The soul flame of a Morning Star
Now that this situation had appeared with Frey's necklace, it meant that Blood Grand Duke
Due to the wizard being severely wounded and their life force weakening, the soul flame left behind would undergo such changes.
"Master! Master!" Frey covered her mouth, her eyes reddening in an instant.
Before Leilin could step forward to comfort her, the arcane imprint on his body immediately began to flicker.
"Fesal, what's the matter?" Leilin furrowed his brows and activated the arcane imprint.
"Grand Duke Farell... my master, the Grand Elder's soul flame extinguished completely one minute ago..."
Fesal's voice was hoarse, like a death-row prisoner who had lost all hope, carrying a sense of complete despair.
"Extinguished?" Leilin stroked his chin.
A Morning Star Wizard's soul flame extinguishing on its own meant that their true body had certainly fallen.
For high-ranking warlocks like Fesal who belonged to the Grand Elder's faction, the only thing that had kept their spirits up was the belief that the Grand Elder was still alive—merely lost in another world, still with hope and a chance to return.
Now that even this final hope and plan had fallen through, it was understandable that Fesal had become like this.
"But what exactly happened? Wasn't everything fine before?" Leilin felt some confusion—this coincidental timing gave him a strong sense of conspiracy.
"Leilin! Leilin!"
Before Leilin could close Fesal's arcane imprint, another connection request came through, carrying Kasha's panicked voice.
Only when she was completely flustered would she forget Leilin's current standing and call him directly by his name.
"What's going on, Senior Kasha?" The uneasy premonition in Leilin's heart grew stronger.
"...I'm sorry, Grand Duke!" Kasha paused for a moment on the other end, then immediately realized her mistake. "It's like this—our master, Grand Duke
"I understand!"
Leilin nodded, his voice turning solemn and grave. "Pass down my orders—all crystallized warlocks are to assemble in the conference room. I'm afraid we're in trouble..."
Unlike before, when the high-ranking warlocks were scattered across distant territories, each hunkered down in their own domain, the current upper echelon of the Ouroboros Ring was extremely concentrated, all gathered in the Phosphorus Marsh. The moment the order was given, they assembled outside the conference room.
Leilin estimated that if it weren't for the matter involving their masters, these people wouldn't have arrived so quickly.
"Grand Duke Farell!" Once Leilin arrived in his wide robe, the previously panicked warlocks' expressions improved considerably.
"Everyone, take your seats. No need for formalities!" Leilin sat down directly in the main seat, carrying an authority cultivated through countless battles that immediately made the entire conference room atmosphere solemn.
"Thank you, Your Grace!" Several crystallized wizards bowed before sitting down in order.
Among them, Frey took advantage of her status as Leilin's wife and sat directly at his side, immediately drawing envious glances.
Leilin sat upright, looking down at the seven or eight crystallized warlocks below, and sighed inwardly. The previous great battle had dealt too heavy a blow to the Ouroboros Ring.
The loss of high-level combat power in particular was not something that could be made up in just a few years.
To fully restore their former appearance and strength, the time needed would have to be measured in centuries.
"Shart, tell us the situation." Leilin's gaze swept across the room, and once complete silence had fallen below, he personally called on Shart by name.
"Your Grace!" Shart wiped the fog from his thick glasses, stood up, bowed to Leilin first, and then said with a grave expression: "The three elders' soul flames stored in our Technical Division all experienced violent fluctuations twenty-four minutes ago, and the Grand Elder's soul flame has been completely extinguished. I'm afraid..."
His heart was also filled with loss and unease. After all, this was the fall of a Morning Star.
Although Shart didn't continue, Fesal and another crystallized warlock had already lowered their heads. Losing the Grand Elder's protection was undoubtedly a devastating blow to their faction and morale.
"Furthermore, I've also inquired with the students of the other two Morning Stars. The soul flame fluctuations are not an isolated case—they've all experienced the same, which means the other two elders must have encountered enormous trouble in the other world as well..."
At this point, there was nothing more to say. After Shart sat down, all the warlocks immediately turned their gazes to Leilin.
Seeing this, Leilin cleared his throat lightly. "Shart, have the coordinates of the other world been determined?"
"I'm sorry! My colleagues in the Technical Division and I have been working on this problem. We currently have two suspicious coordinates, which will be delivered to Your Grace immediately!"
