To ordinary people, the ranking among the three major armed apparatuses of the Country of Stars would likely be the Starflick Guard > Gryphon Company > Fortress Legion. Going strictly by personal qualifications, that ranking was not necessarily wrong. The Fortress Legion was responsible for containing and exploring the Abyss; they had the largest headcount and worked the hardest. The Starflick Guard was solely tasked with safeguarding the royal family; they had the fewest personnel and did the most training.
From an enlistment threshold perspective, the Fortress Legion required only a Silver half-wing, whereas the Starflick Guard demanded a Gold full-wing at minimum. Curiously, despite the Starflick Guard's exceptional benefits, most outstanding sorcerer graduates chose either the Fortress or Gryphon Company, with very few opting for the Starflick Guard.
After all, the Starflick Guard was largely a ceremonial ornament to the royal family. Most of the time, the Starflick Guard only trained and had no actual missions, which naturally left little room for promotion, leaving one with no choice but to slowly grind up through seniority.
To ambitious sorcerers, a post where you could see your entire life mapped out to the very end was practically a grave spurned even by the starlight. It was far better to join the Fortress or Gryphon Company to fight for a chance to distinguish oneself.
Hence, when it came to actual combat prowess, the ranking was completely reversed: Fortress Legion > Gryphon Company > Starflick Guard. In particular, whenever an uprising broke out in the Abyss, no small number of Sanctuary- and Legendary-grade monsters would burst forth from underground to assault the defensive line. The Fortress Legion possessed rich experience in using grand formations to encircle and eliminate powerful combatants!
Whether you were Sanctuary or Legendary, under a carpet bombardment of full-scale volleys, every last drop of sorcery power had to be bled dry!
Bullets rained down, and cannon fire roared like thunder. Facing the intruders who had breached the outer wall, the Fortress Legion locked onto their targets within three seconds, pouring one hundred thousand armor-piercing rounds, three thousand explosive shells, and five thousand slash rounds into the breach—a staggering total of one hundred and eight thousand rounds of ammunition. In theory, that was enough to drain the sorcery power of ten Legendary sorcerers dry!
"Is it over?"
Atop the ramparts of the third inner fortress, a young adjutant anxiously looked at the elderly man sitting in a wheelchair beside him.
The old man in the wheelchair had shoulder-length white hair and a waist-length white beard. Wrinkles and folds covered his face, making him look like a dying man ready to return to the stars at any second. Yet the wheelchair beneath him gleamed bright silver with a sleek, high-tech finish. He wore a monocle-style eyepiece assembled from six rhombic lenses, gazing intently at the battlefield three hundred meters away.
With an impatient grunt, the old man produced another eyepiece and handed it to the adjutant. The adjutant accepted it like a priceless treasure. Once he slipped it on, he found his perspective instantly shifting into a third-person view. Following his heart's will, his observation point could descend anywhere within a thousand-meter radius. On the right side, there were even preset marked locations. Upon closer inspection, the adjutant's face went dark—it was actually set to the movie screen in the commercial plaza outside...
*You are a dignified Legendary sorcerer; do you really need to freeload on cinema tickets like this?!*
Nevertheless, this minor detail helped the adjutant relax slightly. He shifted his perspective to the breached zone and found that the ground had been pummeled into craters and hollows, nearly blasting open an entire underground floor.
The adjutant could even catch the pungent smell lingering after the shells and slicing rounds detonated—this miraculous eyepiece could actually transmit scent.
Beyond that, the eyepiece could also detect the flow of sorcery power, allowing the adjutant to clearly perceive a hemispherical Sanctuary standing rock-solid and unshaken amidst the billowing plumes of dense smoke.
*Tap.*
Five figures clad in purple-and-blue attire stepped out of the heavy smoke. On the far left was an elf lady resting a colossal flame halberd behind her neck with both hands; beside her was a young girl with black-and-white hair; on the far right stood a red-haired lady bearing a longsword; and beside her was a demure lady carrying a silver lantern.
Walking dead center was a man draped in a trench coat, twin swords sheathed at his waist.
All of them wore masks. Yet even if they had not been masked, the adjutant doubted he could have recognized them. How could five Legendaries bent on assaulting the White Tower possibly emerge from within the Country of Stars? They had to be from another realm.
The intruders showed not the slightest trace of panic at trespassing into a military exclusion zone. Even after enduring a maximum-level barrage of concentrated fire, their leisurely posture made it seem as though they were merely out for an afternoon stroll.
The adjutant was dumbfounded. "Th-this... How is that possible? No Sanctuary could withstand a coordinated volley from the Fortress Legion. No matter how much sorcery power they have, it should have been completely exhausted—"
"A space Legendary's Sanctuary can."
