Sandy was genuinely "sacrificing" itself to buy everyone time before Kulisha woke up. It was noble, though it seemed quite accustomed to this brand of nobility.
Things had even reached the point where, whenever it was summoned, finishing without some act of "nobility" felt somewhat incomplete.
Philomena continued keeping Kulisha "asleep." The summoned beast possessed terrifying physical and magical defenses; its only real weakness lay in the mental realm.
Yet that was merely a weak point, not a fatal flaw.
Interfering with it through mental force was feasible, but trying to kill it that way was nearly impossible.
It was a terrifying opponent. Unlike Dorons, it did not possess a colossal body that crushed everything like a toppling mountain; nor was it like Compasini, which ravaged and banished foes through unexpected illusions.
To a degree, it seemed deceptively "approachable," giving one the impression it could be handled. In reality, there were hardly any effective ways to deal with it, while every swing of its scythe dealt devastating damage.
Including Alfred, three members were gravely wounded, having stood just a hair's breadth from death moments earlier.
Counting Richard, who had narrowly escaped by being kicked away, Karen had nearly lost four subordinates in the blink of an eye.
Going in and out of the tomb, their greatest loss had been Richard coughing up a bit of blood; yet in just this brief moment, the squad had almost been cut in half.
Karen's eyes gradually reddened. As the captain, he had to produce a solution right now.
The problem was that while he possessed numerous spells and abilities—once teased by Pu'er as running a general grocery store—not a single one among them could turn the tide of battle in this situation.
"Ahhh...!"
Unable to endure any longer, Ashley let out a shrill scream.
Sandy was a monster beast summoned by her, and its manifestation required her support. Sandy's upkeep had initially consumed very little, but as it endured the scorching flames, Ashley was forced to pour in far more power to sustain its presence.
Karen moved to Ashley's side and grasped her hand, only to discover a ball of flame brewing in the center of her palm. The flame was bizarre—could it truly transmit itself through their link?
Once backed by Karen's strength, Ashley finally stabilized.
Infused with a fresh surge of power, Sandy felt neither excitement nor joy. To it, this only meant it couldn't disperse and had to keep enduring the torment.
***
On the other side, Muri led Bart and Ventura in an assault against Sains. Yet Sains was astonishingly fast. He never took the offensive; relying solely on passive defense, the protective shields summoned by each wave of his wand provided him with impenetrable shelter.
Muri's repeated offensives yielded no results. Instead, their opponent leisurely kited them across the field.
Catching up to him was difficult. When they finally managed to close in, breaking through his barrier in short order proved impossible; and whenever they finally did, he slipped away again.
*Does he not know how to fight?*
This thought crossed Muri's mind. The man appeared formidable, but that was merely on the surface. While some of his methods were indeed inscrutable, he clearly possessed glaring shortcomings.
Otherwise, he would have no reason to constantly maneuver and avoid direct engagement. He could easily have broken through the three of them, flanked them from behind, and forcefully broken Kulisha's "slumber."
*Damn it!*
Frustration mounted inside Muri. He had trump cards kept in reserve, and he believed Bart and Ventura beside him did as well—methods that traded a brief explosive burst to pin the enemy down or shatter their defenses. The problem was that no one was available to follow up with damage at the crucial moment.
The two best suited for that assault role were Captain Karen and Philomena.
Yet both were pinned down over there. If even one could come over, the tide of their battle could shift.
At present, the only free combatant was Blanche, who was tending to Mars's wounds. But whether she was free or not, a priest could hardly alter the battlefield dynamics here.
Sains continued his evasions and maneuvers, though inwardly he was far less relaxed than he appeared.
He had assumed Kulisha could easily dispose of everyone, but the beast had fallen into an inexplicable slumber. When he tried using flames to wake it, the fire had actually been absorbed.
This placed him in a precarious position. He could clearly sense the three pursuers' desperate desire to capture and defeat him, and several times he had felt them gathering power for a strike, only to be forced to abort when he opened the distance in time.
It was a tightrope walk between both sides, waiting to see who would fall first.
Muri resolved to wait no longer; he had to take the gamble.
No words were needed. When he abruptly surged his aura, he knew Ventura and Bart beside him would understand how to coordinate.
Just then, Karen's voice rang out:
"Wait a little longer!"
Muri instantly halted, resuming the futile pursuit alongside his two teammates.
Having stopped Muri, Karen continued channeling soul power through his right hand into Ashley. Thousand Phantoms manifested behind him, unfurling a pair of wings that allowed him to lift Ashley into the air and fly above Philomena and Kulisha.
Karen turned his left palm downward. In an instant, the wind rose.
Currents of air began surging in from all directions, converging beneath Karen.
