Chapter 137

{A/N : If you want to support me or read more chapters in advanced consider becoming a patreón: patreón.com/keetarp and if you want to join the discord server: https://discord.gg/5TjDmwUWuG}

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At this moment, the nine judges were trapped. The rank 2 Magi were already the most powerful in this entire competition area.

The result of Baelin and Longbottom's match could even decide the life or death of all the Magi here!

Hence, even while battling with the revolution army and dark elves, many Magi tried to spare some energy and watch the battle.

What attracted their interest the most were the nine ice sculptures on the platform!

These Magi knew very well that a small part of their chances of survival depended on Baelin, while most of it depended on whether these rank 2 Magi could break out of their restrictions.

Even Longbottom would be reduced to dust under the combined attacks of nine rank 2 Magi.

"Cough! Wake up, my lords!"

At this moment, light flashed in a corner and a grey-haired Magus appeared.

He mumbled spell incantations, a huge blazing fireball striking the nine sculptures and turning the podium made of gold and silver into a sea of fire.

This Magus despaired as he saw the flames soon dying out under a layer of white frost. Dense icy mist lingered and froze the whole podium into ice and snow.

Meanwhile, not even a corner of the nine ice sculptures had melted.

"What a waste of energy. This is the icy air from the abyss and is a rank 2 spell which can be sustained for a long time." Longbottom watched on and began to laugh coldly.

Without waiting for his orders, a few dark elf special guards in black-robes charged forward and began to battle with the Magus in grey robes. Not long after, a sharp dagger pierced into his chest.

After seeing this, the many Magi who had plans to rescue him all fell silent, putting away all thoughts of rescuing the judges.

Most of them wanted to break away from their opponents and successfully leave this place.

At this moment, the battles in the area became more brutal and intense.

Outside the competition area, everything had yet to die down.

*Teng! Teng! Teng! Teng!*

At the horizon far away, a black line suddenly appeared. It gradually closed in and the two ends began to shrink, and it felt like the line would surround the whole competition area.

When the black shadows came closer, it could be seen that they were actually the elite Underground Winter Spider knights. There were a great number of dark elven Magi, which included multiple matriarchs and even Anya, The Rank 3 Elven Queen.

"Seal off that area and don't let any human get away" Anya commanded, and then pointed at the cocoon in the middle, a gentle voice transmitted to every knight's ears.

"Fight for Her Majesty!" "Fight for Her Majesty!"

The many dark elven Underground Winter Spider knights cheered and then began their attacks.

"Prepare for Joint Earth Pitfalls Spell! Begin!"

At this moment, brownish-yellow lights flashed and countless depressions appeared in front of the Underground Winter Spider knights. They were like long trenches, with earthen spikes piercing upwards and stopping the knights in their tracks.

There were a few knights who had moved too quickly and fallen into the trench, their chests, arms, thighs, and even faces pierced through like skewered meat. Those who had yet to die kept howling in pain.

Three figures appeared in mid-air, causing Anya to furrow her brow slightly.

"The protectors of the east, west, and south have all arrived. What about that old Guardian of the Realm?"

"I'm right here. I wouldn't need you to worry about me!"

Green light flashed, and the the old protector appeared before Anya. Though he seemed weak and did not have much of an aura, Anya looked as if a great enemy had appeared in front of her.

"I didn't expect you, Anya, to use the dark elves' crown as a means to enter Twilight Zone without letting even the dark elven knights know about it…" He smiled slightly while greeting her.

The crown of the dark elves was a sign of the authority of the Dark Elven Empire. It was also a very powerful magic artifact.

It had a very simple function, which was to conceal the energy aura of a large group of people and their mounts. The key point was that it could turn around the battle. However, every time it's used, it can only be used again after a fifty-year wait, which is why this inherited magic artifact of the magic elves could not be used flippantly.

Now, the dark elven crown could finally exhibit all its strength and shield numerous dark elven armies into the central region, almost wiping out all the Magi at the competition area.

"Except for the protector of the northern region who has died, all of the lord protectors are here. What's this? Do you want to stop me?" A little green vortex appeared above Anya's hands, glimmering with a mysterious light. It attracted the attention of everyone to look at the vortex, which had the intention of sucking human spirits in.

"Protecting Twilight Zone and the human race was our vow when we took on the role as protectors. This is an honour worthy of exchanging our lives for!"

The Guardian's face was filled with layers of wrinkles and he looked about to die of old age. However, his eyes still shone with light.

