Although Rayne had already noticed certain signs of the
In that moment, he decided to vent his anger on those invaders.
With the shimmer of teleportation, Rayne's figure vanished, and throughout the floating city, the intruders found themselves greeting a harbringer of death!
……
The Arcane Plaza was a scene of utter devastation.
The Adamantite Golem's head was missing a large portion, its right arm had vanished entirely, and its energy core had shut down completely.
Even standing motionless, the golem radiated an overwhelming sense of ferocity and brutality that sent chills down one's spine.
"Huff… huff… thank you!"
The legendary paladin knelt half on the ground, a large pool of blood already spread beneath him. He was clearly badly wounded.
"Cough… saving the dying and banishing evil… cough… that has always been our sacred duty…"
The speaker was none other than the legendary ascetic monk from before, though his condition was now far more horrifying. A massive section of his chest had caved inward, and blood kept trickling from his mouth with each cough.
Despite the healing divine art continuously working its effect, restoring his original combat strength was out of the question.
"Truly worthy of a floating city… a single golem was this troublesome…"
The paladin sighed, a look of lingering fear still visible in his eyes.
The Adamantite Golem had nearly killed him. If this legendary ascetic monk hadn't suddenly appeared, displaying masterful martial technique and terrifying physical toughness to harden himself against the bulk of the golem's attacks, he would have long been dead.
"Hey, hey… what about me? Why aren't you thanking me too…"
From the other side, Illirio the lich — now reduced to a single crystal skull — raised his voice in protest.
Faced with extreme danger, the lich had set aside his previous grudges and joined forces with the two of them. Together they had barely managed to bring down the Adamantite Golem, but the unlucky lich had lost most of his body, with only his skull remaining.
"Banish evil!"
The paladin gritted his teeth and stood up, walking toward the lich.
"Damn it! We just fought side by side — how can you turn around and not recognize me?"
The lich wailed in despair: "Help... help..."
In reality, it wasn't afraid of the other party at all, because as long as the **Phylactery** still existed, even if it died here, it could be revived. It would just have to wait a very long time.
"Sorry! Though we once joined forces, purifying evil is my sacred duty!"
The paladin stood before the crystal skull, the holy light in his hand condensing directly into the shape of a sword hilt.
Bang!
"Get away!"
At that moment, the glow of a teleportation lit up, and the paladin was sent flying backward, a look of shock still on his face.
"I'm in a very bad mood right now. Speak — how do you want to die?"
Rein, wearing a silver mask, strolled out calmly, looking at the three gravely wounded figures like the Grim Reaper.
Intense evil. A terrifying sense of devouring — it made Illirio feel as though he were facing the most horrifying ancient divine abomination.
"That's the evil-aligned powerhouse from before — he's already seized control of the teleportation authority in the floating city. In other words, the core privileges have been transferred?"
The crystal skull on the ground rolled several times before coming to a stop, the ghostly fire in its eye sockets nearly extinguished entirely.
"What an evil and terrifying aura... countless times stronger than before... Was he pretending all along?"
The pupils of both the paladin and the ascetic monk contracted sharply, and then they saw what had knocked them flying — it was a collection of heads belonging to powerful beings who had died with their eyes wide open.
"You invaders are the only ones left. Once I've cleaned up, the transfer can begin..."
Rein's entire face was hidden beneath the silver mask, making it impossible to read his expression. Only his eyes gleamed with cold indifference, as though they could freeze a person's soul on the spot.
The black aura of evil spread across the heavens. Compared to him, the lich's aura of darkness from before seemed like a child's plaything.
"Cough... cough... did everyone else die at your hands?"
The legendary paladin coughed, blood seeping through the gaps in his teeth.
"Most of them died in the arcane traps before. The rest I finished off myself. Now only you lot remain..."
Rein's voice carried an icy killing intent as he materialized instantly behind the legendary ascetic. "Of everyone here, you feel the most dangerous to me..."
"So I'll kindly ask you to die first..."
Rein's right hand transformed as though into a demon's claw, punching straight through the ascetic's defenses and ripping out a blood-soaked heart.
"Mm... during my earlier meditation, I sensed a disturbance in the spirit... as though an enormously powerful evil had been born. That is what drew me here to the Western Desert, following the guidance of my heart..."
Blood dripped drop by drop, draining every trace of color from the ascetic's face in an instant. He gasped desperately, as though clinging to life in one final, fleeting surge of vitality.
