The figures of the three converged into a lion entwined with lightning and flames. Following a thunderous roar, the lion opened its massive maw. Double-layered blue currents turned incandescent, wrapping around the flowing cloud flames burning at the lion's mouth, and a blazing pillar of lightning and fire erupted!
The air hummed.
In the world engraved with black curse symbols, the bright pillar of mana was as straight as a line, its power terrifying!
"Hahaha..." Facing this strike, Vanica showed no fear. Instead, she burst into laughter, her eyes filled with the joy of satisfaction. She had come seeking the thrill of battle; now that the fight had reached its climax, how could she not be excited?
Rising Devil Power spurred the black curse symbols, pushing the effect of the magic World of Decay to its absolute limit.
The power of the thick, blazing pillar of light was significantly weakened.
Vanica leaned her body slightly forward, assuming a defiant posture that practically dared them to bring it on. When the pillar of light, brimming with immense mana, completely filled her crimson pupils, a blood-red beast roared forth, and its phantom blood-hands stretched forward in synchronization.
They pressed directly against that blazing pillar of light.
The pillar of lightning and fire began to melt the giant blood-hands formed by Blood Magic.
After a brief stalemate.
Vanica exerted a sudden burst of force, physically tearing the combined magic apart. The giant blood-hands had only lost the layer of condensed blood aura that had been melted away.
"This..."
A strike that had used up almost all their mana was completely useless.
Gacha looked at the scene before him in disbelief. "Am I going to lose yet again?"
"I clearly said last time that to protect Her Majesty the Queen, I wouldn't lose to her again..."
"Why are these people so strong?"
After a moment's hesitation, he realized that besides himself and the Queen, there were other Spirit Guardian and members of the Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights here. "I can't let them die here too."
Gacha resolved to stall Vanica for a moment to buy a sliver of a chance for the others to survive, even though he knew it would be difficult—nearly impossible.
He gritted his teeth, looked back, and growled for them to leave quickly.
In that instant, the simple two-word command felt like it took forever to leave his mouth.
Because in his line of sight, everyone behind him had already collapsed powerlessly to their knees. Black curse symbols were surfacing on their bodies. Gacha knew very well that those were the devil's curses; in this domain that weakened others' magic and mana, Curse Symbol Magic would also erode the human body.
As he processed this, he also suddenly fell to his knees, his entire body weak and powerless. The mana he could usually call upon no longer answered his summons.
Beside him, Luck and Leopold were in the same state, barely propping up their limp bodies.
The black curse symbols wrapped around them layer after layer, like maggots on a bone.
Vanica walked over slowly, her footsteps creating ripples in the grayish-white magical domain. "Is it over? Oh my, it feels like it's still missing something."
"Um, could you please try a little harder?"
Vanica touched her chin with her index finger, her narrowed eyes full of encouragement.
But... under the erosion of the Curse Symbol Magic, not a single person could stand up again.
She turned her body slightly, her expression shifting to one of cold severity and killing intent. "How boring."
"Since you're all worthless, I might as well just destroy you."
"Tsk tsk... I'll just leave little Noelle behind like before."
Crimson blood appeared in the air like raindrops, and sharp blood spikes sprouted from the suspended droplets.
Vanica turned around and didn't look back as the dense blood spikes fired frantically at everyone eroded by the Curse Symbol Magic. She gave a light sigh devoid of any emotion: "Die."
The tips of the sharp blood spikes were prismatic, spinning constantly before Gacha's eyes. It seemed as though they would pierce through his entire body in the next moment, leaving behind a bloody, mangled mess.
"Ah... I'm so unwilling."
"Once again, I've failed to save Que— Princess Lolopechka. Even though I promised..."
"It's all because I'm too weak."
Luck, Leopold, and even Charmy—who had been eroded by the Curse Symbol Magic before she could use her Food Magic—tried to dodge as the blood spikes arrived, but they all failed without exception.
They could only watch helplessly as the rapidly spinning blood spikes were about to pass through their bodies.
"Everyone!"
A sudden shout brought a stir of movement to the silent World of Decay.
Without any hesitation, a blood spear appeared in Vanica's hand. The moment she heard the shout, she turned and hurled the spear.
The spear was much faster than the blood spikes.
It also shimmered with a crimson blood glow.
Its power went without saying; it was the result of Blood Magic being compressed to its maximum in that split second.
But the one who threw the spear—Vanica—showed no obvious expression, because the bloody scene she expected did not happen.
The spear maintained its forward posture, but it was frozen in mid-air, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch.
Furthermore... the blood spikes that should have already pierced through Gacha and the others were also suspended in the air in a bizarre fashion.
"Who is it?"
Vanica looked ahead and saw two people standing in her line of sight. One wore a fox mask with red patterns, and the other was the girl little Noelle had called Mimosa back at the palace.
A thought flashed through her mind.
If Mimosa could appear here, it meant Robero had already been dealt with. The Spirit Guardian of the Heart Kingdom had all come here, and looking at the battle at the palace just now, that woman definitely didn't have the ability to defeat Robero.
That meant the person who dealt with the Dark Disciple was... Vanica fixed her gaze on the Masked Man. His mana was very thin and faint; if one didn't sense carefully, it was almost undetectable. Was his mana really only at this level, or... Before any dialogue could take place, vines growing behind Mimosa immediately wrapped around all the injured people present.
Vanica naturally wouldn't stand by and watch. Sharp blood lines, like spider silk, quickly slashed out from around her, attempting to cut those obstructive green vines.
But she was too slow.
Once the vines had wrapped around everyone, the Masked Man placed his hand on Mimosa's shoulder. In an instant, everyone except Vanica vanished from the World of Decay formed by the Curse Symbol Magic.
"Spatial Magic?"
"Did they escape?"
Inside the palace, Mimosa's group appeared on a relatively intact platform. Azure water flowed through the cracks of the palace, which had been severely damaged by the battle.
A black iron sword leaped out from Bai En's grimoire. Utilizing the properties of Mana Zone and Magic Conversion, Bai En began to eliminate the curse symbols eroding Luck and the others.
The black patterns turned into strands of black thread and dissipated in the white light.
"Experience this defeat well. In the future, there is a much more difficult war waiting for you," Bai En spoke slowly. After confirming that the curse symbols had completely vanished, he disappeared from the palace.
"A difficult war? What does that mean? Does he mean in the future?" Mimosa muttered to herself, listening to the Masked Man's parting words. "Why does his sword look a bit familiar?"
"I seem to have seen it somewhere before."
"Where was it?"
She had intended to use the mark of the curse symbols to find little Noelle and the others who had been rescued, but in an instant, Vanica sensed that the curse symbols she left behind had completely failed. "That guy really..."
At the same time, inside the still-existent World of Decay, the Masked Man reappeared as slight ripples shimmered.
Vanica looked up. "You actually dare to come back?"
...
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