"Of course, I've seen it! The Flame Throne's stronghold of Duze was destroyed! The Flame Throne himself, a Sixth-rank Radiant Sun existence, has even gone missing — how could I not look into something of that magnitude?"
A bitter smile tugged at Aurora's lips.
Across the Central Continent recently, the biggest event had been the attack on the Flame Throne's stronghold. No — not just recently! A Sixth-rank Throne's forces suffering such a devastating blow was something that hadn't happened in nearly a thousand years!
And the news that the Flame Throne himself had been gravely injured, his whereabouts unknown, was even more chilling for Aurora and the other Radiant Moon warlocks.
A Sixth-rank Throne! That was not merely someone who had advanced to the Radiant Sun rank — they had begun to touch upon the power of laws!
Even with the enhancement of their bloodline power, and having transformed the Morning Star Boundary into a massive war fortress, they could barely protect themselves against such an existence!
Yet
"Lord Leylin is really something this time…"
Even Aurora, the supreme ruler of the Bloodline Alliance, couldn't help but be stunned by Leylin's audacity and power. He and Geoffrey,
Most critically, it seemed he had actually succeeded!
That level of boldness, and the terrifying power his success implied, left even Aurora shaken with fear.
"I've heard the news — not only has the outside world classified Leylin's Fifth-rank bloodline among the Bloodline Alliance's most powerful inherited bloodlines, but they've also ranked him first among the Radiant Moon wizards! They're calling it the rise of the Bloodline Warlocks!"
Geoffrey was somewhat speechless.
When it came to Leylin, he had thought he understood the man well enough — only to realize that everything Leylin had shown before was merely the surface.
"Still, Lord Leylin's battle record is a powerful deterrent to many!"
Aurora raised his head and glanced around, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth. "It looks like Lord Beavis won't be coming this time either. That's certainly a good thing!"
Being able to avoid internal strife was something truly worth celebrating for him.
"After hearing of Leylin's battle record, would he still dare to come? We were only preparing just in case, and to guard against others trying to pin it on us!"
Geoffrey rolled his eyes.
Even he had to admit that he was somewhat afraid of Leylin's methods now. You dare to offend me? I'll come straight for your doorstep! No sending foot soldiers or anything like that — go straight for the mastermind! Kill as many as there are, even if the opponent is a Throne!
Such rule-breaking behavior should have drawn collective resistance, but once the other party possessed the strength to back it up, it transformed into an overwhelming deterrent.
At the very least,
As for joining forces with the other warlocks? Hadn't they seen what happened to the Flame Throne — defeated, or at the very least gravely wounded? Did Bevis really think their combined strength could compare to a rank six Radiance Sun Throne?
"Actually, this is a good thing!" Aofa allowed a small smile to cross his face. "At the very least… Lord Leylin has now been rated as invincible beneath the Radiance Sun — the warlock most likely to advance to rank six! For us, possessing this kind of deterrent combat power means things on the main continent will be considerably easier…"
"Invincible beneath the Radiance Sun?" Just at that moment, a figure materialized before Aofa and Geoffrey. The voice was utterly familiar, yet it made Aofa and the others blanch.
"That's… Lord Leylin?" Geoffrey stared at the suddenly appeared Leylin, his heart still unsettled with lingering fear.
Both he and Aofa were Glowing Moon-level warlocks! Moreover, under deliberate surveillance, nothing in their surroundings — not even the flow of energy particles in the air — could escape their perception. Yet Leylin had slipped in behind them as easily as anything.
Didn't this mean that if Leylin had the will, he could launch a sneak attack on any warlock present?
Only now did Geoffrey truly realize that Leylin was indeed different from before. The Leylin of today was the hope of the bloodline warlocks — the invincible warlock beneath the Radiance Sun!
Still, Leylin's appearance gave Geoffrey some pause.
He wore dark-gold
"This is…"
Aofa was the first to speak.
"Oh!" Leylin touched the mask on his face. "Just a little injury left over from before!"
Being evasive would only invite suspicion, so Leylin simply admitted it outright.
"Mm! The terror of a rank six Radiance Sun Throne is indeed difficult to withstand!" Aofa nodded in wholehearted agreement. His opponent had been a rank six Throne — no matter how powerful Leylin was, taking some damage was inevitable.