Anya sensed that, although the life force of the Guardian was like a flame that was sputtering out, it still emanated light and warmth that even caused her to be worried.

The allied Magus army appeared behind these few protectors confronted the dark elves.

"The plan was actually leaked out. Who was it?"

Anya's brows furrowed and then straightened out, "Whatever it is, we've finally restrained your nine rank 2 Magi. There are still many elite Magi and acolytes within the competition area. In other words, we have a sure victory in this war!"

"Attack!" Without waiting for the opposing Magi to finish their preparations, Anya immediately ordered for the dark elven matriarchs to attack.

With a flash of her body, she somehow disappeared from the air and, when she reappeared, she was in front of the Guardian of the Realm.

A fair palm brought with it a terrifying devouring strength and was pressed towards the old man's chest.

"Floating Light!" The light in the old protector's eyes became brighter and he exclaimed.

Numerous tiny rays of light surged out continuously and formed a protective shield in front of him.

The moment Anya's hand made contact with the shield, a low sound was produced, and the ground suddenly trembled, the space even beginning to quiver.

"Old geezer, how much longer can your life force sustain you?"

Anya's expression remained unchanging as she continued her attacks.

A tremendous vortex formed behind her, and any Magus that was sucked into it, turned into a dried corpse in an instant.

"Activating combination spell pattern!"

The expressions of the protectors of the other three regions changed greatly, and as if they had made up their minds. They headed into the skies, shooting out great amounts of green threads that connected with the Guardian of the Realm.

The expressions of the protectors of the other three regions changed greatly, and as if they had made up their minds. They headed into the skies, shooting out great amounts of green threads that connected with the Guardian of the Realm.

Tremendous rays from light force wrapped around him, and the next time he reemerged, he had already become a handsome and sunny middle-aged man.

If not for the familiar spiritual aura about him, nobody would recognise him.

As for the three other protectors, they began to age visibly.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Anya bit her lips. She could naturally see that the three rank 2 Magi were entrusting their life force to the Guardian. However, this meant that, after today, the four of them would have all their life force consumed and lose their lives.

While on the chaos on the stage, two genius Magus Haylon and Lilina turned the situation around in the favor of humans.

Shortly after the attack began, a strong current of concentration, along with a warm and gentle scent, was injected into their consciousness as they stopped their suppression on their advancement.

Sacred Flame started to revolve quickly, causing Their aura to rise sharply, and they broke through the bottleneck of a rank 2 Magus.

*Snap! Snap! Snap!*

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

Both of them roared as they charged into the midst of the battlefield.

Any magi who obstructed their path, be they from the Twilight zone or from the Dark Elven Empire, all faded into the air under the power of the Rank 2 Magus.

"What's the matter?"

In the middle of the battlefield, Longbottom stared at the huge incoming arc. With fierce eyes, he stopped toying with Baelin. A fireball aimed right at his head hit him. After fighting for a moment, Longbottom thoroughly kicked Baelin down and defeated him.

*Pew!* The released a ray of light, accurately targeted at the attack launched by Longbottom.

A great and powerful wave of energy surged forth like raging waves.

Although at this moment Longbottom could still kill Baelin, he would definitely suffer huge amounts of damage.

"Rank 2?" Longbottom's pupils froze. Energy at this level, in addition them outnumbering him, it could become a threat.

As such, Longbottom made a choice. Without moving his body, his quickly moved backwards, layers of grey-green protective shields formed in front of his vision.

The battle between the three reached a deadlock as neither party was able to achieve a decisive blow. Haylon and Lilina were constantly on the lookout for each other lest they are stabbed in the back and this distrust disabled them to kill Longbottom. Longbottom also saw this and hold on tightly since he knew Rank 3 Elven Queen Anya would save him once she deals with her opposition.

Suddenly both Haylon and Lilina stopped and looked at each other with a meaningful gaze.

"This cannot go on." Haylon spoke.

"Yeah, I guess we should deal with it. There is only one who would stand victorious in the end. We cannot change our destiny if we don't fulfill our fate. " Lilina nodded and released all of her power.

"Let's end this quickly, without dwindling otherwise we would become meat on a chop board even if someone wins. "

Haylon didn't speak but silently agreed.

Before Longbottom could understand what they were talking about suddenly the two attacked each other in an almost teleportation like speed.

Both of them stood next to each other and after a moment a line of blood appeared on Lilina's neck, "Congratulations, You won! "

Lilina spoke inaudibly as her corpse hit the floor.

