"Darkness? What darkness? Wasn't Lombarton's conspiracy already thwarted?"
Veilin's mind was filled with confusion, but he had no time to dwell on it. Instead, he quickly half-lifted Ailin into his arms, preparing to treat his wounds.
Thin threads of green light shot from Veilin's fingertips, sinking into the horrifying wound on Ailin's body, stanching the blood and rapidly regenerating the muscle tissue.
"Ailin, Ailin! Are you alright? Hang in there!" Veilin kept calling out, tears streaming down from the corners of his eyes.
"Lombarton! Lord Lombarton is dead!"
Meanwhile, in the center of the arena, the Revolution Army and Dark Elves, having lost their leader, had fallen into chaos.
"Cough, cough..." Ailin coughed violently and opened his eyes.
"Am... am I still alive?"
"Of course. You're going to be my future Great Divination
"Oh! No!" Ailin suddenly began to struggle violently.
"What's wrong?" Veilin hurriedly and clumsily helped him up.
"The danger is far from gone — it's right beside us!" Ailin's expression grew increasingly terrified. "He... he is..."
*Clap! Clap! Clap!* A round of loud applause rang out, and with it, a Wizard wearing luxurious black robes — every movement carrying an indescribable majesty and elegance — slowly appeared in their field of vision.
"As expected of the Holy Light Candle Fire. Now that you've reached the Second Rank, even I can no longer block your perception!"
"Lord Leilin!!! You're not..." Veilin's heart leaped with joy when he saw Leilin, but then he instinctively looked toward the nine sculptures in the center.
"Just an Eternal Ice Seal — how could it possibly hold me?" Leilin smiled indifferently. Not only had he already learned the general outline of Lombarton's plan through Osney, but even without that, with his terrifying strength and the frost modifications his body had previously undergone, escaping would have been nothing more than a simple matter.
*Crack!* As if to confirm Leilin's words, one of the nine ice sculptures immediately shattered, revealing a Shadow Servant inside.
The puppet quickly vanished into thin air.
"Wh-what's going on? Ah! Ha ha... ha ha... I understand, Lord Leilin! You were just playing a joke on us, weren't you?"
Veilin was still forcing a smile on his face, but the unease within him had intensified to its limit.
"A joke? Oh! Yes, I used to enjoy joking with you, but not today. I was simply so excited by your performance that I couldn't help but join in myself!"
Leilin snapped his fingers!
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* Brilliant flashes of wizardry erupted as large numbers of Wizards wearing Alliance of Nature attire emerged from beneath the arena floor, under the seats, and even from the gaps in the shadows. These Wizards had their Spiritual Power and mana fully preserved — the moment they entered the field, they began a massacre. Whether Dark Elves or Dark Pole Wizards, they all fell before them, unstoppable in their advance.
"Begin the second seal reinforcement!"
Yilun, at the forefront, immediately flung out a scroll.
*Buzz!!* Terrifying waves of energy spread outward as an even larger magical array emerged from the center of the arena and reinforced the original Spider Cocoon.
"Why? Lord Leilin?"
Veilin kept retreating, his expression on the verge of collapse.
"You're a senior Wizard of the Dark Pole domain, and... you were my idol. Why..."
"No particular reason. After directing a show for so long, it's only right to step out and wrap it up myself!" A wicked smile played at the corner of Leilin's lips.
"A show? What show?" Veilin didn't dare follow that thought any further.
"A farce starring a foolish hero and a pack of idiot Wizards!"
Leilin smiled faintly and pointed a finger at Veilin's neck!
Scalding! Blistering!
Veilin instantly felt something on his neck radiate a terrifying temperature, enough to penetrate his armor and sear through his skin and muscle.
*Pfft!* A stream of golden light shot from Veilin's neck and flew back into Leilin's hand.
It was a strange gold coin — one side bore a Lucky Bird, the other a skull, with intricate patterns and designs along the edges.
"This is the gold coin you gave me. Was it all planned from the very beginning?" Veilin said with a bitter laugh.
"No! I had no such intention back in Butler Town, but on the road to the Eastern Capital, after discovering you were a Chosen of Destiny, I set this plan in motion!"
Leilin looked at the gold coin in his hand, and for once, a trace of excitement appeared on his face.
"Ha ha... you're all liars! Every last one of you!"
Veilin laughed wildly, silver light blazing from his body as he charged forward with the Fallen Longsword.
*Bang!* A fist carrying terrifying force slammed into his cheek, sending the Fallen Longsword flying from his grip. Veilin's entire body was sent hurtling backward.
