Amidst the earth-shattering explosion, the Spear of Light managed to destroy the Abyssal Vortex, but its own radiance dimmed by more than half, its power greatly diminished.
Hain merely swayed, and more Abyssal Magic surged from every corner of the Dungeon, instantly healing his injuries and replenishing what he’d spent.
“Did you see that, Teresa?!”
Hain hovered within the recondensed bloody haze, laughing aloud. “No matter how strong your Divine Grace is, it has its limits! But here, my power is endless! What will you use to fight me?!”
“I am the true Child of the Divine Grace of the Preston Family!”
As he spoke, he pointed at Teresa, and Blood Red Tentacles with countless sharp spikes attacked her once more.
Teresa’s eyes sharpened. Her wings quivered, and she turned into a streak of white light, taking the initiative to attack.
At the same time, an Ice Sword formed in her hand again. Each slash froze the tentacles and spikes.
Her speed was too fast to be followed by the naked eye.
Her swordsmanship was exquisite, and her freezing magic perfectly countered the tentacles and spikes.
For a moment, she actually suppressed Hain.
“Damn it!”
Hain was both shocked and furious; Teresa’s strength exceeded his expectations. He immediately changed his strategy.
He no longer clashed head-on with Teresa but instead merged entirely with the Dungeon environment, using its complex terrain and ceaseless attacks to wear her down.
Countless pale crystals shot at her like a torrential rain, the ground constantly erupted with sharp stone pillars, and tentacles lurking in the shadows attacked from all directions, impossible to guard against.
Teresa’s wings shed radiance, dispersing the Abyssal Magic nearby, but the blood in her face was fading little by little, and her stamina was approaching its limits.
Pushing her Divine Grace to the fullest was already a huge strain on her body.
With the Divine Grace destined to run out, her defeat seemed inevitable.
Leanna and the others wanted to help, but the battle had far surpassed their abilities.
All they could do now was keep watch over Teresa’s back, preventing her from being ambushed.
However, after blocking a massive falling stone, Teresa’s movements faltered ever so slightly.
Hain, who had been waiting for an opportunity, seized the opening!
“Got you!”
He roared, lunging from the shadows behind Teresa, a fully demonized Claw viciously tearing at her radiant wings!
“Watch out!” Leanna and the others cried out in shock, helpless to intervene.
Sensing the danger, Teresa tried to dodge with a furious beat of her wings, but she was a moment too late!
Screee—!
With a tooth-aching ripping sound and a stifled groan of pain from Teresa, a huge section of her wing—made of flesh and feather—was torn off by Hain’s Claw!
Blood and broken feathers scattered, drifting to the ground before vanishing from sight.
The Divine Grace surrounding Teresa dimmed by more than half in an instant.
She staggered from the air, barely propping herself up with her Ice Sword.
Her face was pale as paper, and a streak of bright red blood oozed from the corner of her lips.
Her body was nearly at its breaking point. The backlash of the Divine Grace tormented her in agony.
“Hahahaha—!”
Hain hovered in the air, looking down at the weakened Teresa and let out the victorious roar of a conqueror. “I told you! You can’t beat me! Here, I am the true master!”
He raised his hand. Abyssal Magic gathered again, ready to deliver the final, fatal blow to Teresa and all present.
Kneeling on one knee, Teresa gazed up at the twisted demonic form, a hint of helplessness surfacing in her light blue eyes for the first time.
This was already her last resort, and yet, she could not defeat this demon, not even manage to stall for time…
Lady Isavel, perhaps she had truly let her down…
As she bit her lip, her heart set on death, ready to stand and fight Hain again, a cold and familiar voice suddenly echoed deep within her soul.
“Teresa.”
At the brink of collapse, Teresa’s spirit stirred. “Lady Isavel?!”
“Relax your will, and temporarily hand over control of your body to me.”
Isavel’s voice carried not a trace of emotion, yet brimmed with undeniable authority.
Teresa did not hesitate. In the face of absolute trust and desperation, she completely let go, welcoming that powerful will from above the Dungeon.
