Starry Legends, Assemble!

What was the ultimate defense? Was it an Earth sorcery miracle that merged as one with the vast earth? Was it a Water sorcery miracle at once supremely soft and supremely unyielding? Was it a Fire sorcery miracle that fought offense with offense, incinerating all in its wake? Or was it a Spatial miracle that severed space to isolate entirely? Or perhaps a Time miracle capable of rotting away any power and destroying all that was beautiful? The answer Victorique gave was—Fate! If fate decrees that I must stay, the world will naturally account for me! While Sonia put all her strength into "showing respect to her elder," the other members were by no means idle. Weixi quietly unleashed an infrasonic Soul Screech far below the human hearing range, Diya’s gaze materialized into physical threads that bound Victorique’s limbs, and Weise’s silver light was even faster, enveloping Victorique from head to toe! Even if Victorique deployed her Sanctuary, it would be futile. Aside from Sonia's blood-tide sword light being blocked, the Soul Screech, the threads of gaze, and the permeating silver light were transmitted through sound, light, and even air. Unless Victorique could instantly construct an absolute sanctuary of total prohibition that repelled all external information, her defenses were bound to be breached! In truth, Victorique did not have time to react at all. Such close-quarters, high-intensity skirmishes were the exact scenario she was worst at handling. She was a typical academic sorcerer: solid fundamentals, advancing methodically step by step. Her usual combat doctrine was to first scout out a slashing fish dragon from afar, then unleash a relentless barrage from well beyond visual range, leaving enemies to perish in suffocating confusion, crying out, "Who's hitting me?" and "Whom should I fight?" So when a sorcerer like her was ambushed at close range, only one thing could happen— Miracle: Promised Land of Fate! With a single thought from Victorique, a ten-meter-long scroll sprang from the spatial ring on her left hand. It depicted a terrifying apocalyptic scene: horned, hideous demons unleashed tidal waves of magma and meteor storms; city walls and high towers collapsed one after another; streets and avenues shattered piece by piece. Their numbers exceeded grains of sand—even if one counted for three days and three nights, the demons could never be tallied, for with every second you watched, another demon emerged... Yet amid this hopeless apocalypse, at the very center of the scroll lay a patch of quiet, pure land unaffected by any fire or demon, bathed in sunlight with flowers and grass, where a hazy figure stood. And now, that silhouette had shifted into the likeness of Victorique herself. In an instant, a Void Realm passage materialized before the Painter, spilling the waters of the River of Flowing Gold. The earth began to quake, and space suddenly warped and buckled... She stood there without moving an inch, yet all the incoming attacks from the evil sorcerer squad were neutralized by various sudden natural phenomena. Even the ceiling above and the floor beneath them gave way at once, collapsing in an attempt to bury them alive! Such was the might of a Fate miracle: there was no need to study how to defend against an attack; one merely had to state a wish, and all things in the world—even the enemy—would conspire to fulfill it! As a Legend of Painting, Victorique naturally possessed ample contingency plans against surprise attacks. Beyond visual range was her optimal attack distance, while within five paces was her most frantic burst radius! "As expected of the principal." The red-haired girl gripped her ruby longsword and rode the blood-tide sword light, carving an unstoppable, domineering path through the tumbling rubble. She was draped in a stormy veil woven from invisible sword qi; any matter that touched her was instantly shaved into fine powder by the sword qi. The falling debris vanished into dust against her body like drops of rain, and this powder clung to the veil as it swirled at high speed, bending and refracting the light from outside. As a result, the Sword Princess looked as though she were cloaked head-to-toe in a dark veil, save for a pair of blood-red eyes that remained clear and brilliant—leading Victorique to feel as though she were gazing upon a bloodthirsty fiend crawling out from the abyss! Wonder: Bladestorm—Dark Veil Form! A genius, Victorique thought. This girl was not even twenty, yet she was already so adapted to the battlefield, like a veteran tempered by a hundred wars, showing no trace of lingering hesitation or humanity... Truly a born monster. "Never having had the chance to listen to your teachings might be the greatest regret of my student years." Her words were so sorrowful and polite, yet the murderous intent radiating from her was so fierce it was practically tangible! "The moment we meet, you cost me a Fate painting that took 450 days to finish. I could never teach a