Continuous explosions erupted from the villa, sending debris flying in all directions. In just a few seconds, the ten-million-dollar villa was reduced to ruins.
Bang!
Ghost One and Verun burst out of the villa from the east and west, respectively. The former stopped in front of Luke and merged with him, while the latter hovered in mid-air, watching them with an expressionless face.
Compared to before, her appearance had undergone significant changes. She wore purple armor, a crescent moon headband, and her eyes had turned deep purple, like two translucent amethyst gems.
Verun scrutinized Carol, and her expression immediately changed when she noticed the power ring on Carol's finger.
The Original Power Ring!
It was exactly as described in the pictures; it really was it!
A trace of greed inexplicably surfaced in her eyes, and Verun sharply cried out,
"Your Majesty, you are lying! The ring on your finger is the Star Sapphire!"
Carol ignored her, simply staring at the ruins beneath her feet. This villa had been Luke's eighteenth birthday gift to her. They had spent many sweet and wonderful nights there, and Carol often thought of it as home. Now, her home was gone, leaving only a pile of rubble.
She took a deep breath, the hesitation on her face vanishing, replaced by indifference. She raised a hand, and countless javelins appeared out of thin air, shooting forth like arrows.
Childish attack!
Verun sneered, clenching her fist. A giant mirror, three meters wide, appeared in front of her. The javelins struck the mirror and rebounded with even greater speed.
Not a single javelin hit its target, but Carol wasn't discouraged. After days of continuous training from Luke, she had a considerable understanding of the power ring's abilities and had even simulated scenarios of fighting the mysterious woman.
As an elite warrior of Zamaron, Verun's experience, skill, intellect, and creativity surpassed hers. This was a reality she couldn't deny. Her only advantage was quantity; the Original Power Ring's energy was infinite, and so was its power.
One force breaks all methods!
This was the truth Luke had told her: power was king. As long as the power was great enough, skill and experience were nothing more than paper tigers—impressive to look at but useless in practice.
"If I can't beat you, I'll smash you to death."
Carol gritted her teeth and roared, raising a hand. A stone over twenty meters long and wide appeared above Verun's head. The latter disdainfully raised her hand, and a purple lever appeared out of thin air, intending to push the stone aside. Just then, with a thunderous roar, a small mountain peak appeared out of nowhere, crashing heavily onto the back of the stone. The two forces combined, and the lever snapped instantly.
Verun frowned slightly, and a uniquely designed energy gun appeared in her hand.
White light erupted from the muzzle, and an arm-sized beam of light shot out, blasting the two boulders into fragments.
"Stop these childish attacks. As a power ring user, you are too weak."
Verun clenched her fist and punched forward.
The air behind Carol suddenly twisted, purple energy overflowing, then rapidly collapsing inward, forming a continuously rotating purple vortex. Invisible gravity spread outwards, pulling in air, dust, dirt, and everything around it.
"Artificial black hole!"
Luke's eyes nearly popped out in fright. Blue flames erupted from his hands and feet, and he flew away with all his might. Carol also reacted.
Two chains bound a distant tree, and airplane thrusters appeared on her back. Even so, she couldn't counteract the tearing force and was slowly pulled backward by the black hole.
"Your Majesty, this is the true power of the power ring, not smashing with stones or shooting with javelins—even cavemen can do that."
Verun's face was filled with mockery. She spread her hands, manifesting the unique Zamaron energy cannons. The muzzles aimed at Carol, who was struggling in mid-air. Just as she was about to pull the trigger to end the battle, a shadow fell over her heart.
Destruction, oppression, death—a terrifying dread emanated from above, as if something dreadful was about to descend.
Verun frowned slightly and looked up. A purple barrier appeared in the distance of her vision, and the oppressive feeling came from behind that barrier.
She raised her hand and fired a shot, shattering the barrier. As the purple receded, firelight gradually emerged.
Fireball? No, it's a meteor!
A purple meteor, carrying an aura of destruction, fell from above, its impact point precisely where she was located.
Verun was stunned, her face illuminated by the firelight, filled with astonishment. Luke was also dumbfounded. Even with his extensive knowledge and experience, at this moment, he could only think "Holy cow."
When did Carol set up such a thing in the sky? Not a single peep was heard.
Even more shocking was the meteor's size. Based on the distance and perspective, its horizontal length was at least over a hundred meters. If this thing were to crash down… Gulp!
Luke swallowed hard, immediately switching firing modes. Sixteen energy blasts detonated the artificial black hole, then he picked up Carol and ran away without looking back.
Thinking of the consequences of the meteor fall, he couldn't help but pat her plump butt.
"Are you crazy? This is Coast City!"
"It's the suburbs, not the city. I can control it, it's fine."
The girl's cheeks flushed, appearing extremely excited. While adjusting the meteor's direction, she deployed numerous walls, chains, and other constructs around Verun, completely restricting her movement.
Chains crisscrossed, and walls blocked all directions. Smash one, and a new one immediately appeared. This was the terrifying aspect of the Original Power Ring: its energy was infinite, and as long as the user's mental power was sufficient, the constructs manifested were also infinite.
When she still hadn't broken free after continuously smashing dozens of walls, Verun immediately gave up. She looked up at the sky, her eyes filled with determination.
"Your Majesty, you truly surprise me."
Verun muttered, and energy surged out, deploying a dense array of components around her body. The components assembled and pieced together in a specific manner at an incredibly fast speed, forming a giant cannon more than two people tall in just a few seconds.
Verun sat on the cannon mount, aimed at the meteor, and fired!
Boom!
The sky trembled, the atmosphere was stripped away, forming a vacuum zone. A dazzling, world-illuminating giant beam of light shot out. The light beam was so bright that it could be clearly seen even from thousands of meters away.
The light beam struck the meteor's surface with an incalculable force.
Two seconds later, an ear-splitting roar came from above. The fireball disappeared, shattered into countless fragments, and a meteor shower suddenly rained down from the sky.
Luke's face changed drastically, and he couldn't help but shout,
"Watch out for the city."
Carol immediately reacted, frantically manipulating the ring to erase the meteor fragments heading towards Coast City and adjusting the direction of the falling debris as much as possible, concentrating them on Verun's position.
A sky full of fire rained down from above!
This was the scene Luke witnessed, beautiful and deadly. Under the illumination of the fiery rain, the ground turned deep red, like a raging inferno.
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