Roaring flames, surging torrents of fury, corrosive projectiles, and curtains of lightning — countless magical attacks and bursts of brilliance raged on and on around the headquarters of the Ouroboros Ring in the Phosphor Swamp.
The bloodline warlocks, fighting to protect their organization and homeland, unleashed formidable combat power. Yet the invading enemies were equally powerful, and severed limbs, shattered debris, and fresh blood constantly rained upon the land.
Outside the headquarters, two colossal beasts larger than mountains roared and grappled with one another. Every collision sent tremors through the ground, as though a continuous earthquake were splitting the earth. Such a clash — even on the Central Continent — was exceedingly rare: a battle worthy of being inscribed into myth and legend.
The fierce battle had already lasted an entire day and night, yet neither the colossal beasts nor the wizards and warlocks showed any intention of relenting. For them, a level of attrition like this was still tolerable — to say nothing of those two gargantuan beasts.
Inside the command center, Faisal wore a grim expression.
"The eastern district has sustained thirty-seven percent damage, the walls fifty-five percent, and most critically, the World-Ender Twin Serpents' energy consumption has already consumed sixty-seven percent of the wizard towers' combined reserves. There's little more we can allocate…"
To drive combat power at the Morning Star level — how could it not come at a cost?
The enemy relied on a staggering food supply, sufficient to satisfy the needs of the colossal Kogath beasts, while the Ouroboros Ring's warlocks could only draw upon the energy reserves of their many wizard towers to sustain the World-Ender Twin Serpents. Faisal knew all too well that puppets were, in the end, only puppets. The moment the energy supply from his end was cut off, the Twin Serpents outside would likely revert to their true forms immediately.
Even with continued support, the reserves of their numerous energy pools were beginning to run dry. If this went on any longer, the Ouroboros Ring — its trump cards exhausted — would almost certainly face annihilation.
"Master! Please, come back soon!" Whatever thoughts he may have harbored before, Faisal now began to pray with genuine, earnest desperation.
"For the family! For the bloodline! For the glory of the warlocks!"
On the western battlefield, Fleur was drenched in blood. She bore several grievous wounds, and with a stubborn, unyielding expression, she stood blocking the path of the demon warlock leader.
"Surrender! Without the protection of more Morning Star warlocks, your defeat is already sealed…"
The leader sighed, a note of wistfulness in his voice. "Wizards who can fight me for over thirty hours — there are very few of them left!"
"…" Surveying the devastated battlefield strewn with the bodies of her bloodline warlocks, Fleur closed her eyes — then quickly opened them again, a sharp, piercing light burning within.
"I swear I will not yield! The glory of the bloodline warlocks must not end at my hands!"
"A foolish decision!" the leader said coldly. "Very well — in the battle that follows, I will hold nothing back!"
Crack! Crack!
As though some seal had been broken, the iron chains on his right arm shattered link by link and fell away. Dark flames surged upward, and the aura that had already made Fleur's heart tremble intensified tenfold in an instant.
"This demon's arm is a treasure I obtained at the cost of nine deaths and one life, risking the eternal damnation of my soul…"
The chains fell away, revealing a terrifying arm covered in scales and sporting vicious claws. Compared to the mutations produced by mere exposure to demonic aura, this arm's presence was more than tenfold greater — it was a true demon's hand, its terror far surpassing anything before!
"Seven Crystallized warlocks have fallen to this arm in the past! And today, you will be the eighth!"
The wizard leader roared, slashing his arm forward. Terrifying dark flames spread outward like a cage, sealing off this entire area…
"Hmph!"
Just as the allied forces' situation seemed overwhelmingly favorable, a cold snort rang out across the entire battlefield, and a wizard appeared upon the field of combat.
He had silver pupils and eyebrows sharp as drawn swords. Draped over his body was a terrifying wizard's robe adorned with the writhing forms of countless tormented demons.
Though he simply stood there motionless in the void, an overwhelming domain had already enveloped the entirety of the Ouroboros Ring's headquarters.
Silence! Even the battlefield, which moments ago had been ablaze with fury, fell into a deathly hush!
The war beasts — the colossal Kogath and the World-Ender Twin Serpents — that had been locked in fierce combat also ceased their fighting. From this diminutive human figure, they sensed a powerful threat.
"It's Lord Gannir, the Demon Hunter! Why has he made his move ahead of schedule?" the red-haired witch exclaimed in disbelief.
"Gannir — in legend, he's always been the type who doesn't care about appearances!"
The green-haired wizard's expression darkened. "He must have seen how well things were going on our side and jumped out to snatch the credit for himself!"
"A Morning Star wizard, competing with you for credit?" The witch covered her lips.
"Heh… Gannir's reputation among Morning Star wizards… you'll learn soon enough…" the male wizard said with a bitter smile. In the world of Morning Star wizards, who didn't know that the Demon Hunter Gannir possessed not the slightest grace of a true powerhouse? He could even be called shameless, frequently leveraging his strength to seize resources and secret treasures from lesser wizards.
