The ice orb suspended in the sky transformed into a dark blue ice sun, its sudden brilliance overshadowing the starry sky.
Endless particles of ice energy gathered, forming a pure, dark blue beam of light.
Despair, destruction, death...
An indescribable aura of terror descended, akin to the true arrival of ancient frost.
In an instant, Ignatius was struck by the dark blue beam, his figure engulfed in brilliance.
The dark blue brilliance spread outward from where Ignatius stood, covering everything—magma, light, void—in deep blue hues.
It was like a solidified tide, extending layer by layer outward.
The temperature in the space plummeted, the heat from the flames and magma swiftly devoured, replaced by a bone-chilling cold that made even the air feel heavy, as if time itself had frozen.
When the commotion subsided, the ice sun in the sky dimmed.
The entire central platform space was now completely occupied by countless dark blue ice blocks.
These ice blocks were unlike ordinary ice; they were filled with complex, irregularly patterned symbols, interlinked like ancient runes, emanating a sense of unease and ominous coldness.
Within this aura of unease and foreboding, where Ignatius once stood was now empty.
Ignatius had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving only fragments of ice behind.
At that moment, the battles in the independent space arenas surrounding them unknowingly came to a halt, even the black-robed figures chanting "resurrection and salvation" ceased their actions.
Everyone stood frozen, staring at the scene, faces marked with deep confusion and bewilderment.
The atmosphere was so quiet, it was almost eerie.
"Three-domain fusion?!"
On the Silver Ring side, Caroni stood near the invisible space wall, stunned, murmuring unconsciously.
He only remembered worrying for Ronan a moment ago, and then suddenly...
Caroni turned, looking at Archido, the handsome man who specialized in ice magic, his lips tightly pressed, as if knowing what Caroni wanted to ask, slowly shook his head.
Caroni's eyes widened, his face gradually showing emotion.
Behind them, Orion, who was being protected, also witnessed everything, his eyes reflecting an indescribable light. His gaze wandered over the remnants of the dark blue ice sun and the vague outline of the multi-headed serpent, finally resting lightly on the youth beneath the ice sun.
A flash of light burst from the center of his silver-white pupils, as if he wanted to engrave that figure deeply for the first time.
An intangible and shocking emotion rippled through the nearby observers.
And at the center of everyone's gaze, the focus of the platform, was still a silence so solid it seemed unbreakable.
"Gulp—"
Damien stood rigidly in mid-air, his Adam's apple moving with difficulty.
His eyes roved over where Ignatius had been, slowly moving to focus on a tall, slender figure.
It was Ronan.
His eyes downcast, surrounded by the ghostly blue light emitted from the thick ice around him, as if he were standing in a terrifying, mysterious, ancient forbidden land.
Ronan slowly raised his head, his deep eyes still tinged with dark blue meeting Damien's gaze. Damien felt an invisible prick, causing him to step back suddenly.
Moments later, he snapped back, urgently whispering, "Kill him, don't give him a chance to breathe. Three-domain fusion, he can't possibly have the strength to do it again."
Two third-level wizards beside Damien hesitated, but soon they began to move.
But before they could take a step, suddenly...
"Boom!"
The multi-headed serpent's phantom in the sky, which seemed ready to dissipate at any moment, became clear again, the dull dark blue ice sun eye once more blazing bright.
The death gaze of the ancient overlord.
A terrifying beam of light descended, instantly striking Damien's body!
"Buzz—"
The two third-level wizards froze in place.
Turning, they saw in horror Damien's body, half of which was turning to ice shards and scattering away. Cold sweat quickly ran down their foreheads and backs.
Without hesitation.
They turned and fled, vanishing into the void.
"Boom—"
Just as they left, the serpent's phantom exploded into nothingness, followed by the dark blue ice sun representing Hecarto's eye also fading away. The power of the three fused domains flowed back into Ronan like water.
"Cough, cough—"
Ronan clutched his heart tightly, coughing violently.
He looked up, his handsome face pale, his eyes bloodshot.
Even after mastering the [Clear Mind State], he had never experienced such severe mental exhaustion.
Fusing three one-stage resonance domains was indeed a heavy burden for him, still only mid-second level, especially pulling it off twice.
Ronan retrieved several potions from his space ring, gulping them down. Combined with the restorative effects of [Clear Mind State], the knife-like pain in his brain finally eased.
Walking carefully over the ancient, forbidden ice, Ronan approached where Ignatius had fallen, searching through the ice shards but finding nothing.
Ignatius had taken the full force of his strongest three-domain fusion attack, dying so completely that nothing remained.
Feeling a tinge of regret, Ronan moved to Damien's corpse.
Damien had been hit by his second [Hecarto's Death Gaze], less powerful than the first, but Damien was weaker than Ignatius.
So the result was the same.
However, Damien's body hadn't turned entirely to dust; several body parts remained.
Ronan searched Damien's corpse, finding two rings, one silver and one green, engraved with simple leaf patterns, both space rings.
In addition, there was a silver cube-like artifact, emanating strong spatial energy fluctuations.
But as Ronan reached for the artifact, it shattered without warning, turning into countless silver-white sparkles, disappearing.
"Hmm?!"
Ronan was caught off guard. Before he could react, with the cube's breakage, the environment around him changed.
The wizards, divided into independent spaces, vanished group by group before his eyes. The void around them seemed to wash away all sights with invisible currents.
