Chapter 83: Domain Expansion: Cycle of the Lunar Eye

Compared to the two Special Grade Sorcerers, Mordren and Graveflame cared far more about whether Caelum would appear in this operation against the Cursed Spirit faction.

Mordren’s attention had been focused entirely on the obvious heavy hitters among the enemy forces, the Special Grades and Grade One Sorcerers.

Caelum was nowhere among them.

Officially, he was still just a tiny Grade Three Sorcerer.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would probably return to the academy after this operation and receive his Grade Two certification.

Having personally experienced how terrifying Caelum was, Mordren remained unusually attentive to his movements.

Originally, he had even planned to team up with Graveflame and eliminate Caelum first.

Instead, the Sorcerer world had beaten him to the punch.

"The world is always full of variables."

Mordren said calmly.

"That’s what makes it so fascinating."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"I honestly hope that glasses brat shows up. I have a feeling things will get very interesting if he does."

Boom!

A violent explosion shook the shrine.

The entire structure trembled.

Mordren stretched lazily and stood up.

"They’re fast. Time to greet our overly enthusiastic guests, Graveflame."

Graveflame revealed a chilling grin.

Killing intent surged.

Outside the shrine.

Over a hundred Sorcerers had completely surrounded the area.

Aside from the two Special Grade Sorcerers at the front and a handful of Grade Ones, nearly everyone else carried injuries of varying severity.

Among them, the Astra Sorcerers were clearly the most emotional.

The night Astra was massacred by the Cursed Spirit faction remained burned into their memories.

The horrific deaths of classmates and friends replayed endlessly in their minds.

Hatred continuously generated Cursed Energy within them, fueling their thirst for revenge.

Throughout the entire operation, Astra’s Sorcerers had fought the hardest.

Every one of them battled like lunatics with death wishes.

Even Sorcerers from the other academies found themselves disturbed by how savage they had become.

After clearing several outposts, Caelum eventually linked up with the main Grade One strike force.

There was no time to waste.

He simply followed them all the way to the shrine and joined the final convergence of forces.

This place was the headquarters of the Cursed Spirit faction.

The hiding place of Mordren’s true body and Graveflame.

Within the gathered Sorcerers, Caelum spotted Zephyr and Sylas.

Both were stained with blood from head to toe.

No one could tell how many Cursed Spirits and enemy Sorcerers they had already killed tonight.

Sensing his gaze, the two looked over and gave him brief nods.

At the very front stood the two most eye catching figures present.

Both were traditionalist Special Grade Sorcerers from prestigious Sorcerer families.

One of them was named Oryn.

His core technique was Foresight.

Using it, he could glimpse brief moments of the future and gather massive amounts of intelligence.

Since the technique itself lacked offensive power, he specialized heavily in close combat.

Combined with future prediction, his combat ability was extremely formidable.

Most of the intelligence gathered for this operation had come from Oryn’s foresight technique.

Without him, the plan never would have succeeded to this extent.

This was revenge.

A slaughter.

Not some honorable duel between knights.

No one cared about formalities.

Confirming the enemy leadership was inside the shrine was enough.

Clap!

Oryn’s expression turned serious as he brought his palms together.

The sharp impact echoed through everyone’s ears.

A massive wave of Cursed Energy exploded outward, instantly covering everything within a two hundred meter radius.

He skipped the follow up hand signs entirely.

An instant cast.

"Domain Expansion: Cycle of the Lunar Eye!"

Hum...

A phantom moon silently appeared above the battlefield.

Although it was a Domain Expansion, Cycle of the Lunar Eye did not create a sealed spherical barrier like Domain: Phantom Leviathan Dominion.

The two belonged to entirely different categories of domains.

Graveflame’s Domain: Phantom Leviathan Dominion was a closed domain.

The enclosed space effectively restricted enemy movement and prevented escape.

Breaking out from inside was extremely difficult.

Its weakness was that destroying it from outside was comparatively easy.

Oryn’s Domain Expansion: Cycle of the Lunar Eye was an open domain.

It created no enclosed sphere and imposed no movement restrictions.

In exchange, it gained vastly greater range.

Closed domains generally extended roughly fifty meters.

Open domains could reach a maximum radius of two hundred meters.

The coverage difference was enormous.

Since it was constructed from Oryn’s foresight technique, Cycle of the Lunar Eye was naturally not an offensive domain.

Its purpose was to grant future sight support to every allied Sorcerer within range.

Every ally could glimpse the next attack that would target them, allowing them to evade incoming danger as efficiently as possible.

In large scale combat, it was nothing short of a divine support ability.

"ROAR!"

A wave of Cursed Spirits surged out from the shrine like a flood.

They released their savage instincts freely and charged toward the Sorcerers without fear of death.

"Everyone, engage!"

Hum...

The effect of Domain Expansion: Cycle of the Lunar Eye activated.

Instantly, visions appeared in the minds of every academy Sorcerer.

But what they saw was completely different from what anyone expected.

The first person to attack them was neither a Cursed Spirit nor a Sorcerer from the enemy faction.

Instead, it was a young man whose presence was so faint that most people barely noticed him at all.

In the vision.

The ground was drenched in blood from both Sorcerers and Cursed Spirits.

Under the phantom moon.

Special Grade Sorcerer Oryn was pierced through the heart by Caelum’s fist before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

The surviving Sorcerers could only watch helplessly as it happened before their eyes.

Unable to stop it.

Then the vision ended.

The Sorcerers returned to reality.

The atmosphere became even heavier than before.

Time itself seemed frozen.

Shock.

Fear.

Rage.

Panic.

Different emotions surfaced across countless faces.

Over a hundred Sorcerers silently turned in perfect unison toward the inconspicuous young man standing at the back.

The silence itself felt deafening.

Like the stillness before a storm.

The ones struggling most to accept the vision were Zephyr and Sylas.

Both stood frozen in place, staring blankly at Caelum.

Should they trust Oryn’s foresight?

Or trust the classmate and friend they had spent every day with?

The most confused person here was probably Caelum himself.

What he saw differed only slightly from everyone else’s vision.

From his perspective, the Sorcerers attacked him first.

He retaliated.

Then slaughtered everyone in sight. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Caelum could confidently say he had absolutely no intention of going on a massacre at a time like this.

But judging from the atmosphere, events were already spiraling out of control.

The chain of suspicion had formed.

There was no stopping it now.

After thinking it through for a moment, Caelum understood the logic behind it.

This was likely the consequence of meddling with the future.

If the vision itself had not planted suspicion in everyone’s minds, perhaps that future would never have happened at all.

Under normal circumstances, Caelum truly would not have chosen this moment to slaughter the Sorcerers.

As far as he was concerned, it still was not time to reveal himself.

Unfortunately...

The world was full of unexpected variables.

Out of the corner of his eye, Caelum noticed several Sorcerers already preparing hand signs in secret.

Those who trusted Oryn’s foresight had begun preparing to strike first.

A faint laugh escaped him.

"Life really is unpredictable."

As he spoke, he removed his glasses.