*Kacha!* Haylon felt a mysterious energy emerge from Lilina's' body and enter his own as she died. The Sacred Flame rapidly swirled, as if it were absorbing something unknown from his body.

Soon after, he broke through and finally achieved the position of a peak rank 2 Magus. But he was not happy at all because he felt a dreadful premonition.

Haylon waved his hand and released a wind blade attack striking at Longbottom who instantly conjured some shields.

*Bang! Bang!* The protective shield set up by Longbottom was torn apart like crisp paper, and the wind blade touched Longbottom's eyes.

The light in his eyes dimmed until they were a dead black.

*Bang!* Longbottom's corpse fell to the ground and sent a huge patch of dust flying.

"We… succeeded!"

Baelin mumbled to himself, feeling as though he lost a part of himself. He felt empty, as though he had lost something very important to him.

"Be careful, This is not the end!" Both of Haylon eyes turned white and he fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming beneath his body.

A person wearing an exquisite royal blue robe emerged amidst sudden applause. Every move of her held an inexplicable aura of authority and charming grace, and she slowly entered their field of vision.

"Although I somewhat knew that after reaching Peak Rank 2 your ability will be high enough to seer through me, even after I took some precautionary methods, but I didn't thought it to be so smooth and quick!"

"Lady Lancy! Weren't you…" Baelin looked at Lancy along with Ivy, Dexter and Freed. At first, he felt joy, but then he noticed the nine statues erected in the center.

"Well apparently there is a lot of people who can see through the river of destiny so, you shouldn't be very surprised?" Lancy laughed casually, as a pair of pensive look appeared on her face.

"What… What's happening? Ah! Haha… Haha… I get it! Lady Lancy, Master Freed, this is just a prank, isn't it?" Baelin laughed forcefully, but the unease in his heart had reached its peak.

Neither of them gave him any response as Lancy snapped her finger.

*Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!* Light flashed everywhere, and a large number of Nature's Alliance Magi appeared. Some came out from beneath the stages, some from behind the seats, and some just materialised from the shadows.

These Magi all had their concentration and powers intact, and embarked on a ruthless massacre the moment they entered. The dark elves and Twilight Zone Magi all fell at their hands, and were swept in a matter of seconds.

*Bzzzt Bzzzt!* A frightful wave of energy dispersed, and an even larger fleet of Magi appeared at the center of the competition venue.

"Lord Lancy? Why? Master Freed answer me! " Baelin kept retreating, looking as though he was on the verge of breaking down.

"You are one of the higher-ups in Twilight Zone, and also someone I look up to. Why…"

"You talk too much!" The corners of Lancy mouth turned into a sinister smirk. She doesn't need to justify herself to anyone except for her master.

Lancy pointed at Baelin's neck.

As soon as she pointed, Freed sprinted towards Baelin with an devastating momentum and ridiculously high speed leaving behind a destroyed trail. He appeared just next to him and squeezed his neck holding him in the air.

Baelin couldn't breathe as he looked heartbroken gazing into the emotionless eyes of his previous Master who taught him in the path of Knights.

"Hehe….. You are *cough* Lia- !" Baelin laughed hysterically. Bio Booster started moving on his body.

*Boom*

A punch met his face breaking his jaw and the Bio Boosting armour on his body failed to hold any longer and disintegrated midair.

"Your destiny was fulfilled the moment your rival died and now.....You are no longer of use to destiny. And without destiny on your side, you are nothing." Lancy ruthlessly attacked Baelin.

"Sacrifice of the Child of Destiny. Step one accomplished!" Lancy turned around and looked over at where Haylon was.

*Pew!* At this moment, a stream of light also emitted from Haylon's ring, and in front of him appeared the Great Magus who guided him for so long.

"Do you remember your promise from back then, Child?"

"I promised that help you complete a task!" Haylon's expression was a mix of terror, alarm, and agony.

"Now, I request of you, to return to me the Sacred Flame!" The Great Magus voice was extremely calm, but Heylon couldn't help but turn pale at his voice. "You- "

"You realised it, no? You have become much stronger than I anticipated." Great Magus illusion transformed continuously before settling on the image of Lancy.

"So all of this; me gaining the inheritance, practicing Sacred Flame, coming here, was all your doing?"

Haylon turned around and looked at Lancy, his pupils pitch black.

Lancy voice was extremely cold, "You non-entites talk too much!"

"AH!" As soon as Lancy voice sounded, Haylon felt as though his consciousness was split open by someone who wanted to extract something.

The extreme horrifying pain caused him to roll around, and his face contorted into demon-like expressions.