The old man tapped his eyepiece. "When I was young—over a hundred years ago, before the 'Sculptor' passed away. As the greatest space Legendary of modern times, a creator who crafted countless magnificent spatial works of art, I had the privilege of attending his lectures. Even today, I still recall every single word of that lesson.
"When one's space mastery attains the Legendary realm, a sorcerer can consciously utilize sorcery power to pierce space, weaving an isolated 'Void Sanctuary' that separates the inside from the outside world. Any attack directed at a Void Sanctuary will bypass space directly and reach the opposite side; no material force can reach within the Void Sanctuary.
"Forget exhausting their sorcery power—that barrage just now didn't even consume a single drop of it."
The adjutant muttered, "A space Legendary? But..."
"Yes. The Country of Stars hasn't produced a space Legendary in over a century." The old man glanced at the red-haired female sorcerer. "And I don't believe Duke Star-Caster has an illegitimate daughter at the Legendary realm hidden away.
"Negotiation is entirely out of the question. The mystery surrounding their origins rivals even that of the Flowing Gold River behind us. They must be assassins dispatched by a Divine Lord. Order the Fortress Legion to cease fire, and activate the Second Fortress's 'Anti-Sorcerer Guns'!"
The old man's orders were implemented immediately. The adjutant took off the eyepiece, shouted the commands down the line, and then turned his gaze into the distance. Suddenly, he mumbled in a daze, "What a dazzling silver lantern..."
The old man started at his words. Snapping off his eyepiece, he realized that even from three hundred meters away, he could clearly see the silver lantern carried by the intruder, and instantly understood the danger. "Everyone, put on dark visors! Do not look directly at the intruders!"
But it was already too late. On both sides of the path the intruders were walking, the pupils of the White Tower sorcerers concealed within the ramparts turned a lustrous silver. An overwhelming surge of tender affection for that lady holding the silver lantern welled up in their hearts. Their trains of thought ground nearly to a halt, leaving behind only one simple, pure conviction: *I must protect her!*
How could they protect her?
Naturally, by slaughtering all the sinners attacking her!
Including themselves!
Fierce gunfire erupted once more, but this time, the barrage was not directed at the intruders. Instead, the fury was unleashed upon their own comrades beside them! Before their cannons and guns could even cool down, the White Tower sorcerers swiveled their aim toward neighboring batteries, spinning up to thirty-six hundred rounds per second at full throttle to sweep away all obstacles for their beloved lady!
"I like this style." Nether Demon strode along the cartridge-littered passageway. "Nothing is more amusing than watching people slaughter one another. I particularly love yanking out those fools' souls, refining them into vengeful wraiths, and sending them to hunt down their loved ones. And guess what? So many of their loved ones didn't even resist—they just wept while getting eaten alive by the wraiths! Hahaha, every time I think about it, it's just hilarious!"
"This is as far as I can go," Mirror Master said. "The Silver Lantern is not adept at offense. Through it, I can only push the Void Realm blessings—Protective Color, Armament, and Observation—to their theoretical limits."
Observer nodded noncommittally. Suddenly, the five halted in unison, and Mirror Master murmured in surprise, "The Stars had already invented this gadget by this era?"
"Leave it to me."
Dead Frenzy stepped forward past Observer. In that precise instant, ten black ripples manifested out of thin air atop the distant Second Fortress—ripples that appeared pitch-black to outside observers because shattered space prevented light from passing through.
Not just black ripples: the supersonic trajectories of ten black projectiles hurtled toward them simultaneously!
Wherever the bullets traveled, space completely shattered in their wake!
This was the Anti-Sorcerer Gun, the supreme pinnacle of alchemical craftsmanship in the Country of Stars. Every single round was worth a property in downtown Jialesi, yet it was undeniably worth every cent. An Anti-Sorcerer bullet could pierce any space; even a Sanctuary Legendary could not defend against it, and no miracle could obstruct its path. The moment it struck a sorcerer, a spatial collapse would erupt, obliterating everything in the vicinity into dust.
Those in the know regarded it as 'the emblem of the further decline of sorcerers' standing,' and it had thus been christened 'Anti-Sorcerer'!
The instant the Anti-Sorcerer bullets left their muzzles, Dead Frenzy's sword had already cleared its sheath.
Fearful of being tainted by the silver lantern, the adjutant could only stand on tiptoe, eager to witness the moment the intruders were blasted to smithereens by the Anti-Sorcerer rounds. He saw the red-haired female sorcerer standing at the very front swing her blade, as casual as a painter flicking a stroke onto a canvas.
