Enrico had only told them to wait in hidden places at a distance. It was to ensure that if something potentially dangerous happened, they should attack together. The signal would be a small explosion that would release mana connected to another mark he had left near them. When that mark glowed, they were supposed to move as fast as possible to prevent any possible damage outside the plan.
They moved quickly, with Lyrielle taking the lead at a speed far superior to theirs, and she already seemed to have a target in mind.
"How did you get out—no, I already know who did it."
Valdir looked with fury in Enrico's direction. He remembered now. This boy was the one who had ruined his god's plan together with that other brat. He had only seen them briefly back then and hadn't cared. With rage, his teeth turned into blades. With force he tried to break the white sword, but not even a crack appeared.
"Time to rip your head off, Valdir."
Tightening her sword, Lyrielle tried to continue the slash to cut his face in half. Knowing he might die if that happened, he followed the rhythm of the blade and moved backward faster than her cutting attempt. His cheeks tore open as he pulled away from the sword. Blood poured from his mouth, but he ignored the injury and summoned his black fire.
"Cursed Black Flames: Life Burn."
Using a spell capable of burning the opponent's life itself, he launched it at her. Without blinking, Lyrielle held her sword firmly and coated it with water. With a slash through the air, the black flames split in half. Continuing her advance, she now covered her sword with fire magic.
"Flame Slash."
With a descending strike, a crescent-shaped attack advanced toward Valdir. His hand caught the attack, black flames forming in his palm as he held the slash. The black flames devoured the normal fire.
'Damn it, a battle between monsters has started.'
Sylwen held herself against a wall after managing to escape that attack. Just the presence of those two made the castle walls—whose resistance had been enhanced—push everyone below their level backward. Looking at her severed arm that had regrown after using healing magic, Sylwen sensed danger coming from behind and ducked. The wall she had been leaning on was sliced cleanly by threads made of fire.
'That cut was perfect.'
She widened her eyes slightly when she saw that the fire threads were connected to Enrico's fingers. With a simple movement he advanced toward her, but the big hooded man appeared in front of him and grabbed his arm. The second hooded figure approached from behind with the shield skeleton advancing rapidly to strike him.
The shield covered itself with earth in the form of spikes and tried to hit Enrico from behind, but Grakka appeared in front and with her axe stopped the shield skeleton's advance. Flexing her muscles, she threw her opponent backward while another appeared from the side. Before the wind-magic sword skeleton could reach Grakka, she grabbed it by the head and slammed its body into the ground.
"Incandescent Ray."
Valença appeared behind the big man and unleashed her attack into his ribs, sending him flying. Without stopping, she pointed her staff at the second hooded figure. Seeing that Victoria had already begun beating the necromancer—her fists smashing into the woman's face—Valença changed her trajectory toward the big man, gathering even more mana.
Meanwhile, Enrico was dodging the water spears launched at him by Sylwen. Clenching his fist, he closed the distance with her. That blow would undoubtedly finish her.
At least until the clash between the two Circle Eight mages pushed everyone away from the area, interrupting Valença just as she was about to unleash a powerful attack.
"You shouldn't have come out, you damned woman."
"And you should have died years ago, you traitor."
Black fire collided with crimson flames. If they continued fighting in that place, the others might die just from the presence of their power being released. Sairao, who had been standing still for some time, placed a hand on his face as a psychotic smile formed.
"Valdir, don't kill her. Let's use her as a sacrifice, along with the others who must have been freed with her."
"With great pleasure, my god. I will love sacrificing her for you."
While the two seemed ready to take the fight more seriously, Sairao felt satisfied. There was a reason he wanted to sacrifice her and the freed dark elves. He had created the dark elves to be perfect sacrifices. A single dark elf could strengthen his body more than normal elves or corrupted ones. That was why, in that dungeon, he only needed to sacrifice fifty of them to obtain his perfect body.
'I only didn't sacrifice the ones who came to my side because they're the subordinates I'll need when I descend to the human world.'
That was why he preferred to come form this alliance and spend his time. But now that he knew those elves had been freed, he no longer cared about the war, the alliance, or that elf queen. The only thing he needed now was to wait for his follower to capture them.
Lyrielle's eyes narrowed as the mana around her trembled violently. The ground beneath her feet cracked as she advanced once more. Valdir opened his bloodied mouth and released a torrent of black flames that spread like a cursed sea. Lyrielle spun, her sword tracing a perfect arc through the air. The water around the blade evaporated instantly, turning into vapor that pushed the black flames aside.
The two collided again, the impact making the air vibrate. Valdir tried to pierce her chest with a claw wrapped in curse flames, but Lyrielle tilted her body just a few centimeters, letting the attack pass by her armor.
"I'll finish you now."
"I'll be the one to do that, bastard."
In response, she kicked his stomach with enough force to crack the ground beneath his feet. Before he could recover his balance, lightning began running along Lyrielle's arm, electric mana exploding around her.
"Divine Storm."
The sky above the castle flashed, and a colossal lightning bolt descended like the wrath of the heavens, destroying and erasing half of the castle from existence as it completely swallowed Valdir.