The entire battlefield was already beyond recognition. Carlisle's figure was like a god of death, intertwined with pitch black and azure blue, while Regulus, the once arrogant Greed Archbishop, was now like a ragdoll, repeatedly grabbed and then brutally smashed into the ground.
"Bang!!!"
Her body was once again embedded in the rock, and in her golden pupils, the arrogance and haughtiness had long vanished, replaced by unprecedented terror and collapse.
"I... I'm not doing this anymore!!"
She shrieked hysterically at Pandora in the distance.
"Let me go back!! Why do I have to suffer this?! You're violating my personal liberty!!"
She scrambled to her feet, disheveled.
"Quickly save me from this guy! I've had enough! I..."
"Boom!!!"
Before she could finish, Carlisle had already clamped her neck again, lifting her entire body. Her feet dangled in the air, a suffocated whimper escaping her throat, her hands futilely scratching at his unmoving arm.
Under Carlisle's compound eyes, a cold blue light locked onto her, and the Flame Sword was raised high.
"No... don't...!"
"Swish!!!"
The blazing strike fell. Regulus's figure shot out like a meteor once more, crashing violently into the ground a hundred meters away, kicking up a sky high cloud of dust and debris.
However, before she could recover from her dizzy state...
"Boom!!"
Carlisle's figure had already descended above her like a ghost, and the Flame Sword struck down again.
"Rumble!!!"
The ground within a thousand meters suddenly sank, and a terrifying shockwave pulverized everything around it.
The second strike.
The earth collapsed again, and the rock layers cracked.
"Bang!!!"
The third strike.
Regulus's body was already deeply embedded in the ground. She futilely raised her arm, trying to freeze time, but her authority was once again rejected upon touching Carlisle.
"Stop... stop it...!"
Her voice was filled with a collapsing sob, her once condescending tone completely gone.
"You... don't you think you're too despicable?! Wait! I... we can talk! I..."
Carlisle's sword was raised again.
At the edge of the battlefield, Pandora stood quietly.
Her snow white hair remained still in the raging energy storm, her blue eyes reflecting the one sided brutal beating in the distance.
There was no expression on her face.
Neither surprise nor anger, not even a hint of anxiety over a disrupted plan was visible. But her fingers unconsciously caressed a fold in her skirt.
Miscalculation.
Carlisle's transformation into this state was not part of her plan. The original plan was simple. Seize or banish that sword.
The Flame Sword Blaze, this otherworldly holy sword capable of rejecting the world's rules, was an existence that threatened her authority. But the moment she touched it, she sensed something was off.
This sword... had no will of its own. It was merely an empty shell, a vessel of power.
So, she revised her strategy.
At that moment, words were softly spoken, and reality was twisted accordingly. Carlisle's vision was subtly altered. In his eyes, Subaru lay in a pool of blood, her chest pierced, her amber pupils gradually losing focus.
Collapse.
She watched Carlisle's soul crumble in despair, the Witch of Envy's factors slithering into his shattered will like venomous snakes.
Then, become my pawn.
The plan should have been flawless. Until the appearance of that book.
[Ancient Dragon]
That suddenly appearing tome completely tore apart her carefully woven script.
It not only awakened Carlisle's hidden memories, but also transformed Subaru's existence into another form of power.
Subaru became the vessel for the Dragon of Hope, and the power of the Flame Sword resonated with Carlisle through that book.
She slowly raised her gaze, looking toward the center of the battlefield.
The Greed Archbishop was being held up by Carlisle with one hand, then flung into the distance like a worn out doll.
A new strategy was needed.
---
Suddenly, on the battlefield, Carlisle's attack abruptly ceased.
His movements froze, and his armor clad body trembled violently. The ethereal blue dragon flames flickered, and he released the Greed Archbishop, clutching his helmet with both hands, letting out a heart wrenching roar.
"Roar ah ah ah!!!"
The sound was not human, but more like the mournful cry of a giant dragon, mixed with the pain of a soul being torn apart.
The Greed Archbishop collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, her throat burning. Her first instinct was to run.
But as she struggled to prop herself up and looked at Carlisle, she found him kneeling on the ground, his dragon like fingers digging deep into the earth, as if the power within him was spiraling out of control.
What... happened to him?
After a brief moment of confusion, an uncontrollable surge of anger flared in her heart.
This bastard... how dare he treat me like that just now!
Just then, Pandora's voice, like a phantom, echoed in her ear.
"Archbishop Corneas."
The voice carried an irresistible will.
"Please transform your anger... into a sharp blade."
The Greed Archbishop's pupils slightly dilated, and an invisible force subtly permeated her thoughts.
"Banish this dragon... beyond this world."
The moment the words fell, the Greed Archbishop's body moved before her mind did.
She violently grabbed the scattered debris on the ground, and the power of time furiously condensed in her palm. The frozen debris transformed into countless sharp blades of time, each particle capable of tearing space.
"Die!!!"
She shrieked hysterically, throwing her full fury along with her authority at Carlisle.
"Boom!!!"
The debris, empowered by the force of time, struck Carlisle's chest like a meteor, and the terrifying impact sent him flying high into the sky.
However, he did not fall.
"Here... there is no gravity."
Reality was twisted again.
Carlisle's body hung suspended in mid air, as if nailed to an invisible wall. His limbs twitched unconsciously, and dragon flames burned silently.
The Greed Archbishop stared blankly at the sky, then suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.
"So that's it! This is what they call strategy!"
