"Starflick Squad One in position."
"Starflick Squad Two in position."
"All Starflick ranks are ready. Sanctuary ranks, report next."
Against the northeast exterior wall of a villa in the Lone Diamond District, Sonia pressed the tactical comm device in her ear, her ruby eyes calm and unrippled. She silently reported in her heart, *Sanctuary Squad Five in position.*
Beside her stood none other than "Young Star-Caster" Dimi, Yadas of the "Twin Curved Sabers," and "Shield Maiden" Aixia. Aixia was not even a Sanctuary Sorcerer, which made it abundantly clear that in the overall battle order, their squad was essentially treated as mere bystanders.
In fact, that was indeed the case. Long-established Sanctuary powerhouses like Sonia's professor, Trozan the "Hidden Hand Sword Saint," and Truth University's professor, Oleron the "Weapon Master," were assigned to the first three Sanctuary squads, which were the combat formations truly closest to the front line.
As for youngsters who had just entered Sanctuary—the village girl, the eldest young master of Vosroda, and the Passerby King of the Abyss—even if the commanders wanted to use them as cannon fodder, they would have to weigh whether these youths could delay a Legendary intruder for even a second or two. If they encountered a Legendary Sorcerer of the Blood or Necromancy factions, failing to hinder the enemy was one thing, but if they ended up being turned into "spellcasting materials," it would be an international embarrassment.
Therefore, Sonia's squad was tasked with protecting the prophecy sorcerer Aixia on the periphery, forming a second perimeter. If the Legendary intruder truly broke through the ambush and fled in their direction, their job was to escort Aixia to track him, stalling him and sending signals as best they could.
The time was 6:58 PM, and the scheduled operation time was 7:00 PM sharp.
Sonia looked up at the sky. Tonight's starry expanse seemed even more brilliant than usual. Even though they stood watch in a blind spot untouched by streetlamps, flecks of starlight still draped over them like a gossamer veil.
Seeing the village girl zone out at such a critical moment, Dimi, Yadas, and Aixia could not help but feel a twinge of admiration. Without exception, their palms were slick with nervous sweat: Aixia kept biting her nails, Yadas continuously stroked the hilts of his twin sabers, and Dimi had to exert tremendous effort just to maintain steady breathing.
Before a Legend, privileged lineage, a record of slaughtering through the Abyss, and first-tier sorceries were completely meaningless. A single Legendary ultimate move could destroy their sanctuary, obliterate their flesh, and scatter their souls; they might not even muster the will to resist.
To ensure the Sanctuary Sorcerers grasped the peril of a Legendary clash, prior to the operation, the president of Sword Flower University, "Painter," had demonstrated the might of a Legendary Sorcerer: she took out an oil-paint brush and stroked it across her own throat, and a bloody gash was drawn across the necks of every single Sanctuary Sorcerer present.
Before sorcery honed to its absolute pinnacle, any flaw would be magnified ten million times.
Among them, Dimi, who possessed the broadest horizons, was also the most terrified, for his father, the Duke of Vosroda, was a genuine Legendary Sorcerer. No one understood the terror of a Legend better than he did. He still remembered their last sparring session—with a mere swing of the duke's sword, it had felt as though the entire world were splitting him apart.
Of course, the disparity between the strongest and weakest Legendary Sorcerers was vast. Some elevated their sorcery to the demigod level, while others made not an inch of progress, even regressing in realm over time. Some could condense pristine, solid-colored void wings, while others had void wings so muddied in color that they looked like a Lalafell rolling around in paint. Some possessed a full set of Four-Wing sorcery spirits, while others had only one or two...
Regardless, a group of youths hovering at the threshold of Sanctuary was now taking part in an operation to slay a Legend—how could their hearts not surge, how could they not tremble with dread?
After all, not one of them could be certain they would ever advance to Legend in the future; not every generation of the Duke of Vosroda produced a Legendary Sorcerer. Tonight's operation might well become the greatest achievement of their lives.
*Back when they killed a foreign Legend, I was right there on the scene!*
The only reason Sonia was the captain of Sanctuary Squad Five was that Dimi and Yadas both knew they could not beat her and had lacked the face to contest the position, not because they recognized any leadership ability in the village girl. But now, seeing her so calm and collected, they felt ashamed and inevitably admired her, reflecting on how they had yet to cultivate the true bearing of a Sanctuary Sorcerer.
What they did not know was that the Paw-Reaching Sword Saint was currently converting her sword-colored sorcery power into seven-color sorcery power. In last night's three-way melee, she, Yaxiu, and Diya had all condensed a trace of off-color sorcery power—which meant she, too, could be detected as a Legendary Sorcerer.
Fortunately, she had not utilized any sorcery spirits or sorcery power since returning, and had continuously used the Colorless Dream secret poison to reverse-convert her sorcery power; otherwise, she would never have been able to conceal her secret. As for the fact that the Colorless Dream secret poison allowed bidirectional conversion, Sonia had only discovered that after trying it today. After all, what sane sorcerer would convert higher-wing sorcery power back into lower-wing sorcery power?
From zero to Legend in half a year—just thinking about it made Sonia feel like a monster. She could not begin to fathom what kind of shockwave this revelation would cause, so she had no intention of exposing her Legendary four wings unless she fully condensed her off-color void wings and ascended to the apex of the Starry Kingdom's highest combat tier.
Even so, though Sonia was reversing her sword-colored sorcery power to conceal her identity, she was mentally prepared for exposure.
