"And you? Who exactly are you? How did you manage to push the Fire Feather Technique past the tenth layer?"
Leilin regarded Burns standing before him, curiosity etched on his face.
"Care to guess?" Burns sneered coldly. "I'll tell you something today — if I hadn't come to the Lava World and gone into hiding long ago, the strongest Dawn Star in Jupiter's Thunder would absolutely not have been Klintz!"
A fierce, savage aura suddenly erupted from Burns' body. Behind him, a mass of starlight flickered and coalesced into a unique Dawn Star Domain.
Two spheres of crimson-gold flame, carrying overwhelming fluctuations of the Fire Feather Technique, materialized in his hands in an instant.
"Today, I'll show you the innovative spell born from fusing the path of the Dawn Star Wizard with the Fire Feather Clan's cultivation method — Fire Phoenix Slash!"
The violent Fire Feather energy, amplified by the spell, grew even more ferocious and vast, forming a torrent of fire blades that hurtled toward Leilin, slashing to cut him apart.
"As expected… not a single Wizard is a fool. Someone has already begun attempting to merge two power systems along a combined path… what a pity…"
Leilin shook his head, eyes filled with a look of regret. "What a pity that the one you're facing is me!"
When it came to research on the Fire Feather Technique, Leilin had actually gone even deeper than his opponent. Moreover, as a Fourth-rank Warlock who had undergone extensive enhancements through Fire Source Stones and other means, he was no longer the person he had once been.
"Bloodline Shield!" Leilin snapped his fingers, and several massive blood-red shields materialized in an instant. Upon their surfaces were carved lifelike reliefs of the Komoyin Giant Serpent, their eyes radiating a savage gleam, as though they were on the verge of coming alive.
Clang, clang, clang! A barrage of fire blades struck the shields, producing a shrill, deafening clamor like a torrential downpour.
"Your understanding of these two paths simply isn't deep enough… truly disappointing…"
Leilin sighed, and behind him the colossal phantom of the Komoyin Giant Serpent materialized. Its two vertical pupils blazed like enormous stars, and the ancient, predatory aura it emanated forced an involuntary change in Burns' expression.
Boom! Two spheres of dark crimson flame appeared in Leilin's hands. Burns' Fire Feather Technique crumbled again and again under the onslaught of these dark red flames, and Leilin closed the distance before him in an instant.
"Im… impossible?" His greatest source of pride had been effortlessly crushed by his opponent and dismissed as utterly worthless. Burns' face twisted in an instant.
"Nothing is impossible!"
Leilin thrust out his right hand, wreathed in flame, shattered the opponent's defenses in a single motion, and seized Burns by the throat, lifting him off the ground.
"Beep! Scanning opponent's energy circulation pathways! Optimizable areas detected! Cataloguing data — adding to simulation fusion experiment!"
The moment the Chip scanned, the circulation patterns of Burns's Fire Feather Technique and his particle pathways surfaced instantly in Leilin's mind.
With this flood of data, the Chip's simulations for Leilin's own path of integrating Fire Feather Technique energy grew far more complex and precise.
Though progress was still stuck on that final sliver, the dark-red Fire Feather energy already within Leilin's body seemed to undergo yet another mysterious transformation, beginning to shift toward a higher tier of energy.
"Just the Fire Feather Technique enhanced with shadow-attribute energy particles was enough to easily shatter the defenses of a tenth-layer Fire Feather Technique and form a unique countering method — so what would happen if I pushed it even further?"
A flicker of anticipation appeared in Leilin's eyes. The Fire Feather Technique inside his body was currently in a remarkable transitional phase. Though it hadn't formally advanced, it could already crush other people's tenth-layer Fire Feather Techniques with ease, and Leilin couldn't help but feel a surge of expectation.
"So it really was with you!" A mass of dark shadow surged over Leilin's hand as spatial items and the Earth Tray were stripped away from Burns one by one. When at last Leilin laid eyes on the black copper key, his eyes lit up.
The last time he had witnessed it firsthand, Rock had tried to use this very key to breach the final wizard formation's defenses. Now it was being kept by Burns, which meant it clearly served an extraordinary purpose.
"Let me go! Lord Jisia will offer you something you find satisfactory! Or we can sign an agreement — once my years of service to the Thunder of Jupiter are fulfilled, I can pledge allegiance to the Ouroboros Ring!"
After being defeated by Leilin and stripped of any means to resist, Burns had calmed down. The ferocity that had twisted his face earlier had vanished entirely, and he began coolly stating his price.
As a Morning Star Wizard, he did not want to die! And he believed he still held value for Leilin, so he began rationally analyzing every chance to save himself.
"Well said! The loyalty of a Morning Star Wizard is indeed worth letting you go once!"
Leilin rubbed his chin. "What do you two think?"
"Making him fall here and now would be simpler. We don't have time to set up any powerful binding wizard formations, and an ordinary contract would likely be torn apart by him outright."
A ripple of spatial fluctuations flashed, and Emma and Gilbert, who had been concealed nearby all along, materialized. It was Emma who spoke, and a chill killing intent instantly filled the entire basement.
"So all three of you were here!" Burns accepted his fate completely. He couldn't even handle Leilin alone, let alone the combined strength of three Comoine warlocks.
Hearing Emma's blunt words, Burns immediately panicked. "Wait! Inside my storage belt there's a crystal contract! Its binding power is so absolute that even the Sun Throne cannot resist or sever it. That way you can rest easy — and besides, I know many insider details about this place, useful ones…"
Though he suspected Emma might simply be threatening him, Burns didn't dare gamble on it.
"Good. Tell us everything you know first, and then we'll discuss what to do with you." Gilbert nodded with a smile.