"I thought... I thought it was the descent of the floating city, something that would bring catastrophic destruction to the world. But now I know it is because of you..."
The ascetic's lips were cracked and dry as he struggled to speak.
"Too much talk..." Rein gave a sharp jerk of his hand, and the ascetic's heart shattered into countless pieces.
"Is he dead?"
The legendary paladin and Illyrio's eyes dimmed, but after a few seconds they both looked as though they had witnessed something utterly inconceivable.
"But... even if it means burning my soul, I will not let the evil that destroys the world go unchallenged..."
In the next instant, the ascetic's already drooping eyelids flew open, radiating a brilliance even fiercer than the sun. His right hand, as though forged from pure gold, pressed forward with the weight of an entire mountain, crushing the very air beneath it with unstoppable force.
— Legendary martial technique, Diamond Palm!
BOOM!!! The golden palm passed through Rein's illusory afterimage and smashed the building behind it to dust.
"You've got some real talent, old man... That's a legendary ability — Survival in the Wasteland, isn't it? Truly worthy of an ascetic's legendary gift. Even after every bodily function has been completely destroyed, you can still force yourself to keep living..."
The ascetic's life force and endurance had always been extraordinarily tenacious, and with this tank-type legendary ability layered on top, even with his heart ripped out and severe injuries sustained earlier, he could still unleash extraordinary power.
"You're willing to do whatever it takes to bring me down? Why does this make me feel like I'm the final boss from a novel in my past life..."
Rein narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing at the ascetic who now seemed to embody every ounce of justice in the world.
"How unfortunate... you think this level of power is enough to deal with me? Not nearly enough..."
A playful glint slowly rose in Rein's pupils. "Then let me grant you the most thorough despair..."
"The
The legendary paladin hauled himself to his feet at last. "The final divine blessing..."
Brilliant radiance cascaded over the paladin, his wounds seemingly frozen in place entirely. Then, a long-handled Cross Sword forged wholly from condensed light materialized in his hands.
"In the name of justice..." The paladin raised the Cross Sword high above his head. Violent streams of holy energy formed a raging vortex.
—[Sacred Judgment]!
The blinding holy sword of cross-shaped light sealed off every escape route behind Rein, carrying with it the lethal intent of a legendary powerhouse.
—[Solar Flare!] —[Diamond Palm!]
The legendary ascetic seemed to burn away the very flames of his life. Palm shadows filled the sky, each carrying searing heat powerful enough to incinerate everything.
Feeling the catastrophic destructive force radiating from the combined assault, the skeleton lich Illyrio standing nearby wore an ugly expression. He privately estimated that if he had been the one surrounded and attacked instead, even at full strength he would have suffered irreparable injuries!
"I already told you... it's useless..."
And yet, beneath his silver mask, Rein seemed to be... sighing?
"The current me is beyond anything you can hope to stop." Facing the overwhelming onslaught that shook heaven and earth, Rein spread his hands calmly. "
Whoosh...
In that instant, dust stopped mid-fall.
Hummmm...
When Illyrio finally came to his senses, what he saw was the bodies of the two legendary powerhouses being continuously ground to fragments.
"That instant just now... no, this... this is a legendary-tier arcane spell. The miraculous power to freeze time — a legendary spell that only a legendary-tier Grand
"He's actually a legendary-tier Grand Arcanist? Weren't powerhouses of that level exterminated by the gods long ago? Could he have survived since the Netherese era until now?"
The ghostly fire within Illyrio's eye sockets flickered continuously, clearly indicating a flurry of intense thought. Lin Lei's earlier display had genuinely terrified it.
"To merely halt the flow of time within this area for a moment... I'm still far from truly mastering the power of time, yet this force remains intoxicating. As expected of the arcane system passed down by a peak Eighth-Level Legend—they can even touch upon a sliver of temporal power..."
Lin Lei marveled inwardly before approaching the bone lich.
"Submit? Or die?"
"Submit? Ah ha ha... ha ha... Even if you are strong, even to the level of a[Grand Arcanist], and control a floating city—do you expect me, the Bone Lich, ruler of the Bone Dominion, one who has survived three Divine Wars, who even participated in the campaign to annihilate the divine avatars—Illlyrio—to submit? Ha ha ha..."
The skull on the ground seemed to hear something utterly ridiculous, its jaw clacking open and shut in laughter, clearly conveying a wave of mocking amusement.