Without wasting even a single moment, No. 98 swung his dagger at the masked figure in front of him while twisting his body to avoid the attack coming from behind.

Clang!

His dagger collided with the mana blade of the masked figure in front of him.

At almost the same time, the second masked figure’s mana blade slashed across his back.

A long wound instantly appeared, and blood splattered onto the ground.

However, No. 98 didn’t even look at the injury.

He immediately kicked the masked figure in front of him to force him back before jumping forward to escape the pincer attack.

But just as he moved away, both masked figures vanished once again.

The surrounding space distorted.

The next instant, one of them appeared on No. 98’s left, while the other appeared above him.

Both mana blades slashed toward him at the same time.

Clang!

No. 98 barely managed to block the attack from his left with his dagger before forcefully twisting his body to avoid the second attack from above.

The battle instantly turned into a one-sided assault.

The two Spatial Masters continuously disappeared and reappeared around No. 98, attacking from different directions without giving him even a single moment to catch his breath.

Even though No. 98 was a Master-rank cultivator, he was gradually being forced into a disadvantage.

Against one Spatial Master, he could still predict where the next attack might come from.

But against two Spatial Masters working together with perfect coordination, attacks came from every possible angle.

Even No. 89 found it difficult to help him.

Every time he rushed forward to support No. 98, both masked figures would disappear before his attack could reach them, only to reappear around No. 98 once again.

It was obvious that their target from the very beginning had been No. 98.

Meanwhile, the two Master-rank bodyguards silently watched the clash between the assassins and the two masked figures.

Since the masked figures were attacking the assassins instead of them, it worked in their favor. After all, the assassins were the ones who had come here to kill.

One of the Master-rank guards looked at the other and asked, "Should we help those masked figures eliminate the assassins? They might be on our side."

The other Master looked at the two masked figures relentlessly attacking No. 98 without giving him even a single moment to breathe. It had been only one minute since they had started targeting him, yet No. 98 was already bleeding from wounds all over his body.

He then replied in a grave tone, "Look at the coordination between those two. They move as if they are a single person instead of two different people. We would only get in their way."

He paused for a moment before glancing at the corpses of the Diamond-rank guards scattered across the ground.

"And they aren’t with us either. If they were, they would have attacked the assassins from the beginning instead of waiting until all of our guards were already dead. They are most likely enemies of the assassins, but there is no guarantee they won’t turn on us after killing them. Stay on guard for any situation. We only need to hold out until reinforcements arrive."

The other Master-rank guard nodded in agreement before walking toward the Viscount’s daughter.

She was staring at the corpses of the Diamond-rank guards with dread written all over her face while continuously coating her body with mana to protect herself from the scorching steam filling the dark dome.

The guard looked at her and said in a gentle voice, "Don’t worry. It will be over soon."

The girl looked at him and silently nodded.

Then the guard turned his attention back to the battle.

No. 98 was bleeding from all over his body.

His arms, legs, back, and chest were covered with wounds left behind by the mana blades.

His clothes had long since been dyed red with blood, and he was already standing at death’s door.

On the other hand, No. 89 remained completely unscathed, but he was boiling with frustration at being unable to help his teammate.

The two masked figures, however, looked exactly the same as they had at the beginning of the battle.

Calm as a still lake.

The next moment, both of them vanished once again.

They reappeared beside No. 98, one on his left and the other on his right.

No. 98 gritted his teeth and decided to block the attack from the left.

But just as he turned toward his left, he realized that no one was there.

His eyes widened.

The masked figure had already appeared above him.

Before No. 98 could react, the mana blade descended.

For a brief moment, the world turned upside down.

Only then did he realize that his head had already been severed from his body.

No. 98’s head flew through the air before crashing onto the ground with a dull thud.

His headless body remained standing for a brief moment before collapsing into a pool of blood.

Silence descended upon the battlefield once again.

Everyone looked at No. 98’s corpse with shock.

Another Master-rank cultivator had died.

And from the beginning of the fight until now, the two masked figures hadn’t received a single injury.

The two Master-rank bodyguards tightened their grip on their weapons.

Even though the masked figures hadn’t attacked them yet, they couldn’t help but feel a chill run down their spines.

These two Spatial Masters were simply too terrifying.

No. 89’s expression turned extremely ugly.

He glanced at No. 98’s corpse before looking back at the two masked figures.

The artifact was still in his possession.

There was no doubt that once they had finished with No. 98, he is their next target.

The two masked figures slowly turned their heads toward No. 89.

Their emotionless gazes locked onto him.

At the same time, they each raised their free hand.

A sphere of pure mana quickly began forming above their palms.

But it didn’t stop there.

The strange black fog also began flowing toward the mana spheres.

The black fog mixed with the mana little by little until the originally blue mana spheres were completely engulfed by it.

Soon, each of them held a pitch-black sphere in their hand.

The spheres looked calm on the surface, but everyone present could feel a terrifying aura coming from them.

Even the surrounding mana began to tremble.

No. 89 narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two black spheres.

As he looked at the two black spheres, a single thought flashed through his mind.

’If those hit me, I’m dead for sure.’

He instinctively tightened his grip on the artifact in his hand.

’Should I escape?’ he thought.

’Getting punished for failing the mission is still better than dying here.’

Without the slightest hesitation, No. 89 prepared to deactivate the artifact and dispel the black dome.

However, before he could inject his mana into the artifact, both masked figures suddenly vanished.

Spatial fluctuations spread through the surroundings.

The next instant, both of them had already appeared right in front of him.

Each of them held a mana blade in one hand and a black mana sphere in the other.

They attacked simultaneously.

No. 89’s expression changed drastically.

He wanted to deactivate the artifact.

He wanted to raise his dagger and defend himself.

But he couldn’t do either.

The two masked figures had appeared too suddenly.

There wasn’t even enough time for a single thought to become an action.

The next instant, both black mana spheres were thrust into his body.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then No. 89’s eyes widened.

He could feel the strange black energy rapidly spreading through his body, destroying everything in its path.

The two mana spheres instantly expanded from within him.

Boom!

A muffled explosion echoed throughout the dark dome.

No. 89’s body was completely destroyed by the attack, leaving only traces of blood and scattered flesh fragments at the spot where he had been standing moments earlier.

Before anyone could recover from the shock, both masked figures had already disappeared from No 89 and then reappeared.

They reappeared several meters away.

One of them now held the artifact in his hand.

The masked figure holding the artifact slowly turned his head toward the two Master-rank bodyguards.

The other masked figure also shifted his gaze to them.

Neither of them made a move.

The two Master-rank guards tightened their grip on their weapons.

Although the masked figures hadn’t attacked them until now, neither of them lowered their guard.

After a brief silence, one of the Master-rank guards spoke.

"We have no reason to fight."

His voice remained calm, but his eyes never left the two masked figures.

"You’ve already killed the assassins, which seemed to be your objective."

He paused before continuing.

"You can leave. We won’t tell anyone what happened here, nor will we reveal anything about you."

The masked figure looked at them and said in a emotionless tone "No one will escape alive from here"