some kind of extreme sacrifice to break through the artifacts seal unlike what should have happened. If I want to survive this... I don’t have any other choice, do I?’

"What are you doing?" She demanded, disregarding what he had been saying as her brows furrowed.

Qianye laughed and it echoed across the sea as the mist began thickening even more.

The space was not generating more of the mist. It was descending from above, falling as if a deluge of rain that it seemed like a veil across the lands.

The demoness’s attention had been briefly split to look up at it when she had made her demand. Her wings folded in briefly and she began lowering herself from the height that she had risen to.

She flapped her wings, pushing away the red of the sea so that she could fall to stand on the undulating white.

And thereupon, Qianye spoke:

"For an ancient nether demon, you—"

Suddenly the red of the sea exploded forth.

The flowers burst into sharp, thick skewering lances. Her predatory red eyes widened and her wings flapped aggressively, shooting her up.

"Ungrateful wretch!" She roared and her voice thundered through his soul sea, "You dare use the strength I’ve spared you to attack this empress!?

Qianye did not humour her with her response.

The demoness rapidly made herself giant once more, and her wings beat, throwing hundreds of its feathers like canon sized javelins.

Her figure was enveloped in the thick mist at the same time, even at its size.

The lancing flowers rose rapidly, weaving to form a wall ahead of him. Qianye, and the rattling sound of shattering, had to jump himself backwards. Many of the dark feathers had been stopped by the wall, however, there were still hundreds that broke through, tearing through the weakened wall, spearing into the white sea below.

At the same time, the demoness had to beat her wings harder to fly higher, rapidly decreasing her size to fly swiftly, mazing through the extremely long thorn extensions of the flowers.

Darkness would shroud around her figure, shielding her, and it would spear itself into attacks that met the red lances.

Then she would have to hastily disperse the darkness, conserving it.

Her countenance had fallen malicious and grave.

The mist was so thick up here that she could hardly see the red thorns until moments before they would have skewered through her.

Their hundreds, then dozens of thousands that came within seconds of each other tattered through her robes, cutting through her wings and her body, bleeding gold soul blood from her.

Then suddenly, at points she would rapidly expand her body once more. This increased size allowed the flower lances to penetrate her unguarded body, but within moments she would beat her wings hard, blasting her up higher as she rapidly shrunk and in that same moment, would manifest a large swath of darkness, crashing through and destroying what by then would be hundreds of thousands of the red lances.

Despite this desperation, the victorious and grave malice in her gaze did not falter.

And suddenly, right before the innumerable, lancing thorns skewered through her as she hovered in the mist high above, the demoness disappeared.

Ouyang Qianye had been thinking about it through his whole time in that onslaught.

Why had she not attacked him directly and conjured that darkness and those minions to fight him instead?

Why then waste time talking to him so much?

On the surface, it was that she was ultimately always preparing to make that offer to him, her slavery dressed as a contractual and fair agreement.

However, that did not satisfy him at all. He knew that she was not so simple.

So, just like she had likely been, he had entertained the conversation in part to stall for time so he could think.

The conclusion that he came to, is what brought him to his great audacity.

At the same time that the demoness had been defending and manoeuvring for her life, Qianye had thrown himself backwards avoiding the spearing feathers that had burst through the wall of red thorns.

The black feathers burst through the surface of the water, splashing and tainting it in black, and he had to continuously jump himself backwards, the mist opening itself behind him, then closing ahead of him to obscure him as he did.

And eventually he landed safely having escaped the final falling feathers.

Qianye’s gaze rose high, and despite the impossibly thick mist, he could see clearly through it as her giant figure beat its wings hard and burst out that wave of darkness to destroy the immediately oncoming thorns.

His face darkened a little and his gaze sharpened, falling more vicious.

And in all of this commotion, as innumerable more of the red thorns blitzed through the mist to pierce the damned demoness, the mist itself began to nearly imperceptibly hum, like the faintest of vibrations.

Then suddenly his eyes pried wide.

Her figure disappeared.

"Wher—"

Qianye tore his body around as he heard the patter of bare feet over water.

Then, the rupture of flesh, and the shatter of bones detonated through his soul sea.

The demoness’s arm was impaled through his chest, goring out through the back, slathered in his blood.

Qianye’s eyes were pried wide and he coughed out a mouthful of red soul blood.

His hand had quivered to clutch her arm, however her free hand swiftly rose, tearing the arm off.

Within those moments the red thorns spiked up, spearing hundreds, then thousands of themselves within her in those moments.

She roared, snapping through them as her leg rose, kicking hard to blast his leg off.

Thousands more began puncturing through her, rupturing gold. Then her wings beat hard, bursting them high into the air.

And her maw drew wide.

The mist vibrated so strongly now that it serrated at her soul flesh. And regardless, her maw ate into his neck.

Qianye’s remaining leg flailed, kicking at air, then against her. Her teeth sunk deeper, and she drank more and more of his soul blood.

His remaining hand raised, clutching with all its strength through her hair, pulling in desperate attempt to get her off.

All sound that he could have made in agony was cut off by the grinding of her arm through his torso and by the blood pouring through him.

The ancient nether demonesses’ body was continually pierced through by the flower leaves, and their blood, in all of their inglorious red and gold, deluged in the white sea below, swirling and melding as the susurrations of the mist seethed.