Admittedly, when the defensive array had been shattered by Kulisha and all the array masters in the squad collapsed severely wounded, Karen had briefly succumbed to panic.
It was an intense unease born from events spiraling beyond his control and accustomed rhythm. Yet he had forced himself to stay calm, rapidly analyzing the situation to devise a plan, because everyone was counting on him.
Now, he had found his countermeasure.
The foundation of the Black Prison Castle began manifesting below.
Inside the world behind the Gate of Samsara, Karen had lost all the siege armaments equipped to the Black Prison Castle. Each implement was exorbitantly expensive and utterly irreplaceable for now.
Hence, this spell should have been stashed away in the deepest recesses of his repertoire, unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon.
Yet right now, it had purpose again.
Since this Kulisha possessed such astonishing defense that other methods proved useless, he would stop thinking about destroying it and simply make it "quiet down" completely.
A method to restrain it already existed—Philomena was doing it—but even setting aside the instability, the toll was far too heavy.
Karen intended to use a safer method that spared his squad members.
Below, the Black Prison Castle rose layer by layer.
In the distance, Sains, still wheeling around Muri's group, narrowed his eyes at the sight. He was not surprised by the castle itself, but rather astonished that this man could single-handedly cast such a war-tier spell.
More remarkably, he was summoning it while simultaneously feeding energy to the summoner beside him.
Finally, the Black Prison Castle approached its pinnacle.
Next came the most critical maneuver.
From beneath Karen's feet, three chains of Order shot forth. One wrapped around Philomena, one bound Ashley, and the last latched onto Sandy.
The next instant,
all three chains lashed in unison.
With her eyes closed, Philomena was hurled outside the castle's perimeter. Ashley was flung away from Karen's side, while Sandy was yanked downward by the chain and slammed straight toward Kulisha, which was just rousing from the "dream."
Sandy: "..."
*Boom!*
A violent explosion rang out. The newly awakened Kulisha took the brunt of the impact, left dazed and momentarily clueless about where it was.
Capitalizing on this brief respite, Karen successfully sealed the roof of the Black Prison Castle—no doors, no windows, no stairs.
Within the central structure, Kulisha was on the ground floor, and Karen was on the second.
Awakening fully, Kulisha instinctively moved to escape, raising its scythe to slash viciously at the wall before it.
*Crash!*
The wall bulged and shed fragments, clearly unable to withstand a second blow.
A tearing pain shot through Karen's chest, blood continuously spilling from the corner of his mouth. Even so, he reached out and gripped the black sphere before him. The mark on the back of his hand blazed with light, and a vine extended from the sphere to wrap around his wrist.
In that moment, a connection formed between Karen, the Black Prison Castle, and the War Sickle.
The power of the War Sickle was drawn down, assisting in sustaining the castle.
The wall that had teetered on the verge of collapse restored itself in an instant. Kulisha continued slashing with its scythe, but now Karen merely felt as though someone were hammering on his chest. Painful as it was, it was far more tolerable than that initial strike.
Indeed, he had turned the Black Prison Castle, stripped of all war machinery, into a solitary cage!
He was the warden, holding a single prisoner.
Hurled clear of the structure, Philomena opened her eyes before hitting the ground. Tilting her body, she landed stably.
She glanced at the castle ahead, then looked back at Muri and the others.
Without needing Karen's reminder or instruction, she immediately grasped her duty.
Kulisha's sudden breach had shattered everyone's composure; now, they had to resolve the matter in the most direct way possible.
A clan crest surfaced between Philomena's brows. Her eyes turned white, and blood began seeping from her skin. It was a forbidden clan art used to draw out latent potential.
The spell was perilous, not because of its backlash, but because within the "dream," one could easily overdraw their strength out of complete apathy, ultimately letting their dream self die.
"Pin him down,"
Philomena said coldly as she sprinted toward them.
Muri let out a low roar. His buckler expanded, his short blade lengthened, and the shield blazed with light before slamming directly into the earth.
A layer of dark clouds gathered above, crashing down with a deafening rumble.
Muri plunged his short blade into the ground before him. A pillar of light pierced the storm clouds, descending straight toward Sains.
Sains instinctively tried to dodge, but as Muri lifted his head and locked his gaze onto him, the light beam shifted trajectory, homing in on Sains.
A terrifying pressure bore down. Sains felt his body sink, the protective barrier around him dissolving rapidly.
Sains raised his wand at once. Just as he prepared to reinforce his defenses and reposition, blood dripped from Bart's eyes. Bart interlaced his fingers and barked,
"Bone Confinement!"
*Crack! Crack!*
A harsh grinding sound echoed around them as ethereal skeletal cages materialized, establishing a secondary perimeter around Sains.
With his maneuverability completely cut off, Sains snatched a gem from his chest and crushed it. A blazing orb of light manifested above, wreathed in flames, threatening to melt both the bones and the storm clouds.
