Iyue opened her eyes and found her vision dyed crimson.
An unbearable, searing pain coursed through her entire body, proof that she was still alive… while the deafening explosions ringing out around her reminded her that the battle was far from over.
Her first instinct was to grab the weapon that had fallen beside her— the longbow “Flowing Wind” was a relic, so even if every bone in her body shattered, its frame would never break.
She clutched the bow and pulled herself to her feet… then looked up at the battlefield in the sky.
This was the Demon King’s castle. Above those towering obsidian spires hung a black sun.
That sun was constantly belching pitch-black flames into its surroundings.
The fire seemed to carry no heat at first glance, but even a single spark falling triggered a massive explosion that nearly sent the tower she was standing on flying.
She had barely survived by throwing up a Mana Barrier to block the shockwave… but as a half-elf, her magic power wasn’t as strong as that of pure-blooded High Elves, so the barrier she formed was naturally lacking in strength.
Her bones had fractured and shattered from the impact, and her head was also injured. Blood streamed down, tinting her vision red.
As she cast Healing Magic on herself, she climbed atop the rubble of the collapsed tower and gazed into the Demon King Castle’s courtyard.
There, she saw her companions. Amid the relentless rain of black flames, Sage Saifei had erected a Barrier. Under its protection, Holy Maiden Linxi was praying, her face pale.
She was using her “Miracle.” The reason Iyue could stand now was that Linxi was amplifying everyone’s recovery and self-healing abilities.
Through the bursting waves of flame, Iyue saw the Barrier’s light growing dimmer… while new magic circles constantly formed around Saifei’s small body.
Iyue knew she was repairing the damaged Barrier. Just then, a thunderous roar shook the heavens above.
It was the roar of a dragon. Iyue looked up and saw a golden meteor streaking across the dark clouds.
It was Dragon King Laide, his wings spread wide. He charged toward the black sun with overwhelming magic power—
And collided with the pillar of black flames that erupted to meet him.
Iyue threw herself flat, gripping the cracks between the stones to avoid being blown away by the shockwave.
When she stood back up, she saw the golden dragon plummeting, its massive body covered in black flames, crushing a quarter of the courtyard.
The black sun still hung high in the sky. Iyue channeled magic into her bloodshot eyes, letting her vision pierce through the darkness that seemed to absorb all light, and saw what lay within—
A pitch-black girl floated at the center of the black sun, her arm extended forward.
Iyue saw that in the direction she pointed, a woman was wrapped in flames of the same color.
That was Kui Yin. The flames coiled around her like vipers, trapping her in place.
Her body was constantly burned to ash by the extreme heat, only to be reconstructed by the Blood Demon Primogenitor’s incredible regenerative ability—
She was nearly impossible to kill. But that pitch-black girl’s methods were undeniably draining the magic power she used for regeneration, bit by bit.
Iyue knew Kui Yin couldn’t hold out long under these conditions.
And the youth who shot into the sky wrapped in crimson flames, colliding with the black sun, knew it too.
“Let her go!”
Hero Lian En charged at his sworn enemy, the Demon King.
The Holy Sword of Blazing Flames in his hand severed and cut through the black flames falling toward him, then struck the shell of the black sun.
Red and black flames clashed. The black sun’s position in the sky finally shifted slightly.
Cracks appeared in the darkness, like cracks in an eggshell.
The Demon King within the black sun smiled, delighted that her destined foe had finally been able to shake her defenses.
At that moment, she released her magic power without restraint, blasting Lian En and the Holy Sword of Blazing Flames away.
Iyue saw Lian En crash through several towers… and the cracks in the black sun, which served as the Demon King’s Mana Barrier, rapidly closed, returning to their original state in the blink of an eye.
What a despairing situation. Yet amid this hopelessness, that man still rose from the ruins.
To save his comrade, he once again flew forward, sword in hand—
And was once again blasted away.
Watching all this, Iyue felt a dazed sense of confusion.
How many more times could the Hero stand up? How many more times could the Primogenitor regenerate? What about the Dragon King, burned by those horrible flames? How long could the Sage’s Barrier hold, and how long could the Holy Maiden’s prayer continue?
“I… have to do something.”
That was the answer Iyue arrived at after a brief thought. She had the weakest magic power in the Brigade.
The Demon King’s attacks had never targeted her directly. She was only slightly grazed by the explosions, and even then, she was severely wounded.
But that didn’t mean she had no means to break this desperate situation.
She reached into her torn and bloodstained cloak, pulled out a box, and from that box took a handful of wooden sticks. There were six in total. She poured her magic power into them.
Under the influence of her magic, the sticks gradually elongated, transforming into six arrows.
The arrowheads glimmered with a violet light… This was another relic she possessed: “Demon Bullet.”
She climbed the rubble to a high vantage point. As she set an arrow to her bow, the longbow, whose bowstring had snapped long ago, miraculously regenerated a new string of light formed from condensed magic.
She nocked a Demon Bullet… The sensation of her magic power draining felt like blood loss.
Would one be enough? This arrow had once shattered the Demon Spirit Duke’s “Silence,” but against the Demon King…?
As that doubt crossed her mind, she nocked a second Demon Bullet.
This time, she felt as if all her strength had been sucked away.
Standing was barely possible. In her flickering vision, she saw Lian En forced back once again by the surging black flames.
There was only one chance. I must stake everything… my everything.
And so Iyue nocked a third Demon Bullet.
“Ah.”
She felt as if she were floating… Her mind went blank. It was as if her soul had left her body.
From a third-person perspective, she watched herself draw the longbow, her eyes empty.
Pull.
Her soul let out a silent roar, commanding her body.
Aim at the target. Release.
As the three Demon Bullets tore through the air, her body collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
She had made one wish for all three—
Please, pierce the Demon King.
The speed of the flying Demon Bullets surpassed anything in this world… Before Lian En’s charge could reach the black sun again, they had already pierced through its shell.
The smile on the Demon King’s face vanished. She saw three holes appear in her barrier, in her chest.
The black sun collapsed. And for the first time, Lian En closed in on her… She was forced to halt the spell burning Kui Yin and block the incoming Holy Sword.
Boom!
The clash of magic once again drove Lian En back… The Demon King, hovering in the air, staggered.
For the first time, she turned her gaze to someone other than the Hero—
Ah. I see. You used that thing… Number Fourteen…
Iyue knew she was looking at her. It felt as if she could see straight into her soul.
May you never need to use the last one… for no matter where you point it, it will pierce the soul of the one you love most.
Leaving behind that warning, the Demon King slowly fell from the sky… And Iyue awoke from her long dream.