In an instant, she felt as if her soul was filled to the brim, supremely satisfied, while her sense of “self” was pushed to a corner of her consciousness, like a mere spectator.
Her body was taken over by another presence.
Outside, Leanna and the others stared in shock as Teresa’s gaze changed suddenly in midair.
The pain and determination in her pale blue eyes were replaced by a chilling coldness that seemed able to freeze souls.
The Divine Grace she radiated didn’t weaken, but now carried an undercurrent of absolute, terrifying majesty.
“She…” Aixi opened her mouth, feeling a chill run down her spine.
Guided by Isavel’s will, “Teresa” slowly raised her hand—not to conjure a Spear of Light, but to form a claw with five outstretched fingers.
The surging Divine Grace no longer tried to drive away the surrounding Abyssal Magic, but was instead wielded in a far subtler, more domineering manner.
“Hmph, courting death!”
“Teresa” spoke softly, but her words dripped with Isavel’s disdain.
Her gaze no longer locked onto Hain’s demonic form, but rather on the “heart” hidden beneath layers of flesh, forged from Abyssal Magic and the Dungeon’s power.
Her clawed hand suddenly clenched!
No thunderous display—but the demon Hain’s pupils shrank as he let out a screech of unimaginable agony.
He felt a power beyond comprehension and resistance, ignoring all his defenses and acting directly upon the very core of his being!
The Abyssal Magic surging around him turned chaotic and unraveled in an instant.
Tentacles stretching from every part of the Dungeon drooped lifelessly, and the falling ice crystals turned to dust midair.
“No! Impossible! I am the lord of the Dungeon! I am the true Child of the Divine Grace! How can you possibly harm me?!”
Hain’s voice trembled with terror and disbelief.
“Child of the Divine Grace? You’re nothing but a parasite, a tumor clinging to this place.”
Compared to Teresa, Isavel’s verdict was far more absolute and scathing.
She raised her hand again, pointing her index finger at Hain’s heart.
A golden ray formed of Divine Grace, entwined with shimmering magical energy, spanned the air in a flash, piercing all of Hain’s resistance and striking his Abyssal Heart with flawless precision.
Pcht!
The demon Hain spat a mouthful of blood, his massive body stiffening violently.
He looked down at the tiny hole in his chest, the madness and greed in his eyes rapidly fading to a lifeless gray.
“I… Child of the Divine Grace…”
He could not finish his final words.
The next moment, his body began to crumble from the heart outward, like a sand sculpture eroded by wind, fragmenting inch by inch and dissolving into a stream of Abyssal Magic that vanished into the air.
At the same time, the entire Dungeon began to tremble violently, stones falling from the dome above.
With the Abyssal Magic’s support lost, the Dungeon was now on the brink of collapse, but such collapse posed little trouble for the Rose Knights.
A few magical barriers were enough to ward off the falling debris. Seeing this, Isavel finally withdrew from Teresa’s soul, returning control of the body to her.
High above, Teresa regained her body, but seemed unable to react, letting herself continue to fall.
“Catch her!”
Leanna was the first to recover, rushing forward to catch the unconscious Teresa.
At this moment, Teresa’s face was pale as paper, her breathing faint.
Though the skin on her left shoulder—covered by feathers—had regained its fair color, the wounds had not faded, standing out like some kind of brand.
The surviving students of Galwin Magic Academy collapsed to the ground, their faces full of confusion and terror at having escaped disaster.
The Rose Knights quickly regrouped, carrying Teresa as they flew toward the entrance to the seventh level.
The Dungeon’s threat was gone for now, but everyone knew this was not the end.
Leanna and the others understood that Teresa had been controlled by Isavel in that moment.
But in a Dungeon saturated with Abyssal Magic, how had Isavel managed to reach in?
Did she pay any price?
When the Preston Family learned their Child of the Divine Grace had been “executed,” how would they respond?
If demons could appear so openly in a magical Dungeon, did it mean they could now appear in the human world as well?
If so, what kind of chaos awaited humanity?
