The long night ends
Things happened too quickly. Mia Rhodes instinctively used space jump to instantly get away from Ximu. He didn't feel any pain at all and even thought he had successfully avoided the attack.
It was not until his withered arm slowly opened a long gap and the "death intention" turned into a pitch-black substance, spreading unstoppably upwards, that he finally realized what was happening.
The ring...it's that ring!
It had a space passage that he had set up himself. It was through this thing that he was able to successfully bypass the blockade outside the Moon Viewing Tower and lead his men directly into the interior.
But after that day, the ring disappeared along with Millianna, and he himself has been trapped here ever since... Could it be that Millianna secretly assisted them and helped them modify the spell on the ring?
Although he was suspicious, he could not just watch himself being swallowed by the "will of death". With the intention of sacrificing even this hand, he immediately activated the law of space to make the two powers collide with each other and cancel each other out.
But this time, his power didn't respond to him for some reason.
——What’s going on? Where is his spatial power?
"it's useless."
As if answering his question, Ruixia still warily pointed the cannon barrel in his direction and said coldly:
"When we modified the triggering conditions and direction of the spatial channel on the ring, we also added some safety features. Now your power has been temporarily sealed... Although it's not for long, it's enough time for the 'Death Will' to devour you completely."
"How is it possible?! Seal my power? —Just you?!"
Although this question is arrogant, it does make sense in a sense.
No matter how gifted they are, most of these kids in front of them are only in their teens. How could they possibly create a seal that could restrain a great magician?
With an incredulous look, Mia Rhodes glanced at everyone one by one, and finally stopped at Sorens who was holding the Moon Staff.
The brown-haired kid, holding a staff that was completely inconsistent with his status, stared back fearlessly - but his reflection on the lake did not quite match his real self.
“Heh, hum…hahahahahahaha!”
A burst of inexplicable laughter burst out from Mialods' chest. He tore off the injured hand without hesitation, with a look of "as expected" in his eyes.
"It's you? Ha, I knew it had to be you—Fises. Without your secret help behind the scenes, how could these little brats have pushed me to this point!"
"No one forced you."
Sorens responded, and although the voice was still his own, the sadness and determination in his words seemed to carry the shadow of someone else.
"From the moment you chose to abandon friendship and trample on lives for ambition, you embarked on a path that was doomed to failure."
"Now that you've won, of course you can stand here and teach me a lesson!"
The spread of the "will of death" did not stop when the arm was broken. This thing burned not the body, but the soul.
Unable to use the "rules" to offset it, black mist began to faintly appear from other parts of Mialods' body. The "death" that had been dry for many years finally smelled the breath of life and pounced on him like a hungry beast, wanting to eat him up from the inside out.
"I never intended to mistreat you, Phises... If I succeed, I will definitely resurrect you and Millianna! But what about you? From beginning to end, you only spoke those high principles, then accused me of taking human life lightly and colluding with groups of outsiders to deal with me!
"It's obvious that if we two join forces, the world will be ours. Why can't you understand me?!
"Most people in this world are fools. What's wrong with letting the strong dictate the rules of survival? Just because you're hiding your weapons and not using them, will your country let you go? They're just trying to squeeze every bit of value out of you!"
"Why don't you understand me..."
The furious accusations became increasingly muted as death approached, and seemed to conceal a hint of imperceptible confusion and grievance.
The once glorious great wizard was silently burned to ashes in the black smoke and accusations that continued to erode him.
Until the last moment, these two close friends who once talked about everything still could not reach a consensus and could only drift further and further apart.
As Mia Rhodes disappeared, a sound similar to that of a broken mirror resounded through the sky. The sky and the lake surface suddenly cracked, and the scene collapsed into countless fragments. Everyone lost their footing and fell into the bottomless abyss with screams!
The shouts of the other people around her faded away in an instant. Ruixia found that she couldn't even open her backpack. Seeing Ximu, who had been motionless since the successful operation, was getting farther and farther away, she became nervous for a moment. She pushed past the countless fragments on her side that reflected scenes from all over the academy and struggled to get closer to the other person's position.
"It's okay, don't be afraid."
The "voice" that she had heard in the circular secret room rang in her ears. Ruixia raised her head and found that a vague figure was faintly emerging in the collapsed space, holding the Moon Staff that had given them great help in his hand.
