"When did the power of the alien races and the Dark Beasts swell to such an extent?"
After Leilin's era, the alien races of the Dark Extreme Domain had been reduced to slaves, existing only to be exploited by human wizards. Yet in barely over a hundred years, they had risen to power once more.
If Leilin hadn't appeared today, even without a surprise attack, the sheer weight of their army pressing in would have been enough to slaughter the human wizards to the last.
After all, up to this point, humanity had produced only one third-level wizard — Bank.
"Thank goodness! He's still here!" Celine gazed at Leilin's silhouette, undisguised pride and admiration shining in her eyes.
"To think I'd run into another familiar face! Alesha! Not only have you advanced to the third level, you've become the Empress of the Dark Elves — congratulations are truly in order!"
Leilin looked at the beautiful
But that light laugh, falling upon the Empress's ears, struck her like a bolt of lightning, leaving her completely frozen.
The owner of that voice — the humiliation he had brought upon the Dark Elves, vast as mountains and oceans, surged to the forefront of her mind. Alesha could never forget it.
Yes, this new Dark Elf Empress was none other than Leilin's old acquaintance — Dark Elf Matron Alesha. It had been she who, outside the gates of Boti City, had personally surrendered to Leilin and offered up a high-grade Meditation Method and an artifact crown.
"You're Leilin! Leilin Farell!" The Empress across the battlefield turned her gaze toward Leilin, her voice grinding through clenched teeth. Before, all her attention had been fixated on Celine. When Leilin restrained himself, he looked no different from an ordinary person, causing the other third-level rulers to overlook him entirely.
But now that Leilin spoke, a commanding confidence radiated from him, setting him apart from the crowd like a crane standing among chickens — unmistakable and supreme.
"It's him! The Holy Light Guardian of the human race!"
"I've seen his portrait — I'd never mistake him even in death!" The alien races erupted into chaos. Leilin had left too deep a wound on all of them.
"You merciless butcher! Slaughterer of our kind! Leilin Farell! The blood of my father-emperor and all our kinsmen must be repaid with yours!"
The burly Dwarf Emperor stepped forward, wielding an iron hammer that crackled with lightning.
"Oh! I remember now — you're the survivor from the Dwarf royal court, aren't you? The little fellow who hid in the corner of the palace, too afraid to move…"
Leilin tapped his forehead, a sense of fond familiarity flickering across his face.
But that expression, combined with his words, sent the Dwarf into a thundering rage.
Leilin paid him no mind. He turned his gaze to the enormous humanoid machine piloted by the Goblins. "Hmm! A Titan! You Goblins have built another one? It looks like the craftsmanship has improved — you've solved the problem of sustained energy charging, I see!"
"Lord Leilin's knowledge is truly awe-inspiring. If you hadn't kidnapped our most precious Goblin Grimoire back then, I dare say we could have sat down and had a pleasant conversation…"
The one operating the terrifying Titan was a decrepit old Goblin, his hands covered in scars from cuts and burns.
"Oh! And three Dark Beast Emperors!" Leilin glanced at the three mountain-sized Dark Beasts beside the army. "This is wonderful!"
"Wonderful? Has he lost his mind?"
"Even if he was once the Holy Light Guardian, for a mere third-level wizard to take on all of us at once — the arrogance!" The alien races buzzed with clamor.
But Alesha, who had truly witnessed Leilin's terror firsthand, immediately felt a sense of foreboding.
Even though she had advanced to the third level, the fear of Leilin buried deep in her memories came flooding back the moment she laid eyes on him.
Moreover, that look of absolute composure, and the unfathomable aura emanating from his body…
Alesha's expression shifted several times. Finally, before the widened eyes of countless wizards and alien races alike, she dropped to her knees and bowed before Leilin. "Alesha greets the Holy Light Guardian! Please, my lord, forgive my people's transgressions this time!"
"Great Matron! How can we let them off like this?"
"Hasn't the humiliation the humans inflicted on us been enough? How can you grovel like this?" Before Alesha's allies could even speak, the Matrons under her command erupted in outrage.
"Enough! I am the Great Matron of the Dark Elves. I will bear the responsibility for this matter alone!" Alesha turned and coldly shouted them down.
"Ha ha ha… Good! Alesha! I appreciate that you know when to be sensible!"
Leilin clapped his hands and laughed heartily.
"ROAR!"
Seeing the tide turning against them, a Dark Beast Emperor resembling a mountain-sized black elephant with enormous membranous wings on its back, along with a two-headed leopard, roared and lunged toward Leilin.
Their terrifying power, surpassing ordinary third-level beings, sent tremors rippling through the earth.
Meanwhile, the last of the three — a Dark Beast Emperor resembling a colossal blue ape — quietly slipped toward the rear, attempting to flee.
