Before Shinji swung the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, the vast majority of the battlefields surrounding the Knowledge Tower had already collapsed.
The mages scattered across the massive front had either died in battle or had been forced to self-detonate to stall the enemy. Only a few high-level mages managed to barely break away, retreating toward the Knowledge Tower in a pathetic, defeated state.
Aboard the high platform of the Knowledge Tower.
Mage Roy's face was ashen as he watched the earth-shattering rout across the battlefield.
He never thought the Knowledge Tower, guarded by a Sorcerer Supreme, would fall into such a desperate crisis. Much less did he expect that noble mages would be hunted down like a panicked herd of deer on the plains!
"Is this the end of the world?"
Suddenly, he recalled a rumor circulating in the high-level mage circles: the world was heading toward destruction!
Initially, he hadn't believed it. In his mind, the Sixth Ring World, protected by six Sorcerer Supremes, was far removed from such an apocalypse.
But watching the scene before him now, he was jolted into a terrifying wakefulness!
Whoosh...
At that moment, a brilliant golden light soared into the sky, so dazzling that he, a high-level mage, could almost not look directly at it!
"What is that?"
Roy's thoughts nearly came to a standstill at this moment.
He was not the only one; whether it was the Lampbearers in the temporary war fortress or the mages fleeing toward the Knowledge Tower, everyone stopped in their tracks to stare at the sky—staring at that golden sword so brilliant it was impossible to look at directly!
Boom boom boom...
In the next instant, the golden sword swept across!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, swathes upon swathes—no, it was every single flesh puppet within sight—disintegrated and dissolved under the radiance of that golden sword!
"How is this possible!?"
"What kind of magic is this?"
"Too... too incredible!"
Everyone on the battlefield fell into a daze.
One must understand that those flesh puppets weren't just large in size. A mage's fire magic could easily burn a bear to death or ignite an entire forest, yet it could only blacken the outer shell of a flesh puppet. Even lightning magic, famous for its power, had to strike the same spot repeatedly just to barely breach the shell and cause damage.
Usually, it took several, or even a dozen, mages working together to barely resist a single flesh puppet.
The Lampbearers' situation was slightly better; Alice and Hengo had specifically adjusted their weapon modules. But even so, they had to pour out massive amounts of ammunition and energy to eliminate one.
This showed just how troublesome these endless flesh puppets were.
Yet, such difficult enemies were swept away in an instant under Shinji's golden sword, as fragile as blocks of tofu!
Even the Storm Sorcerer Supreme, currently maintaining the magic ring atop the Knowledge Tower, felt a profound sense of crisis the moment Shinji activated the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion. It was as if, had that golden sword been swung at him, he too would have vanished into ash in an instant, just like those disintegrating flesh puppets!
At that thought, the Storm Sorcerer Supreme shook his head, casting aside such an absurd notion.
One must remember that he was currently at full capacity, stimulating his magic ring, supported by the presence of the Knowledge Tower—a Mage Tower perfectly attuned to him. Let alone a traveler from the universe, even if other Sorcerer Supremes came, they would be no match for him.
This was not blind confidence!
This confidence was built by a Sorcerer Supreme over centuries, through one victory after another. He simply did not believe anyone could defeat him while his magic ring was active and he remained within the Knowledge Tower!
...
Silence.
The once-noisy battlefield fell instantly quiet as Shinji swung his sword.
Floating high in the air, Shinji deactivated the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, then gazed toward the horizon where dust was rising.
Beneath that dust were more flesh puppets!
Shinji curled his lip and smiled, then shifted his gaze upward to the firmament.
It was currently dusk; the sun was setting and the light was fading, but because the magic ring on the Knowledge Tower was still shining, the battlefield remained bright.
Looking through the magic ring, Shinji noticed the clouds in the sky above were swirling violently, as if a massive storm were brewing!
"That's more like it!"
Shinji chuckled softly.
Back on T33, he had left a deep impression on the Propagation Hegemon.
Particularly at the final moment before the destruction of T33, he had locked eyes with the Propagation Hegemon in the depths of space through the broken spatial barrier!
That single glance had nearly cost him his life.
If he weren't a Lampbearer, and if he hadn't reached the Six Paths Level, that one gaze alone would have been enough to kill him a hundred times over.
Fortunately, he had already possessed considerable strength then, and with the Lamp's protection, he had not only survived but hadn't even suffered much spiritual shock.
However, it was that very clash that made him absolutely certain now: as long as the Propagation Hegemon sensed the presence of his aura, it would undoubtedly lose its mind!
As expected.
After he activated the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion to sweep away the flesh puppets, the Propagation Hegemon blocked outside the spatial barrier of the Sixth Ring World flew into a rage!
Rumble!
Suddenly, a crack of thunder exploded in the sky without warning!
Following this thunderclap, the entire sky was covered in dark clouds in the blink of an eye, filled with flickering lightning and constant roars.
As if responding to the thunder in the clouds, the flesh puppets in the far distance began to stampede, letting out a series of earth-shaking booms!
What was even more terrifying was that those stampeding flesh puppets seemed to be stimulated by something. Their already massive bodies began to swell even further, expanding several times in size right before everyone's eyes!
If a flesh puppet was the size of a hillock before, it was now close to the size of a small mountain.
Thus, in the mages' vision, what was rushing toward them was not monsters, but an undulating mountain range!
The impact of this scene, which defied all logic, caused many mages to collapse.
Some mages knelt on the ground weeping in despair, some were lost and helpless, and more were muttering prayers, hoping for divine protection!
"Sigh."
Arcane let out a dejected sigh.
Just a moment ago, when Shinji swept away the flesh puppets, his spirits had been high, feeling that with Shinji making a move, perhaps there was still room for salvation.
He hadn't expected that in the blink of an eye, an even larger, stronger army of flesh puppets would appear in his vision!
No matter how much his perception was shielded by the Sorcerer Supremes' magic ring, as the local Lampbearer, he could feel the rage of the Propagation Hegemon in the universe!
He gave a bleak smile to the Lampbearers beside him: "My world is truly beyond saving!"