A look of shame appeared on Shart's face. This matter was simply the entire Technical Division's disgrace—they had originally boasted about solving it in just days, yet it had dragged on for nearly five years. It was practically dereliction of duty!
"Shart! You old fossil! Are you playing games? Deliberately withholding the other world's coordinates?"
The crystallized warlock who had been red-eyed alongside Fesal slammed the table and shouted.
"Nonsense! I swear on behalf of every colleague in the Technical Division! We absolutely had no such intention!" Shart was so angry that his mustache on both sides bristled.
He had his own difficulties that he couldn't speak of. The original tracking had already encountered enormous problems, and toward the end, yet another complex interference had appeared. The combined effect had left him completely stumped.
"Could it be... that another force has intervened, unwilling to let us rescue the Grand Dukes?" The thought flashed through Shart's mind, but he quickly suppressed it, not daring to even think about it again.
What showed on the outside was an indescribable silence. Seeing Shart like this, the warlock became even more convinced that Shart was hiding something. But before he could roar out again, his arm was suddenly grabbed by Fesal.
"Fesal, what are you doing?" the warlock growled in a low voice.
"Watch your tone! Marquis Odufar!" Fesal's voice was equally deep, carrying an imperative tone that brooked no defiance.
"I apologize for my discourtesy, Marquis Shart! Please forgive me!"
The warlock flushed crimson but still apologized to Shart, then bowed toward Leilin in the main seat: "Please forgive me, Grand Duke!"
"Forget it." Leilin waved his hand, his eyes gazing with interest at Fesal until cold sweat began to trace down the other's cheek before he relented.
"I have decided to depart for the other world tomorrow to rescue the elders!"
Leilin cast one final look at the warlocks in the conference room and spoke in a deep voice.
A momentary stillness fell over the conference room, then it seemed to resume as normal—though a flash of wild joy flickered in the depths of the many crystallized wizards' eyes.
Of course, on the surface they didn't dare show even a hint of it. Instead, they kept urging Leilin to be careful, to take care of himself, to beware of the enemy's tricks and traps, and so on.
"Dear..."
After the meeting adjourned and the other crystallized warlocks had all departed, Frey remained behind, her eyes filled with unconcealed worry.
Although Emma was her teacher, Leilin was her husband. The differences and relationships between them pulled at her heart like a spider's web.
Finally, Frey still opened her mouth: "This time... will it be dangerous?"
"There's certainly some danger, but it's also an opportunity! Trust me—I will definitely bring your teacher back!"
Leilin gave Frey a warm smile.
Seeing Leilin's confident smile, Frey felt much more at ease. But she didn't notice the complex emotions in Leilin's eyes.
After returning to the Wizard Tower, Leilin went straight to the Star Gate and fell into deep thought.
"This time... I probably really have to go." Leilin knew very well that voices within the Ouroboros Ring urging him to go on the rescue mission had been circulating in the shadows, and after this incident, they would only grow stronger.
He had managed to suppress them for this long, but this time he really had to act. Otherwise, the entire Ouroboros Ring would likely turn against him.
Fortunately, the time he had bought was enough for him to obtain what he wanted. Even if both Morning Star warlocks returned, they could no longer shake his position of authority.
Moreover, his understanding of the mastermind behind the scenes and their methods had allowed Leilin to devise a fairly complete countermeasure, letting him depart with confidence.
...
At almost the same moment, upon a throne composed of eternal darkness and lightning.
The level-five wizard who previously had a moon rune on his forehead was exchanging wills with another Morning Star Wizard.
"How are preparations on the Ouroboros Ring side?"
"Everything is ready. We can make our move! The moment they enter the other world, we can completely sever his connection and annihilate the entire Ouroboros Ring!"
"You disappointed me once last time. I don't intend to be disappointed a second time!" The Bright Moon Wizard's voice carried thick authority and warning.
"Rest assured, my lord!"
The Morning Star will dissipated on its own, while the Bright Moon Wizard sat silently upon the throne, lost in thought.
"That last Crimson Arc Moon ruin—was it really that kid? What an interesting little fellow!" A mysterious voice suddenly echoed through the space, yet the Bright Moon Wizard seemed entirely unfazed by it.
"I'm not entirely certain, but Seibel is dead, and he's the most suspicious!" the Bright Moon Wizard said coldly. "We must capture him!"
"He's merely a Comoin Giant Serpent warlock. Even if he has some hidden card, the bloodline restriction is his fatal weakness!" The mysterious voice carried a hint of disdain.