"Stop being foolish!" Venus smiled weakly, reaching out to stroke Ailin's face.
"Sacrificing myself to save the entire Dark Extreme Region — what is there to hesitate about?"
Though her lips were pale and cracked from blood loss, the sacred radiance on her face made Ailin's heart clench in pain.
"No! You're doing this for me! You're doing this for me!"
Even if he advanced to the second rank, he might not be Lombardon's match. But with greater strength, Ailin's chances of escaping alone would increase dramatically.
Ailin wept, tears flowing helplessly down his cheeks.
Venus smiled, her tone oddly comforting: "This fateful destiny of ours! We were destined to be enemies, yet we fell in love with... each... other..."
Thud! Venus's hand slid limply away.
Immediately after, a massive wave of spiritual power, carrying a warm and tender aura, surged into Ailin's sea of consciousness.
The Sacred Candlefire whirled into motion at incredible speed, and Ailin's aura skyrocketed, breaking through the bottleneck of a second-rank
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The three components of the Fallen Longsword fused together, radiating brilliant silver light. From within that glow, a slender Cross Sword slowly materialized, emanating a powerful fluctuation that had reached the level of high-grade Magical Items and even faintly touched the threshold of a Magical Artifact.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Ailin roared, raising the Fallen Longsword and streaking toward the central battlefield as a silver rainbow.
Every Wizard in his path — whether from the Dark Extreme Region or the
"What's happening?"
At the center of the battlefield, Lombardon watched the incoming rainbow. His eyes hardened with malice. He'd had enough toying with Veylin. A fireball was aimed straight at his skull.
Whoosh!
The Fallen Longsword shot forth a beam of light, striking Lombardon's attack with pinpoint accuracy.
A vast and razor-sharp force came surging forward like a tidal wave.
Though Lombardon could still kill Veylin at this moment, he himself would certainly suffer grievous injuries.
"Second rank?" Lombardon's eyes narrowed. At this level of power, combined with an offensive high-grade Magical Item, it could already pose a serious threat to him.
And so, Lombardon made his choice.
His body stayed still, but his feet retreated rapidly. Layer upon layer of grey-green shields materialized before him.
"Die!!!"
At the center of the rainbow was Ailin's faint silhouette. He thrust the greatsword forward, threads of faint silver Spiritual Power continuously reinforcing the Fallen Longsword, driving its sharpness ever higher.
Pfft! Pfft!
The shields Lombardon had erected were torn apart like paper, and the sword's tip even grazed past Lombardon's eye.
"You think you can kill me? With what?!" Lombardon's face twisted into a hideous grin. A phantom spider materialized from his body, its maw gaping wide, clamping down on the longsword.
Crack!
A muffled burst of air pressure rang out, and two figures flew apart.
Lombardon touched his face. Below his left eye, a thin line of blood trickled down.
On the other side, a sickening cracking sound came from Ailin's arm as bone broke, and he swiftly retreated to Veylin's side.
"Are you... alright?!" Veylin had finally expelled all of Lombardon's corrosive Wizard energy from his body and risen to his feet.
Though he hadn't witnessed what just happened, he could clearly tell something was very wrong with his friend's expression.
"Your Reinforced Exo-Armor is shattered! Use this!" Ailin glanced at Veylin, then pressed the Cross Sword into his hands. "It will unleash far more power in your hands than in mine!"
Now was no time for words. Veylin took the Fallen Longsword immediately, but the dead emptiness in Ailin's eyes still sent a chill through his heart.
"Again! Again! Every time I'm about to succeed, something always gets in the way!"
Across the battlefield, Lombardon watched the scene, his face dark as a storm cloud.
"But so what? One more second-rank Wizard — what does it matter? Today, you all die here!"
Lombardon roared, and the phantom spider behind him suddenly made an unexpected move.
It opened its massive jaws and drove its fangs into Lombardon's shoulder.
Thread after thread of visible crimson energy was drawn from Lombardon's body. The spider phantom behind him grew redder and redder, swelling steadily.
Though Lombardon's frame grew thinner and thinner — until he was nothing but skin and bones, a truly horrifying sight — the aura of energy upon him continued to climb without limit.
"The Dark Elf Life Sacrifice Ritual! We can't let him finish, or he'll at least reach the peak of the second rank. Though the price afterward will be his life..."
Ailin's voice was hoarse, but he immediately transformed into a silver rainbow and charged forward.
"Old friend,
Veylin gripped the Fallen Longsword in his hands.
And in the hands of a Reinforced Exo-Armor wielder, this melee weapon let out a piercing roar.