"You're just going to let it go?"
"Let it go? What can I do about it?" The male wizard spread his hands. "The other lords have clearly reached some agreement with the Demon Hunter as well. Before a Morning Star, I'm nothing more than a slightly larger ant…"
He laughed self-deprecatingly. "Regardless, with the Demon Hunter joining the fight, this battle will be over soon enough…"
……
On the battlefield, the immense Morning Star domain pressed down from above. Even third-rank warlocks — unless they had reached the Liquefied stage or above — had a vast portion of their spiritual power sealed in an instant, to the point where even moving was extraordinarily difficult.
Even the third-rank Crystallized nobles could only watch helplessly as not only was their connection with the elements severed by more than half, but even drawing upon their spiritual power was far more difficult than usual.
Beneath the Morning Star domain, every lesser wizard was nothing more than an ant.
"It's over! We're finished!" Faisal collapsed onto the ground. Watching as warlocks were slaughtered wholesale, his face went deathly pale, and he nearly lost consciousness.
Buoyed by the Demon Hunter's Morning Star domain, the allied legions immediately steamrolled through numerous defensive zones, only being halted at the final barrier of light.
In midair, Gannir let out a cold laugh. A colossal phantom claw materialized and seized toward the energy source at the city's center.
Pop! A multicolored membrane of light materialized, blocking the claw. The two forces annihilated each other and simultaneously vanished into the void.
"Not bad at all! A pity it can only block a single strike from a Morning Star!"
Gannir laughed aloud as a layer of radiance blazed around his body. Terrifying elemental particles coalesced once more and crashed against the membrane of light like a tsunami.
Crack! The membrane shattered, and the energy source was seized and crushed!
The massive magical defense that had sustained the entire city — standing firm for an entire day and night against the allied army's assault, powered by the combined support of every wizard tower at headquarters — crumbled with a thunderous crash.
The water-curtain-like membrane of light dissipated, laying the entirety of the Ouroboros Ring's headquarters bare before the enemy.
"Oh! No!" Lucy screamed, two trails of bloody tears streaming down his face, only to be swallowed whole by a towering carnivorous flower dozens of meters tall. Even though he had been pressing his opponent earlier, under the debilitating effect of the Morning Star domain, he was now utterly helpless — a lamb waiting for the slaughter.
"So this is how I die?"
Fleur gritted her teeth. She had already been struggling to hold her own against her opponent, battered to a wretched state under the demon arm's assault, and once the Morning Star domain pressed down, she was immediately gravely wounded and collapsed to the ground.
Watching the claw swiping toward her and the cold stare of the demon warlock leader across from her, Fleur's mind drifted into a daze.
The world seemed to slow to a crawl, and her entire life, from beginning to end, flipped before her like the pages of an album. Her thoughts finally came to rest upon a young warlock in black robes, smiling gently. The light in his eyes was enough to draw countless female warlocks to charge toward him like moths to a flame, willing to burn themselves to nothing if only they could reach him.
"Leilin… goodbye…"
Fleur whispered, and a single glistening tear slid from the corner of her eye.
……
The scaled claw, wreathed in dark flames and brimming with terrifying energy, raised a savage gale as it descended toward Fleur.
The demon warlock leader was supremely confident. Even a fully equipped Crystallized warlock would fall to his attack — to say nothing of a warlock who was already gravely wounded and thoroughly suppressed. He could already picture the scene: this female warlock before him disemboweled, blood and innards spilling outward.
But there were always exceptions!
Crack! The wizard leader found that his hand had fallen into what felt like an iron vise — no matter how hard he tried, he could not advance a single step further.
He looked forward in shock and saw a warlock in black wizard's robes. The warlock had long black hair and an impossibly handsome face carrying a hint of roguish charm — the sort of appearance that would drive countless witches mad with desire.
The man had seemingly appeared in an instant, his right hand gripping the demon arm while his other side emitted dark, serpentine currents of energy that steadily held Fleur aloft.
"L-Lord Leilin! Am I dreaming?"
Fleur's closed eyes fluttered open to see Leilin, and the words tumbled from her lips before she could stop them.
"No! It's not a dream! You've fought hard — leave everything that follows to me."
A warm, radiant smile graced Leilin's face. For reasons she couldn't explain, Fleur felt an overwhelming sense of security wash over her, and she drifted into unconsciousness.
"Who are you?"
The wizard leader was horrified. Someone who could remain utterly unfazed beneath a Morning Star domain — someone who could leave him utterly helpless — was no ordinary figure. Moreover, he couldn't even discern the other's aura. This sensation — it seemed like only…
The demon warlock leader shook his head, forcing the thought from his mind. He feared that if he continued down that path, he would lose all confidence and drop to his knees in surrender.