"Ancient Morning Star Killer Move — Ocean Roar!"
A monster thousands of meters long, with the head of a bull, a humanoid torso, and a colossal octopus below the waist, let out a terrifying howl as waves of frightening energy radiated from its body.
Behind it, four enormous halos flickered and merged ceaselessly. The power of the Singular Point was massively amplified through them, ultimately combining into a devastating
As if the Sea God himself had flown into a rage, vast quantities of seawater took shape as hippocampi, sea sprites, sea dragons, and all manner of ancient aquatic beasts, crashing down and engulfing an enormous Magical Array on the opposite side.
Before the Morning Star Killer Move, the massive Magical Array erupted with formidable defensive power, but in the end it was torn to shreds. Towering walls of seawater, carrying terrifying pressure, poured straight through the breach.
"This place looks like some kind of cultivation base!"
Seibel's aura flickered unsteadily, and he reverted to his less energy-intensive human form before charging into the Magical Array and looting it without restraint.
Although the Killer Move's shockwave had left the base in ruins — looking like a post-apocalyptic wasteland — occasional intact items still lay among the dust, glowing faintly and catching Seibel's eye.
"These are Thousand-Eye Worm eggs. One this large could almost trade for an equal mass of Astral Stone…"
"And refined mithril of such high concentration — this much of it…" Seibel's eyes lit up, and two spots of color even rose to his cheeks.
Countless rare materials, both famous and obscure, lay scattered across the ground like refuse. Many were damaged, but they still held tremendous value.
An enormous fortune, laid bare before him for the taking. Such an experience was exceedingly rare, even across his entire life prior to this.
"Haha… I should have done this from the very beginning. Sure, it damages some of the rarer pieces, but it saves time — time I could use to conquer more locations…"
Seibel's eyes glowed faintly red. He swept across the ground at blazing speed, collecting anything of value. Then he immediately departed for the next location.
"Master Nook's Alchemical Laboratory! Unauthorized entry will be met with severe consequences!"
The perimeter of the vast laboratory shimmered with a crystalline glow, standing before Seibel like a fortress wall. At the entrance, a wooden sign bore a stern warning.
"A guy who's been dead for tens of thousands of years — who's he trying to fool?"
The blood-red characters on the sign sent a chill down Seibel's spine, but his earlier haul had already turned his pupils a faint shade of red.
"If I break through here, I can reach the Core Zone directly. The treasures in there must be even richer…"
Seibel's expression shifted several times before he finally made up his mind. The halos of his various auxiliary spells blazed to life around him once more.
Naturally, he also layered several additional defensive wards on himself, even activating a few shell-shaped Magical Artifacts whose light enveloped his entire body.
"Perish! Morning Star Killer Move — Ocean Roar!!!"
A boundless azure sea, along with every manner of fearsome oceanic creature, instantly swallowed the laboratory. Brilliant flashes of light erupted in rapid succession, then quickly subsided.
By the time Seibel withdrew his attack, the laboratory had been reduced to a vast expanse of ruins. Every single Magical Array rune had been annihilated — either shattered beyond recognition or completely erased.
"Haha… As I expected! My guess was right!"
The anticipated backlash never came, and Seibel's face flooded with delight. He cautiously dispatched several puppets forward first, and once he confirmed there was no danger ahead, he could no longer contain himself and dove into the wreckage, rummaging through the debris with abandon.
Even for a Morning Star Wizard, opportunities like this were exceedingly rare.
Yet, in places he could not perceive, violent and perilous reactions were already unfolding at a rapid pace.
"Confirmed: Singular Point response detected. Assessment: Morning Star-level enemy in Zone dk-34. Counter-Magical Array activated!"
In a hidden pocket of the void, vast stretches of spatial fabric were being continuously compressed and folded, taking on the bizarre shape of a crystalline sphere. At its very center sat a peculiar humanoid figure clad in black robes, its eyes glowing with a sinister crimson light.
Accompanying the command issued from this control room, wisps of eerie aura radiated outward, and above the former laboratory site, a concealed Magical Array began to运转.
"Extracting Singular Point power! Elemental attribute identified: Water! Counter-Magical Array activated! Reflection procedure commencing!"
"Hm? What's going on?"
Seibel's head snapped upward. In that instant, his Wizard's intuition screamed of mortal danger — as though something utterly lethal had appeared, making his scalp tingle with dread.
"No good! Get out of here immediately!"
Seibel's entire body transformed into a streak of blue light, hurtling forward at maximum speed.
But it was already too late. With a terrifying, deafening roar, a colossal blood-red Magical Array materialized from the void.
Countless Rune Chains wove together into a cage, locking Seibel firmly in place.
"Target confirmed! Annihilation protocol initiated!"
