Above the sky, a massive fissure burning with crimson-gold flames resembled an eye opened in divine wrath.
Far away in the royal capital, Ilena, through the Restriction left deep within her student's Soul, sensed that Fafnir's life was being severely threatened. Without a moment's hesitation, she immediately activated a projection magic that spanned space.
The next second, a colossal dragon claw phantom, entirely composed of boiling magma and dazzling Law runes, blotted out the sky as it tore open the largest spatial rift, slowly reaching toward Caesar within the Domain!
Even before the claw arrived, the killing intent capable of freezing Souls and the scorching heat that incinerated Laws had already enveloped the entire area!
Ilena's goal was clear: crush this ant who dared to grievously injure her student.
However, just as the dragon claw was about to descend, her will suddenly faltered.
In her perception, an aura of Soul energy that felt incredibly familiar—even originating from her very self—was emanating from beside the cloaked figure.
What was that?
Ilena's attention was drawn to the red dragon bubble floating near Caesar's shoulder.
That was... a fragment of her own Soul?!
How could it be here? And being used by a human?
Profound confusion caused Ilena's world-destroying Law dragon claw to pause in mid-air for an instant.
Now!
Instead of fleeing, Caesar did something so audacious it would leave even a deity dumbfounded!
He instantly understood.
Fafnir's teacher was that Legendary Red Dragon from whom Viola had torn a Soul fragment not long ago!
In that case, there was room for maneuver!
Caesar snatched the dragon bubble from his shoulder, charged toward the unconscious Fafnir, and forcefully pressed the Soul bubble, condensed with its last vestiges of power, against the already dim resonance stone on Fafnir's chest!
Simultaneously, he let out a fanatical and maddened roar in his disguised, hoarse voice:
"With blasphemous blood, I offer to my Sacred Artifact!"
"Seize your Origin, return to the Void Realm!"
Caesar intended to cement his identity as a heretic of the "Plasma Cult," disguising his actions as a bizarre and insane sacrificial ritual targeting the Dragon Clan!
The dragon bubble itself was harmless, but the aura of Ilena's Origin Soul it carried, upon close contact with her severely injured student, instantly altered Ilena's attack priority.
From her perspective, a mad heretic was trying to forcibly inject a strange Soul entity emitting her Origin aura into her critically injured, near-death student.
What kind of Curse was this?
Or some kind of Possession secret art?
Concern breeds confusion.
Even a Legendary Great Dragon, upon seeing both her Soul fragment and her student threatened simultaneously, would instinctively prioritize saving the dragon over killing the human.
"How dare you—!!"
A draconic roar filled with violent fury resounded through heaven and earth.
The flaming giant claw, originally locked onto Caesar, abruptly shifted direction, fingers splayed, attempting to intercept the dragon bubble before it touched Fafnir.
All perception, all Law power, concentrated entirely on that small area on Fafnir's chest in that instant.
Hooked!
A cold sneer curled at the corner of Caesar's mouth.
He was gambling.
..
He won the bet.
At the exact moment Ilena's attention was drawn to the "sacrificial ritual," the Shadow Claw hidden under Caesar's cloak had already extended from the shadows as silently and deftly as a Thief's hand.
Not to attack, but to skillfully "snatch" the dim resonance stone from Fafnir's chest, grazing the edge of the sky-blotting Law dragon claw with pinpoint accuracy!
Success, retrieve into Storage Ring!
The next second, without any hesitation, Caesar directly detonated the entire Z-Move Domain.
"Explode!"
The already teetering shadow world, under Caesar's active intervention, completely collapsed.
Countless ghost elements compressed to their limits lost their restraints, imploding inward, and then—
BOOM——————!!!
A massive black mushroom cloud rose above the church ruins.
The annihilating shockwave instantly engulfed Caesar, Fafnir, and the dragon bubble.
Light twisted, space trembled... To the outside world, it looked like the cornered heretic had chosen to self-destruct at the last moment, attempting to take everyone down with him!
Ilena's Law dragon claw had to divert part of its power to counteract this violent spatial detonation, preventing her student from being blown to pieces.
An explosion of this magnitude naturally couldn't injure a Legendary's projection, let alone kill Fafnir under such circumstances, but its greatest effect was—
Blocking perception.
In those brief two seconds when vision was obscured and perception was disrupted.
Caesar tore off a corner of his own cloak, along with an ordinary Storage Ring containing miscellaneous items, and hurled them toward the explosion's epicenter, creating a false "remains" illusion.
Simultaneously, he recalled the dragon bubble into the sharp claw.
" Stop watching the show!"
Following Caesar's low roar, a cluster of cold, ghostly soul fire finally emerged from the sharp claw, rapidly spreading to envelop Caesar's entire body.
