Seraphina had lost count of how many times she had gotten back up.
Her holy light scepter had long since slipped from her hand, rolling somewhere into the pile of rubble.
The once-pristine white ceremonial robe was now completely soaked through with blood.
Around her, five platinum-rank magic beasts had formed a fan shape, slowly closing in.
And directly in front of her stood the Undead Knight, clad in full black heavy armor.
It raised the horse-slaying blade in its hand. A black mist coiled around the blade.
The knight’s armor was badly damaged, with many gaps exposing the charred black bones beneath.
But in its eye sockets, ghostly green flames burned.
Seraphina’s breathing was ragged. A burning sensation filled her lungs.
One or several ribs were probably broken.
Her left shoulder could not move at all.
Her magic power was nearly exhausted.
She reached only one conclusion:
She might not escape today.
‘Yisela…!’
She clenched her teeth and forced the last flicker of holy light from her body.
A golden glow appeared in her palm, weak as a candle flame about to go out in the wind.
But at least she could still stand.
‘I have to!’ ‘I have to go back…!’
‘She’s still waiting for me to come back!’
Just then, a slight opening appeared in the encirclement.
Two of the magic beasts shifted a small step sideways, jostling for position.
That left a narrow gap between them.
This was a chance!
Seraphina’s eyes lit up. She forced the last remnants of holy light power.
Golden light exploded from beneath her feet, and her body shot forward like an arrow, straight for the gap.
But just as she was about to break through, the two beasts’ lips curled into eerie smiles.
It was a trap.
Seraphina’s pupils contracted sharply.
She tried to stop, to turn, to retreat—but the forward momentum had already carried her into the trap.
And the Undead Knight was ready.
Roar—!!
The Undead Knight let out a deafening roar. The armor on its chest suddenly split open, revealing a skull face wreathed in blue flames. A vast darkness surged out.
Dark Quake: Soul Shatter!
Ugh—!
Seraphina felt as if a red-hot iron rod had been shoved into her brain.
It was a tearing sensation from the deepest part of her soul.
Her vision blurred, and the sounds around her turned into a piercing buzz.
Her foot stumbled, and she pitched forward.
The dark quake continued.
Wave after wave.
She felt her consciousness shattering bit by bit.
Then the five platinum-rank magic beasts moved.
As if this was their signal, they all pounced the moment the dark quake struck Seraphina.
The fastest, the extreme shadow leopard, attacked first.
It became a black lightning bolt, appearing instantly behind Seraphina.
Its tail, like a steel whip, lashed across her waist with a shriek that tore the air.
Bam!
Seraphina’s body was knocked flying.
She slammed heavily into the rock wall behind her. The hard stone cracked, and rubble rained down, burying her half under the debris.
Cough…!! Ptoo!
A large mouthful of blood sprayed from her lips, staining the front of her clothes.
Her internal organs felt as if they had been turned inside out. Each breath brought a knife-like pain.
But before she could catch her breath, the remaining four magic beasts’ attacks landed.
Flames, frost, venom, and wind blades.
All four different attributes struck her without reservation.
Fire scorched her hair ends, ice froze the skin of her left arm, venom corroded the flesh exposed beneath her torn robe, and wind blades carved fine, dense cuts across her body.
Rip.
The already ruined robe shattered completely from the blast, revealing her skin covered in scars and bruises.
She lay sprawled in the rubble, fingers groping beside her.
Her weapon had long been knocked somewhere—she could not find it.
She could grasp nothing.
So cold.
She curled up in the pile of stones, her body trembling uncontrollably.
It wasn’t the cold of the weather.
‘Yisela…!’
The name came again.
The brat who always stood with her hands on her hips, looking arrogant, but secretly slipped her healing ointments when she was hurt.
Where was she now?
Was she safe?
Was she hurt?
Seraphina didn’t know.
She only knew one thing: she might not make it to find out.
Heh heh heh…!
The Undead Knight Commander strode forward with unhurried, deliberate steps.
Black mist spread beneath its feet, and the rubble it passed turned a dark purple.
“What a perfect body!” “What a pure soul!”
The Undead Knight slowly raised its withered hand.
A purple-black rune condensed at its fingertip.
The rune twisted and swelled in the air, exuding a deathly aura.
“Become the master’s puppet. That will be your final glory.”
Undead Seal: Transformation!
The purple-black rune traced an eerie arc through the air and plunged into the wound on Seraphina’s chest.
Aah—!!
She let out a scream.
She felt her blood turning cold.
‘No!’
She struggled in her heart, but the darkness was too strong.
‘I don’t want this!’ ‘I don’t want to become…!’
She thought of the Undead Knight.
That creature had once been human, too.
It had a name, memories, people it cared about.
Now it had nothing left.
Just a moving empty shell, a puppet enslaved by another.
‘Will I become that too?’ ‘A mindless puppet.’ ‘And then forget Yisela?’ ‘Forget everyone?’
Fear.
Deeper than the pain was fear.
The fear that Seraphina herself would vanish from this world entirely.
‘I don’t want that!’
She wanted to shout, to struggle, to use her last strength to force the black runes out of her body.
But her body no longer obeyed.
The purple-black runes spread from her chest up to her neck, creeping onto her face.
She could feel her consciousness fading bit by bit.
Her eyes felt hot, but she had no more tears to shed.
‘Forget it.’
She closed her eyes.
‘What’s the point of thinking about all this?’
The purple-black runes had climbed across her cheek.
Just as her last wisp of awareness was about to vanish, she saw a light.
Far, far away at the edge of the sky.
A red dot.
Very small, very distant.
‘What is… that?’
The dot grew larger.
Every time she blinked, it expanded.
Like a massive fireball approaching at terrifying speed.
Crimson red.
The color grew thicker and brighter.
As if someone had lit a new sun on the horizon.
‘Is this… a hallucination?’
Seraphina’s consciousness was too blurry to tell what was real and what was not.
But she stared fixedly at that point of light.
It grew from a star into a fist, from a fist into a wheel, and finally into a pillar of crimson light.
Wherever it passed, the air ignited, the clouds evaporated.
Its landing point—struck precisely on top of the Undead Knight!
Flame Secret Art: Blazing Skyfall!
Boom—!!!
In that instant, Seraphina heard nothing.
She only felt a terrifying wave of heat surge past her.
The blast sent her hair flying backward.
Rocks exploded under the high temperature, and the air roared as it expanded violently.
The Undead Knight was blasted away.
A deep, smoking, charred crater appeared in the ground.
Seraphina’s pupils contracted.
That light.
It wasn’t a hallucination.
The smoke slowly cleared.
Through the lingering gunpowder and heat haze, she saw a red figure.
Long red hair streaming in the air, every strand like ignited flame.
In her hand, a standard-issue sword picked up from somewhere.
Ailiya Lieyan stood there.
Her crimson eyes swept over the five platinum-rank magic beasts.
All five froze, not daring to move.
It was a suppression of rank—the instinctual fear that creatures at the higher end of the food chain imposed on those below.
Ailiya looked away.
As if they were five pieces of trash not worth a second glance.
Then she turned her head and looked at Seraphina, covered in blood.
A roguish smile curled at the corner of her stern face.
“Long time no see, Your Holiness the Saintess.”
“Next time you cry, remember to look up.”
“After all, my attacks might accidentally hit a teammate.”