"Darkness? What darkness? Wasn't Lombarton's plot already thwarted?"
Weilin was filled with doubts, but there was no time to dwell on them. He quickly pulled Ailin into a half-embrace, preparing to treat his injuries.
Threads of green light shot from Weilin's fingers and sank into the horrifying, gaping wounds on Ailin's body, stanching the bleeding and rapidly regenerating the muscle tissue.
"Ailin, Ailin! Are you alright? Hang in there!" Weilin kept calling out, tears streaming freely from the corners of his eyes.
"Lombarton! Lord Lombarton is dead!"
At that moment, in the center of the arena, the Revolution Army and the Dark Elves, having lost their leader, had also fallen into a state of chaos.
"Cough... cough..." Ailin coughed violently and opened his eyes.
"Am... am I still alive?"
"Of course! You're going to be my future Great Prophet Wizard. How could you die without my permission?" Weilin secretly wiped away his tears and laughed.
"Oh! No!" Ailin suddenly began to struggle violently.
"What's wrong?" Weilin hastily helped him sit up.
"The danger is far from gone—it might even be right beside us!" Ailin's expression grew increasingly terrified. "He... he is..."
*Clap! Clap! Clap!*
A round of loud applause rang out, and with the clapping, a Wizard wearing a magnificent black robe—every movement radiating an ineffable majesty and elegance—slowly appeared in their line of sight.
"As expected of the Holy Light Candle Fire! Now that you've reached the second rank, even I can no longer shield myself from your perception!"
"Lord Lei Lin!!! You're not..." When Weilin saw Lei Lin, his first reaction was a surge of joy, but then he involuntarily looked toward the nine sculptures at the center.
"An Eternal Ice Seal? How could something like that possibly hold me?" Lei Lin smiled nonchalantly. Setting aside the fact that he had already learned the rough outlines of Lombarton's plan through Osney, even if he hadn't known, with his terrifying strength and the cold-ice modifications his body had previously undergone, escaping would have been a simple matter.
*Crack!*
As if to confirm Lei Lin's words, one of the nine ice sculptures immediately exploded, revealing a Shadow Puppet inside.
The puppet then quickly vanished into thin air.
"Wh-what's going on? Ah! Haha... haha... I understand now, Lord Lei Lin! You were just playing a joke on us, weren't you?"
Weilin still wore a forced smile on his face, but the unease in his heart had escalated to its absolute limit.
"A joke? Oh! Yes, I did use to enjoy joking with you, but not today. I was simply so thrilled by your performance that I couldn't resist joining in myself!"
Lei Lin snapped his fingers!
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
A massive amount of magical light flared to life as a large number of Wizards clad in the robes of the Alliance of Nature burst out from beneath the arena floor, under the seats, and even from the gaps between shadows.
These Wizards had conserved their Spiritual Power and magical energy perfectly intact. The moment they set foot on the field, they began slaughtering everything in their path — Dark Elves and wizards of the Dark Domain alike fell before them, utterly unstoppable.
"The second sealing reinforcement — begin!"
Leading the charge, Yilun immediately hurled a scroll into the air.
BZZZZZ!!! Terrifying waves of energy rippled outward as a vastly larger wizard formation materialized from the center of the arena and reinforced itself upon the original spider cocoon.
"Why? Lord Lei Lin?"
Weilin kept stumbling backward, his expression on the verge of collapse.
"You were a senior wizard of the Dark Domain... and you were my idol. Why..."
"No particular reason. When you've been directing a show for this long, you have to come out and take your bow eventually!" A wicked smile tugged at the corner of Lei Lin's lips.
"A show? What show?" Weilin didn't dare let his thoughts go any further.
"A farce about a foolish hero and a pack of idiotic wizards!"
Lei Lin smiled faintly and pointed a single finger at Weilin's neck!
Scalding! Blazing!
Weilin instantly felt something on his neck emit a horrifying temperature, one that penetrated straight through his armor and seared his skin and muscle.
Pfft!
A streak of golden light shot out from Weilin's neck and flew back into Lei Lin's hand.
It was an unusual gold coin — one side bore the image of a fortune bird, the other a skull, and intricate patterns and designs adorned its edges.
"This is the gold coin you gave me. So it was all part of the plan from the very beginning?" Weilin let out a bitter laugh.
"No! I didn't have this plan back in Bort Town. But on the road to the Eastern Domain's capital, once I discovered you were one favored by fate, I set this plan in motion!"
Lei Lin gazed at the coin in his hand, a rare flicker of excitement crossing his face.
"Ha ha ha... You're all liars! Every last one of you — liars!"
Weilin erupted into wild laughter, silver light blazing from his body as he charged forward with the Fallen Sword in hand.