student like you." Victorique retreated rapidly as she drew two more scrolls. She had no intention whatsoever of throwing her life away against them; she only wanted to delay their movements. Two scrolls: one depicted the myriad wonders of mountains and seas, and the other showed the turning of the sun and moon! Without the slightest hesitation, Victorique brought out her most precious scrolls: the "Universal Wind-Earth-Water-Fire Scroll" and the "Universal Time-Space Scroll"! Neither scroll had a fixed effect; they would manifest whatever legendary power Victorique required according to her demands! The scrolls dissolved into the air like melting pigment, unleashing the power of miracles to their limits. Space turned into a viscous mire, and even time grew sluggish. In that slowly drifting flow of time, Victorique looked up to see this fortress-like underground city disintegrating like toy blocks. A landmark of civilization meant to stand for a thousand years had turned into ruins a mere half-month after construction began. Such was the power of Legendary scrolls—a single strike could devastate the entire Abyss Hall! Victorique’s reasoning was crystal clear: she could never stop this band of evil sorcerers who surpassed legends on her own. Thus, she decisively used the mire of time and space to slow their advance, burying them beneath the collapsing world, while buying enough time for the other Starry legends to rush here! It was merely an underground city; couldn't they just make the Earth sorcerers work overtime for a few days to rebuild it? It might even turn out grander and more magnificent. To a sorcerer, any miracle that could be replicated was an acceptable price to pay... such as this underground city, such as her scrolls. There were always things worth giving everything for... The interests of the stars were above all! Yet the enemy's strength far exceeded Victorique's expectations. As Daedalose's ethereal, clear singing drowned out all noise, a brilliant path was pierced through the mire of space and time by gleaming silver light. In Star Bridge Hall, the terrified and bewildered sorcerers couldn't help but look up, like ignorant mortals gazing in awe as an angel descended accompanied by glory and hymns! Victorique narrowed her eyes like a grave little grey wolf. She drew a fourth scroll, her sorcery power violently vaporizing to finish the half-completed work in an instant! This scroll was unexpectedly simple: in a dark, pitch-black night sky, a single comet trailed a long starlight trail. Yet this was the only piece Victorique had not completed entirely on her own. She had spent the bulk of her life savings to redeem a single opportunity for a Starry Blessing from the Church, infusing divine might into this scroll. Indeed, this was no mortal miracle painting—it was a Divine Miracle scroll! However, the power of a divine miracle was far too terrifying. If unleashed at full power, all of Jialesi would instantly be razed to the ground, every building crushed into the finest sand, and the souls of every living being annihilated... Thus, Victorique had to pour her sorcery power into branding the targets onto the scroll, ensuring the divine miracle would act purely as heaven's punishment upon the enemy! This was the source of Victorique's confidence against the intruders. Even though most of these evil sorcerers had become demigods and might even wield gods, battles between sorcerers ultimately came down to battles between virtual wings. Sonia and her cohort were newly ascended demigods who had not joined the Kingdom of Heaven, so they had nowhere to condense a fifth pair of virtual wings. Even if they had shed their mortal coils to condense soul bodies, the tier of their virtual wings was still no different from that of legendary sorcerers. Victorique, on the other hand, held a genuine divine miracle in her hands. With this strike, even if they didn't die, they would be grievously wounded! As the divine miracle scroll turned to ash, the sorcerers four hundred meters beneath the surface suddenly saw a pitch-black night sky. Time was slowed to an extreme crawl, allowing the sorcerers to clearly see a comet hurtling from the depths of the starry cosmos, trailing a long tail. It seemed slow yet rushed forward with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, the comet was already crashing down upon their heads. Its vast, crushing terror caused many Silver sorcerers to foam at the mouth and faint from pure fright, while Gold sorcerers went blank, staring dumbly at this apocalyptic judgment capable of collapsing an entire biosphere. Divine Miracle: Starfall! My dear student, I hope you survive... Victorique assumed the enemy would crumble before such a divine miracle. Yet to her surprise, not one of the girls showed any fear. The only one who appeared somewhat nervous was the cult leader, who hastily layered a light-refracting defensive barrier over the girls. Hmph, a contemptible man indeed, with less courage than the girls. Prejudiced