The ancient city was a nearly flawless creation, being the condensation of an entire civilization’s knowledge and skills.

Countless moving parts were neatly woven together, while an uncountable number of formations fused seamlessly to create what seemed to be a powerful artifact.

It had been forged using the most precious materials of the cultivation civilization, making it an extraordinary weapon in its own right.

Even with Liora’s current strength, she would find it impossible to forge something like that.

Not only because of her lack of knowledge, but also because of the difficulty of collecting so many precious materials. It would take her millions, if not billions, of years just to collect them.

Because of this, she had always coveted not only the treasures inside the city, but also the city itself.

At first, gaining any control over it seemed like a distant dream. Especially when she had only seen a small fragment of it.

Yet following her conversation with the Divine Emperor, Liora had finally found a way to take control of the entire city!

With that thought, her eyes glowed, reflecting the outline of the statue before her.

It had the same appearance as the Divine Emperor.

It very much resembled the one found in the fortress, with the only difference being that countless amounts of energy constantly poured into this one’s body before merging with the city below it.

With every breath, the runes beneath it would riot, pulling the energy of the entire extraterrestrial battlefield.

This was the place where the essence of everyone who died gathered, allowing the city and its barrier to exist even after billions of years.

It was the city’s central hub, where the cores of the formations and all other means were located.

More importantly, it was where the owner of the city had imprinted their mark. It was through this place that the Divine Emperor controlled the city.

Thinking of this and recalling the Divine Emperor’s explanation, Liora’s eyes narrowed.

She didn’t hesitate to take several steps forward until she reached the stone statue.

Then, she calmly stretched out her hand, placing her palm on top of it.

The moment the stone and her skin came into contact, her demonic energy flowed into the statue.

Her life aura was imprinted on it, slowly refining it like a weapon.

According to the Divine Emperor, that was all that was needed to control the city.

... And his words were proven true.

As her demonic energy fused with the stone statue and refined it bit by bit, Liora sensed her connection with the ancient city grow closer.

Her perception gradually spread.

It first covered a few miles around her, but without her needing to do anything, it quickly expanded.

Ten miles. One thousand miles. A million miles...

Within the span of a few seconds, Liora’s perception covered entire light-years, allowing her to accurately sense everything in her surroundings.

This on its own was hardly impressive. After all, her own consciousness could cover a far greater distance than that.

What pleasantly surprised Liora, however, was that her perception’s expansion showed no signs of stopping.

Likewise, her connection with the city grew even more powerful, allowing her to manipulate some of the formations covering the residences and other buildings.

Liora was immersed in this phenomenon. It was as though she was becoming part of the ancient city.

But soon, she snapped out of it.

She discovered something else. Something equally important.

When her demonic energy rushed into the stone statue, its appearance began to change.

From an ordinary but majestic young man, the statue’s facial features became far more delicate and beautiful, growing closer to Liora’s own.

The rate at which this occurred fully matched the expansion of her perception.

Liora could judge that once the statue fully became her, her perception would have engulfed the entire city.

Similarly, this would mean that she had finally controlled this ancient artifact.

She did not get lost.

Despite this realization, Liora managed to remain utterly calm.

She no longer observed her surroundings, her entire attention falling on the statue and the refining process itself. She knew she could not let her guard down.

Given the strength of her demonic energy, the refining process didn’t take long. Although the ancient city was powerful, it was an inanimate thing after all.

In front of Liora, who had advanced to an Ancient Devil and thus stood on the same level as her, it could offer little resistance.

Less than half an hour later, the stone statue had grown ninety-nine percent closer to her own appearance.

Few characteristics of the Divine Emperor could still be seen, and it was difficult to detect them with the naked eye.

Yet just as it seemed that everything would proceed smoothly and that the refining of the ancient city would happen without any obstruction, something suddenly changed.

In the last part of the stone statue, the only part that Liora had yet to refine, a terrifying power arose.

Like a slumbering being who had been forced to wake up, an aura soared toward the sky before its power clashed with Liora’s demonic energy.

Rank 12!

Liora judged its strength the moment of their collision.

It far surpassed Rank 11 beings.

Even the Divine Emperor and Elaouthr paled in comparison and—save for their special abilities—even Ancient Devils who had just advanced would struggle to contend with it.

But despite being one of these Ancient Devils, Liora showed no fear nor any surprise.

An "as expected" expression appeared on her face.

"It’s worthy of being a creature of that level. You truly possess so many trump cards and backups."

"Even if hundreds of them fail, one of these backups is bound to work sooner or later."

"Unfortunately..." Liora shook her head.

"You happened to meet me."

The moment she finished speaking, Liora casually pointed her finger toward the statue.

Her demonic energy flared, working as fuel to activate one of the three techniques she had just mastered.

Time Severance!