Shortly after, Haylon felt the spiritual force he had so painstakingly cultivated with the Sacred Flame was drawn out from him entirely.

Strands of silver spiritual force formed a vortex in midair, and Haylon who lost his meditation technique had his powers depleted progressively, from Peak rank 2 to rank 1 before hitting rock bottom—an acolyte.

"The spiritual force of Sacred Flame!" Lancy smile broadened. She sang with excitement, "Along with the sacrifice of a Child of Destiny!"

With her deep voice sounding, She was enveloped within a thin layer of light and was lifted into the air.

"With the magnanimous power of destiny, along with the foundation and spiritual force of the Sacred Flame that split apart and then merged together!"

Lancy pulled out a crystal already full of golden liquid, and threw it into the spiritual force vortex.

All of a sudden, a surge of silver white flames emerged from within.

"There are still some broken and unwilling souls!" Lancys smile became even wider, and two items flew out from Haylon's body.

They were a worn-out notebook, a dried leaf and a five-colored necklace. At this moment, an illusion flickered on each of the two items.

"No!" Haylon struggled but Ivy appeared out of nowhere standing above his weakened body and sliced him into two parts in a single move.

The black ring in his corpse also flew into the air, joining into a triangular formation with the other three items. These are all the items of the final four Sacred Flame practitioners.

"With great power from the fragmented souls as the main body, the Sacred Flame meditation technique as the core, and finally injecting a large amount of the power of destiny…"

Lancy's voice grew in fervency. Her eyes turning prophetic white from blissful blue and a crazy expression appeared on her face

Following the chanting, the triangular formation and meditative vortex grew closer, giving off small explosions.

"AHHHHHHH..." Baelin hissed violently and charged forth once again, but before he got close, he was already thrown out by the airwaves.

"Absorb!" A complex and awkward-sounding ancient incantation finally fused into two short seals.

*Boom Boom!* A gigantic vortex formed, compressing the vortex and triangular formation into Lancy's body like a funnel....

"Are you okay Lady Lancy?" Dexter appeared near her and asked while kneeling, he couldn't help it. The power emitting from her was so tremendous that he could only kneel.

"Yes, I am fine. Just a little aftereffect of absorbing the Sacred Flames energy to breakthrough to Rank 3." Lancy spoke as she opened her eyes which were sapphire blue. She has absorbed the nourished Sacred flames energy and used it to breakthrough to Rank 3, with the help of so many meditation techniques in the A. I. Chip database she has already computed the third level of her technique and right now she has achieved the promotion.

Her absorbing the Sacred Flames isn't changing her meditation techniques but rather introducing the entry of another power inside her, which can easily disrupt her innate spell stability and disable her mentality but she was somehow able to bypass the former problem as for the latter issue...

Previously she dealt various hands and techniques to get rid of the instability brought by practicing this technique but alas she couldn't say for sure if she succeeded.

"It doesn't matter even if I became crazy, because I was able to catch a glimpse of him and I know he will definitely have a way to remedy this and save me. " Lancy turned around and looked at the battlefield. Dexter was excited as he heard her words his body shuttering with joy.

The Magi of Twilight Zone may have had an advantage in numbers, but the lengthy battle had exhausted them of their stamina and magic power. They were no match for the fresh Magi of Nature's Alliance.

As time passed, the field got progressively quieter before settling for silence.

"Lord! What do I do with these captives?" Ivy asked with a bow.

There were weak and dispirited Magi all around, many of them covered with wounds and blood from multiple injuries.

"They are to hand over their spirit sources to me, kill them if they refuse!" Lancy gave the order indifferently.

Soon after, Lancy moved towards the remaining eight Magi encased in the ice sculptures and pointed at them.

"Take them to the headquarters!"

The Magi from Nature's Alliance were lying in ambush and the plan was carried out according to what she had planned. And sure enough, the results at the end were very favourable. The exhausted and injured Magi from both sides were eliminated at one stroke.

"My Lord! Reporting on our status. The Magi on our side as well as the dark elves are severely injured. The dark elves have withdrawn their troops, but we cannot pursue due to similar losses on our end!" one of the Magi on the battlefield reported.

Any attempts at communication had been blocked long ago by Longbottom. With Lancy's enhancement to the disturbance, only her own artifact could communicate with the outside.

"It's good! I only need to deal with the Elven Queen who would be highly weakened by the attack from the Rank 3 Guardian."

Lancy swept her eyes over the Magi from Nature's Alliance and smiled, "Twilight Zone would be a good welcome gift for My Lord!"