A vast golden wheat field grew upon the soft soil, waves of gold trembling with the wind.
Beneath clusters of dim green ghost flames, it was as if a spark of starlight had been lit inside eye sockets, shimmering faintly.
The pale white bones were illuminated brilliantly by this sunlight, even the ghost flames licking the bones became exceptionally clear.
Even in such a lifeless environment, it was still filled with a continuous surge of life.
Even Count Laurien's enormous residence, like a ruined castle, was draped in a layer of golden light, broken stones and debris fully exposed before everyone.
Swirling sand and dust drifted in the air against the light, colliding with one another.
The glow reflected from the golden wheat waves also shone upon his face.
The ferocity in his crimson eyes was stripped away by the light, replaced instead with an unbelievable shock.
His pale skin was completely exposed under the sky, the flowing blood energy beneath it appearing especially chaotic.
For the first time, Count Laurien felt an immense shock toward the wheat of the Goddess of Abundance.
'So this… is the power of a god?'
'But…'
"Even so, what can you possibly do to stop me?", Count Laurien looked at Priscilla in the sky and muttered.
Midnight was about to arrive, and Priscilla in the sky was about to complete her full transformation.
But at this moment, within Vega's eyes, a bright azure light suddenly flashed.
In an instant, dozens of massive and heavy magic arrays rapidly spun into existence in the air.
Behind Viktor, that ghostly flame coat fluttered with the wind.
Streams of magic of various colors flowed like a waterfall, surging upward along the radiant black staff in his hand toward the sky.
Complex patterns intertwined and interlaced, quickly connecting to the magic waterfall that shot straight into the blood-red sky.
Runes were rapidly engraved onto the arrays, those intricate and obscure characters embedded into the core of the magic.
Threads of magic passed finely through the complicated arrays.
Those dozen or so massive magic arrays expanded, covering the entire space.
Countless magic circles wrapped around Viktor several times.
The flowing magic drew in a heavy pressure, pressing down upon everyone present with a terrifying force on their shoulders.
The uppermost array covered the entire land, countless beams of magic falling from the sky and slamming heavily into the ground.
Each impact blasted deep craters into the earth.
At this moment, Viktor's mana was dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A vast ocean of magic instantly submerged everyone present.
That oppressive force made everyone's hearts tremble to the extreme, as if a castle had been shattered into countless pieces by the descending power.
Count Laurien felt the dazzling magic arrays and was utterly shocked.
The immense pressure pressed down upon his flesh wings, forcing his body in midair to sink slightly.
Feeling that terrifying magic, he became strangely delighted.
"So that's how it is, so that's how it is!"
"Councilor, you truly surprise me!"
The moment his words fell, Count Laurien's body was continuously battered by a violent wind, and his form swelled completely.
His three pairs of flesh wings snapped and compressed together, becoming wide and twisted in the blink of an eye.
His expanding body tore apart the lead-colored robe, his withered pale hands stretching unnaturally long.
Sharp, thin nails grew from his pale fingers, extending past the ruined residence, still reaching toward the sky.
His body expanded along with it, his spine stretched longer and longer.
The grotesquely writhing flesh was forcibly pulled upward, spiraling along the elongated spine, reaching the sky and piercing through the clouds.
The flesh on the surface was torn into fragments, internal organs exposed through the ragged cracks of his body.
They glowed with an orange light, like pulsating planets.
His feet also became extremely massive, beneath the slender leg bones were thick giant claws.
The blood-colored claws sank deeply into the ground, nearly covering everyone present.
Count Laurien's entire head began to twist and deform, the originally fragmented flesh expanding along with it.
The flesh inside his body turned into tentacles, pulling off his original head, tearing it into pieces before placing it back onto a thick neck.
That pale head reformed, but this time, only a massive mouth remained on it, large enough to swallow towers and city walls.
A crimson single eye emerged from the torn flesh on his chest.
Before everyone, that giant eye had grown so large they could not see the end of its red expanse.
Seeing Count Laurien like this, everyone present felt their skin crawl.
Could this still be considered the Count Laurien they knew?
Before this, even as a blood race, he still had a human appearance.
But now, he had completely transformed into something utterly ominous.
Along with its appearance, a hoarse and twisted voice echoed across the land.
"But, you missed one point."
"The blood race is a race without emotions."
"So even if I use everything, I will never lose!!!"
Suddenly, moonlight seemed like blades stabbing into Priscilla's pained face, about to tear apart her writhing body.
A surging blood aura was drawn out from Priscilla's body.
As that extracted power left her, her body grew even weaker.
The three pairs of blood wings no longer carried their crimson color, as if they had lost all vitality.
Then, Laurien opened that twisted giant mouth, as if swallowing all the power drawn from Priscilla in one gulp.
At that moment, the blood-red aura became like a deadly abyss, pulling the chaotic blood storm straight into the giant mouth, shaking the sky.
Everyone present watched as the blood storm gradually calmed.
The dense blood mist was drawn together, condensing into a massive dark blood sphere floating high in the air.
The surrounding space seemed torn apart by this terrifying power, constantly twisting.
At the same time, a strange force leaked from the cracks, pouring like a waterfall into the giant mouth, merging into the massive blood sphere ahead.
Seeing this phenomenon, a bad feeling rose in the hearts of the nobles.
Even in their undead state, it felt like their hearts were tightly gripped by a demon, their tension reaching the extreme.
'What exactly is Count Laurien doing!?'
'Is he going to kill everyone present at all costs!?'
'Even… destroy his own daughter along with us?'
Everyone was filled with doubt.
Did Laurien truly want to revive his daughter?
Or did he only see her as a vessel supplying blood?
But at this moment, no one had time to think further.
Facing the terrifying blood sphere, Viktor's body overflowed with dense magic.