"You will return safely to the place of origin, as will your other companions. Thank you for ending this all-too-long night."
His originally helpless body seemed to be dragged down by a gentle force, and a moonlight-like clear light gradually enveloped his body, lifting him out of the broken world that was disappearing and reorganizing.
At the moment when Ruixia's consciousness gradually faded, soft yet powerful words fell into her mind, like praise and blessings from the gods -
"Fearless young men, may you never lose your way in the deepest night."
+++
When Ruixia woke up, the first thing she smelled was a strong scent of grass and trees.
Soil, vegetation, insect chirping…insect chirping?
Suddenly realizing something, he opened his eyes abruptly and stood up.
——It’s a forest.
But this forest was different from the places he had almost grown tired of seeing before. There were the persistent chirping of insects, the sound of wild beasts stepping on branches in the distance, and more importantly... the detection equipment that had been malfunctioning before finally started to respond!
Seeing the signals that had been lost for a long time start to light up one by one, Ruixia was extremely excited and her face was full of joy.
This is where he got separated from his previous team.
He came out, he really came out!
But he was happy for a short time before he immediately remembered something and quickly opened more screens to check on Ximu and the others.
To prevent Mialodos from separating them and defeating them one by one, he installed a special positioning system on each person's weapon.
Some positioning magic may malfunction or become disrupted due to changes in the formula or rules, but mechanical engineering follows a unified logic and should not be affected by spatial shifts...
Got it!
When a new signal appeared on the screen, Ruixia almost burst into tears.
Sorens and Vicia must be gone... The signals of Morena and Zhui'er are stuck at the edge of the maximum detection range, showing "Lost". They must be very far away from him.
But Ximu's location was not far from him, downstream of a river in the forest!
Yes, she mentioned before that she was brought to the forest by an underground river... It was great that they were abducted into the illusion in the same forest!
After stabbing Mia Rodes, Ximu stood there motionless, never looking up at anyone, and never retracted the "Thorn of the End"...
In this state, we can't leave her there alone, we must find her as soon as possible!
After quickly planning the route and the surrounding terrain, Ruixia put on her mechanical wings again, picked a suitable cliff, and jumped down directly from it!
The ability of this pair of wings to take off is average, but it is barely usable for gliding. Right now, every second counts and he really has no time to tinker with other means of transportation on the spot. He can only make do with the props on hand!
"Oh my god, is that Ruixia? Am I seeing things?"
"It really is! —Hey, Ruisha, over here!"
He didn't know how long he had been missing in real life, but his companions who had gone into the mountains with him had clearly not given up searching for him. Seeing his figure flash across the sky, they frantically called out for him.
"I'm fine!—I'm busy now, I'll explain it to you later!"
Ruixia didn't stop intentionally. She responded in a long voice, waved to them, and continued to fly down.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"You've been missing for several days! We really don't know what to do. We've already contacted your family..."
The voice behind was intermittent. Ruixia couldn't hear it clearly and didn't care much.
Have you contacted your family?
Could it be that my family has already learned about my disappearance and are rushing here?
Hey, it looks like I've been wasting even longer than I expected. Perhaps I've failed the adventurer exam...
The subconscious association came to an abrupt end the moment I saw the familiar black fog.
On the grass by the river, Xi Mu, with water still dripping from his body, held the "Thorn of the End" in his hand and staggered forward slowly. Wherever he went, it was like being kissed by death. All the plants withered and no grass grew.
not good!
Ruixia frowned, and before she landed on the ground, she threw several mechanical devices from the air. An energy barrier similar to the previous one was quickly deployed, enclosing the area where the "death intention" was spreading.
Damn, the barrier reinforced by gravity ore has been exhausted in the previous battle... This ordinary energy barrier may not be able to stop Ximu for too long.
Ruixia herself fell into the barrier and had to set up her magic crystal cannon, but there was still a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"...Ximu, are you okay? I'm Ruixia, can you hear me?"
The moment Ruixia landed, the silver-haired girl stopped her staggering steps, and as if sensing the breath of life, she tilted her head and looked at him in an extremely unnatural movement.
The next second——
It was almost impossible to see how Ximu moved. The moment Ruixia came to her senses, the cold light of the "Thorn of the End" had already condensed right in front of her eyes!
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