*Clang!*
As the piercing shriek of the blade resonated through the entire White Tower fortress, the adjutant watched ten simultaneous spatial collapses violently erupt across the Second Fortress. Huge breaches were blown through the battlements. Countless sorcerers were obliterated without even leaving a corpse behind, though those still drawing breath suffered far worse—their bodies, mangled by the collapsing space, were shredded so thoroughly that not a single shred of flesh remained intact, leaving them to wail in agony while awaiting healers.
Those ten blast zones were precisely the emplacements where the Anti-Sorcerer Guns had been mounted!
The adjutant stood frozen for several seconds before grasping what had transpired, turning in a daze toward the old man beside him. But to his astonishment, the old man's face was etched with shock... and even a tinge of horror.
"Lord Alchemy King, what... what kind of miracle is this—"
"It's not a miracle."
The adjutant froze. "Not a miracle? But didn't she deflect the Anti-Sorcerer bullets right back?"
"I couldn't detect any trace of sorcery spirits," the Alchemy King murmured. "And this is indeed something a sword sorcerer can accomplish."
The adjutant looked down at his own sidearm sword, thought about it, and silently unbuckled it.
"Upon attaining the Sanctuary realm, a sword sorcerer can grasp a technique known as 'Sword Flash.' Relying purely on the sword and sorcery power enhancement, one can unravel any sorcery spirit miracle, and even turn the miracle's might into fuel to reinforce their own swordplay and deflect it back.
"However, it is exceptionally, extraordinarily difficult. Even that Vosroda boy can only guarantee he can unravel a miracle; whether he can reflect it back comes down to luck.
"Yet the Anti-Sorcerer rounds just now were fired simultaneously, and each was aimed at a different trajectory." The Alchemy King removed his eyepiece, exposing a pair of clouded eyes. "In other words, she deflected ten dazzling-grade miracles with a single strike of her sword. This has already far surpassed the domain of Legendary swordplay.
"To deflect any number of miracles at will can no longer be called 'Sword Flash.' In the domain of close-combat factions, techniques capable of dismantling all mortal Legendaries head-on, relying solely on sorcery power and weaponry, share the same name—
"'Divine Might'!
"The sorcerer themself is a god! The sorcerer's technique is Divine Might!"
*Divine... Might?*
The word 'divine' was never used lightly in the sorcerer world. Which meant...
"This person is no ordinary Legendary," the Alchemy King said grimly. "She is a sorcerer possessing demigod-level swordplay! Beneath the starry skies, there is no one left who can bar her path!
"Continue firing the Anti-Sorcerer Guns! Even if we exhaust the entire stockpile, we must spare no cost. Use everything we have to stall her footsteps, separate her from the rest, and crush the other intruders first!"
"Understood!"
Black ripples manifested across the Second Fortress once more, this time in even greater numbers—no fewer than thirty Anti-Sorcerer Guns were about to unleash consecutive salvos. At the same time, the Gryphon Company went on the offensive. Sorcerers unfurling their wings took flight across the sky. Every single one of them kept their eyes shut tight, terrified of looking directly at the silver lantern's radiance, relying entirely on spotters' directions to blind-fire without pause!
From afar, earth sorcerers unleashed miracles, summoning an overwhelming tide of foul mud that surged toward the intruders like crashing waves.
Yet to the Void Sanctuary, these standard sorcerer assaults could not inflict the slightest harm on those within. Thus, the true killing stroke lay in the simultaneous charge of three Sanctuary sorcerers!
The Gryphon Company's shield-axe sorcerer, 'Super Discharge Vanguard'; the sword sorcerer, 'Fervent Sword Baron'; and the Fortress Legion's spear sorcerer, 'Swift Wind Dancer'!
All three were veteran Sanctuaries who possessed lethal miracles linked to the space faction. While a Void Sanctuary could isolate all physical forces, the trade-off was its exceptionally low resistance to spatial miracles. These three Sanctuaries were more than capable of shattering a Void Sanctuary!
Once the Void Sanctuary was broken, the Gryphon Company's supporting barrages could directly grind down the intruders' sorcery power!
If the intruders did not want their Void Sanctuary breached, they would have no choice but to step forward and engage the three Sanctuaries. With their strongest sword sorcerer already pinned down by the Anti-Sorcerer Guns, no matter how powerful the others were, the Alchemy King was confident that veteran Sanctuaries like Super Discharge Vanguard and his peers could hold out for a brief moment. Once the legions converging from other directions arrived, the intruders could be dragged into an attrition battle.
As the oldest Legendary in the Stars, the Alchemy King's scheme possessed virtually no flaws—save for one detail:
Was that sword sorcerer really the strongest among them?
Chapter 858