Heaven on Earth, near the projection of the Glorious Cathedral.
Under the leadership of Grand Master of the Templar Order Saint Meremus, thirteen members of the College of Cardinals arrived in Lentas through an oversized teleportation circle.
Due to the extraordinary force generated during the teleportation circle's operation, they were all pulled into "Heaven on Earth" together and felt their power increase to varying degrees. The first-tier Holy Spirit Priests sensed roughly a sixty-percent boost in their capabilities, while Meremus, the "Holy Avenger" at the pinnacle of the Legendary tier, experienced only a marginal increase.
When the oversized teleportation circle had opened earlier, the "King of Angels" Mechateron had already relayed a general situation report back, explaining that Queen Natasha had lured Saer de away, and that the inside agent Richard had deliberately shut down the Glorious Cathedral's divine arts defense array—a formation capable of holding off a pinnacle Legendary for several minutes. As the Church's fundamental foothold for controlling the region across the Storm Strait, this cathedral's defense array was normally kept in a semi-active state. No Legendary could approach within a thousand meters of it without triggering its alert.
With its divine arts defense stripped away, the Glorious Cathedral had quickly fallen under the control of the Magic Parliament. Fortunately, a devout cardinal had sacrificed his life to summon the "King of Angels." Seeing the dire situation, Mechateron had descended in his true form and used his unique "Divine Protection" to preserve the oversized teleportation circle until reinforcements arrived. As a result, when Meremus and the others teleported in, they didn't need to waste time figuring out the situation and standing around in a daze.
The ripples and phantasmal colors—as though belonging to another world—vanished swiftly. Mechateron and the Cardinals immediately scattered to avoid being focused down by the Legendary mages.
A natural and harmonious scene materialized as Douglas's "True Secret Realm" descended. Star after star blazed into magnificent brilliance, their immense gravitational pull warping the very fabric of space.
Mechateron spread his thirty-six feathered wings gently, and a profound, enigmatic tome appeared in his hands. Behind him, the projection of Heavenly Mountain suppressed the True Secret Realm's gravitational cage within a limited range.
The tome opened, and Mechateron murmured, "Light of Judgment."
His wings, his Heavenly Mountain projection, and his tome all erupted simultaneously with light of order and solemnity, as though weighing all things.
Sinners, accept the most righteous judgment!
Darkness vanished. All chaos and extraordinary forces dissipated. The Light of Judgment cleaved through everything like a blade of judgment, and with the assistance of Heaven on Earth, even Fernando and the others in the distance felt the urge to repent in their souls.
As for Mechateron, Douglas felt no fear whatsoever. Unless he encountered him on Heavenly Mountain, even a true-form descent would only be at the pinnacle of the Legendary tier. And as a mage, he had the confidence to face any enemy at that level.
"Spatial Favor."
Space folded layer by layer, and Mechateron's "Light of Judgment" was weakened with each successive fold.
The energy they dissipated churned the sacred light ocean of Heaven on Earth into violent, towering waves. It seemed that before long, the whole thing would be thoroughly shattered.
The "Holy Avenger" Meremus, seeing that their side held the advantage in both numbers and strength, did not move to assist the "King of Angels" against the "Arcane Emperor." Instead, he prepared to concentrate their superior force to eliminate the evil mages one by one!
At that moment, Fernando blocked his path. The sacred light ocean over half of Lentas suddenly took on a layer of darkness—partly like an indigo-to-black sea before an impending storm, and partly like a terrifying magnetic field engulfing everything.
In the sky, dense leaden clouds gathered, and world-destroying thunderbolts struck down toward Meremus one after another. Around him, terrifying heat and near-absolute-zero cold alternated in rapid succession, shaking everything to its foundations.
"He's advanced to the pinnacle of the Legendary tier?"
Facing such overwhelming power, Meremus's heart clenched. His expression turned serious, and he abandoned any thought of assisting others. Cloaked entirely in silver-white sacred armor, he raised the longsword in his hand.
The blade radiated sacred light and seemed to ripple with a power that restrained all evil. Beneath it, all evil forces not belonging to this world would be utterly eliminated.
This longsword, named after Meremus's title, was one of only thirteen Legendary fourth-tier artifacts!
The extreme heat and cold seemed to dissipate around Meremus, but the layers of ice crystals forming on his armor and the scorch marks traced across its surface revealed that he was far less at ease than he appeared.
"Die, evil one!"
Possessing the bloodline of "Dawn," he raised a sun behind him that rose gradually, dispelling the oppressive gloom of the approaching storm and dulling the thunderbolts.
The remaining twelve Cardinals included four Saints: Anastas, Maria, Augusta, and Anthony. On this side, only three Grand Arcanists and six Legendary mages remained, along with the sky fortress Alinna—putting them at a clear disadvantage.
The Hand of Annihilation, Oliver, faced off against the "Night Watcher" Saint Anthony. The Ice Witch Helen blocked Saint Maria. The Eye of Curses, the Prophet, the Starlight, the Solar King, the Absolute Defense, and the Alchemy Grandmaster each clashed in different directions against six Holy Spirit Priests or Sacred Knights. They stayed far apart, fearing that the Pope might arrive and sacrifice his own life to annihilate them all at once.
The battle between Legendaries caused "Heaven on Earth" to quake violently, threatening imminent collapse.
The other two Saints, Anastas and Augusta, briefly conferred with Estila and Valenhil through a divine arts technique similar to a mental link. They decided that Saint Anastas would pin down Hathaway, Estila would guard against Alinna, and Augusta and Valenhil would join forces to eliminate the weakest target first—the Starlight. One by one, they would take down these troublesome Legendary mages, ensuring that the final blow was the Light of Judgment, and so forth.
Suddenly, a cold, detached voice rang out: "Grand Disjunction."
Crack, crack, crack, crack! Divine arts items on the bodies of four Cardinals shattered one after another. Divine arts effects vanished. Energy barriers cracked and fell.
With a thunderous boom, the First-tier Holy Spirit Priest Estila's "Wind King" talisman exploded into fragments, unleashing a howling gale.
His eyes flushed red. This was his only Legendary item!
The ninth-circle spell "Disjunction" had a one-percent chance of destroying a Legendary artifact. Its advanced version, "Grand Disjunction," had at most a ten-percent chance. Was his luck really that terrible?
Anastas's expression turned grave instantly: "She's also advanced to the pinnacle of the Legendary tier!"
"She's suppressed you in raw power, so the effect is amplified. No wonder the Magic Parliament dared to provoke this war!"
Hathaway's "Elemental Paradise" descended, entangling the two Saints. However, having only recently advanced, she appeared somewhat strained facing two third-tier Holy Spirit Priests, unable to gain the upper hand.