Shad felt the power of the Red Butterflies, while the frail girls in the ice coffins opened their eyes, looking with joy at their bodies regaining warmth. As Shad carried them out, Sister Devlin approached at that moment
"So, what shall we do now?"
The nun inquired softly. Shad ignored the cat, which was letting out dissatisfied cries, and instead looked toward the side wall of the palace hall.
The wall draped in tapestries vanished as if melting, revealing the sky at the foot of Mount Sikar beyond the Maze Lock, where people were fighting beneath the moon.
The Church had completely seized the upper hand. The undead behemoth—born from the giant cocoon, centered around a massive human head, and overgrown with countless limbs on its exterior—was still fighting a desperate last stand.
Specks of spiritual light adorned the starry night sky. At this moment, countless souls were still sprinting along the Fragmented Light Path atop the mountain, but the path and the waters within the starry sky were becoming blurred. The Nether Moon was about to vanish once more, and the Star Whales would end their brief journey in the material world to return to the outer reaches of the Astral Plane.
"What a long night this has been," Shad lamented. He then looked toward the giant head of that horrifying undead aggregate: "It is time to end this."
"Yes, but I must remind you that although that giant undead fears the power from the mountaintop, even in your current Maze Lock state, you cannot defeat it," the nun said.
Shad naturally knew this: "Defeating it is a matter for the Church and your people; I simply wish to accelerate the process. It is very afraid of the power from this side? I will draw its attention. Sister, can you have your true body return to the battlefield and find the opportunity to finish it?"
"No problem."
As she spoke, the nun took a small step back. Though she appeared to still be standing in place, Shad inexplicably felt that she had already departed.
"Is the one here now a clone? Well, that works..."
He then softly asked the two girls beside him: "Lend me your power."
The frail girls nodded. As the Red Butterflies flew out of the ice coffin, they also dissolved into a swarm of butterflies and flew toward Shad. Another ice coffin descended from the sky and crashed down; Shad took the hand of Miss Fiona Drago, who also turned into a phantom and merged into Shad's body.
The power of the "Princesses" was Shad's power. He could not only call upon them within the Maze Lock but also borrow their strength.
"It is time to end this."
Shad temporarily handed the reluctant cat over to the nun's clone for care, then walked toward the gap in the completely melted wall. Upon reaching the edge, he looked up at the brilliant starry sky above.
"Actually, I've wanted to do this for a long time."
Standing within the Maze Lock, feeling the full power of the Red Butterflies, his right hand gripped the [Higgs Dragon Head Stone].
"We are currently inside the Maze Lock. Even if we can see the reality outside, we cannot touch it," Sister Devlin's clone reminded him softly once more. This cloning ability did not come from the power of the Chosen, but from the奇术 (singular arts/miracles) of an Eleventh-Ring Warlock.
"I understand. In a moment, no matter what happens, please—"
"You are currently in the city."
The Fragmented Light Path turned into actual fragmented light and vanished beneath the starry sky. However, the silver moon did not disappear; instead, it gradually moved higher into the heavens.
It began to snow. Fluttering snowflakes fell from the sky, greatly surprising Iluna, who had just cast another [Sun Spear] over the city.
She looked up at the starry sky, wondering why it would snow on a late autumn night.
"Look below!" someone shouted.
Looking down, it was no longer Midhillburg City. It was a quaint, old-world town. Iluna could clearly see the street beneath the moonlight, the shop windows along the road, and the black iron streetlamps.
"This is Shad's..."
The [Little Match Girl] and [Sleeping Princess] Maze Locks were superimposed, pulling in not only the monsters born from the Interstice, but also three Thirteenth-Ring Warlocks and countless high-ring warlocks. Had it not been for the gifts of those souls, Shad would not have achieved this even if he himself had become a high-ring warlock.
He was currently standing on the edge of the castle, with the Match Girl holding her small basket beside him, looking down together at the snowing city. Shad closed his mouth and took a deep breath inward.
Chest out and head slightly tilted back, beneath the snowing starry sky, silver moonlight—brilliant moonlight—shot uncontrollably from the corners of Shad's mouth, his eyes, nostrils, ears, and even every tiny pore on his face. A chilling sound echoed from his chest. Enhanced by the power of the Red Dragon Witch, the emitted silver light merged with the glow of the Red Butterflies surrounding his body. Even before he opened his mouth, the undead behemoth, abruptly dragged into the Maze Lock, sensed the approaching danger.
Already instinctively terrified because a deity had once appeared on the mountaintop, the beast—even knowing that a single strike could not cause decisive damage—abandoned all resistance against the surrounding warlocks. Its face, sprouting countless limbs, turned toward Mount Sikar, toward the massive castle that had appeared atop the peak at some unknown moment.
The terrifying giant face opened its mouth, and the final remnants of the Interstice's power gathered as streaks of black light within its maw.
"ROAR!"
Shad and the giant face let out a sound almost simultaneously—a sound that, in the real world, would have echoed across the entire Rommel Mountain Range.
A pillar of black light and a holy silver pillar entwined with Red Butterflies shattered the snowing sky, colliding head-on beneath the moonlit night.
The black and silver lights made the starry sky seem dim. Had the terrifying energy impact not occurred within the Maze Lock, Midhillburg City would likely have become a thing of history.
Shad was being pushed back. The scenery within the Maze Lock was rapidly fading, and clear cracks appeared in the castle walls. Even with the Maze Lock deployed, he was completely no match for this monster.
