A massive red pillar of light shot straight up into the sky from the ruins behind everyone.
The fallen angel’s raised hand froze midair.
“That was quite a close call.”
Smoke and dust slowly began to scatter to both sides.
Ailiya stood in the middle of the ruins, her right hand tightly gripping that sword. The original color of the blade was now impossible to make out.
The fire burning on the edge of the blade was no longer purple-black, but had turned into a pure, thorough white.
That was the sight of Battle Qi compressed to its absolute limit.
Her entire face was covered in blood.
Yet a smile still hung at the corner of her lips—that was the fighting spirit passed down through generations of the Sword Saint family, the will to ignite even when cornered.
She raised her left hand, and five fingers condensed a magic curse seal.
Hum.
Using the tip of Ailiya’s toes as the center, crimson light patterns pushed outward in all directions.
They slowly crawled across the scorched black ground, climbed up the broken stone pillars, and covered the entire bloody battlefield.
Those veins of magma, like blood vessels sprouting from the earth, followed the guidance of the light patterns, turning the entire battlefield into a burning sea of molten rock.
The base of the angel statue in the sky was swallowed whole by the magma. The black wings began to melt under the intense heat, dripping black liquid downward drop by drop.
“Red Lotus Burning Sky Domain.”
“Domain Expansion.”
A silver dragon, Seraphina, Lina—everyone was protected inside.
A crimson light shield expanded outward with her at the center, enveloping the three of them. Inside the shield, it was as warm as spring; outside the shield was a blazing hell.
The fallen angel’s pupils contracted sharply.
She looked at the red-haired woman standing in the middle of the magma, and at the blood-colored sky behind her that was being devoured by flames.
“Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”
Ailiya raised her sword and pointed it straight at the fallen angel.
“Took a little time to build up the energy.”
“After all, this is the first time I’ve used this move in actual combat.”
A wild, unrestrained smile curled at the corner of her lips.
“Ready?”
“Next—it’s my turn.”
The fallen angel hovered in midair. The cold blue patterns of the Dark Wing Fallen Extreme Light domain and the crimson patterns of the Red Lotus clashed violently in the sky.
Two completely different rules tore at each other at the boundary, erupting into a blinding white light that even ripped black cracks in the surrounding space.
The angel statue behind Shirley slowly rotated its six wings. Countless black light arrows began to gather again, but this time, instead of raining down like a storm, they converged from all directions into several dozen enormous dark light orbs.
This was one of the core rules of Dark Wing Fallen Extreme Light—Absolute Hit.
Once a target was locked by the statue, no matter how fast they ran, it would pursue and strike them.
But the moment the first dark light orb crashed into the Red Lotus domain, it didn’t pass through. It didn’t even make a sound, as expected.
The moment it touched the edge of the Red Lotus flame, it was burned clean from the inside out by the pure high temperature, leaving not even ash behind.
Immediately after, the second, the tenth, countless orbs surged forward at once.
Within the rules of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, the dark magic power simply couldn’t maintain itself, leaving not even ash behind.
Like moths to a flame, they exploded one after another on the surface of the Red Lotus domain’s light shield, and were instantly incinerated.
The fallen angel’s pupils contracted slightly.
A flicker of change passed through her pale golden eyes—a warrior’s instinct, making a judgment in an instant.
Ailiya Lieyan’s flame was not ordinary Battle Qi fire, but a rule-based fire that could directly burn dark energy.
When dark energy entered this strange flame field, it would be rapidly decomposed and transformed into magic power to nourish Ailiya.
“Is this the Flame Family’s secret technique? I need more data to fully analyze it. This information is important.”
But Ailiya wasn’t going to give her time to analyze.
The Red Lotus flame came to life, surging outward and taking the offensive.
The crimson light patterns climbed backward along the cold blue patterns of the Dark Wing Fallen Extreme Light, turning those patterns that had once been used to erode others into burning fuel instead.
The Dark Wing Fallen Extreme Light was mentally linked to the angel statue.
The fallen angel’s body trembled slightly. Every time the statue was damaged, it would backfire and drain her mental energy.
She tried to raise a hand to forcefully construct a new light shield, but the Red Lotus flame coiled up along her fingertips, burning the cold blue light in her palm to nothing.
After Ailiya’s Red Lotus domain swallowed the angel statue, the basic rules maintaining this battlefield began to collapse.
The sky shattered like a broken mirror.
The fallen angel stood in her original place, looking at her empty palm.
She lowered her head and glanced at the burn mark on the back of her hand, then raised her head to look at Ailiya.
“That’s about enough.”
Ailiya’s sword paused.
“Your strength is considerable, but you’ve already expended most of your Battle Qi.”
“Everyone sent by the Silver Dragon Clan is wounded.”
“Seraphina’s holy light magic power is nearly overdrawn as well.”
“My mission from the start was never to kill you.”
“The teleportation is complete. I have executed my master’s orders.”
“I’ve finished collecting your combat data. Your fighting strength cannot stop my master’s plan. You might as well give up now. There’s no need to risk your lives for this.”
She raised her hand and traced a line in the air with her five fingers.
A black crack tore open in the space behind her. Inside was an abyss with not a single ray of light.
Ailiya’s pupils tightened sharply.
Opening a teleport within someone else’s domain—that required the caster’s understanding of spatial rules to far exceed that of the domain’s owner.
The Red Lotus Burning Sky she had exerted all her strength to expand couldn’t even lock down space in front of this fallen angel.
“Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”
The fallen angel gave them one last look.
Finally, her gaze rested on Ailiya.
She turned around and stepped into the crack.
Ailiya kept her sword raised, motionless.
Frustrating.
Too frustrating.
I built up strength for so long, burned the source of my Battle Qi, expanded the domain, turned the entire battlefield into magma, and the enemy just opened a teleport and left.
Like punching a ball of cotton—not even an echo.
She didn’t say anything out loud, but in her heart, she kept turning it over and over: This fight was really pathetic. I finally pulled out all my trump cards, and the other side just refused to fight. Isn’t that maddening?
“Fighting someone like that really doesn’t spark any passion.”
She muttered that quietly in the end.