Duda, who had personally experienced accidental murder and the upheaval of the underground palace, was still immersed in a state of panicked helplessness. When he saw someone silently walk up to him, his entire body went rigid, his mind went blank, and he had no idea how to react. He could only instinctively follow the line of boots upward, lifting his head to look.
"It's you…" When he saw that the person standing before him was his close companion Andris, Duda immediately relaxed. His heart began pounding violently, as if making up for the several seconds it had stopped beating before.
Andris's lips curled into a smile laced with some indescribable amusement. "It's me."
"Let me tell you, this underground palace is terrifying—the teleportation array doesn't work! Let's hide together and wait for the trial to end." Upon encountering his good friend, Duda poured out the fear churning inside him, though he instinctively avoided mentioning his own act of killing. As he spoke, he suddenly asked in puzzlement, "Where's your armor? Why are you dressed like this?"
Duda clearly remembered that when the two had come to the Golden Clover family's ancient villa that morning, Andris had been wearing full black plate armor—not a white shirt, tight-fitting trousers, and the only thing in common between his past and present outfit being that pair of new brown combat boots.
Andris still wore that enigmatic smile and answered a different question: "It's terrifying here? I think it's wonderful."
He closed his eyes, thoroughly enraptured: "I smell a beautiful scent of blood. I smell centuries of accumulated pain, resentment, hatred, and greed…"
A chill rose from the depths of Duda's heart. Hearing such dreamlike words in this kind of environment, any normal person would be filled with terror: "Andris? What's wrong with you? Did you kill someone by accident too?"
"Kill someone by accident?" Andris's facial muscles suddenly writhed in an unnatural way, like a lump of dough. Then he extended his hand, punching straight through Duda's armor and plunging it into his chest cavity. "Like this?"
Duda's expression twisted grotesquely, filled with despair and horror. He watched Andris's face shift into that of a withered old man he didn't recognize, then into the familiar features of his companion, and finally back to its original appearance. By then, Andris had already withdrawn his hand, and clutched in it was a glistening, bloody object that pulsed and contracted, brimming with the vitality of life.
So that's what my heart looks like? Duda's last dim, bewildered thought before he plunged into eternal darkness.
"What a beautiful taste of suffering," Andris continued, eyes closed in ecstasy.
…………
In the great hall, six pairs of pristine wings of light unfurled behind Sophia, transforming her into something like the legendary "Lord of the Wind," suffused with an aura of sacred compassion that made her already refined features appear all the more stunning.
In Lucian's view, Sophia's appearance had always been exquisitely beautiful, but constrained by her age and experience, she had lacked a distinctive quality. Compared to peerless beauties like Natasha or Silvia, she was missing a certain something. But now, radiant with purity and sanctity, she was second to none.
She pointed her wand, and the wind-ropes entangling Prince Bayard multiplied further, growing ever more solid. Meanwhile, Denny, his hair tied in a ponytail, kept his expression resolute as he struck sword blow after sword blow like flashes of lightning, forcing Bayard to retreat again and again.
On the other side, Alten—who had received two consecutive healings from Sophia—had somehow made a miraculous recovery. It seemed his bloodline held some unusual properties of its own.
Wielding a black shield, he charged forward several steps and swept his long sword in a brilliant arc of starlight aimed at Bayard.
A newly promoted Great Knight daring to face Bayard head-on at the peak of the fifth rank?
Bayard raised his faintly green-tinged long sword to meet the blow, blocking Alten's starlight. Immediately, he felt the opponent's overwhelming strength pressing him down several inches.
His sword has a problem?
"Heh heh, big brother, Alten is equipped with a complete set of fifth-rank knight gear called the Nameless Starlight. Anyone who fights him will grow heavier and slower, even if you're close to the Sky Knight rank. If you weren't bound by me, with his combat skill and speed he could never keep up with you and would certainly be slaughtered. But now, everything's different." Seizing the opening while they clashed, Sophia conjured several tiny arcs of lightning in her hand that flashed instantaneously onto Bayard's body, shocking him into full-body paralysis. Just as he was about to be cut down simultaneously by Denny and Alten—
Suddenly, wings of resplendent light sprouted one after another from behind Bayard, wrapping him in their embrace and forcibly blocking both attacks.
Lightning crackled, thunder boomed, starlight blazed. Wing after wing forged of condensed radiance fell away, but it bought Bayard a momentary reprieve from danger. His green-tinged long sword swept out, driving both Denny and Alten back.
But just as he was about to step forward and press the advantage, the space around him suddenly warped into distorted illusions, pulling his entire body into a sway.
"Magnetic Field Distortion"!
Denny and Alten seized the opportunity, steadied their footing, and once again plunged into combat with Bayard.
Idiocy Spell, Hypnosis, Fear, Sleep Spell, Wind Ropes, Magnetic Field Distortion, Magnetic Oscillation, Web—one auxiliary or binding spell after another streamed from Sophia's wand. She didn't attempt to attack or defend directly, but instead disrupted Bayard, weakened him, and slowed him with impeccable timing, coordinating with the two knights' offensive.
Her spell selection was flawless, and Bayard was gradually being pushed to the brink—"Wind," as an element, also symbolized illusion magic in the ancient arcane system.
However, as a "Seraphim" bloodline carrier, Bayard's magic resistance was extremely high. The vast majority of Sophia's spells could only briefly interfere before being dissolved to nothing by the six pairs of light-wings behind him.
Sophia didn't panic. She continued weaving her spells while pressing him with words:
"Big brother, are you still thinking about Father's great secret? Still wondering why he was able to break through his shackles and become a Legend?"