Not long after Lorne's figure disappeared, several figures arrived at the battle-scarred wasteland.
They wore unified uniforms, their expressions solemn, and they exuded an aura stronger than ordinary Mages.
Leading them was a man with sharp eyes behind a pair of glasses, Lahar, the captain of the Magic Council's Fourth Enforcement Unit.
"Is this the epicenter of the magical conflict?"
He looked around, his brows furrowing tightly, mainly because the scene before him was too bizarre.
Most of the building debris was covered in eerie ice crystals, exuding a bone-chilling cold, while some parts looked as if they had endured the erosion of time.
A team member cautiously reached out and lightly touched a stone pillar nearby, which had already weathered significantly.
"Crash..."
That seemingly intact stone pillar silently turned into a pile of fine dust under his fingertip, scattering with the wind.
"This... this is..."
The team member was startled, quickly retracting his hand, his face filled with horror.
What kind of magic was this, that could make solid rock weather into this state in such a short time?
Lahar didn't speak; his gaze was drawn to a figure in the center of the ruins.
It was a person prostrate on the ground, motionless, maintaining a forward-leaning posture.
His hair and beard were white, dry as straw, his skin was tightly adhering to his bones, covered in wrinkles as deep as ravines.
There were no obvious fatal injuries on his body, as if... as if he had suddenly died of old age.
"Captain, look at his clothes..." A team member followed, his voice tinged with uncertainty, "This looks like... the Phantom Lord Guild Master's attire."
Lahar knelt down and gently turned the corpse over. When he saw that extremely aged face, even with his composure, his pupils couldn't help but contract sharply.
"There's no mistake," his voice became a little hoarse, "It's Jose Porla."
"What?!" "The Phantom Lord's Guild Master?!"
The surrounding team members instantly erupted into a commotion, their faces filled with disbelief.
"He... he's one of the Ten Wizard Saints!"
"How could he die here? And... and in such a tragic state!"
The demise of a Ten Wizard Saints was definitely a monumental event capable of shaking the entire Kingdom of Fiore.
No, it was a world-shattering event that would shake the entire Ishgar continent!
An invisible chill rose from the hearts of several team members, making their gaze towards the ruins tinged with a hint of fear.
To be able to kill a Ten Wizard Saints in such a short time and in such a bizarre manner... what kind of terrifying existence was the opponent?
"Calm down, everyone!"
Lahar shouted, forcefully suppressing the unrest in everyone's hearts.
"Immediately cordon off the scene! Activate the magical tools to trace the magical residue and reconstruct the battle process!"
"Yes!"
A team member immediately took out a precise spherical instrument from the magical tools he carried.
He infused it with magic, and the instrument hummed, emitting a faint light, beginning to scan the residual magical traces in the surrounding space.
"Sizzle... Bang!"
However... the instrument had barely run for three seconds before it suddenly exploded with a loud bang, emitting plumes of black smoke.
"Reporting, Captain! The instrument is malfunctioning!" The team member hurriedly shouted, "The residual magic at the scene... is too chaotic! No, not chaotic! It's... it's something directly interfering with the instrument's operation!"
Lahar's face was terribly grim. He waved for the team member to step back, then personally knelt on one knee, removed his glove, and gently pressed his finger to the ground.
He slowly closed his eyes, sensing carefully.
Cold.
Dead silence.
And... a peculiar and vast magical fluctuation. The lingering power of that force made even him, an elite of the Council, feel a pang of dread.
He could feel two distinctly different power residues.
One was Jose's dark, evil dark magic, but it was now as faint as a flickering candle in the wind.
And the other... it contained ice but also something else that was beyond his comprehension.
After a long while, Lahar slowly opened his eyes and took out a communication lacrima from his pocket.
"This is Lahar of the Fourth Enforcement Unit."
His voice was transmitted back to the Magic Council's headquarters through the lacrima.
"Target location... the former Phantom Lord branch, confirmed destroyed."
A questioning voice came from the other end of the communicator. Lahar took a deep breath and reported in a tone of unprecedented gravity:
"Jose Porla... confirmed dead."
"Residual magic at the scene... unanalyzable. Repeat, unanalyzable."
"Identity of the perpetrator... unknown. But his power... level... immeasurable."
...Meanwhile, high above another town in the Kingdom of Fiore.
Lorne's figure quietly appeared amidst the blooming and wilting of an ice crystal flower. Below him was another branch stronghold of Phantom Lord.
He didn't hesitate for a moment, nor did he utter any superfluous words, directly raising his hand to cast magic.
As he moved, the temperature of the entire town seemed to drop by several degrees, and countless tiny ice crystals condensed in the air.
"Ice Blossom Storm."
The next moment, a small blizzard appeared out of nowhere, engulfing the Phantom Lord branch below.
Within the raging ice and snow storm, countless sharp ice blades furiously cut through the building.
"Rumble—"
Amidst the ear-splitting cracking sounds, the entire guild building was brutally torn apart, turning into a sky full of debris and ice shards.
The Mages inside the branch were scared out of their wits by this sudden natural disaster, scrambling out of the ruins, covered in frost but not fatally injured.
They looked up in terror but only saw a dazzling ice crystal flower slowly dissipating in the sky.
Lorne's figure was long gone.
In the time that followed, he moved like a ghost, teleporting across the Kingdom of Fiore, eradicating one Phantom Lord branch after another.
His methods had become much gentler compared to the beginning; he no longer aimed to kill.
He simply erased all the strongholds Phantom Lord had established in this country, one by one, from the map.
However, when he arrived at the location of Phantom Lord's headquarters, he couldn't help but freeze.
Before him was only a massive crater and several tracks extending into the distance.
The entire guild headquarters... had vanished without a trace.
Lorne raised an eyebrow slightly, then remembered.
Phantom Lord's headquarters was itself a giant mobile fortress.
He murmured to himself:
"Did they run away?"
Did they receive some news that made them escape in advance?
Lorne's senses spread out but found no trace.
The Kingdom of Fiore was so vast; trying to find a mobile target that was deliberately hiding was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"Those so-called Four Elements are still on it, right..."
He stroked his chin, feeling a hint of regret.
He had originally planned to deal with those guys as well while he was at it.
But it didn't matter; the chief culprit was gone, and the rest were just minor nuisances.
As long as the name Phantom Lord still existed, he would eventually have a chance to find them.
It was time to go back.
Lorne turned around, casting his gaze towards the distant Magnolia.
He wondered what kind of wonderful expression the old man would have when he saw the gift he had left behind.
A subtle curve appeared at the corner of Lorne's mouth, and an ice crystal flower quietly bloomed beneath his feet.
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