—System prompt: Viola used [Phantom Force]!
[Phantom Force]: First turn, vanish into another dimension; second turn, attack. But in reality, this thing could be used as an escape god-skill.
In the chaotic gap of one or two seconds as the Domain completely shattered and the real world's scenery began to restore, Caesar's figure twisted and directly merged into the boundless darkness.
He didn't go far; instead, he slipped out along the edge of the spatial rift torn open by the Legendary Red Dragon when it breached the Domain, connecting to the real world, enduring the explosion's aftermath!
Target: Osterburg's underground drainage system!
...
Rumble—!!!
The shadow Domain completely shattered, and the real world's sunlight shone down once more.
On the square of Osterburg's great church, it looked as if a small-scale war had taken place, with ruins and rubble everywhere.
A tall figure in a crimson dress stepped out from the Void Realm. Ilena's Law dragon claw gently waved, smoothing out the explosion's aftermath and protecting the unconscious Fafnir.
She quickly roused her student.
"Teacher..."
Fafnir awoke, waves of stinging pain from deep within his Soul making him cough involuntarily.
Humiliation.
Such humiliation.
As a Prodigy of the True Dragon Imperial Court, to be beaten like this by an unknown heretic in a human city.
Even requiring his teacher to cross space to rescue him.
Ilena didn't speak, only using gentle Draconic Magic to stabilize his Soul before coldly asking,
"What happened?"
Fafnir struggled to stand, instinctively reaching for his chest.
Empty.
The resonance stone bestowed by his teacher was gone!
A wave of immense humiliation washed over him. He lowered his head and recounted everything that had just happened, including how he underestimated the enemy, was suppressed by the opponent's bizarre methods, and was ultimately defeated.
"He called himself the Plasma Cult, was very powerful, and... likely already took that blasphemous tablet."
After listening, Ilena didn't erupt in fury or blame as Fafnir had expected.
Plasma Cult?
A name she hadn't heard before.
From her perspective, a mad heretic calling himself the "Plasma Cult" had stolen the "blasphemous tablet" and attacked her student. At the last moment before being killed by her, the opponent activated some kind of mutually destructive forbidden ritual, took the resonance stone, and detonated the entire space.
The heretic narrowly escaped in the explosion, while Fafnir was severely injured but luckily survived.
This was Ilena's preliminary analysis based on the information remaining at the scene.
Moreover, the opponent seemingly possessed her Soul fragment. Could it be... related to that Legendary behind the Silver Dragon incident?
"Don't blame yourself."
Ilena looked at the young dragon filled with remorse, her tone unusually softening a bit. "You didn't encounter an ordinary person. This was a premeditated, targeted ambush."
"Targeting... me?" Fafnir was taken aback.
"No, targeting the True Dragon Imperial Court."
Ilena raised her head, looking into the distance.
At that moment, the over five hundred people Cecilia had hypnotized in the church finally woke up groggily. They looked blankly at the devastated square and the suffocating dragon's might in the air, completely unaware of what had happened.
Intelligence agents from the city lord's mansion, the Adventurers Guild, and major merchant guilds had already been alerted. The entire city entered its highest-level wartime state.
Ilena's projection coldly watched the humans rushing out of the church like ants, and the trembling Osterburg city lord approaching from afar with a large group of guards and mages.
They had just witnessed a dragon's descent, seen the massive explosion, and now saw a woman standing and a red-haired youth lying in the ruins. Though they didn't know the specifics, the terrifying dragon's might was unmistakable.
"G-Great True Dragon Lord..."
As soon as the city lord knelt,
Ilena spoke, her voice not loud but clearly reaching every corner of the city:
"I have no intention of destroying this city."
"In the name of the True Dragon Imperial Court, Osterburg is under full lockdown. Search for all suspicious individuals and items related to the 'Plasma Cult.'"
"Simultaneously, I sternly warn all human factions: do not investigate in-depth or disseminate details of today's church square incident in any form. Violators will be considered as challenging the True Dragon Imperial Court."
Two seemingly contradictory commands, yet they demonstrated the absolute will of a Legendary Great Dragon.
She didn't want to escalate matters, but she also had to teach this cult daring to challenge the Dragon Clan a bloody lesson.
After giving all instructions, Ilena's gaze returned to Fafnir.
"Handle the rest."
She viewed this incident as a training exercise for Fafnir.
The appearance of the dragon Soul fragment made her realize that behind this likely stood that mysterious Legendary capable of rivaling her again... Things were getting increasingly complex.
As her words fell, Ilena's Law projection transformed into scattered sparks, dissipating into the air.