Any Wizard worth their salt would surely be learned and exceptionally wise — how could they deliberately provoke a rank 5 existence?
Unless they had absolute confidence in their victory! At the very least, they had a trump card for self-preservation!
Though this Morning Star had not yet guessed at Leylin and the others' trump card, he could tell that the situation today was likely very grim.
"Fine! Give me five minutes, and I can order all my subordinates to withdraw and hand Green Flame City over to you!"
The Morning Star spoke with evident reluctance.
Cities and territories were minor matters in his eyes — what mattered most were the Wizards themselves. So he made his decision without hesitation, though resentment still simmered within.
"There is no need! Whatever the Ouroboros Ring has lost, we shall reclaim with our own strength!"
Gilbert shook his head and rejected the offer.
"Furthermore, even you — for daring to offend our Ouroboros Ring — must pay the price!"
It was at this moment that Leylin, standing among the several Morning Star sorcerers like the moon surrounded by stars, spoke up with composure.
"What?" The opposing Morning Star Wizard was furious. "How dare you — threatening me as well?"
He was incensed beyond reason. On the Central Continent, Morning Star Wizards stood supreme, commanding all things. With their Morning Star killer moves, they possessed trump cards capable of taking an enemy down with them, and this had bred in them an unshakeable pride.
In his view, admitting defeat and voluntarily withdrawing was already giving the other side more than enough face. Yet the sorcerers of the Ouroboros Ring actually wanted him to pay a price?
"Madmen! You Comorne sorcerers are truly all madmen!" The Morning Star's expression turned cold.
Had he known of Leylin's previous battle record, he likely would never have uttered those words.
But now, resolved to teach the other side a lesson, terrifying fluctuations of elemental energy began coalescing around his body, and one halo after another blazed to life.
"A Morning Star killer move!" Paul and the others cried out in alarm.
"That's right… Since none of you know what's good for you, then let this entire region be utterly destroyed!" the Morning Star Wizard shrieked with a manic edge.
If a Morning Star truly cast all restraint aside, the climate and terrain of the entire Ouroboros Ring's territory would suffer catastrophic devastation.
"Fall back, all of you! I'll handle this!"
But to this Morning Star's surprise, the sorcerers opposite did not retreat in the face of his threat. Instead, it was that Leylin who stepped forward.
"You think this newly promoted Morning Star can stop me?" The Morning Star suddenly felt like laughing.
But soon, the smile froze on his face.
"Hsss hisss!" Accompanied by swathes of sinister black flames, a colossal serpent phantom materialised behind Leylin, stretching across the starry expanse. Though this serpent bore a strong resemblance to the Comorne giant serpent of the Ouroboros Ring, its scales were streaked with fiery red patterns. Great volumes of black flames coiled around its body, as if draping it in a suit of flaming armour.
A Field far more terrifying than that of any ancient Tier 4 being suddenly expanded, engulfing him completely.
Crack! Crack! The halo shattered, and even the singularity energy within this Morning Star Wizard began to be siphoned away, drawn into the black flames.
"Th—what is this monster!" The Morning Star Wizard's face twisted in horror, regret flooding his chest. Only now did he realize that this newly ascended Morning Star was in fact the most terrifying of the entire group of warlocks!
"Hsssss!" The colossal serpent phantom roared and swallowed the Morning Star whole...
Rumble! The void trembled and rippled ceaselessly. Gilbert and Emma exchanged glances and began stabilising the surrounding space.
Whoosh! Moments later, a blue figure burst free from the serpent phantom with a shrill cry, fleeing in a wretched panic.
Leylin stood motionless where he was, not a single hair or thread of clothing out of place, making no move to pursue.
"Why did you deliberately let him go?" Gilbert and Emma, who had witnessed Leylin's power firsthand, stepped forward to ask.
"Our current objective is simply to reclaim all our territories. It would be unwise to provoke a conflict with others so rashly — clashes at the Morning Star level still attract a great deal of attention from the Thrones of Radiance!"
Leylin shook his head. "Besides, the severe injuries he sustained won't heal for several hundred years. He won't be a concern for the foreseeable future."
It had to be said that Leylin was remarkably cautious in certain matters, and both Gilbert and Emma wore expressions of agreement.
"Le—Leylin! You're actually that powerful? Good heavens! That was a Morning Star!" Philip's jaw dropped. He had to admit that what he had witnessed today was utterly bizarre — something almost unprecedented even across his long lifetime.
Leylin had been able to forcibly suppress a Wizard who had already begun unleashing a Morning Star killing technique, interrupt the casting process, inflict crippling wounds — and all with the confidence to have killed outright!
Such power was beyond the scope of Tier 4 entirely. It was the might that only a Tier 5 Great Wizard could command!
"Lord Leylin! Have you advanced to Tier 5?" Paul asked the same question that Gilbert and Emma had once posed.