Chapter 8: The Broken Sword

The lightsaber suddenly enlarged several times, and the rotating light sphere grew even larger by geometric proportions, almost covering the entire front. Cornered with no way to retreat, Komer was struck back by his own dark blood. This must have angered Lorenzo somewhat, but it only brought suffering to himself—this invincible lightsaber turned against Rebrí and targeted him instead, leaving Komer in agony.

The two stone golems created posed no obstacle at all. As the sword’s light wheel spun, the two incredibly sturdy stone golems instantly turned into dust. Without time to think further, Komer took a deep breath, and a huge black hole appeared in the ground. Just as he fell in, the sword’s light wheel swept past his head, and he could even feel the coolness above him.

With a furious roar, Lorenzo no longer had the mind to deal with Rebrí. His focus was entirely on that damned country noble, who forced him to pay the painful price of using his sacred energy. Lorenzo swore to throw that damned country bumpkin into the abyss forever!

To think that inferior earth magic could possibly evade his glorious sword was sheer naivety. Waving his staff lightly, the sword’s light wheel rolled gracefully in the air and immediately locked onto its target fleeing underground.

A surge of intense light magic erupted, and the brilliant lightsaber flew through the air before plunging deep into the ground. The once-impregnable stone slabs became as soft as rotten tofu. The ground heaved and boiled under the sword’s cut, like boiling soup. As mud splattered, a trench three meters deep and over a meter wide instantly formed along the path of the fleeing shadow.

A shrill scream brought a hint of satisfaction to Lorenzo’s face, but his smile soon turned stunned. The lightsaber had clearly been defiled by some extremely vicious dark force. A faint gray mist covered the gradually dimming sword. “Damn it!”

Unable to contain his rage, Lorenzo roared in fury, almost losing control of himself. He had clearly been deceived once again!

Beneath the crisscrossing trenches, a zombie had already been sliced into pieces by the lightsaber. Yet the necrotic energy splashed out from the zombie defiled the pure sacred light sword.

Although the Sword of Light was merely a materialized force formed by Lorenzo using the sacred power from the Staff of the Holy Angel, not a physical object, his opponent was still extremely vicious. The dark spiritual aura generated by the zombie’s explosion even surpassed that of a necromancer’s decaying bones, instantly contaminating the sacred power of the Sword of Light and causing its power to vanish on the spot.
“Lorenzo, keep an eye on Rebrí—this guy can’t get away!” Noyora’s voice came from afar, further darkening Lorenzo’s mood.
To have to rely on Noyora’s help at this point filled Lorenzo with indescribable frustration. That country bumpkin’s cunning tactics were simply despicable, with endless tricks that made Lorenzo admit that although he far surpassed his opponent in strength, completely subduing him wasn’t as easy as he had initially thought—especially since the magic scrolls hidden by that guy were terrifyingly abundant.
Comer never expected his ruse of disappearing would be detected in less than ten seconds. When he felt the soil around him pressing in rapidly, he realized that if he didn’t get up and escape soon, he might truly have to lie buried in the soil for life.
A strange teleportation spell allowed Comer to leap out of the soil, but the fat old man across from him stood there calmly as before, making Comer finally realize that today, he might truly be doomed.
“Mr. Noyora, are you really going to stop me?”
Comer’s face became grotesquely terrifying, his pale complexion taking on a sinister bluish-black hue. Noyora could even see his lips moving constantly—as if casting spells. The slight tremors in Comer’s body made Noyora realize he was ready to fight to the death.
“Viscount Comer, let me give you one piece of advice: it’s all in vain. Our Church of Light welcomes you to return to the right path—stop being stubborn.”
“Who will win remains to be seen!”
After saying those words, Comer let out a loud scream. His tongue ruptured, and blood mist sprayed out, spreading upward in an umbrella shape. After a series of gestures and spells, a spiral-shaped black smoke appeared. The blood-mixed black smoke expanded several times in an instant, forming a pagoda-shaped cloud. Tiny sparks seeped out from the cloud from time to time, creating a strangely eerie and magnificent sight.

“Demonic Soul Devourer?!” Nuoyao La’s expression immediately turned serious. This was the ultimate dark magic, but even this alone wouldn’t have made him tremble. Years of trials and tribulations had exposed him to countless dark-powered warriors, including some who excelled in this art. Yet today was different.

The Demonic Soul Devourer was a dark magic combined with mental magic. Due to its cruel nature, most people regarded it as the highest form of dark magic. Its biggest drawback was its extreme demand for the caster’s mental strength. Without a strong mental foundation, the caster would suffer backlash, turning them into helpless fools unable to live or die.

That damned guy dared to use a blood sacrifice to unleash his true magical essence to enhance this Demonic Soul Devourer. Just by looking, it was no longer ordinary spiral-shaped black smoke but a pagoda-like cloud of darkness. Nuoyao La knew right away that this time the opponent was going all out.

The dark cloud rushed forward, with dense sparks swirling around Nuoyao La’s head. He dared not underestimate these seemingly insignificant sparks—they were the killing move of the Demonic Soul Devourer: solidified patches of dark magic that destroyed a target’s mental strength. If hit by such a patch, one’s mental power would be severely damaged. And now, this dark force, amplified by the opponent’s true essence, was almost impossible to resist.

He made a series of gestures to summon a shield of light to block the onslaught of sparks, but Nuoyao La soon realized it was futile. This force derived from the true essence of darkness couldn’t be stopped by ordinary light magic. Unless his essence was destroyed, the attack would continue endlessly.

“God of Light, your faithful believer prays for your strength to cleanse darkness and light, forever confining it in the corners of the heavens!”

As these brief yet clear words reached Komer’s ears, he felt his once-boiling magical energy suddenly shackled, tightening increasingly. Magical ropes seemed to penetrate his core, restraining his freely usable power and preventing him from casting spells.

