Chapter 969

On the battlefield, the two divine lord incarnations struck simultaneously, and Empress Tina immediately felt immense pressure.

"With your strength, if you entered the Heavenly Realm, you could reach the Third Rank quickly—but even the Third Rank is vastly inferior to me. If not for the laws of the Gods' Continent suppressing you, what could you possibly use to stand against me?"

The newly arrived divine lord incarnation snorted.

A chill settled over Empress Tina's lovely face; her entire body surged with power, and her movements grew faster and faster.

Yet the two divine lord incarnations were no easy foes; together, they forcibly blocked Empress Tina's sharp attacks.

"Don't stand there idle—attack her army, kill them all."

One of the divine lord incarnations, even amid battle, still had the energy to command the gods within his pantheon.

Several divine incarnations from the pantheons flew toward the armies surging out of the Eternal Night Empire's fortresses.

Though the armies pouring from the Eternal Night Empire's fortresses were numerous, once these divine incarnations unleashed their full power, those troops would not last long.

Seeing this, Empress Tina's icy expression grew even colder; she suddenly gathered all her strength and yanked both hands apart.

"Hum!"

In this space, a massive sound rang out—the kind only a violently vibrating string can produce.

Immediately afterward, the two divine lord incarnations were As If Struck Heavily.

The rules constructing their incarnations destabilized instantly; both powerful incarnations began to collapse at the same moment.

"She's broken through to Fourth Rank…!"

One divine lord incarnation cried out in shock.

"Not Fourth Rank—it's a temporary surge to Fourth Rank. Her backlash must be severe. Notify the other divine lords—the chance to kill her has come…"

Before the other divine lord incarnation could finish, his powerful incarnation completely collapsed.

The first divine lord incarnation fared no better.

Empress Tina's strike was like shattering every bone inside and out of a person—these two divine lord incarnations naturally couldn't withstand it.

The loss of two Third Rank divine lord incarnations, even for a divine lord, was a massive blow.

Yet neither divine lord cared; their goal had been achieved.

"Next time, you won't escape!"

Before the first divine lord incarnation fully collapsed, it smiled.

After shattering the two divine lord incarnations, Empress Tina paid no heed to their words; her figure vanished instantly from her spot, leaving behind a long trail of afterimages.

Immediately afterward, the divine incarnations of the several pantheons shattered one by one.

As the divine incarnations broke, Empress Tina turned instantly upon the army; within moments, the army was routed, helmets and armor abandoned, rivers of blood flowing.

On this battlefield, all Eternal Night Empire warriors erupted in cheers.

"All warriors, abandon this position, retreat to the Third Line of Defense!"

Empress Tina's voice echoed across the battlefield.

Then she flew away, returning through the dimensional gate to the imperial capital.

After Empress Tina left, the warriors who had just won a great victory looked at each other, wondering why their invincible emperor ordered them to evacuate here?

To defend against attacks from other empires, Empress Tina had constructed a total of eight lines of defense across the Eternal Night Empire, using the location of the dimensional gates as the baseline.

Now, the Eternal Night Empire's main forces still held the Fifth Line of Defense.

But Empress Tina quickly issued orders: all Eternal Night Empire forces would retreat to the Third Line of Defense.

This was an intentional contraction of the defensive lines.

And the reason Empress Tina voluntarily contracted her lines was simple: she had just forcibly surged to Fourth Rank, borrowing power from the Saint Realm's Fourth Stage, and after the backlash, she had sustained injuries.

The moment Empress Tina returned to the palace, she spat out a mouthful of blood.

Empress Tina swallowed a round, plump pill; her complexion improved slightly.

"Sister must be struggling too—I can't disturb her. I underestimated these great empires too much. But I still have two chances left."

Empress Tina murmured to herself.

Meanwhile, in the Heavenly Realm, a vast divine nation constantly shifted its position.

"Ailan, adjust course, release the trail-obscuring field—our divine nation's trajectory is too predictable now."

Within the divine nation, Saint Spirit Timothy constantly gave orders.

"Bad news—a divine lord has caught up!"

Timothy's face changed.

The entire operation of the divine nation was now under her control.

Behind this vast divine nation trailed a long line of divine lords.

These divine lords always rapidly analyzed the true trajectory of the divine nation and pursued relentlessly.

No matter how fast the divine nation moved, how could it outpace the divine lords?

And sure enough, another divine lord had caught up.

"Saint Spirit Timothy, give me one drop of divine power—I'm willing to self-detonate to buy time for everyone."

A female saint spirit said.

"They're divine lords—your self-detonation won't buy much time. No need for pointless sacrifice. Prepare to activate backup energy—we'll make the divine nation leap again."

Timothy said.

A large number of saint spirits sprang into action.

The Eternal Night Goddess's reserves were extremely abundant.

After all, she had found several entrances to the fallen gods' divine nations.

She had gathered all their accumulations over countless years—naturally, her reserves were vast.

"Saint Spirit Timothy, our energy can support at most three more leaps."

A divine spirit reported.

"Three times is fine—let's get through this crisis first."

Timothy said.

The vast divine realm sprang into full motion.

But the divine lord behind had swiftly caught up.

"Boom!"

The divine realm shuddered once—the divine lord's attack had landed.

"Boom!"

After this tremor, a second one came quickly.

Even though the Eternal Night Goddess's divine realm was immensely sturdy, after sustained attacks from the divine lords, cracks had begun to form.

"One more strike, and the realm's boundary won't hold."

A female divine spirit cried out.

At that moment, within the divine realm, a Bai Guang shot forth.

The Eternal Night Goddess struck again.

Outside the divine realm, the divine lord let out a cry of pain.

"Enough energy—go!"

The divine realm shot away from here once more.

"That wasted a good deal of the Goddess's power."

Timothy couldn't help but feel guilty.

In truth, the divine realm had been chased down multiple times; each time, the Eternal Night Goddess had intervened, buying the realm precious time, after which the realm expended considerable energy to leap away and escape the crisis.

"I underestimated these divine lords."

At this moment, in the core region of the divine realm, the Eternal Night Goddess murmured to herself.

More and more divine lords had joined the pursuit of her.

These divine lords had joined late and had not sent large armies to attack the Eternal Night Empire.

But their tenacity was no less than that of the earlier divine lords.

They had each employed their own methods and caught up to the Eternal Night Goddess's divine realm multiple times.

Each time the Eternal Night Goddess intervened, her chance of breakthrough diminished further.

Moreover, even if she now abandoned her breakthrough, these divine lords might still refuse to give up the pursuit.

Besides, she would never abandon her breakthrough.

"Nine deaths, one life? Heh—Tina, you were right."