as she was, Victorique naturally interpreted everything Yaxiu did as proof of his villainy; even the fact that he was breathing served as solid evidence of him molesting female sorcerers. Yet just as the cult leader moved to protect the red-haired girl, she suddenly leaped into the air, charging up the path of silver light toward the comet. While Victorique didn't believe that light-refracting barrier could stop a divine miracle, what was Sonia trying to do? Could it be— A crimson sword light sliced across the dark starlit sky. If the comet was an irresistible, crushing weight, then the blood moon was an unstoppable, deft grace. Between heaven and earth, only two striking colors seemed to remain: boiling starry blue and enchanting sword crimson! Miracle: Blood Moon Shattered Lake! The Red-haired Sword Princess's most signature original miracle was currently ranked at the upper tier of Radiant Aberrant—the most powerful rank of miracles within the sorcerer hierarchy. Not all miracles could grow stronger alongside a sorcerer's ascent in strength, for sorcerers faced different challenges at every tier. But if a sorcerer used the exact same miracle from weakness all the way to supremacy, and it only grew stronger with time, that meant... It was not the miracle that was strong, but the person wielding it! All sound abruptly vanished from the world. A crimson sword mark was carved across the world-ending comet, as if even the stone bled from the strike. At an unimaginable speed, the sword mark spread and devoured the comet until, in a flash, the colossal celestial body was completely obliterated. The evil sorcerers were utterly unscathed. The Starry sorcerers stared blankly at the red-haired girl who had shattered a divine miracle single-handedly. They held their breath instinctively, as though terrified of catching this demon's attention. "How is that possible...?" Little Grey Wolf Victorique stared, dumbfounded. That was a divine miracle! Even a true demigod would struggle to withstand it! How could Sonia dismantle a divine miracle in a direct clash? No matter how exquisite the technique, it could never bridge the gap between virtual wings! Unless... Whoosh. Accompanied by the ethereal whisper of wind, the red-haired girl unreservedly unfurled her virtual wings: gleaming silver, weighty gold, gorgeous prismatic hues, pure sword coloration, and... the eerie Prison Wings! Victorique could also faintly discern a phantom hovering behind Sonia, poised between illusion and reality. Just looking at it made Victorique's eyes ache with a piercing sting! That was... a god of swordsmanship! What Sonia had just unleashed was not a miracle at all, but Divine Miracle: Blood Moon Shattered Lake! Cloaked in her dark veil, Sonia hung proudly in midair. Five virtual wings shone brilliantly, adding a breathtaking beauty of sheer strength to her already radiant presence. She reached back, and the cult leader from the wanted posters took her hand, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her in the sky. As this wretched couple swept their gaze across the crowd, hardly anyone dared meet their ruthless, villainous eyes. The crushing pressure born of absolute power left the Starry sorcerers trembling in fear. A Five-Winged Demigod! The corner of Victorique’s mouth twitched, curses nearly bursting from her lips. She remembered Sonia’s track record: one month from Silver to Gold, three months from Gold to Sanctuary, then ascending to Legend at some unknown point... but none of that was as absurd as this! Sonia had only advanced to demigod after the starry skies shattered. A mere half-month had passed, and she had already condensed a fifth pair of virtual wings?! Even going from Silver to Gold took you a whole month back then! Is being the cult leader’s woman really that intoxicating?! Victorique did not know that Prison Wings could be condensed multiple times, but that did not diminish the accuracy of her conclusion. She also knew she couldn't possibly hold back a true demigod. The moment Sonia slashed the comet, Victorique had already retreated into the distance. At the same time, the other legends had begun rushing here from every direction! The black-haired noble holding a fox-handled umbrella: the Night King; The blue-haired nun in white-gold ceremonial robes: the Pope; The grey-haired elder wearing a mithril-colored admiral's coat lined with medals, always worn over his Star-Flicking Guard uniform: the Mentor. The peak legendary forces of the Starry Kingdom had assembled here! Victorique felt an immediate surge of relief. She knew the legends also held divine miracles up their sleeves. As long as they entered the fray, things would surely turn around! Her momentary panic settled into calm. It suddenly occurred to her that although Sonia had condensed a fifth pair of virtual wings, that didn't mean the other demigods had as well. Perhaps the cult leader had a particular fondness for Starry girls, and Sonia was merely the sole exception among them?