"Fire Rain!"
From atop the Venomous Wyvern, Leilin's calm voice drifted down.
Immediately, another massive black fireball coalesced above the outpost. Poof! The fireball burst apart, splitting into countless specks of black flame that spread outward in every direction like rain.
Tssss!
One of the apprentices surrounding Niss had a speck of black fire graze his shoulder. Without even a single word, his body crumbled within the flames, reduced to a pile of white ashes.
"Run... run!" The apprentice from the Lilisite family screamed, his voice warped beyond recognition by sheer terror.
Swish, swish, swish! The apprentices who had been surrounding Niss scattered in all directions, fleeing the falling embers as if they had seen ghosts.
Tss, tss! A single speck of black flame landed on the silver filaments that had been restraining Niss.
In the blink of an eye, the magical item twisted and warped within the black fire, finally melting into droplets of silvery-white liquid that dripped to the ground.
Under the rain of black fire, masses of apprentices crumbled to ash without even the power to resist.
The surrounding buildings ignited into roaring blazes, and under the onslaught of the fire rain, the entire area transformed into an inferno in mere moments.
"It's... it's Leilin!" Niss whispered.
Then she saw a speck of black flame hurtling toward her.
"Hm?" In the sky, Leilin caught a glimpse of a familiar figure from the corner of his eye.
"Niss!" he thought quietly. Under his control, the black ember shifted its trajectory slightly, grazing past Niss's hair as it flew on.
"Who dares attack the Black Bone Forest outpost?"
Several dark figures burst forth from the compound. One of them rapidly chanted a string of incantations, and an inverted bowl-shaped barrier of green light materialized in midair, blocking the descent of the black fire rain.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
Countless specks of black fire struck the barrier, slowly burning into it.
The wizard who had conjured the shield immediately let out a terrified cry: "This black fire is devastating! My spiritual power is draining at an alarming rate! Someone, help me!"
"I'm on it!" A wizard beside him instantly began chanting, and a sheet of blue ice spread across the surface of the barrier.
Green, blue, and black light twisted together, pillars of flame surging skyward before plummeting back down, raising a massive tornado across the ground.
When the tornado subsided, both wizards' faces were deathly pale — they had clearly paid a heavy price in the clash.
But by then, no one was paying them any attention.
"Incredibly powerful black flames! And that Venomous Wyvern! You're 'Black Fire' Leilin!"
A wizard who appeared to be the leader identified Leilin.
"What? It's him!" "Leilin!" "That defecting genius?"
A wave of commotion erupted among the surviving apprentices.
"You're all wizards of the Lilisite family, aren't you?" Leilin clasped his hands behind his back. "Don't bother denying it! From this distance, I can still smell the nauseating stench of your bloodline!"
"So what if we are?" A silver-haired wizard stepped forward. "You dare kill the Grand Elder's only grandson? I've already sent a signal to him — just wait for your punishment!"
"You've already notified him? Good! Wonderful!"
Leilin's reaction clearly caught the silver-haired wizard off guard.
Then Leilin continued: "Since the signal's already been sent, there's no reason for you wizards to stick around, is there?"
Hearing his words, every wizard present felt a chill creep into their hearts — a premonition of impending doom.
"Domain of Shadows!" Countless shadow tendrils erupted from the darkness beneath Leilin's feet, stretching to the horizon and completely blotting out every trace of sunlight in the area.
"Look out!" The wizard leader could only scream one warning before a flash of black light erupted. A crimson hand plunged directly into his chest, clawing out a still-beating, vivid red heart.
Under the Scarlet Hand's assault, the wizards' innate defensive spells crumbled like wet paper.
"He... he killed the leader!"
One of the wizards stared at Leilin's demonic silhouette, completely broke, and screamed in despair before bolting away without looking back.
"Lum, come back!" The surrounding wizards shouted, but it was already too late.
Within the shadows, Leilin seemed to shrink into a speck of dust, merging with the breeze. In an instant he drifted behind Lum, and the crimson hand clamped down over his head.
Boom!
A layer of blood-red fire erupted across Lum's body, reducing a fully-fledged wizard to ash in the blink of an eye.
An ordinary First-level wizard was nothing more than a child before Leilin — it only took a moment to finish them off.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Leilin suddenly raised his head and gazed into the distance.
From far off on the horizon, a beam of silver light shot toward them like a blade, cutting straight through the sky.
"The real one's here!" Leilin smiled faintly and thrust both palms toward the sky.
The shadow that had blanketed the entire area rushed back into his hands, condensing into a hovering orb of dark energy. A massive wave of power swept across the battlefield in an instant, the violent storm peeling back a layer of the earth's surface.