The battle up in the sky was between the academy professors and the elders of the Corpse Demon Sect. They were all a full two ranks above the Core Opening realm, but their fight was pretty chill, honestly. Neither side went all out—they just kinda held each other in place. Both sides were equal in power.
At first, Professor Thomas was ready to go all out and crush the Evil Path elders like usual, but this time it seemed like the Corpse Demon Sect had sent a high-ranked elder just as strong as him. People at their level need at least half a day to take the other down, so he gave up on trying to win and just focused on keeping them from interfering with the fight down below. The Evil Path elders did the same thing.
All the professors could do was hope that one of their assistants would break free or beat their opponent and go help protect the students and civilians below.
---
A little farther from the big shots' fight, the younger guys—those at the Core Opening realm—were duking it out. They were all at the peak of their rank, with the weakest at the ninth level. Unlike the old guys, their fight was intense. I mean, they're young and hyped up, so their battle was literally shaking up space itself.
Then, all of a sudden, one of the Evil Path students sacrificed his corpses, blew them up in front of his opponents, broke through the encirclement, and headed straight for Aeon to kill him. His opponent from the academy tried to chase him down, but it was already too late.
---
As soon as Aeon heard Professor Thomas's voice, a sense of danger washed over him. He looked up and saw an Evil Path student flying toward him fast, charging up a red-rank spell in his palm. The student's aura locked onto Aeon, freezing him in place and forcing him to take the hit head-on.
"Heat Blood Technique – Frenzy!" Aeon roared and went into his second form. Blood burst from his veins and seeped out of his skin, making him look bloody as hell. He was already at his limit, and now using the second level of Heat Blood was way over what his body could handle—it was threatening to break down at any moment.
The Evil Path student finished his spell. A pillar of black water shot straight at Aeon. Aeon wrapped himself and his sword in as much aura as he could muster for defense. He put his sword in front of him. He barely got into a defensive stance before the black water slammed into him.
Aeon felt his bones break and his internal organs shift out of place. He coughed up blood, got blasted hundreds of meters away, and crashed into the city wall, his body carving a hole right into it.
He coughed up a huge mouthful of blood, and his face turned pale as a sheet. His consciousness was barely holding on through sheer willpower, but he couldn't move anymore. The Evil Path student was shocked that Aeon was still alive after that hit. It wasn't even his strongest attack—he'd rushed it and barely put any mana into it—but he figured it'd be enough to kill him. I mean, he's a ninth-level Core Opening guy. Annoyed, he tried to attack again but suddenly sensed danger behind him.
He quickly pulled his sword out of his spatial ring to block the attacker behind him. It was a girl—his opponent, the one whose corpses he'd blown up to escape her encirclement. He'd come to kill Aeon, but now she was on him. Without his corpses, facing someone on his own level, he'd be dead in at most ten moves.
"Tsk. Lucky bastard," he cursed under his breath. He hated leaving Aeon alive.
He pressed his badge while fighting the girl, and suddenly a red chain shot down from the sky and yanked him away.
On the other side, Nik had already disappeared—looked like he got pulled away by the same chain as that other Evil Path student.
---
Suddenly a voice boomed from the sky:
"Evil Path students, the trial is over. Pull out now."
When the Evil Path students heard that, they looked toward the city center with hesitation and craving. Then they pressed the badges on their chests, and red chains appeared from the sky, dragging them up. Whether they were from the younger generation or the older one, all of them got teleported away.
Then, out of nowhere, a crimson ship stained with blood appeared, hovering in the air. On it was the Evil Path's symbol: a skull with a coffin underneath.
On deck, the Evil Path students looked down at the academy students and started mocking them.
The academy students were catching their breath, their faces pale. This fight had drained their spirits more than their bodies—they'd been fighting devils in human form. They were just glad the bastards were finally gone.
Then they heard the insults from the ship and got pissed, but none of them dared to respond, scared the Evil Path might come back.
Suddenly, a silver beam shot out and pierced one of the students' heads, blowing him to pieces and splattering those nearby.
Before anyone could process what happened, another beam shot out and blew another guy's head off.
The Evil Path students scrambled to hide before they became the next targets. They didn't dare say another word.
One of them yelled, "It's that bitch from the Valerian family! She's killed a ton of us!"
Ileana stood on the wall, her face cold as ice. Her hand was pulling back the string of her silver bow, ready to kill another one, but when no one showed themselves, she lowered her bow and it disappeared from her hands.
She was the one who killed them. She was seriously pissed off by their insults. They had no one to blame but themselves—especially since she'd already been angry before all this.
---
On the other side, the fighting on the other fronts had stopped. Soldiers had collapsed from exhaustion and wounds.
Eleanor was breathing hard. She'd been fighting alone on this front, and the Evil Path's goal wasn't to kill her—it was to capture her. Her body was covered in wounds. She looked around and was struck silent. This battle had been a tragedy. Many soldiers had died, and the injured were countless—many of them with wounds that couldn't be healed without high-grade treatment pills.
Then she suddenly thought of Aeon's aura. She'd felt it during the fight—it had been clashing with another aura just as strong. Then his aura suddenly disappeared. She couldn't help but feel worried.
She took a healing pill, which dulled the pain and slowly started her recovery. Then she leaped over the wall and tried to sense his aura, but couldn't find it. She jumped across the rooftops, heading toward the last place she'd felt it.
She was stunned by the scale of the destruction. There were entire zones completely wiped out without a trace, while some areas were covered in a red mist—blood mist from the people who'd been blown up during Aeon and Nik's fight.
She hurried her steps. She was in the western part of the city, but the last known location for Aeon was the east.
She rushed forward, then stopped, her hand flying to her mouth as she stared at the horrifying scene.
In front of her were several dead Arcane Academy students—bodies torn apart, dried out like all their blood had just fled, their guts scattered everywhere.
Suddenly she screamed when someone put a hand on her shoulder.
"Heh, what's with the screaming, Eleanor?" It was Aria, who'd come up behind her at some point and snuck up on her.
Even though she tried to keep up her playful act, she couldn't hide the stress and exhaustion in her eyes.
"Cut it out, Aria. We just got out of a fight—we're all physically drained," Arthur said, standing next to Aria with pretty much the same look, though his face was serious.
Then he said to Eleanor, "We saw you rushing across the rooftops and followed you. Where are you going?" Even though he tried to keep up a calm front, he couldn't help feeling a little bitter. He wasn't stupid—he knew exactly where Eleanor was headed. He'd kind of hoped that after the battle, Eleanor would come to him with a worried look and ask if he was okay.
"I'm heading to the last place Aeon fought. You guys felt his aura, right? It just disappeared. I'm afraid something bad happened to him," Eleanor nodded, completely missing Arthur's feelings.
"Yeah, we felt it—especially that last explosion," Aria said, glancing away from Arthur as they hurried toward the battle site.
---
When they got closer and saw the scene, they were completely stunned by the scale of it. There was a crater over a kilometer wide, completely wiped clean of any sign of civilization. The ground was black as coal, with huge scattered holes everywhere from the fighting.
Then they spotted several massive shapes appearing on the horizon, which quickly arrived above the city.
They were ships belonging to the Imperial Knights... but the Evil Path's ship was already gone.
And the destruction of this city was proof they'd passed through here.