Meanwhile, Leibri, far away, recognized this as Nuoyao La’s advanced light magic—sealing spell. It was a decisive move that blocked Komer’s source of magic. With that, the Demonic Soul Devourer lost its foundation. Otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult to counter the dark magic fueled by blood sacrifice using mere light spells.

Lacking the support of powerful magic, the Demonic Soul Devourer immediately showed signs of weakening, its sparks dimming instantly. This allowed Norolla to breathe a sigh of relief. Three Light Umbrellas floated up—one after another. Though they couldn’t completely resist the erosion of the primordial dark force, Norolla, with her own formidable mental strength, could now hold its own. Even if it meant consuming some of her own magical energy, she was determined to persevere.

No matter what spells are used, ultimate strength is what ultimately determines victory. The various spells are merely forms of expression—this is an unshakable truth that Norolla had understood twenty years ago.

Desperate, Komer spat out another mouthful of blood mist to boost his strength. This nearly exhausted all his energy—it was his last stand, a life-or-death struggle!

Komer refused to surrender like this, but his opponent’s power was simply too overwhelming. Even a powerful spell like the Demonic Soul Devourer, which bordered on forbidden magic, could still be restrained by this opponent’s methods. And now, with the weakened Demonic Soul Devourer, his opponent could counter it with his own mental strength—something Komer could hardly imagine.

The increasingly tight bonds of the Sacred Light Force were broken by Komer’s sudden outburst. The immense power released from the primordial dark magic was even too much for the Sacred Light bindings to withstand. This was the ultimate tactic of magic practitioners—no one would resort to such a self-destructive move unless absolutely necessary.

A hazy, blue aura suddenly emerged and spread around. Norolla watched in confusion as her opponent took a reckless gamble. He abandoned his dark magic and switched to another form, knowing full well the dangers involved in such a transformation. The blue magical aura enveloped everything around them—was this Starlight Magic? What was he trying to do?!

Only then did Norolla realize they were already at the edge of the magic matrix. Damn it, was this guy trying to die with her?!

“Lord Norolla, be careful!” Karu’s voice came from afar. But it was already too late. Komer’s activation of Starlight Magic set the magic matrix in motion. The sky turned silver-white before instantly shifting to a clear, bright blue. A powerful wave of magical attack enveloped the entire magic matrix without warning.

“Retreat quickly! Norolla, this is the Star Magic Matrix!” At this moment, Lorenzo no longer cared about capturing the trapped Rebrí. With Karu and Boriz around, Rebrí had no chance of escaping. The formidable Star Magic had already activated, creating a hazy, misty area within three zhang around the entire magic matrix. Everything trapped within lost its ability to control itself—whether it was Komer or Norolla. The power of the Star Magic Matrix made all individual forces pale in comparison.

The pillars within the magic matrix formed strange, blurred illusions, as if the entire matrix were shaking. Norolla knew this was due to the immense power of the Star Magic causing spatial distortions before a rupture. A spatial rift was about to appear, sucking everything around it in. But he was now powerless to control his own body; an overwhelming force pulled him relentlessly toward the center of the magic matrix.

“Mr. Norolla, I’m so sorry. I never expected that before I met my end, I’d drag someone as important as you along. Hehe, I’m truly fortunate to have the leader of the Inquisition as my companion. I’m sure our journey to the other world will be quite lively, right, Mr. Norolla?”

A hint of despair crossed his calm face. By now, Komer had given up all futile struggles. The irreversible pull of the magic matrix dragged his body deeper without a doubt. Even as he desperately tried to channel magic to unleash the Star Magic, Komer had anticipated this. Since there was no way out, he decided to risk his life to see who was more ruthless!

A series of circular voids appeared in the center of the magic matrix. These dark, deep voids acted like giant magnets, emitting increasing gravitational forces that spread throughout the entire matrix.

“Hahahahah, Mr. Norolla, what are you waiting for? Come on! The other world is already calling us. Let’s go!” With a ferocious laugh filled with indescribable helplessness and despair, Komer’s eerie smile reminded one of the blood vessels beneath a skeleton’s skin.

Norolla helplessly slid farther away, his strength utterly unable to resist the power of the voids. It was a battle between human effort and divine force, and clearly, he could not change this cruel reality.

After a millisecond of hesitation, Lorenzo was forced to make a painful decision. The Sacred Angel Staff in his hands seemed to drain all his strength instantly, leaving his body extremely weak. Several more wrinkles appeared on his cheeks, as if he had suddenly aged several years. A brilliant multicolored glow emanated from the top of the Sacred Angel Staff.

Like a massive rainbow bridge, it spread rapidly from the top of the staff toward the center of the now silent magic matrix, creating a bridge over that distance.

A rare expression of gratitude flashed across Norolla’s face for a moment—he certainly knew what it was: the Light Sacred Essence Bridge! It was a method that used the practitioner’s own sacred essence energy to build a bridge of light, utilizing powerful divine magic to break through all obstacles and create a lifeline for escape.

At the last moment, the Light Sacred Essence Bridge wrapped around Norolla, who barely managed to wriggle free from the void’s grasp. Using teleportation techniques, he avoided the increasingly strong gravitational pull for several moments. Cold sweat soaked his entire body. He had survived by a narrow margin—this was truly a miracle. In Norolla’s lifetime, he had only experienced a few such calamities, and in the past decade, none had ever left him in such a humiliating situation.

Anger and frustration nearly made Komer grind his teeth as he watched Norolla escape at the last second. His face was twisted with resentment, but it was already too late. The gravitational force eventually turned his body into a phantom, which disappeared into the endless void amidst Lorenzo’s regret, helplessness, and a hint of relief.