Thanks to Leylin's deliberate misdirection and Aofa's own mental embellishment, the wound on Leylin's face had already been automatically categorized as the aftereffect of his clash with the Flame Throne.
"Oh, and my Lords, it has truly been too long!" Leylin wore a wicked smile as he inclined his body in a slight bow. "During my absence,
"Not at all! Lord Leylin breaking through Duchet City in one stroke and even gravely wounding the Flame Throne — that was nothing short of a divine blessing for us oppressed bloodline warlocks. What we did amounts to nothing at all!"
Aofa and
"No need for excessive words of gratitude — may our friendship endure forever!" Leylin smiled. He knew perfectly well what these two warlocks wanted.
"Of course! The bond between us is as strong as brotherhood!" Aofa and Jeffrey were old foxes among warlocks, and Leylin was no less seasoned. The three of them traded saccharine words without restraint, yet somehow never broached the real topic.
Watching Leylin maintain his composed, carefree demeanor — as if he hardly cared about Freya giving birth somewhere below — Aofa silently cursed "old fox" in his mind, but was the first to raise the question. "I wonder, Your Highness Leylin, what the result of your expedition was? The Flame Throne..."
For them, of course, the fate of the Flame Throne was the top priority. How could outside rumors possibly match the accuracy of a first-hand account from Leylin himself?
Moreover, the Flame Throne's survival or death, as well as a proper measure of Leylin's combat power, would have an indescribable impact on the future balance of power across the Central Continent. They had no choice but to care.
"I'm somewhat ashamed to admit!"
Leylin smiled with feigned embarrassment. "Though several like-minded friends and I breached Duchet City and even fought our way into the Flame World, delivering a devastating blow to the Flame Throne in one stroke — we failed to bring about the fellow's demise!"
Though the words were delivered so casually, the danger and sheer terror they implied still caused Jeffrey and the others to break into a cold sweat.
As for Aofa, upon hearing that the Flame Throne had only been severely wounded rather than killed, he felt a twinge of disappointment but also a profound sense of relief.
If Leylin could already eliminate a sixth-tier Xiri, then Aofa would have no idea what attitude to adopt when facing him.
"However..."
Leylin deliberately paused, causing Aofa and Jeffrey's hearts to tighten once more.
"Although we didn't finish off the Flame Throne this time, we did successfully inflict catastrophic damage on the fellow — not only will he need an extremely long period of recuperation, but whether he can even maintain his sixth-tier rank after recovery is very much uncertain..."
Before Aofa and Jeffrey could even digest this shocking news, Leylin continued: "Furthermore, whether the Flame Throne will ever oppose us again is a matter worth pondering. I believe the likelihood of that has become rather slim..."
The successive bombs Leylin dropped left Aofa and Jeffrey reeling and dizzy, utterly incapable of processing so much information at once.
The Flame Throne might actually drop a tier? And after suffering such catastrophic losses, he would even cease his hostility toward warlocks? How was that possible?
Yet looking at the supremely confident Leylin, Aofa and Jeffrey had no choice but to rack their brains trying to work out how this could be.
Leylin smiled to himself. Having a portion of the Flame Laws stolen, suffering severe physical damage — but the most critical injury of all was the war-inflicted trauma to the soul caused by the splitting and subsequent re-fusion of his true spirit.
With so many devastating injuries piled together, if the current Flame Throne — or rather
Moreover, the previous
Although Leylin had pulled a fast one on them, they were still "allies" after all. With their power weakened, what they needed now was a stable environment rather than hasty revenge.
Leylin believed that with old monster Melinda's cunning, the fellow should easily see this point.
Therefore, it was almost inevitable that the most radical faction of the Flame Throne would choose to keep a low profile and lie dormant going forward.
However, for Aofa and Jeffrey, the Flame Throne's stubbornness and its merciless attitude toward Wizards were deeply ingrained in their bones — something they simply could not adjust to overnight.
Watching them like this, Leylin couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing. Just at that moment, the sound of an infant's cry came drifting from within the castle.
"Wah! Wah!"
The loud crying reverberated eerily throughout the entire castle, heralding the extraordinary nature of this child…