*Roar!*
Ventura unleashed a bellow. His hulking frame leaped forward, slamming into the fireball and wrapping both arms around it, dragging the fiery sphere away despite the searing heat charring his flesh.
At last, Sains was completely pinned down.
Philomena arrived, bypassing the storm clouds and avoiding the bones to appear directly before Sains.
She drove her fist forward. The clothing on Sains's body formed a final barrier, protecting him.
Her fist was halted before Sains, but Philomena paid it no heed. With a twist of her hand, the flesh across her right hand split open, stripping back to her wrist until her entire right hand was reduced to bare bone.
This forced an opening in Sains's final defense. Gripping a dagger in her left hand, Philomena channeled all her power into the blade, including her vitality.
Blood-red light flared along the dagger as Philomena's face turned deathly pale.
She thrust the dagger forward, using her last ounce of strength to kick against Sains, flinging herself backward while flicking her left wrist upward.
*Thwack!*
The dagger pierced Sains's body without passing clean through; steered by Philomena's guiding force, it shot upward and burst out through the top of his skull.
*Snap!*
The bronze mask on Sains's face shattered, revealing an androgynous visage crowned with purple hair.
Immediately after, Sains's head exploded.
***
"Hiss... ah..."
Beside a pool of water, a purple-haired man clutched his head in agony, tears and snot streaming uncontrollably down his face.
A woman in a yellow dress turned toward him and asked, "Sains, what happened?"
"Lord Holy Child, my avatar was destroyed."
"Did the mission fail?"
"Yes."
"You shouldn't give such a simple answer."
"My apologies, Lord Holy Child. My avatar couldn't transmit his memories back before dying; his head was likely destroyed first."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Lord Holy Child, I suspect the Church of Order has seen through our plans. In the Wien region, the only faction capable of disrupting our operation is..."
"And so?" the woman asked.
"Should your diplomatic visit be postponed?"
"No matter." The woman shook her head dismissively, plucking a crimson flower petal and chewing it, red juice trickling from the corner of her lips. "Matters in the shadows are trivial. Not only will we not postpone, we should expedite the schedule. I think I should head to York Town early to initiate formal negotiations."
As if unsatisfied, the woman plucked another petal. Before slipping it into her mouth, she asked:
"I recall from the intelligence that the princess of Dark Moon Island has also entered the Church of Order?"
"Yes. The Church of Order currently seems keen on recruiting youth from other factions for advanced studies. A great many youths from the Church of Samsara were selected and sent over this time as well."
"Send an official note to Order. When I arrive in York Town, I wish to meet that princess of Dark Moon Island."
"Are you interested in her?"
"The red dot on the moon wheel has appeared once more. That means someone has very likely inherited the true legacy of the Dark Moon Goddess. What a splendid tonic. I wonder who it could be."
"You suspect it is her?"
"It is possible. Who knows if the Church of Order used some special method to awaken her bloodline?"
"If you are going in person, I will need to submit an application to the Council of Elders and request that the Church of Order adjust their reception protocol."
"Don't bother demanding protocol. The Church of Order just gave Samsara a thrashing; they are riding high on their pride. Why would they take the Moon seriously?"
Wiping away snot and tears with a handkerchief, Sains offered a faint smile. "Not necessarily. Early negotiations indicate the Church of Order is quite willing to revise the mythological narrative—to frame the relationship between the Moon God and the God of Order as lovers."
Hearing this, the woman laughed. "Wouldn't that enrage Ankara to death all over again?"
***
Below, quiet returned. Kulisha had dissolved into a pool of blood; without Sains's control, it had no reason to persist.
"Cough, cough..."
After a violent coughing fit, Karen pulled his hand away and flicked off the blood.
The Black Prison Castle dispersed, and Karen drifted slowly to the ground.
Looking around, he saw a great many people sprawled across the earth.
Well, they hadn't fought with exhilarating grace, but they had certainly managed to leave nearly the entire squad grounded.
He began doubting himself, questioning his command and leadership abilities. He hadn't had the luxury to dwell on it earlier, but now his mind wandered naturally: *If Neo had commanded this battle, would it have ended up in such a mess too?*
Reflecting on it, Karen recalled his first mission alongside Neo's squad escorting Ophelia. Out on that highway, Neo had led the pursuit; by the time Karen, Fanny, and the others caught up, wounded squad members were lying across the ground. At the post-mission celebration dinner, it felt as though more people had arrived in wheelchairs than on foot.
All right. Compared to Neo, he didn't feel quite so miserable anymore, and the sense of defeat eased considerably.
Karen pressed his lips together, raised his hand, and called out in a raspy voice:
"Roll call. If you're dead, raise your hand."
Chapter 418