Brilliant light flashed, and the magical array formed by the unity of three spirits instantly collapsed.
"Go!" At that moment, Eugene and the leader seized the opportunity, pulling Leilin and plunging swiftly into the rift in the world.
"Hisssss!"
The colossal phantom serpent roared. Although it continued devouring stardust and even fragments of space, the life energy it generated had visibly diminished. The most direct evidence was that the wound on Leilin's back was healing far more slowly.
"Carol!"
At that moment, the other party stared at Carol, now under Leilin's control, and a trace of despair crept across their face.
Under the gaze of the Twin Eyes of Comorin, the former witch had been turned into a limestone statue. Although a layer of soul energy still struggled against the encroachment of petrification, Leilin's Twin Eyes of Comorin had long since become the true Eyes of the Serpent Emperor. Their lethality had skyrocketed, and even a Brilliant Moon Wizard was affected.
"Carol!? So she was the one who lured me into the dreamscape? Excellent!"
Leilin raised the statue, and the Crimson Pendant blazed with dazzling colors.
"What do you think you're doing?! If you dare lay a hand on Carol, we and Lord Throne will never let you get away with it!" Eugene shouted.
"Heh... at this point, what's this talk of letting someone go? Don't treat me like a child. This level of deception is nothing but an insult! An insult to me!"
Leilin's voice was soft, yet it cut like a shard of ice.
"And now I will show you the price of provoking me! No matter who you are, no matter who stands behind you, the only end awaiting you is destruction!"
Crack! Crack! Countless arcs of light sliced through, and Carol's stone sculpture shattered into fragments.
For a moment, Eugene and the leader were both stunned. They hadn't expected Leilin to be this powerful, or his methods to be this ruthless.
"How dare you... how dare you..." The wizard leader's body trembled uncontrollably, clearly pushed to the limits of his fury.
"Did you think I would stop here?"
Leilin suddenly sneered and silently commanded, "Chip!"
[Ding! Enemy soul fluctuation captured. Commencing coordinated coordinate search!]
In the world of wizards, there were far too many types of clones and life-preserving methods. Wizards of Morning Star rank and above practically all had measures in place to prevent their demise.
Carol naturally had several Morning Star-level clones, serving as her final safety net.
But a Brilliant Moon-level wizard! Their true spirit had already matured, granting them the ability to eliminate all of an enemy's clones. Especially when combined with the Chip's search capabilities, the effect was far more devastating.
Eugene and the other wizard leader watched as the image of the true spirit behind Leilin — a cool crescent moon — suddenly turned crimson.
A terrifying colossal claw followed the trail of Carol's fallen true spirit, plunging into the void until it seemed to reach some distant place.
From somewhere beyond, a bizarre fluctuation rippled outward, causing Eugene and the others' expressions to change dramatically.
"The Astral Plane! The Astral Plane opened on its own to receive a true spirit! What's going on? Did something go wrong with Carol's true spirit transfer?"
They couldn't help but eye Leilin with even greater wariness.
Bang! Bang!
On the Central Continent, almost the instant the colossal claw materialized, one of Carol's Morning Star clones collapsed to the ground with lifeless eyes, utterly devoid of any trace of vitality.
At the same time, inside Carol's wizard tower, a magical rune radiating green light shattered inexplicably, and the tower's array spirit blared a piercing alarm: "Under unknown attack! Reserve clone destroyed!"
"A wizard's true spirit is singular! In truth, no matter how many clones one has, once the true spirit is destroyed or cast into the Astral Plane, most other life-preserving methods become useless..."
Of course, the transfer of a true spirit was extremely rapid. An ordinary Brilliant Moon Wizard, even with the aid of soul power, would find it very difficult to intercept and kill one successfully.
But none of this posed any real difficulty for Leilin, who had the Chip's assistance.
"Word from headquarters — all of Carol's clones and the spirit of her biochemical pool have been destroyed!"
A burst of communication energy flickered past, and the leader glared at Leilin with a grim expression.
When Carol had first been killed, the anger he displayed had been partly feigned — he'd been hoping to lull Leilin into complacency. But now, seeing that this man could truly and utterly annihilate a fellow Brilliant Moon Wizard, genuine dread took root in his heart.
"Today, not a single one of you is getting away!"
Standing within the rift between worlds amid the boundless sea of stars, Leilin clasped his hands behind his back, his bearing radiating supreme confidence.
"Killing move — Comorin Serpent Transformation!"
"Hissss..." An ancient, terrifying pressure descended, forcing both Brilliant Moon Wizards to stagger backward.
A colossal serpent exceeding a hundred thousand meters in length materialized before them. Every single scale on its body appeared utterly real, its eyes gleaming with ancient intelligence, its form incomparably majestic.
Compared to the previous Comorin Giant Serpent, what Leilin had now transformed into was a Fifth-rank ancient creature — the sovereign of all Comorin Giant Serpents, the Comorin Serpent Emperor!