And in midair, his Reinforced Armor finally gave way, separating from him with a sharp snap.
"Your destiny was to compete with Lombarton for the title of victor in this reform. But once Lombarton died, how should I put this... you're no longer useful to Destiny. So now, stripped of Destiny's favor, you're nothing more than a dead dog to me..."
Leilin struck at Veilin without mercy.
And indeed it was so. Before Veilin had completed his destined mission, had Leilin tried to act, he had a premonition that irresistible factors and obstacles would inevitably arise in the process.
But now? Everything was no longer an issue.
This was precisely why many heroes, after achieving fame and glory, could never venture forth again and instead retired to the countryside, fading into obscurity.
"
*Whoosh!* At that moment, a streak of light also shot from Ailin's ring, floating before him — the wise Grand Wizard
"Little Ailin, what did you promise me back then?"
"I promised that in addition to gathering all your fragments, I would also do one thing for you!" On Ailin's face appeared terror, horror, and anguish.
"Then now, I demand that you return the Holy Light Candle Fire to me!!!"
Merlin's voice was perfectly calm, but it turned Ailin's face deathly pale. "Grandpa Merlin, I've always regarded you as my own grandfather..."
"But at the moment you advanced to the Second Rank, you figured it out, didn't you?" Merlin's phantom kept shifting, ultimately taking on the form of Leilin.
"So it was all... everything — receiving the inheritance, cultivating the Holy Light Candle Fire, meeting Venus — it was all your doing?"
Ailin turned to look at Leilin, his pupils dead and ashen.
"In the beginning, yes. But I didn't anticipate the final melodrama either. It seems the mental issues of the Holy Light Candle Fire still need to be resolved." Leilin's voice was ice-cold. "As for now — hand it over!"
"Ahhhh!"
The moment Leilin's voice fell, Ailin felt as though his sea of consciousness had been sliced open by a blade, something being forcibly extracted from within.
This pain, so horrific it surpassed the limits of the physical body, sent him rolling across the ground, his face twisted into something ghastly.
Then Ailin felt it — the Spiritual Power of the Holy Light Candle Fire that he had painstakingly cultivated to its current state was being completely drained away.
Threads of pale silver Spiritual Power spiraled into a vortex in midair, and with his Meditation Method gone, Ailin's aura plummeted — from the Second Rank down to the First Rank, and finally back to the rank of Apprentice.
"The Spiritual Power of the Holy Light Candle Fire!" The smile on Leilin's face widened further.
"The vessel that has followed the Child of Destiny on his journey!" Leilin intoned in an almost lyrical manner.
And beneath his deep, resonant tones, the Coin of Destiny began to emit a thin layer of light, hovering in midair.
"An enormous quantity of Destiny Force, along with the complete foundation and Spiritual Power of the Holy Light Candle Fire Meditation Method — shattered and then reconstituted!"
Leilin drew a crystal brimming with golden liquid from within his robes and tossed it into the Meditation Method vortex.
Immediately! A silver-white flame suddenly ignited from the center of the vortex.
"And three broken, unwilling souls!"
The smile on Leilin's face grew even broader as two objects flew from Ailin's robes.
One was a tattered notebook, the other a multicolored necklace. Upon each of these two objects, a phantom flickered ceaselessly.
"Venus! Venus!" Ailin struggled desperately toward them, and on the multicolored necklace, he saw the face of his beloved — only now, Venus's expression kept shifting: tenderness, coldness, madness...
"You come too!" Leilin thrust out a finger, and Ailin's head burst apart like a watermelon.
His black ring also flew into the air, forming a triangular magical array with the other two objects.
"With a great quantity of Soul Fragments as the foundation, the Holy Light Candle Fire Meditation Method as the core, and then infused with a massive amount of Destiny Force..."
Leilin's voice grew ever more fervent.
And amid the incantation, the triangular array and the Meditation Method vortex drew closer and closer, emitting soft sounds of compressing air.
"Ahhhhh..." Veilin roared and charged forward once more, but before he could get close, the shockwave sent him flying.
"Seal!!!"
All the profound and esoteric ancient incantations finally condensed into just two short characters.
*Whoosh! Whoosh!* A colossal vortex formed, carrying the Meditation Method and the triangular array, compressing them like a funnel and injecting everything into the Coin of Destiny.
When it was all over, the surface of the Coin of Destiny flickered with light, yet seemed to have undergone no change at all.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Leilin let the coin float in midair. With a beckoning gesture, the Fallen Longsword flew into his hand of its own accord.
"You went through all of that just for these two things?"
Veilin looked even more wretched now, his eyes burning with a fire-like intensity.