Autumn night, the bleak wind brought with it a chill.
Wizard Lap stood in midair, looking down with an almost imperceptible sweep over the apprentices gathered below.
Most of them had fully recovered their Magic Power and woken up from meditation.
They were now crowded at the edge of a cliff, looking out toward Blackstone City.
Lap slowly retracted his gaze and once again looked toward Blackstone City in the distance.
The flames in the city were still burning, but they had diminished considerably compared to before.
At the Thorns District.
Arman's massive, intangible silhouette stood like a statue, still fixed in its original place.
Under the influence of the various performances brought by the fiery figures in the city district, the unseen crimson fog that permeated the air became denser and denser.
Lap saw this and his forehead slightly furrowed.
As a First Rank Peak Wizard who had lived nearly three hundred years,
he naturally knew what Arman was up to...
It was nothing more than a bid to strengthen his own power.
He looked at Arman, who seemed completely unguarded, and sneered coldly.
As he had chosen at the beginning, he remained where he was, motionless.
He had not intervened, nor did he intend to do so.
The Blood Meat Thorns Sect's carefully constructed ritual altar had already been destroyed.
No matter how much Arman augmented the power of his projection, the Blood Meat Thorns master only had his own body to walk the world of mortals.
This also meant that the power ultimately borne by Arman was always finite...
And Lap was very clear, that limit was unlikely to exceed the power he held, bolstered by the Witch Array.
More so, regardless of how much Arman augmented his strength,
the Blood Meat Thorns master's projection time of possession wouldn't increase.
That depended solely on Arman himself, who served as the vessel.
When Arman burned out from soul to flesh...
All would be settled in dust!
'As for Blackstone City...' Lap's expression was indifferent.
'It can simply be rebuilt.'
It didn't take long for him to wait.
Soon there was a change in Blackstone City in the distance.
The crimson fog that enveloped the city suddenly solidified as if time had stopped!
The crowd continued to wail, the flames still danced, licking and snapping at the buildings.
But the red mist had solidified like amber in another dimension.
The next instant, it began to whirl backward!
The fiery figures still cloaked in flames of revenge, their fires mysteriously began to burn more ferociously and quickly.
"Why... have I not yet exacted my revenge..."
As the red fog swept over, those figures all turned to handfuls of ashes.
A multitude of survivors cried out in extreme relief.
Some had truly harmed the people now turned to ash before them, some had only minor frictions with them, and yet others did not even recognize the fiery figures that sought vengeance...
Back in the Thorns District.
Arman took a greedy breath, exhaling a satisfied sigh.
The crimson fog swirled around him like weary birds returning to nest, forming a large blood-colored vortex and then entering through his mouth, nose, and skin, absorbed entirely by him.
After the crimson fog was absorbed, his long-still body finally moved.
Whoosh!
Arman took a step and immediately, wrapped in the dark-red creatures, he arrived outside the Wizard Territory.
Boom.
Shops and markets in this area tumbled and shattered under their unrestrained advance!
"Lap."
Arman spoke, his voice low and resonant, seemingly mixed with strange undertones that inexplicably sent chills down one's spine.
He took another step and arrived in midair outside the Witch Array, looking down at Wizard Lap.
Crack.
Below Wizard Lap,
a faint sound rang out.
Colin instinctively looked toward the direction of the sound.
An Apprentice was frowning as he lifted his right foot, seemingly having crushed something.
Though trying to appear calm, anyone could see his nervousness from his slightly trembling thighs.
But nobody ridiculed him.
Because... they weren't faring any better.
Colin turned his head to continue watching the imposing line of monsters led by Arman.
To disregard Arman, standing a good dozen meters tall,
and at the foot of his enormous figure, a large group of dark-red creatures had gathered.
Among them, the most conspicuous was the nearly three-meter-tall figure covered in ferocious blood thorns, standing right beside his right foot.
Under heightened senses, the scarlet radiance it emitted was markedly more dazzling than the other dark-red creatures, and its range was much greater.
Clearly not an easy adversary to deal with!
"Deluded followers of the Evil God."
Suddenly, Wizard Lap up above spoke out.
Colin cast his gaze up.
This was the first time he had heard Wizard Lap speak.
His voice was steady and slightly hoarse, like the rustling of iron against iron.
Upon hearing this, Arman was not annoyed but simply scoffed lightly,
"Foolish mortals who know not the true terror."
Wizards and those Cultists were inherently irreconcilable; such exchanges of barbs had happened countless times.
"I thought you wouldn't dare to come over," Wizard Lap spoke again.
But Arman only smiled faintly, not taking the bait, instead swinging his large hand down heavily onto the half-transparent Protective Shield in front of him.
Boom!!
Lap slightly furrowed his brow, clenched his Magic Wand, and maintained the stability of the Witch Array.
He had intended to use words to delay for a while longer; after all, the more time passed, the more advantageous it was for him.
But Arman was evidently not a fool either.
Boom!
Blood-colored Energy kept bombarding the half-transparent Witch Array Protective Shield, causing ripples to spread.
It seemed on the verge of collapse, yet Wizard Lap somewhat relaxed.
If it was only this level of attack intensity... the outcome of the battle wouldn't differ!
However, he didn't let his guard down and raised his hand to testingly wave his Magic Wand.
A transparent light beam as thick as a bucket shot toward Arman's chest.
Whoosh!
A blood-colored mist spontaneously formed a round shield in front of Arman's chest, successfully intercepting the light beam.