The Greed Archbishop fiercely wiped away her tears, and though her eyes were still red, her expression had completely reverted to that condescending arrogance. She looked up at Carlisle, who had been sent flying into the sky, a twisted and grotesque smile on her lips.
"Brainless savage! Fly to the ends of the world!"
Her tone became sharp and biting again, and she raised her hands high, a morbid excitement flickering in her golden pupils.
This guy... his mind is really simple.
Pandora stood in the distance, silently watching the scene unfold.
The Greed Archbishop's attack did not stop.
She wildly swung her arms, each swing accompanied by an explosion of time's power. The air solidified into invisible blades under her authority, raining down into the sky like a torrential storm.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!!"
Each impact precisely struck Carlisle, sending his figure continuously retreating in the sky until he became a tiny black dot.
"Hahaha! How's that?! Does it hurt?! Is it painful?! This is the price for offending the perfect Regulus Corneas!"
Her laughter was manic and piercing, as if venting all the humiliation she had just suffered.
"Disappear! Never appear before me again!"
With the final blow, she condensed a massive, space tearing shockwave with both hands and slammed it into the sky.
"Boom!!!"
Carlisle's figure completely vanished beyond the edge of the clouds.
After this strike, the battlefield suddenly fell into an eerie silence.
The Greed Archbishop panted, her arms trembling slightly from overusing her authority. A triumphant, sinister smile still hung on her face.
Was it over?
She instinctively looked at Pandora, seemingly seeking confirmation from her.
But the Witch only gazed silently at the sky.
As expected... it's useless...
---
On the other side, Carlisle, who was flying toward space, floated at the edge of the atmosphere. His hands slowly lowered from his head, his fingers still trembling from the intense pain.
Was he awake?
No.
His breathing was still heavy like a beast, reason suppressed by instinct. At this moment, he was more like an enraged ancient creature.
He looked down at his waist. The Flame Sword was firmly sheathed in its dark scabbard, and the tome of [Ancient Dragon] was faintly warm.
Carlisle's palm slammed down on the book cover, and the dragon patterns instantly lit up with dazzling blue light. The next second, he gripped the sword hilt and abruptly drew it with a space tearing motion. A mechanical electronic sound echoed in the void.
[Grab Fatal Read Complete!]
Purple demonic flames suddenly erupted. They surged out of the scabbard like a volcanic eruption, instantly enveloping his entire body. An ethereal blue dragon shadow solidified within the flames, transforming into a colossal claw that blotted out the sky, pressing down fiercely toward the ground.
The Greed Archbishop on the ground was still immersed in her false victory until a shadow enveloped her entire body.
She stiffly looked up, her pupils reflecting the dragon claw descending from the sky, its tips wreathed in flames hot enough to vaporize steel, the patterns of its scales clearly visible in the sunlight.
"No... impossible..."
Her face instantly turned ashen, her legs like lead, unable to move.
The dragon claw slammed into the ground.
"Boom!!!"
The Greed Archbishop was pressed firmly into the rock, and a terrifying shockwave ripped up the ground for a thousand meters around. She struggled to activate her authority, but found that the power of time was once again rejected by the dragon flames.
Carlisle's figure swooped down from the sky, following the dragon claw. The Flame Sword was raised above his head, its blade extending into a blue claw shadow dozens of meters long.
"Lady Pandora! Sav..."
The sword light slashed down.
"Swish!!!"
The blue light claw tore through heaven and earth, and the Greed Archbishop's cry for help abruptly ceased.
The moment the sword's edge touched the ground...
"Rumble rumble rumble!!!"
The forest on Roswaal's border was annihilated in a flash of light. Towering ancient trees, rugged rocks, even flowing streams, all vaporized in the intense heat. The dazzling blue light lasted for a full ten seconds. When it dissipated, only a giant crater five kilometers in diameter remained, with molten lava churning at its bottom like the entrance to hell.
Carlisle knelt on one knee in the center of the destruction, the tip of his sword plunged into the ground. The blue light of his compound eyes gradually faded, and the phantom of the giant dragon behind him slowly disappeared.
The smoke and dust slowly dispersed, and at the edge of the energy churning crater, space slightly twisted.
Pandora's figure silently emerged, her snow white hair unmoving in the hot wind. Beside her, the Greed Archbishop knelt disheveled on the ground, her golden pupils unfocused and vacant, clearly not yet recovered from the devastating blow.
"It seems..."
Pandora's voice was soft as a sigh.
"A more troublesome existence is arriving."
Her gaze fell on Carlisle, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile curved at the corner of her lips.
"How long can you maintain this form?"
Carlisle, or rather, the ancient dragon transformed Carlisle, slowly looked up.
He suddenly noticed that the ground for several kilometers around the battlefield was being swallowed by a pitch black shadow. The shadow writhed like a living creature. Wherever it passed, lava extinguished, debris dissolved, and even the air was tainted with a decaying aura.
At the center of the shadow, a woman in a black robe appeared without warning.
Her presence felt unnatural, as if she had been standing there from the very beginning. Her wide black robe concealed her face, revealing only fingers so pale they were almost translucent.
Her gaze pierced through the darkness, locking directly onto the tome of the Dragon of Hope, which Subaru had become, at Carlisle's waist.
The black robed woman slowly raised her hand and pulled back her hood.
A face with silver hair and purple eyes was revealed.
But those eyes were hollow, lifeless, like an abyss that devoured all light.
Her lips parted, her voice hoarse and twisted, yet filled with morbid tenderness.
"I love you..."
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.