If necessary, she would instantly convert all her sorcery power back into sword-colored sorcery power, erupting with Legendary-rank combat strength, and carve a bloody path out of Jialesi at all costs.
Having already prepared herself for treason, besieging a Legend seemed trivial by comparison. Besides, it was not as if she had never participated in jumping a Legend—just last night, a foolish Blood Legendary Sorcerer had been thoroughly beaten up by them.
"All squads ready. The operation commences."
The command center's voice echoed in everyone's minds, and three light screens surfaced in their vision, displaying the vanguard point-of-view of the Starflick Guard. According to sorcery power fluctuation readings, the Legendary Sorcerer was hiding inside this villa. Shielded by miracles such as Tranquility, Shadow Stride, and Departing with the Wind, the Starflick Guard infiltrated the villa to scout the situation.
As soon as they entered, their reconnaissance miracles detected numerous miracle traps. Yet blessed by the illumination of the stars, all miracles were laid bare before the Starflick Guard, allowing them to bypass every single one.
Meanwhile, the Starflick Guard on the perimeter, the Sanctuary squads, and the Legendary Sorcerers had already structured their miracle sorcery procedures, merely refraining from driving sorcery power so as not to alert the foreign Legend.
However, the moment the foreign Legend attempted to flee, he would face an all-out bombardment of miracles from Jialesi's highest-tier combatants; the entire villa would vaporize in an instant.
The Starflick squad reached the second floor and gradually approached the master bedroom. When a Star Flinger Warrior gently pushed open the bedroom door, Sonia seemed to hear countless breaths abruptly deepen through the comms, and even caught the pounding thud of a heartbeat—or perhaps it was just her own.
In the very next second, a Legendary clash would erupt. The sorcerers were nervous out of fear of getting caught in the crossfire and dying; as for the Sword Princess herself, she no longer knew what she was anxious about.
Was she afraid the foreign Legend would be too strong, or afraid that he... would not be strong enough?
Even the door hinges had been infused with the Tranquility miracle, swinging open in utter silence.
Through the light screens, all the sorcerers saw a middle-aged male elf sitting before a desk, hands resting on the armrests, eyes closed as if dozing off.
Most bizarrely, his hair consisted of living snakes. These serpents seemed to have noticed something: they arched their bodies, glaring at the Star Flinger Warriors and flicking their tongues in warning, while some licked the middle-aged elf, as if urging him to wake up immediately.
The sorcerers instantly strung their nerves to the absolute limit—*They've been spotted!*
Yet the lead Star Flinger Warrior took one step, two steps, three steps, and swung his blade.
The middle-aged man's head was severed, rolling across the oak floor as his serpentine hair gradually stiffened until it turned to stone. Blood spurted nearly a meter high from the carotid artery before the headless corpse slowly slumped onto the desk.
The Star Flinger Warrior pulled out a device resembling a searchlight, illuminating a flow of grass-green radiance upon the corpse.
"Confirmed: deceased is an Archery Legendary Sorcerer. Commencing inspection and recovery protocol."
Other Starflick squads quickly rushed inside the villa, ransacking drawers and chests and dismantling miracle traps. The Archery Legend's corpse was promptly dismembered, sealed, and bound with miracles to eliminate any contingency for resurrection.
Even now, Sonia and the others had not processed it—*It's over just like that?*
A dignified Legendary Sorcerer had died like this? No resistance, not even awareness, his head sliced off by a single blade strike from a Star Flinger Warrior, dying without making a sound?
"Haah!"
Aixia suddenly gasped for air—she had been so nervous that she had held her breath until her face turned red before snapping out of it.
"That... that simple?" she could not help asking. "So Legendary Sorcerers are also..."
Aixia glanced up toward Painter hidden in the sky, swallowing the words *nothing special*. Dimi, however, frowned slightly. "No, the Legendary Sorcerer's state was strange. Whenever a sorcery faction is mastered to its pinnacle, it should grant sharp intuition. It's impossible to have no reaction whatsoever to a lethal crisis."
"Moreover, he was an Archery Legend. The acuity of his intuition could rival Blood, Fists & Claws, or Mind, only slightly behind the three mysterious factions."
"By all rights, the moment the Starflick Guard stepped into the villa, he should have sensed something."
Sonia nodded slightly. Swordsmanship was also a faction renowned for keen intuition; if anyone looked at her for more than a second, she would notice—though that was also bolstered by her rich experience as a pretty girl—an Archery Legend's intuitive sensitivity was definitely higher than hers, never lower.
"He was probably connected to the Void Realm," Yadas suddenly spoke up.
Dimi strongly agreed. "There doesn't seem to be any other explanation. Did he encounter some trouble in the Void Realm and couldn't exit in time?"
"More to the point, while being hunted and wanted in a foreign country, he actually dared to connect to the Void Realm? Do Legendary Sorcerers really like to live that dangerously?" Aixia found it laughable. "Didn't he have some mission? He couldn't possibly have come to the Starry Kingdom just to enter the Void Realm, right?"
At that moment, a message was transmitted into the minds of the squad members: "Now beginning the search for the second Legendary intruder hiding in the Lone Diamond District. Temporary residential search warrants have been issued. If questioned by homeowners, present this warrant to demand their cooperation. Uninhabited residences are to be searched directly. Please maintain stealth and radio silence as much as possible throughout."
"Sanctuary Squad Five, here is your search sector."
Sonia immediately pulled up the search sector map, her gaze locking onto one particular villa:
No. 13 Skywalk Road, Lone Diamond District.
Owner: Felix Vosroda.
Chapter 780