She abruptly stopped, her body that had been preparing to dodge freezing in place.
“Eternal Ice Wall!”
Before her, Annabell gripped her staff tightly, pushing her magic power to its limits.
A massive wall of ice radiating chilling white mist rose from the ground like an indestructible shield, firmly blocking the path between her and Charlotte.
The golden dragon flame slammed violently into the ice wall.
The ultimate collision of ice and fire erupted in blinding light and a deafening roar.
A vast amount of steam immediately spread throughout the area.
The power of saint domain dragon flame was far too terrifying. Even with Annabell’s high mastery of ice magic, under the pure suppression of realm, the ice wall’s surface began to rapidly melt and crack.
“Hold strong!” Annabell’s silver hair whipped wildly, and her heterochromatic eyes, saturated with magic, shone with dazzling brilliance.
Clenching her teeth, she braced the staff firmly and refused to retreat a single step.
The immense recoil force traveled through the staff into her body.
Annabell let out a muffled grunt as her feet carved two deep furrows into the hard ground, pushing her back several meters against her will.
A thread of bright red blood slowly seeped from the corner of her pale lips, starkly striking against her pallid cheeks.
Amid the roaring and airwaves filling the sky, Charlotte, in her meditative state, kept her eyes tightly shut, but the intense vibrations and the sudden disturbance in Annabell’s magic aura clearly entered her perception.
Within Charlotte’s spiritual world, she seemed to see Annabell, alone and struggling, blocking that world-destroying sea of fire to protect her, even spitting blood in the pathetic and beautiful scene.
“Miss Annabell!”
At the same time, Charlotte’s heart felt as if it were being fiercely gripped by an invisible giant hand, aching so much she could barely breathe.
“I don’t want any magic! I have to help her!” In her spiritual world, Charlotte struggled wildly, trying to forcibly sever her connection to the green lotus ember and open her eyes to rush out.
“Girl! Don’t do anything stupid!”
Just then, the spiritual form of the kind yet stern old grandmother from within the jade pendant suddenly shouted in her mind, “You are at the most critical moment of soul fusion!”
“If you forcibly interrupt now, not only will this Ancient God’s ember go completely berserk and burn you to ashes, but the little girl next to you will also be caught up and die!”
“But she’s bleeding! She didn’t dodge because she was protecting me!” Charlotte’s soul trembled, her voice carrying a desperate sob.
“That’s exactly why you cannot give up!” The old grandmother’s voice was filled with unyielding firmness.
“She is using her life to buy you time! The only thing you can do now is discard all distractions and complete the assimilation as quickly as possible! Only if you succeed will her injuries and blood not be in vain!”
Charlotte’s body shook violently.
She bit her lip hard, forcing down the heart-wrenching worry and pain.
‘Wait for me! Miss Annabell! Wait for me! I will not betray your sacrifice!’ Charlotte swore a blood oath in her heart, pouring all her soul power unreservedly into that soulfire.
Inside the main hall.
“Hahaha! Weren’t you very arrogant? You hard-mouthed ant, when faced with real power, you still spit blood like a dog!” Seeing Annabell injured, Charles was almost ecstatic, letting out a disgusting laugh.
Annabell casually wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. Not only was there no fear, but the light in her heterochromatic eyes grew even colder. She looked at Charles, her smile widening to the extreme.
“Is this the old emperor’s trump card? This is saint domain dragon flame? Charles, are you heating up milk for me? You can’t even break my student’s defense, and you still have the nerve to laugh so loudly? If I were you, I would have already rammed my head into the wall!”
“You’re asking for it!!!”
Charles went completely mad from this extremely insulting remark. His eyes bloodshot, he desperately issued orders for continuous attacks to the dragon soul.
“Dragon soul, use your ultimate move now!”
Dragon claws, dragon breath, dragon’s might, dragon god dive, inverse scales, dragon pulse—all poured down like a storm on Annabell’s position.
The entire main hall trembled violently under the ravaging of this absolute power, as if it could collapse at any moment.
Within the storm of ice and fire, Annabell struggled to maintain her defense.
‘That ‘absolute defense’ from the System is indeed useful, and that nine dragons pulling coffin taboo spell can also deal with that mud eel…’ Annabell maintained her magic while quickly weighing options in her mind.
‘But if I pull out those effortless trump cards and easily one-shot this dragon, then the bitter act I just put on would have been for nothing. How can I make Charlotte experience that extreme tragic feeling of someone throwing away their life for her?’
To max out the affection level in one go and firmly secure this Heaven’s Chosen Daughter’s heart, a glint of madness flashed in Annabell’s eyes. ‘If you want the cub, you have to take risks. Since I’m acting, I’ll put on a show that everyone will remember for a lifetime!’
With a thought, Annabell resolutely abandoned using the System’s rewards.
She slowly closed her truth magic eye and crossed her hands over her chest.
The next moment, an ancient, obscure incantation slowly chanted from her red lips.
It was not any known magic spell—it was the deepest and most terrifying forbidden seal within the Trandi Ducal Family bloodline!
[Call forth the soul of the First Holy Archmage King]!
This was the ultimate trump card passed down through generations of the ducal family. Once the bloodline seal was unlocked and the ancestor’s soul was awakened, the caster’s magic power would surge.
But the price was also extremely painful: the powerful ancestor’s soul would instantly overwhelm the caster’s consciousness, making her completely lose reason and degenerate into a war machine that only knew slaughter!
This was also the second phase of Annabell as the final boss of the game! Although her attacks would lose all order, her magic power would skyrocket!
Purely a stat monster!
As the incantation was chanted, the ice-blue magic within Annabell’s body suddenly began to churn violently like boiling water!
Even the constantly attacking dragon soul couldn’t help but take a step back.
“What is that?! What’s happening?!” The triumphant smile on Charles’s face froze.
Annabell’s eyes snapped open.
Her level directly jumped from 7 to 8! Though 7 and 8 were only one level apart, the difference in combat power was like heaven and earth!
Where her originally clear red-and-blue heterochromatic eyes had been, two extremely complex golden magic arrays now appeared.
Her long silver hair danced wildly in the turbulent magical currents. The raging magic materialized, cloaking the girl like the most splendid robe of office!
“That is…”
Rosalind from afar saw that phantom figure, and her pupils instantly contracted.
As the Holy Maiden of the Church, she had read widely and immediately recognized that terrifying secret art from the legends.
“That is the Trandi Ducal Family’s bloodline taboo! She actually awakened the soul of the first archmage king?! She’s crazy?! This is an irreversible taboo! Once used, she will completely lose her mind!” Rosalind exclaimed.
“What? Lose her mind?!”
Charles’s face turned deathly pale as he stared at Annabell, finally realizing what kind of monster he had provoked.
And behind Annabell,
Charlotte, who was in the final stage of assimilation, still could not open her eyes, but she clearly sensed the drastic change in Annabell’s aura.