As the 6-star spell converged onto the small Fairy, the contact created a large explosion that sent lava and fiery rocks flying all over the place.
Wano landed back on the ground and sheathed his sword, thinking that he had finished the job.
But as the igneous rocks fell on the ground, he looked around and saw no sign of golden dust particles around, nor were there any fairy wings.
"Hihihi…"
A high-pitched laughter echoed in his head, making him look all around for the Fairy.
This was vaguely familiar. The stump on his missing hand started to ache, seemingly remembering this memory as well.
Suddenly, the ground started to shake as the trees around Wano started to unroot themselves.
These trees seemed to have gained a life of their own as they stood up from the ground, dusted off the soil around them, and slowly crawled towards Wano with their branches coming to strangle him from all sides.
Wano raised his igneous sword and cut the branches, leaving behind burning stumps on the tree's branches.
But that didn't seem to stop the trees.
Before Wano could jump around and escape the enclosure of the animated trees, he suddenly found his legs being smothered by these glowing tentacles on the ground.
His eyes widened. He had seen these before.
It the time back when he was a low-time bandit and he still had both of his hands.
He tried to set fire to the entire forest. And as soon as he did so, he saw these tentacles wrapped around his feet, preventing him from moving.
And after that, he saw the silhouette of a Fairy circling above his head.
As Wano looked around, he saw the same silhouette that he saw in his memory!
But that couldn't be possible, he thought. After all, that was when he encountered the Pixie Queen and suffered her wrath, ending with him losing his right hand!
And soon, that realization came to dawn on him.
"No…" he muttered. "That can't be…you're…you're…you're the—"
But before he could finish his sentence, mushroom spores were suddenly blasted on his face and completely immobilized him from head to toe.
Just like that, a 6-star swordsman was down on the ground.
Blazell's face was filled with disbelief.
Even the Rebornians were caught stunned with this sudden show of power.
"What the hell? Vivi is that strong?!" Zion muttered, shaking his head.
"She's an even better lazy person than me. She hid her power to slack off the entire time!" Jaku praised, almost clapping his hands.
The only ones who seemed to have a clue about Vivi's true power were Lylia and Grieve.
"I knew it," Lylia muttered to herself. "I always felt that her mana was far too big to just be a simple Fairy."
"Hohoho…I knew as well…but I completely forgot that this wasn't normal hohoho!"
Umisu, Sheina, and Yuna approached Vivi.
"You're…the Pixie Queen?" Sheina asked, putting the pieces together.
"I never knew…you were that strong…that's so cool!" Umisu said, with stars in her eyes.
"You're not mad?" Vivi asked. "I didn't want to tell you because…I just wanted to be a normal Fairy."
"It's fine," Yuna said. "We all have secrets. What's important is that you're still the Vivi that we know."
"Hihi! Of course!"
Meanwhile, Blazelle almost exploded out in anger as she saw Wano get one-shot by a mere Fairy. She had completely underestimated her thinking that she was just a low-ranked demi-human.
"You're the Pixie Queen! I should have known!" Blazelle roared. "This means that you have the GodForge piece!"
Vivi turned to Blazelle and stuck out her tongue. "Even if I did have it, I wouldn't give it to you!"
This seemed to have fueled Blazelle's anger even more. "You're telling me you'll give that GodForge piece to these country bumpkins?! What an extreme waste!
You don't know the true value of that thing. None of you do! I am the only Maugnetic person here, I deserve that GodForge piece!"
Blazelle's anger rose as she thought about how such a treasure would only end up in the hands of people who didn't know its true worth. In her eyes, it was a waste.
"Kukuku…it's fine," Blazelle laughed maniacally. "It'll end up in my hands anyway once I conquer the Reborn company once and for all. Men, sacrifice yourselves for me and bring victory to Flarecorp!"
As soon as she gave the word, the two-hundred soldiers started marching in perfect rhythm towards the Rebornians. Their powers were completely in-sync, allowing them to showcase power that transcended that of a 5-star power, and even that of a 6-star power.
Each and every one of their feet started to glow as a magic circle appeared beneath their soles.
Soon, a large fire engulfed their very bodies that increased the temperature enough to turn water into steam. However, this fire seemed to backfire against the soldiers as they started to suffer burns on their skin.
Despite that, they continued moving forward, marching to the rhythm.
Their individual fires eventually combined as it billowed up high into the skies, burning the forest and everything it touched.
As it consumed, it started to form into the shape of a bird—but not just any bird. It was the legendary phoenix!
The phoenix rose up from the ground and circled the skies. Its mere presence turned the ground into a fiery hell.
Fortunately for the Rebornians, their [Lesser Unity Defense] prevented them from being burned.
KYAUU!
The mighty phoenix roared at them before diving down, intending to burn anything that it came into contact with.
This phoenix had the combined strength of an 8-star spell. It was not something that even the Rebornians could face.
Shadow Orcs appeared beside all the Rebornians, offering to transport them to a safe location away from the fight.
But strangely, they didn't.
As the phoenix dove down towards the Rebornians, a large vine whose thickness was the size of an elephant, rose from the ground and slapped the phoenix back into the skies.
KYAUUU!
Lylia stood her ground, scoffing at the phoenix. She herself was a 7-star magician and could hold her ground against a poorly created spell such as this.
But this wasn't the end as the phoenix circled the skies, soaking up all the flames and fire that the 200 men army was conjuring up on their bodies. Eventually, it received enough energy to have another go-around at the Rebornians.
But this time, a certain clicking sound was heard echoing through the forest.
"Hohohoho!"
This sound was none other than ribs clacking from Grieve's skeleton body.
"Has my time finally come to shine?" he asked as he removed the Mithril Artifact ring on his finger.
As soon as the limiter was removed, a burst of necrotic energy exploded out of Grieve.
The greenery and plant life around him started to wither away just from his very presence.
Even the high temperature in the air was starting to 'wither', cooling down until condensation formed.
Grieve gripped the air, holding a non-existent sword in his hand. As he looked up at the phoenix, he simply raised his hand and brought it down with such gentle force that it could not even cut a leaf falling from a tree.
And suddenly, the phoenix in the skies was split in half. It started to wither at the line where its body separated, soon turning its fiery flames into nothing but ashes that scattered in the wind.
Just like that, a powerful 8-star spell was destroyed.
Blazelle backed away in horror as she realized the power that this skeleton man held.
"Nine….nine…nine-star?!?!" she shouted.