Countless questions swirled in the girls’ minds. Leanna frowned, a burning urgency to grow stronger pressing her to look ever forward.
Outside the Dungeon, Isavel slowly withdrew her consciousness.
At the same time, the spatial rift before her closed slowly under the strenuous efforts of Robert and the others.
After her consciousness fully returned to her body, she wavered slightly before quickly steadying herself, only the slight quickening of her breath betraying that she had not emerged unscathed.
She looked toward the Dungeon entrance. In her deep eyes there was no joy—only profound contemplation.
“Clear the entrance. Prepare to receive them,” she said.
Her voice returned to its usual coolness, tinged with a hint of imperceptible fatigue. After speaking, she turned and walked away.
Academy Head Robert called out to her.
“Saintess, Galwin Magic Academy has lost this tournament.”
“As expected, isn’t it?”
Isavel paused and turned her head slightly, but Robert took no offense. Instead, he laughed heartily and nodded repeatedly.
Unlike those young academy tutors, Robert had always known who was superior between the Rose Knights and the students of Galwin Magic Academy.
If not, he wouldn’t have been so insistent on gaining the right to train the Rose Knights in the first place.
Of course, no matter how outstanding the Rose Knights were, in his eyes they still paled compared to the woman before him.
“I have only ever admired two people in my life. One is the goddess who, though high above, cares for humanity; the other is the sage who spread the spark of magic to all humankind.”
As he spoke, he looked at Isavel, stroking his beard with a smile. “Now, there’s a third.”
“I’m truly flattered.”
Understanding the meaning behind his words, Isavel covered her mouth and laughed.
“I’m more and more regretful I missed out on a magic genius like you all those years ago. If I’d known things would turn out like this, I’d have snatched you away from that old fool no matter what it took.”
Waving his hand, Robert turned back to the Dungeon entrance.
“Go on, let’s look forward to our next meeting.”
Without another word, Isavel vanished into the darkness with a single step. Carried with her was a faint scent of Lavender, and… a slight trace of blood.
Robert’s aged eyes fixed on the lingering Abyssal Magic above the Dungeon. At last, he couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh.
The Abyssal Magic’s suppression of the Dungeon had, in truth, never been truly broken.
They had only managed to open a tiny breach; the Abyssal Magic still exerted a terrifying stranglehold on the Dungeon.
And yet, under such circumstances, Isavel had unhesitatingly sent a sliver of her consciousness through the gap, descending into the Dungeon.
Doing so was tantamount to directly confronting the Abyssal Magic—the cost of which was truly dreadful.
No matter how calm Isavel appeared, she was surely grievously wounded.
At a time when demons roamed unchecked, this was extremely dangerous…
At this thought, Robert glanced around, reached into the air, and soon several Heart Pendants appeared in his palm.
“Academy Head?!”
Clutching their empty chests, several academy tutors looked on in shock, unsure why Robert would do this.
If those Heart Pendants were crushed, they would die!
Could it be—the Academy Head had been corrupted by demons?!
A terrible thought took root in their minds, chilling them to the bone. If Robert really betrayed humanity, then with no Saintess present, no one here could stop him.
But reality brought them immense relief.
“What happened today—keep it to yourselves.”
Robert put away all the Heart Pendants, snorting heavily. “If I find out anyone leaks this, hmph, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
Keeping these people quiet was the only way he could protect Saintess Isavel.
……
Temporary Encampment of the Rose Knights.
At this moment, the Rose Knights had yet to return from the Dungeon. In the military tent where the Saintess rested—
“Saintess? Why sacrifice yourself for the goddess? Even in the Abyss, you can still be the Saintess!”
“Are humans not sometimes more evil than demons?”
“As long as you merge with the Abyss, countless beings will heed your command!”
Isavel sat weakly in a chair, holding her head in one hand, using her own magic to suppress the Abyssal Whispers swirling in her mind.
After the whispers slowly faded, she coughed, wiped away the blood at the corner of her mouth, and looked down at the back of her right hand.
There, the mark of Abyssal Erosion resembled a bolt of lightning, burned into her skin in inky blackness.