"Die!" Veylin's face was set with grim resolve. The eyes on his armor opened once more, and a massive binding force descended upon the arena, locking onto Lombardon at the center.
"Hahahaha... come! Come!"
The skeletal Lombardon roared with laughter, entangled in combat with both Ailin and Veylin.
Boom! After the Life Sacrifice, not only had his aura skyrocketed, but even his physical body seemed to have undergone transformation, gaining tremendous reinforcement and amplification.
He raised his skeletal right hand and clashed it head-on with Veylin's Fallen Longsword.
Clang! The two collided with a horrifying metallic crash. The Fallen Longsword in Veylin's hands could only cut through the skin on Lombardon's hand before being stopped by bones harder than wizard alloy.
"Hah!" Veylin's expression shifted. He spun and slashed again, driving the longsword into Lombardon's cheek, only to have it caught firmly between Lombardon's teeth.
"Fire of Sacred Light!"
Ailin pointed at Lombardon, and a stream of pure white flame tinged with silver cascaded down, engulfing Lombardon's body in roaring fire.
Lombardon's wizard robe, rings, and jewelry all turned to ash in the flames, yet his body stood firm in the inferno like tempered steel.
"What's happening?" Seizing the opportunity, Veylin finally wrenched the sword free and stood shoulder to shoulder with Ailin, who had retreated to his side.
"The Life Sacrifice has already begun. At this moment, his life doesn't belong to him — it belongs to the great Abyssal Matriarch. Simply put, the core of his life essence has already transferred. His current body is just a puppet — no amount of damage matters!"
Ailin's expression was grave, with a hint of madness creeping in. "But his sacrifice isn't complete yet, so the essence core is still in the process of transferring. Once I restrain him and mark the spot, you deliver the final blow!"
"Understood!" Veylin nodded. "How are you going to—"
But before he could finish, he saw Ailin had already charged forward in a frenzy.
"Die!" Lombardon glared at Ailin rushing toward him, his eyes filled with deep, savage cruelty.
He threw a punch. The black fist collided with Ailin's chest with a sharp crack.
Crack! Lombardon's expression shifted wildly. He withdrew his fist, and on his knuckles, a bone spur had pierced through, trailing wisps of black, congealed blood.
"What— what's going on?! How could an ordinary Bone Spike Technique break through my defense?!" Lombardon's face drained of color. Retreat was already on his mind.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But it was too late. Ribs of steel-colored bone spurs erupted from every part of Ailin's body. His eyes had turned completely white, yet he predicted Lombardon's escape route with perfect accuracy — dodging the ranged attacks and seizing Lombardon in a crushing embrace.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The steel bone spurs pierced Lombardon's entire body like thorns, leaving him a bloody wreck. Ailin fared even worse, blood erupting from every wound.
"Cough... cough... This is my enhanced Bone Spike Technique. Enjoy it!"
Ailin's face bore a look of madness mingled with a hint of relieved smiles: "Venus, I'm coming!"
"You madman!!!" Lombardon roared, raining blows on Ailin's back. The tremendous impacts shook the very ground beneath them.
"Quick! There!" Ailin coughed up blood from his mouth and nose, using a wisp of silver Spiritual Power to mark a location.
It was a pattern node on the lower abdomen of the phantom spider behind Lombardon, currently emitting a faint silver glow.
"Strike!"
Veylin's expression was calm and resolute. Massive amounts of silver light radiated from his body, forming silver-white flames.
The flames coalesuced upon the Fallen Longsword. Terrifying waves of energy swept across the entire battle arena, forcing every nearby Wizard to involuntarily pause.
Great wings unfurled from Veylin's back, carrying him into the sky. He became a crimson meteor slashing across the heavens.
"Die!" The Veylin of this moment bore none of the earlier reluctance or hesitation. The longsword pierced without mercy through the phantom spider's defenses, driving its tip into the marked location.
"Squeeeeee!"
The spider phantom shrieked, its eight legs trembling erratically. Then it toppled straight over, gradually dissolving into ashen-grey smoke and dissipating into nothing.
"Gurgle..."
Lombardon's expression was strangely blank, as if trying to say something but unable to. A choking sound emerged from his throat.
Then the light in his eyes dimmed, turning to a flat, dead grey.
Thud!
Lombardon's corpse collapsed to the ground, kicking up a vast cloud of dust.
"We... won..."
Veylin murmured, feeling as though a piece of his heart was missing — an empty void within him, as if something profoundly important had been lost.
"Be careful — the darkness isn't over yet!" Ailin's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground, a large pool of blood forming beneath him.