Blood-colored Plain.
The slender, lizard-like two-headed demon stood motionless within the stone circle. Its dark red scales reflected the sunlight, shimmering with an eerie luster, and between the cracks of those scales, tender green sprouts appeared to have been born from flesh and blood, growing vigorously, adorning the demon with a green "prison garb."
The Blood King's human-faced goat head bore a frozen expression of smug cunning mixed with the contortion of freshly rising shock, while the hound head wore a look of utter bewilderment — uncontrollable killing intent and resentment making it appear savage and terrifying. They could not comprehend at all why they, equivalent to third-tier Legends within their own "Legendary Plane," had been so easily captured. Under normal circumstances, when fighting at the same tier, if you couldn't win, surely you could still escape — especially on your home turf!
"Greater Time Stop," the most powerful among all time-and-space magic currently known — without a mage who had deeply mastered time and space, or a "magical creature" like the "Silver Moon God" who innately possessed such spell-like abilities, it was impossible to even begin to grasp it. Even with lengthy incantations and complex gestures, one could not hope to cast it!
Yet Lucian could actually cast it — his unique Legendary item could actually unleash "Greater Time Stop"! Wasn't his profession "Atomic Control"? Since when did that have anything to do with time and space?
The Blood King's sluggish brain after the paralysis vaguely sensed it had overlooked something, but such a chaotic creature had no understanding of arcane knowledge whatsoever — how could it know what field the theory of general relativity belonged to? In truth, the ambitious human-faced goat head had once considered paying attention to arcane developments and learning basic concepts, but every time it picked up a book to read, the hound head would become extremely irritated, and the two heads would once again fall into their long and traditional mutual biting.
As for "Grand Disjunction," neither Malfario nor the creature was surprised. If even Lucian Evan couldn't learn it, then he wouldn't deserve to be called an authority in the fields of elements and force — he would inevitably become the second member of the Parliament to master this spell after Hathaway, the "Element Dominator."
As for the penetrating attack of "Vengeance Gaze" that ignored the body's scale defense, Malfario hadn't noticed it, attributing it to the effect of "Grand Disjunction" stripping away the defense. But the Blood King's two heads couldn't fathom it — this was their innate defense; Grand Disjunction could at most destroy part of it, it shouldn't be able to render it completely useless. But why did it feel as though its scales had been stripped away entirely, standing here completely exposed?
Given its "understanding" of arcane knowledge, this was clearly something beyond its comprehension.
"This time it's a real failure. How can he have mastered so many powerful spells..."
"Not only did we fail, we got captured. Does that count as over-fulfilling the plan..."
The two demon heads' sluggishness produced separate thoughts. The wound in the chest pierced by "Vengeance Gaze" saw flesh writhing, yet it could not regenerate no matter what; dark red blood tinged with faint streaks of ghostly green dripped onto the ground, corroding through the flagstones and eating into the soil.
"There are still items on the Blood King?" Malfario flew over to the Blood King empty-handed, and discovered dense black qi coiling around its waist — after "Grand Disjunction," something had actually survived? A Legendary item?
He believed that someone with the Blood King's "schizophrenic condition" couldn't possibly have the ability to craft a Legendary item for itself, at most roughly modifying a part of its body into a weapon — like how its pattern-covered crimson tail had mysteriously snapped off, replaced by two dark red greatswords in its hands.
So, was this spoils from killing adventurers or other enemies?
"Be careful," Lucian warned. "I sense something sinister and negative from it."
Natasha held the
With a raise of his hand, Malfario grew a fresh green branch from the Blood King's flesh, lifting that object up.
"This..." Malfario's gaze hardened, his expression turning very grim.
The object was a lifelike dark statue, crafted from some unknown material, its entire surface radiating a dark gleam, its face clearly visible — unmistakably "Nature's Avenger" Felagond!
Felagond's statue seemed half-real and half-illusory, its face twisted and hideous, filled with hatred, disgust, and rage, extraordinarily ugly. And from the surrounding void, faint wisps of dark qi continuously emerged, merging into its body — these dark streams appeared to be an endless "infernal manifestation" condensed from the hateful emotions lurking in every sentient being's heart!
"Collecting the power of emotions, attempting to transform into the state of an ancient devil," Lucian calmly described the situation.
Malfario murmured in a voice full of disappointment and anger, "It's actually Felagond! The Nature Hatred faction has gone too far!"
"Not necessarily. Why would the Blood King be carrying Felagond's special item for collecting emotional power?" Lucian looked toward the dazed Blood King.
"Perhaps it was a condition of their partnership, or perhaps this special item had to be placed near the altar," Malfario speculated.
Lucian smiled. "I doubt any Legend of sound mind would partner with a two-headed demon like the Blood King — at any moment, 'internal conflicts' could cause problems. In any case, we've already captured it. Let's use 'Brain Probe' and similar spells to take a look."
Pausing briefly, Lucian continued, "But before that, this statue cannot be kept. It's a key component of the state-transformation ritual. Whether it's Felagond or not, this item is extremely important. The sooner we destroy it, the sooner we can rest easy."
This would also prevent Malfario from being tempted by the statue's hidden value and making a treacherous move at a critical moment. Thus Lucian, who felt no allure from the statue whatsoever, decided to eliminate the threat as soon as possible.
"Agreed." Malfario, having just been sickened by the revelation of a traitor among the elves, had not yet harbored any greedy thoughts.
Natasha raised the
The paralysis wore off, and the Blood King's human-faced goat head gazed at the statue with mingled fury and frustration. According to the original plan, when feigning defeat and retreating, it would toss the statue into the center of the altar, creating the illusion of destroying evidence. Then, the emotion-converging statue would become entangled with the aura of the Heart of Nature, making it impossible to destroy normally, requiring Malfario's Nature Divine Arts to slowly separate them — thereby activating the ritual and completing its mission.
But why had it actually failed?
It still couldn't figure it out!
Malfario didn't watch as Natasha used the
"It closely resembles the state-transformation Magic Circle in the World of the Gate..." Lucian thought to himself.
As expected, at the center of the altar, within the core of the Magic Circle, sat a mass of vibrant pale green qi, emanating rich vitality and freshness, causing lush trees to sprout throughout the altar, forming a small forest.