"Now's the chance!" the Thirteenth-Ring Warlock of the Nature Church, a middle-aged man with green hair, shouted loudly. "Don't hold back! This is the final attack!"
The three Thirteenth-Ring Warlocks of the Orthodox Church and the Principal of Saint Byron simultaneously shouted their words of sublimation
[City of Mech-Psychedelia, Create Life!] [Lake of Tranquility, Echo the Secrets Beneath the Moon!] [Hero of Trickery and Murder, Swing the Sword to Slay the Demon!] [The Silver Age has passed; I am willing to be the final Gatekeeper!]
Four spiritual lights illuminated the sky. Simultaneously, everyone else capable of attacking—whether Church warlocks, witches, or warlocks from various parts of the Old Continent—unleashed their strongest strikes.
Large patches of the Maze Lock's scenery peeled away, but correspondingly, the undead aggregate containing terrifying whisper elements lost more than a third of its body almost instantly under the Church's heavy assault. The "Scar of the Holy Tree" was suppressing the undead's power as much as possible. Having lost the vast number of undead from the Interstice, the outcome of this battle was already decided.
While the high-ring warlocks suppressed the undead behemoth, the warlocks in the city and the mountains caused the ritual array of the "Scar of the Holy Tree" to manifest piece by piece in the air. At this moment, regardless of their organization, the living used their maximum strength to bring this battle to its conclusion.
The brilliant colors in the sky completely lit up the night. Iluna also knew this was the final moment. She rode her spirit horse high into the air, the dark-gold scales behind her ascending.
She switched [Night Watchman] from her left hand to her right, gripping the blade with her palm. Even as her palm was sliced open and blood soaked the runes of [My Heart is Clear, the Sword Slayeth Demons], she remained oblivious.
"Balance!"
Dark-gold light diffused, further suppressing the heavily wounded giant undead.
"Sunlight! Bless me!"
Holding [Night Watchman], dripping with her own blood, high in her right hand and the reins in her left, the spirit horse launched one final charge forward. Iluna suddenly leaped, leaving the horse's back to soar beneath the night sky.
At that moment, Shad's voice echoed in her ear
"First wish, second wish, third wish, fourth wish: the Chosen shall defeat the enemy from the Interstice."
Phantoms of matches flashed sequentially through Iluna's eyes. The surging sense of power caused the scales symbolizing the Ancient God behind her to radiate an even stronger light.
Her long hair swayed in the air. The seventeen-year-old girl gripped the blade of [Night Watchman] with both hands, and golden lightning spread from her fingertips to the silver sword. The golden lightning extended to both ends of the blade until it broke free from the sword's constraints.
Simultaneously, Sister Devlin, dressed in her black-grey nun's habit, ascended to a higher point beneath the moonlight. A massive black-robed figure slowly manifested behind her. A pitch-black giant scythe, with embers of fire flickering within the cracks of its surface, slashed across the surface of the undead aggregate born from the Interstice.
The power of Death and Finality pierced the terrifying undead. Because its attention had been drawn by Shad, it didn't even have time to resist.
As the scythe slashed through, cracks appeared in space. Amidst the roars of the undead behemoth, a light like the sun ignited above everyone's heads. Looking up, Iluna held aloft a spear of golden lightning that seemed taller than Mount Sikar itself. Beneath the deep starry sky, she shouted her strongest inner wish
"Sun Spear!"
Thunder crashed. The Sun Spear pierced the giant undead, which was still locked in a stalemate with Shad despite being slashed by the scythe of death.
The range of the Maze Lock suddenly shrank, pushing everyone back into the night sky of the real world. The undead, pierced by the Sun Spear, was forcibly "nailed" beneath the night sky, the golden spear illuminating the entire sea of stars.
The Eleventh-Ring Life Ring manifested behind the nun. After becoming a Chosen, the "Death" spiritual rune had become her new core spiritual rune. As the rune flashed, the nun swung the black scythe formed from her Life Ring, making a gentle slash in the air. A black fissure appeared beneath the undead behemoth; it was to be sent back to the Interstice.
"Beath, seal it!" Mr. Lacan Mathis of the Sun Church shouted, throwing one of the ritual symbols hanging from his chest—the Holy Sun Emblem—to Iluna. The "Scar of the Holy Tree" was a divine ritual centered on the Nature, Sun, and Dawn Churches, with the Nature Church as the lead.
Meanwhile, the remaining warlocks in the sky urgently shifted positions, and the brightness of the divine lights flashing over the city and Mount Sikar reached their peak.
Iluna caught the emblem in mid-air and then descended along the Sun Spear until her hands gripped the top of the shaft. As she continued to fall, the Sun Spear drove the pierced undead forcibly into the black fissure.
The light flashing on the Sun Spear gradually dimmed during this process, until the undead behemoth completely vanished into the pitch-black crack, leaving only [Night Watchman] in Iluna's hand.
The ritual array of the "Scar of the Holy Tree" lit up across the entire Mount Sikar region, and Iluna stood suspended beneath the starry sky, atop the central ritual array marked with the tree emblem.
Remembering what Shad had entrusted her to do, she knelt on one knee in the air, gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands, and plunged it violently into the very center of the ritual
"Scar of the Holy Tree!"
At that moment, centered on Iluna's sword, a spreading green glow gradually replaced the golden divine light. Even the ordinary people who had not yet fallen asleep during this turbulent night could see—besides the lingering bright streak toward the starry sky atop Mount Sikar—that a green trail had appeared within the sea of stars.
(End of Chapter)