Beyond the walls of Lontart, the sweltering heat of July did nothing to diminish the beauty of the landscape.
Above the Land of a Thousand Lakes, space suddenly twisted open into a gateway, and within it lay a kingdom of clashing magnetic fields and crackling electrical currents.
Brooke, wearing his white wig, and
At that instant, Brooke sensed something and raised his gaze to the sky. Within the sea of light that had blotted out the sun, a figure slowly materialized — wearing a sacred crown and wielding a platinum scepter.
"
Brooke's pupils contracted sharply. In the end, he still shot forward at full speed to meet the figure head-on.
He shouldn't be able to use Divine Descent anymore!
…………
The sphere of energy accelerated under the pull of the intense magnetic field, hurtling toward the storm barrier. At that moment, not only Mermos but even Anastas, Maria, and the other saints felt an extreme premonition of danger, as though a heavy stone had been dropped onto their hearts.
Without a word exchanged, the five moved in perfect unison, all striking at Fernando — they had to kill him before that terrifying spell took effect, break the storm barrier, and get clear of the epicenter!
Holding nothing back, all three saints unleashed the "Light of Judgment." Seething with fury, their mentality was simple: if they were going to die, they would drag him down with them!
Majestic, vast, orderly, radiant — three beams of the Light of Judgment tore through the sky with the aura of pronouncing judgment upon all things, surging toward Fernando and stirring the ocean of holy light within the "Earthly Paradise" into violent upheaval.
In this moment, none of them diverted so much as a thought to defense. They relied solely on the residual effects of their Divine Arts to withstand the storm barrier's assault. If they could not kill Fernando, everything else was moot!
Mermos and Anthony merged the power of "Dawn" and "Radiance" within their blades, unleashing the "Epic Great Severing Slash" — a technique only a Holy Knight could perform!
Yet Fernando, instead of retreating, charged forward. He ignored the two Epic Knights' attacks entirely and threw himself directly into the three beams of the Light of Judgment.
The mirror from before — its surface etched with intricate patterns — reappeared like a gateway between two worlds. With three crisp rings, the Light of Judgment ricocheted back, following the laws of reflection.
The effect of the "Abrupt Reversal" had never dissipated!
Because Fernando had deliberately charged toward the Light of Judgment, the two Great Severing Slashes landed a split second late, striking his body after the fact.
Blade-light pierced flesh, and gore erupted. The Lord of Storms was cleaved into three pieces, and the arcane robe on his body hadn't offered the slightest protection.
"He didn't even wear the Ruler's Robe?" Only now did Mermos realize why the Lord of Storms, despite being suppressed, had never deployed the "Eye of the Storm"!
A pity — he had understood far too late!
The three chunks of corpse crackled with faint electrical arcs and writhed rapidly, then reformed into three separate Fernandos!
He still wouldn't die?
Mermos and Anthony no longer harbored any hope of finishing off the Lord of Storms within the span of a few seconds using the Light of Judgment alone. They had only one thought: take down Fernando first, and shatter the storm barrier!
In the distance, the "Archangel" Meccantron saw this and his expression turned grave. He crossed his hands over his chest in the sign of the cross, about to kneel and cast "Divine Protection." If he did, although they would no longer be able to reach the Epic mage, that terrifying spell would also struggle to harm them — they would exist in different planes!
But standing before him was the "Archanist Emperor." The stars in the sky shifted, an immense gravitational force surged to life, and Meccantron was wrenched sideways, nearly torn apart into countless pieces. He had to rely on other Epic-tier Divine Arts just to hold himself together. In the rush, there was no opportunity to prepare Divine Protection.
"I am not your Lord. Don't kneel to me."
The question was: how long could
Those worries dissolved as contingency plan three progressed smoothly, and Saer de unexpectedly deployed the "Divine Descent."
Valenshir's body erupted with holy light, melting away the freezing Deep Blue that had encased him. But he wisely did not head for the storm barrier. Instead, he fired a beam of the Light of Judgment at Heather, the "Elemental Dominator," attempting to interrupt her spellcasting.
"Wall of Aurora!"
A cold, crystalline female voice rang out, and a shimmering layer of ice materialized around Heather, swirling with iridescent colors of breathtaking beauty — as stunning as the aurora of the northern skies.
The Light of Judgment struck it, and the two annihilated each other simultaneously.
Even while meticulously maintaining the spatial shackles outside the storm barrier, the "Ice Witch" still had the strength to intercept Valenshir — that was the "distance" between a Grand Archanist and an ordinary Holy Spirit Priest!
The five saints were fighting as though their very lives depended on it, and they held an overwhelming advantage in strength. Within the span of a few seconds, beams of the Light of Judgment and Epic Great Severing Slashes struck all three Fernandos. Despite his repeated deployment of spells such as "Epic Mage Armor" and "Electromagnetic Storm," he could not fully deflect every blow. In the end, the remaining true body was swallowed by a beam of light — orderly, just, yet cold and merciless.
Dead?
No! The moment joy flickered in the hearts of the five saints, they realized the storm barrier showed no signs of dissipating.
A wooden puppet covered in strange, alien symbols flickered into existence behind them, bearing a cryptic smile. It rapidly transformed into Fernando's likeness.
By now, the "casting materials" had passed through the storm barrier, and the destructive aura within could no longer be contained.
Fando's body detonated and fused with the storm barrier. The black magnetic field compressed and warped space itself, binding the five saints tightly in place.
There was no time left!