Even the seven "Dawn Suns" entangled in battle above disappeared at the same time.
"Was I teleported away?"
Ronan stood up. He was still on the dueling platform, looking around, seeing only the empty, silent Goblin Plains, starlight silently falling, as if he were the only one left in the world.
Ronan walked forward a bit.
"Shhh—"
Upon touching an invisible wall, he was transported back to his original spot.
"I've been visually isolated as well."
Ronan immediately understood.
Due to the Dawn artifact's effect, the entire dueling venue had been divided into countless relatively independent spaces, but the spaces could still see each other in real-time.
Now, with the silver cube shattered, something in the runic restriction was triggered, fully separating these spaces, rendering them invisible.
Ronan had hoped to use Damien's silver cube to "release" and rescue the trapped wizards, but now that plan was dashed.
But it was expected; such authority wouldn't be in the hands of an ordinary third-level wizard like Damien.
Fortunately, Ronan had his own means of escape.
With that thought, he retrieved something from his space ring.
It was a beautifully crafted dagger, about the length of a palm, resembling a dinner knife.
The dagger was made of special material, its surface smooth, with mirror-like gloss constantly flowing.
It was the spatial teleportation mirror dagger he had obtained from the mysterious garden secret realm.
The dagger's maximum teleportation range was 500 meters, not long.
But the dueling venue wasn't very large overall, and if Ronan's assumptions were correct, this distance should suffice for many things.
"Three-domain fusion power, enough to instantly kill a strong third-level wizard like Ignatius."
The silver-white mirror dagger slowly turned in his slender fingers, his eyes reflecting faint contemplation, suddenly feeling regret.
"Too bad... I couldn't cast this gaze upon Anglair."
But Anglair seemed to possess some powerful bloodline, capable of severely injuring mid-third-level Jupiter when activated.
As he said, there was still a gap between them and himself.
"Southern Wizard Genius Gathering... Helamsk's top talent."
Recalling Anglair's parting words, Ronan felt a strange sensation.
With that thought, he gripped the mirror dagger, infusing it with mental power, activating its runes, and gently stabbed it into his shoulder.
"Shhh—"
Ronan's figure vanished from the empty dueling platform, leaving only starlight scattered in serene silence.
In an independent small space, two groups quietly faced off.
One group wore silver-white standard robes embroidered with complex blue lightning patterns, clearly wizards from the Thunder Council.
The other consisted of two mysterious figures cloaked in black, their forms and faces obscured.
The Thunder Council wizards were more numerous but were at a disadvantage.
The two black-robed figures each exuded the powerful aura of a third-level wizard, and the Thunder Council relied on a long-haired middle-aged wizard, also a third-level, to barely hold on.
"Rest assured, you're not in any immediate danger."
One black-robed figure spoke in a low, hoarse voice, "If your Thunder Council's Dawn Speaker hands over the World Stone willingly, everyone here has a chance to survive, of course."
The black-robed figure's gaze swept over the Thunder Council wizards, slowly spreading his arms, "The Resurrection Society also welcomes you to join us.
This is also why we are here."
"Only fools would join you, who willingly become slaves to darkness, living in shadows!"
The Thunder Council's middle-aged wizard cursed, coldly watching the pair.
They merely shook their heads, "You don't understand us because you don't truly know the Resurrection Society.
Purging the old world isn't our goal; pursuing true truth, power... that's what unites us.
Everything we do is just our unique way of seeking essence.
You don't understand, so you slander us, using foolish terms like light and dark to define us.
If the Tower of Resurrection stood atop the three rings, would you be the worms living in shadows?"
The black-robed figure's words seemed to carry a strong allure, and some Thunder Council wizards showed slight expressions of wavering.
Sensing the emotional shift among his members, the middle-aged wizard's face changed, and he sharply interrupted the speaker.
"Shut up!"
At that moment, in the independent small space, between the two opposing groups, rings of strange ripples spread in the air, indicating spatial energy fluctuations.
Then, a slender, handsome youth in a gray-black robe stepped lightly from the ripples.
His expression calm, he appeared and immediately surveyed his surroundings coolly.
Seeing someone suddenly appear, both the Thunder Council and the black-robed Resurrection Society members froze.
After a brief silence...
"Boom!"
One black-robed figure abruptly attacked, unleashing a torrent of spell energy at the youth's position.
However, the young wizard had already casually stabbed a silver-white dagger into his shoulder, disappearing once more.
The spell struck air, sending ripples of energy, and the Thunder Council wizards retreated warily.
The two black-robed figures appeared where the youth had been, now too preoccupied to focus on the Thunder Council.
"It's that coordinate! I recognize his appearance!"
"Weren't Damien and Ignatius supposed to handle him?!"
"Not sure why... but he managed to escape!"
"Quickly notify the others. If we get the World Stone but don't acquire the coordinates, we'll all be punished!"
"Agreed!"
The two black-robed figures spoke urgently, and under the watchful, uncertain gaze of the Thunder Council wizards, one slipped into the void, seemingly pursuing the youth, and vanished.
Seeing only one Resurrection Society member remaining, the Thunder Council's middle-aged wizard's eyes gleamed.
After a moment, his lips moved rapidly, a low chant of spells echo
ing, accompanied by powerful mental waves.
The remaining black-robed figure sensed the shift, turned indifferently, and spoke in a low voice, "It seems you still misunderstand us."
"Boom!"
The battle reignited, sparked by the youth's unexpected intrusion.