Patterns were rapidly drawn from space, forming a massive and intricate array behind him.
Hundreds of runes and hexagrams overlapped, releasing a force of magic strong enough to shake heaven and earth.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The magic array behind Viktor erupted again, emitting an even brighter light than before.
He raised his head, looked toward the sky, staring at Priscilla beneath the blood-red moon, and called out, "Priscilla!"
"If you don't come out now, your mother won't be saved!"
The moment his voice fell, a cluster of dim green flame leaped from Viktor's body, turning into a slender green streak that shot toward the sky.
A girl's figure slowly emerged from that flame.
It was Priscilla.
She wore a pitch-black dress, her pale skin still faintly visible even under the ghost flames.
That slender figure floated into the sky, framed by the ghost fire.
The nobles saw the familiar face and cried out in shock, "Priscilla!?"
"Th-that… isn't that Count Laurien's dead daughter!?"
Then if this soul was Priscilla, who was the one in the sky possessing Priscilla's body?
Surrounded by fiercely burning green ghost flames, Priscilla drifted before the bloodline creature that was about to complete its transformation.
Her body floated in the air like an illusion, her black dress fluttering.
But beneath the dress, there was nothing... completely empty.
She floated before the bloodline creature, looking at the hideous monster with unwavering eyes.
"Father, don't continue like this."
Priscilla looked at the suffering bloodline creature behind her and shouted, "Do you want to completely kill my mother!?"
Hearing Priscilla's call from the sky, all the nobles present were stunned.
With hollow, foolish eye sockets, they stared fixedly at the sky.
What was this?
How did this suddenly involve Priscilla's mother?
However, Count Laurien's massive eye stared firmly at the tiny Priscilla.
A hollow, low roar echoed through the world.
"What do you understand?"
Priscilla looked at that blood-red pupil, a trace of fear instinctively appearing.
But after a few seconds, she still glared at Laurien with firm eyes, as if she had made her final resolve.
"Then let me be the sacrifice."
"All the mistakes are mine, so let me die in place of Mother!"
"Father, I will stop you."
Count Laurien's pupil suddenly widened, the crimson eye growing even more frenzied.
Blood vessels rapidly filled his massive eye, as if he had gone completely mad.
"Good!"
"Since you want to save her, then I'll give you this chance!"
The moment his words fell, behind Priscilla, the bloodline creature on the verge of bursting slowly reached out its hand.
Its crimson gaze was extremely eerie, as if it wanted to devour Priscilla completely.
Yet when facing that gaze, Priscilla showed no fear at all.
She had already made her full resolve.
Then, the bloodline creature suddenly grabbed Priscilla's shoulders.
In an instant, Priscilla felt immense pressure on her soul, completely restrained in midair.
She felt her soul gradually being devoured.
So this… was how she would die in place of her mother?
But just as her consciousness grew dim, as if her body were sinking into a silent lake of death...
Suddenly, 'Priscilla's' violent crimson eyes became unusually gentle.
The fierce red faded slightly, and softly, she embraced Priscilla in her arms.
Along with it, faint voices of the soul echoed quietly in her heart.
'Priscilla.'
'My child.'
Priscilla's eyes widened suddenly, but her soul was completely stiff, unable to do anything.
She couldn't even say a single word.
In an instant, it felt as if her blood reversed.
Priscilla's body, which had been on the verge of bursting, absorbed a large amount of blood energy again beneath the blood moon.
At the same time, Count Laurien's twisted face revealed a relieved smile.
That massive body that covered the sky seemed to shed an immense burden, shrinking slightly.
Then, he raised his head.
The blood sphere in his mouth was suddenly expelled, shooting straight into the sky.
In an instant, the world lost its color.
The blood-red sky was shattered completely, all the crimson clouds dispersing in every direction.
The attack struck the blood-red moon hanging high in the sky, cracks instantly spreading across its surface.
In the next second, the round blood moon shattered completely, deep red liquid bursting out as if pouring from the sky.
As if receiving some signal, Viktor immediately raised his staff high.
Above the golden bird's head, a phantom of a scale slowly appeared.
The scale pointed toward Count Laurien, weighing his good and evil.
A deep blood aura was drawn from Laurien's body, drifting onto one side of the scale.
The golden scale swayed slightly before stopping, the side representing "good" gently tilting downward.
At that moment, a faint golden aura seeped out from the scale.
Along with the breeze over the wheat field, it formed a hazy human outline.
A brilliant, vast golden array surged in the air, and a totem gradually revealed a bundle of golden wheat.
A towering phantom slowly emerged.
It was a goddess wearing a flower crown.
In her hand, she held a glowing wheat stalk, appearing gracefully upon the golden field.
With a kind and gentle smile, her bright eyes looked peacefully at Count Laurien.
In an instant, Viktor's coat behind him trembled like flames, erupting with a blazing radiance.
[Scorched Earth]
Even though it was midnight, a breathtaking sun slowly rose from the horizon.
It hung high in the sky, replacing the shattered blood moon.
Vast magic poured down along with the sunlight, falling like golden raindrops onto Count Laurien's towering body.
The sky brightened instantly, the light of dawn illuminating the brilliant stars.
Golden wheat waves swayed with the wind, reflecting warm sunlight onto everyone's faces.
In every person's eyes, the hope of tomorrow was reflected.
Sacred radiance spread slowly from the sky, embracing every life present.
Warmth rose once more, as if even ice sunk ten thousand meters beneath the sea was melting under this light.
Like countless blazing blades shining with brilliance, it cut through the murky, dense fog, slicing even through the flames of the soul.
"Noon has arrived..."
[Super-tier Magic: A Farewell Gift Offered to the Mother Goddess of Abundance]