The cold, mechanical voice immediately filled Seibel with the sensation of impending doom. But he was still a Morning Star Wizard, and he would never simply resign himself to death.
"You think you can kill me with just this array?" Seibel roared, his body exploding outward as he revealed his true sea-kind form.
Simultaneously, the vast and terrifying fluctuations of a Morning Star Killer Move surged through him once more.
"Morning Star Killer Move — Ocean Roar!!!"
A colossal ocean descended upon the world, and hordes of ancient sea creatures roared as they charged at the Rune Chains.
Bzzt! The attacks struck the gossamer-thin Rune Chains but failed to inflict even the slightest damage. Massive quantities of blue light were continuously absorbed by the chains, and Seibel's complexion drained to stark white in an instant.
"How… how is this possible?" The sight of a Magical Array that had swallowed his entire Morning Star Killer Move struck Seibel's consciousness like a thunderbolt. In his understanding, weren't Morning Star Wizards supposed to reign supreme across the continent? And their Killer Moves were supposed to be nigh-invincible. How could this be happening?
Only now did he finally grasp the terror of the wizards of the primordial age — but it was already too late.
Swish! A massive blue bow materialized out of thin air, still faintly imbued with Seibel's own Singular Point power. It loosed a volley of azure flames.
At the center of those flames flew a long arrow of peculiar design, its tip trailing faint black lines that distorted the very fabric of space and time.
Thwp!
Like thin paper being sliced apart, layer after layer of defenses crumbled before the blue arrow. Even the Soul Force that a Morning Star Wizard relied on as his claim to fame disintegrated beneath those black lines.
The enormous blue arrow pierced clean through Seibel's chest and pinned him firmly to the ground.
"I… actually dying here… killed by a trap…" Seibel's face wore a bizarre expression — something between a laugh and a cry.
Although such a wound would kill an ordinary person or even an ordinary Wizard instantly, a Morning Star Wizard's robust vitality and powerful constitution still allowed them to cling to life for a short while.
"I never thought I would die here. Fortunately, I still have the Sea-Kind Divine Egg to resurrect with…"
A bitter smile hung on Seibel's face. He was reluctant to part with the vast quantities of rare materials and Magical Artifacts on his person, but there was nothing he could do.
The Sea-Kind Divine Egg was a secret life-preservation technique passed down exclusively among sea-kind Wizards of Morning Star rank and above. It allowed the user to preserve a portion of their flesh and soul in the form of a sea egg, which could then be used to immediately resurrect within the egg upon the death of the main body.
Since the egg was originally a part of the Wizard himself, after a period of recovery there was even a possibility of returning to Morning Star rank!
Such immense value naturally made this technique highly sought after, but its racial restriction — only sea-kind could use it — left many human Morning Star Wizards wringing their hands in frustration.
Some of them possessed one or even multiple clones, but once the main body perished, for a clone to attempt to break through to Morning Star rank again was extraordinarily difficult — practically impossible.
"Soul signature collected. Commencing annihilation of the True Spirit imprint!"
At that very moment, the cold mechanical voice sounded once more, filling Seibel with a fresh wave of dread.
In the next instant, he felt a strange force transmitted through the arrow into his body, using his soul signature as a beacon to trace back through the currents of history.
An image flashed through his mind — himself carefully storing the Divine Egg within his Wizard Tower.
And then, swarms of black lines suddenly erupted, piercing through the Sea-Kind Divine Egg.
"Oh! No…" Seibel thrashed and screamed. He could feel it — as the image shifted, the faint, secret connection between himself and the Divine Egg had been severed entirely. There would be no resurrection. If he died here now, he would truly die…
"How… how could this happen?"
Beads of blood foamed from the corners of Seibel's mouth, turning into blue bubbles that burst one after another. His eyes closed permanently.
In the primordial age, clones and life-preserving techniques had been far more common, and the methods had been bewilderingly varied. Yet many Wizards who had survived the ancient wars still perished.
Once the mark of one's existence was erased from the very source, even a Morning Star was beyond salvation.
Pop!
A point of light resembling a morning star emerged from his body. Guided by a scatter of starlight, it prepared to tear through space and escape.
This was the Morning Star Wizard's Singular Point, within which his True Spirit resided.
According to the legends of the ancient Byron Empire, when a Morning Star Wizard truly perished, their True Spirit would return eternally to the Astral Plane, drifting in its deepest reaches until the chance for reincarnation arrived.
"Detected: Singular Point! Initiating capture procedure!"
Several enormous hands, covered in black runes, suddenly tore through the void and lunged for the Singular Point. An invisible force blanketed the area instantly, causing the starlight to flicker unstably.
Whoosh! Seizing the opportunity, the black hand snatched the Singular Point and vanished into the void.