The movements of the Dark Beast Emperors seemed to trigger a chain reaction. The alien races across the battlefield launched a combined assault. Except for the still-kneeling Alesha and the wavering Dark Elves, the Dwarf Emperor roared and hurled his massive hammer forward, sweeping blue lightning across the field. The Titan threw its head back and bellowed, its sonic blast alone sending numerous second-level wizards stumbling back, faces pale.
All of their attacks converged on a single target — Leilin!
Four third-level powerhouses on the offensive! Backed by a multitude of formally ranked wizards and alien combatants at the second-level, armed with numerous magical artifacts — this formation would have been enough to gravely wound even an ordinary Crystalline
"You know why I said this was wonderful earlier? Because you're all gathered in one place — saves me the trouble of hunting you down in your respective lairs one by one!"
Facing the onslaught that blotted out the sky, Leilin's expression didn't change in the slightest. He spoke with a light laugh.
At the same instant, a horrifying and overwhelming surge of energy erupted from his body. An illusory stellar domain expanded rapidly, swallowing the entire area within its embrace.
Every beam of energy, every attack was snuffed out by a casual gesture. All magical strikes dissolved to nothing within the Morning Star Domain, revealing the bewildered figures of the alien races beyond.
Leilin hadn't even done anything — merely releasing a fraction of his domain's power was enough to annihilate the aliens' combined assault completely.
A tidal wave of shock! Absolutely a tidal wave!
The wizards who had been worried about Leilin moments ago were now stunned speechless. They had believed the magical bombardment they witnessed from the alien alliance was the pinnacle of destructive power — but the moment Leilin struck, they realized that what had seemed terrifying before was like the glow of fireflies in the night: faintly visible, perhaps, but the moment the sun rose, it melted away like snow in summer, without the slightest trace.
The terrifying aura radiating from Leilin compelled these wizards to sink to their knees in reverence, not daring to harbor even a fleeting thought of rebellion.
"This kind of overwhelming power?!"
"This is the Morning Star! A Morning Star Domain — something only a Morning Star possesses!" Celine murmured, tears flying from her eyes. She finally understood what kind of opportunity she had lost back then, and that it could never be regained.
*Crack!* Like a sudden braking, the winged elephant and the two-headed leopard skidded to a halt and retreated even faster than they had advanced. Crimson light blazed from their bodies, and their massive forms rapidly withered away — clearly, they had activated some secret technique that burned life force at a tremendous cost.
"Now you want to run?" Leilin shook his head.
*Boom!* Two enormous earth-yellow hands erupted from the ground, seizing the two Dark Beast Emperors in an unyielding grip. The sound of shattering bone rang out, and whether it was physical attacks or magical strikes landing upon those colossal hands, not a single mark could be left upon them.
The two Beast Emperors stared at Leilin, their enormous eyes filled with unmistakable pleading.
"Remarkable intelligence! On par with an ordinary human's!" Leilin remarked with casual admiration. Then the two giant hands clenched with sudden, crushing force.
*Crack! Crack!* With two thunderous reports, the two third-level Dark Beast Emperors were crushed to pulp right then and there.
"F-f-fourth level! You've already advanced to the fourth level! You're a Morning Star Wizard!"
A voice like a dead man's rasp came from the Goblin inside the Titan.
Morning Star. Morning Star!!!
The crowd froze for a moment, unable to process what had just happened. A few seconds later, the realization finally struck them.
Of course! Only a Morning Star Wizard could receive the combined assault of numerous alien races without batting an eye, and then casually slaughter two Dark Beast Emperors as though they were nothing.
But what was a joyous event for the human wizards was a catastrophe for the alien races!
What did a Morning Star Wizard signify? In the Dark Extreme Domain, they were invincible! And given Leilin's age, these alien races would likely be enslaved for thousands of years to come.
That was the fortunate outcome. If Leilin chose to hold them accountable for their rebellion, their entire species might be exterminated!
The wrath of a Morning Star was simply that terrifying!
*Thud!* The Dwarf Emperor's magical artifact hammer slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground. Two trails of blood-tinged tears streamed from his eyes. Though the alien races around him had been stripped of all their power under the Morning Star Domain, reduced to limp husks sprawled across the ground like dead dogs, he could still barely stand on his feet. "Fate! Why are you so unjust?! You let that butcher ascend to the stars, while we — we outsiders — can only suffer endless torment?!"
Every word dripped with blood. And the moment he finished his bitter cry, the light in the Dwarf Emperor's eyes dimmed — he was dead.
"One more left."
Leilin reached out and made a grasping motion. An invisible hand seemed to materialize in the air, seizing the colossal blue ape and dragging it back.
*Thud!* The moment the blue ape hit the ground, it began kowtowing to Leilin over and over, begging for mercy without end.